Home » Blog » Top 13 Best Online Course Platforms for 2025 (Ultimate Guide + Free)

Top 13 Best Online Course Platforms for 2025 (Ultimate Guide + Free)

After years of diving deep into online course creation and testing online course platforms platforms firsthand, I’ve seen how the right (or wrong) platform can shape the entire teaching experience.

Back in October 2024, I revisited every platform on this list, checking out the latest updates, new features, and how AI is transforming the landscape. With each platform, I aimed to bring you the insights you’d need to make a confident decision, especially when it comes to balancing functionality with ease.

When I first started testing online course platforms, I found myself overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices—so many platforms each claiming to be the “best.” To break through the noise, I personally spent hours testing these tools, gauging their effectiveness across crucial features, from user experience to pricing flexibility and community engagement tools. Each one was evaluated not only for its tech specs but also for how it felt to use them, whether you’re just beginning or already a seasoned course creator.

In this guide, I’m sharing my findings based on hands-on testing, focusing on how each platform stacks up in real-world use. Whether you’re looking to launch your first course or take your business to the next level, this updated list is crafted to help you find a platform that matches both your goals and your values.


When reviewing and selecting the best online course platforms, I adhered to strict editorial standards to ensure the information here is both comprehensive and practical.

The goal? To save you from the exhausting hours of research across multiple sources and help you feel confident in your decision. I didn’t just test the platforms—I dove into trusted review sites like G2, Capterra, and Trustpilot, consolidating hundreds of reviews to bring you the clearest picture of each option.


Here’s the approach I took to evaluate these platforms thoroughly:

  • Ease of Use: Tested each platform’s interface and setup process to ensure an intuitive experience for course creators of all skill levels.

  • Feature Breadth and Depth: Assessed each platform’s features, including AI capabilities, customization options, marketing tools, and analytics, to match varying needs and business goals.

  • Pricing and Value: Examined pricing models and plans to gauge affordability and the value offered at each price tier.

  • User Support and Resources: Checked for quality and accessibility of customer support, tutorials, and community resources.

  • Student Experience: Prioritized platforms that offer an engaging and straightforward experience for learners, from course navigation to mobile accessibility.

  • Scalability: Evaluated how well each platform supports course creators as their businesses grow, including advanced features for larger operations.

  • Integrations and Automation: Focused on integration options and automation features that streamline marketing, engagement, and content delivery.

I know that researching all this data yourself could feel overwhelming. That’s why I did the heavy lifting for you, creating a resource that saves time and brings together everything you need to know.


Overview & Ranking Online Course Platforms

RankNameBest For (and why it ranks as it ranks)Reviews
1LearnWorldsBest for educators seeking advanced customization and interactive learning experiences. It ranks highest due to its strong G2 and Capterra scores, reflecting user satisfaction with its robust features.G2: 4.7, Trustpilot: 4.0, Capterra: 4.7
2PodiaIdeal for creators looking for an all-in-one platform with simple pricing and ease of use. Its high G2 and Capterra scores reflect ease of use, though Trustpilot reviews suggest room for improvement in customer service.G2: 4.6, Trustpilot: 3.4, Capterra: 4.6
3ThinkificGreat for course creators who need a flexible and scalable platform with strong customization options. It ranks high due to its strong G2 score, but lower Trustpilot reviews indicate some issues with customer support.G2: 4.6, Trustpilot: 3.4, Capterra: 4.4
4LearnDashBest for WordPress users who want a powerful LMS plugin with deep functionality. It ranks well due to consistent reviews across platforms, particularly on Capterra and Trustpilot.G2: 4.2, Trustpilot: 4.2, Capterra: 4.6
5KajabiPerfect for entrepreneurs wanting to build a full-fledged online business with marketing tools. Its balanced scores across platforms show it’s a solid choice for business-minded creators.G2: 4.3, Trustpilot: 4.3, Capterra: 4.4
6EasyWebinarBest for businesses looking to integrate webinars into their online courses and sales funnels. It ranks slightly lower due to fewer reviews but still has solid ratings across all platforms.G2: 4.3, Trustpilot: 4.5, Capterra: 4.4
7TeachableA good option for individuals seeking a straightforward platform to create and sell courses. It ranks lower due to its low Trustpilot score, indicating concerns with customer service or feature limitations.G2: 4.0, Trustpilot: 2.5, Capterra: 4.3

(Update: The information in this table was last updated on October 30, 2024.)


Let’s dive into the details!

Disclaimer My content is reader-supported. If you click on some of the links I might earn a commission. This is at no additional cost for you. I only recommend what I carefully reviewed.

What Types of Online Course Platforms Exist?

There are a variety of different types of course platforms available, depending on your needs. Here are the most common:

Standalone Hosted Platforms

These platforms are run separately from your website and allow you to build and host your course materials. These are platforms like Learnworlds, Thinkific, and Teachable. They allow you to create professional-looking courses, but you’ll need to have a separate website and handle marketing yourself.

All-in-One Platforms

This kind of course platform includes a website, marketing, course creation tools, email tools, and much more. This includes platforms like Kajabi and Kartra. These platforms make it easy to manage your online course, but you don’t have a lot of freedom.

WordPress Plugins

If you’re a WordPress site owner and want to add course functionality to your site you can use a plugin like Learndash, Lifter LMS, and LearnPress. These plugins let you create and host online courses on your existing site. This gives you complete freedom and ownership over courses, but there’s a steeper learning curve.

Online Learning Marketplaces

These marketplaces have 1000’s of different courses and take care of the audience and selling for you. Platforms like Skillshare, Udemy, and Coursera, let you create and upload your courses for free. People can search for your course and purchase it right on the platform. This makes things easy, but they take a cut of your total sales and you’re giving up control to a platform.

Video Platforms

Platforms like Uscreen and Muvi let you create your very own video subscription channel. This is great if you want to create a ton of video content and ongoing membership courses. The only drawback is you’ll need to create a constant stream of video content to keep your members happy.

Live Event Platforms

Live event platforms like reach.live, sutra.fit, lu.ma, joinhologram.com lets you host live video presentations and events. These can be used alongside an existing online course, as a way to generate new students, or as courses entirely in themselves. Since this is a virtual event platform you’re limited by the type of content you can create, but it can be a great way to connect with people.


What Should You Look for in an Online Course Platform?

You’ll want to choose an online course platform that best supports your unique needs and the type, of course, you want to sell.

However, here are some universal elements to look for on any platform:

  • Easy to use. You must be able to use the platform, upload courses, and bring on students without hassle.
  • Within your budget. There are a ton of different free and premium options that’ll fit within your budget.
  • Features you require. Maybe you require video streaming capabilities, a comment function, email list management, or something else. Make sure the platform you choose supports your goals.

If you want to stay informed on topics like the future of software development, then learning marketplaces like Udemy or Skillshare can guide you in selecting the right online courses.

Why Trust Me for This Guide

Navigating the online course platforms requires expertise, and my background offers both depth and breadth in this field. With 13+ certificates in Digital Marketing, including seven from Google, two in SEO, and others in Facebook, Instagram, and Growth Hacking, my knowledge base is extensive. I hold a Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing, solidifying my expertise.

My 20+ years as a lecturer, trainer, and coach have seen me train over 20,000 executives globally, providing me with a diverse perspective on learning needs. This experience has honed my ability to discern quality in educational content and methodologies. I’ve designed and structured hundreds of courses, focusing on their relevance and effectiveness for a wide range of audiences.

In crafting this guide, I’ve drawn from this vast experience to give you a comprehensive and practical overview of online course platforms. My aim is to empower your decision-making for your training and educational endeavors. Trust this guide as your resource for choosing the best online course platforms, backed by years of expertise and a commitment to your success.

In essence, this guide is your gateway to informed decisions in selecting online course platforms, shaped by my extensive experience in digital marketing and education.

Let’s dive in..


Best Online Course Platforms 2025



The best All-in-one tool for course creators to create engaging courses, build a community in the platform, and with the website creator, you can create a beautiful website for your online school.


learnworlds


LearnWorlds is a powerful online training tool that is reliable and easy to use for individuals and enterprises. Over recent years, it has gained a broad audience by offering training solutions to employees and associates, educating customers, and selling online courses. It provides professionals and entrepreneurs with a solution that best meets their specific needs through its cloud-based e-learning platform. LearnWorlds also offers beautiful templates, a built-in- social community, a modular page builder, and advanced analytics for designing a comprehensive online learning experience.

LearnWorlds – Features

Landing and sales pages

LearnWorlds lets users create appealing landing and sales pages that convert using its page builder. With this platform, one can quickly build all his informational pages without necessarily maintaining a separate website. This is made possible by a rich library of ready-made beautiful and responsive templates that users can choose from.

Branding and theme editor

The theme editor allows you to customize the style, logo, and theme of your school to reflect and promote your brand.

Customized notifications

It allows you to use its personalized “welcome” and course completion emails, which you can send to your students based on enrollment, course status, and a dozen other filters.

Complete course catalog

LearnWorlds offers a comprehensive school experience with a ready-made course catalog. You can further customize it to fit your brand using the page builder.

Advanced CSS and JavaScript editing

LearnWorlds allows you to easily make modifications to any of your courses and pages, and add code snippets to integrate with affiliate programs, third-party marketing and analytics tools easily.

As I checked the latest updates of LearnWorlds in october 2024, I was excited to discover a plethora of new features and improvements that promise to enhance the user experience and streamline course creation.

Course Authoring Tools: A Game Changer

When I started exploring the new Course Authoring tools, I was impressed by the flexibility and capability to design interactive and engaging learning activities. Here are some of the updates that stood out:

Video Learning Units: The default source is now the “Video Library” instead of “Vimeo.” This change is a huge time-saver, as most users, including myself, rely heavily on the LearnWorlds video library.

Course Player Subtitles: The system now remembers the subtitles chosen by students, making the learning experience more seamless. I believe this is a great feature, especially for students who prefer subtitles or need them for better comprehension.

Assessment Retakes: Students can now answer the same questions on retakes, which I think is a fair and practical approach. It reduces the stress of facing entirely new questions each time.

Ebook Code Widget: The addition of a copy code option and the inclusion of SQL as one of the available languages is a boon for coding lessons. I’ve found this feature incredibly useful for my own coding courses.

Gamification Enhancements: Customizing digital badges by changing names, descriptions, and images adds a fun and competitive element to the learning experience. I’ve seen a significant increase in student engagement since implementing these badges.

Site Builder and Customization

The Site Builder has received some exciting updates:

Timeframe for Sections and Widgets: You can now define a specific timeframe for sections and widgets to be visible. This feature is a lifesaver for promotional content, as it automatically disappears when the offer ends. I’ve used this to create limited-time offers and it’s been very effective.

New Color Picker for Social Media Icons: The ability to personalize social media icons with a color picker adds a nice touch to branding. It’s small but makes a big difference in the overall aesthetic of the site.

Admin Tools: Streamlined Efficiency

The Admin Dashboard updates have significantly improved my workflow:

New Menu Design and Search Function: The revamped menu and keyboard shortcut-enabled search feature have cut down the time I spend searching for features. It’s so much faster now to find what I need.

Dark Mode: The Dark Mode feature is not only stylish but also reduces eye strain, making it easier to work for extended periods.

Centralized Course Management: Having all course management tools in one spot has simplified my task of handling settings and viewing reports. It’s a huge time-saver and makes managing courses more efficient.

Mobile App Builder and Automation

The Mobile App Builder has seen various enhancements, which I’m excited to explore further:

Automation Triggers: New automation triggers have been added, which will help streamline processes and reduce manual work. I’m looking forward to setting these up to automate routine tasks.

Community Feature

The much-requested update to the Community feature is a welcome change. It allows for better engagement and interaction among students, which is crucial for building a strong learning community.

Personal Insights and Opinions

From my perspective, these updates reflect LearnWorlds’ commitment to listening to user feedback and continuously improving the platform. Here are a few key takeaways:

User-Centric Approach: The focus on user feedback is evident in these updates. For instance, the change in the default video learning unit source from Vimeo to the LearnWorlds video library shows they are paying attention to what users need.

Enhanced Engagement: Features like gamification and the ability to customize digital badges have significantly boosted student engagement in my courses. I believe these elements of fun and competition are essential for motivating learners.

Efficiency and Productivity: The new menu design, search function, and centralized course management have made my job much easier. I can now manage my courses more efficiently, which allows me to focus on creating better content.

In my opinion, these updates make LearnWorlds an even more powerful tool for course creators. The platform’s ability to adapt to user needs and continuously innovate sets it apart from other learning management systems.

LearnWorlds – Target group

LearnWorlds has been rapidly growing, and at the moment, it already accounts for over 10,000 customers in over 70 countries, ranging from personal entrepreneurs to professional training organizations, technology companies, and government agencies.

LearnWorlds – Pricing

LearnWorlds is a premium platform given the depth of features that it offers positioning it as fair, and so is their pricing. In its monthly fee plans, LearnWorlds offers four packages; Corporate/ High Volume, Learning Centre, Pro, and Starter.

To get a rough idea of what to expect, you can also enjoy a free 30-day trial without paying an upfront fee or sharing your credit card details.

Starter Plan

  • Customer domain
  • Built-in community
  • Basic integrations
  • Free SSL certificate
  • 24/5 e-mail support

Pro Plan

  • 5 admins
  • Unlimited courses& pages
  • Customized check out page
  • Certifications
  • SCORM/HTML 5 support.
  • Premium integrations
  • Onboarding call
  • Affiliate system
  • Subscriptions and payment plans
  • 24/7 e-mail support.

Learning centre Plan

  • Fully white-labeled
  • 20 admins
  • Bulk student upload
  • API integrations
  • Interactive video
  • Single sign-on
  • Custom mobile app
  • Premium onboarding
  • 24/7 premium support

Corporate Plan

  • All features included in previous plans
  • Dedicated account manager
  • Flexible invoicing
  • Optional SLA

LearnWorlds – Pros

  • It is intuitive, easy to use and flexible
  • It offers web hosting, essential marketing tools, integration of affiliate programs and email marketing tools

LearnWorlds – Cons

  • More comprehensive plans are a bit expensive, but you save the website builder
  • The uploading system lacks the option of organizing your files in folders, but that’s manageable

 

LearnWorlds – Conclusion

LearnWorlds is an online teaching platform that combines interactive videos, eBooks, and social features allowing people to have an exciting learning experience. Anyone with something to teach can make a profitable learning school out of this platform.







2. Teachable

teachable

Teachable is an online course platform that lets you generate, manage, and sell your online courses. It simplifies the online course development and launch process by letting you upload your content without worrying about the technical aspects of the design features.

Teachable – Features

An easy to use course builder

Using the Teachable platforms allows you to simply put together your course since all the content aspects are readily available. You only need to upload and get it organized to your preference and taste. The course builder has a drag-and-drop interface, therefore, removing the need to be acquainted with code.

Powerful course sales features

Teachable provides an all-in-one solution when it comes to payments. You don’t have to pay any affiliates, or sign-up for a payment process since Teachable has its own payment gateways. Only a small transaction fee will be deducted from your credit card.

Ability to create your blog

Another outstanding feature on this platform is the ability to set-up your blog within the Teachable admin profile.

Mixed media on a single lesson

Teachable allows you to add videos, texts, and comments within your course – all on one page. This feature is quite helpful to learners since they first get introduced to a video file at the start of the webinar before they open to view it.

A high converting single check out pages

The check-out pages are unique since they have a summary of the order at the top for students to know precisely what they are buying and at what cost. Besides, they have an option of the checkbox for instructional and promotional emails.

As I began exploring Teachable’s newest 2024 updates, I was thrilled to uncover a range of features designed to transform the way I build, oversee, and market my online courses.

Enhanced Reporting Features: A Game Changer

When I first explored the new reporting tools, I was impressed by their comprehensiveness and insight. Here are the updates that stood out:

Course Analytics: Teachable now provides detailed insights into student learning journeys. I can see which students have made the least progress and reach out to them directly. This feature has been a lifesaver; it helps me create a more personalized and effective learning experience.

For instance, I can view leaderboards to identify struggling students and offer them support, which has significantly boosted student engagement and completion rates.I’m convinced that these analytics are crucial for understanding my students better. By seeing how and when they interact with my courses, I can adjust my content strategy to meet their needs, leading to higher satisfaction and completion rates.

Sales Analytics: The new sales analytics dashboard is a treasure trove of information. I can now deeply understand my students’ purchase behavior, optimize my sales strategies, and increase student lifetime value (LTV).

The dashboard provides a detailed breakdown of Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR), student churn, and failed payments, which helps me identify areas for improvement and ensure a steady revenue stream.From where I stand, having this level of financial insight is vital. It allows me to make informed, real-time decisions that shape the future of my business. I can track earnings, fees, and payouts with precision, closely monitoring my financial performance.

When I started using the enhanced course analytics, I realized how much more engaged students can become. By understanding their learning journeys, I could tailor my content to better meet their needs. This can lead to higher student satisfaction and completion rates.

Reflecting on my initial days in teaching, I faced challenges in understanding student engagement. However, with Teachable’s new reporting tools, I can now see exactly where my students are struggling and provide targeted support. This can be a a game-changer for my courses.

Financial Health and Revenue Growth

In hindsight, I recognize that managing financial reports was a significant challenge. However, the new sales analytics feature can make it much easier. I could now track my financial performance with precision, which may streamlinemy financial management and help me grow my revenue.

Strategies and Approaches

When faced with the task of improving student engagement and revenue growth, my approach is to leverage data-driven insights. Here’s how I use Teachable’s new features:

Granular View of Student Engagement: I use the course analytics to get a detailed view of student engagement. This can help me identify areas where students are struggling and provide targeted support.

Optimizing Sales Strategies: The sales analytics dashboard allows me to analyze buying patterns and preferences. This information helps me optimize my sales strategies and increase student LTV.

Advice and Recommendations

If I could share one bit of guidance, it would be to fully leverage the new reporting features. Here’s why:

Understand Your Students: Use the course analytics to gain a deep understanding of your students’ learning journeys. This will help you create a more personalized and effective learning experience.

Analyze Financial Health: Utilize the sales analytics dashboard to get a detailed breakdown of your financial performance. This will help you make informed decisions and grow your business.

Drawing from my own journey, I suggest exploring these features thoroughly. They have made a significant difference in how I manage and grow my online courses.

Preferences and Tendencies

I often lean towards tools that provide actionable insights, and Teachable’s new reporting features fit the bill perfectly. Here are a few preferences that stand out:

Ease of Use: The new reporting tools are incredibly user-friendly. Even if you’re not tech-savvy, you can easily navigate and use them.

Comprehensive Insights: The level of detail provided by these tools is unparalleled. It gives me a complete picture of my students’ engagement and my business’s financial health.

In conclusion, Teachable’s latest updates seem a game-changer to me. The enhanced reporting features have not only improved student engagement but also fueled my business’s growth. I believe these tools are essential for any course creator looking to succeed in the online education space.

Teachable – Target group

Teachable is a real deal for entrepreneurs with little to no knowledge in setting up hosting, creating web pages, using a content management system, or incorporating ecommerce capabilities with other platforms.

Read more on finding your audience while using Teachable here.

Teachable – Pricing

Teachable has three pricing tiers, and unlike other platforms, they don’t limit you with per-user pricing or limit the number of courses and students you can have.

Teachable Free Plan

Teachable does not offer a free plan.

Basic Plan

  • 5% transaction fees
  • Monthly payouts
  • Two admin-level users
  • Customer support
  • Product domain support
  • Integrated affiliate marketing
  • Integrated email marketing
  • Third-party integrations

Professional Plan

  • Everything in basic plus
  • Instant payouts
  • No transaction fees
  • Five admin-level users
  • Advanced reports
  • Unbranded website
  • Advanced theme customization

Business Plan

  • Everything in professional+
  • 100 admin-level users
  • Bulk student enrollment
  • Priority product support
  • Customer user roles

Teachable – Pros

  • Teachable is easy to use
  • Teachable focuses on helping you develop your brand
  • It has excellent options for free courses
  • Fair pricing options

Teachable – Cons

  • There aren’t enough integrations like Google Drive and Dropbox
  • Lack of enough learning elements like course portfolios and projects
  • The course builder is confusing and unintuitive, especially when adding content.

Teachable – Conclusion

Teachable is of great help to course creators who mainly focus on marketing, selling, and branding. Online creators who want to go deeper with their learners in content creation might be forced to look for another platform.

There are many success stories from Teachable. Find out how other course creators made it on their website.







3. Thinkific


businessbolta


Thinkific is a cloud-based learning management system that enables entrepreneurs to create, market, and sell online courses. It offers you custom domains and brandable sites that can be edited by CSS and HTML. It also allows you to build multimedia courses and attach PDF and voice-over slide presentations that are downloadable.

Thinkific – Features

These are the features that make Thinkific stand out:

Thinkific course builder

You can upload a complete course and organize it the way you want within the Thinkific admin. This is done by adding the content provided in the menu on the course website and then in the form that pops up on the main page.

Possible white-labeling

There is no distinct Thinkific URL for your sign-up and login pages, as these are all available in the Thinkific.com subdomain.

Course templates

There are several templates to walk you through the course that you choose.

Payment capabilities

Thinkific allows you to incorporate Stripe and PayPal to make payments.

File uploads

The platform allows you to upload files created by eLearning authoring tools such as iSpring and Captivate to get an exceptional learning experience.

Logo link

You can redirect your logos on all your pages to go back to the homepage.

As I explored Thinkific’s 2024 updates, I was thrilled to find new features that could reshape how we approach online courses.

Abandoned Cart Remarketing: A Lifesaver

One of the features that immediately caught my attention was the new Abandoned Cart remarketing tool. This feature automates follow-up emails to re-engage learners who left the checkout process before completing their purchase. I believe this is a game-changer, especially with Black Friday around the corner. It helps me recover lost sales effortlessly, which is a huge relief.In my opinion, this feature is a must-have for any course creator. When I was faced with a similar situation in the past, I had to manually follow up with students, which was time-consuming and often ineffective. Now, Thinkific handles it for me, saving me time and increasing my sales.

Hassle-Free Tax and VAT Management

Thinkific is soon to introduce hassle-free tax and VAT management for EU and UK sales. This is a significant update, as managing sales tax can be tricky with ever-changing rules. I’ve come to realize that automating tax calculations can reduce a lot of stress and give me more peace of mind.From my perspective, this feature is essential for anyone selling courses internationally. It streamlines the process and ensures compliance with local tax regulations, which is crucial for maintaining a smooth and legal operation.

Accelerator Program Enhancements

The Accelerator Program has been upgraded with two major courses: the Digital Downloads Bootcamp and additional resources to help succeed with Thinkific. I’ve found these resources incredibly valuable, especially the step-by-step blueprint for creating and selling digital downloads.In tackling complex issues like marketing and selling courses, I often rely on these resources. They provide in-depth sessions and live Q&A hours that have been instrumental in my success. One lesson I’ve learned over the years is that having the right tools and guidance can make all the difference.

New Resource Center

Thinkific has introduced a new Resource Center, accessible from the navigation, which includes introduction and feature tour videos, playbook webinars, Accelerator office hours, and the Thinkific Academy. I believe this is a fantastic addition, as it gives me easier access to the resources I need when I need them.From my experience, having these resources at my fingertips has been a game-changer. I can quickly get started with new features and strategies without feeling overwhelmed. Whenever I set new goals, I try to utilize these resources to ensure I’m on the right track.

Email Marketing Enhancements

The new email marketing features allow me to include or exclude recipients based on their enrollment status in specific products. I can also send preview emails to myself before sending them to my audience. This feature has given me more control over my email campaigns and ensures that my emails look exactly as intended.In my opinion, these enhancements are crucial for effective communication with my students. I’ve come to realize that targeted and well-crafted emails can significantly boost engagement and sales.

AI-Powered Landing Pages

Thinkific is soon to launch AI-powered landing pages for courses, similar to those available for digital downloads and coaching. These pages can be generated quickly with AI, without needing any coding. I’m excited about this feature because it will save me time and help me create stunning page layouts and copy effortlessly.From my perspective, this is a huge advantage. I tend to favor tools that automate repetitive tasks, allowing me to focus on more creative and strategic aspects of my business.

Community Moderator Role

The new Community Moderator role will allow me to share moderation responsibilities with team members or trusted alumni. This feature is coming soon, but I’m already looking forward to it. It will give me more time to focus on business growth while ensuring my community remains active and engaged.In tackling complex issues like community management, I often look for ways to delegate tasks effectively. This new role will be a significant help, as it will allow me to maintain a high level of engagement without shouldering all the responsibilities myself.

Advice and Recommendations

If I could offer one piece of advice, it would be to fully leverage these new features. Here’s why:

Automate Follow-Ups: Use the Abandoned Cart remarketing feature to recover lost sales. It’s a simple yet effective way to boost your revenue.

Streamline Tax Management: Take advantage of the upcoming tax and VAT management feature for EU and UK sales. It will save you time and reduce stress.

Utilize Resources: Explore the new Resource Center and Accelerator Program resources. They are invaluable for learning and growing your business.

Enhance Email Campaigns: Use the new email marketing features to target your audience more effectively. It makes a big difference in engagement and sales.

Based on my experiences, I’d recommend diving into these features as soon as possible. They have made a significant difference in how I manage and grow my online courses, and I believe they can do the same for you.

Thinkific- Target group

Thinkific is targeting those with little to no experience when it comes to running an online business. It is the right choice if you want to minimize your technology headaches.

How much does Thinkific cost?

Thinkific – Pricing

Thinkific offers a free plan and three paid subscription plans that are; basic, pro, and premier, paid through a monthly fee. Under the free plan, you don’t need to make any upfront payments and therefore they don’t need your credit card details. The main difference between the Plans is the transaction fee, and access to features like competition certificates, custom domain, priority support, coupons, and promotions.

Thinkific – Pros

  • Thinkific allows you to create aesthetically appealing courses. Everything has its place, and it’s not overcrowded.
  • With Thinkific free plan, you can get started for free. Although it has minimal functions, you can still launch your course business at no cost.
  • With Thinkific, you can create as many courses as you desire on all the plans, including the free plan.
  • Thinkific allows you to create a course sales widget as a result putting up your course directly for marketing on your social media channels.
  • Thinkific allows you to get paid directly via PayPal or Stripe.

Thinkific – Cons

  • The Thinkific paid plans cost more per month, making it slightly higher in comparison to its competitors.
  • If you are new to creating online courses, it might be challenging to start off on Thinkific.
  • You can’t do workshops or live office hours on Thinkific.

Thinkific Alternatives

The most important thinkific alternatives are

  1. teachable
  2. Learnworld
  3. learndash
  4. podia
  5. kajabi.

Thinkific Course Examples

  1. Costaldrone
  2. Train2Point0
  3. Omnit
  4. LoyaltyLion
  5. DentalTraining
  6. The Vocal Lab
  7. Elisabeth Rider Health / Wellness
  8. The balanced runner
  9. Desktop Documentaries
  10. Rick Hanson, PhD. 
  11. Confident Voice
  12. BlipBillBoards Academy
  13. GuitarZerotoHero

 

Thinkific- Conclusion

Thinkific is a platform with a lot of momentum. Beginners also have the rare opportunity of learning more on the Thinkific discussion forums too. I’m confident that if the platform keeps improving, then it will be around for a long time.

On their website, you find some interesting success stories from online course creators using Thinkific.







4. Podia


podia


Unlike its competitors (Teachable, and Thinkific), Podia is a full-featured online platform that allows you to sell online courses, memberships, and digital products. It is effortless to use because of its drag-and-drop builder, and also has enough customizable options, making you feel like you are taking full control over your product.

Podia – Features

These are the features that make Podia stand out:

Email marketing

With this feature, you can easily send out newsletters and stream your campaigns to keep your subscribers engaged. It also allows you to send manuals and automatic messages, including your personal branding to your followers.

Endless online courses

With Podia, you can create as many online courses as you need. Podia gives you a modern, streamlined theme, from which you can upload whatever file type that you want.

Membership

Podia takes you step by step through the process of creating a professional-looking membership for your clients and its customizable element allows one to create lasting connections.

Bundle up

With Podia, you can bind your products and sell them as a solo item to help create and move sales on your platform. Giving your customers numerous products for a lower price that’s lower than their specific total lures them into buying a new product.

Embed your buy button

This is one of the favorite Podia features, as it allows you to turn any page into a course sales page. It, in turn, makes those visiting your page purchase your content without leaving the page itself.

Podia – Target group

Podia targets anyone who wants to sell digital products and memberships, alongside online courses.

Podia – Pricing

After a 14-day trial, Podia offers you two price plans, namely; the mover plan, and the shaker plan – both attracting a monthly fee. Take a look at the features they offer and then choose the one that fits your needs.

Mover Plan

  • Two months free when billed annually
  • Online courses
  • Digital downloads
  • Email marketing
  • Zero transaction fee
  • Unlimited everything
  • 24/7 support

Shaker Plan

  • All the Mover features +
  • Memberships
  • Embedded checkout
  • Affiliate marketing
  • Third-party code
  • Free migration

Podia – Pros

  • Set up a member platform for your clients to earn by promoting your products.
  • Fair and affordable pricing based on the features
  • Large storage and bandwidth to host your videos
  • Fixed checkout option that allows users to check out without leaving the site.
  • Zero transaction fees on all the plans

Podia – Cons

  • Podia lacks design flexibility
  • The email composer in Podia requires personalized fields
  • Lack of a membership feature in the mover plan.
  • Lack of critical features like Google Analytics, and Facebook Pixel, that will help in targeting customers based on their interests and interactions.

Podia – Conclusion

Podia genuinely wants to see your brand grow and succeed; that is why it offers diverse features and excellent customer support.

Read their story of Groove on how they managed to hit more than $120,000 in five days, when they launched their first online course website, ‘Content Marketing Mastery’.







5. Kajabi


kajabi


Kajabi is a web-based all-in-one platform that provides web hosting, course creation, membership site business, payment handling, and email list management. With Kajabi’s powerful tools, you can build highly interactive learning environments with unlimited video hosting, homework assignments, drip content, and more. Kajabi is not only limited to courses since it also offers coaching services, eBooks, and product sales. Did you know you can also create your own website on Kajabi?

Kajabi – Features

Pipelines

This is one of the unique features that help entrepreneurs join several actions and link them together. Anyone who visits your created links and pages will want to follow through and take action on the specific agenda that you’ve set up.

Landing pages

The capacity to create landing pages is the main reason entrepreneurs seek to put up their businesses online. Landing pages can serve as a video sales letter, a page where you can offer free downloads, or where you can discuss products and many more.

Product creation

With the product creation feature, you can display your product and create a menu allowing your digital clients to navigate through your items and choose what they need with comfort.

Blogging capability

Kajabi allows you to reach your target audience giving them access to your products and services. With the blog feature, you can market your business, establish your brand, and solve your audience’s problems.

Community feature

This is a Kajabi feature that facilitates student discussions. Members can access the community from their dashboard and start a new discussion, or they can still contribute to the ongoing one.

Kajabi – Target group

Kajabi is a platform made for experts, coaches, leaders, and course creators to sell online courses and other digital products over the internet.

Kajabi – Pricing

Kajabi offers you a 28-day free trial where you can access all the features offered in the basic plan, after which you will be required to subscribe to any of the three plans if you are interested.

Basic – Plan

  • Five products
  • 1,000 marketing emails/Month
  • One admin user
  • 1,000 active members
  • One site
  • 25 landing pages

Pro Plan

  • 100 products
  • 40,000 marketing emails/Month
  • Five admin users
  • 10,000 active members
  • Three sites
  • 100 landing pages

Premium Plan

  • Unlimited products
  • 100,000 marketing emails/Month
  • 25 admin users
  • Unlimited active members
  • Ten sites
  • Unlimited landing pages

Kajabi – Pros

  • Kajabi offers strong video streaming capabilities.
  • Includes in-built email marketing and customer relationship management.
  • Powerful pipeline feature lets you create all types of sale funnels.
  • Offers more than ten well-designed themes and a lot of customizable options for users.
  • Excellent 24/7 customer support.

Kajabi – Cons

  • Pricing plan is higher compared to that of its competitors.
  • Blogging functionality lacks flexibility
  • Doesn’t allow you to create certificates natively.
  • Doesn’t support advanced quiz elements such as question banks, randomization etcetera.

Kajabi – Conclusion

Each feature that Kajabi offers helps users save time and effort while striving for better results that will capture the thoughts of their audience. I can’t, therefore, vouch for Kajabi as the most well-furnished platform that is creating an impact among its users.

Read some of the success stories, and marketing advice from the Kajabi team to dig deeper.






6. SendPulse’s Online Course Builder


Sendpulse Online Course Creator


SendPulse is a marketing automation platform at heart which also offers an intuitive online course builder that simplifies the process of creating and selling courses. With its intuitive interface and powerful features, SendPulse allows educators and entrepreneurs to develop, manage, and monetize their online courses all on a single platform.

Features:

Intuitive Course Creation

SendPulse’s course builder provides a user-friendly interface that allows educators to easily organize and structure their course content. With drag-and-drop functionality, creating engaging and interactive courses is simple and straightforward.

Multimedia Integration

The platform supports various multimedia formats, including videos, presentations, quizzes, and assessments. Educators can seamlessly incorporate multimedia elements to enhance the learning experience for their students.

Course completion certificates

SendPulse’s LMS provides a set of pre-made course completion certificate templates that educators can alter to match their brand image.

Automated Email and Chatbot marketing

Integrated email marketing tools enable educators to nurture leads, engage students, and promote their courses effectively. Messenger chatbot builder can be used to design a chatbot for the most popular messengers and social media platforms like Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook. A chatbot can deliver course updates, reminders, and promotional offers to students.

Convenient mobile app

Students who bought your course can access courses from anywhere in the world with the Education by SendPulse mobile app with a multilingual interface. The app allows you to complete and submit homework, download materials, communicate with a teacher etc.

Target Audience:

SendPulse’s online course builder is ideal for educators, trainers, and businesses looking to create and monetize their educational content. It can also serve as an LMS for corporate training and onboarding process. Whether you’re a solopreneur, small business owner, or established institution, SendPulse offers a flexible solution that caters to your specific needs.

SendPulse course builder pricing:

SendPulse provides a free plan and a paid plan based on the number of students.

The free plan includes:

  • 1 course
  • 1 instructor
  • 1 GB of file storage
  • Online course website
  • Homework assignments and tests
  • Course certificate builder
  • Collecting student reviews and ratings
  • Visual dashboard and detailed statistics
  • LMS
  • Education by SendPulse mobile app

Paid plan offers:

All the FREE plan features and more

  • Unlimited number of courses
  • 10 instructors and the ability to assign custom user roles with unique permissions and restrictions
  • 15 GB of file storage (upgradeable)
  • Personalized link to the course
  • Course monetization options
  • Custom online course domain
  • Personalized web push notifications for students
  • Uploading a unique certificate
  • Displaying the best student reviews on your course website and in students’ accounts
  • Creating and using promo codes
  • Course edit history
  • Copying your course materials to other courses
  • Limiting course completion time
  • Course recommendation system
  • Customizing your student account style

SendPulse course builder – Pros:

  • All in one platform
  • Built-in CRM and marketing automation features
  • Course completion certificates
  • Mobile app for students
  • Mini-website and landing page builder

SendPulse – Cons:

  • With so many tools on board might take a while to get used to the dashboard
  • The free plan doesn’t allow you to sell your course

Conclusion:

SendPulse’s online course builder offers a robust solution for educators and businesses seeking to create and monetize online courses. With its user-friendly interface, multimedia integration, and marketing automation capabilities, SendPulse empowers creators to deliver high-quality educational content and drive revenue growth.






7. LearnDash


learndash


LearnDash is a WordPress plugin that offers practical experience and guidance for major educational institutions, enterprises, and many smaller websites and instructors. It has numerous integrations and customizable features that enable you to create a professional-looking learning platform.

LearnDash Features

Creating unlimited online courses

As a WordPress Plugin, the primary purpose of this platform is to develop online courses for WordPress sites. It allows you to publish limitless courses and has no limit to lessons or questions you can add to your course.

Unique video progression feature

LearnDash comes with a feature that enables you to easily embed either self-hosted or externally hosted videos in your courses.

Engagement triggers for automation

This is a powerful feature that lets you to automatically perform some functions, based on the action a learner has taken. Once you trigger a reaction, there is a little you can do from your side e.g. sending a specific email to users.

Charge for access to courses

LearnDash can monetize your online courses by integrating with PayPal to enable payment collections through your website. LearnDash also supports recurring payments.

Powerful reporting and administration tools

Logged in users can view their profiles on the front-end of your website. They are able to see how many courses are available for them, how many they have chosen, and other details regarding their progress. All this is done through one easy-to-access portal.

LearnDash – Target Group

LearnDash is targeting anyone with interest to publish courses online, whether they want to add a few educational materials to an existing WordPress Site, or they want to create their online school.

LearnDash – Pricing

LearnDash is a premium plugin. It has three pricing plans; Basic, Plus Package, and Pro Package. The only difference between the methods is the number of site licenses that come with it. The Basic Plan supports one, the Plus Package supports up to10, and the Pro Package supports up to 25 site licenses. Always be on the lookout as LearnDash offers discounts on occasions.

LearnDash – Pros

  • It has an in-built video progression tool that supports the airing of video courses.
  • The drag and drop course builder makes it easier to organize the courses in the folders.
  • It has a deep functionality that gives you more control in many areas.
  • The email trigger functionality activates automation.

LearnDash – Cons

  • The deep functionality can be confusing for new users
  • A plugin needs to be integrated for payments of the various packages.

LearnDash – Conclusion

LearnDash has a lot of exciting features to engage learners during webinars and to motivate them to take more courses. To learn more, beginners can also engage in the LearnDash discussion forums.

However, it is my view that LearnDash should continue adding more innovative features to stay ahead of the competition.







8. EasyWebinar


easywebinar


EasyWebinar is a flexible webinar platform that helps businesses host online meetings, remote conferences, training, and marketing. It can accommodate four multiple presenters and gives room for the attendee to be a presenter as well. EasyWebinar provides high-quality streaming of videos without delay and latency. It has several features that make it a powerful marketing software.

EasyWebinar – Features

Webinar funnel pages

EasyWebinar comes with all the market landing pages that you need to run a live webinar.

Blind editing

EasyWebinar comes with editable registration pages, thank you pages, event pages, and reply pages. The editing of pages is limited to some extent and can only be done at the back-end interface.

Real-time chat

Easy live chat makes engagement with your users smooth and fun with the full support of emojis. It allows you to send links and any communication in real-time.

Record and archive

This platform allows you to record and save all the live webinar sessions to download and watch later.

Amazing audio with TrueVoice technology

TrueVoice technology enables streaming of high bandwidth with no delay and reduces the noise even when two people are speaking simultaneously.

Multiple presenters

It supports up to 4 presenters in a live webinar making a presentation to an audience. The presenters can each use a camera and microphone and also share their screen for presentation.

EasyWebinar – Audience

This platform tends to target bloggers, start-ups of small and big companies, and affiliate marketers. This is because the internet is becoming progressively video-centric and also because its live video feature is fascinating.

EasyWebinar – Pricing

EasyWebinar has three packages; standard, pro, and enterprise. There’s no free trial except that it has a 30-day money-back guarantee that should give you an insight before entering a monthly fee or yearly package. As a result, you have to pay upfront on EasyWebinar.


Standard Plan

  • 100 live attendees
  • Unlimited automated webinars with up to 100 simultaneous attendees per session
  • Unlimited live attendees using YouTube live integration
  • WordPress site integration
  • EliteWebinar Mastery foundation course
  • Instant on-boarding call
  • Chat support

Pro Plan

  • 500 live attendees
  • Unlimited automated webinars with up to 500 simultaneous attendees per session
  • Unlimited live attendees using YouTube live integration
  • WordPress site integration
  • EliteWebinar Mastery foundation course
  • Instant on-boarding call
  • Chat support
  • Custom fields from the registration page
  • Easy cast Facebook live and YouTube live streaming tool

Enterprise Plan

  • All pro features
  • 2000 live attendees
  • Unlimited attendees on all automated Webinars when paying annually otherwise it is up to 2000 simultaneous attendees per session.
  • EliteWebinar Mastery full course
  • Dedicated account representative

EasyWebinar – Pros

  • Live and automated webinars are combined in a single platform
  • Relatively affordable pricing especially the pro package

EasyWebinar – Cons

  • Outdated looking templates for your webinar landing pages.
  • Webinar room lacks marketing and engagement tools, unlike other platforms.
  • Live chat is implemented poorly for Q&A sessions.

EasyWebinar – Conclusion

EasyWebinar is a slightly above average webinar solution for small, mid-sized, and big companies. Its automatic Webinar feature is one of the unique features that put it on the map. However, much needs to be done on outdated templates for EasyWebinar to keep up with today’s competition.

On their website they have great story of how Devin Duncan made $20k per day with EasyWebinar. Yes. You read right. $20k per day!





8. Freshlearn

FreshLearn is a platform that helps experts turn their expertise into online courses and other digital products. It provides tools for creating, selling, and managing these products, making it easy for educators to build profitable online businesses.

Freshlearn- Features

Course Creation

Freshlearn allows you to simply build and manage your online courses. You can include a variety of content kinds, including as videos, articles, quizzes, and assignments. You can also monitor students’ progress and involvement.

Custom Branding

Freshlearn allows you to personalize your online learning platform with your own branding. This includes your logo, color scheme, and typefaces. You can also establish a unique domain name for your platform.

Payment Integration

Freshlearn works with several payment channels, allowing you to effortlessly receive money from your students. You can create many pricing plans and give discounts.

AI Page Builder

Freshlearn’s AI page builder enables you to construct visually appealing and interactive course landing pages. You can select from a range of templates and tailor them to your specifications.

Quizzes And Assessments

Freshlearn provides a variety of tools for creating quizzes and assessments. You can create multiple-choice questions, fill-in-the-blank questions, and essay questions. You can also track student performance and provide feedback.

Community Building

Freshlearn includes features that allow you to build a community of learners. You can create forums, chat rooms, and social media groups. You can also encourage learners to interact with each other and share their experiences.

After testing FreshLearn’s latest features in October 2024, I found it can truly enhance course creation and student engagement. Here’s my take on what stands out and how creators can use these tools effectively.

Digital Downloads and Product Bundles: Expanding Revenue Streams

FreshLearn’s digital downloads feature makes it easy to monetize additional resources like eBooks, offering a straightforward revenue boost. The product bundle option—combining, say, a course and workbook—adds value and drives sales, making it an efficient way to increase appeal without extra effort.

Community Building: Boosting Engagement

The Community feature adds a collaborative layer to online learning. Setting up a space for students to connect and engage fosters a sense of community, which can enhance both retention and overall experience. The customization options allow creators to align the community with their brand, making this feature a valuable asset for those looking to build a more engaged audience.

Website and Landing Page Builder: Quick, Professional Setup

The website and landing page builder offers a simple, drag-and-drop solution for creating a professional online presence. The ready-made templates and easy customization options mean creators can get set up quickly without needing coding skills, keeping the focus on content instead of tech.

Quizzes and Assessments: Interactive Learning

The Quiz feature lets creators easily integrate various question types and multimedia, which helps keep students engaged. The badge and rewards system also adds a motivational element, turning quizzes into an interactive, rewarding part of the course experience. For creators, this feature offers a practical way to add depth and interactivity.

Mandatory Watch Time: Ensuring Focused Engagement

Mandatory watch time for videos is an effective tool to keep students fully engaged with the content. The ability to customize the video player with logos and colors adds a personal touch, helping maintain student focus on key material.

Key Takeaways and Recommendations

Testing FreshLearn highlighted the benefits of community engagement, interactive content, and streamlined setup. For creators considering FreshLearn, I’d suggest:

  • Using the Community Feature to build a collaborative, supportive environment.
  • Incorporating Quizzes and Assessments to make learning interactive and engaging.
  • Leveraging the Website Builder for a fast, cohesive online presence without technical hassle.

Overall, FreshLearn’s tools provide a practical, user-friendly platform for creating impactful online courses, allowing creators to focus on what they do best: delivering value to their students.

Freshlearn- Target Group

Freshlearn helps creators, businesses, and individuals create, market, and sell online courses and digital products.

Freshlearn Pricing

FreshLearn offers a range of pricing plans to suit different needs and budgets. Here’s a breakdown of their pricing options:

Free Plan

  • No Transaction Fee
  • Unlimited Digital Products
  • Payments Integration
  • Custom Branding
  • Video Hosting
  • Sales Page Builder
  • 25 Enrolments (Paid or Free)

Pro

All features of free plan, plus:

  • Unlimited courses & products
  • AI website builder
  • Assessments
  • Coupons
  • 1 Administrator
  • 0% transaction fee
  • Integrations
  • Email and live chat support

No Brainer

All features of the pro plan, plus:

  • Custom Language
  • Live Classes
  • Gamification
  • Question Bank
  • Affiliate Program
  • Bulk Actions
  • Clone courses & sales pages
  • Free Migration
  • Call, Email and Live Chat Support

No Brainer+

All features of No Brainer plan, plus:

  • Email campaigns
  • Unlimited Workflows
  • Unlimited Automations
  • Custom Themes
  • 302 page redirects
  • API access
  • Call, Email and Live Chat Support (On Priority)

Freshlearn- Pros

  • All-in-one solution
  • Ease of use
  • Affordable pricing
  • Content upload flexibility
  • Drip course content
  • Payment control

Freshlearn- Cons

  • Sometimes unresponsive customer support
  • Free plan lacks advanced features.
  • Too many features can be overwhelming.
  • Limited integration options with other tools.

Freshlearn- Conclusion

In summary, FreshLearn is a versatile and affordable platform for online course creators, offering a range of features that support engaging and interactive content. While there are some limitations in customization and integrations, its user-friendly design and community-building options make it a strong choice for educators.

With no transaction fees and accessible pricing, FreshLearn provides solid value for those looking to launch or grow their online courses.

9. Hyax


Hyax Screenshot


Hyax is a product designed to help creators build run and manage their business online. It focuses on courses, membership sites, sales funnels, and stores allowing users to monetize in multiple ways whether it be selling content/knowledge or selling merchandise.

Hyax – Features

Customized builder

The customization in this course-building platform is taken to the next level with the amount of control you have over the design and content. If you are not about customizing and just want something up quickly, they have premade templates as well.

They also have this great build-in feature called “global styles” which helps you keep fonts, colors, etc matching throughout the course, landing pages, and store.

Different product types

The unique thing about the Hyax course builder is that you can sell other products within your course. Think PDF’s, audio files, cheatsheets, merch or even services.

The platform makes it really easy to create products, set a price, and then add it to any of your course lessons.

Sales funnels & landing pages

Creating the course is 1 thing, getting people to sign up and take it is another. Hyax has done a good job in this department as it gives users the ability to make unique sales pages or even funnels with multiple steps.

Membership area

When you create a Hyax account you have the option to enable a blog or members area. This is a great way to deliver more value to students. It is managed much like a blog and you can choose to charge for access or make it free.

Student accounts

A fantastic feature in Hyax is the seamless user experience for students. They create their logins and can access all assets, products, courses from that single login.

It also saves their payment information so it’s easy to purchase additional courses or products with 1 click. For example at the end of your course upselling students to join the members’ area.

Hyax – Target group

Hyax is really forced on making the process of creating and managing an online business seamless for entrepreneurs and creators. No coding, no technical skills, just focusing on creating a good product and helping people sell it.

It can be seen that the founders have a marketing background to help course creators optimize revenue from their content.

Hyax – Pricing

Hyax has multiple plans but the interesting thing about their pricing is that you can create an account, build your course, store, landing pages, etc, and only pay when you active them.

This gives users the chance to try the product, see, and use all the features before committing to the purchase.

Beginner Plan – $99/m

  • 0% transaction fees
  • All tools (courses, memberships, funnels, store, etc)
  • SSL Certificate
  • Hosting and CDN
  • Minimal branding
  • 100k/m pageviews
  • 10k contacts/students
  • 3 projects (brands or websites)
  • 10 products/course
  • Integrated referral & affiliate marketing
  • Third-party integrations

Advanced Plan – $199/m

  • Everything in beginner plus
  • No branding
  • Unlimited/m pageviews
  • 25k contacts/students
  • 10 projects (brands or websites)
  • 40 products/course

Enterprise – Contact them

  • Everything in advanced plus
  • Unlimited/m pageviews
  • 25k+ contacts/students
  • Unlimited projects (brands or websites)
  • Unlimited products/course

Hyax – Pros

  • Hyax is flexible
  • Hyax has a lot of customization
  • It has a lot of marketing and conversion features
  • It has multiple revenue types (courses, products, memberships, etc)
  • Video upload options (direct, youtube, embed)

Hyax – Cons

  • A more expensive option
  • Needs more integrations
  • Setup can take some time if you are not using the quick launch option
  • You will need a Stripe and PayPal account to charge students

Hyax – Conclusion

Hyax has a lot to offer but could be overkill for people who are only looking to create a course. There is the option to do this but you would want to use the other feature to take full advantage of the tool to justify the price tag.

Overall a good tool for creators and those looking to better monetize their content and audience.





 



Best Online Learning Platforms for Students and Teachers

10. Skillshare


skillshare


Skillshare is an online learning platform with thousands of creative and entrepreneurial classes to teach educators and learners real-world skills. It aims to make the learners shine in their professions, improve their lives, and keep doing what they love. Skillshare covers topics like marketing, freelance, design, and more. Skillshare has robust functionality and value for money.

Skillshare – Features

In the last couple of months, Skillshare has added some essential features that make learning easier. Those features are:

Skill tags

With this feature, one can quickly add up to a maximum of 5 skill tags when creating your course to increase its discoverability. Learners can find specific skills that they would like to major in and follow to personalize their recommendations from Skillshare.

Upload video lessons

The platform has made it possible for you to upload video files directly from your desktop. Videos will only be hosted and accessed by Skillshare members.

Interactive project steps

Since most lessons on Skillshare are project-based, the teacher is allowed to add to each phase of the project, and also, the students can interact with each project step. You can easily upload photos from the desktop through every step of the project. This gives you the flexibility to display the information in your own way.

Attach files to videos, steps, and resources

You can attach files to your video lessons, project lessons, and other resources.

Skillshare – Audience

Skillshare targets professionals, creators, and entrepreneurs to make money online. Through online teaching, it offers teachers a platform to upload their video lessons so that the students can get complete access and a chance to learn.

Skillshare – Pricing

For students: Skillshare offers a free two months trial to new users that allows you access to an unlimited course catalog of over 24,000 classes. After the two months trial, you can only get access to the courses after a premium membership payment for either a month or a year. The premium membership comes with the ability to download the classes which you can watch later. In addition, it has no advertisements, supports teachers, and offers scholarships to students.

Royalties for teachers:

Skillshare teachers earn revenue based on a royalty system. Each month, between 30% and 50% of Skillshare’s Premium Membership revenue goes to a royalty pool for teachers. The remaining revenue goes towards marketing and promoting your classes, supporting and investing in the website and platform, and running the day-to-day operations of our business.

On average, first-time teachers earn $200 in their first month on Skillshare, with top teachers earning upwards of $3,000!30 Your courses must get a minimum of 30 Premium minutes watched across all of your classes within a month in order to receive a payment for that month.

Skillshare – Pros

  • Provides offline learning to the users at a go.
  • Anyone can upload a standardized course on the network.
  • The platform is very interactive and well developed to help users switch between classes.
  • The price ranges are lower compared to other online platforms.

Skillshare – Cons

  • The non-creative courses have lower content quality in comparison to the creative ones.
  • It has unclear course access as the user has to go through a few clicks to reach the intended video.
  • Some of the courses are not accredited, and there are no certificates.
  • As Skillshare is a subscription service,  teachers get paid from a pool, earnings vary.

Skillshare – Conclusion

Skillshare aims at being the best as the platform incorporates its unique features to better the delivery performance. For people who are looking for a platform with unlimited class options at an affordable cost, and independent hands-on activities, Skillshare is the way to go.







11. Udemy


udemy


As we speak, Udemy is the most popular online learning platform in the world taking the most out of the revenue share generated from online course platforms. At its very core, it was developed to offer people the ability to learn new skills with the aim of reaching their desired educational levels. Udemy provides a standard experience while navigating the pages.

Udemy – Features

Wide range of course offerings.

Udemy offers more than ten major categories of courses ranging from music, art to software development, with up to fifteen subcategories under the major categories.

No qualification needed to take a course

Students can take any course that appeals to them.

Lifetime access to the chosen course

Courses enrolled can be reviewed in a limitless number of times without any extra charges incurred. This ensures that students get the full aspect of the material despite their schedules.

Self-paced.

Courses come with video lessons that can be viewed, stopped, and replayed as many times as one wants. The videos include short questions at the end, which helps to gauge the student’s understanding.

Certificate of completion

Udemy realizes the importance of the certificate as it may be required when applying for a position or job.

Udemy – Audience

Udemy is a global marketplace that offers an opportunity for instructors to make money online and to connect to students around the world who are ready and willing to advance their careers. Once learners complete a course, they are allowed to add their Udemy certificate on their LinkedIn profile.

Udemy – Price

There is no fee to create and host a course on Udemy, and you can publish as many free and paid courses as you like.

You get 97% revenue share on sale when you promote the course to your students

50% Revenue is shared when no Instructor coupon is used.

If Paid Acquisition Channels (Ads or Affiliate partner) generate the course sale, a 25% Instructor revenue is shared.

Udemy – Pros

  • One of Udemy’s most outstanding feature is the course marketing functionality. It allows the instructors to market their courses to students and sell their products to the right audience.
  • With its course quality checklist functionality, the instructors are sure what they are offering is marketable, professional, and innovative to supplement the learning experience of the pupil.
  • Udemy students have the chance of working and sharing their assignments so that they can apply their knowledge and training to improve their skills.

Udemy – Cons

  • Inadequate assessments
  • Limited video captioning and language support
  • Lack of course masterly validation. Most of the courses in Udemy target beginners with little or no knowledge in a particular area of study.

Udemy – Conclusion

Learning is a lifetime experience as it is critical in maintaining an individual’s position in the workplace. Formal classes are either unavailable or have become too expensive to deliver the knowledge that benefits students in their professions. Udemy is an evolving entry into providing education; it focuses on the transfer of knowledge rather than just attaining a certificate.

25 year old entrepreneur Nick Walter was introduced to Udemy by a friend, managed to make more than $60,000 in 30 days with his video “How to make a freaking iPhone app.”







12. CreativeLive


creativelive

CreativeLive is an online platform that airs live classes to an international audience for free. The online course platform connects learners and instructors through webinars and its social features like CreativeLive FB. They make use of their customer’s feedback to improve their courses making them a leader in the pack in the creative industry.

CreativeLive is one of the world’s largest live-streaming education website.

CreativeLive – Features

Efficient learning platform. CreativeLive video features can speed up or slow down the videos. It allows you to go through the learning materials quickly if you are in a hurry, slowly take notes or repeat a section, and even add subtitles if you can’t listen with sound or you don’t understand the language.

The CreativeLive videos are 30 to 40 minutes long, but you don’t have to finish them in one sitting. The platform allows you to pick up from where you left the previous session without any difficulties.

HD interactive classrooms come with lifetime access, wherever you are and at any time with the support of offline sync and CreativeLive’s iPhone and iPad applications.

CreativeLive- Audience/Target group

CreativeLive targets anyone with an interest in broadening their creativity and realizing their full potential. This includes artists, entrepreneurs, photographers, business professionals, musicians, and artisans who want to achieve their goals through live classes. One of the popular courses on CreativeLive is social media and offers learners a chance to learn the potential of lucrative social platforms designed for professionals e.g. LinkedIn.

CreativeLive – Price

CreativeLive’s pricing varies from time to time since they often have sales ongoing. You can, however, purchase a year-long subscription which offers approximately 1500 courses or rather pay per course every time you want to take one.

CreativeLive – Pros

  • It offers a wide selection of affordable classes that are taught by well-known professionals such as Tim Ferris, Kelly Starret, and Diane Fu.
  • It has top-notch production values, which puts the platform in front of the studio audience.
  • Individuals who are not able to commit financially to a course can watch free workshops from professionals around the world.
  • CreativeLive instructors make it easier to connect emotionally to the content. They can talk about straight- forward topics and also go deeper into what drives a creative mind, and this makes the learner more involved and willing to contribute.

CreativeLive – Cons

  • The prices vary significantly from class to class.
  • Many of the free classes offered only focus on photography, leaving out crucial areas like health, fitness, and lifestyle.
  • The platform lacks accessible customer support channels for customers having problems with the service.

CreativeLive – Conclusion

CreativeLive is one of the leaders in the competitive world of online training and online learning. As an online learning platform, learners who want new skills or want to advance their current creative profession have access to some of the most innovative, inspirational brains in the world. They can also communicate with them directly on live streaming videos and workshops.

Read their stories of some creative minds who have made blogging their full-time job with CreativeLive and are making a living out of it.






13. Skill Success


Skillsuccess homepage

Skill Success is an innovative online learning platform that offers a wide range of courses designed to help individuals acquire new skills and enhance their personal and professional development. With an extensive library of courses spanning various subjects, Skill Success aims to empower learners of all levels to unlock their potential and achieve their goals.

Skill Success – Features:

Skillsuccess.com boasts an impressive array of features that set it apart from other online learning platforms. Here are some notable features:

a) Diverse Course Catalog: Skill Success offers an extensive selection of courses across multiple disciplines, including business, technology, personal development, languages, software tutorials, and much more. Learners can find courses that cater to their specific interests and goals.

b) Experienced Instructors: The platform collaborates with highly knowledgeable and experienced instructors who are passionate about sharing their expertise. Learners can benefit from the wisdom and guidance of industry professionals.

c) Flexible Learning Experience: Skill Success provides a flexible learning experience, allowing learners to access courses at their own pace and convenience on desktop and mobile.

Skill Success – Audience/Target Group:

Skill Success caters to a broad audience of learners, including individuals seeking personal growth, professionals looking to advance their careers, entrepreneurs, and hobbyists. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced learner, Skill Success offers courses suitable for all levels of expertise.

Skill Success – Price:

Skill Success offers affordable pricing options, making quality education accessible to a wider audience. The platform operates on a subscription-based model, offering unlimited access to the entire course library for a monthly fee. The pricing structure provides excellent value for money, especially considering the wide range of courses available.

Skill Success – Pros:

Wide Range of Courses: Skill Success offers a vast selection of courses across various disciplines, making it suitable for learners with diverse interests.

Affordable Pricing: One of the standout features of  Skill Success is its affordable pricing structure.

Quality Instructors: Skill Success boasts a roster of knowledgeable and experienced instructors.

User-Friendly Interface: Navigating skillSuccess.com is a breeze, thanks to its intuitive and user-friendly interface

Skill Success – Cons:

Limited Specialization: While Skill Success offers a broad range of courses, it may lack in-depth specialization in certain niche areas.

Lack of Interactive Learning Features: Skill Success primarily relies on pre-recorded video lectures, which means that it lacks interactive learning features such as live classes or real-time feedback.

Limited Learning Path Customization: Although Skill Success offers a wide variety of courses, it falls short when it comes to tailoring learning paths to individual goals.

Skill Success – Conclusion

Overall, Skill Success offers a cost-effective solution for individuals seeking to expand their knowledge and skills. With its extensive course library, affordable pricing, and experienced instructors, it provides a valuable platform for learning. However, it may not be the ideal choice for those looking for specialized courses or interactive learning experiences.

Final Thoughts

In this article, I have taken you through the best 10 online platforms to choose from if you are thinking of going to the next step and making your online courses available to the world. However, it’s vital that you take into consideration your audience before choosing the right platform.

The sites provided are the best as they’re reliable and reputable and will provide you with great features that will enable you to upload your course(s) and share it with your students easily via webinars. Upcoming online course platforms such Academy of Mine, Wiziq, and Ruzuku are giving these listed platforms a run for their money but at the moment, the best platforms have been listed here and I’m keen on seeing how these upcoming ones will perform.

Online courses are a great way to grow your audience, teach students topics that you care about, or generally launch a side hustle. When choosing an online teaching platform, consider the marketing features provided, time restrictions, and monthly fees. Ultimately, what makes you stand out is the quality of the courses you upload and how well you plan and market your courses.

 


2 responses to “Top 13 Best Online Course Platforms for 2025 (Ultimate Guide + Free)”
  1. Atul Ghoshal Avatar

    Thanks a lot for the info. It was quite comprehensive and yet not overwhelming. I would have appreciated a bit more clarity in the sense that I’d like to have each of the Platforms ranked from the point of view of a complete novice, someone with a following, or from a wealth standpoint.

    1. Eduard Klein Avatar

      Thank you Atul for your comment. It’s quite impossible to give you a detailed ranking, because every platform is different. It really depends on your topic, strategy and your abilities to sell the courses. When you have a following already, platforms like “Teachable, Thinkific” give you the opportunity to sell your courses for a higher price and all the money goes to your pockets. If you publish your course on udemy or skillshare, than your benefit is that they have already a huge audience where they can sell your course. The profit you can make per sale is much less (they have flash sale where they sell courses for $9.99 or $11.99). If you have a very broad topic and you sell the course 100.000 times for $8 profit, you earn $800.000, a number game. The platforms are all easy to use and as a novice you can start after some hours of video instruction creating your own course.

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Hi, I am Eduard, thank you for being here.

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