What are the best online course platforms to create and sell courses? I answered this question by testing close to thirty platforms so you can find the perfect fit for your goals, expertise, and scalability needs.
Best Online Course Platforms At a Glance [By Their Use Case]
Udemy: Best online marketplace for creators
Thinkific: Best self-hosted platform
Teachable: Best for live coaching
Kajabi: Best for automation
Pluralsight: Best for learning engineering, data, and IT skills
Mighty Networks: Best community oriented course platform
Skillshare: Best for learning creative and practical skills
LearnDash: Best LMS for WordPress
How I Vetted And Tested Online Course Platforms
In my quest for the best online course platforms, I meticulously assessed 29 options, testing 24 and trying to create courses with 19 of them. From this extensive exploration, I curated a list of eight top contenders and seven worthy alternatives, considering their practical applications.
I delved into various online course platforms, spanning:
- Cloud and self-hosted learning management systems,
- Online marketplaces,
- and online course creation software and tools.
A growing trend I observed was online course platforms evolving into all-in-one super-apps, integrating features such as landing pages and email marketing to help you drive course sales. This shift influenced my testing approach.
I also observed a rise in transaction-free paid plans. Online course platforms seem to now refrain from taking a percentage of course payments and charging you only for your software usage.
My evaluation is based on these crucial features in course platforms:
- User-friendly course builders: How intuitive is the course builder to use for beginners? Is the next step clear for students?
- Engaging features: What kind of engagement tools does the tool offer, and how effective are their engagement tools?
- Marketing tools: What are the marketing tools offered available in the course software?
- Third-party integrations: Can the tool integrate with popular apps and tools?
- Scalability: How well can the platform handle an increase in courses and students?
- Pricing: Are they affordable and offer good value for money for online creators and other businesses?
I also explored advanced features like payment gateways and AI tools, assessing their ease of integration and efficiency in course creation.
I scrutinized the adaptability of course builders for various courses and student types, emphasizing customization options.
Let’s look at the top eight platforms I found:
1. Udemy: Best Online Marketplace For Creators
For an intuitive, budget-friendly online course marketplace, offering unlimited paid and free courses, consider Udemy. Anyone can become an instructor offering courses for free on the platform, but to sell a paid course, you need to send an application to become a Premium Instructor.
The best part about Udemy as an online course platform? It’s fully hosted, so you don’t have to stress about hosting a domain and everything that comes into running a website. It also helps that Udemy is super user-friendly. Its dashboard intuitiveness makes it suitable for both beginners and experienced creators.
All the online course creation tools I need, including a drag-and-drop course builder, are within reach and easy to use. Helpful documentation articles were also available to guide me in creating courses hassle-free.
The extensive learner engagement tools add on to make Udemy stand out as one of the best online learning platforms. Students can engage with my course and practice what they learned through quizzes, practice, tests, and assignments. They can also get certificates as proof of their course mastery and provide feedback on their learning experience.
But Udemy’s native marketing features are limited. You can only create course landing pages, multiple coupons, and generate referral links. However, you can leverage omnichannel marketing campaigns like social media ads, content, email marketing, and influencers to promote your links and encourage more course sales.
Receiving payment through this platform is a breeze since it supports direct deposit, PayPal, and Payoneer. Also, I love that I can create as many online classes and courses as I want, and there’s no limit to the number of students who can enroll in each. It’s a testament to the platform’s scalability.
One major Udemy drawback, though, is that it will retain up to 63% of the revenue if the sales come from the company’s marketing activities. And 3% when a student buys through your coupon or referral links.
Udemy pricing: A free online course platform.
Related Reading: Udemy Review
2. Thinkific: Best Self-Hosted Online Course Platform
Thinkific has a fully integrated Ecommerce suite, a white-label mobile app, plus support for custom domains, making it suitable for delivering personalized learning experiences. As a course creator, you have complete control of your online course platform without needing to build one from the ground.
Though not as simple as Udemy’s, Thinkific’s user interface is intuitive. Anyone, including beginners, can create online courses with a user-friendly editor and set up a professionally looking academy website to sell courses in a couple of minutes. The built-in AI features made all these even more straightforward for me.
Also, I liked its AI-powered live chat to help if I ran into any problems while creating courses.
As a self-hosted online course platform, Thinkfic lets you be in charge of everything, from branding and marketing to payment processing. But its advanced native marketing tools and payment features make a lot of these easy.
For instance, you can build sales funnels plus landing pages and customize sales widgets that you can embed on other websites as product cards to sell courses online.
Course creators can also offer discounts with coupons and run an affiliate program. Additionally, Thinkific makes it effortless for creators to receive payment. The native Ecommerce suite (TCommerce) can accept all major credit cards and PayPal.
Like Udemy, the online learning platform lets creators offer quizzes, assignments, and completion certificates. But Thinkific goes further with a discussion forum that enables students to ask questions and share opinions.
And regardless of your plan, you can take in unlimited students. Also, the flexible pricing plans plus Zapier integration means that scaling your online course business and extending the platform’s features won’t be a problem.
Thinkific pricing: Offers a free plan with limited features. The Basic plan costs $49 monthly and has advanced features, including unlimited paid courses, a custom domain, and a white-label mobile app. So you can create your own course website without building from scratch. All plans attract zero transaction fees.
Best Alternative: LearnWorlds—excels in integrating with various apps for marketing, automation, finance, customer service, analytics, video, email, and live sessions. It’s a great alternative as it can simplify the management of your stack.
Related Reading: Thinkific Review
3. Teachable: Best Online Course Platform to Get Live Coaching
I believe Teachable in its AI capabilities and marketing tools is well ahead of both Udemy and Thinkific. It does justice to the brand’s reputation as one of the best online course platforms.
I only provided a brief course description to its built-in content outline generator to whip a complete curriculum. You can add text, video, images, custom codes, and others to a lesson with its simple drag-and-drop online course builder. And if you have any questions, it has a bunch of helpful documentation articles.
Its design seemed to prioritize user experience and intuitiveness, overall.
However, Teachable could improve its learner engagement tools. Students can only participate in their learning experience by taking quizzes, leaving comments, and downloading certificates.
Teachable excels with its advanced marketing tools and payment features to help you make more course sales. You can upsell learners, send cart abandonment emails, add custom codes to your email template, and offer coupons, memberships, and bundles. It also lets you offer multiple payment methods.
The Zapier integration makes Teachable even more extensible, and highly scalable. There’s a reason why the platform already supports over 100,000 creators.
But what stood out for me overall among the platform’s features is its live group coaching. Teachable hosts interactive webinars and online training three times a week to provide expert guidance to creators, plus an opportunity to network with other creators and learn from their experience.
Teachable pricing: Its free plan offers limited features with $1 plus a 10% transaction fee. The basic plan costs $59 monthly, allowing only five courses at a 5% transaction fee.
Best Alternative: TrainerCentral—supports effortless sales page creation with premade themes. However, its email marketing features could use some improvement.
Related Reading: Teachable Review
4. Kajabi: Best For Automation Capabilities
This online course builder is incredibly user-friendly—even for beginners. It auto-generates course outlines and creates content with AI for each lesson. It’s also easily editable, with options for video lessons, audio, and other files.
The course builder also stood out for enabling live sessions, accommodating 200 students, and recording your sessions to offer access to them later.
However, students can only comment on lessons—no other engagement or assessment avenues, like quizzes, commonly found on typical online school and course platforms, are present in the platform.
Kajabi, while not the best for learner engagement, compensates with robust sales and marketing automation tools, enabling you to sell more of your online courses. For instance, creating offers and coupons and running your own affiliate program is a breeze.
This popular online course marketplace also boasts native funnels, landing page builders, and email marketing for seamless customer journeys, focused campaigns, and automated broadcasts.
Unique features like forms and event options set it apart. These capabilities help you embed custom lead-generation forms and schedule engaging events. Remarkably, Kajabi’s intuitive interface enhances the overall user experience.
Regular plans support 1,000 to 20,000 customers and 10,000 to 100,000 email contacts. Zapier helps Kajabi users connect to over 500 third-party apps. However, the 200-attendee limit to live events poses challenges for instructors with extensive student bases.
I like that Kajabi takes zero transaction fees, so, I get to keep all the money I make. But even its basic plan priced about twice as much as Thinkific and Teachable, which makes Kajabi an expensive choice.
Kajabi’s lesson automation impressed me the most. I could automate lesson workflows, certification approvals, email sequences, event registration, or coupon issuance upon lesson completion, making it one of the best online learning platforms for selling online courses.
Kajabi Pricing: Starts from $119 monthly for three products and funnels, unlimited landing pages, and emails. All plans include a 14-day free trial and zero transaction fees.
Related Reading: Kajabi Review
5. Pluralsight: Best Online Course Platform For Engineering, Data, And IT Courses
Pluralsight offers courses in data engineering, data science, cybersecurity, business intelligence, and cloud computing. It stands out as a hands-on online course creation platform and a financially promising marketplace alongside LinkedIn Learning.
To join, you’re assigned an author success manager (ASM) who manually reviews your application, qualifications, certifications, experiences, and resume. After approval, the ASM collaborates with you on the course creation process, from outlining to signing the contract and content upload. With a user-centric design, the course creation software caters to creators and targets professionals from enterprise businesses seeking technology upskilling.
Although lacking class management features, the platform excels in learner engagement tools such as interactive online courses, assessments, and hands-on labs. Adaptive skill measurement helps tutors identify strengths and weaknesses, while channels, discussions, and skill IQ assessments foster collaborative learning.
Online course creators earn royalties based on course engagement, and this online learning platform attracts global learners through its website and social media channels. With over 23,000 business accounts, 70% Fortune 500 company usage, one million students in 180 countries, and 1,500 instructors offering 7,000 courses, Pluralsight is a significant player in the market.
Instructors like Scott Allen have earned millions in royalties over the years. While top earners exceed $400,000 annually, the average instructor now makes $80,850, a significant increase from 2013. Pluralsight, free for instructors, requires users to be 16 or older. It empowers creators through personalized management and provides engaging learning experiences through hands-on labs and skill assessments.
Pluralsight pricing: Free for authors.
Best Alternative: LinkedIn Learning—a global online learning platform enabling instructors to share and monetize their expertise through professionally produced courses but with a stricter instructor registration process.
Related Reading: Pluralsight Review
6. Mighty Networks: Best Community Online Course Platform
Mighty Network is suitable for creating student membership sites. One thing that makes it stand out as an online course creation tool is that you can create unique online communities for each online course, offering personalized support for students.
I tried Mighty Networks for free for 14 days, but no credit card was required.
The onboarding was simple, interactive, and fun, making it feel user-friendly from the get-go. I quickly set up a live student community (network) with its highly intuitive dashboard.
Creating posts, articles, questions, and polls, plus hosting live sessions, was easy. However, online course creation, though smooth, requires manual lesson creation, but you can outline your course using AI.
I can add quizzes for students to assess proficiency at the end of each lesson.
I created a membership account to test it and figured I could also host live videos, webinars, meetings, and text chat events effortlessly as a network member. These provide additional ways for students to participate actively in their learning experience.
Mighty Networks is pretty limited when it comes to marketing and payment options.
You can only offer paid memberships and bundles through Stripe. But since it’s self-hosted and can connect to Zapier, you can integrate the platform with third-party payment and marketing apps to extend its functionalities.
I also love that I can get a custom domain feature on all the plans to set up a fully branded private membership site and online student community.
Mighty Networks Pricing: Starts from $39 monthly for unlimited spaces, hosts, moderators, and members, while the $99 ultimate plan includes unlimited courses and Zapier integrations. You get unlimited hosts, moderators, members, and spaces with each of its plans. And you can upgrade to higher tiers as your business expands.
Best Alternative: Podia—simplifies online course migration with free transfer services plus options to launch courses and online classes, build websites, sell content, and create communities.
Related Reading: Mighty Networks Review
7. Skillshare: Best For Creative And Practical Skills
Skillshare, unique for its creative focus, allows instructors to share expertise in various creative fields, differentiating it from traditional platforms. After a two-week approval process, instructors independently develop courses outside the platform, adhering to specific guidelines. These guidelines cover equipment, location setup, recording, rehearsals, and post-production.
Once you record the courses, creating a class on Skillshare is straightforward.
To create a class, you’d log in, start a draft, select a category, and upload videos. The platform guides you through the process and accommodates all skill levels with a user-friendly builder, which includes troubleshooting guides for any issues.
Skillshare encourages course creators to make engaging content that is at least ten minutes long. The online course marketplace supports various learner engagement tools, such as interactive projects, peer feedback, and community discussions, fostering collaboration and skill application.
Course creators are compensated through Tipalti on the 16th of each month, with Skillshare offering tools like referral links to boost course visibility. Referrals earn creators $10 each, with potential monthly earnings scaling up significantly. Payment options include PayPal, ACH, or international bank transfers.
Skillshare is a highly scalable platform to create and sell online courses. Its supportive community and expansive reach, boasting over 7 million students, contribute to a creator’s visibility and success. While the average tutor earns $200 monthly, top tutors can make up to $10,000, contingent on a minimum watch time of 30 minutes for qualification.
Skillshare pricing: Free for all creators.
Related Reading: Skillshare Review
8. Learndash: Best LMS For WordPress
LearnDash is a self-hosted WordPress learning management system (LMS).
One of the good things about this course creation software is that it lets you create and sell online courses on a custom domain, thus providing fully branded experiences to students. However, it requires web development skills, unlike other platforms.
Also, using LearnDash’s course builder was a mixed experience, but I appreciate its beginner-friendly design. Setup with guided wizards and templates is easy, though intricate tasks may challenge newcomers.
The interface, while versatile, has limitations in design customization, influenced by your WordPress site theme. Features like drip-feeding and quizzes are smooth for intermediate users, but customization may require CSS skills. The online learning platform excels in diverse course creation, but advanced users may face integration hurdles.
Despite challenges, LearnDash offers extensive documentation and community support for solutions. It’s user-friendly, suits those willing to learn or seek support for customization, and excels in creating diverse courses.
LearnDash provides learner engagement tools like quizzes, forums, drip-feeding, and gamification elements, like badges and points, to foster a dynamic learning environment. It also supports course completion certificates, meaning you can run online degree programs. All these make it one of the best learning management systems in the market.
A course creator can use LearnDash to build anticipation with scheduled releases and facilitate instant transactions through the built-in shopping cart. It integrates with Ecommerce platforms, offers reporting tools, and supports various payment solutions.
As a self-hosted solution, LearnDash scales without limitations, handling tens of thousands of students simultaneously. Its flexibility, advanced options, content scheduling, reporting, and WordPress integration make it unique. The intuitive interface enhances user engagement and learning outcomes.
LearnDash pricing: Prices start from $199 yearly for one website without transaction fees.
Related Reading: Learndash Review
Worthy Mentions
While the below online course platforms didn’t make it to our main list, I want to shed light on them as worthy ones that missed the mark by a bit.
9. Pathwright: Excellent For Guided Learning
Pathwright’s starter plan allows custom branding. It stands out by simplifying the content organization and turning the “chaos of content” into a user-friendly learning path.
I appreciate Pathwright allowing custom URLs during signup, a feature lacking in other platforms. I noticed that onboarding was quick when I tested the free plan. Also, the dashboard is user-friendly, though creating a cohort was briefly confusing.
Despite initial challenges, Pathwright is beginner-friendly with practice. Paths easily host multiple lessons, each supporting various content types. I effortlessly uploaded videos, audio, and PDFs, and lessons support interactive elements.
Learners can submit projects, journals, and papers. This online course marketplace has the potential to enhance user guidance, but overall, it’s a versatile and effective platform.
Pathwright excels in learner engagement with features like project submissions, integrated social networks, quizzes, and personalized cohorts, enhancing students’ collaborative and interactive learning experiences.
Pathwright’s marketing features are limited to discounts, subscriptions, and group licenses. It supports Zapier for third-party app connections but limits payment gateways to Stripe and PayPal support.
Pathwright simplifies project-based learning, making it easy for learners to progress seamlessly without confusion or needing to search for their next steps.
Pathwright Pricing: Starts from $99 monthly with unlimited paths (courses), public and member-only paths, tailored group paths (cohorts), and custom branding. The “Essentials” plan offers you more advanced features.
10. Ruzuku: Unlimited Video Lessons
Ruzuku’s free plan allows unlimited courses and video publishing. After a swift signup process, I immediately began creating a course on Ruzuku, as that’s the only option on its dashboard.
I appreciate this clutter-free, but intuitive design. While Ruzuku provides three course templates, I opted to start from scratch. I inputted a course title and activated the live chat, Discussion, and People pages. Again, this process was smooth and beginner-friendly.
These features mean that my students can connect and hold discussions on the platform. It’s easy to see that Rukuzu optimizes for social learning, beginner-friendliness, and a clutter-free design.
Surprisingly, making a module was tough as using this platform requires creating every course element from scratch without assistive tools. Ruzuku, despite being user-friendly, lacked bulk upload support. Adding elements one by one was time-consuming, impacting my overall experience, which I’d rate 8+/10.
Regarding marketing in Rukuzu, I can issue coupons, craft professional sales pages using a user-friendly drag-and-drop builder, and send course invitations. However, it’s missing email and affiliate marketing features, which are essential for driving course sales.
I can’t upsell or bundle courses on this platform, but since it connects with Zapia, I can accomplish these goals using third-party apps. Moreover, Ruzuku connects natively with PayPal and Stripe and doesn’t take transaction fees.
I like that the daily backups ease my worry about losing online course data. Its global CDN ensures swift page loads—I confirmed this with a student account, finding the experience matched its promises.
However, Rukuzu can improve its native marketing and learner engagement features and add AI capabilities to be more competitive.
Ruzuku Pricing: The free plan supports five students with unlimited courses, videos, live meetings, and an all-in-one online community. Paid plans start from $99 and support unlimited students with no transaction fees.
Ready to Choose The Best Online Course Platform For Your Business?
In the dynamic landscape of online course platforms, the key is alignment with your unique needs. From Udemy’s simplicity to Kajabi’s automation and the community-centric Mighty Networks, creators have diverse options.
Whether you’re into live coaching, engineering, selling online courses yourself, or fostering creativity, this guide simplifies the selection process. Choose wisely, considering user-friendliness, features, and scalability. Your journey in online course creation awaits—pick a course marketplace and platform that resonates with your vision and let your expertise shine.