13 Best Online Course Selling Platforms To Monetize Your Expertise (2026)

The Top Online Course Software for Teachers & Sellers [Updated Pricing & Features 2026]

Below I share my experience with each platform in the comparison table, in the order I recommend them. For each one I cover what it is, what it isn't, where it works well, where it falls short and what it costs.

None of these platforms is perfect. I've put each one's weak spots next to its strengths. Even with those weaknesses, I still recommend each of them for the situations where it fits best.

Each platform comes with real strengths and real trade-offs. The right choice depends on your online learning goals, your content and the way you like to work.

1. Thinkific: Best Online Course Platform for Most Creators (Top Pick)

• Key features: Course builder, email automation, live lessons, memberships, communities
• Best for: Beginners and growing course businesses that want an easy, affordable platform
• Not for: Community-led businesses, or marketers who need advanced funnels and automation
• Starting price: $82/mo billed annually (view the full pricing breakdown)

Thinkific is my top choice as the best online course platform for most professionals. I currently run six courses on Thinkific for Learning Revolution, Leading Learning and my consulting company Tagoras.

Thinkific gets the three things a new or mid-tier course creator needs right. The platform gives you solid course delivery, room to grow and enough email marketing to skip expensive integrations on day one.

When I ran my first course on Thinkific a few years back, the platform handled the backend without me noticing. My students found their way around easily. Drip content ran on schedule without my help, so I didn't spend a single weekend fixing tech issues.

A client of mine launched her membership on Thinkific's entry plan on my recommendation. She needed automated welcome sequences and weekly broadcast emails.

Thinkific handled the automated emails well. For the weekly broadcasts she connected Mailchimp, which added a small hassle. She still got a proper course structure with room for thousands of members.

On the course side, you get a good course builder with modules, drip scheduling, quizzes and progress tracking, plus email features that cover the basics. For running your entire marketing operation, Kajabi goes further.

On every plan, you can run live lessons, sell memberships and deliver digital downloads. Thinkific's built-in email captures leads through free downloads, runs nurture sequences and recovers abandoned carts.

For newsletters or complex campaigns, you'll connect an email marketing platform. In my experience, most creators do that anyway, even on platforms with far more marketing built in.

Thinkific also connects your school to Claude and ChatGPT through its MCP server. The connection gives these AI tools access to your course content, student data and engagement metrics. From there, your AI assistant can help you spot what's working and what needs fixing in your courses and community.

Thinker AI is another feature I like. Thinker is an AI assistant trained only on your course content, so students can get help with a lesson or a tricky problem when you're not around. Thinkific keeps both the MCP server and Thinker AI on its enterprise plan for now.

One trend is worth watching if you're a solo creator. In its Q2 2026 results, Thinkific reported Plus revenue up 14% while self-serve revenue slipped 1%. The company's CEO called moving upmarket its strategic focus.

So far the self-serve plans still give solo creators everything I describe here. I'll update this guide if that changes.

Bestselling author Dorie Clark, who has been a guest on the Learning Revolution podcast, uses Thinkific for her courses. Dorie thinks clearly about business, so her choice carries weight with me.

Thinkific Features

Here's a quick overview of Thinkific's standout capabilities.

• Unlimited courses: Publish as many courses as you want on every plan.
• Drag-and-drop course builder: Structure lessons, quizzes and downloads without writing code.
• Live lessons and webinars: Run Zoom sessions inside your courses on every plan.
• Digital downloads: Sell or give away PDFs, worksheets and guides.
• Memberships: Build recurring revenue with member-only content and access tiers.
• Communities: Give students a place to talk, with one community on the entry plan and more on higher plans.
• Email marketing and automation: Capture leads, send automated campaigns and abandoned-cart reminders, or connect Mailchimp and Zapier.
• Bundles and add-ons: Upsell with course bundles, bonus content or product add-ons.
• Group orders and invoicing: Sell seats to businesses and teams on higher plans.
• Analytics and reporting: Track sales, student progress and engagement.
• SCORM support: Use SCORM content on Thinkific's enterprise plan.
• Learning paths: Build guided learning journeys on Thinkific's enterprise plan.
• Thinkific MCP: Connect Claude or ChatGPT to your school's data on Thinkific's enterprise plan.
• Thinker AI: Give students an in-course assistant trained on your content, on Thinkific's enterprise plan.
• Mobile app: Let students learn on Thinkific's free app on any plan. A branded app under your own name is a paid add-on.

What I Don't Like About Thinkific

Thinkific's community features are good enough to build engagement, but they don't scale well. I run Platform to Profits on Thinkific, where I can't automate tasks like welcoming new members or nudging quiet ones back.

At a few hundred members that's manageable. Past that point it becomes a real time cost, while dedicated community platforms handle the same work for you out of the box.

Community engagement is a bigger deal now because people can ask ChatGPT about almost anything. Information-only courses are harder to sell, so the interaction around your content is a big part of what students pay for.

Thinkific also lags behind on marketing. Most creators outgrow it once they need advanced automation, behavioral analytics or native affiliate management. The platform does a good job of delivering courses and capturing leads, but it isn't built for complex funnels or deep data analysis.

None of this changes my recommendation. As a course platform, Thinkific still does better than its competitors for most creators. For a deeper look at the community feature, I've written up my experience running one on Thinkific here.

Thinkific Pros and Cons

Thinkific pros	Thinkific cons
Course builder that students find easy to use	Community tools lack automation
Live lessons, memberships and downloads on every plan	Marketing tools fall short of Kajabi
Built-in email automation and abandoned-cart emails	MCP, Thinker AI, SCORM and learning paths need the enterprise plan
No platform fee with Thinkific Payments	Branded app costs extra
Communities included on every plan	Company growth focus is shifting to enterprise customers

Thinkific Pricing Plans

Thinkific's current plans, billed annually, are Start $82/mo, Grow $164/mo, Expand $374/mo and Plus (custom pricing).

Thinkific charges no platform fee when you use Thinkific Payments. Monthly billing costs more, as the table below shows.

To go deeper into Thinkific's features, read my full Thinkific review. If you want to see what else is out there, my list of Thinkific alternatives covers the other options worth a look.

2. Kajabi: Best All-in-One Platform

• Key features: Courses, memberships, coaching, email marketing, funnels, communities
• Best for: Established creators who want to run their whole business on one platform
• Not for: Beginners without an audience or a proven offer
• Starting price: $143/mo billed annually (view the full pricing breakdown)

I've used Kajabi since 2018. Over that time it grew from a course platform into a full business platform. Kajabi creators have now earned more than $10 billion on it.

Kajabi does a lot, which is exactly why it's overkill for most beginners.

If you're starting out, I don't recommend Kajabi. The platform will overwhelm you. Most beginners end up using maybe 30% of what it offers. Thinkific or LearnWorlds are the better options at that stage.

Kajabi makes sense once you're a successful creator with an audience that trusts you and you're ready to monetize that audience.

Kajabi is designed around a full product line. If you've built your value ramp as I've described in this article, Kajabi helps you run the whole ramp through products at different stages of the funnel.

For example, a free lead magnet leads to a low-ticket course, then a mid-ticket membership and finally high-ticket coaching. Kajabi can run each of those steps in one account.

Our team member Jackie saw this firsthand when we sent her to Kajabi Hero Live. She met creators like Justin Welsh who have built multi-million dollar businesses on the platform.

Her main takeaway was that these creators run complete businesses with courses, coaching, memberships and communities, all through Kajabi.

The platform replaces five to seven separate tools. In one account you get course creation, email marketing, automation, funnels, communities, coaching tools and payments. One login replaces a pile of subscriptions and the Zapier connections you hope won't break.

Kajabi's AI tools go further than most platforms on this list. Cofounder can draft a full product, offer, sales page and email sequence from one conversation. The Kajabi MCP lets you connect Claude or ChatGPT to your account and manage your business through it on every plan.

Move to Kajabi once you outgrow Thinkific or LearnWorlds. Kajabi starts to make sense when you need advanced email sequences, several product types and checkout upsells. By then you're usually tired of taping tools together too.

Kajabi Features

These are the core features that make Kajabi an all-in-one platform.

• Unlimited marketing emails and landing pages: Build as many funnels and lead magnets as you want on every plan.
• Products and funnels: Sell courses, memberships, coaching and podcasts with built-in funnel automation.
• Website and custom branding: Run your whole business on Kajabi with a no-code website builder and your own domain.
• Email marketing and automation: Send campaigns, newsletters and automations from inside Kajabi.
• Cofounder AI agent: Generate a product, offer, sales page and email sequence from one conversation.
• Kajabi MCP: Connect Claude, ChatGPT or another AI assistant and manage your business through it on every plan.
• Communities: Run feed and chat channels, challenges, meetups with a built-in live room, a leaderboard and member direct messages on every plan.
• Affiliate program: Recruit and manage affiliates on higher plans.
• Advanced automations and webhooks: Trigger custom workflows and connect outside tools on higher plans.
• Mobile apps: Give members the free Kajabi app on any plan. The top plan includes a branded app with push notifications, which the other plans can add.
• Support: Get 24/7 chat support, plus onboarding help on higher plans.

What I Don't Like About Kajabi

Kajabi keeps pushing upmarket, which shows in how the company positions itself. Each update and new feature targets successful creators and scaling businesses. If you're already there, the direction suits you. If you're not, the platform can feel like it keeps moving away from you.

Putting everything in one platform also carries a risk. When Kajabi works, having one login with everything connected saves real time. When something breaks, your whole business feels it.

Kajabi's communities have improved since the Vibely acquisition, with chat channels, challenges, live meetups and a leaderboard on all plans. They still trail dedicated platforms like Circle in depth, so a community-led business will hit the limits sooner than a course-led one.

Even with these weaknesses, Kajabi is the platform I'd pick for an established creator who wants to grow an audience and sell several products from one place.

Kajabi Pros and Cons

Kajabi pros	Kajabi cons
Replaces five to seven separate tools	Overkill for beginners
Unlimited marketing emails, pages and funnels	Prices rose in January 2026
Cofounder AI and MCP access on every plan	Communities trail Circle
Courses, coaching, memberships and communities in one account	One outage affects your whole business
No platform fee with Kajabi Payments	Branded app included only on the top plan

Kajabi Pricing Plans

Kajabi's current plans, billed annually, are Basic $143/mo, Growth $199/mo and Pro $399/mo.

The January 2026 price change raised Basic by 20% and Growth by 25%, after Kajabi had held its prices steady for a decade. If you're not ready to pay premium prices, Kajabi isn't for you.

For a more in-depth look, read my full Kajabi review. If you're torn between my top two picks, my Kajabi vs Thinkific comparison breaks down where each one wins. My guide to Kajabi alternatives covers cheaper options.

3. LearnDash: Best WordPress LMS Plugin

• Key features: Course builder, advanced quizzes, gradebook, memberships, group management
• Best for: WordPress site owners with steady traffic who are comfortable managing WordPress
• Not for: Anyone without a WordPress site or the time to maintain one
• Starting price: $350/year for one site

LearnDash is a WordPress LMS plugin that turns your existing website into a full course platform. LearnDash's biggest strength and its biggest weakness both come from WordPress itself.

If you already run a WordPress site and know your way around plugins, hosting and basic troubleshooting, LearnDash gives you complete control. Your student data stays yours, you can customize everything and no SaaS company can change features on you overnight.

I've used LearnDash on several projects. The course builder is solid, the quiz options go deep and you can structure learning paths however you want. With the right setup, it handles drip content, certificates, assignments and gradebooks without feeling clunky.

LearnDash also includes an AI course outline and quiz builder. The tool saves time when you're mapping out a new course. The rest of your AI setup depends on the WordPress plugins you add.

I only recommend LearnDash if you already have a high-traffic WordPress site and want to use its domain authority and audience to sell courses.

The reason is SEO. If you've spent years building traffic to yoursite.com and thousands of visitors trust your domain each month, sending them to yoursite.thinkific.com wastes that trust. Courses at yoursite.com/courses keep the SEO value, the trust and the traffic on your own domain.

In that case LearnDash makes complete sense, because it adds monetization to an asset you've already built without splitting your brand across platforms.

If you don't have an established WordPress site, a subdomain on Thinkific or Kajabi loses you nothing in SEO terms. With no domain authority to protect, LearnDash is extra work for zero benefit.

The other requirement is comfort with WordPress, either yours or a developer's. LearnDash makes you your own tech support. Hosting, security updates, plugin conflicts, payment setup and email tools all land on you.

LearnDash Features

Here are the standout features in LearnDash.

• Drag-and-drop course builder: Structure courses with lessons, topics, quizzes and media, with no coding.
• AI course outline and quiz builder: Draft a course structure and quiz questions from a topic.
• Advanced quizzes and assessments: Create timed quizzes, question banks and detailed results reports.
• Gradebook and ProPanel reporting: Track progress, weighted grades and quiz scores to spot learners who need help.
• Assignments and certificates: Collect submissions and award custom certificates.
• Drip content: Release lessons on a schedule.
• Focus mode and video progression: Give learners a distraction-free view and lock lessons until they finish the video.
• Memberships with MemberDash: Sell one-time payments, subscriptions, memberships or bundles through Stripe or PayPal.
• Group management and seat selling: Sell seats to teams and let group leaders manage their own learners.
• Multi-instructor courses: Add instructors with their own roles and front-end course creation.
• Included plugins: Get Kadence, The Events Calendar and Give in each package alongside LearnDash.
• Mobile responsive and multilingual: Display courses well on any screen and translate them with third-party plugins.

What I Don't Like About LearnDash

LearnDash leaves the whole technical side to you. Slow hosting, a plugin update that breaks your course player or a payment add-on that stops syncing are all yours to fix.

LearnDash also has no built-in email marketing or community. Most LearnDash sites add BuddyBoss for community and a separate email tool for marketing.

All of it is doable, but only worth it if WordPress is already your priority. For most beginners who want to create and sell courses, I recommend a hosted platform like Thinkific that handles the technical work for you.

LearnDash Pros and Cons

LearnDash pros	LearnDash cons
Full ownership of your data and domain	Hosting, security and updates are on you
Keeps course traffic and SEO on your own site	Annual billing only
Deep quizzes, gradebook and reporting	No built-in email marketing or community
All premium features in each package	More setup time than hosted platforms
No per-student fees

LearnDash Pricing Plans

Liquid Web now sells LearnDash in packages priced by the number of sites you need. Each package includes every premium feature. The current packages are 1 site $350/yr, 10 sites $599/yr, 25 sites $799/yr, 50 sites $899/yr and 100 sites $999/yr.

Billing is annual only, with no hosting included.

Read my detailed LearnDash review for more, or see how it stacks up in my LearnDash vs LifterLMS comparison.

I recommend using LearnDash with BuddyBoss to build a complete course and community site on WordPress. Full BuddyBoss review here.

Read: The Best WordPress LMS Plugins to Sell Online Courses

4. Circle: Best for Community-First Course Businesses

• Key features: Community spaces, courses, live rooms, Circle AI, MCP, branded apps
• Best for: Creators with an existing audience who want community at the center of the business
• Not for: Creators starting with no audience, or courses that need deep assessments
• Starting price: $89/mo billed annually

Circle is a community platform with solid course tools and more AI and automation built in than most of its rivals. AI runs through almost everything Circle does, from building your community structure to answering questions about your members.

Circle works best when you already have an audience to bring in. If you start with zero followers, Circle will feel like an empty room. Ideally you'll have an email list, a social following or past students you can move to Circle so the community has engagement from day one.

Circle's community tools go further than the ones in Kajabi or Thinkific, which treat community as a side feature. Threaded discussions, member directories and live rooms give members reasons to talk to each other as well as to you. Badges and activity feeds help keep the conversation going once it starts.

Circle's course tools also improved a lot this year. The builder now supports visual learning paths, drip content, a video-native lesson player and completion tracking. Circle AI works with the builder, so you can describe a course in plain language instead of filling out forms one at a time.

Circle still isn't chasing Thinkific's range of course tools or LearnWorlds' interactive quizzes and assessments. Circle wants your courses to feel like part of a living community.

Eclipse, Circle's biggest update since launch, added three main pieces:

• Circle AI: Describe what you want to build. Circle AI then creates the community structure, spaces, access groups and paywalls, keeps working day to day and answers questions about your own data.
• Circle Discover: Matches new members to communities based on the goals they share.
• Circle Studios: Gives large creators a done-for-you partnership where Circle's team builds and runs the business.

Circle MCP connects your community and courses to Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini on higher plans. For example, you can ask your AI assistant to pull member reports, flag inactive spaces or draft posts. With approval turned on, it can also send DMs or manage members for you.

Circle has kept shipping since Eclipse too. Recent additions include breakout rooms, enhanced reactions, custom gamification rewards and Daily Briefs.

What I Don't Like About Circle

Communities need critical mass to work, which takes time to reach. With my coaching client, the first month felt slow.

We launched with about 15 members. Discussions were sparse because people waited hours for answers to their questions. Conversations only started flowing naturally once we reached around 30 to 40 active members.

Nobody can fake that momentum. A Thinkific course works fine with five students because they work through the content on their own. A Circle community with five members feels dead. The platform only pays off once you reach critical mass.

The email add-on also weakens the all-in-one promise. Circle positions itself as a complete platform, yet real email marketing needs the separate Email Hub add-on on most plans. Kajabi includes email marketing in every plan, along with stronger funnels, automation and course tools.

For community alone, Circle is worth using. I only recommend it when you have an existing audience from an email list, a past course or social media to fill the community right away.

Circle Features

Here are Circle's core product features.

• Courses, discussions and events: Build learning and engagement spaces under one roof.
• Circle AI: Tell Circle AI what you want and it builds the spaces, access groups and paywalls, then keeps running day to day.
• Circle MCP: Connect your community and courses to Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini on higher plans.
• Course builder: Create visual learning paths with a video-native lesson player that works with Circle AI.
• Live streams and live rooms: Host real-time sessions, meetups, breakout rooms and AMA-style events.
• Website builder: Create a community site with custom pages and branding.
• Paid memberships: Sell subscriptions, gated content and recurring payments.
• Gamification and member directory: Motivate members with badges, scores, custom rewards and searchable profiles.
• Email Hub: Send broadcasts, automate campaigns and manage contacts with an add-on that comes included on the top plan.
• Workflows and automation: Automate onboarding, engagement and content delivery on higher plans.
• AI agents, moderation and Circle Inbox: Pull DMs, moderation reports, course comments and AI conversations into one inbox on higher plans.
• Circle Discover: Get matched with new members based on their stated goals.
• Circle Studios: Apply for a done-for-you partnership where Circle's team designs, builds and runs your community business.
• API and headless options: Bring discussions, profiles, courses and events into your own site or app.
• Branded mobile apps: Get your own iOS and Android apps with in-app purchases and push notifications on the top plan.

Circle Pros and Cons

Circle pros	Circle cons
Deeper community tools than Kajabi or Thinkific	Needs an existing audience to feel alive
Circle AI builds your community structure from a description	Email marketing costs extra on most plans
MCP access on higher plans	Platform fee on every plan
Courses fit naturally inside the community	Course tools less deep than Thinkific or LearnWorlds
Strong live rooms and events	Branded apps only on the top plan

Circle Pricing Plans

Circle's current plans, billed annually, are Professional $89/mo, Business $199/mo, Scale $419/mo and Circle Plus (custom pricing).

Each plan also charges a transaction fee, from 2% on Professional down to 0.5% on Circle Plus.

Email Hub starts at $99/mo for 10,000 contacts on the plans below Circle Plus. Professional plus Email Hub comes to $89 plus $99 a month. Kajabi Basic costs $143/mo with email marketing included.

Read my dedicated Circle review for more details, or my guide to online community platforms to compare Circle with other community tools.

5. LearnWorlds: Best for B2B Training and Certification

• Key features: Interactive video, SCORM, assessments, certificates, AI course tools
• Best for: B2B training, certification programs and courses where assessment matters
• Not for: Solo creators selling simple courses to their own audience
• Starting price: $44/mo billed annually (view the full pricing breakdown)

LearnWorlds is an online learning platform for building, selling and running online courses. LearnWorlds puts more weight on learning quality than any other platform here. I've used it for years and still keep an active account.

I recommend it when you need more advanced learning features. Pick LearnWorlds if you sell to businesses, need SCORM for corporate clients or build certification programs where assessment rigor matters. It also includes weighted grading, randomized question banks and detailed reporting.

For solo creators selling to their own audience, LearnWorlds adds unnecessary complexity. The learning curve is steeper than Thinkific, while the interface feels more cluttered.

LearnWorlds now puts AI into more of the course-building process than any other platform on this list. The latest release, which LearnWorlds calls the Living Learning System, puts AI to work across course building, the learner experience and the back office.

For example, you can upload your reference material once to an AI knowledge library and reuse it every time you build. From there, AI can turn your idea into a complete course, from the outline to the lessons. The same assistants help you write eBooks, build exams and self-assessments or edit your site pages through a conversation.

LearnWorlds can also create audio narration with AI. For video, it writes scripts and generates videos through your own Synthesia or HeyGen account, so you'll need a subscription to one of those tools as well. A separate AI builder lets you design and update your branded mobile app with prompts.

On the learner side, a Learner AI Agent answers students' questions and explains concepts while they study. Customers on higher plans turn it on through their Customer Success Manager. I'd still give every AI draft an expert pass before it goes live, because the AI works from your material but doesn't know your learners the way you do.

LearnWorlds' interactive video goes beyond what typical course platforms offer. Course creators can embed questions, buttons and calls to action inside the video timeline, so students interact while they watch.

For most informational courses, this level of interactivity adds production time you don't need. For training programs where engagement drives outcomes, it works well.

The assessment tools go deeper than on most platforms, with question banks, randomized quizzes, timed exams, weighted grading and detailed gradebooks. For certification or compliance training, LearnWorlds handles assessment better than Thinkific or Kajabi.

LearnWorlds also runs automated certification and retraining workflows, which bring learners back when a certificate needs renewing. SCORM support is the other major advantage, available on higher plans.

What I Don't Like About LearnWorlds

My problem with LearnWorlds is that the platform is already complex and its interface doesn't help. The dashboard feels cluttered. Finding the right setting takes time. If you're not comfortable with tech or you're short on time, that friction slows you down.

I also expect better email marketing from a platform at this level. The email tools cover mass emails and basic automations, but serious campaigns still need Mailchimp or Kit. Kajabi includes email marketing with advanced segmentation and automation, so with LearnWorlds you piece together your own marketing stack.

LearnWorlds Features

Here are the most prominent LearnWorlds features.

• AI course creation: Turn an idea into a complete course, from outline to lessons, using your own reference material from the AI knowledge library.
• AI assistants: Write eBooks, build exams and self-assessments and edit site pages through a conversation, with monthly AI credits that grow by plan.
• AI video and audio: Create narration with AI and generate scripts and videos through your Synthesia or HeyGen account.
• Learner AI Agent: Give students an AI agent that explains concepts while they study, on higher plans.
• Unlimited courses: Create free or paid courses without limits on higher plans.
• Email marketing and automation: Send mass emails, trigger automated messages and connect Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign and others.
• Interactive video and assessments: Add hotspots, questions, auto-transcripts and subtitle translations to videos.
• SCORM and HTML5 support: Deliver standards-compliant content with tracking on higher plans.
• Certificates and retraining: Issue certificates and run automated recertification workflows for ongoing programs.
• Website builder: Launch a multi-page course site with templates, your own domain and popups.
• Memberships, subscriptions and funnels: Sell with flexible pricing, recurring payments and sales funnels.
• Branded mobile app: Publish your own learning app as a paid add-on, with an AI builder for designing its screens.
• Live classes: Run live training through Zoom, Webex, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams.
• Affiliate management: Set up affiliates and track referrals.
• Automations and custom roles: Automate tasks and assign team permissions on higher plans.

LearnWorlds Pros and Cons

LearnWorlds pros	LearnWorlds cons
Deepest assessment tools on this list	Cluttered interface and steeper learning curve
Interactive video with questions and calls to action	Per-enrollment fee on the entry plan
SCORM support on higher plans	Serious email campaigns need an outside tool
AI builds full courses, eBooks and assessments	AI video needs a Synthesia or HeyGen account
Strong fit for B2B and employee training	Branded app costs extra

LearnWorlds Pricing Plans

LearnWorlds' current plans, billed annually, are Starter $44/mo, Pro Trainer $79/mo, Learning Center $249/mo and Corporate (custom pricing).

Starter charges $5 per paid enrollment, so most course sellers should start on Pro Trainer. On monthly billing, Pro Trainer costs $99/mo, close to Kajabi Basic at $143/mo with stronger email marketing included.

To learn more, read my full LearnWorlds review.

Use code LEARNREV2046 at checkout for 20% off your first 6 months of the Pro Trainer plan or higher.

6. Mighty Networks: Best for Cohort-Based Learning

• Key features: Courses, community spaces, live events, gamification, AI Cohost, native apps
• Best for: Cohort-based and social learning where community drives results
• Not for: Creators who want a simple setup or need PayPal at checkout
• Starting price: $79/mo billed annually

Mighty Networks is a community-first platform with solid course creation and selling tools. In my experience the vision is right, but the execution has friction that members feel every day.

The community tools are solid. Live events, member profiles, activity feeds, direct messaging and gamification with badges and leaderboards all create real engagement when your membership is active.

The interface is the pain point I can't overlook. New members struggle to find navigation items, especially if nobody has shown them around. Sections open in pop-up windows by default instead of full pages, which makes the experience feel cramped and unfinished.

The course tools have improved over the last few months. Quizzes, certificates and progress tracking are now built in, along with drip scheduling.

Course automations welcome new students, celebrate milestones and re-engage anyone who stalls mid-course. Those additions close a real gap Mighty Networks used to have against Thinkific and LearnWorlds.

AI Cohost is another strong feature. Cohost helps you price your offer, points out when your structure is too complicated and walks you through finding your first ten paying members from your existing contacts. Cohost also handles daily moderation and suggests discussion topics to spark engagement.

Higher plans include MCP access, so you can connect Claude, ChatGPT or another AI tool to your network's content. From there you can ask your AI assistant to find content ideas, discussion patterns and engagement exercises for your courses and community.

Mighty Networks makes the most sense for cohort-based learning. Cohort programs move a group of people through content together over a set period, with discussion and accountability built in. Mighty's mix of course delivery, live events and community tools supports that format well.

Mighty Networks isn't as simple as Skool. If you take the time to learn it, though, it does more for cohort programs.

Mighty Networks Features

Here are the Mighty Networks features I'd look at first.

• Courses and challenges: Run on-demand, cohort and live courses with native video, drip content, quizzes, certificates and progress tracking.
• Community spaces: Give members chat spaces, threads, activity feeds and direct messages.
• Live events and livestreaming: Host events, webinars and multi-speaker livestreams for up to 3,000 viewers per stream on the top plan.
• Gamification: Motivate members with points, badges, streaks and leaderboards.
• AI Cohost: Get help with pricing, growth funnels, member acquisition and moderation from an assistant trained on Mighty's Community Design framework.
• MCP access: Connect Claude, ChatGPT or other AI tools to your network's content on higher plans.
• Mobile apps: Let members use native iOS and Android apps, with branded apps on the top plan.
• Course automations: Welcome members, celebrate milestones, re-engage stalled students and trigger upsells automatically.
• Native video hosting: Host course videos on the platform without Vimeo or Wistia.
• Migration services: Get help moving your community over on higher plans.

What I Don't Like About Mighty Networks

Mighty Networks only supports Stripe for payments. For creators with an international audience who prefer PayPal, Stripe-only checkout is a real limitation.

Mighty Networks also has no email marketing tool. The platform sends notifications and automated messages inside the network, but onboarding sequences and win-back campaigns need Kit or another email platform. Integrations with Kit come with higher plans.

Mighty Networks Pros and Cons

Mighty Networks pros	Mighty Networks cons
Strong cohort and live course tools	Clunky navigation and pop-up windows
AI Cohost helps you plan and grow	Platform fee on every plan
Native apps and video hosting	Stripe only
Points, badges and streaks	No email marketing tool
MCP access on higher plans	Branded apps only on the top plan

Mighty Networks Pricing Plans

Mighty Networks' current plans, billed annually, are Launch $79/mo, Scale $179/mo, Growth $354/mo and Mighty Pro (custom pricing).

Mighty Networks also charges a platform fee on every plan, on top of your subscription, which adds up once you sell at real volume. Monthly billing raises Launch to $95/mo. The transaction fee steps down from 2% on Launch to 1% on Scale and 0.5% on Growth and Mighty Pro.

Read my Mighty Networks review for more details. My Mighty Networks vs Circle comparison helps if you're choosing between the two community platforms.

7. Skool: Best Simple Community and Course Setup

• Key features: Community feed, classroom, calendar, leaderboards, Discovery directory
• Best for: Audience-first creators who want a simple community and course setup
• Not for: Courses that need assessments, certificates or automated email sequences
• Starting price: $9/mo, or $7.50/mo billed annually (view the full pricing breakdown)

I've used Skool for three years. Skool is a good platform if you go in knowing what it is. At heart it's a minimalist community platform where you can sell courses, with the course builder living inside the community.

Skool gives you a simple structure to deliver content and engage your audience. Once members join, they get your community feed, a classroom with all your courses, a calendar for events and leaderboards.

Skool has grown fast over the past few years. Creators tired of bloated platforms like its clean interface. High-profile names like Alex Hormozi building on it have brought a lot of attention its way.

What I like most about Skool is its built-in discovery feature. Skool recommends your community to other users who might be interested in your topic.

Thinkific and Kajabi give you a standalone site and leave all traffic to you. With Skool, the platform itself can help your community grow.

I stop recommending Skool when a creator needs a focused learning experience. If you need structured learning paths, assignments, assessments, certificates or formal progress tracking, Skool isn't built for that.

Skool also has no built-in AI tools. An AI assistant could help you draft posts, summarize long threads or suggest lesson ideas from member questions. On Skool you'll do that work in ChatGPT or Claude yourself and paste the results in.

Skool Features

Here's what you get with Skool.

• Community feed and categories: Organize discussions, announcements and course posts with different access levels.
• Course builder: Structure lessons into modules with video, text and basic drip content.
• Member directory and Discovery: Help members find each other in the directory. Skool also lists your community in its public Discovery directory.
• Gamification: Keep members engaged with points, levels and leaderboards.
• Live events: Schedule and host live calls inside your community with Skool Calls.
• Member profiles: Show each member's activity, progress and interests.
• Announcements by email: Post an announcement and Skool emails it to your members.
• Mobile app: Give every community a native iOS and Android app at no extra cost.

What I Don't Like About Skool

The biggest gap is email marketing. Skool emails members when you post an announcement, but it has no automated sequences to nurture leads or win back members who go quiet. The missing sequences put a ceiling on how far your business can grow.

Circle handles this better with its Email Hub add-on.

Skool's course tools will also frustrate anyone who needs assessment depth. Skool has no gradebooks, certificates or weighted quizzes, so it doesn't suit structured evaluation or compliance tracking.

Skool Pros and Cons

Skool pros	Skool cons
Simplest setup on this list	No automated email sequences
Discovery directory can bring in new members	Thin course and assessment tools
Free native mobile app	No built-in AI tools
Points, levels and leaderboards	Growth Boost commission on Discovery members
Affiliate program on both plans	Higher transaction fee on the entry plan

Skool Pricing Plans

Skool's current plans on monthly billing are Hobby $9/mo (10% + 30¢ fee) and Pro $99/mo (2.9% + 30¢ fee).

Annual billing lowers them to Hobby $7.50/mo and Pro $82/mo.

Watch the Discovery costs too. Skool's Growth Boost takes an extra 30% when its Discovery directory brings you a paying member. Growth Boost is on by default. My Skool pricing breakdown shows how much that adds up.

Read my full Skool review for more details, or my Skool vs Mighty Networks comparison to see how it compares with a deeper community platform.

8. Teachable: Best for Hands-Off Sales Tax Handling

• Key features: Course and coaching builder, teachable:pay tax handling, AI Hub, student app
• Best for: Creators selling to an international audience who want tax and payment admin handled for them
• Not for: Creators who need marketing automation, funnels or a built-in community
• Starting price: $29/mo billed annually (view the full pricing breakdown)

I've been a Teachable affiliate for years. For a long time I recommended it often, but I rarely do these days. The reasons matter if you're considering it.

Teachable was once the leading platform alongside Thinkific. Teachable pioneered much of what we now take for granted in course software, like a clean student experience, reliable video delivery and straightforward checkout.

The problem is that Teachable's marketing features haven't kept pace with the competition. The platform has stayed mostly a course delivery tool with a payment layer on top.

Teachable still makes sense in two situations.

First, teachable:pay handles US sales tax, EU VAT, GST and affiliate tax forms for you. For a creator with an international audience who dreads tax compliance, Teachable removes that burden. No other platform on this list handles it as cleanly.

Second, Teachable remains one of the most beginner-friendly course builders for creators who want to avoid complexity.

Teachable's AI Hub also helps you build faster. The AI tools draft course outlines and lessons, write summaries, generate quizzes from your own material, write sales copy and create subtitles in more than 70 languages. Teachable also offers an MCP server for connecting AI assistants to your school through its API.

For most other creators, Thinkific is the better course platform, while Podia gives you more tools in one place. Teachable's advantage is narrow and specific.

Teachable Features

Here are Teachable's main features.

• Course and coaching builder: Deliver courses with video, drip content, quizzes and milestone tracking.
• teachable:pay: Handle US sales tax, global VAT, GST and affiliate tax forms across 200+ countries, with 35+ local payment methods and 120 currencies.
• AI Hub: Generate outlines, lesson drafts, summaries, quizzes, sales copy and subtitles or translations in more than 70 languages.
• iOS and Android student app: Give students reliable mobile access on any device.
• Auto-graded quizzes: Use basic quizzes and assessments on every plan.
• Email broadcasts: Email your students on higher plans.
• Teachable MCP: Connect AI assistants to your school through Teachable's API.

What I Don't Like About Teachable

Built-in email marketing starts above the entry plan and covers basic broadcasts. Teachable has no funnels and no automation beyond basic drip content.

The company has also closed its Community feature to new schools, so student discussion needs a separate tool and a second login.

Teachable Pros and Cons

Teachable pros	Teachable cons
Best sales tax and VAT handling on this list	High transaction fee on the entry plan
Beginner-friendly course builder	No funnels or advanced automation
AI Hub for outlines, quizzes and translations	Community closed to new schools
Student app on every plan	Product limits on every plan
35+ local payment methods	No free plan

Teachable Pricing Plans

Teachable's current plans, billed annually, are Starter $29/mo, Builder $69/mo, Growth $139/mo and Custom (custom pricing).

Teachable dropped its once-attractive free plan a while ago. The math on the entry plan is also hard to defend. On Starter at $39/mo, Teachable takes a 7.5% transaction fee on every sale. Sell a $500 course and Teachable keeps $37.50 before Stripe takes its cut, on top of your subscription.

Builder and above drop the fee to 0%. A fee like Starter's made sense when Teachable led the market, but it's hard to justify now.

Read my full Teachable review for more information, or my Teachable vs Thinkific comparison to see why I usually pick Thinkific instead.

9. Podia: Best Budget All-in-One for Solo Creators

• Key features: Courses, downloads, coaching, community, email marketing, events
• Best for: Solo creators and coaches who want an affordable all-in-one without the complexity
• Not for: Courses that need learning paths, deep assessments or advanced email automation
• Starting price: $42/mo billed annually (view the full pricing breakdown)

Podia is a simplified all-in-one platform for selling courses, memberships, coaching and digital product bundles, with email marketing and a site builder built in. I've paid for Podia since 2018 and have recommended it to people in my community who need a bit of everything without paying a premium.

Podia now centers the whole platform on community. Your customers land in a shared home feed with discussions, updates and events in one place.

The core product hasn't changed, though. Everything Podia offers works, but nothing goes particularly deep.

Podia sits between a course-first platform like Thinkific and an advanced all-in-one like Kajabi. The platform suits beginners and mid-tier sellers who need simple course creation and marketing features.

The course builder handles video, drip content, quizzes and certificates, but it has no advanced learning design or reporting depth. Email automations cover straightforward sequences and stop well short of behavioral triggers or multi-path funnels.

Podia includes Podia Agent and an MCP connection on every plan. With the MCP, Claude or ChatGPT can manage members, coupons and email drafts for you.

Overall I recommend Podia for solo creators who sell a mix of small products and want one simple tool to run them. If the quality of the learning experience is your main selling point, Thinkific or LearnWorlds will serve you better.

Podia Features

Here's what Podia includes.

• Online courses: Build courses with video, drip content, quizzes, certificates and access duration controls.
• Digital downloads: Sell ebooks, templates, audio files and other digital products alongside courses.
• Coaching: Book one-on-one sessions with scheduling, payment and session management built in.
• Events: Host live or in-person events, sell tickets, send reminders and sell replays.
• Email marketing: Send broadcasts and automations with segmentation and tagging, up to each plan's subscriber limit.
• Community: Run a home feed with spaces, member-to-member chat, group chat and top contributors on every plan.
• Website builder: Build a full website with your own domain, a blog and landing pages.
• Affiliate marketing: Recruit affiliates on higher plans.
• Free migrations: Let Podia move your courses, downloads and customer emails over for you.
• Upsells and bundles: Offer bundles, coupons and payment plans on every plan, with upsells on higher plans.
• Podia Agent and MCP: Connect Claude, ChatGPT or another AI tool to manage members, coupons and email drafts.

What I Don't Like About Podia

Email marketing is good enough for early-stage creators but limited for anyone building advanced sequences. Podia has no visual automation builder or advanced behavioral triggers. Segmentation is also basic next to Kit or Kajabi.

In my opinion, Podia should have improved its learning features by now. Learning paths, deeper evaluation tools and a more flexible site builder would put Podia among my top recommendations.

Podia charges only in your account's base currency, too. International students pay in your currency while their card provider handles the conversion.

Podia Pros and Cons

Podia pros	Podia cons
Affordable all-in-one for solo creators	Shallow course and learning features
Community on every plan	Basic email segmentation
Built-in email marketing	Transaction fee on the entry plan
Free migrations	Charges in one currency only
Podia Agent and MCP on every plan	Email subscriber caps by plan

Podia Pricing Plans

Podia's current plans, billed annually, are Mover $42/mo, Shaker $84/mo and Earthquaker $150/mo.

Mover adds a 5% transaction fee, while Shaker and Earthquaker charge none. Email subscriber limits rise with each plan, with extra charges once you pass your limit. Podia offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required.

Read my full Podia review for details, or my Podia vs Thinkific comparison if you're deciding between the two.

10. Kartra: Best for Funnel-Driven Businesses

• Key features: Sales funnels, email and SMS, video hosting with CTAs, course portals, webinars
• Best for: Marketers and coaches whose business already runs on funnels and automation
• Not for: Course-first creators who want a student app and a community
• Starting price: $52/mo billed annually

I've tested Kartra extensively and used it with clients who needed serious funnel infrastructure alongside their courses. Kartra is a marketing platform that also lets you host courses. If you expect a course platform with marketing tools added on, you'll be disappointed.

Kartra's strength is marketing. The automation builder goes deep, so you can trigger email sequences, tag contacts, move them between funnels and fire follow-up actions based on specific behavior.

For example, Kartra can react when someone watches a percentage of a video, abandons a checkout or completes a survey.

Kartra's video tools are also unusual among course platforms. Kartra hosts video natively and lets you embed opt-in forms, calls to action and tags directly in the video timeline.

Someone who watches 75% of your sales video can get tagged and added to a follow-up sequence automatically. Thinkific and even Kajabi can't do that kind of behavior-triggered video automation without third-party tools.

The course analytics are more capable than I expected from a funnel-first platform. Kartra tracks subscription and churn rates, average retention, average time to completion and progression data that shows where students stall inside a course.

The course features themselves are still limited. Kartra calls its courses "membership sites" and groups of courses "portals," terminology that confuses new users from day one.

Kartra's quizzes work mainly for surveys and lead profiling. They can issue a certificate at a set score, but Kartra has no lesson locking tied to a pass mark, no cohort courses and no learning paths.

Kartra includes Kartra AI on every plan for writing copy, emails and headlines, with usage caps that grow by plan.

If you're a course creator first, Kajabi gives you a better course experience alongside strong marketing tools.

Kartra Features

Here are Kartra's main features.

• Sales funnels and campaigns: Build visual funnels with templates, automation sequences and behavior-based triggers across the customer journey.
• Email and SMS marketing: Segment, tag and send automated sequences triggered by video views, purchases and form completions.
• Video hosting with CTAs: Host video natively and embed opt-ins, tags and offers at specific timestamps.
• Course and membership portals: Create single courses or bundle several into a portal with drip content, tiered access and upsells.
• Course analytics: Track subscription and churn rates, average retention, progression and time to completion for every course.
• Kartra AI: Generate copy, emails and headlines on every plan, with usage caps that grow by tier.
• Webinars: Run live or automated webinars with registration pages and follow-up sequences.
• Affiliate management: Run a full affiliate program with custom commission rules, tracking and payouts on higher plans.
• Checkout and upsells: Use branded checkout pages with one-click upsells, order bumps and recurring billing.
• Surveys and applications: Collect intake details, segment contacts and trigger automations from survey answers on plans above the entry plan.
• Helpdesk and calendar: Add support ticketing and live chat on higher plans, plus appointment booking through Kartra Calendars.

What I Don't Like About Kartra

The missing student mobile app is a real gap for course-heavy businesses. Students on Thinkific, Kajabi and Teachable can learn in a native app, while Kartra students use a mobile browser.

Kartra also has no dedicated community. Students can comment under each lesson, but the portal has no member feed, chat or events, so most Kartra users run their community in a separate tool.

Kartra Pros and Cons

Kartra pros	Kartra cons
Deep behavior-based automation	Confusing course terminology
Video hosting with timed CTAs and tags	Basic quizzes with no learning paths or cohorts
Strong course analytics	No student mobile app
Webinars and helpdesk built in	No community space
Kartra AI on every plan	Transaction fee on the entry plan

Kartra Pricing Plans

Kartra's current plans, billed annually, are Essentials $52/mo, Starter $99/mo, Growth $189/mo and Professional $429/mo.

Essentials charges a 5% transaction fee and caps you at 500 contacts. From Starter up, the fee drops to 0%.

Read my full Kartra review for more details, or my Kartra vs Kajabi comparison if you want marketing depth and a stronger course experience in one account.

11. LifterLMS: Best Free WordPress LMS to Start With

• Key features: Course builder, memberships, advanced quizzes, assignments, certificates
• Best for: WordPress users who want to start small and add only the features they need
• Not for: Non-technical creators who don't want to manage WordPress
• Starting price: Free core plugin, with paid bundles from $398/yr

I've used LifterLMS across several projects on my own sites and for clients who needed a full-featured course setup on WordPress. LifterLMS is a capable plugin. In several situations it has been my first choice over LearnDash.

LifterLMS and LearnDash solve the same core problem. Each one turns a WordPress site into a proper course platform and gives you full ownership of your data, your domain and your student relationships.

The difference is how you build up your setup. LifterLMS lets you start with its core plugin, which already includes unlimited courses, memberships and students. From there you add only the features you need through add-ons or bundles.

LifterLMS also attracts creators who want more control over the learning experience itself. Advanced quizzes, assignments, course cohorts and continuing education add-ons go deep. The add-on marketplace lets you build exactly the setup you need.

LearnDash has the edge on maturity. LearnDash has been around longer, with a larger community, more third-party integrations and more developers who know it well.

One thing I appreciate about LifterLMS that doesn't get mentioned enough is its support. For a smaller company, the documentation is clear and the team responds quickly. The weekly mastermind included in the higher bundles is useful if you're building something serious and want access to the team.

I recommend LifterLMS over LearnDash in two situations. First, if you want to start small and add features only when you need them. Second, if you need fine control over learning design, like course cohorts, continuing education credits or private member areas that would need extra add-ons elsewhere.

If you already have a developer who knows LearnDash, or you work in an agency where LearnDash is the standard, stick with LearnDash.

LifterLMS Features

Here are the LifterLMS features I use most.

• Course builder: Create structured courses with lessons, sections, media and drip content on any WordPress site.
• Advanced quizzes: Build timed quizzes and question banks with attempt limits and detailed results.
• Assignments: Collect and review student submissions with feedback and grading.
• Memberships: Gate content by membership tier with flexible access rules.
• Course cohorts: Run time-based cohort courses where all students move through content together.
• Certificates: Generate branded completion certificates when a student finishes a course or passes a quiz.
• Continuing education: Track and issue CE credits for professional certification programs.
• Email marketing integrations: Connect Mailchimp, Kit and others through add-ons in the higher bundles.
• Ecommerce add-ons: Take payments through Stripe, PayPal, WooCommerce or Authorize.net.
• Social learning: Turn on peer interaction, activity feeds and community features inside your courses.
• Private areas: Create private spaces for individual students or groups with restricted access.

What I Don't Like About LifterLMS

Like LearnDash, LifterLMS makes you manage your own WordPress environment. Hosting, security, plugin conflicts and payment setup all fall on you. With all the add-ons involved, the setup can get even more complex than LearnDash.

If you don't want to handle any of that, a hosted platform like Thinkific will serve you better.

LifterLMS Pros and Cons

LifterLMS pros	LifterLMS cons
Free core plugin with unlimited courses and students	WordPress upkeep is on you
Deep learning design with cohorts and CE credits	Payment gateways need paid add-ons
Responsive support and clear documentation	Bundle model takes planning
Pay only for the add-ons you need	Smaller developer community than LearnDash
Full ownership on WordPress

LifterLMS Pricing Plans

The LifterLMS core plugin is free, with unlimited courses, memberships and students. Paid bundles add payment gateways, email integrations and more. The paid bundles renew at Earth Bundle $398/yr, Universe Bundle $598/yr and Infinity Bundle $1,598/yr, with a discounted first year for new buyers.

The bundle model can be confusing until you map out what you need. Most serious setups need at least the Earth Bundle for payment processing, while many also need Universe for email integrations. Running the numbers before you buy saves surprises later.

Read my full LifterLMS review for more details.

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12. Udemy: Best Marketplace to Test a Course Idea

• Key features: Course marketplace, large built-in audience, basic course builder, Udemy Business
• Best for: Validating a course idea or reaching an audience you don't have yet
• Not for: Building a long-term business where you own the audience
• Starting price: Free to publish

Udemy works differently from every platform covered so far. Udemy is the world's largest online course marketplace, where tens of millions of students browse and buy courses in dozens of categories.

Udemy is now part of Coursera after the two companies completed their merger in May 2026. The combined company reports 290 million learners. Coursera hasn't spelled out what changes for marketplace instructors yet, so watch the instructor terms before you invest heavily.

If you're starting from zero, Udemy's exposure puts you in front of millions of potential customers. But Udemy owns that audience. When someone buys your course on Udemy, you get their first name and little else, with no email address and no way to sell them your next course directly.

I see only two good reasons to use Udemy.

The first is course validation. If you have a course idea and don't know whether anyone will pay for it, Udemy lets you test it against real buying behavior without building a full platform first. A course that sells on Udemy despite heavy competition and low prices has proven demand.

The second is audience building as a starting point, with a clear exit plan. Some creators use Udemy to collect reviews and credibility in a niche, then point students toward their own platform for premium content. The approach works, but Udemy's terms limit how hard you can promote outside products.

In both cases, Udemy is a stepping stone. The moment a course gains traction, move it to your own platform where you own the pricing, the data and the relationship.

Udemy Features

Here's what Udemy gives instructors.

• Course marketplace: List your course in a searchable catalog with a large built-in audience.
• Basic course builder: Upload video lessons, organize sections and add quizzes and assignments.
• Udemy Business: Earn extra revenue if Udemy selects your course for its enterprise library.
• Ratings and reviews: Build credibility on the platform through public student reviews, which stay on Udemy if you leave.
• Certificate of completion: Give students a Udemy-branded certificate.
• Instructor analytics: See enrollments, revenue and engagement, without individual student contact details.

Udemy Pros and Cons

Udemy pros	Udemy cons
Free to publish	Udemy owns the student relationship
Huge built-in audience	Constant discounts cut your revenue per sale
Fast way to test demand for a course idea	Small revenue share on organic sales
Udemy Business licensing revenue	Limits on promoting your own platform

Udemy Pricing and Revenue Share

Publishing on Udemy costs nothing, but Udemy takes a share of each sale. Instructors get 37% of organic sales and 97% of sales from their own coupons or referral links.

The constant promotions make this worse over time. Courses listed at $199 regularly sell for $9.99 or $14.99 during sales, which run most of the time. Your revenue per student ends up a fraction of what you'd earn selling the same course to your own audience on Thinkific or Kajabi.

Read my full Udemy guide for more details. If you're ready to move on, my guide to Udemy alternatives and my Teachable vs Udemy comparison cover where to go next.

13. Skillshare: Best for Early Exposure in Creative Niches

• Key features: Course marketplace, project-based classes, subscription audience
• Best for: Exposure in creative niches without an existing audience
• Not for: Non-creative topics, or anyone who needs predictable income
• Starting price: Free to publish

Skillshare is another leading online course marketplace with millions of monthly visitors. Skillshare works on the same principle as Udemy, where you list content in someone else's marketplace instead of building your own platform.

The same limits apply here. Skillshare owns the student relationships and controls pricing, so you can't take your audience with you if you leave.

Skillshare runs on a subscription model, so students subscribe once and get access to every class on the platform. Classes tend to be short and project-based, which suits creative skills like illustration, photography and design.

Like Udemy, Skillshare only makes sense for early exposure. A creative professional with no audience can use it to build credibility and get work in front of people while building their own platform.

Check your category first, though. Skillshare has paused new teacher onboarding and is cutting back content in several categories, including Marketing & Business, Personal Development, Productivity, Writing & Publishing, Development, Home & Lifestyle and Music & Audio.

Skillshare Pros and Cons

Skillshare pros	Skillshare cons
Free to publish	Unpredictable royalty income
Built-in audience for creative topics	Minimum follower and watch-time thresholds for payouts
Project-based class format	New teacher onboarding paused
	Skillshare owns the student relationship

Skillshare Pricing and Payouts

Publishing on Skillshare is free. Teachers earn royalties from a shared pool based on how many minutes students spend watching their classes. To earn royalties, you need at least 50 followers plus a minimum number of qualifying minutes watched each month. The bar is 400 minutes if you've published a quality class in the last 18 months. Without a recent class, it rises to 650 minutes.

In practice, your income is unpredictable and depends on how Skillshare allocates the pool. A class with 10,000 minutes of watch time in January might earn a different amount in March if more teachers join or Skillshare adjusts its formula.

Do This Before You Choose an Online Course Hosting Platform

I've shared everything I know from my time using the best online course hosting platforms, but the final call is yours.

Before you spend any money, sign up for the free trial or demo of the two or three platforms closest to your situation. Spend a few hours building something real in each one, like a lesson, a checkout page and a test email.

Those few hours will tell you more than any review article, including this one.

If something isn't clear, contact the support team. How quickly and helpfully they respond tells you a lot about the relationship after you've paid. Only put money down once you're convinced.

Remember that the monthly price is only part of the cost. If you pick the wrong platform and migrate six months later, you lose the time it took to build your course, set up sales pages, enroll students and learn the system. Nobody gets that time back, so take the time to get this right the first time.

If you have questions about a specific platform or your situation, drop them in the comments. I read everything and I'm happy to help.

Frequently Asked Questions About Online Course Platforms

Here are short answers to the questions course creators ask me most about choosing a platform.

What is the best online course platform in 2026?

For most course creators, Thinkific is the best online course platform in 2026. Thinkific pairs an easy course builder with memberships, communities and email automation on every plan. Choose Kajabi if you need advanced funnels and automation, Circle for a community-first business and LearnDash if you already run a busy WordPress site.

What is the best platform to sell online courses as a beginner?

Thinkific is the best platform to sell online courses as a beginner. Its course builder is easy to learn. The platform also handles hosting, payments and student access for you. Podia and Teachable are simpler still, though they go less deep. Skip Kajabi and the WordPress plugins until you have an audience and a proven offer.

Which online course platforms charge no transaction fees?

Thinkific and Kajabi charge no platform fee when you use their built-in payment processors. Teachable, Podia, Kartra and LearnWorlds drop their fees on higher plans. Circle, Mighty Networks and Skool charge a fee on every plan. Card processing fees still apply on every platform.

Is there a free online course platform?

LifterLMS offers a free core plugin with unlimited courses and students, though you still pay for hosting and payment add-ons. Udemy and Skillshare cost nothing to publish, but they keep a large share of revenue and own the student relationship. Most hosted platforms, including Teachable and Podia, now offer free trials instead of free plans.

What is the difference between an online course platform, an LMS and a course marketplace?

An online course platform hosts and sells your courses under your own brand. An LMS focuses on delivering and tracking training, often for employees or members. Many course platforms now include LMS features too. A marketplace like Udemy lists your course next to thousands of others and controls pricing and the customer relationship.

Should I use a WordPress LMS plugin or a hosted course platform?

Choose a WordPress LMS plugin such as LearnDash or LifterLMS only if you already run a WordPress site with steady traffic and feel comfortable managing hosting, updates and security. Everyone else should pick a hosted platform like Thinkific or Kajabi, which handles the technical side so you can focus on teaching and selling.

What is the best online training platform for businesses and corporate clients?

LearnWorlds is the strongest choice for B2B and corporate training among the platforms here, with SCORM, interactive video, question banks and detailed gradebooks. Thinkific sells to teams through group orders on higher plans, while its enterprise plan adds SCORM and learning paths. LearnDash suits companies that want training on their own WordPress site.

Which course platform is best for community-based learning?

Circle is the best choice when the community is the product and courses support it. Mighty Networks suits cohort programs with livestreams and gamification built in. Skool is the simplest option and adds a Discovery directory that can bring in new members. Kajabi, Thinkific and Podia include communities too, with fewer engagement tools.

Which online course platforms handle sales tax and VAT for you?

Teachable handles US sales tax, EU VAT and GST through teachable:pay, which makes it the easiest choice for an international audience. Podia also manages sales tax across many countries. On other platforms, check how each one handles tax before you sell in new markets, since many leave filing and payment to you.

Which course platforms connect to ChatGPT or Claude?

Kajabi and Podia include an MCP connection on every plan, so Claude or ChatGPT can work inside your account. Circle and Mighty Networks offer MCP on their higher plans. Teachable has an MCP server that runs through its API. Thinkific limits its MCP and its Thinker AI assistant to its enterprise plan.

Can I move my course from one platform to another later?

Yes, though moving a course takes real work. Expect to export videos and student lists, rebuild sales pages and set up payments again. Recurring subscriptions can be hard to transfer. Podia offers free migrations, while Mighty Networks includes migration services on its higher plans. Choosing carefully up front saves you the move.

Is Udemy still worth it for course creators in 2026?

Udemy works for testing a course idea or building early credibility, not as a long-term home. Instructors earn 37% of organic marketplace sales while Udemy keeps the customer data. Udemy also became part of Coursera when the merger closed in May 2026, so watch for changes to the instructor program before you invest heavily.

Which online course platform has the best mobile app?

Kajabi, Teachable, Skool, Mighty Networks and Thinkific all give students a free mobile app. For your own branded app in the app stores, Kajabi includes one on its top plan, while Circle and Mighty Networks reserve it for their top plans. Thinkific and LearnWorlds sell a branded app as a paid add-on. Kartra has no student app.

How do I choose the right online course hosting platform?

Start with your business model. Course-first creators should look at Thinkific or LearnWorlds, all-in-one marketers at Kajabi, community builders at Circle or Skool and WordPress site owners at LearnDash. Then take free trials of your top two or three platforms and build a real lesson, checkout and email in each before you commit.

Why Trust My Advice? (I'm In the Trenches Every Day)

I use these online training platforms to run my course business and my clients' businesses across Learning Revolution, Leading Learning and Tagoras. I know what sits behind the fancy features most AI-generated "best for" articles throw at you.

If a platform's checkout fails or an update breaks a course player, I'm the one who gets the 3 AM phone call.

Here's why you can trust these recommendations:

I pay for these tools myself: I keep active, paid accounts on almost every platform here, including the ones I suggest you avoid. I log in and build real modules to see where the friction is, instead of relying on demo accounts from marketing teams.

20+ years of real-world experience: I've spent two decades consulting for global organizations and solo edupreneurs alike. I've seen which platforms scale to seven figures and which ones buckle under 500+ students.

I know the features that matter: You'll rarely use every feature a platform proudly markets. I focus on course creation, marketing and student engagement, because those decide whether your business grows.

I've handled emergency migrations: I've managed the job of moving thousands of students from one platform to another because a simple tool hit a scaling wall. I know where the ceilings are because I've hit them.

I'm an affiliate for some of these tools, which helps keep this site running. My loyalty is to my readers, though. If a platform stops being a good deal, I'll tell you, because my reputation as a consultant is worth more than a commission check.

How We Evaluate and Test Online Course Platforms

Jeff Cobb, Learning Revolution's founder, oversees every platform review on this site. Jeff has more than 20 years of experience working with online course platforms. Our team of analysts runs the hands-on testing and scores each platform on six areas:

• Course building: How fast you can build a course and how deep the quizzes, certificates and learning paths go.
• Marketing and email: Whether you can capture leads, run sequences and sell without extra tools.
• Community and engagement: How well the platform keeps students active between lessons.
• Fees and total cost: Plan prices, transaction fees and the add-ons most creators end up buying.
• Ownership: Who owns the student relationship, the data and the domain.
• AI and integrations: What the AI tools do and whether the platform connects to Claude or ChatGPT.

We recheck pricing and plans against each vendor's own pages every month. We take part in affiliate programs where they exist, but no company pays for placement in our articles or for links to its website.

Jeff Cobb, Founder of Learning Revolution

Jeff Cobb is an expert in online education and the business of adult lifelong learning. Over the past 20+ years he has built a thriving career based on that expertise - as an entrepreneur, a consultant, an author, and a speaker. Learning Revolution is a place where Jeff curates tips, insights, and resources to help you build a thriving expertise-based business. Learn more about Jeff Cobb here.