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Last updated June 1, 2019 – Added AccessAlly for combined online course and membership sites.

Looking to sell online courses, but confused by all of the platform choices?

In this post I draw on my two decades of eLearning industry experience to highlight the top online course platforms and help you narrow your list. It’s a great companion to my free platform selection guide.

(Psst. If you already have a platform, be sure to check out the next steps at the end of this post.)

Why is choosing an online course platform so hard (and what makes it easier)?

One of the most important things to know about choosing an online course platform is that most platforms out there are not designed to sell online courses. They are made to deliver internal corporate training or to support academic programs.

And here’s another important fact:

Even those that will work for selling online courses come in a lot of different flavors. Pick the wrong flavor for your online course business needs and you will have headaches.

So, to help narrow your field of choices (and avoid headaches!), I’ve organized this post into the following categories.

It may seem like a no-brainer, but just having a clear idea of which of the categories above you fall in – along with knowing that only a  small  subset of online course platforms are meant for selling course – will make your life MUCH easier.

Keep in mind that I think all of these are strong choices.

I have my preferences, but depending on your specific needs, any of these could be a good fit. Also, if a company offers an affiliate program, I will usually participate (here’s my affiliate disclaimer) – that doesn’t cost you anything, and I don’t see why I shouldn’t get at least a little benefit from sending some business to a company.

I have more experience with some of the online course platforms listed here than others, but I have vetted them all at a high level to make sure they seem like a good fit for edupreneurs and smaller education and training businesses that want to sell online courses. I encourage you to use the comments area to share any experiences you have had with these platforms – good or bad. (And, be sure to check them out for what others have said.)

Now, let’s move on to the list.

All of the platforms listed here are strong choices, but I know it can be helpful for an expert to just say “look at this one, it’s a top choice” if you want to sell online courses. So, here’s my all around top choice: Thinkific. Check it out. You can create a free course right away, they are very upfront about how their different plans compare, and most importantly, I hear consistently from readers that that they have had a good experience with Thinkific. – Jeff

P.S. – Don’t just take it from me. Here is what Thinkific reviews currently look like on ReviewMyLMS.com:

Sell online courses - pie chart image of Thinkific platform ratings on reviewmylms.com
Thinkific is my all around top choice.

Standalone Platforms to Sell Online Courses

These are hosted platforms geared toward solo edupreneurs or small businesses that want a turnkey way to create their own branded site to sell online courses. (Also, unlike Udemy, which is discussed below in a different category, they allow you full control over your user data.) While the feature sets are relatively similar, they can be very different in their “look and feel” as well as in how focused they are on helping course entrepreneurs succeed – e.g., by providing good resources, educational content, strong support. Be sure to check out the free trial options, where available, so that you have a chance to kick the tires before committing.

Thinkific

Thinkific provides a truly full-featured software solution to help you create, deliver, and market and sell online courses. A big vote of confidence for this platform is that my friend Dorie Clark – a bestselling author multiple-times over, guest on the Learning Revolution podcast, and generally very smart and business-savvy person – has used it for her online courses. Similar to Teachable below, there is a free plan, but …

… get this …

… Thinkific does not charge transaction fees on any of its plans, paid or free. The Basic paid plan – which comes with a bump in the features you get access to – starts at $49 per month ($39, if paid annually). Definitely worth checking out. (Here’s my full Thinkific review.)

Link: https://www.thinkific.com

Online course platforms - Thinkific banner - Easily create and sell online courses on your own siteIf you want to give your course business a turbo boost, be sure to check out Thinkific’s guide YOUR FIRST $100K. A Proven Path to Reaching $100,000 in Online Course Sales. It’s free, and it walks you through all the key steps you need to take to turn online courses into serious business.

LearnWorlds

LearnWorlds positions itself as a “premium” option that provides for high interactivity, social learning tools to complement standard course content, and white labeling. The company also puts a lot of emphasis on its tools for building sales pages for courses – and these do indeed look impressive. You can even test them out without signing up through a simulator that LearnWorlds provides. You can try it free for 30 days (no credit card required), then pricing starts at $29 per month ($24, if billed annually). The company charges $5 per sale on its starter plan, but no additional fees on its other plans.

Unlike many of the company’s here, LearnWorlds also offers services for uploading and converting your content, developing courses, and customizing your LearnWorlds school. And, it is one of the few platforms on this page that supports SCORM. All in all, it looks like a very good option, deserving of the “premium” label. Use the code LEARNINGREVOLUTION50 when checking out at LearnWorlds and you will get 50% off for the first month of a Pro plan or higher. (Full Learnworlds review here)

Link: https://www.learnworlds.com/

Screen shot of LearnWorld's custom services to help modify the online course platform and sell online courses
LearnWorlds offers a range of services to help you create and sell online courses using its online course platform.

Teachable

Teachable got started out of frustration with Udemy (listed below) – in particular, with the way in which Udemy controls information about and access to students. In response, the Teachable team has created a platform that enables you to offer online courses “on your website and control your branding, student data, and pricing all from one place.” I like the pricing model they offer. You can use the platform for free and pay $1 + 10% for all transactions.  (You’ll need to click on the Compare Plans link on their pricing page to see this option.) Or, you can choose to pay a monthly fee, which eliminates the $1 per transaction fees and also reduces the percentage paid to Teachable based on what level of monthly fee you choose. The basic plan is $39 per month ($33.25, if paid annually + a 5% transaction fee). (Here’s my full Teachable review.)

Link: https://teachable.com/

Online Course Platforms - Teachable logoIf you are ready to sell online courses and just want to get started fast (or already have, but are looking for new technology), be sure to check out the free Teachable Quickstart Webinar (offered weekly on Thursdays).

Podia

Podia started out as “WithCoach” and a platform that was aimed primarily at coaches. More recently, the company has repositioned as a full-featured, but easy-to-use platform for selling online courses, memberships, and digital downloads in one place. Some of its key selling points are (1) no transaction fees (other than whatever you pay to your payment processor – i.e., Paypal or Stripe), (2) no limits on courses or users, and (3) a strong focus on supporting affiliate marketing of your products. With its basic plan starting at $39 per month (two months free with an annual plan), Podia seems to be rapidly gaining a lot of momentum. (Full Podia review here.)

Link: https://www.podia.com

Ruzuku

One of the things I really like about Ruzuku is that they put a LOT of effort into helping subject matter entrepreneurs use their platform successfully to sell online courses – including everything from designing a great course, getting it online, and marketing it effectively. Their “Up and Comer Plus” plan also includes unlimited Webinars.  Their Bootstrapper plan is $99 per month ($74.75, if billed annually) and includes unlimited students and courses. If you are looking for an easy-to -use platform combined with a soup-to-nuts  approach to helping you be successful with it, this is a great option. I recommend you sign up for their free trial today to give you an idea of what the platform can do.

Link: http://ruzuku.com/

Click4Course

One of the newer additions to this list of online course platforms, Click4Course compares well with well-established platforms like Teachable and Thinkific and seems strong in its testing, survey, and certificate capabilities. It also offers the interesting feature of being able to configure whether a site is displayed for internal training – in which case a login screen is presented – or selling courses – in which case a catalog is presented. There’s a 30-day free trial (no credit card required) and the month fee is $79 ($65, if paid annually), for unlimited learners plus a 10% processing fee per course sold.

Link: https://www.click4course.com/

Digital Chalk

Digital Chalk offers a variety of plans for getting courses online. Also worth noting is the fact that the platform supports the Shareable Content Object Reference Model, or SCORM, meaning you can create standards-compliant online courses outside of the platform and import them. (Note: As far as I can tell, Digital Chalk  is the only only platforms listed in this section that offers true off-the-shelf support for SCORM. This may ore may not be an important consideration in your plans to sell online courses. Learn more here.) The company’s lowest price plan starts at $15 per month ($10, if paid annually) plus $4.99 per registration.

Link: http://www.digitalchalk.com

Pathwright

I had the pleasure of interviewing Pathwright co-founder Paul Johnson on the Learning Revolution podcast, and he also connected me with Jason Blumer, who has used the Pathwright platform with great success. The starter plan – which allows for 1000 active learners and unlimited courses – is $99 a month ($89, if paid annually), and Pathwright does not charge any e-commerce fees (though your gateway – e.g., Stripe – still does, as usual).

Link: http://www.pathwright.com/

Zippy Courses

Originally developed as WordPress plug-in, Zippy Courses is now a standalone platform. The person behind it is Derek Halpern, who is a well-known and respected marketer who certainly knows a thing or two himself about how to create and sell online courses. I’ve participated in a couple of courses that use Zippy Course (one was Derek’s own course, another was by a well-known course development coach who pitches Teachable in the program, but is actually using Zippy Courses to deliver it!). All in all, a very solid platform that will get you up and running – and, of course, selling online courses – quickly. Pricing starts at $99 per month with no transaction fees.

Link: https://zippycourses.com

All-In-One Platforms

Photo of Swiss Army Knife for All-in-One Online Course Platform Concept

This category of online course software provides everything you need not just to create and sell online courses, but also to manage your full Web presence. They combine elements of a Web content management system (CMS) with marketing and customer relationship management tools (CRM). I plan to do a round-up post on this type of platform soon, but for the time being, I can say that choice I would most seriously consider in this category is:

Kajabi

Kajabi describes itself as “the one system you need to market, sell, and deliver your knowledge online.” As it happens, selling online courses is a big part of the equation. Along with courses, you’re able to sell memberships, training portals, file downloads, and pretty much any other digital product you can come up with. For many people who just want to sell an online course – and who are already set with a Web site and marketing tools – this may be overkill. Then again, if you don’t have those things or simply want to get everything under one roof, Kajabi may be just the ticket. You can grab a special 28-day free trial here – or, better yet,  get free access and jumpstart your course creation by joining the Kajabi 28-Day Challenge. Once a paid plan kicks in, pricing starts at $149 a month ($119 if paid annually). (Full Kajabi review here.)

Link: https://newkajabi.com/

Kajabi Banner - Sell Online Courses with Kajabi
Kajabi is one of the best choices for an “all-in-one” online course platform. Check out the Kajabi 28-Day Challenge to get your course up and running in 28 days.

Academy of Mine

While Kajabi (above), is a great all-in-one choice for solopreneurs, Academy of Mine is a better bet for small businesses and organizations that want an all-in-one option. The platform supports SCORM courses, sophisticated quizzing and assessment, and issuance of continuing education credit. And, because it is built on top of WordPress, it has top notch capabilities for building out a full-featured Web site. Academy of Mine is also the only company on this page that offers full-managed plans that include customizations and support for getting your courses built. (Feel free to contact me if you want more information about how the managed plans work.)

Link: https://www.academyofmine.com

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WordPress Plug-Ins /Themes to Sell Courses Online

If you are wondering how to create an online course with WordPress – and, of course, sell it – there are plenty of WordPress plug-ins and themes available to help you out.  These can be a particularly good option if you want to sell online courses from your own website, though keep in mind that you will need more technical skills if you go this route. The following are my current top choices.

LearnDash

LearnDash, in my opinion, is pretty much the gold standard for serious WordPress learning management system (LMS) plug-ins and the recent release of version 3.0 has made it even better. It is a very feature rich platform that was clearly developed by people serious about e-learning (and the founder, Justin Ferriman, does have a long background in e-learning). Pricing starts at $159 for the basic version and tops out at $329 for the Pro version.  Note: These are one-time, not monthly fees and they represent an insane amount of value for what you  get. To continue getting updates and support, there is an annual renewal fee that is half of the initial license fee.

Once you’ve got a license, LearnDash offers a range of integrations and add-ons –WooCommerce, bbPress, Stripe, and Zapier, among many others – for free. And there are also a number of premium add-ons – including a connection to the GrassBlade LRS (for you e-learning geeks out there) – that look quite useful. Overall, this is serious e-learning at a very reasonable price.

Link: http://www.learndash.com/

AccessAlly

If you want to combine the ability to sell online courses with the ability to manage a full-featured membership site – a powerful combination for edupreneurs – then AccessAlly is arguably the best choice there is. The platform really leverages the full capabilities and flexibility of WordPress while also adding in great membership features and a learning management system (LMS) plug-in that includes notable features like the ability for students to submit homework assignments and get private feedback. You get all of this without having to be a WordPress whiz. It’s basically plug-n-play, but there is also a comprehensive “done for you” option is you want to get up and running with a course and  membership site quickly. The Pro plan is $129 per month / $108 with a yearly subscription. If you are serious about a membership model, this is definitely one to check out. (Full AccessAlly Review here.)

Link: https://accessally.com/

AccessAlly banner - platform to sell online courses and membership
AccessAlly is a powerful option for combining membership with selling online courses.

Course Cats

David Siteman Garland, the guy behind Course Cats, definitely knows what he is talking about when it comes to online courses. He has created quite a few successful ones himself and has taught many others how to do it. Course Cats was born out of his own frustration with trying to make WordPress – which is great for so many things – into an easy-to-use platform for hosting online courses. Now you get to benefit from his efforts. As the Garland puts it, Course Cats gives you “everything you need to create your own amazing course Web site without needing a web developer, a graphic designer, a psychiatrist and a team of 1,000 nerds!” A subscription is $59 per month or $497 a year – and either includes a “concierge” service to get you up and running. If you use, or plan to use WordPress, definitely take the 30-day free trial for a spin. (Full Coursecats review here.)

Link: http://coursecats.com

Online course platforms - Course Cats logo
Course Cats turns your WordPress site into a powerful online course platform. Take the free trial for a spin today!

LifterLMS

LifterLMS has the very strong selling point of being free for the base version: you can search for and install it using the usual plug-in screen in WordPress. This means you can easily try out the system within your WordPress site before deciding whether it is right for you.You pay only if you decide to use any of the various add-ons available for the system. These range from e-commerce to various marketing tools and integrations.  These are $99 each, or you can purchase a Universal Bundle for $299 that includes all of the standard add-ons. (You can actually try out the Universal Bundle for a month for $1.)

It’s also worth noting that Lifter has some very nice “Done For You” service options that can really jump start your efforts to get up and running with online courses.

Link: https://lifterlms.com/

Want to Run a Great Member Learning Site in WordPress?

I use LearnDash (see above) for one of my company’s learning sites (The Tagoras Learning Community), but what really turned it into an amazing solution was the themes and plug-ins from BuddyBoss.  We use the Social Learner – LearnDash theme along with BuddyBoss Wall and other plug-ins to provide an amazing member and learner experience. Definitely worth checking out.

Marketplace Online Course Platforms

Photo of farmers market for marketplace course platform concept

These are online course platforms that, in addition to providing ways to author/assemble courses, also provide an existing marketplace in which to sell online courses. I’ve only included what I consider to be the top contenders here. For more extensive list of options in this category, see Looking for an Alternative to Udemy?

OpenSesame

If you happen to be an expert, or manage experts (e.g., if you represent a training firm or association) that is developing offerings at this level of sophistication,OpenSesame might be the first place you want to check out. You can also upload video, and the company claims that courses published in its system can be accessed by any learning management system (LMS). So, for example, if you know there are businesses out there that would want your content, but are going to want it on their own LMS, this could be a very powerful option. The company takes 40% of any sales you make through its platform.

Link: https://www.opensesame.com/sell-online-elearning-training-courses

Skillshare

Skillshare provides instructors with tools to create courses composed of video lessons and a “class project.” (All classes are have these two elements.) Classes are normally 10-25 minutes long, broken down into short videos, and they are all pre-recorded and self-paced. Once you have enrolled more than 25 learners in a class, you become eligible for participation in Skillshare’s Partner Program and can earn money through the royalty pool managed by the company – usually $1-2 per enrollment, according to the company. (Unlike Udemy – discussed below – Skillshare sells subscriptions to all of its content rather than to individual courses.) Once you are a partner, you’ll also get compensated for new Premium Members ($10 per) you bring to Skillshare through your Teacher Referral link. The Skillshare site reports that “Top teachers make up to $40,000 a year.”

Link: https://www.skillshare.com/teach

Udemy

The folks at Udemy say “Our goal is to disrupt and democratize education by enabling anyone to learn from the world’s experts.” From what I can tell, they have been doing a pretty good job at it. The Udemy platform gives subject matter experts a simple, straightforward way to assemble content like PowerPoint slides, PDF documents, and YouTube videos into a coherent course experience. You can then publish into the Udemy marketplace and use a variety of tools to promote your masterpieces. Udemy is free for instructors – the company makes it’s money by keeping 50% if it sells your course. If you make the sale, you keep 97% (Udemy takes a 3% transaction fee). Keep in mind that your are currently required to price your courses in $5 increments between $20 and $200 on Udemy (source) – quite restrictive, in my opinion. Even so, ThinkTraffic reports that some some instructors have been having quite a bit of success.

Link: http://www.udemy.com/teach

(Again, see my post Looking for an Alternative to Udemy? for other options in this category.)

Small Business – Extended Enterprise Platforms

Conceptual keyboard - Learning Management System (blue key)

Most of the online course platforms listed on this page are geared towards solopreneurs or small, start-up businesses. While they can work for larger businesses, I’ve found over time that more established training and education companies may want to jump up to a different level if they:

  • Sell business-to-business and may need to set up separate portals for each customer
  • Need to award continuing education credit learners
  • Already have an extensive catalog of courses built out in SCORM or TinCan-based authoring tools like Articulate, Captivate, Lectora, or iSpring
  • Plan to build out a catalog of courses and don’t want to be “trapped” by using proprietary LMS tools
  • Need to manage online and classroom-based courses in the same system
  • Need complex assessment capabilities (creating questions and answer pools, randomizing questions, ability to analyze the performance of individual questions – i.e., item analysis)

Because many course sellers do have these needs, I decided to create a separate “learning management system for small business” page. On my short list in this category are platforms like LearningCart (full review) and TalentLMS (full review). For a full range of options, check out Learning Management System for Small Business.

(Note: The online course platforms listed on that page are not out of the question for solo entrepreneurs, but they are probably a better fit, in most instances, for small-to-mid-sized businesses that are doing/planning a relatively high-volume of course sales (or big businesses, but those aren’t really a target for this site).

Also, if you happen to represent a trade or professional association, the best list for you is the association LMS list at Tagoras.

Moodle Plug-Ins /Add-ons to Sell Online Courses

These will tend to apply more in academic or academic-oriented markets where platforms like Moodle and Canvas have a big foothold, but they will also be helpful to commercial edupreneurs who have adopted these platforms.

CourseMerchant

If you happen to have already gone down the Moodle path (widely used open source LMS) for your course delivery needs, then you may want to check out CourseMerchant. While Moodle itself provides a very basic e-commerce option, CourseMerchant helps you take things to a much more sophisticated level – including the ability to bundle courses, offer discounts, and sell multi-seat licenses that allow for the seats to be easily allocated to learners. The CourseMerchant folks are also behind CourseIndex.com, a network that enables you to promote and sell online courses through affiliate marketers.

Link: http://www.coursemerchant.com/ Link: http://www.courseindex.com

LMS Checkout

LMS Checkout is another option for selling Moodle or Totara courses. You can set up an account easily on the LMS Checkout Web site, download the plugin to install into your Moodle or Totara site, and connect to Paypal or Authorize.net to as your payment gateway. You get quite a bit of control over modifying the the theme for you e-commerce site so that it will look as much like your Moodle site as possible and you can even integrate with Salesforce in just a few clicks. All-in-all, a very good option for getting a level of e-commerce functionality that just isn’t available in Moodle itself.

Link: https://www.lmscheckout.com/

Next  Steps for Choosing a Platform

What now?

If you haven’t already, definitely grab the free selection guide for online course platforms. It costs nothing, and it will help you make the right choice faster and smarter.

You may also want to check out the individual reviews of top course platforms that have been published here.  This also includes comparisons like Teachable vs Thinkific.

As you are considering your options, be sure that you are clear about what type of online course business you are. It really does matter when selecting a platform.

Next Steps Once You Have a Platform

As you probably realize – having a platform doesn’t do you a lot of good if you don’t know how to create an online course – just follow the link to get my guidance on how to design an online course.

And then, of course, there is the whole issue of how to launch your online course successfully.

Finally, be sure to check out the free Learning Revolutionary’s Toolbox. It’s chock full of tools and tips to help edupreneurs with all aspects of creating and growing a successful online course business.

See you at the Revolution!

Jeff

P.S. – If you have used/had success with any of the online course platforms covered on this page, or have others you would like to see on the list, please comment and share below. Also, if you found it useful, please share this page with others by using the social buttons below.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Hi Jeff,
    Thanks for this article. Have you ever stumbled upon a platform that combines physical and digital sales? We have a course made up of digital videos and a physical book. (For reasons I won’t go into here, the book cannot be digitized and needs to remain physical.) Currently, we provide it only through our wordpress site, which requires us to manually fulfill each order through KDP (the same POD provider used by Amazon) and then grant member-only access to the videos, streamed via Vimeo. Currently low-volume sales, but I’d still love to find a solution that packages both for me.

    Reply

    • Chris – There are higher end platforms that would do this. On the lower end, though, WooCommerce would be able to handle this. Since you are using WordPress already, you may want to consider using a WordPress LMS plugin like LearnDash in combination with WooCommerce.

      If others reading here use or offer another solution that would help Chris, please comment.

      – Jeff

      Reply

  2. Hey Jeff!

    I’ve looked through this list twice and it is absolutely brilliant. It is up-to-date and listed according to its type. I’d love to see you include Plantoost, it is worth a look!

    Reply

  3. Nice, Article and list. In 2019 USA based startup, Simpliv – http://www.simpliv.com is best online teaching and learning platform. It will provide all courses over the world. Compare to other platforms Simpliv is the best at any kind like courses quality, customer support, mainly Price and other areas as well.

    Reply

  5. How does TalentLMS.com measure up to these systems? What is the difference? I work for a mid-size company that wants to start a certification program. We already have a web presence and a marketing group.

    Thanks!

    Reply

    • Don – None of these are Webinar/virtual meeting platforms, which is what you would need to do what you describe. The exception is Ruzuku, which does have those abilities built in. The rest integrate with common platforms like Zoom and GoToWebinar. – Jeff

      Reply

  8. I’ve gone around and around 1st deciding on 3rd party .. then build my own with wp/ LMS and back AGAIN. I really prefer a 3rd party all-in-one solution.. as I am just starting out and it’s just “me” The biggest challenge that I have found is the SEO I am not sure how that works without an independent wp site or how it works with a website you build inside a 3rd party. it seems to be the big elephant in the room that no one wants to talks about. Thanks, Alix

    Reply

    • Alix – Once you go outside of a true Web site CMS like WordPress, you are bound to loose a certain amount of control over SEO. WordPress, in particular, is just really strong at that. So, you can either stay with WordPress for your main Web site and link out to a separate course platform. Most of the big ones are going top allow you to style your course site to closely reflect the branding of your main Web site, and some – like Thinkific – have some good widget tools that makes it easier to drop code into your Web site for linking out (not rocket science, but still handy).

      Another option is a platform like Academy of Mine, which is built on WordPress and, as a result, retains most of its strong SEO capabilities.

      Finally, platforms like LearnDash and LifterLMS enable you to plug the LMS capabilities right into WordPress. There are trade-offs on all of these, of course. It most depends on the degree of control you want (first option has the least, third option the most – Academy of Mine is a nice middle position). – Jeff

      Reply

  10. Just to put cost in some context, when I designed and built one of the very first eLearning platforms for Sun Microsystems in 1996 to train my sales force, I had to hire 23 web page creators and instructional designers to build my site. Sixty hours of on-line training cost me $1.34 million dollars. Of course, at that time, no alternatives existed and Saba, Blackboard and Moodle all came by to see SunTAN (Sun Training Access Network) to see my learner-centric model. I used Java to create custom pages on the fly depending on the audience (salespeople want just the basics and sales engineers wanted everything possible). But within 2 years I was able to show the CEO a >125% ROI (increased sales and getting them trained faster than in the classroom) and I never had any problem keeping my content updated from that point on when execs understood eLearning’s importance. Of course we didn’t call it eLearning then, Cisco’s John Chambers coined that word a year later. Today I am using LearnDash to create a site for my 4000-person active senior community and the cost will be more like $15,000.

    Reply

  11. Is there a program listed in which you can assign minimum time that the student needs to remain in the course? I provide training that requires the student to complete a minimum amount of hours so I needed training in which the student cannot move to the next section until a certain amount of time has passed.

    Reply

  12. Thanks for providing resources, Jeff! I just wanted to provide an additional source for people who, once they find the right source for them, can get some tips on actually making the course. I just found it while googling, same way I found this one 🙂
    https://www.freelancermap.com/freelancer-tips/12434-create-course-sell-freelance-knowledge
    Not gonna lie, I had no idea there was so much money in course creation! This is something I’m definitely looking at working on in the future when I can finally have time for personal projects.

    Reply

  13. Is an LMS like “Adobe Captivate Prime” designed and meant to sell online courses? If the answer is “no” (which it seems so), why such LMS is not designed to sell online courses?

    Reply

    • Bibhash – The main distinction between Prime and the types of systems listed here is that Prime does not have built in capabilities for e-commerce and marketing. That doesn’t mean you can’t use it for selling courses, it just isn’t really set up to do that out of the box. You would need to integrate it with an external e-commerce system at a minimum. – Jeff

      Reply

  14. Hi Jeff,
    Very interesting article! I still have a question bugging me though: in your research were you also able to identify if there is any platform that allows to sell courses where the instructor is different than the account owner? I would like to set up a little business where I instruct the Instructors, shoot the course, direct and produce the videoclips, follow any marketing activity around the course. Then, I would get right to use and eploitat the results from them, sharing revenue with them. In this model, I would need to be the Owner-Administrator of the accounts on the platform. I’ve checked Teachable and there seems to be some limit in doing so, in how they define the “instructors”. Any indication from you ? Thanks in advance. Marco.

    Reply

    • Marco – At least based on the way you explain it here, Teachable (or Thinkific) should be able to handle that. Can you provide more detail on how it is falling short? – Jeff

      Reply

  16. Hi.. I am looking to build online courses and a monthly subscription service. I would also like to be able to have affiliates be able to sell the courses and make a commission. I have been looking at kajabi but was wondering if there were other less expensive routes.

    Reply

  17. Jeff, thank you for the summary! One question: which platforms do you recommend that allow students to upload completed assignments (content such as docs, scans, photos,…) so they are accessible for review to me as well as accessible to the student? Thank you

    Reply

    • Florian – For that type of interaction, you are probably going to best off going with an academically oriented platform like Moodle – to which you could add one of the e-commerce plug-ins I cover in the post. – Jeff

      Reply

  18. Hey Jeff.
    Amazing post, and pretty useful list for online course creators. Also appreciate the time and effort you put into making people’s lives easier and answering everyone’s comments around here.

    Passing by, I wanted to drop here another platform that fits the all-in-one category. It’s https://kyvio.com and it’s the perfect match for people with a low budget and high expectations. I would highly appreciate it if you could review and maybe add it to your list.

    Cheers

    Reply

  19. Several of these tout the ‘marketing’ background of the founder of the website. But then the platform requires YOU (the teacher) to do the marketing of your course. It seems what they are ‘marketing’ is the platform, which is absolutely worthless to me: I’m a teacher, not a salesman. I don’t have a “web presence”; I don’t have a ‘following’; I have content knowledge and an ability to teach. It would seem that the best venue for someone like me would be one that relieved me of the responsibility and need to do something I can’t do (market/sell).

    Reply

    • Liam – These are technology platforms, plain and simple. If you want something that is going to help (at least some) with marketing, then go with Udemy or a similar platform. Even on those platforms, though, you are going to have to put some effort into marketing if you expect to make any real money. Basically, you have two choices: hire or contract with someone to do marketing for you or learn to do it yourself. If you aren’t willing to do one or the other, then you either need to go to work for someone who is, or just accept that being in the course business is not for you. – Jeff

      Reply

  20. One of the most exciting developments in the tech world is the number of people who are learning to write code. Simpliv allows students to select their goal/learning objective and then recommends the proper course for that student.
    Simpliv works because it makes coding accessible to any interested student, provides practical recommendations for students who want to learn how to code but doesn’t understand how these new skills might apply to their current job.

    Reply

  22. I too like many of you am overwhelmed. I have course almost ready to go with supplemental materials (pdf worksheets, audio, short video) has anyone tried Course Craft? I am finding Thinkific a bit complex when trying to choose a theme.I have a website but am not sure how to implement it with the platform. I’m also considering DailyOm since it is of a spiritual/self-help nature. Any help is greatly appreciated.

    Reply

  24. Hi, Jeff, informative review! What do you think about http://www.bitdegree.org ? They came with the revolutionary idea, where online education is going to be based on blockchain technology – interactive-gamified courses experience, sponsored courses – token utilized to reward students by achievement tracking. BitDegree have cut a fine figure in the ICO, where attracted lots of token holders attention. For a limited time they are offering free lessons, and there’s a demand for teachers who can present a proper content.

    Reply

    • I haven’t checked this out yet, Mike, but thanks for mentioning it. I think block chain could have a very natural role to play in certification/credentialing paths – a possibility no one in that industry seems to have tuned into yet. – Jeff

      Reply

  25. I also started with Teachable and eventually got into the dilemma of picking between Thinkific vs Teachable.
    –
    There are so many options available – am I the only one getting overwhelmed?
    Still there must be a reason why Thinkific vs Teachable keyword is being searched on Google 800 TIMES every month.
    –
    These two are heavyweights and I would say in 90% of cases these options will be far better than all the small solutions.

    The thing is there is NO BEST online course platform – everything depends on your specific case! And that’s why a lot of people I see in comments have questions.

    But please just pick between Thinkific or Teachable and in most cases you’ll be better off in Long Term. Long term solution is what matters.

    I have been involved in online course market for years, I would love to help others get unstuck, as I remember how confusing it was when i started.

    Just ask, and if curious check out the website by clicking on my name (all site has been dedicated to helping you pick the best Online Course Platform).

    Hope that helps!

    Reply

    • Dainis – Thanks for commenting. I agree – mostly. Aspiring course entrepreneurs tend to put WAY too much emphasis on the technology. In most cases, simply getting on with it and going with a major, established platform like Teachable or Thinkific is the right move. Still, there can be reasons for going with other options. I get e-mails from people every day asking for advice on platforms, and I am struck by the number of times that they have specific needs for which Teachable or Thinkific are really not the right fit. It pays, I think, to take just a bit of time to think it through, apply a reasonable process, and arrive at a choice you feel confident about (which is the point of my free platform selection guide). – Jeff

      Reply

      • Yeah, true..I also come by cases – where people just have one specific unique need, which you could never imagine..Like translating course platform to Latvian language…

        It’s super specific, though still surprised that you found a LOT of cases where these two options are not a good fit.

        Can you make one common example, Jeff – please?

        Reply

        • A LOT may be over stating it, but an easy example is just around issuing and managing continuing education credit – i.e., if you want to associated a certain amount of credit with a course and then award that amount of credit upon successful completion of the course. Neither of these platforms handle that. – Jeff

          Reply

  26. Hi Jeff: Great article. Do you offer consultation? I’d like to share our course requirements and would like your recommendation of the best product. Thanks so much.

    Reply

  27. Hi Jeff and everyone!
    I am developing learning materials directed to patient education (ie drugs side effects, appropriate use etc). So, I expect a high heterogeneity of learning materials and many learners who will likely pick very different course choices. Course bundles would apply, such as “diabetes learning bundle” or “breast cancer learning bundle” etc, but also with a huge variety.
    The question is: in your opinion, would any of the platforms or plugins be better than others for such purpose?
    Thanks a lot!

    Reply

    • Hi Alice. Have you considered LMScheckout? I usually don’t use these forums to self-promote, but I came across this post, and I noticed that we provide the same service you are asking for to several organizations that are marketing to similar types audiences with varying learning interests. We have an anesthesiologist selling certification for nurses though LMscheckout and many other organizations who want to create customer specific training to a wide variety of users. We use a similar concept to course bundling and have a means to promote recommended and related course through your custom e-commerce site. If you are interested, we are running a series of webinars to introduce our e-commerce solutions for selling and marketing courses online.
      Check us out if you like: https://envisiontel.lmscheckout.com/Course/view/1266240
      Our check out my blog on the top 5 e-commerce considerations for selling courses online.
      http://bit.ly/2BStDxG

      Reply

  28. Great…
    Looking for fitness/gym video online course platform with socialising.
    Looking into Uscreen and Muvi… but I might be wrong.
    Any thoughts/directions on this please?
    Thanks

    Reply

    • Hey Jose,
      You may consider SubscribeStar.com as a standalone platform for your subscription-based (or donation based) courses business. We have transparent pricing, flexible business flow, customizable page layout and friendly staff. Please, drop me a line and I will help you with anything in regard to your online course platform.

      Reply

  29. Hi thanks for the very useful post. The big issue we are having is to reduce password sharing. None of the LMS’s seem to address this adequately. Are you aware of any that have in built 2FA or forced social login with Facebook. It may not stop it completely but would definitely reduce the amount of password sharing and loss of revenue. Thanks Ivar

    Reply

  30. Very well written and explained Jeff. Beside comparing pricing and other features, one thing you can add here is the security of the content on any platform. It’s a very important factor when deciding to go for any course platform. For the content creators, the most important asset is content. The course platform should be able to secure the content from downloading, copying or sharing user accounts after purchase. This will have a direct impact on the business. We have developed an online course platform at Spayee, where we take the security of content very seriously beside having all other necessary features like Integrated Payment gateways, Videos, Reports & Analytics, Multiple Distribution Models, In-built Marketing tools. You can request a demo here – http://www.spayee.com

    Reply

  33. There’s nothing wrong with making a fortune selling courses on using a hula hoop, but I’ve been professional field researcher outside the USA for nearly 13 years.

    I have five professional degrees in subjects that I am passionate about to my core. I want to attract self-directed students. All the other online hosts that I thoroughly researched or used focused on what I call “recreational learning.” My courses are serious investigations to make a sizable income.

    LearnWorlds has so many professionals on staff that they understood that concept and are helping me to attract those who need CPD credits as an ESL teacher or a respectable career as an English Tutor in as little as a week.

    Reply

    • Thanks or sharing your experience, Jacqueline. I am sure other readers here will find it helpful. I will note, though, that in my experience whether the learning is “recreational” or not has a lot more to do with the instructional quality of the content and how the platform is used than the platform itself (or the topic). And, the amount of support that individual course producers get, even from the same platform company, can vary pretty widely. Just additional points for readers here to keep in mind. – Jeff

      Reply

    • Hi, Jacqueline and Jeff,

      Thanks for sharing your comment about LearnWorlds and similar tools. We were planning to use a full-blown LMS (quite costly) to deliver courses for professional development. Per your suggestion, I checked out LearnWorlds and was quite impressed. Do you have any updates on how it’s going? Have you used the drip marketing? –Kathie-Jo

      Reply

  34. Hi, Jeff. I just wanted to say thanks for this post. I want to create my first online program with videos and power point presentations and PDF files. I’m doing my research now and found your post. It is by far the most helpful one I have read! Thank you so much!

    Reply

  35. Hi Jeff,
    Good comprehensive list, and hats off for your effort.

    I want to create a technical course ( having mostly PPTs and screen-cast videos).
    I thought of creating the same in Udemy because they will market the courses.

    Do other sites do market sellers content? Or Is it seller to market by themselves?

    Thanks
    siva

    Reply

  36. Hi Jeff,
    Your Learning Revolution is so informative. Thank you. I’m wanting to create a website for Enrolled Agents to earn their annual CPE credits. The material is going to be a self-study course using a downloaded written course to their computer. After they have studied the material, they go back to my website and take a test, it they pass with 70% I submit the credits to the IRS and then I send the student a certificate of completion that they can download and keep in their file. The students need 72 credits every 3 years so the site needs to keep their information so when they come back and open their profile the completed courses with be there. I will also need for the site to accept credit card payments and be able for the student to go online and take a test and receive an instant percentage grade so they will know if they need to take the test again something like “congratulations, you passed’! There will not be any videos or webinars and anything live just a list of all the courses available, a cart for them to pay and a student profile for the course to be downloaded to their computer. (they can study off-line that way) What do I need to buy to get this started? I’m so excited about doing this and your site it so informative I’m so glad to have met you. Please let me know when you get a chance, Thank you again, Take care, Linda.

    Reply

  38. So much to choose from! I’m shopping for a platform to run a writing course and am looking for something that can do the following:
    1. I’d like to be able to run both prerecorded instructional videos and live presentations.
    2. I’d like to have the ability for real-time student engagement.
    3. It needs to be intuitive, easy for the user, and not cost a bundle. I’d also like to retain ownership of the materials but have some “marketing” support from the platform to sell the course.
    Thanks and any suggestions?

    Reply

  39. Hi Jeff
    Thank you for a comprehensive post. There is so much choice out there, the more you read the more confusing things become. I am hoping you can simplfy and point me in the right direction.
    I am setting up an education website, where I will primarily sell recorded webinars. I have a wordpress site and purchased webinar ignition (WI) under the assumption that I could record webinars and offer them through WI. I have just found out that this isn’t the case. So now I am looking for software that I can integrate into my website and allow me to sell recorded webinars multiple times to different people. I hope this information makes send! Could you tell me the top 3 platforms you would recommend.
    Thank you.

    Reply

    • Lisa – A recorded Webinar is just a video and pretty much all of the platforms listed here will enable you to set up a video as a course and selling as many times as you want to whoever you want. Just to help you narrow the choices, I would recommend starting with Teachable or Thinkific (both listed above) – Jeff

      Reply

  41. Ugh! Still confused as ever…I’m not sure if I need a website, a platform, or both. I’m very leery of the “simple drag/drop features”, etc. as they always seem to be anything but easy unless you’re tech savvy. I have books to sell, as well. I also teach LIVE seminars. I’m basically needing to offer online classes to companies so they can have their employees watch them, and I simply charge the employer either a flat fee or a per-employee fee. They also will want some type of monthly or weekly “tip” that can be sent as a video, email or possibly text. Any other suggestions you might have? Thank you!

    Reply

  42. The fees quoted for LearnDash are not a once-only fee – they are for a one-year subscription. Renewable price = half the original price.

    Reply

    • Barbara – Thanks for noting that. Note, also, that you don’t actually lose use of the software if you don’t review – you just don’t get upgrades and support. In any event, I’ve updated the entry to reflect this. – Jeff

      Reply

  43. I work with a non-profit arts and crafts group. We want to create courses for our members. We have multiple instructors who will create the content, but our group will actually present the courses. All of these platforms seem to be focused on a direct relationship between course and instructor. I need something that will allow (for lack of a better term) a middle-man to manage the process. All the classes are pre-build, on-demand. Some might have a weekly live broadcast. All courses are 4-6 lessons, and are presented over the course of a month.

    Reply

    • Bob – I would nee to know a bit more about the content and process you have in mind – i.e., when you say “create,” would the instructors be providing finished course pages, or just documents/slides that you would convert into course pages. Does there need to be any sort of approval/review process? – Jeff

      Reply

  44. I have read all of the posts but continue to have questions regarding my desire to create training modules, with testing and online completion for businesses. I want to sell customized courses to businesses, perferbaly small businesses. My idea is to find their training needs and create the module based on their business. What type of platform, and what LMS should I purchase that allows me to create the course and then allow my client to purchase and/or use it for their access. I am assuming it will need to be cloud based. I am a retired technology and business instructor and looking to fulfill my creative outlet and make some extra money if possible. I have used educational platforms but not the current offerings that are overwhelming me when trying to make this decision. I want to be sure I am not overlooking valuable information. Any suggestions? Thanks and great posts and information!

    Reply

    • Marjory – I can’t really answer this without more information. Any of the platforms here could, in theory, do what you describe. It will depend on how you need the purchase and access to happen. Will the clients always come to your site, for example, or do some need to be able to run the courses on their own platforms? Do you want to provide clients with their own, branded entrance into purchasing your courses? How much control do you want to provide clients for enrolling and managing their own learners? If you need to jump up to any of the more sophisticated scenarios suggested here, consider the platforms listed in this post: https://www.learningrevolution.net/learning-management-system-for-small-business/

      Jeff

      Reply

  46. There’s a missing tool in the list.
    HoneyCoach allows you to sell without fixed costs, and allows you to sell single videos, online classes and coaching programs. It’s worth to check it, folks.

    Reply

  48. Hi nice job with this comprehensive write-up,
    I tried still cannot really figure the difference between LMS and authoring tools.
    Is authoring tool a part of an LMS ?
    I actually thought authoring tools are just platforms used to link texts, pictures, videos and audios to form a flow in a presentation… so not so sure how that was independently used for elearning in the past

    Thanks very much
    F.Mike

    Reply

    • Mike – Good question. This has become a somewhat confusing area as more and more LMSes have added/improved their authoring capabilities. In the “old days” an LMS was mostly just a database that handled enrolling learners into courses, presenting a “menu” to enable them to launch/access the courses, and tracking their progress through the course based on communication between the course and the LMS. Eventually, though, LMSes started including tools to do just what you describe – i.e., link texts, pictures, video, etc together into a flow. The main issue with this is that every LMS does it a bit different, So, if you build your courses in the LMS, you will almost certainly have to re-build them when you move to a new LMS. Authoring tools are LMS-independent. You build your course in the authoring tool and then can import it into any LMS. There are standards that have been developed to support this – SCORM being the main one historically. For some additional info on all of this see:

      https://www.learningrevolution.net/move-my-online-course/
      https://www.learningrevolution.net/does-scorm-matter-selling-online-courses/

      I also discuss authoring tools more at:
      https://www.learningrevolution.net/tools/create-an-online-course/

      Jeff

      Reply

  49. Am I able to use any one of these platforms to:
    Sell courses AND individual lessons?

    IE. 50 videos…
    50$ for entire course. 1$ Per video lesson.

    Reply

    • Joseph – This will probably come down to how you define things like “course” and “lesson.” A number of these will allow you to bundle multiple courses together into a single package. So, if you treat your lessons as courses, and then also sell packages that bundle multiple courses together, you can achieve what (I think) you are talking about. – Jeff

      Reply

  50. These are some good options. However, where can we find partners to help create the content or build courses for us?

    Reply

  51. Ivexe Video is the best for selling videos including a series, attachments, call to action and more; and, you get a 100% royalty!

    Reply

  52. Just wondering, does anyone know of any new online course software packages similar to LearnDash [but not Learndash] that are more like a stand-alone program with a one time fee?

    thanks!

    Reply

    • Jody, our agency just completed a client project that used a similar plugin:

      https://flyplugins.com/wp-courseware/

      I wasn’t the lead on that project, but the developer who was evaluated several of the WordPress LMS options and it came down to LearnDash and WP Courseware. I believe the pricing model may be similar though. You may want to contact them.

      Reply

  53. Hi Jeff,
    I was looking for some useful Online Courses online and suddenly found your post. You have shared very useful information about the online course platforms which will surely make the process of choosing easier for everyone.

    Each platform is described in detail and I also appreciate that you’ve encouraged everyone to share their online platforms at your blog post. This way, people looking for online training can get an excellent and wide selection of the latest platforms that provide online courses. Also, big thanks for keeping this useful list updated.

    Here, I want to share a platform which provides useful business, computer, safety, banking, management, leadership and several other useful courses.

    The link for the website is https://www.knowledgecity.com/

    Hope you check it out!

    Reply

  54. This is a wonder post and has truly crystallized everything for me. I will be creating some video based courses and just need a “no frills” platform that enables me to enter this territory without breaking the bank. I was originally thinking of setting up everything through WordPress but am now gravitating towards Thinkific. My question is this…
    Let’s say I start with Thinkific but a year from now ultimately decide to shift over to another platform like WordPress / Learndash or Kajabi. What are the potential risks and repercussions of doing this? Is it not that big of a deal or is it not advisable? My thoughts are this. As long as you can export the customer list from the old system (with their passwords) and then import it into the new system you are fine. But I am not sure if most systems support this. Any input is appreciated.

    Reply

    • Lindsey – I actually just published a post related to your question: https://www.learningrevolution.net/move-my-online-course/

      Really, it comes down to the nature of your content and how much you rely on the tools contained within any specific platform to create your courses. If you rely on those tools heavily, then you will have to redo quite a bit when you go to a new platform. Maybe not a big deal if you don’t have a lot of courses and the courses you have aren’t all that large. But it could be a big deal if that is not the case.

      As far as dat goes, with most platforms you will be able to export the names and e-mail addresses of your customers, but there is a very good chance you would not be able to simply export passwords and import them into your new system. This would require a more complex level of migration (unless you have the tech skills) will probably require some help. That said, it is often possible to import the names and e-mails and then have people reset their passwords to simply establish a new password in the new system.

      Jeff

      Reply

  55. Re: All-in-one platforms
    (eg Rainmaker, Academy Mine…)

    After taking a subscription of any type of these platforms – what will happen to the website, domain and contents upon cancellation? Are they easily transferable?

    E.g. because I’ve learnt to make my own website and features and can do so without paying expensive subscription fees? Or I find cheaper prices else where?

    Thanks

    Reply

    • Ally – The domain remains in your control always. You would just point it to your new site. Content is a bigger question. The ones that are WordPress-based would technically have an export functionality for all of the content and you should be able to get a copy of the database – all of which would you allow to set most if it back up in another WordPress installation. But there is definitely a lot of devil in the details – so, be sure to ask about this up front and make sure you feel confident you will be able to get your content out in a usable form. (Keep in mind that, when you build courses in a proprietary delivery platform, as opposed to in a separate authoring tool, you are almost always going to have to do some re-constructing when you switch to a new site.) – Jeff

      Reply

  56. Very glad to have found this post! I am an Apple consultant and instructor for legal professionals and I teach tech courses for which the students/viewers receive CLE credits for completing. My courses are pre-recorded videos, 1 – 4 hours in length and ready to upload. I have been scouring around trying to find a good platform that can do a few things I need:

    1: Collect payment at registration
    2: Provide on-demand viewing 24/7
    3: Confirm the course was completed prior to delivering a closing email or certificate with accreditation number
    4: Integrate with my existing website (optional but desired)

    Does anyone know of anything that might be a good fit? I have sold on Udemy before for consumer level, non-credentialed courses and I have been tinkering with Thinkific which I like very much, but they do no limit the ability for the viewer to simply skip to the end of the video as pretend they completed it. Otherwise, Thinkific might be ideal but without that sort of control over content consumption, it’s a deal breaker for me.

    Reply

  57. I wanted to set up all our courses with Academy Mine a couple of years ago. We have one large 12 part course and 15 smaller (4 part) courses and over 200 students. I paid someone else to set it all up and learn how to use it as I just didnt have the time myself. It took 6 months of paying this person a wage of $500 per week (around 2 grand a month) and around $200 a month for the platform. Six months and over $13,000 spent setting it up , on the day we launched the whole platform crashed as it turned out out courses and resources were just too big. Now I use online classrooms I create myself using web pages and downloadable PDF content. Students email their course work submissions to me. It works and costs nothing but I often wish for a more streamlined way to complete assessments.

    Reply

    • Hi! There are plenty of marketplaces for recorded courses but does anyone have leads for live, realtime courses marketplace. Meaning where you can offer/sell “live”-not recorded-courses?

      I’ve found Currclick and Outschool so far and I think Teachable is one as well.

      Any others any of you could provide would be appreciated.

      Thanks!

      Reply

  59. Hi, looking for advice on which site to list a Personal Development course – we sell the course via our website and its all set up and ready to go so we don’t need Course Creation tools like quite a few of the sites seem to want you to use. So we are looking for new places to sell our ready made course online to gain a wider audience and sales. Any recommendations and wise words for us?

    Many thanks in advance!

    K

    Reply

    • Thanks for chiming in with the update info – Udemy changes often enough that it can be hard to keep up. The post has been updated to reflect this info. – Jeff

      Reply

  62. I am brand new to this. I did not even know there were such platforms. I have looked at some of the reviews here, but no idea which to try. There are a lot of them. The one that jumped out at me is called Teachable. mainly because of their pricing structure. Since I am just starting out, I have no idea how many classes I might sell, so I cant afford to pay a monthly and they just take a percentage of my sells. What I am looking for though are suggestions and recommendations. I dont want to invest lots of time and money into developing classes on Teachable, if its not a good platform.

    Reply

    • Phillip – Hopefully some other will chime in hear with their comments. Teachable is certainly a solid platform, and I have had a number of readers give it good reviews – though some have also commented that the level of service/support could be better. In any event, I don’t think there is any doubt that they are in it for the long haul. What it really comes down to is whether they have everything you feel you really need to support both your learning and business model. If it appears they do, I’d say go for it. – Jeff

      Reply

  64. Thanks for this great list, and keeping it updated as well. Would you say there are any platforms better suited than others for offering courses about professional skills development?

    Reply

    • Not really – it depends on the nature of the material, the learning objectives, and the audience. In theory, any of the platforms listed here could support professional skills development. – Jeff

      Reply

    • I am checking out withcoach as well. It is the brainchild of a couple of Canadians, and all other features being equal (or better), I’d like to keep my support with my fellow Canucks.

      Reply

  67. Thanks for outlining all of these options. I started with Udemy just 2 months ago and It has been good but I don’t want to limit myself and https://www.udemy.com/1032110/ is not bringing in enough income that I could sustain a living off it yet. I am curious to know if any others have a community building around them where the instructors can help share students?

    Reply

    • Good question. I know both Teachable and Ruzuku have strong Facebook groups for people authoring in their systems. I’m sure there would be possibilities in those for developing relationships with other instructors and promoting each others offerings. – Jeff

      Reply

  68. How about Alison, anybody had an experience with this company? I see they offer free courses but make some profit from the certificates

    Reply

  70. Hi, thanks, this is very helpful! One question: Here in Holland people use IDEAL instead of Paypal to make payments online. Do you have any suggestions on high quality e-learningsoftware that has IDEAL payments integrated?

    Reply

  71. I’m just going to throw my two cents in here after seeing so much negative stuff about Udemy. While I understand the criticism related to such aspects of the platform as controlling user data and communications with students as well as some difficulties with the review process, I have had an excellent experience with them. The bottom line is, Udemy courses sell. For those of us who don’t like to do a lot of marketing or aren’t very good at it, Udemy has a huge user base and very effective marketing.

    I have tried other platforms with mixed success, but once you get their system down, which I think isn’t too complicated, you can create a good course and get it approved pretty quickly. They just have some specific requirements for your video files that they use to manage quality and standardize the service bit. I think that’s reasonable. At any rate, I just wanted to say that I have 19 courses on Udemy, with one more in the works right now, and I make more money on there per course than any other platform that I have tried BY FAR.

    Reply

    • Oh, and also I have recently discovered two newer marketplaces similar to Udemy that market the courses for you and do a profit share: CyberU, and On-Ed. I am in the process of testing them, I will return to the thread to let you know my experience.

      Reply

  73. Hey Jeff Cobb, you done a great job at providing a well rounded list of online education websites.
    Here is another that is a great website which has allot ot offer for people starting to develop there business skills and help get there business started in just 3 days. head to the website and check it out http://bit.ly/2eYWwwz
    if you would like to do a article about this site or add it to your list that would be great. Some of the leaders in this program are Adam Cheyer Co-Founder of SIRI, Elliot Chapple Co-founder of Pozible and more.

    If you want to help grow the mentorship and community which is startupacademy.org then check it out and spread the love.

    cheers and thanks for such great content

    Reply

    • Moodle’s a good platform, but out of the box, it’s just not something I recommend for most course entrepreneurs – the interface leaves a lot to be desired and the native sales and marketing capabilities are weak. – Jeff

      Reply

      • Completely agree – I’ve heard many stories about people using Moodle and then finding that they either don’t have the time/expertise to configure things themselves, or don’t have the budget to engage a consulting firm to do it for them. Out of the box solutions are much better for small businesses as they can get started easily themselves at a relatively low pricepoint.

        Reply

  75. I used Teachble to build my first school where I presently have ten courses available with ten more yet to upload. However, while I do like the way that their software makes my school look, it was pretty steep learning curve to figure out how to use it to create a school and courses since their website is not at all intuitive. In addition, I found numerous small annoyances with their software which made the process more cumbersome.

    But, the main problem with Teachable is that their advertising leads you to believe that all you have to do is build the school and students will flock to sign up! However, nothing could possibly be further from the truth!!! Fortunately, I have over twenty-five years of retail experience and thus, I knew that going in.

    However, while they do provide some learning resources with their blog and their free webinars, they do not have single resource that provides you with a complete step-by-step process for marketing your courses. Also, they fail to make it clear that marketing an online course is very different from marketing a standard web site. Thus, I had to spend numerous hours on YouTube watching instructional videos to discover that, unlike a standard web site where you build, and then publish, the site and then vie with competitors for top ranking on Google and Bing, you instead have to build a permission based e-mail list to market to. But, they also fail to provide you with the resources to accomplish that task and thus, you have to turn to other service providers such as Mail Chimp and Timer Monkey to launch an e-mail marketing campaign. Plus, while they do have some resources on building an e-mail list, it is woefully inadequate and far less than clear.

    In addition, on the few occasions I have contacted their customer service for clarification, I have gotten a couple of good answers from one technician and half-assed answers from others. For instance, I read an article on their blog about how to implement an evergreen e-mail sequence but, it was poorly written and left out quite a bit of pertinent information. But, when I contacted their customer service to ask for clarification, they had no idea what I was talking about and repeatedly gave me half-assed answers to my questions! Thus, I had to turn to a video on YouTube to learn how to implement an evergreen e-mail marketing sequence.

    But, what has really set me off is that when I first signed up with them, they sent me e-mails on a regular basis but, suddenly stopped doing so. Then, the other day, I got a pop up window at the bottom of my screen informing me that their Teachable Summit was starting right then! So, I followed the link and signed up for their summit. But, not only did not receive notice of the impending summit via e-mail, I did not receive a confirmation e-mail that I had signed up for the summit! Thus, I contacted their customer service again to ask why I received neither notice of the summit nor a confirmation e-mail and that is when the run around started! First, I was told to check both of my e-mail addresses and my Spam folder. But, after my reply to that message, I was then told that their e-mails had bounced back to me too many times and that I had been removed from their e-mail list! Thus, they told me to add their e-mail address to my safe sender’s list and they would send me a confirmation e-mail. But, that was complete bull because, when I checked my safe sender’s list, their e-mail address was listed on both e-mail accounts! So, I sent them a reply stating that their e-mail address as well as their domain name was on my safe sender’s list and that I did not appreciate being lied to!!!

    However, I find all of this very suspicious since their e-mails to me suddenly stopped after I received a survey from them where I left poor feedback for them because their advertising is misleading, they only provide half of the solution for marketing an online course, and very little of the information needed to do so. But, after informing the customer service agent of this, I have not had reply from them of any sort whatsoever! Thus, I am now searching for a new home for my online outdoor academy!

    Reply

    • Bill Bernhardt,

      I’m honestly not sure what you expect from Teachable. I’m not a customer of theirs, as I built my courses with Thinkific. However, they’re a courses site. they don’t do mailing lists, nor as far as I know is there a courses provider who does also do mailing lists. They are two totally different products.

      Also, you can’t expect their customer support to give support for something written in one of their blog posts. They support their product, and that’s it.

      I recommend going with ConvertKit for your mailing list provider, incidentally. But, I hope you can have some more reasonable expectations of your service providers.

      Reply

  76. You may also like this e-Learning platform which allows you to create your own e-shop – marketplace and there sell your courses for FREE and with no extra effort! This e-shop function can be switched on by one click in the platform settings. You only need to select the courses you want to display. Personalizing your e-shop by using your company’s logo and colors, so that the visitors would recognize the e-shop as yours, is a question of only a minute. so lets try and get more profit!

    Reply

  77. Learning Cart has been fantastic for me! I entered the field on Teachable because they provide a lot of guidance on how to get your course(s) noticed. But, I soon felt the technology was lacking and I didn’t get much from their guidance. So, I moved to Thinkific who has a little bigger feature set, but their tools for creating the home and landing pages were not very flexible and did not offer much for customizing, unless you are a coder. After researching over 50 LMS I chose Learning Cart. Their tools for customizing their template are much better and they have all the features I need. Most of all, their support is fantastic! With that said, our business model is to provide training on a wide range of business topics, from technical to management. I do not teach any of the courses. Instead, I find experts who have a course or idea and want to make some money, I market the courses and manage the site. You just teach!

    Reply

  78. Yes this is great content but now we have many more other option.there is lot of other platform provider who provide same features with whitelable solution. You can create and manage your own UDEMY, Lynda etc.

    With same platform you can conduct live classes and can provide recorded one.

    You guys should try http://www.edugyaan.com

    EduGyaan is another company who provide better platform at low cos.

    Reply

  80. Hi, I have already built an on-line course on wix which took many, many months, so I don’t want to re-write it and generally happy with the features. I just want to leverage off an e-Learning site for marketing purposes. Any suggestions? thanks

    Reply

  81. Hello Jeff..thanks for this information. My needs seem to be a little different, and I hope you can be able to guide me. I work for a non-profit organization and we offer elearning courses for business owners at no charge. Our approach is to develop the content, have someone produce it as an ecourse — and we own it. I don’t understand the monthly fees that all of the platforms you mentioned seem to have. Wondering if you have suggestions of elearning developers that produce the courses without any ties into monthly fees and revenue sharing. Thank you!

    Reply

  86. Thanks for the excellent article. Atbetterce continuing education courses are designed to provide the much needed workforce skills needed to acquire professional caliber for a lot of in-demand occupations and all our courses are state approved in many professions.

    Reply

  87. Hi everyone!
    Just find out Thinkific using stripe , for 0 payment term but sadly stripe doesn’t recognise Malaysia. So sad ????

    Great post Jeff. Thanks a lot!

    Reply

  88. Thanks for the Article Jeff. I was considering Teachable cause I heard it in the SPI podcast. But I like the way you described Ruzuku. My first course so I want as much help as possible. Will teachable be as supportive, why did you them the especial nod?

    Reply

  89. Great information thank you very much is there a platform that offers a subscription based pay I am a success coach and work with a lot of companies that would rather pay by the month and have access for all of their employees then by the course.
    Thank you for your help

    Reply

  91. I started using teachable and really like the functionality, UI, and ease of setting up the course. The problem I ran into is that files cannot be larger than 2GB. A lot of our training videos are 3GB and more, so we cant upload them.

    Reply

    • I’m not aware of any restriction on this. You own the content that you put into Udemy. The issue, though, is that Udemy is providing the tools to “structure the content” – i.e., providing the menu/links for a student to move from lesson to lesson. Still, if you course is mostly video – which it would be on Udemy – simply posting those videos on a different site or platform shouldn’t be that big of a deal.

      Reply

  94. I realize this is a few years old now… but I am looking simply for an online platform that I can publish the course and not charge any money for. Is there anything like that out there?

    Reply

  95. Thanks Jeff for the info. If i create a course on teachable can I use social media to market the Teachable course? I.e. link from social media ads/posts straight to course

    Reply

  96. Hi Jeff, great job you did on this post (it’s been going on for quite a while now ). Did you ever tried MATRIX LMS? What’s your thought on it? It looks very user friendly (feels like a social media platform) and it has a lot of great features.

    Reply

    • Hi – We (Spokes Education) are just in the process of launching a new learning platform, http://WWW.LURNMI.COM, which is a white labelled version of MATRIX LMS.
      You get the benefit of all the MATRIX features, but without having to commit to monthly fees – you only pay a small percentage of what you sell. We also give you full support, free of charge.

      We are offering some fantastic deals for early adopters, or if you want to get your own branded version of MATRIX, we can also help with that too.

      Thanks
      Phil

      Reply

  97. In a bit of a quandary w/ LMS. We are a small religious order with a newly formed seminary wherein we would like to offer an eLearning option. Most of the sources described above are either web-based/ clud based platforms. We would like something more like an authoring tool platform, like Moodle, to create our courses and track everything from our own website.

    We tried Moodle and were OK w/ it except that there were security issues. We wound up being hacked and our webhost didn’t much appreciate that!

    Is there something along the Moodle line that you could recommend that might meet our needs?

    Much appreciated.

    Fr. Lev

    Reply

  98. Hi Jeff – thanks for this great blog and the lists of online course platforms! I’m just curious as to why you don’t include SkillShare in your lists of platforms.

    Reply

  99. Is Academy of Mine a real concern? It offers four apparently spoof course about cherries and a single 1hr 17min explanatory video (their understanding of an online course?).

    Reply

  100. What do you think is the best platform to import an existing powerpoint presentation and convert it to an online course?

    Reply

  101. As if March 2016 New Kajabi is now available and definitely a platform worth checking out! Not only can you create online courses and membership sites you can bike your entire business on it. Includes website, hosting, video hosting, landing pages, affiliate tracking and (soon) email marketing. For a list of all features go to http://www.NewKajabiFeatures.com.
    This is the platform many online marketers like Brendon Burchard use!

    Reply

  102. I must admit, most of these websites are too expensive or offer little features for small start-ups. I was thinking about going with Udemy because they’ll help promote the course if you split the profits, but then I got greedy and thought about using wordpress to start my own, but it would be a pain in the butt to have to constantly update all those plugins. So I’m leaning towards Udemy and ValueAddon. I hate that I have to pay a monthly fee for VAO, but i like their platform set-up. I may try both and see which one performs best. Most likely it’ll be Udemy because they’ll do the marketing. We shall see though.

    Reply

  103. Hi Jeff, great job you did on this post (it’s been going on for quite a while now ). Did you ever tried MATRIX LMS? What’s your thought on that platform? looks very user friendly (feels like a social media portal) and has a lot of great features.

    Reply

  105. Great list!! We just launched a couple days ago and our online course marketplace niche is Man Skills or courses targeting men. We are using Teachable to build our marketplace because they are awesome. So anyone with skills in Hunting, Preparedness and tons more are welcome in!!!

    Reply

  106. I created a course on Udemy last . It was easy and they provide support. BUT I just learned they changed thier pricing structure, which suddenly knocks my course out. This is putting me in a terrible position. Be warned!!

    Reply

  107. 2nd time I visit this page and it keeps growing with useful info;)
    Tthe difference is choosing between bigger promoted sites like Udemy where you might get more visibility for your online course, or a smaller platform where you basically do your own promo.
    For a starter, price is also key factor. Thanks for sharing , now checking all these links

    Reply

    • Yes, how you promote/what kind of support you get is a significant factor. At a site like Udemy, you at least know there are many people showing up looking for courses. (Of course, there is still no guarantee your course will get a lot of visibility.) To be honest, if you can be effective promoting yourself on Udemy, then you can probably be successful promoting through your own site – and even if you have a course on Udemy, you will almost certainly still want to have your own site to support promoting the Udemy course (and – very important – collecting e-mail addresses). – Jeff

      Reply

  109. Hello Jeff
    Great article. Do you have any knowledge of platforms specifically targeting creators and consumers of learning courses for children, k-8? My company produces engaging, video animation educational/earning programs for kids (and their parents) covering core foundational subjects such as language arts, science, history, etc. They are available on our own company site as well as Udemy, Gumroad, Teacherspayteachers, but for the most part these sites are not specific to children.

    Reply

  113. Check out Keeplearningforward.com you can blog, upload your own courses, and they will even host live workshops and seminars for you. They do all the work at the live events, you just have to do the teaching – they book it, promote it, provide staff, etc.

    Reply

  115. you should checkout http://www.e-sky.ca, its easy to host, you can sell directly on their site and their sales folks can offer your content to businesses (whenever applicable of course) and there is always the possibility to do a revenue sharing model without upfront cost for hosting. 1-855-MYESKY-1

    Reply

  116. I would not recommend Udemy. Their support is horrible. No one answers emails or support tickets. Can’t get approved for the Facebook group. They may be making a ton of money, but won’t last long if their support doesn’t improve. I’m looking for another website that has good support.

    Reply

  119. I just started some courses on Udemy and love the platform. I think the most prevalent instructors probably make a ton, funny that Udemy sells for $10 every other week (I thought I was special). I’d be interested to see how others work. I think I have a technology that we just created that could be really helpful for course creators if you’d like to chat more I’d love to meet virtually. It’s patent pending and has never been done, we are backed by the CEO of LifeLock and just presented to the CMO of Facebook but looking to get it into the hands of course creators that do video. Let me know if you’d like to connect.

    Reply

  121. I’d like to create a site that offers hundreds of my courses for free – and monetize the site through advertising, referrals, etc. Any ideas on the best platform for this typos of model?

    Reply

  122. There’s also a new platform which allows you to sell training courses and also to write articles and keeps them all in your personal page… Also it allows anyone to advertise to sell used books they have for free… It is called http://www.Ecoursebox.com

    Reply

  123. The article glazes over a lot of hard facts about some of the platforms. All I can say is let the buyer beware. Many of these sites have hidden charges they don’t spring on you until you go do do something, anything.

    For instance, you are led to believe that using your on domain name is a feature but once when you go to use it, you are going to be charged $99.00 and be sold an SSL cert that has a reoccurring monthly fee of $25.00.

    You need to ask about hidden charges and fees and understand what it is your doing. Some of these platforms have no information on how to opt out or cancel once you sign up. Some of these sites have no point of contact and telephone number and emails that are truly bogus.
    emails addresses like [email protected]

    With one of these well known platforms, I had to do a whois to find the real owner of the company and email him directly to cancel my account.

    Do not sign up for any reoccurring payment using your credit card. You will find that your bank cannot stop the payment and the provider will not allow you to remove your credit car or cancel.

    If you sign up either use PayPal or offer to pay month to month.

    I see a lot of slick advertising with pictures of the supporting staff shown as all being young, very diverse, affluent, and attractive and they only have a first name. I would suspect that a lot if not all the claims of endorsements on most of these sites are bogus.

    Watch yourselves!

    Reply

    • Cliff – Thanks for your comments. And, I agree – do your homework and buyer beware. This was never meant to be a comprehensive buyer’s guide – merely a brief overview of some of the major available options. And, as I state clearly at the beginning, I do not endorse any of these products. This is starting point for doing the work that will – I hope – land you on the platform that is right for your needs. But the “doing the work” part is critical. – Jeff

      Reply

  124. They all, except for UDEMY, want money up front to host your courses. UDEMY does not and they have a great platform and process. But as I have noticed of late, they seem into be getting to big for their proverbial britches and are turning some off now because they aren’t as friendly as they once were and they are doing some strange stuff

    Reply

  126. Hi Jeff,

    WizIQ has come a long way during last few months. We all know about its much loved Virtual Classroom. Now, it’s spreading wings in a direction. It recently launched Online Academy Builder – A DIY platform that allows users to create their own online teaching website in a few minutes. A lot of other improvements have also been made. You can find more details on the website – http://www.wiziq.com/

    Regards,
    Amanjot

    Reply

  127. Hi Jeff
    Great list thanks. Do you know of any particular LMS that offers interactive video with one or many students in the same way that Adobe Connect does? The standard webinar format is OK but most seem to only have a text chat option for the students which can be limiting in terms of teaching.

    Thanks
    Phil

    Reply

  128. Hi, Jeff.

    I have one question, being a real novice. I want to use a platform for on-line learning that not just allows for pre-taped videos, slide shows with audio, and other “static” mediums. I want a platform that allows for live teaching where I can either see the individuals (as I teach self-care/body work), hear the individuals and their questions (but they see me), and/or get their chats (latter being less desirable – other two being more as they create a real live classroom feeling). Which on this list does provide that live video teaching/ “conferencing” option. Or alternatively – do people mix and match platforms.

    Thanks, Nikki the Novice (even so dinosaur that I’m just now updating my own site to mobille)

    Reply

  129. If I’m planning to have 100 of teachers or more tutor several hundreds of students, which platform should I choose? I saw e-lecta offers such classrooms where several teachers can have their own virtual room for teaching. Anybody else?
    I also want to be able to sell webinars and other courses on the same platform. Any suggestion?

    Reply

    • Hi Natasha,

      I’ve just launched a platform: https://trainingalley.com. It will allow you to sell Webinars and have a personal chatroom, social group for your students. Also, it will support Interactive Classes created with authoring tools like Articulate, Captivate, etc. You can contact me through the site.

      Regards,
      Lokesh

      Reply

  130. Hi All,
    To sell courses online you can use Moodle as the LMS wherein you can create any number of courses and add course content related to them.
    Moodle has a robust system which can be used by site owners to manage and maintain courses.

    To sell them online you can use WordPress as the CMS wherein due to its simple and easy to use interface will help you to create a great user-interface for buyers on your site.

    We have come up with a plugin which integrates both Moodle and WordPress which helps in sync of courses created in Moodle with WordPress.
    Edwiser has its own payment gateway which can be used by you to sell course individually, but if you wish to sell courses as products you could get the WooCommerce Integration extension which would help you in selling courses as products, sell one or bundle more than one course into product, set subscription for the product along with many WooCommerce features.

    To get more information regarding this click on this link https://edwiser.org.

    Regards.
    Rajiv

    Reply

  131. Hi Jeff. First off, excellent guide! My question really pertains to pricing model. Are you aware if most of the successful sites go with the standard monthly membership fees or do they go with a one-time purchase to get lifetime access? It is an odd conundrum and one I have been thinking about while I am putting together my content. Thanks in advance for your response!

    Reply

  132. Hi,

    Since the discussion is related to creating and selling courses online.
    With the experience we have in this field, I recommend Moodle to be the best place to create courses online, you may find Moodle to be tedious but trust me once you start using it you will find it to be very handy.
    But when the plan comes to sell courses in Moodle, yes it is not easy so I would recommend use WordPress as front-end to create a dedicated site to sell your courses online.
    Looking into these requirements we came up with Edwiser Bridge which integrates Moodle with WordPress, syncs courses created in Moodle to WordPress, along with the WooCommerce extension site owner can sell courses as products, even bundle more than one course as products.

    Looking forward to your view regarding Edwiser.

    Reply

  133. Thanks for posting this list! I googled and thought I’d have to search on my own, and your list was first in line. (recently updated, too!) You saved me countless hours of work finding and investigating these options. We’d like to offer some of our safety classes online. As a small business, your first paragraph resonated with me. I can’t afford to license an LMS, authoring tools, and do the development to connect them to our website. I need an affordable SAAS solution. You rock!

    Reply

  135. Hi Jeff. Thank you for this information. I was building a driver safety course on Udemy, but since I am basically a writer not a videographer, could not meet their requirements. Is there a place you would recommend for someone wanting to open a course solely based on writings? Thanks, John

    Reply

  137. Hi, I was wondering if you had any information on yescourse.com. I keep getting advertisements from them, but haven’t seen anything reviewing them (except from them) online. Thanks in advance.

    Reply

  138. Have you checked out Jasper / Refined Data? Their platform is built on Moodle and integrates with Adobe Connect, and is used by many respected companies and universities, as well as Kaplan test prep etc.

    http://www.refineddata.com

    I’m curious which platforms you most highly recommend for their use of open-source code and value? Thank you for this post!

    Reply

    • Melanie – Refined Data has a nice solution, and I have included them in selection processes I have run before, but I think of them as more appropriate for larger organizations – rather than the individual subject matter entrepreneurs and small firms that are the main audience here. Am I off the mark in thinking that? – Jeff

      Reply

  139. This is a great list! Yet new powerful solutions appear every day.

    For a fresh approach I suggest you have a look at http://www.learnworlds.com, a white-label platform for creating your own online school and full-fledged professional training community (disclosure: I am a co-founder there)

    With LearnWorlds you have everything you need to easily create rich online courses (that combine videos, texts/images, formal and informal assignments and tests, certificates etc.). On top of that you get the opportunity to convert your videos into interactive experiences (with titles, bookmarks, definitions that you can add on the fly, without the need for expensive post-production) and your texts into interactive ebooks (with personalized notes, highlights etc.)

    More importantly, you get a set of tools that will help you create a vibrant learning community for your learners, like:
    – Personal profiles for your clients to present their skills and experiences
    – Social networking and People Search for your clients to be connected and form teams
    – Daily newspaper for your clients to be informed about the topic from the best relevant sources,
    – Gamification, with custom badges, for your clients to be motivated (e.g. an “Android Guru” badge)

    Of course LearnWorlds is fully white-label so it can blend with your existing site/blog

    hope that helps:)

    Reply

  140. Once your Training company has sold its best content thanks to one of those great platform, you have to manage it !
    Training Orchestra provides an “ERP for Training Companies” to manage the back end (orders, invoice, schedule, profitability…). Our training management software for training companies bring the experience of more than 250 clients, and just received the Brandon All Gold award.

    http://www.training-orchestra.com/

    Reply

  141. I think Udemy is the best since they are providing a powerfull course creation tool for free and also their review process in term of quality is better that other websites. and the best advantage that the registration is free of fees!!!

    Reply

  145. Hi, i’m part of a startup LMS company called Aktiv Mind LMS. Our platform allows businesses to create courses and tests in order to train their employees. Our platform runs on all devices such as PCs/Macs, as well as tablets and mobile phones. We are offering a free 1 month subscription for new subscribers.
    Thank you

    Reply

  146. Hi Jeff, Hi All,
    thank you Jeff for the listing of the platforms!
    Is it possible to upload and try to sell the course on different and several sites?
    Ad absurdum: is it possible to upload them to ALL learning sites / platforms?

    Thank you and bye
    Steven

    Reply

  147. This is a great list. There is a company called http://www.uscreen.tv they also have an easy to use platform which enables you to sell courses online and setup a video subscription website, I know a few companies that use them.

    Reply

    • The focus here is on platforms that make it easy to sell courses. As far as I can tell, ScormLMS isn’t really focused on that, but let me know if I am missing something. – Jeff

      Reply

  150. Jeff,
    What if I want to sell over 20 online LIVE courses as part of a growing K-12 online academy? Mainly, I want a clear means of offering and selling the courses and registering new students.

    Is Canvas Catalog a decent option?

    Reply

    • Christopher – Depends on you budget and how confident you are in enrollments/growth. The pricing I have seen on the Catalog option for Canvas is quite hefty – though, I have to say it is very nice. Keep in mind that many less expensive options will offer the registration and e-commerce options you need while also offering options for plugging into common Webinar tools like GoToWebinar. Alternatively, consider an option like WizIQ, which is really geared toward supporting the sales and delivery of live online courses. – Jeff

      Reply

  152. Hi Jeff,

    Thanks for this comprehensive article. I already built my Elearning program and website with wishlist plugin, and all my videos are hosted on Vimeo. I would like to know about platforms to market my training program.
    are there platforms that let me list my program for a marketing fee?
    Thanks!

    Reply

  154. I didn’t end up getting the chance to work with Learning Cart due to issues with our client, but overall, the people at Learning Cart were awesome to work with. Learning Cart not only offers the ability to create and sell online courses, but you can also create a fully functioning shopping cart for selling items other than courses!

    Reply

  155. To add another to the list: http://www.Thinkific.com is definitely another option!

    – Create and sell courses on your own site, under your own brand
    – Content importer allows easy import of videos & pdfs in bulk
    – Create courses out of multiple file types (video, PDFs, MP3s, Text, Quizzes, Surveys, and tonnes of outside sites like typeform forms, Articulate, Storyline… the list goes on!)
    – Full e-commerce, student tracking, and so on
    – Robust integrations with tools like Segment.io, Mailchimp and Mixpanel
    – $0/month to start, 10% transaction fee or less. Only pay when you start selling.

    I could go on and on, but it’s worth checking out! Disclaimer: I work with Thinkific 🙂

    Reply

  156. Hey Jeff,

    Thanks for the great article. I have a question for you or anyone here. My company is preparing a number of training programs for 2015. In reviewing all the platforms available, what do you think about putting a single course on multiple platforms. Can that be done? My thinking is some of these platforms have built in (huge) audiences who are accustomed to purchasing online courses, and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have access to as many potential students as possible by being on multiple platforms. Any thoughts.

    Best,
    Jimmy

    Reply

  157. Great article, thank you.

    Do you think it’s better to sell courses on your own website or to sell them on another. For example, Tony Robbins has his website, but then he sells his courses on Business-Mastery. Brendon Burchard has a website but then sells his courses on HighPerformanceAcademy.

    Just wondered what your thoughts were.

    Cheers

    Reply

    • James – It really depends on what your overall business goals are and how that impacts how you manage your brand and segmenting of your market. The main thing, from my perspective, is that you want to be be selling from a site that you own (Brendon, for example, owns HighPerformanceAcademy.com) rather than relying entirely totally on a third-party market place like Udemy – at least if you are really serious about being in the education/training business. I, for example, decide a while back that I wanted to develop business brands that were distinct from my personal brand. I have a range of reasons for wanting to do that, but one key one is that I would like to have the potential (whether I ever take advantage of it or not) of selling off those brands/businesses. Not having them tied too tightly to my personal brand makes that possible. Hope that helps. – Jeff

      Reply

  158. Jeff:

    Hey! We enjoyed reading your article. But, the majority of the companies listed on this page are for long term courses/classes. At PharmPsych Sites we cater mostly to Continuing Education professionals in the medical field, many of whom just need a short term solution. In the medical field information changes quickly, and most of our users do not want to have a long term course. We make it easy and simple to do that.. In fact, our prices are below the range of what you listed; we also have some free packages. We would appreciate it if you would take a look at what we have to offer and provide us with some feedback: https://pharmpsych.com/sites/

    Reply

    • Thanks – I’ll take a look. (Though I’m not sure there is anything particularly long term or short term about the platforms highlighted here. It comes down to how you use them.)

      Reply

  160. Hi Jeff,

    Thanks a ton for these resources. Im looking specifically for a user controlled (interactive) video platform for training people on how to use a specific product, reviewing features and troubleshooting. We dont need to sell anything, but would love to track which video’s get watched most so that we know where the interest or pain points are for the product. I’ve looked at Engajer as a platform, and some of the training platforms here seem like a good fit, but not sure about the ‘self guided’ aspect of the video. Any additional thoughts/insights since you’ve posted this list?
    Thanks again, Leslie

    Reply

  161. While looking for some other providers I came across this one.
    https://www.apnacourse.com/tutoring
    They have decent enough platform, have gone through their own MOOCs hosted on platform.
    Some points about them i liked,
    – course can be completely private, with my own audience. (download restricted)
    – no revenue sharing (pay as you go model, charged per consumption hour at the month end)
    Has anybody tried it and have anything to share about pros and cons of it?

    Reply

  162. How about MATRIX LMS? I thin they definitely should be included in the list, they have e-commerce integration with Stripe, Paypal and Authorize.net, not to mention that the platform looks amazing

    Reply

  163. Hi Jeff, just wanted to say many thanks for mentioning Course Merchant on the list.

    We would love to show you a demo some time if you had a spare hour or so, be great to get your detailed thoughts.

    Once again, many thanks for the mention.

    All the best and I look forward to hearing from you.

    Martin Broughton
    [email protected]

    Reply

  164. Out of the gate your first resource is simply a version of WPLMS theme found on theme forest. There is not even a business behind the associated link to academy of mine. I find that really odd. Their demo video talks about the unique platform and marketing presence, yet they have no product, or classes. I just find that strange.

    Reply

  166. I’ve had my course at Udemy for awhile, but now they are starting to delete legitimate reviews due to their “spam review filter.” How does that make you feel to work hard for your reviews as well as your course, then have a system work against you?

    Reply

  169. Don’t forget Lightspeedvt.com. They specialize in creating interactive video training courses for speakers, consultants, and other experts. They’re based out of Las Vegas and have done work with Bravo (Top Chef’s Cooking Courses), GM, and countless speakers. They’re start-up fees are a little steep for most people, but it’s definitely what you’re talking about in the article.

    Jeff

    Reply

  170. Hi Jeff, I know you are planning to update this list soon. When you do please add Skilljar to the list – (www.skilljar.com).
    Thanks! Keegan

    Reply

    • Skilljar is what I was going to suggest too, but see it was already suggested. Still not on list though. It is the best, IMHO. Low fees, highly responsive, host all the files and process all the payments, many types of content allowed, coupons, etc. etc.

      Reply

  171. Thanks for the post, Jeff! The info on Udemy is not current, late last year the pricing structure changed. Right now, instructors get 50%. And depending on other factors, you might only get 25%.

    Reply

    • Just running down this list as well as the comments, I’d be interested to know why FirmWater.com feels entitled to charge so much more than their competitors. If you’re offering unique features that others dont, perhaps you should highlight that on your website so that it justifies the exponential price increase.

      Reply

  175. Hello, Jeff – great list, thanks for the detailed insights. A question for you: do you know which of these companies and systems will provide sales and distribution of my existing courses in my existing LMS? It appears that most (all?) required the content to be converted to or loaded into their LMS/CMS.

    thanks!

    Reply

    • Bob – Apologies for the delay in responding. I was not notified of the comment for some reason. As far as I know, none of these support pulling content from another LMS. That has always been somewhat tricky territory – hopefully something that will be addressed as emerging standards (Tin Can) gets more broadly adopted and implemented. – Jeff

      Reply

  176. Many good solutions out there – I’m adding ours to the pile – worldclass.io is a platform with built in quizzing, MOOC, gamification and commerce modules + rich analytics and user mgmt.
    We’re 100% customisable and you can configure the front-end to go with any design or hosting service you’re currently using.

    Reply

  177. Hi Jeff, this is a great list. Click 4 Course is another relevant one to add… especially for companies looking for a very cost-effective platform (starting at just $19 per month). It also includes a company-branded website for students to access the course. It’s super easy to use as well. http://www.click4course.com

    Thanks! Jacob

    Reply

  178. Hey Jeff,

    Thanks so much for those great infos. That should most definitely help me with my plans to start up a training platform. Thanks to your infos, I can now narrow my search for the best tool to use.

    I wish to put online downloadable checklists, videos and emit certificates. And one thing also that I wish to be able to do is allow my trainees to download mobile device friendly version of my lists and videos.
    Any obvious suggestions ?

    Reply

  179. I was wondering if you have specific recommendations for platforms suitable for teaching language courses. I’ve looked at several on this list so far and they look very interesting, but it’s not immediately clear to me how well they would integrate with a webinar tool for live meetings/discussions. It’s also not clear which has the most powerful quiz/testing/tracking capabilities.

    Reply

  180. Not sure Udacity is really a fit for the type of thing I’m talking about here. I’m not aware that you can create/deliver whatever you want on Udacity – you basically have to be selected by them or one of their partners to do a course. Correct me if I am wrong, though. – Jeff

    Reply

  183. Hi Jeff,

    I have one question, if you can help. Security is always a challenge in e-learning content. Any suggestions to ensure that viewers can not download the video.

    Reply

    • Most of the video oriented services (e.g., Udemy, MindBites) are going to present the video in a way that it cannot be downloaded. Or you can use something like JPlayer in WordPress, or Vimeo with the download capability turned off. Of course, there’s pretty much nothing you can do to prevent someone from making a screen recording if they really are determined to.

      Reply

  185. Jeff — I am the Publisher at Siminars. I’d love to get your feedback on our platform. Please check out siminars.com and email me if you have any ideas or questions. Thanks and have a great year ahead!

    Reply

    • Can anyone help in suggesting ways in which we can sell our courses with discount websites, such as amazon.local and places like that? I have been suggested to use affiliate marketers, but am unsure really of what this means?

      Reply

  189. Thanks for the excellent info.
    I feel that nowadays it isn’t difficult to build your own training website using Paypal as the payment gateway.
    What do you think could be the disadvantages of going your own way?

    Reply

    • Dinesh –

      Just using Paypal as a payment gateway and one of any number of approaches to managing access to content (like, for example, a membership plugin) can work just fine. The platforms listed here all manage access rights as an integrated part of the software and have done a good bit to streamline the e-commerce process. Many of them also streamline authoring of educational content and make it easier to integrate content, assessments, and social interaction (e.g., discussion boards) into a single educational experience. It all depends on what learning models you plan to use and how adept you feel at taking a more DIY approach. – Jeff

      Reply

  190. BrainCert Makes E-Learning And Passive Earning Painless. BrainCert allows instructors to create courses and upload tests easily and quickly. Once that’s done, the platform integrates with PayPal and Stripe, allowing you to profit from the information you’ve provided. BrainCert is generous with that, too, giving you 90% of the sales revenue from whatever you sell. – https://www.braincert.com/

    Reply

  193. Thanks so much for these awesome resources. Some of the very best, clean and easy to use I have found in my research. Cost is always a factor since I am an independent trainer. I have started on Udemy. Will see how it goes. I am also exploring pathwright at the moment. Clean interface, still have to see how it works.

    Reply

    • Thanks for commenting, Carol – If you have a chance, drop back by at some point, please drop back by and let folks know how your experiences went with Udemy and Pathwright. – Jeff

      Reply

      • Udemy have given me nothing but grief over the last 3 months. Nit-picking re my courses and I have degrees in 2 different subject areas! Udemy has severely wasted my time – around 400 hours worth.

        Reply

        • Hello Jane,
          I have a course available on Udemy that needs to be updated. Udemy is great for those who want to offer free courses that have high video and audio quality. Udemy knows what interest their customers. Most of their customers are other Udemy instructors.

          They are redoing their pricing and have finally stopped providing free previews of courses. Mine and some other instructors courses were copied and sold to rip-off companies that repackage portions of your video and charge $5.00 or less for your content. I found that Russian and Indian customers were most interested in my course and every day a Russian person would visit my course and copy it. Several of the Indian customers just contacted me to set up the course for their students.

          I am offering my course for free now. I will leave a smaller modified version of the course free and add a series of small courses for a fee. There are several Udemy Instructors who are making over a million dollars per year using Udemy. A few of the ones who are making less money offer paid courses to explain how they have been successful, which of course attracts a large number of Udemy Instructor students.

          Currently, this is one of the only platforms that I have used. You need to have knowledge about the course(s) that you want to sell and you need to know how to sell your courses online. In my opinion, is does not matter which platform you use or can afford if you do not know how to sell your courses online then you will waste your time/money.

          Good luck!

          Reply

        • I have to agree with this post. I also tried Udemy, I have advanced degrees in Computer Science and Computer Engineering and got hung up with what they called audio quality for over 3 months. I just gave up and continued to sell through my own site.

          What amazed me is that I am using a professional recording setup and have been delivering courses for over 7 years with excellent comments from my students.

          I would like to grow my audience but will find another way.

          Reply

    • Hi Carol, please tell us about your experiences with online course platforms. I’m actually researching which platform to start with. I’ll be teaching some pretty different topics, and I’m just like you that independent teacher/trainer. Thanks a ton! – Ton

      Reply

      • Hi people! I’m an ex high school teacher & have run a biz as a Dread Loctician & Trainer for over 10 years. I have 3 online courses teaching people how to make & maintain dreads naturally & how to run small home based biz as Locticians. I use gumroad. They have a few glitches, but all in all, I’m very happy with it. I sell them via my ems & website though, I haven’t yet began using their tools to sell via them as a course market place.

        Reply

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  9. […] Online courses aren’t for everyone, but for the vast majority of people, it’s a viable, low-cost, and convenient way to learn something without the drawbacks of traditional classroom education. Apple offers free college courses through iTunes University but if you’re interested in either taking courses or creating your own online course, check out this list of online teaching platforms. […]

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  18. […] If you’re interested in running your own online course, you can review several online teaching platforms that charge a monthly fee plus a percentage of the tuition you charge individual students. To review different online teaching platforms, click here. […]

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