We live in an age that values skills and information. Therefore, sharing the skills that you acquired throughout your life can become something that you can take advantage of. By creating an online course, you can share your skills and earn a nice paycheck while doing it. The main question now becomes how does one do that? There are many ways of going about creating your online course, but in all of them, there is one crucial step that needs to be done, and that is choosing what online platform you are going to use.
So to save you from the mind-numbing task of searching for and comparing all the available options, we compiled a list of the top 9 platforms to sell your online courses on.
Gurucan
The first entry on this list is Gurucan, a fresh up-and-coming platform. With its user-friendly design, it is both fast and easy to use. For both you and the people that you are going to be selling your content. With many creators and startups choosing Gurucan over other platforms, now is the perfect time to jump on the bandwagon.
But just because a lot of hype surrounds Guracan does not mean that it lacks features that its competitors provide. As a matter of fact, not only does Gurucan have all of those features, but it has many more. With Gurucan, you can create and sell your online courses, create landing pages, make webinars, set up memberships, and have your marketing automated.
Not to mention that this all-in-one platform has a great mobile app (both for android and iOS) that will allow people to take their online courses with them and watch them on the commute. A feature like this is perfect for all of those ambitious go-getters interested in things like online courses. With an extremely affordable monthly or yearly plan, Gurucan is sure to take care of all of your needs when it comes to creating a community of progress-seeking individuals.
Thinkific
When creating online courses, Thinkific is always mentioned as it is one of the oldest and most reputable platforms for creating and distributing online courses. With a streamlined and proven user interface, Thinkific is the platform that all others are compared to.
The basic features that Thinkific offers are the following: creating and distributing your online courses, the ability to design your website, and market your product. Having said all of that, Thinkific offers certain other features but listing them all would be counterproductive as their availability differs heavily depending on the plan that you opt for.
With four plans available, one of them being free, and a separate Thinkific Plus option, you have plenty to choose from.
Teachable
Another giant in the field of online content creation is Teachable. A platform to help any ambitious person make a bit of money on the internet. With minimal previous experience, Teachable makes sure that you can create a site that will appeal to your target audience. It does this by giving you the ability to create courses with its easy-to-understand tools quickly. Another great thing about Teachable is that it provides you with just the right amount of feedback not to overwhelm you with data but still give you insight into how you perform.
Something important to mention is its price. With its basic plan going for only 29 USD, it might sound like a steal but be warned as the basic package has an additional 5% transaction fee when selling courses.
LearnWorlds
LearnWorlds is another fantastic platform that can allow you to share your courses online. Equipped with all of the features that you come to expect from a modern course-sharing platform, with those features in mind, LearnWorlds can also help you create a spiffy-looking school website that can appeal to your students. With an affordable starter plan under $30, Learnworlds does not take a percentage of your profits but a flat $5 fee for every course you sell. This can be good or bad depending on how you price your courses, so keep that in mind.
Podia
The thing that makes Podia stand out amidst its competition is the number of features you can get with just the base plan. This makes it great for people just getting into creating online courses.
There are only two plans, the base Mover plan, and the advanced Shaker plan. There are only two plans that are a breath of fresh air as most platforms offer 4+ plans to choose and compare from. Even though the starter pack price is slightly higher than that of its competitors, Podia makes up for it by having no transaction fee when selling courses.
LearnDash
If you already spent a lot of time making a good-looking WordPress site and do not want to rely on another platform to sell courses, you can always try LearnDash. LearnDash is a WordPress plugin that allows you to integrate online course selling to your WordPress website seamlessly. With a great set of features and the ability to add plugins that can add even more additional features, LearnDash offers a highly customizable experience. Also, another great thing is the fact that LearnDash supports Astra and can utilize its many beautiful-looking templates.
LearnPress
Another LMS WordPress plugin. LearnPress is really budget-friendly. Not only does it have a premium version, but it also has a great free version with which you can test out the whole process of making online courses. Another beginner-friendly feature that LearnPress has is its beautiful prebuilt themes that come with the paid Themes bundle. So for all of you that do not mind spending some cash, you can have a great-looking WordPress site up in hours. Since it lacks some of the more advanced features that Learndash provides, LearnPress is more suited for the freelancer who wants to get his online courses up and running as fast as possible.
Kajabi
Unlike some of the sites mentioned in this article, Kajabi is more of a one-stop-shop for setting up your whole online course business. While Kajabi’s course creation abilities are a bit limited compared to its competition, it makes up for it in other aspects. If you don’t have a site for your business, Kajabi’s site builder is great and can create a website that you can be proud of. Also, Kajabi is an ESP and allows you to automate your email sending process to keep in touch with your students regularly. Not to mention the fact that Kajabi has top-notch customer service. The biggest downside of Kajabi is its price. With no free option, a higher than average price, and a short 14-day trial, you should be certain that Kajabi is what you need before you decide to make it your designated platform.
Skillshare
You probably already heard of them as they have quite an aggressive marketing strategy on Youtube. But what you most likely did not know is that you can become a teacher on Skillshare. This site is perfect for all of those creative people who just want to focus on their craft and don’t want to have anything to do with site building, marketing, and other hurdles that online course creation provides. But since most of that work is done for you, there are strict guidelines that you need to follow so that you can post your courses there. Not only that but your courses are only restricted to a video format which some people might find limiting. Nevertheless, if Skillshare sounds like something that suits you, you can check out all the requirements and monetization by following this link.
A few closing thoughts
If you by any chance still can’t decide what platform is right for you, here are two tips that might help guide you in the right direction. The first and most important tip is to compare prices. Since most sites have similar features, your main concern should be to minimize upkeep costs. And the second one is that you should take advantage of the free trial that most sites offer. In any case, if you don’t feel like doing any research on your own and just want to focus on the creative process, of course, then definitely check out Gurucan if you are looking for a great platform or LearnDash if you have a WordPress based site.