For some time now, technology has no longer been just something necessarily linked to fun or free time but has turned into an inexhaustible source of income and learning. Of course, you can continue to have fun, but if there was also a way to earn something, whether money or knowledge, wouldn’t you like to delve into the subject? But how can you make money from scratch? Well, one of the solutions is closely related to online course creation platforms.
Are you good at or particularly passionate about a certain thing, be it cooking, mechanics, or fitness? So why not share your experiences with others and start a small business? Having studied sports science and not having found a job, or in any case, wanting to expand it, can be a really good motivation to start selling fitness courses online simply and effectively.
Being able to choose one of the best online learning platforms is a winning marketing strategy for increasing your visibility, credibility, and sales. In addition, you can undoubtedly obtain greater ease of management of your courses, thus saving a lot of precious time to prepare your content.
The benefits of creating an online course
You have the ability to reach a large number of people. Any user can connect from anywhere in the world to receive your online training.
You will be able to show your work and get more followers who trust your training skills.
You will be able to have a passive income thanks to your courses, as they will be sold, and you will get a continuous source of income.
You have the freedom to follow and structure the course you want. You will be the person who will manage it at all times, and you can make any changes or modifications you want. Furthermore, you can choose the format and evaluate users’ responses.
If you are a teacher or trainer, it will become a great option to showcase the skills and experience you have to help thousands of students learn about a certain topic. You can become a reference in the sector.
Below is a list of different online course platforms.
Thinkific
Here is another of the best platforms to sell professional and efficient online courses. First of all, we must say that Thinkific is a very intuitive site, and in addition, it gives you the possibility to turn to omnipresent assistance. Thinkific teaches you how to expand your business and make the most of all the possibilities it offers you. You can also train yourself constantly, thanks to their videos and webinars relating to platform management and marketing.
Let’s start by saying that if you decide to use this site for the sale of online courses, you will not need to look for hosting. The peculiarity that distinguishes this platform is, in fact, that you will not have to deal with the more “bureaucratic” aspects because it behaves like a real franchise, which already puts everything you need at your disposal.
Domain, site creation, and hosting are some of the problems that you absolutely will not have to deal with since you will simply become part of the platform.
Your students will be cataloged in a handy and very functional list, with all their contact details, data, and even a photo.
Price: From 0 $ / month
Features
Continuous multi-channel assistance
Webinar for your training
You won’t have to look for hosting
creation of marketing campaigns, video lessons, coupons, and affiliations
Ability to correct homework
Various integrations available
Ability to create and manage subscriptions
Pros
· Simple and intuitive
· It does not require hosting and gives you unlimited space
· It allows you to learn how to grow your earnings
Cons
· Ability to create customizations to the site only for experts
Teachable
If you’re looking for a complete platform that gives you a custom domain, great marketing support, and the ability even to handle international payments, you don’t need to look elsewhere. International payments are an alternative that few platforms offer, which turns out to be indispensable if you want to expand your clientele. For example, if you sell language learning courses, you could almost certainly receive requests from abroad.
You have the opportunity to take care of your marketing, not because it is bad, but because it is really necessary in order to obtain new customers and consolidate the relationship with the old ones. But there are many marketing strategies, and this platform offers you one.
Price: $ 29.00 per month
Features
Functional dashboard
Ability to manage marketing and emails
Custom domain
You can create discount coupons
You can create and manage landing pages
It can be integrated
Pros
Excellent and complete
Simple to use
Cons
Price slightly higher than its competitors, but it is worth them all
Featured platforms with LMS plugins for WordPress users
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Podia
Podia is a very clean and simple dashboard platform that allows you to sell courses, subscriptions, downloads, and webinars in total autonomy. In this way, you can diversify your sales offer while always maintaining the same platform. As for the sale of online courses, you can offer your customers different payment plans, quizzes, chat in real-time, and also files and videos in unlimited quantities. Still, you can also choose to opt for constant and certain income, thanks to subscription plans.
In fact, with subscriptions, you will be able to know what your future income will be, providing constant training to your students, as well as the possibility of accessing all the material at any time. But why not choose from time to time to sell, for example, an ebook created by you or any other content that could expand your courses?
Podia can easily collaborate with YouTube Live and Zoom so that you can organize conferences, always relying on your platform. To avoid missing anything, you have continuous assistance that guarantees you valid help at any time you need it, perhaps even during the creation of your personalized website.
Price: From $ 39 / month
Features
Automatic creation of a functional site
Management of emails and emailing campaigns
Function for the use of courses
Ability to sell subscriptions
Function for the sale of downloads
Ability to create and manage webinars
Pros
· Useful for managing all the necessary features
· Simple and intuitive
· Assistance is always present
Cons
· Limited possibilities for website customization
Kajabi
Kajabi offers you the ability to manage a marketing campaign directly; for example, it allows you to save time and money when looking for another platform to deal with. It also allows you to build your landing page in a professional way, which is not a small feat, considering that there is the more expensive software that does not offer you this possibility.
Price: From $ 149 per month
Features
You have ongoing assistance
You can create courses, mini-courses, and subscription plans
You can manage your marketing campaign
It can be integrated with many other platforms
You can create your landing page in a simple way
It can also be used as a common website or blog
Pros
Simple to use
Useful for creating marketing campaigns
It can also be used as a blog
Cons
You can’t track pupils’ progress
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LearnWorld
If you are a dynamic person who immediately gets to the point, certainly LearnWorlds can be one of the best platforms to sell online courses since it goes straight to the point without too many words. But what does it basically mean? Let’s say that it is a young and modern platform, but this can be understood immediately, as soon as we see the dashboard, which is really innovative and fast, with all the most useful commands at your fingertips. Furthermore, it is a platform that does everything by itself, which means that you do not need other software.
Price: From $ 24 / month
Features
Innovative, simple to use, and fast
Ability to create affiliate programs
Integrations available
Builder pages
Easy creation of interactive content
Emailing campaigns
Pros
· Easy and fast
· Building pages
· Ability to create interactive content
Cons
· Assistance is not always available
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WiZiQ
It is one of the platforms for online courses that are based on the use of a Cloud. Thanks to this software, you can not only sell your courses online but create a real digital school. An extra gear is given by the possibility for your students to download the application available on both iOS and Android so that your courses and more are always at hand.
In fact, in addition to the ability to create and manage your courses, subscription plans, the list of your students, and their progress, you can also interact with your class in real-time.
Price: FREE
Features
Ability to download the app
Creation of courses and live lessons with shareable whiteboard
Easy to integrate
Monitoring of student progress
Possibility to load any format for the material
Pros
· Easy to integrate
· App available
· Ability to create live classrooms to interact
Cons
· Unintuitive dashboard
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Academy Of Mine
It is among the best online learning platforms that are highly professional, and that does not make your brand lack anything to envy large sellers of online lessons. We are talking about a platform that, in addition to providing you with the ability to create and sell online courses, even through subscriptions, which can be integrated with other platforms and which gives you the possibility to create a section dedicated to chat, gives you a way to provide that extra touch. In fact, you will be able to constantly monitor your students, offer them timed tests, evaluate them and even assign them badges and certifications.
Price: Free
Features
Ability to create courses with various rates for each
Templates for pages
Ability to assign badges and certifications
Pros
Very innovative
Highly professional
It gives you the ability to provide certifications and badges
Cons
Slightly expensive
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Teachery
If your goal is to find one of the best platforms to sell online courses that, like the others, offers you the opportunity to earn but does not ask you for extra commissions, well, you have found it. Even if its dashboard is not exactly intuitive, Teachery allows you to sell your courses, also thanks to subscriptions, but the profit remains yours because you will not have to pay them anything in addition to the monthly or annual payment.
Of course, you can upload, in addition to videos, pdf, and other formats, to expand your training offer. Even if they don’t ask you for commissions in return, assistance will always walk by your side, ready to lend a hand in case you need it.
Price: $49 per month
Features
Ability to sell courses and other educational and training material
No transaction fees
Pros
No transaction fees
Ability to load any format
Cons
The dashboard is not easy to be managed
Below are some featured platforms that have LMS plugins for WordPress users
MemberPress
This wonderful membership plugin enables you to develop online courses with more than one membership level. It is highly customizable and does not require any programming knowledge. Its built-in features allow you to manage and create courses on the WordPress dashboard. You can use the available drag and drop course builder to customize your quizzes, grade books, and lessons.
Features
Function for the use of courses
Ability to sell subscriptions
Function for the sale of downloads
Ability to create and manage webinars
Pros
Easy to use
Great user interface
Wonderful support
Cons
Sometimes it can be confusing if integrated with elementor
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AccessAlly
This powerful tool was created by a programmer called Nathalie Lussier. It is a plugin with almost everything you may need, allowing you to handle almost everything, ranging from learning, membership, and payments.
Payments: $82 per month
Features
The course content is protected
Supports PayPal and stripe methods of payments
Has build-in lessons, topics, and module course builder
Has different types of quizzes
Certificate completion that is auto-generated
Pros
· Plugin to not create a site from scratch
· Customization of courses
Cons
Less interaction with the instructor
LifterLMS
This simple and powerful platform comes with great features that enable you to handle all your course content. It works the same as LearnDash, offering the drag and drop course builder that enables you to build multi-tier courses with images, videos, and even text-based lessons.
Price: $99 per year
Features
An instructor can be able to create multimedia quizzes for his/her students
One can make assignments and offer downloadable materials
You can assign multiple instructors a single course
Students can have private coaching with their trainers
Pros
Easy to use
Supports great interaction
Cons
No enough resources
Tutor LMS
This is a more recent platform that has been added to the WordPress Learning management system. Due to its outstanding features, it has captured over 21,000 eLearning enthusiasts. This platform has ready-made features such as a drag and drop quiz maker, course builder, and great support from the owner.
Price: $149
Features
Provides access to the frontend course builder
Easily customizable
Has a lot of resources
More than 10 types of quiz builders
Pros
· Simple to use
· Has a lot of resources
Cons
You have to use WordPress
LearnDash
It is an efficient and fast platform specially designed to allow you to sell your courses on an existing site. LearnDash was born as a plugin for WordPress.You will also be able to customize your courses based on the skills of individual students without ever worrying about the design part since everything will always be inserted within your site. Therefore, we can say that the process to offer a good service could be to administer courses you have created, subject the students to some tests you have structured, and evaluate them. You can choose whether to reward someone more deserving and whether to adapt everything according to the levels.
Price: FREE
Features
Plugin for WordPress
Creation of courses designed according to the skills of the individual
Possibility to reward students
Learning monitoring
Pros
Easy to use and very intuitive
Plugin to not create a site from scratch
Customization of courses
Cons
You must already own a site with WordPress
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Other online learning platforms with little to no audience
Skillshare
A really useful platform if you are looking to enter the online course selling industry for the first time. As you may have noticed, you don’t have any marketing options. Precisely this is the advantage for those who are not so experienced: you can concentrate only on the preparation of your courses without thinking about anything else. However, it remains a very valid platform because, in addition to always having assistance on your side, you have the possibility not only to sell courses in a passive way, but you can do more.
Price: $32 per month
Features
Continuous assistance
Very simple to use and manage
You can upload videos, pdf, and other files
You can create live lessons
Pros
· Simple and intuitive
· Great for beginners
Cons
· Unprofessional
Udemy
It is a different platform from the previous ones, which does not help you manage your personal site, but makes you enter a real community. Therefore, it is the ideal solution for those who do not want to sell independently, but are supported by a wider platform, obviously in exchange for commissions.
As with other platforms, thanks to the simplicity of its dashboard, you can decide to upload videos, photos, pdfs, and anything that can help you follow your courses.
If you don’t like constantly dealing with a site, Udemy can be among the best platforms for selling online courses. Obviously you will always have assistance for advice or support related to the platform, which we can define as a marketplace.
Price: $19.99 per month
Features
§ possibility to sell courses
§ membership in a community
Pros
· You can upload any type of file
· You don’t have to deal with site management
· The dashboard is really intuitive
Cons
You don’t have your own brand, but you do business through Udemy
Coursera
Over the years, Coursera has gained increasing popularity for its paid and unpaid online courses, mostly hosted by top university professors and industry experts worldwide. Most of their programs are aimed at virtually any professional looking to improve their skills and abilities, get a promotion or raise, or start a new career. Whether your industry falls into information technology, business, or social science, Coursera definitely has something ready for your team.
Pricing: Free sign up
Pros
Thousands of courses available
Signing up and checking courses is free
Cons
There is less interaction with the instructor
Lack of enough online resources
Summary
We have analyzed many platforms, some similar to each other, others completely different. We have seen how there is a valid alternative for every need.
Whether you are a beginner in the sector or an expert, you have no more excuses: choose your platform and start selling online courses to earn and share your knowledge!