Creating online courses can be a great way to make a passive outcome — you make your course once and can sell it for as long as you want). With a little marketing, you can continue to bring in potential students for as long as your topic is relevant and something people want to learn! But which are the best online course platforms to consider?
Teachable
Teachable is my personal top choice for the best online course platforms. I’ve taken several courses hosted on the Teachable platform and from a student’s perspective the experience is great. I’m also currently building my own material for the platform and as an instructor, I love the functionality, features and the resources they provide for instructors through Teachable U and the frequent seminars they hold.
Teachable hosts some 20,000 plus courses with 7,500 plus instructors and over 3 million students, so its no stranger to hosting online courses. From a financial perspective, Teachable’s pricing ranges from $29 to $399 monthly, depending on what package you choose.
Teachable also has a blog feature, so if you were only planning on online course creation in your business then you could easily function simply by using their online course platform.
Udemy
Udemy is one of the most popular online course platforms with over 12 million students. It’s popular with students for a number of reasons, but most likely due to their frequent deep discounts which help people learn things for incredibly low prices (often under $20). The Udemy platform has thousands of instructors or subject matter experts teaching on it.
However, there are a number of issues with Udemy from an entrepreneurial perspective. With Udemy you have much less control than most of the other online course platforms on this list. You cannot control your branding, pricing and other important aspects of your business. They take a whopping 50 percent of your profits, and you don’t own your email list… which is not a great long-term outcome.
In my eyes, Udemyi is one of the best online course platforms for those looking to dip their toes into the online course creation market but aren’t ready to take it to the big time and build their own brand. Note that to work on the Udemy platform you need to apply to be an instructor.
Thinkific
Thinkific is one of the best online course platforms, and it’s more comparable to Teachable than Udemy. Their platform, similar to Teachable, allows you to build your own teaching brand. I find that their platform even looks similar to Teachable with comparable features. But Thinkific is a tad bit less expensive then Teachable with prices from $0 to $279.
Now, Thinkific is not one a platform I have direct experience with but people that I know who use it for their own online courses absolutely love it. They have an easy-to-use drag and drop editor that makes setting up your course a breeze, and the option to use a ton of components like video and other content types.
Skillshare
Skillshare is one of the online course platforms that is most comparable to Udemy with a slight twist. They are a membership site where students sign up and get access to all of the courses on the platform, not just yours.
Skillshare is a bit limiting when it comes to using it as an entrepreneurial venture as their top earners make around $40,000, per year in what sounds like more of an affiliate type program due to the shared students.
Most Skillshare courses include a video presentation and short platforms, and it’s not quite as versatile as some of the other platforms content-wise.
Which is your favorite of the online course platforms? Share it with me below in the comments!
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Tae started out as a journalist before following the money into the corporate world. But it turns out that the grass isn’t always greener and now you can find her spending most of her time writing about all the things she loves. Namely, money, travel and business with a hefty dose of self-deprecating humor. She is a podcast fanatic, blogging aficionado and loves to find new ways to turn passions into cold hard cash!