You’re a content creator with a brilliant course idea – but with dozens of online course platforms (and learning management systems) out there, where do you start? It’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Do you join a big online learning platform, build your own course site, or something in between? The truth is, building a successful online course business isn’t a one-shot decision. It’s a journey from validating your idea in a live pilot to scaling it into an evergreen course and beyond. This guide is your roadmap for each step of that journey, helping you create an online course that not only sells but grows with you – from idea to an evergreen academy.
Table of Contents
- Stage 1: Validate with a Live Beta (Circle & Mighty Networks)
- Stage 2: Evergreen Delivery via Teachable & Thinkific
- Stage 3: Membership and Community Bundling with Kajabi & Podia
- Stage 4: White-Label & Enterprise Licensing (LearnWorlds & Self-Hosted LMS)
- Stage 5: Upsell Funnels, Affiliates & Course Economics
- FAQs
Stage 1: Validate with a Live Beta (Circle & Mighty Networks)
Why Start with a Live Pilot?
Building your first online course can feel like standing at the base of a mountain. Instead of climbing blind, test the trail with a small group first. Running a pilot course (often as a cohort) lets you validate demand and refine your content in real-time. Think of it as an experimental beta online class rather than a fully polished product. By teaching a course online in a live format, you’ll quickly discover which parts of your material resonate and which need work. This means when you do create your full course, you’re confident it meets your audience’s needs.
Cohort-based pilot courses have another huge benefit: higher student engagement. When learners go through material together — attending live sessions, discussing in groups — they feel accountable. It’s common to see 80%+ completion rates in a well-run cohort, a stark contrast to the single-digit completion rates of typical self-paced online courses. Early on, feedback outweighs production value. Your job at this stage is to learn what works, not to have fancy video edits or a 100-page workbook.
Community Platforms for Beta Courses (Circle & Mighty Networks)
To run a live beta course, you don’t need a custom website or complex LMS. Many creators start with community platforms like Circle or Mighty Networks for this stage. These platforms are built for engagement: you can create a private group (your course “classroom”), post content or announcements, and host discussions all in one place. For example, Circle offers clean, minimalist community spaces with support for threaded discussions, events, and even embedding videos or lessons. Mighty Networks, on the other hand, provides an all-in-one community experience — including course modules, live streaming, and a mobile app for members — great for keeping your pilot students connected and engaged.
Why use a community-first platform for a pilot? It lowers the bar to launch. You can deliver your lessons via weekly Zoom calls or live streams (and upload replays), share PDF handouts or slides, and have students interact through posts and comments. All without writing a single line of code or investing in a dedicated course site. The focus is on interaction, not automation. Mighty Networks and Circle both allow you to charge for access (or you can make the pilot free for select beta testers). Either way, having everyone in a closed community space creates a sense of exclusivity and camaraderie – your pilot students aren’t just buying a course, they’re joining a journey with you.
- Example: Let’s say you have an idea for a photography masterclass. Instead of filming hours of content upfront, you invite 10 aspiring photographers into a private
- Mighty Networks group and call it a “Photography Bootcamp Beta.” You drip out weekly challenges, go live every Friday for Q&A, and encourage everyone to share their results in the community. By week 2, you notice many participants struggling with indoor lighting – something you only glossed over initially. So you adjust, dedicating an entire live session to lighting techniques. By the end of the pilot, 9 out of 10 people complete the bootcamp and rave about their progress. You’ve gained two things: a refined course curriculum (now that you know exactly where beginners need more help) and a handful of glowing testimonials ready to display on your course site.
- It’s also a safe sandbox: if a lesson falls flat, you’ll hear about it directly in the community and can adjust by the next session. Maybe you planned to teach advanced techniques, but your cohort is begging for basics – it’s better to find that out with 10–20 people than after you’ve recorded an entire curriculum for hundreds.
Quick Win: Cap your pilot group to a manageable size (even 5–20 people) and treat them like co-creators. Ask questions, gather feedback, and iterate. The insights and testimonials you gain here will shape your course and become powerful marketing material when you scale up.
Stage 2: Evergreen Delivery via Teachable & Thinkific
After a successful live beta, you have refined content and proof that your idea works. Now it’s time to package that knowledge into an evergreen online course — a course that runs itself and can be purchased anytime, without you needing to teach live. This is where dedicated online course platforms (also known as LMS, or learning management systems) shine. Platforms like Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, and Podia let you build your own course website to host videos, quizzes, and downloads, so students around the world can learn on-demand at their own pace.
From Cohort to Self-Paced Course
Transitioning from a cohort-based pilot to a self-paced course involves turning your live sessions and feedback into polished learning materials. Many creators literally reuse their pilot content: if you recorded your Zoom lessons, you can edit those recordings into shorter, focused video lessons. Combine them with slide presentations or additional videos to fill any gaps. The key is to maintain the engaging tone of the live class while giving it structure. Instead of meeting weekly, your evergreen course might be broken into modules and lessons that students can binge in a weekend or spread over several weeks – their choice.
Going evergreen has big advantages: you’re no longer limited by a schedule or class size. Once your course is up on a platform like Teachable or Thinkific, it can potentially sell while you sleep. That said, you’ll want to design for engagement, since you won’t be there live to cheer students on. Keep lessons concise and to the point – microlearning (short, bite-sized videos or readings) is more effective because online students often learn in quick bursts, especially on mobile devices. Include knowledge checks or quizzes after key sections; these act like little gamified checkpoints that keep learners motivated. And remember those community vibes from your pilot? You can carry them over: for instance, Thinkific and Teachable now offer discussion or community areas within courses, or you can invite students into an external group (like a Circle or Facebook group) for support alongside the self-paced content.
Choosing an Online Course Platform: Teachable vs Thinkific
Teachable and Thinkific are two of the best online course platforms for creators moving into the evergreen game. They have a lot in common: both provide a user-friendly course builder (just upload your videos, add text, quizzes, etc.), handle student registrations and payments, and give you a branded course site with no coding required. But there are a few nuances:
- Teachable is celebrated for its simplicity. It’s often the go-to for first-time course creators because you can be up and running quickly. Teachable handles payment processing (even taxes) for you, offers drip content scheduling, and has a clean, straightforward student interface. They’ve even introduced an AI Curriculum Generator and other AI tools to help you outline your course or draft lessons – a nod to the trend of AI-assisted course creation. For example, if you provide a brief description of your course, Teachable’s AI can suggest a full course outline in seconds, which you can then tweak to your liking.
- Thinkific is equally powerful and gives you a bit more room to customize. Thinkific has a drag-and-drop site builder for your course site and an app store for extending functionality (from gamification badges to integrations with marketing tools). It’s known for robust quiz and survey features, letting you add more interactive elements like graded quizzes or assignments. Thinkific also enables you to create assignments or exams if your content calls for it – useful if you’re teaching something like an app creation class where practice and assessment are key. One thing to note: Thinkific’s free plan lets you launch a course without upfront cost (they limit some features on the free tier, but it’s great to test the waters), whereas Teachable’s free plan exists but applies transaction fees. As you scale up in student numbers, you’ll likely move to a paid plan on either platform to avoid those revenue cuts and unlock advanced features.
Both Teachable and Thinkific provide basic analytics dashboards. As soon as students start enrolling, keep an eye on their progress. These insights can highlight if a particular lesson has a high drop-off rate, signaling you to improve that content. For instance, if 50% of students stop watching at Lesson 3, maybe Lesson 3 is too long or needs more engagement. Use that data to continuously refine your evergreen course, just as you did with feedback in the live pilot.
With your course “evergreen” and accessible 24/7, you’ve created a new income stream that doesn’t depend on your live presence. The next challenge (and opportunity) is expanding what you offer around that course to increase value for your students and your business.
Pro Tip: Don’t let your great content gather dust – repurpose it. Turn a popular module of your live cohort into a free mini-course or on-demand webinar to attract new students (a classic marketing funnel strategy). Conversely, if your pilot Q&As surfaced great insights, compile the best questions and answers into a bonus lesson or FAQ resource in your evergreen course. This adds value and addresses common sticking points proactively, keeping self-paced learners on track.
Stage 3: Membership and Community Bundling with Kajabi & Podia
By now, you have a successful stand-alone course bringing in students regularly. So what’s next? Stage 3 is about increasing lifetime value and fostering a loyal community around your content. In practice, this often means moving from one-off course sales to a membership model, and consolidating your offerings onto an all-in-one platform. Creators at this stage often look to platforms like Kajabi or Podia – online education platforms that handle courses, communities, memberships, and more under one roof.
From One-Off Course to Ongoing Membership
Selling a course once is great, but what if you could keep learners engaged (and paying) month after month? Memberships make that possible. Instead of treating your course as a one-and-done product, you turn it into part of a larger ongoing learning community. For example, you might offer a membership site where subscribers get access to all your courses (present and future), exclusive content drops (like monthly live workshops or new mini-lessons), and a private community to interact with you and fellow learners. This transforms your offering into an ongoing journey rather than a single transaction.
There’s a big benefit for students: they get continuous support and fresh content, which can dramatically improve their outcomes. Remember how your pilot students loved feeling part of a group? A membership taps into that same psychology – it gives people a tribe and a mentor (you) to keep them accountable. From your perspective, memberships provide predictable recurring revenue. Instead of starting from scratch with each new course launch, you have a base of monthly or annual subscribers sustaining your business. Many creators also find that a lower-priced monthly subscription can attract a wider audience, including folks who might not leap straight into a high-ticket course but will happily pay $20–50 a month for ongoing value. And once they’re inside, you have more opportunities to upsell premium offerings or personal coaching, because you’ve earned their trust over time.
Kajabi vs Podia: All-in-One Platforms
If you’re juggling a separate course platform, email service, website, and maybe a Facebook group by this point, you’ve probably felt the pain of tool overload. All-in-one platforms aim to simplify that by providing everything in one package. Kajabi and Podia are two standout examples:
- Kajabi is often dubbed the “Mercedes-Benz” of course platforms – it’s powerful and polished. With Kajabi, you can host courses, build sales pages, start a blog, send email newsletters and automations, run an affiliate program, and manage a community area, all from one dashboard. Its marketing capabilities are top-notch: Kajabi’s pre-built “pipelines” (a fancy word for funnel templates) let you set up things like a free mini-course → paid course funnel or a webinar launch sequence with just a few clicks. It also recently introduced Kajabi AI tools to help creators write copy and outline courses faster. Kajabi even has a mobile app that all your students can use (it’s a generic Kajabi app, not your own branded app, but it gives learners a convenient way to access content on the go with push notification reminders). The downside? Kajabi is one of the pricier options – great if you’re generating solid revenue and want premium features, but overkill if you’re still building your audience.
- Podia is an all-in-one platform that’s more accessible for creators earlier in their journey. Think of it as the friendly workhorse that covers all the basics well. With Podia, you can sell courses, digital downloads, webinars, and memberships without worrying about tech headaches. It includes a built-in community feature (so you can ditch that external Facebook or Circle group), messaging tools to chat directly with customers, and email marketing for newsletters or drip campaigns. Podia’s interface is simple and clean, making it easy to set up products or bundle them into membership tiers. Importantly, Podia doesn’t take a cut of your sales – on paid plans, all your revenue is yours (aside from standard payment processing fees). They even offer a free plan to test the waters (with an 8% transaction fee on sales) so you can start with zero upfront cost. One of Podia’s strengths is its minimal learning curve – many creators launch their membership or course site in a day on Podia, focusing more on content and less on configuration.
Now, the big question: all-in-one or modular? By Stage 3, the appeal of all-in-one is strong. You want your online course, community, email list, and landing pages working in harmony. It’s certainly convenient to have students log into one place for everything – their lessons, discussion boards, upcoming live events, even their billing info. It creates a seamless experience. Plus, you as the creator get one dashboard to track your whole business (no more Frankenstein of 5 different tools and trying to make them play nice together). The trade-off is flexibility. With an all-in-one like Kajabi or Podia, you are limited to the features they provide – if Kajabi’s community forum format isn’t exactly what you envisioned, you might have to adapt. In contrast, a modular approach (say, Teachable for courses, WordPress for your website, ConvertKit for email, Circle for community) lets you pick the best tool for each function, but it requires more maintenance and sometimes some tech finesse to integrate everything.
For many creators, graduating to an all-in-one platform at this stage is a relief. It’s like cleaning up a cluttered workspace – suddenly everything is organized under one roof. But it’s not mandatory; the key is to find a setup that lets you manage growth without burning out. Whether you choose Kajabi, Podia, or stick with a mix of tools, Stage 3 is about enriching your students’ experience beyond just a standalone course.
To make this concrete, imagine you started with a photography course. At Stage 3, you could launch a “Photography Academy” membership on Kajabi: members pay a monthly fee to access your beginner and advanced photography courses, join a private community of fellow photographers, and attend a live critique webinar you host each month. New members get a welcome email sequence (sent via Kajabi) guiding them through the available material. The built-in community fosters peer feedback – members share their photos for critique, and you or other students can comment, giving encouragement and tips. After a few months, suppose you notice engagement dipping; you might introduce a friendly competition (gamification alert!) where the “Photo of the Month” wins a feature on your website or a 1:1 coaching call. Engagement spikes again, and members stick around longer because they feel involved and recognized.
Quick Win: When launching a membership, start simple. You don’t need to offer 15 different perks on day one – in fact, overwhelming members with too much can backfire. Focus on one or two high-value benefits (for example, monthly live Q&A and an exclusive forum). As you get feedback, you can gradually add more features. Also, leverage your email list to invite your course graduates into the membership with a special offer – these are your warmest leads who already know your value. Converting even a small percentage of past students into members can give your community a strong kickoff and provide steady recurring revenue from day one.
Stage 4: White-Label & Enterprise Licensing (LearnWorlds & Self-Hosted LMS)
At this point, you’ve built a thriving online academy for individual learners. Stage 4 is about scaling beyond the individual, into the realm of enterprise deals and white-label solutions. Maybe a company wants to buy 200 seats in your course for employee training. Or perhaps you see an opportunity to license your content to other educators or institutions. This is where you ensure your platform can stretch to meet those needs – with your own branding front and center.
Scaling Up: Sell to Businesses and Organizations
When you start selling courses in bulk or B2B (business-to-business), the game changes a bit. Companies might ask: “Can we get our own login portal for our people?” or “Can the course show our company logo and colors?” In essence, they want your course, but branded for them – that’s where white-labeling comes in. A white-label online course platform lets you present your content as if it were built in-house by the client, which makes your offering more attractive to corporate buyers.
There are a couple of routes here. One is to use a platform that supports white-label out of the box, like LearnWorlds. LearnWorlds is a powerful online training platform known for its customizability. You can skin the entire learning environment with your brand (or your client’s brand), create custom certificates, and even build a mobile app with your logo on it through their Mobile App Builder. This means if you strike a deal with, say, a fitness franchise to provide online nutrition courses to all their trainers, you could give them a tailored app or portal that looks like their own training academy – while you handle the content behind the scenes. LearnWorlds also stands out for features like interactive videos (imagine pop-up questions in the middle of a training video) and gamification elements (points, badges, leaderboards) which corporations love for keeping employees engaged. And importantly, it provides robust analytics – your B2B clients will want reports on completion rates, quiz scores, and who has finished which module. Basically, they’ll expect a “dashboard” to track participation (so they can see if their staff actually used the training), and LearnWorlds delivers on that front.
The other route is going fully self-hosted. This means running your course on your own software stack, independent of a platform company. For example, you might use WordPress with a plugin like LearnDash or TutorLMS to create a custom LMS on your website. Or you could deploy an open-source solution like Moodle or Open edX on a private server. Self-hosting gives you ultimate control: you can tweak the user interface however you want, implement custom features, integrate with proprietary systems, and of course brand everything as you please. It’s the path some advanced edupreneurs and training companies take when they have the resources – basically, you become the platform. The trade-off is that you’re also in charge of everything: security, updates, server uptime, and technical support. It’s like owning a house vs renting – more freedom, more responsibility. Self-hosting can be cost-effective at scale (no per-student platform fees), but you’ll likely need a developer or IT team to set it up and keep it running smoothly. The last thing you want is a big client logging in on Monday morning and finding the site down or a glitch in the content.
Enterprise Considerations
When catering to enterprise clients, a few new factors come into play. Pricing, for one – instead of individual sales, you might negotiate a per-seat or annual license fee. For instance, you might charge a company $5,000 for up to 100 employees to access your course for a year. It’s a win-win: the company gets bulk training at a predictable cost, and you get a large chunk of revenue in one go (often much more than 100 individual consumers would pay). Platforms like LearnWorlds support bulk enrollment and even the creation of multiple user groups or branches, so you can segregate learners by company and give each cohort their own portal experience. If you go the self-hosted route, you can similarly set up subdomains for each client (e.g., clientA.youracademy.com, clientB.youracademy.com) to personalize the experience with their branding.
Another consideration is integration and compliance. Corporate clients might ask if your course can integrate with their internal LMS or HR systems. This is where having standard formats like SCORM or xAPI for your course content becomes valuable – these formats allow content to be imported into other LMS environments. LearnWorlds, for example, offers options to export content or use API integrations for such needs. If you built everything on your own LMS, you might develop a SCORM package or a custom API to deliver content into a client’s system. It’s a bit technical, but at this level, these details can make or break a deal.
Finally, mobile-first user experience is crucial when scaling to a broad audience. Not every corporate learner will be sitting at a desk; many might take your course on a phone or tablet during commutes or breaks. Ensuring your platform (or app) is mobile-friendly isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s expected. If you’ve been on an all-in-one platform from Stage 3, you might find those were more focused on consumer marketing features, whereas platforms like LearnWorlds or a custom solution give you the flexibility to optimize for large-scale learners (including offering a branded mobile app). At Stage 4, you’re effectively running a full-blown online training academy, so think about the features an academy needs: multi-layer user management, detailed reporting, custom branding for different audiences, and rock-solid reliability.
Pro Tip: Before jumping into a costly enterprise setup, validate the demand. If one big client shows interest in licensing your course, see if you can pilot with them using your existing tools (maybe with a few manual workarounds). This will teach you what features you truly need for B2B success. Once confirmed, invest in the platform or custom development that meets those needs. And if you do go self-hosted, don’t skimp on hiring a pro to fortify security – enterprise clients will want to know their data (and your content) is safe and sound.
Stage 5: Upsell Funnels, Affiliates & Course Economics
You’ve built the machine – now it’s time to fine-tune it to run faster and farther. Stage 5 is all about optimization and maximizing the return on all your hard work. With a stable of courses or a membership in place, the focus shifts to marketing funnels, strategic partnerships, and data-driven decisions that boost your revenue per student.
Building Your Upsell Funnel
In the world of online courses, the initial sale is just the beginning. An upsell funnel is a sequence of offers that guide a customer to higher-value purchases. For example, imagine a student just bought your $199 flagship course. Right on the thank-you page (or immediately after checkout), you might present a one-time offer: “Add a 30-minute one-on-one coaching session for $99” – a classic upsell. A percentage of buyers will say “Yes,” instantly increasing the value of that sale. Later, as they progress through the course, you could pitch a related advanced course or invite them to join your membership program. By strategically timing these offers when a student is most engaged, you can significantly boost your average revenue per student.
All-in-one platforms like Kajabi and Podia have built-in tools for upsells and order bumps (small add-on offers at checkout). But even if your platform doesn’t, you can create a funnel with a bit of creativity: use email marketing to introduce additional products over time. For instance, set an automated email to go out a week after someone finishes Course A, highlighting the benefits of Course B – perhaps with a limited-time discount as a “thank you” for being a loyal student. The idea is to map out a journey for your customers from entry to elite: maybe they start with a free webinar or a cheap mini-course, then move up to your core course, then to a higher-ticket mastermind or certification. Each step should naturally solve the next problem your learner faces. If Stage 3 was about giving more value, Stage 5 is about capturing more value by meeting your customer’s evolving needs.
The Power of Affiliate Marketing
One of the most powerful growth levers for online courses is turning your happy students into evangelists – and rewarding them for it. Most major course platforms (Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, Podia, etc.) have an affiliate program feature. This allows you to generate special referral links for people who want to promote your course; when someone buys through their link, the referrer gets a commission (say 20% of the sale). Setting up an affiliate program essentially builds a decentralized sales team for your academy. It’s especially effective if you have a niche audience – your existing students or peers in your field likely know others who would benefit from your course. By giving them a cut for each new student they bring in, you create a win-win incentive loop.
To make affiliates effective, provide them with promotional materials and support. Give your affiliates ready-made social media images, email templates, and clear talking points about the course. The easier you make it for them to share, the more they will. Some creators even run affiliate contests during big launches during big launches (“Top referrer of the month gets a free coaching session” or some prize) to spark friendly competition and excitement. Over time, a well-run affiliate program can account for a significant chunk of your sales – all essentially free marketing for you, since you only pay commissions on actual sales. Just be sure to track referrals accurately (your platform will help with this) and communicate with your affiliates regularly. Treat them like partners: keep them in the loop on new courses or updates, and maybe host a private forum or quarterly call to help them succeed in promoting your products.
Tracking Metrics & Optimizing Economics
As your online course business matures, numbers become your best friend. We’ve talked about engagement stats before, but now you’ll zero in on metrics like conversion rate (what percentage of visitors to your course page actually buy?), cost per acquisition (how much you spend on ads or marketing to get one paying student), and lifetime value (how much a student spends with you across all courses and offerings). Understanding these figures lets you make smart, data-driven decisions. For instance, if you know a student’s average lifetime value is $300, and an ad campaign brings in new students at $100 each, that’s a great return – you’d happily scale up that campaign. On the flip side, if only 1% of people who sign up for your webinar end up purchasing the course, you might tweak your webinar content or follow-up emails to improve that conversion rate.
Don’t neglect the student experience metrics either. Check your course analytics: are students actually finishing the content? High dropout rates in a particular module might indicate that lesson is too long or not engaging enough. Stage 5 often involves fine-tuning your content and delivery based on these insights – maybe you break a lengthy module into two shorter ones, add an interactive quiz in the middle of a dry section, or incorporate more real-world examples to keep people hooked. The beauty of digital courses is that they’re malleable; you can improve them continually. Some creators even add a “human touch” to evergreen courses (like a monthly live call or a cohort start date option) to boost accountability and completion – blending the best of cohort-based and self-paced models.
This is also the stage to consider bigger expansions. Perhaps you create a free online class or challenge as a lead magnet to draw fresh eyes into your ecosystem (leveraging the fact that people love free resources). Or maybe you explore partnerships – co-creating a workshop with another expert where you both promote it, thus tapping into each other’s audiences. You might even dip a toe into marketplaces strategically: for example, putting a slimmed-down version of your course on Udemy for exposure, while keeping the full premium version on your own platform. (Marketplaces won’t make you rich due to revenue shares and heavy discounts, but they can act as marketing channels if used wisely.)
By Stage 5, you’re running your online course business with the mindset of a seasoned entrepreneur. Data, experimentation, and continuous improvement are key. Celebrate the fact that you’re far from the newbie who was once Googling “how to create an online course.” You’ve built an evergreen academy of your own, and now it’s about optimizing and scaling that engine to reach more people and change more lives – all while earning you a healthy income.
Quick Win: Implement a small A/B test this month. It could be as simple as changing the headline on your course landing page or tweaking the call-to-action button text. Or try an offer experiment – for one week, bundle your course with a bonus and see if sales increase. By testing and iterating, you’ll uncover what truly resonates with your audience. Tiny tweaks can lead to big wins when you have enough traffic and data. Keep a “growth journal” of these experiments to track what you tried and what happened – over time, you’ll compile a playbook of tactics that work best for your audience and business.
Conclusion
Building a profitable online-course business isn’t about finding a single “best” platform or launching a perfect course on day one. It’s a staged process:
- Validate live. Run a tight, feedback-driven beta to prove demand and tune your content.
- Productize evergreen. Package the winning material into a self-paced course that sells 24/7.
- Deepen value. Layer on memberships and community to raise retention and recurring revenue.
- Scale smart. License or white-label your program for corporate buyers—or self-host when you need total control.
- Optimize relentlessly. Use funnels, affiliates, and data to lift average revenue per student while refining content for completion and satisfaction.
Treat every stage as a checkpoint, not a finish line. Validate, ship, measure, improve, repeat. Do that, and the question won’t be “Which platform should I choose?”—it’ll be “How far can this academy grow?”
FAQs
Most top platforms have moved away from fully free plans, but you do have some low-risk ways to start. Thinkific used to have a free plan (it no longer does for new users), and Podia had one too (discontinued in favor of free trials). Currently, your best bet is to use a free trial – for example, Podia and LearnWorlds offer 30-day trials, and Kajabi, Teachable, Circle, etc., offer 14-day trials. These allow you to build and even launch a course without upfront cost. Additionally, there are marketplaces like Udemy where it’s free to publish (they take a revenue share instead), but those come with other trade-offs like less control over pricing and student data. In short, while “free forever” platforms are almost nonexistent in 2025, you can still start free via trials and then choose an affordable plan once you’re ready to sell.
Online course platforms usually operate on a subscription model, with entry plans ranging from around $30 to $50 per month, and higher tiers going up to a few hundred dollars for advanced features. For instance, Teachable’s new Starter plan is about $39/month, Podia’s Mover plan is $39/month, and Thinkific’s Basic is $49/month. Those entry plans generally come with some limitations (like transaction fees or caps on courses or students). As you scale up, you might pay $99 to $199/month for middle-tier plans (which often remove transaction fees and add features like live sessions, more admin accounts, etc.). Premium plans (over $300/month) are usually for established businesses needing white-label apps, advanced integrations, or tens of thousands of students. When budgeting, also factor in transaction fees: some lower-tier plans (e.g., Teachable Starter with 7.5% fee, Podia Mover with 5% fee) will charge a percentage of sales, which matters if you’re selling high volume.
If it’s your first time creating a course, Teachable is often recommended for beginners due to its intuitive interface and guided setup process. You’ll find it straightforward to upload videos, create modules, and set a price. Podia is another beginner-friendly option, known for excellent customer support and simplicity (plus it bundles in email and a basic website, which is handy if you’re starting from scratch). Thinkific is also relatively easy for first-timers and has a lot of guidance available. The main point is to pick a platform that doesn’t overwhelm you with features you won’t use initially. Starting simple is key – you can always upgrade to a more complex platform later if you outgrow the basics.
Yes, generally — but it depends on the provider. Most reputable AI meeting tools encrypt your data and follow strict security practices, and some (like Fellow) even promise not to use your content to train their AI models. That said, inviting any third-party bot means you are sharing the conversation with an external service. If a call is highly confidential, you might prefer a solution that works offline or simply be extra careful about what’s said with the AI present. Always read the privacy policy to understand how your data is handled.
The “best” platform to sell online courses depends on your specific needs as a creator. If you want an all-in-one solution with marketing built in, Kajabi is often cited as a top choice due to its comprehensive features. For pure ease-of-use, many beginners go with Teachable or Podia. Ultimately, the best platform is one that fits your content style, technical comfort level, and budget. It’s wise to trial a couple of the leading platforms to see which interface and features you prefer before committing.
No, you typically do not need an existing website – most course platforms let you create a mini-site or landing pages for your course that can function as your website. For example, Kajabi, Teachable, Thinkific, and Podia all provide you with a customizable site for your courses, complete with your branding and a unique URL (and you can often connect a custom domain to make it look like your own website). These sites can host your course content, sales pages, and even blog posts or extra pages about you. However, if you already have a website, many platforms allow integration or embedding. Circle, for instance, can be embedded into an existing site, and Thinkific can link seamlessly with a WordPress site via plugins. So, while you don’t need a separate website, you can choose to combine your course platform with one if that fits your strategy.
Yes. Modern course platforms are designed for non-technical users. Services like Teachable, Podia, and Thinkific offer drag-and-drop builders and templates so you can create course pages, upload videos, and set up sales pages without writing code. They handle the tech infrastructure (like hosting and security) for you. While you may need to learn how to navigate the platform itself, you won’t need programming skills. If you can edit a Word document or upload a YouTube video, you can create a course on these platforms. For those truly tech-averse, choosing a platform known for simplicity (Podia or Teachable) and utilizing their support resources will make the process very approachable.
Look for features that align with the experience you want to deliver and the workload you can handle. Core features to consider: content delivery (video hosting, PDFs, etc.), ease of course organization (modules, chapters), and student engagement tools (quizzes, assignments, discussion areas). Marketing features are also key: built-in email announcements, landing page builder, the ability to offer coupons or run promotions, and perhaps an affiliate program if you plan to have partners promote your course. Payment options matter too – ensure the platform supports your currency, payment methods (credit card, PayPal, etc.), and handles taxes or EU VAT if you sell internationally. If you value community, see if there’s a student forum or community feature. For scaling, consider things like the ability to have multiple instructors or assistants, and integrations with other software (for email marketing, CRM, etc.). Finally, check the quality of analytics – good platforms will show you sales, student progress, and engagement stats so you can improve your course over time.
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