Comparison of the best products to create online courses
One of the questions I see asked all the time is about the best platforms and tools to create and sell online courses. And the answers vary wildly, with dozens of different solutions suggested. It made me super confused, and if I'm confused, I'm sure others are too.
I've therefore researched the products that most often get recommended and separated them into different categories, so you can better understand which solution might be the right one for you.
Course Creation vs Membership Sites
The subject of online course creation sites is often discussed alongside membership sites. These are two different things, but they massively overlap, so are best looked at together.
Products that are designed to help you create and sell your online course are focused on building a learning management system, where you can set up your course and split it into modules and lessons. The content is then fed to your students as they work their way through your course.
Products that are designed to help you create a membership site are focused on only allowing members to access a specific area of your website. This means that pages, posts, videos, assets, discussions and other content are protected and kept private from the general public.
Some of the products discussed below specialise in one of these or the other, and some cover both.
It's also worth noting that one of the simplest ways to set up an online course is to add the course content to your website and then protect it with a password or login so that only members can access it. Another good reason to combine these topics.
Platforms vs Tools
The other distinction I've made in the different types of products that are available is as follows:
- All-in-one platforms: these are the platforms that have been built to offer you everything in one place, but that aren't specifically focused on course creation or membership sites. They often include functionality such as blogs, landing pages, email marketing, automation, campaigns, forms, payments, appointment scheduling, affiliate tracking and more!
- Specialised platforms: these have been built specifically to focus on creating online courses or membership sites. They may offer some of the additional functionality of the all-in-one platforms, but perhaps not all of it. In most cases you create your website using their platform, but with some you can also embed aspects of their platforms into your existing site.
- WordPress themes: as you'd imagine, these are themes for WordPress that have been specifically designed with course creation in mind.
- WordPress plugins: again, as you'd expect, these are plugins for WordPress that have been specifically designed to give you additional course creation and/or membership site functionality. A small number of these also work as tools that can be embedded in Wix, SquareSpace, etc.
- Course hosting platforms: these are websites that host and sell multiple courses. You use these to build your course, and can send clients to them, but it's not your website.
So, with that explained, here's an overview of the different products that are most frequently recommended for online business owners. Download a copy here for future reference.
Now that we've got these organised into a structure, I'll go through each grouping and provide a bit more detail about the individual products. As always, my intention is not to tell you exactly which to use because I don't know your particular circumstances, but rather to provide you with information to help you make your own decision. Be warned, this is long, so please proceed with caution!!
All-in-one Platforms for Course Creation and Membership
In this first section are four of the biggest all-in-one platforms that promise to replace many of the other tools that you currently use, and that include functionality for both course creation and membership sites:
- Kajabi has an entry level plan that is $149/mo or $1,428/yr for 1 website, 1 user, 3 products, 3 pipelines, unlimited landing pages and marketing emails, 10K contacts and 1K active members. Their Growth plan is $199/mo or $1,908/yr for 1 website, 10 users, 15 products, 15 pipelines, unlimited landing pages and marketing emails, 25K contacts and 10K active members. They don't charge additional transaction fees for any payments taken. They offer a 14-day free trial.
- Kartra has a Starter plan that is $99/mo or $948/yr and includes 2 membership areas, 10 products, 100 website pages, 50GB streaming bandwidth and sending 15K emails/mo. Their Silver plan is $199/mo or $1,799/yr and includes 12,500 leads, unlimited membership areas, products and pages, 125GB bandwidth and 125K emails/mo. They offer a 14-day trial for $1 and have a 30-day money back guarantee.
- Simplero is aimed at online coaches and starts with a Build package for before you launch. This is $29/mo or $288/yr for up to 1,000 contacts, 10 GB storage, draft products and draft membership sites. You can then move to the Launch plan which is $99/mo or $996/yr for 100 GB storage, 5 products, 1 membership site, worksheets and quizzes, subscriptions and upsells. They offer a 14-day free trial.
- Podia offers unlimited 'everything' so you can build your own storefront. Its Mover plan is $39/mo or $390/yr and includes online courses, digital downloads, email marketing, messaging and zero transaction fees. To include memberships, blogs, embedded checkout and affiliate marketing, you need to upgrade to their Shaker plan which is $79/mo or $790/yr. They also offer a 14-day free trial.
Specialised Platforms for Course Creation
The following platforms have been specifically designed to allow you to build a site that can sell and deliver an online course.
- Teachable has a free plan to get you started that charges a 10% + $1 transaction fee on any sales. Their Basic plan is $39/mo or $348/yr for unlimited students, a 5% transaction fee, 2 admins, coupon codes, drip content, affiliate marketing, email marketing and third-party integrations. Their Professional plan is $99/mo or $948/yr and gives you all that is in Basic, but with no transaction fees, 5 admins, priority support, quizzes, theme customization, an unbranded website and course certificates.
- Thinkific also has a free plan that allows you to test out all its core features and includes 3 courses and unlimited students. From this you can move to its Basic plan which is $49/mo or $468/yr and includes unlimited courses, email, drip content, affiliates and a custom domain. Thinkific also provides memberships on its Pro plan which is $99/mo or $948/yr. This gives you the Basic plan plus private and hidden courses, memberships, bundles, certificates, advanced customization, priority support and assignments.
- EverLesson offers a Starter plan at $47/mo for 10 sites, 2,000 members, 15 templates and unlimited page views and modules, and an Advanced plan at $77/mo for 15 sites, 5,000 members and 25 templates. Both include payment gateway integrations and EverLesson automatically creates a signup page for each course you set up. They offer a 7-day free trial.
- LearnWorlds has a Starter plan that is $29/mo or $288/yr for 1 admin, a custom domain, unlimited courses, pages builder (3 pages), 4 payment gateways, basic integrations and 24/5 email support. Their Pro Trainer plan is $99/mo or $948/yr and also includes 5 admins, unlimited courses and pages, website builder, subscriptions, instalments, affiliates, onboarding and 24/7 priority email support. They offer a 30-day free trial.
Specialised Platforms for Membership Sites
Similar to the platforms above, the following have been specifically designed to allow you to create membership sites.
- Members Pro covers both membership and course creation. It starts with a Lite plan for $47/mo or $324/yr. This includes 1 branded mobile app (for Android and IOS), 500 students, unlimited memberships, modules, lessons, progress emails and push notifications, 1 custom domain, email & chat support and community access. Their Extra plan is $97/mo or $684/yr for Lite plus 2 mobile apps, 5,000 students and 2 custom domains. They offer a 90-day trial for $1.
- Rainmaker is aimed at health and fitness professional. They charge $197/mo or $2,197/yr for unlimited contacts allowing you to sell trials, events and merchandise to your members. It also includes billing and payments, email marketing, autoresponders and online appointment scheduling. They offer a 30-day trial for $1.
- MemberVault has a free plan that includes all features, unlimited types of products, no-fee payment integration and affiliate tracking but is capped at 100 people. Their Base plan is $39/mo, capped at 1,000 people, with Pro costing $69/mo and capped at 25,000 people. MemberVault can replace your website, landing page and shopping cart, or work alongside them. All you need in addition is an email marketing system.
- Wild Apricot is free for up to 50 contacts and provides you with a website builder and members database. Their paid plans start at $40/mo or $432/yr for 100 contacts and increase from there as your number of contacts (members / event attendees / newsletter subscribers) increase. All their paid plans include online payments, custom domains, scheduled emails, an online store and mobile apps. They offer a 30-day free trial which excludes a custom domain.
Themes and Plugins for WordPress Sites
I have grouped these together since they are mainly aimed at providing additional functionality for your WordPress website. That said, a few do also work on other website platforms.
- CourseCats is a WordPress theme that includes templates for building an online course. It costs $59/mo or $497/yr per site but has no additional transaction fees. Due to Covid-19, they currently have an extended 60-day free trial. In addition to the theme, you would need a membership plugin to protect your course content and a payment gateway.
- LifterLMS and LearnDash are both WordPress plugins that allow you to create and sell online courses. LifterLMS costs $99/yr for the basic LMS plugin for 1 site, plus $99/yr for each add-on (e.g. for ecommerce, design, marketing, forms), or $299/yr for 5 sites including the add-ons. LearnDash starts at $199 for 1 site, unlimited courses and users, course content protection, drip-feed lessons, advanced quizzing and free integrations.
- AccessAlly is a WordPress plugin that focuses on both course creation and membership sites. Its Essential plan is $99/mo or $984/yr for 1 license, unlimited courses and members, mobile-friendly order forms, unlimited files, member directories, affiliate tracking, bulk course licenses, unlimited support, video training and monthly training calls. Upgrade to Pro for $129/mo or $1,296/yr to include a learning management system, progress tracking, video bookmarks, quizzes, drag-and-drop completion certificates, private notes, ability to upload homework and built-in social sharing.
- On the membership site side of things, there are a number of frequently recommended plugins that can be used to protect your content. MemberMouse starts at $19.95/mo for 1,000 members, content protection, a member's area, drip content, 1-click buy and more. Memberium integrates with either Infusionsoft (starting at $47/mo or $470/yr) or ActiveCampaign (starting at $37/mo or $370/yr) and includes unlimited users and membership levels. MemberSpace enables you to turn any part of your website into members-only with just a few clicks. It starts at $25/mo plus a 4% transaction fee and also has versions that work with SquareSpace, Wix and other website platforms. MemberPress is $149/yr for 1 site including powerful access rules, content dripping, a community forum and an affiliate program. WishList Member is $197 for 1 site and also drips content and integrates with various payment and email marketing providers. And last but not least, Private Content is a free plugin that allows you to display a portion of a post content only to users of a specific role.
Finally, for completeness, I have also included Udemy in this list because it is so often mentioned when people are discussing course creation sites. Unlike everything else here, Udemy is a platform that will host and sell your online course for you. It is free to use but you are charged a share of revenue from any sales.
Phew! That feels like an awful lot of information, but hopefully it will help you to narrow down your search, and allow you to get clearer about what sort of product you are looking for, and at what price point.
Don't forget that you can use the search to get a full list of all the Course Creation and Membership Site products, that you can then filter based on your specific requirements.
And if you've tried any of these products, then we'd love to hear how you got on. Do leave a review of them so that others can learn from your experiences.