18 Best Online Course Platforms for Creators in 2024

Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family’’ – Kofi Annan

And attaining great knowledge and training is easier than ever.

How’s that?

There are numerous top online course platforms and sites that allow people to take a course from anywhere, anytime.

At the same time, these top online course platforms allow anyone to create courses and teach them. E-learning and online training are replacing traditional learning methods, such as classrooms and workshops.

Did you know that, according to Research and Markets, the digital course industry is projected to grow to $325 billion by 2025? Surprised?

However, with a vast amount of great online course platforms available out there, it can be hard to decide on the best option for you.

So what are the top sites for e-learning courses?

List of 18 Best Online Course Platforms to Sell Your Online Courses

Today, we bring you the top 18 online course platforms for e-learning to choose which one is best for you to sell your courses on.

Also, we explain why they made it to our list of the best online course platforms.

1. Thinkific

Image via Thinkific

Thinkific is a platform that has over 40,000 course-creators who have earned more than $200 million by selling their courses here. So far, over 16 million students from over 164 countries have enrolled in online courses on this platform.

The platform is not just for uploading pre-designed courses, but can also be used to create the entire curriculum, thanks to their drag-and-drop builder. You can use it to design quizzes, upload videos, and structure your course content to make it engaging and easy-to-understand.

Features

• Drag-and-drop course builder
• Supports all forms of multimedia content
• Allows you to design your own site to sell courses
• Comes pre-packed with website themes and designs that you can use
• Has a comprehensive set of business tools to market and sell online courses
• Accepts payment in 100+ currencies
• Secure platform

Pros

• Allows users to design courses, not just sell them
• Worldwide reach
• User-friendly interface
• Allows users to create and sell unlimited courses
• Free trial available

Cons

• Might take new users time to learn how to create their first course

Price

• Basic plan – $49 per month
• Pro + Growth – $99 per month
• Premier – $499 per month

Pro Tip: If you are a beginner and want to design and launch a course from scratch, this is the platform for you.

2. Teachable

Image via Teachable

This is a platform that allows anyone to create and sell a course, not just those who have strong credentials.

How does this affect you?

Well, you can use the platform even if you don’t have fancy college degrees or experience. If you are good at something, you can teach it to others. It’s as simple as that.

It has over 83k instructors and more than 23 million students on its platform. There are over 257k active courses on the platform, as of April 2020.

But, that’s not all.

Teachable has a lot more to offer. So, let’s have a look at its key features.

Features

• Supports different types of multimedia content
• Allows users to import content directly from Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.
• Drag-and-drop course website builder
• Powerful course and page editor
• Option to get a free domain or connect your domain
• Supports multiple languages
• Integrates with other tools like Olark and Zendesk
• Built-in marketing tools
• Supports multiple payment methods

Pros

• Cheaper than some of the other similar platforms
• Can be used by anyone who has something to teach
• No limits on students or courses for any plan
• Allows a free trial

Cons

• Charges 5% transaction fee for the basic course

Price

• Basic – $29 per month
• Professional – $99 per month
• Business – $249 per month

Pro Tip: Make use of integrations with other tools to get the most out of it.

3. TalentLMS

Image via TalentLMS

This one is actually different from the other platforms listed here as it is not a marketplace but a software solution meant for corporate purposes.

What does that mean?

It means that it is not a platform that individuals use to create and sell courses. Instead, it is a platform that a company can use to provide online courses for its employees, customers, and other stakeholders.

Want to know more?

Let’s have a look at its key features.

Features

• Easy-to-use interface to design courses and assessments
• Has a surveys engine to collect and analyze survey responses
• Allows you to design a learning path, opening certain courses only after completion of basic ones
• Adds gamification elements to make learning more interactive
• Provides certifications for completing courses
• Supports video-conferencing
• Also allows you to sell your courses using PayPal or Stripe
• Integrates with over 200 platforms and tools

Pros

• A great tool to train your employees in an engaging manner
• Easy to create and launch courses
• Allows you to use your own domain and logo
• Offers a free plan with basic features

Cons

• Not suitable for individual instructors who want to sell courses in an ecommerce-type platform

Price

• Starter – $59 per month
• Basic – $129 per month
• Plus – $249 per month
• Premium – $429 per month

Pro Tip: If you are an enterprise, then this is a better way to train employees rather than using third-party online course platforms.

4. Udacity

Image via Udacity

Udacity is a top global technology training provider as well as an online course platform. It has some of the best courses to upskill professionals in the technology sector.

What makes it different?

It takes a more practical approach to teaching by incorporating real-life projects in its courses. And, the courses provided on this platform aim to teach skills that IT professionals can immediately apply in their jobs.

And, unlike many other platforms on this list, Udacity thoroughly vets instructors before they are allowed to teach.

Features

• Enables project-based learning
• Assigns mentors to help students learn and complete the courses
• Encourages self-paced learning
• Provides nano degrees
• Course curriculums are designed in partnership with industry experts

Pros

• Most suitable for corporations to train their employees
• These courses actually add value to a professional’s resume

Cons

• Focuses mainly on technical courses

Price

• Available on request

Pro Tip: Get a consultation from their team to see the best way to use the platform and to get a customized price

5. Udemy

Udemy, when initially launched, used a pretty serious digital marketing campaign. We have all seen their great ads on social media at some point.

As a creator, you can earn money every time you sell your course(s) to a student, and you get paid monthly via two top platforms, PayPal or Payoneer. By becoming a creator with Udemy, you get to help people learn new skills to either advance their careers or enrich their hobbies.

Ready to get started?

To start with Udemy, you just need to sign up, plan your course, record your course, and begin building your community.

How can Udemy help you?

They have a great instructor creation team available 24/7 to help you while you create your courses. There is a great Teacher Center available that’s full of resources to help you through the process.

If you want support from other instructors, you can get peer-to-peer support from their community.

Image via Udemy

For more information on the pay scale for creators, or how to sell your courses, visit their website.

6. edX

Another great e-learning platform is edX, focusing primarily on computer science, language, data science, business management, engineering, and humanities.

This e-learning provider carries thousands of great training courses and programs.

How can you start with edX?

Creating an e-learning course on edX is easy, and the site provides a step-by-step guide. Initially, you sign in to the Studio, select “New Course,” and enter all the relevant information for the course.

edX offers various Licensing Options. And once you set your start and end course dates, prospective and current learners can see the course on the “About” page or their existing dashboards.

Image via Edx

To register with edX as a creator and sell your courses, visit their site.

7. Lynda

Lynda is a popular online course platform and it allows its members to explore topics at their own pace.

It is among the e-learning platforms that focus on software development, design, business, web development, and photography. Lynda tutorials are available in English, Spanish, French, and German.

This platform is a great fit for creators who are looking to sell courses in creative writing, design, photography, customer service, Microsoft Office, and other creative and softer skills.

Are you one of these?

Image via Lynda

To become a creator on Lynda and sell your courses, visit their site.

8. Creativelive

This e-learning platform is reporting over 38,000 registered students, with an overwhelming majority of positive online reviews.

Creativelive is branding itself as a place where creatives, entrepreneurs, and even writers can join to sell courses and make money.

Creativelive is focusing on teaching less academic-oriented material, and training people on “soft skills” like blogging, designing, writing, photography, etc.

They offer great on-demand courses or live courses you can join in real-time.

Where do you start?

To join Creativelive as a creator, you need to make a proposal that includes what you want to teach. You’ll also need to include links to any previously published material, your social media sites, and if available, any existing videos in which you're teaching.

Once you submit your proposal, you wait for the Production Team to respond.

Image via Creativelive

If you are the creative kind, this might be a great match for you. Visit the site to learn more about their creator’s plans and how to sell your courses.

9. BitDegree

BitDegree is part of the innovation industry, powered by Ethereum Blockchain technology.

It is a great online course platform for e-learning, focusing on skills that help people get the training needed to secure a job or learn new skills to advance their existing careers. BitDegree offers great courses stemming from technology, such as machine learning, programming, web development, etc.

To become a creator you simply visit the website, click on “Become an Instructor.” You then choose which payment method(s) you prefer and add your information.

The process to create and submit a course is straight-forward.

Image via BitDegree

Sounds easy, right?

For more information on how to create and sell your courses, visit the BitDegree site.

Image via Bitdegree

10. Pathwright

Pathwright is a turnkey solution for anyone looking to create more than just a training course. This is an online course platform allowing you to create your online school. Pathwright enables creators to put together and post videos, audio recordings, articles, and any other downloadable files.

Although it is commonly used by companies and schools, it’s also a great choice for creators who wish to launch Branded Content or a Series of Courses. You’ll be able to create courses that resemble a school structure, versus just a one-time course situation.

Since the platform takes the form of an online school, users register on a subscription model.

What steps do you need to follow to get started with Pathwright?

It involves three steps:

1. Design courses quickly.
2. Create the perfect online environment.
3. Combine the courses and the environment to enable a unique teaching experience.

Image via Pathwright

For more information, visit Pathwright.

11. Teacherly

Their opening on their website instantly brings focus on the fact that a creator can start with zero fees. Teacherly offer a 2-week free trial for creators to test the platform. Creators can then choose a monthly or yearly plan.

Both options have the following benefits:

Image via Teacherly

On the platform, you can instantly see that they are emphasizing the “zero fees” feature, which means, even if your courses are selling millions of times, you do not pay anything extra.

“Unlimited Everything” is another extremely attractive top feature of Teacherly.

What does this feature include?

“Unlimited Everything” means exactly what it sounds like. You can create unlimited landing and payment pages, enroll as many students as you like, and create as many training courses as you like, all for the same price.

Image via Teacherly

Visit Teacherly to find out how to create and sell your e-learning courses on their platform.

12. Easygenerator

Easygenerator is a cloud-based e-learning platform and software solution, enabling creators to design, and teach e-learning courses. The digital platform is known for its intuitive technology.

This is the perfect online course platform for best suited for startups, corporations, government, and educational institutes.

Some of their top popular features are the tools to customize courses and quizzes, and the ability to apply your own branding, support, and security to the courses.

Image via Easygenerator

Ready to get started?

Visit Easygenerator to learn more about how to create and sell your e-learning courses.

13. BrainCert

BrainCert markets its great platform to anyone wanting to teach anything from yoga to programming.

This simply means that regardless of what type of creator you are, BrainCert may be a great choice.

The platform is comprised of four different parts:

1. Virtual classroom
2. Online course platform
3. Online testing platform
4. Unified content management

The virtual space for the classrooms enables video, voice, whiteboards, chat, screen sharing, and session recording.

Image via Braincert

Visit BrainCert and learn more about how to create and sell your training courses today.

14. Academy of Mine

Academy of Mine is an all-in-one solution to create and sell online courses. It is also marketed as a solution for those who want to create more than just a few courses, and prefer to full-on create their own academy.

What are the top features it offers to its creators?

The top features include:

1. Drag and drop builder
2. Flexible website builder
3. Quiz and assessment
4. Powerful LMS
5. Email strategy and marketing tools
6. Course analytics
7. Custom domain
8. Multiple languages

For the full list their great features, visit the website.

Image via Academy Of Mine

Image via Academy Of Mine

15. Coursify.me

This digital e-learning platform is a great choice for creators who want to build their online training schools.

Some of their top features include the functionality for users to create their catalogs, claim their domain, and brand the design of the layout. It can also integrate with existing content in other software (such as Dropbox), or online platforms (such as YouTube).

For payments, they use PayPal.

Some of their top features include:

Image via Coursify

The digital e-learning platform is known for its easy-to-use builder, allowing creators to put together their online school in very few easy steps. The company is part of the innovation culture, focused on making the experience, for both user and creator, as easy as possible.

Coursify.me is known for the ability to customize courses with your logo, colors of choice, and images.

Image via Coursify

16. Click4Course

This e-learning platform breaks down its best features for creators into six categories.

What are those six categories? Let’s take a look:

1. Creation of courses, which includes various benefits such as the option to create unlimited courses, unlimited course content, pre-requisite course learner, and strong video and PowerPoint support.
2. Management of learners enables creators to add learners individually or in bulk, export files, and manually assign courses when needed.
3. The testing and surveys feature provides a fair system of a passing score, certification, multiple question testing structure, and specific start and completion dates.
4. Branding feature that allows creators to brand their courses, issue discount codes when needed, unlimited administrative support, and unlimited administrators.
5. Report features allowing for a quick view for exporting and seeing recent activity.
6. Notification features, which give automated notifications for both users and administrators. The platform has customizable messages so you can maintain your brand voice in individual or group messaging

Image via Click4Course

Need more details?

For more information on how to sell your courses on Click4Course, visit their website.

17. Online Course How

This platform is a great place to visit and access a lot of top ebooks on how to improve various areas of your new online career as a creator.

It’s not exactly an online course platform like the ones we have discussed before.

Rather, they are a supporting platform providing you with valuable material on:

• How to create sales funnels and sell faster
• How to launch a great online course
• How to use YouTube and other social media to sell online courses
• How to price your e-learning courses
• How to validate course ideas and make sure there is a market for them
• How to use SEO to sell your courses

The platform is filled with a lot of great training material for creators. And regardless of which online course platform you choose to create courses, Online Course How will help you optimize the process.

Image via OnlineCourseHow

18. Knorish

This is best suited for creators who are hobbyists, professionals, and niche experts. The e-learning platform allows creators to build courses on any subject they want.

The platform states that their mission is to help people change the way they earn by allowing creators to use a range of great tools to monetize their unique knowledge.

Knorish offers three packages, starting with the free package.

What features does its free package offer?

Let’s check them out. Knorish’s free package includes:

1. 15% transaction fee
2. Monthly payouts
3. Unlimited courses
4. Manual student import
5. YouTube/Vimeo hosting
6. Advance page builder
7. Coupons
8. Customization features (for your website)
9. Discussion forums and email support

For the Professional and Expert packages, visit their site and see if the additional features justify the pricing.

Image via Knorish

FAQs

Q1. What are the best online learning platforms?

A. Here’s our list of the top ten online learning platforms:

• Thinkific
• Teachable
• TalentLMS
• Udacity
• Udemy
• edX
• Lynda
• Creativelive
• BitDegree
• Pathwright

All of these are great options for you to try.

Q2. How can I create an online course for free?

A. There are many online learning platforms that allow you to create a course for free. All you have to do is pick a topic, create a course outline, and then create course content. Then you can upload your course to any one of the free platforms and make it available to the public.

Q3. What are some online learning platforms?

A. Thinkific, Teachable, Udemy, Udacity, etc. are some of the most popular online learning platforms.

Q4. Which are the best free online courses?

A. There are tons of free online courses available on various platforms. What’s best for you depends on what you want to learn and might differ from person to person. The best way to determine which course you should take is to read the course details.

Q5. How can I choose the best online course platform?

A. There are many factors that you should consider before choosing an online course platform. Here are some aspects that you can compare to make your choice:

• Ease of course creation and sharing
• Free resources like ready-to-use course templates
• Online popularity among learners
• Size of the platform, number of available courses, etc.
• Cloud-based architecture

Q6. Why should I use an online course platform instead of YouTube?

A. YouTube is a social media platform where anyone can upload anything, but you can not be sure if you can trust everything there. There’s no way to ensure how credible a person is and how much you can actually trust the content on YouTube.

Online courses, on the other hand, are more trustworthy as online learning platforms check a trainer’s credentials before allowing them on the platform.

Q7. What certificates can I get online for free?

A. There are so many online course certifications in every niche that the list is endless. Search for the list of certification courses in your niche and then compare them to choose the best option for yourself.

Q8. Are online certificates worth it?

A. Yes, many online certifications are just as credible as offline ones. But, that does not mean that all online course certifications are equally legit. So, do your research first before you take any online course. Better yet, only enroll for courses on trustworthy platforms to ensure that the courses you take are credible.

Are You Ready to Get Started?

Earning a serious income online by sharing your knowledge has never been easier. Pick from the extensive list of top online course platforms we’ve provided and get started!

Are you ready? Do you know of any other online course platforms you think should be added to this list? Let us know in the comments below.