Creating and selling online courses has become one of the most effective ways for entrepreneurs, educators, and influencers to share their knowledge, build a following, and generate passive income. Whether you’re looking to teach a skill, share expertise, or monetize your passion, choosing the right platform is critical.

The right course platform can help you design engaging courses, manage enrollments, handle payments, and market your courses effectively. In this post, we’ll review the best platforms to create and sell online courses in 2024, focusing on Teachable, Thinkific, and Kajabi. These platforms offer everything you need to build, launch, and scale your online course business.

Why You Need a Platform to Create and Sell Online Courses

Before diving into the best platforms, it’s essential to understand the benefits of using a dedicated online course platform:

1. Streamlined Course Creation: Course platforms offer intuitive tools like drag-and-drop builders, multimedia support, and templates that make creating courses easy, even for beginners.
2. Efficient Marketing Tools: Many platforms come with built-in marketing features like email marketing, landing pages, and sales funnels to help you attract more students.
3. Automated Enrollment and Payment Processing: These platforms manage course enrollments, payments, and student tracking, allowing you to focus on content creation.
4. Scalability: As your business grows, you can easily add more courses, automate processes, and increase enrollments without needing extra technical skills.

Now, let’s explore the top three platforms for creating and selling online courses.

1. Teachable – Best for Beginners and Intermediate Course Creators

Teachable is one of the most popular online course platforms, known for its user-friendly interface and robust features. It offers an all-in-one solution for creating, marketing, and selling courses, making it a top choice for beginners and experienced course creators alike.

Key Features of Teachable

• Course Builder: The drag-and-drop course builder allows you to create courses easily. You can add videos, quizzes, PDF files, and other multimedia to make your courses engaging.
• Customization: Teachable offers several customization options, including templates, branding tools, and theme editing. You can create a website that aligns with your brand without coding skills.
• Integrated Payment Processing: Teachable supports global payment processing, accepting credit cards, PayPal, and even subscriptions. It handles all financial transactions, making payments seamless.
• Sales and Marketing Tools: Teachable provides built-in email marketing, landing pages, and upsell features, helping you market your courses effectively.
• Analytics and Reporting: It offers detailed analytics to help you understand student engagement, sales trends, and course completion rates, allowing you to optimize your content.

Pricing of Teachable

• Free Plan: Allows you to create basic courses with limited features and charges a transaction fee.
• Basic Plan: $39/month, with features like custom domains, integrated email marketing, and no transaction fees.
• Pro Plan: $119/month, offering advanced features like priority support, graded quizzes, and completion certificates.
• Business Plan: $299/month, designed for scaling, offering bulk student enrollment, advanced reporting, and more.

Pros and Cons of Teachable

• Pros:
  • Easy-to-use interface, suitable for beginners.
  • Offers various marketing tools to promote courses.
  • Supports multimedia content, including video, audio, and PDF files.
  • Integrated payment processing with multiple payment gateways.
• Cons:
  • Limited customization compared to more advanced platforms.
  • The free plan has transaction fees, which can cut into profits.
  • Some marketing features require the Pro Plan or higher.

Best For

Teachable is ideal for beginners and intermediate course creators who want an easy-to-use platform with built-in marketing tools. It’s perfect for those who are just starting out and need an affordable solution to create and sell their first online courses.

2. Thinkific – Best for Advanced Customization and Marketing

Thinkific is another leading online course platform, known for its flexibility and scalability. It offers extensive customization options, allowing creators to build unique learning experiences. Thinkific is especially well-suited for those who want to create more complex courses, membership sites, or large course catalogs.

Key Features of Thinkific

• Advanced Course Builder: Thinkific’s course builder is highly flexible, allowing creators to design courses with videos, text, quizzes, surveys, assignments, and more.
• Website Builder: Thinkific offers a powerful website builder with customizable themes, enabling you to create a full website with your course offerings. You can add sales pages, membership pages, and custom landing pages.
• Drip Content: Thinkific allows you to schedule content releases, making it easy to create a structured learning path for students. This feature is great for keeping students engaged and improving course completion rates.
• Sales and Marketing Tools: Thinkific integrates with email marketing services like Mailchimp, ConvertKit, and Constant Contact, helping you automate your marketing efforts. It also includes upsell and cross-sell features.
• Affiliate Management: Thinkific includes built-in affiliate marketing tools, allowing you to set up an affiliate program to promote your courses.

Pricing of Thinkific

• Free Plan: Offers basic course creation tools but has limited features.
• Basic Plan: $49/month, including unlimited courses, live chat support, and custom domain support.
• Pro Plan: $99/month, offering additional features like priority support, completion certificates, and advanced customization options.
• Premier Plan: $499/month, designed for businesses that want to scale with advanced integrations, bulk enrollment, and more admin roles.

Pros and Cons of Thinkific

• Pros:
  • Highly customizable, allowing for unique course designs.
  • Drip content and memberships help improve student engagement.
  • Integrated affiliate management to increase course sales.
  • Strong integration capabilities with marketing tools and services.
• Cons:
  • Advanced features require higher-tier plans, which can be expensive.
  • The learning curve is steeper than Teachable, especially for beginners.
  • Limited in-app email marketing features compared to Kajabi.

Best For

Thinkific is best suited for experienced course creators or businesses looking for more flexibility and customization. It’s perfect for those planning to create complex courses, offer memberships, or manage multiple courses simultaneously.

3. Kajabi – Best for All-in-One Course Creation, Marketing, and Sales

Kajabi is a premium all-in-one platform designed for entrepreneurs who want to build, market, and sell online courses, membership sites, and digital products. It combines course creation tools with advanced marketing and sales automation, making it one of the most comprehensive platforms on the market.

Key Features of Kajabi

• All-in-One Solution: Kajabi includes course creation tools, website hosting, email marketing, sales funnels, landing pages, and payment processing, making it a true all-in-one platform.
• Advanced Course Builder: The drag-and-drop builder allows you to create courses, coaching programs, podcasts, and other digital products. You can add video, quizzes, assessments, and downloadable resources.
• Automated Marketing: Kajabi offers a powerful marketing suite, including email marketing automation, sales funnels, and customizable landing pages to drive course sales.
• Membership Sites: In addition to courses, you can build and manage membership sites, allowing for recurring revenue from your community.
• Analytics and Insights: Kajabi provides in-depth analytics, showing metrics like student progress, sales performance, and marketing campaign results.

Pricing of Kajabi

• Basic Plan: $149/month, offering access to core features like course creation, email marketing, and landing pages.
• Growth Plan: $199/month, adding features like affiliate management, advanced automation, and 24/7 support.
• Pro Plan: $399/month, providing complete access to all features, including unlimited admin users, advanced customization, and more.

Pros and Cons of Kajabi

• Pros:
  • True all-in-one platform with robust marketing tools.
  • Highly customizable landing pages and sales funnels.
  • Ideal for building membership sites with recurring revenue.
  • Advanced analytics for tracking performance and growth.
• Cons:
  • Higher pricing compared to Teachable and Thinkific.
  • May be overwhelming for beginners due to its comprehensive features.
  • Limited third-party integrations compared to other platforms.

Best For

Kajabi is best for entrepreneurs, influencers, and businesses who want an all-in-one platform for course creation, marketing, and sales. It’s particularly suitable for those who want to automate their marketing and sales efforts while focusing on scaling their course business.

Comparing Teachable, Thinkific, and Kajabi

Final Recommendations

Choosing the right platform depends on your needs, budget, and level of experience:

• Teachable is best for beginners who need a user-friendly interface and basic marketing tools to launch and sell their first online course.
• Thinkific is ideal for those who need more customization and flexibility, particularly for creating complex courses or memberships.
• Kajabi is the top choice for entrepreneurs looking for a comprehensive all-in-one platform that combines course creation, marketing, and automation.

Conclusion

Each of these platforms has its unique strengths, catering to different types of course creators. Whether you’re starting out or scaling a full-fledged online education business, Teachable, Thinkific, and Kajabi offer powerful solutions for creating and selling online courses. Evaluate your goals, budget, and the level of support you need to choose the best platform that aligns with your vision. By investing in the right platform, you can create engaging courses, attract more students, and generate sustainable income.