Best Course Creation Platforms for Your Online Course

Looking to become an online course creator but unsure which online course platform is the best?

In today’s post I’ll be reviewing my favourite course creation platforms that are not only easy to use and build out your courses on, but also provide your students with the best learning experience possible. 

Because we know that keeping your students active and engaged means they’ll get better results and want to share your online course with others. 

Top 5 Online Course Platforms

With so many course creation platforms out there, it can be hard to narrow down your options and pick one that works best for you. 

The below options are just a fraction of what’s available and I’ve not even included course marketplaces like Udemy which can be beneficial if you want to boost your course sales through a third party platform. 

But as a coach who’s created courses myself, coached many of my clients to create their own courses, and worked on course platforms for clients back when I was a Virtual Assistant, I’ve had heaps of experience with the different course creation platforms over the years and these are the ones I’d always recommend to my FCC students. 

#1 – The Best Online Course Platform: Teachable

Teachable is one one of the most popular learning platforms with over 100,000 course creators subscribed to the platform. 

When you register for Teachable, you’re able to serve unlimited students and all users get access to a drag and drop course builder where you can pre-record modules and even offer live coaching sessions, too. 

Their free option allows you to build out a single course, however I highly recommend signing up for one of their paid options, which start at $29 a month for the basic plan and give you access to unlimited course creation and email marketing tools – a must for any passive course creator. 

You’ll also receive access to bonus features like third party integrations which are a life-saver for automations and keeping everything as hands-off as possible. 

Plus, the higher the tier, the less you have to pay in transaction fees. If you purchase either their Pro or Business plans, there are no fees and you can post unlimited courses, so if you intend to enrol a lot of students on multiple different courses these options may serve you better long term.

I currently use Teachable for my signature course, Freedom Course Creator and the experience so far has been amazing for both myself and my students. 

#2 – ThriveCart

ThriveCart comes in at a very close second for so many reasons and is the perfect place to create and sell courses easily. 

In my opinion, one of the major benefits of ThriveCart is that you only have to pay a one-time fee to join (sign up here using my exclusive referral link for a bonus) and as soon as you’re signed up, you can post an unlimited number of courses. 

It comes with so many additional features that make it a no-brainer option for any course creator. After your first 6-12 months you’ll realise that it’ll have more than paid for itself in terms of features and functionality and it’s sometimes nice to not have to worry about another monthly outgoing. 

As part of the platform you get access to tripwires to upsell buyers at checkout, integration with basically all other platforms you’d ever need to connect to, link tracking and retargeting options help to continuously nurture your audience (remember, people usually need to see your offer between 7-21 times before buying) and so much more. 

I think if you’re in this for the long-haul, ThriveCart is a perfect choice. You can also use it for other things alongside course creation like selling digital products such as ebooks and building out your email marketing funnels. I use ThriveCart in my business daily and can’t recommend it enough for online business owners. 

#3 – Thinkific

Thinkific is a great all-in-one course creation platform which is beginner friendly and features everything you need to build your course and  create custom landing pages where students can enrol immediately. 

If you’re new to course creation and are looking for the best free course platform, Thinkific is a great option to get you started on your journey and one the big benefits of using Thinkific is that it doesn’t charge transaction fees ever, even on the free plan which saves you up to 10% when you compare it to the likes of the free Teachable plan. 

It does have its drawbacks though. The landing page functionality can be limited. If you’re used to building custom sales pages and want free-reign with your design you might find Thinkific frustrating to work with and there’s often a lot of negative space on their template designs which need to be overridden with custom code.

Nevertheless, if you’re looking for a standalone course platform that offers simple design options, support for multiple content types and one of the best free options currently on the market, Thinkific could be the course platform for you. 

#4 Kartra

Kartra is such a powerful tool for course creators out there because not only does it let you build out courses that are super easy to navigate for your students, but you can also create full websites/landing pages, sales funnels and  email marketing campaigns all from one place.

You can try Kartra for 14 days free by clicking here and then it’s $99 a month from there.

For all the functionality you get, it is totally worth the monthly investment. Nevertheless, if you’re a new course creator, this could create a larger barrier to entry and you may be better investing in a platform like ThriveCart or Teachable where you’re either paying a one off fee for lifetime access or have a free option to get you started. 

#5 – Podia

Last but not least is Podia. This is a lower cost option for course creators who are also looking to build a membership that can bring in passive or semi-passive recurring revenue into their business. 

However, compared to the other options I shared on here today, the course builder isn’t as flexible as the other options and when you compare the investment to a platform like ThriveCart, it may be worth it to pay a little extra for ThriveCart and get all the added extras alongside flexibility in design. 

The sales pages are pretty difficult to work with and many users find it simpler to build their own custom sales pages elsewhere and then link it up with Podia after. 

Nevertheless, the platform works well for some course creators. If you’re craving simplicity, no fuss, a platform that’s super easy to use from the get go and you like the idea of having community/membership features from your course platform, Podia is an excellent choice.  

Let me know if you’ve been eying up any of the course creation platforms I’ve shared today or comment below if there are course platforms I didn’t include on here that you just can’t live without!

Claudia x