Here’s the ultimate guide to the best online teaching platforms.
Online teaching makes it infinitely easier to earn money online as a course business and learn new skills.
And in this guide you’ll get the best platforms for online courses, teaching, and learning.
Want to learn more? Read on!
Want to jump ahead? Here are the best…
What is online teaching?
Online teaching is a way of sharing your knowledge in an online environment.
And guess what? Online education is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world.
In fact, the industry has grown by 900% globally since 2000. And according to Statista, the online education market in the US will probably reach $166bn this year.
Of course, the pandemic had a lot to do with that.
But so has the rise in private course creators.
Now, it’s not just college students and language tutors that teach online.
You can create a thriving business selling courses using your existing skills and talents.
But why is online teaching worthwhile? Let’s talk about it.
What are the benefits of online teaching?
Here’s the truth about becoming a course creator:
- Online teaching is scalable: You can create a course once and continue to sell it for years to come. My flagship course, Employee to Entrepreneur, is one of my best drivers of recurring revenue. While I did improve it for a few years, I never had to create something completely new from scratch.
- Online teaching is profitable: Online course businesses are some of the most profitable businesses out there. Your business doesn’t have a lot of costs because your products are digital.
- Courses create “passive” income: Look, passive income doesn’t really exist, in my opinion. You always have to put in some work to make money. But selling self-guided online courses is as passive as it gets; once you’ve created your course, you don’t need to create it again.
So that’s why you should start online teaching.
What are the benefits for your potential students? Spoiler: It’s transformational.
What are the benefits of online learning?
Online education has made learning new skills way more accessible than ever before.
- Online learning is cost-effective: Before, you had to go to college or become an apprentice to learn new skills. Now, you can access skilled people online for a fraction of the price of a degree. There are so many low-cost courses out there that make learning any skill much easier.
- Online courses help people upskill: It’s not just college courses you can access online. People use courses to build businesses, learn a new hobby, or improve skills they already have.
- Many people learn better online: Studies show that student retention is 60% higher and study time is 60% lower if they take online courses. Online learners can go at their own pace and use learning methods that work for them.
Online learning helps people across the world gain access to experts like you to learn new things.
That’s why becoming a course creator is such a rewarding business move.
It equals flexibility and financial freedom for you. And it offers transformation and confidence for your students.
These are all great reasons to get started. But watch this video before you get started designing your first online course:
So, where do you sell your courses? That’s what we’ll look at next.
What are online teaching platforms?
Online teaching platforms are websites or apps where you can host your course.
Some of them allow you to build and sell your course directly from the platform. For example, with the course platform Teachable you can create a course and manage subscription payments all in one place.
But we’ll talk more about that in just a bit.
For now, know that online teaching platforms are NOT the same as online learning platforms.
Online learning platforms – like Udemy and Skillshare – are marketplaces where people can buy courses.
These marketplaces set the price and terms. As a course creator, you get access to an audience but don’t really control your entire business.
On a teaching platform, on the other hand, you create a course, price it as you wish, and build an audience to sell your course to. In the next section, I’m going to review both online teaching and online learning platforms.
That way you can see the best place to make your course business thrive.
Read on to learn more.
The top online course platforms in 2024
Let’s start with course platforms, a form of teaching platforms. These platforms are perfect for creating, delivering, and selling your online course.
Teachable
If you want a course platform that makes selling online courses easy, I recommend Teachable.
Teachable has all the features you need to create professional online courses in no time.
It has a simple drag-and-drop editor so you can make any style of course.
You don’t have to code or compromise on the quality of your course. With the beautiful templates on offer, you can create dynamic courses with videos, photos, animations, quizzes and more.
What’s more, Teachable has advanced business management features that help you launch your online course like a pro. From reporting to sales funnel marketing, you have everything you need to sell and market your course straight from the platform.
In terms of pricing options, there’s a free version. That will give you the chance to try out the features and sell one course. To unlock more features, the premium versions start at $39 per month.
To learn how to build your course with Teachable, take a look at my Teachable tutorial here.
Who is it for?
Entrepreneurs who want to build a thriving online course business all on one platform.
Pros:
- Easy to use
- Tons of features you need for creating and selling your course
Cons:
- High transaction fees
- Site builder is basic
Thinkific
If you want to build a course but don’t need advanced e-commerce tools, Thinkific is a great alternative.
This online course platform has a clean interface and good course creation tools. You also have access to a landing page builder and some payment integrations.
That way you can build a website to sell your course directly from the platform.
Thinkific also has a white labeling option. That means you can use your own branding to customize the design of your courses to fit your business.
However, the emailing tools are somewhat limited; you can’t create an email marketing campaign straight for the platform like you can with Teachable.
The course builder is a little more advanced to use too. But Thinkific offers robust creative features to create an impactful product.
There is a free plan available that allows you to create one course. The premium plans start from $49 per month.
Who is it for?
Course creators who want advanced course building and tracking tools.
Pros:
- Ability to bulk sell courses
- Highly customizable site and course builder
Cons:
- No sales funnel builder
Kajabi
Kajabi is a powerful online course platform. But it’s much more than that.
Kajabi allows you to create and build digital products, websites, coaching programs, podcasts, memberships, and more. It’s an all-in-one platform for digital creators to grow their online empires.
Their secret sauce is their landing pages. Kajabi specializes in high-converting landing page templates that are easy to customize.
The drag-and-drop editor lets you personalize your website to maximize results for your business.
Kajabi also offers webinar pages to help you market courses or programs straight from the platform.
In terms of pricing,
the basic plan starts at $149 per month.
Who is it for?
Creators who want an all-in-one platform to host their website, podcast, course, coaching program, membership, and more.
Pros:
- Easy for beginners
- 0% revenue fees
Cons:
- High subscription fees
Podia
Podia is an online digital product platform with which you can create courses, websites, and membership communities in one place.
The community tools in particular are great. You can easily set up and manage a membership subscription for your customers, which makes Podia a great option for subscription models.
The in-built community area has a forum-like structure where you can start conversations and sell products directly to your audience.
Podia has one of the best free plans on this list. It has a huge resource library and templates to help you set up your online business.
The premium version of Podia starts at $33 per month.
Who is it for?
Course creators who want an active membership site.
Pros:
- Create online community tools
- No transaction fees
Cons:
- Limited customization features so Podia sites can look the same
WizIQ
WizIQ is an online learning platform built for teachers. It’s designed to give online learning materials a virtual classroom feel.
You can create live or self-paced courses on WizIQ. The tools are easy to use, and the templates are customizable.
But it’s not as personalized as some of the other options on this list.
WizIQ caters to all types of online education businesses. That said, live classes are the platform’s strong suit.
Pricing starts at $18 per virtual classroom per teacher per month. But the package you want depends on your needs; contact WizIQ for a custom quote.
Who is it for?
Online teachers who want to deliver live classes to students.
Pros:
- Very affordable
- Easy to create live training courses
Cons:
- Added cost for storage
LearnWorlds
LearnWorld is a cloud-based platform built with entrepreneurs in mind.
The intuitive course creation tools help you create online courses quickly.
This platform has a mobile app builder so you can offer courses on mobile. The no-code website builder is also highly customizable and easy to use.
You can use your own domain and branding for your website. Plus, you have control over the navigation tools and pages for a completely personalized customer experience.
That said, LearnWorlds doesn’t have an in-built sales funnel system. You’ll need to use the third-party app integrations to connect your product to your email marketing software.
The basic tier starts at $29 per month with an additional $5 commission per course sale.
Who is it for?
Entrepreneurs who want to sell private courses on their own branded websites.
Pros:
- Great sales funnel tools
- Ability to build SEO-optimized websites
Cons:
- More difficult interface to use than Teachable
- Limited e-commerce tools
LearnDash
If you’ve built your website on WordPress, you can host your course directly on your website.
LearnDash is a learning management system (LMS) WordPress plugin. It makes creating courses on your website simple.
The courses you can create on LearnDash are professional and impressive. The drag and drop editor helps you build them with no coding required.
Create quizzes, assessments, and certificates at the click of a button.
You can also customize everything from the course pages to the resource libraries.
LearnDash doesn’t have an in-built payment gateway. But it does integrate with popular payment processors like PayPal, Stripe, and WooCommerce.
However, a drawback, depending on your needs, is that you can’t offer live courses and the community features are limited.
But if you want a simple way to turn your website into an online course hub, LearnDash is a great option for beginners.
LearnDash costs $199 per year for one site.
Who is it for?
Online teachers who want to add a simple course to their WordPress website.
Pros:
- Simple interface to use
- Great customization options for courses
Cons:
- Doesn’t have an in-built payment processor
- Requires an extra plugin for membership tools
AccessAlly
When it comes to LMS WordPress plugins though, I prefer AccessAlly.
AccessAlly is a powerful online course and membership plugin for WordPress.
The reason I like this plugin is that it’s intuitive, user-friendly, and customizable. In fact, it integrates seamlessly with thousands of WordPress themes. But you can customize it further if you have some HTML and CSS knowledge.
AccessAlly is one of the most sophisticated online course creation plugins and it allows you to build quizzes, directories, and membership areas rich with content.
You can create live or self-paced courses. Or even gamify your course to encourage better retention rates. That includes automatic leaderboards, badges, and points.
AccessAlly has in-built e-commerce tools to manage subscriptions, trial offers, and affiliates in one place.
Pricing starts at $82 per month but the basic tier is pretty useless for course creators. The next tier that gives you the full suite of LMS tools is $108 per month.
That includes unlimited members, courses, and memberships for one site.
Who is it for?
Course creators who want to build a thriving subscription membership on their WordPress website.
Pros:
- Built-in payments tools
- Makes subscription plans easy
Cons:
- Might be overwhelming for beginners
- No email broadcast capabilities
The top online teaching platforms in 2024
So we’ve talked about course platforms that are best for entrepreneurs. But what is the best online teaching platform? If you’re an online teacher or tutor looking for a platform to connect you to students – this section is for you.
iTalki
iTalki is a language learning platform. This teaching platform hosts professional language teachers and community tutors from around the world to help language learners improve.
If that’s you, iTalki is one of the most popular language platforms because of its one-to-one approach.
Unlike many other online tutoring marketplaces, this platform lets you set your own hourly rate. Which can be a good thing and a bad thing.
On the one hand, you control your income by charging what you want. BUT in general, language tutors on the platform charge between $5 – $20 per hour. That makes it harder to make a good profit margin on your work.
If you have the skills to market your services well and create an attractive listing, you can earn a good side income from iTalki.
The application process is way simpler than other similar platforms.
Bear in mind that many languages are oversubscribed. So they have limited applications for certain languages.
But if you have the credentials or experience to teach one of the available languages, this platform is worth checking out.
Who is it for?
Professional language teachers and tutors who want to make some side income.
Pros:
- Simple application process
- Huge opportunity to find new students with over five million language learners
Cons:
- Bookings can be irregular, especially if you teach a popular language
- Many languages are oversubscribed so you may not be able to apply straight away
Cambly
Cambly is an online language learning platform for English learners. If you’re a native English speaker, you can make up to $1000 a month tutoring students of all ages.
Like iTalki, Cambly is a marketplace for tutors. The difference is you have a set fee that the platform pays you for your services. That works out to $10.90 per hour for adult lessons, and $12 per hour for kids’ lessons.
You have no minimum work hours. Set your own schedule to work around your other commitments.
Work can be irregular but if you spend time on your profile, you can gain more traction.
All lessons are one-on-one. You don’t need a professional qualification in teaching, but it helps!
Who is it for?
Native English speakers who want a side hustle tutoring language learners.
Pros:
- Complete flexibility on how much you work
- Easy dashboard to use
Cons:
- You can only make $10.90 per hour
The top online learning platforms in 2024
So those are the platforms if you want to teach. What about if you want to learn new skills online? These are the platforms you should check out. Alternatively, you can offer your own courses on these platforms.
Skillshare
If you’ve ever been on YouTube, you’ve probably heard of Skillshare. Skillshare is an online learning platform that hosts mini courses from all kinds of creators. The company has a famous affiliate program so manyYouTubers have a Skillshare sponsorship.
This platform has thousands of courses on creative skills from social media marketing to painting.
Creatives share their best practices in short self-paced videos. Most Skillshare courses are around 30 minutes to two hours long.
With one subscription, you gain access to the entire course library. An annual Skillshare subscription costs $168. That works out at around $14 a month.
This is great value for money considering how much content you get access to.
You can create a course for Skillshare too.
Skillshare has a profit share system. So the more views your content gets, the more money you make. Many of the biggest creators on Skillshare make a healthy side income.
Who is it for?
Entrepreneurs and content creators who want to improve their creative skills or teach online courses.
Pros:
- Profit share and affiliate link program
- Easy to navigate
Cons:
- Better for creative skills than educational topics
Udemy
Udemy has over 40 million students worldwide and is one of the best-known online learning platforms.
You have to get approval to upload courses to Udemy. There is also a quality control process.
To pass, you need credentials proving expertise in your chosen niche. Your course also has to have more than five video sections and be longer than 30 minutes.
But once you’re in, Udemy gives you a lot of support. The online teaching platform has great analytics and a comprehensive resource library.
That said, there are pricing limits to what you can charge, so if you’re looking to build a business, Udemy isn’t necessarily the best option except as a side hustle.
Who is it for?
Anyone who wants to learn educational or creative skills or teach online courses.
Pros:
- The largest online learning marketplace
- Marketing support from the platform
Cons:
- High revenue share fees
- Strict quality control rules to follow
LinkedIn Learning
Over 930 million people use LinkedIn. 134 million use it every day. It’s a huge platform for professionals looking to network and learn.
LinkedIn Learning is the platform’s own education center. The online academy provides free training about business, copywriting, marketing, sales, and more.
However, hosting a course on LinkedIn Learning will be challenging.
Ideally, you need to be a LinkedIn Influencer or power user with a large following to create a course – it’s a highly vetted process.
If you qualify to create a course, LinkedIn Learning provides you with a lot of assistance. You can collaborate with instructional designers to make your course the best it can be.
Best of all, LinkedIn Learning is one of the highest-paying online teaching platforms. Upfront payments can be as high as $5,000 depending on the topic. After that, you get a revenue share based on views like Skillshare.
Who is it for?
Professionals who want to uplevel their soft skills in the workplace.
Pros:
- High-paying for course instructors
- You get help with creating the course
Cons:
- Difficult process to become a course instructor
Coursera
Coursera is an online learning platform that specializes in educational topics. It provides high-quality courses to a worldwide audience of over 80 million students.
There are both free and paid courses on the platform. But even paid courses are quite affordable.
The aim is to provide specializations, certifications, and degree programs to the public at a fraction of the price of a traditional college.
The good part is that most of the courses are made in partnership with prestigious universities or world-renowned Fortune 500 companies.
So students know they are getting expert knowledge from top tier institutions.
But can you create for Coursera? Yes, if you belong to one of the platform’s partner institutions.
You would have to apply to create a course through your company’s connection to the platform. In other words, you’re unlikely to get paid individually for your work like the more democratic platforms like Udemy and Skillshare.
Who is it for?
People who want to learn educational topics.
Pros:
- Many courses are created by prestigious universities
- Wide range of free courses
Cons:
- Each course is priced differently, which can be confusing
- You can only teach on Coursera if you are part of a partner institution
edX
edX is another online education platform that focuses on academic subjects. You can find courses from top universities on a wide range of subjects.
Open edX is the side of the business that allows you to upload courses. You can create courses for free on the platform using open-source tools.
It’s not as easy to upload or create a course as with the course platforms we mentioned earlier But edX has a ready-made audience to market your course materials.
You can only host self-paced courses on the platform– the software lets you upload videos, PDFs, and images to make the learning experience more engaging.
So if you have the qualifications to teach an academic subject like math or computer science, this could be a great option to sell and market your courses.
Who is it for?
Students who want courses from prestigious universities and world-class businesses.
Pros:
- Fully self-paced course platform
- Features courses in partnership with top institutions like Harvard and Google
Cons:
- Only covers higher education topics
- Challenging to create a course from scratch on the platform
Masterclass
Masterclass is unique in the online teaching space. However, not just anyone can create a course for Masterclass – it’s a vetted, invitation-only system.
The idea behind Masterclass is to talk to the most successful creatives in the world on how they achieved mastery.
Most instructors are famous in their fields. For example, Natalie Portman teaches acting, Gordon Ramsay teaches cooking, and Disney CEO, Bob Iger, teaches business strategy. Of course, there’s no instructor feedback. But at just $10 a month (billed annually), it’s great value for money as you can learn from the biggest experts in various niches.
Who is it for?
Creatives who want to learn from the most high-profile people in the industry.
Pros:
- Features celebrity-level creatives on their personal tips for success
- Beautiful interface
Cons:
- You cannot become an instructor unless you have been invited by the platform
TalentLMS
TalentLMS is a cloud-based learning management system for teams.
This isn’t a course creation platform or course marketplace. It’s a platform for employers to create corporate training programs.
The interface is clean and simple to use. It has a drag-and-drop builder to make personalized organization training quickly and easily.
You can host video conferences and discussions straight from the platform to engage with the students. The platform also allows you to design as many training hubs as you want to have a custom training rollout across your organization.
The pricing becomes complicated depending on the size of your organization. Plans start at $40 per month for unlimited courses with up to 40 users.
If your business has several branches that need independent training portals, the price scales on the number of users and branches.
So whether you want to provide sales training, onboarding, compliance, or any other type of employee training, you can create and share it easily on TalentLMS.
Who is it for?
Employers who want to create and deliver employee training.
Pros:
- Integrates with multiple other apps
- Easy to use
Cons:
- Complex pricing
Next steps
That’s it! Those are the best online teaching platforms for more course sales.
Ultimately, a course business can be a highly profitable and fulfilling business – you get to share your skills with people around the world.
However, choosing a teaching platform is just one of the steps you need to take to build a successful course business.
In fact, there are 3 mistakes new course creators tend to make and that can make all the difference.
Want to know what they are?
Get my free guide to avoid making them in YOUR business.
Read more:
The Most Profitable Online Course Ideas
