Have you been thinking about selling online courses, or want to take your training business to a broader market? New course-building platforms are emerging on a regular basis and it can be hard to determine which one would be best for your needs. We have done the homework for you, so read on to find out which platforms come out on top!

Online courses and e-learning is a rapidly growing segment within the field of education. Market research has forecast online education to total $350 billion by the year 2025. Covid 19 lockdown regulations have forced educational institutions to rely more heavily on online teaching solutions. This has caused a further shift towards the future potential of e-learning. Currently, one-third of US college students will take at least one online course.

Naturally, there are now many online course-building platforms that seek to cater to this growing demand. Adding an online course to your business can become a lucrative source of income. However, a good platform should satisfy a range of needs for an aspiring online educator. A platform should facilitate content creation that incorporates video, audio, PDFs, and slide presentations. In addition, e-learning is becoming more competitive and the start-up costs for platforms will be an important consideration. Finally, the all-round customer support offered to you can make a great difference in the early stages of your online course-building journey. 

THE BEST OPTIONS

There are dozens of online course-building platforms these days but a comprehensive survey of user reviews and independent educators reveals a few consistent favorites. Particularly in light of the criterion mentioned above: Ability to facilitate the full range of learning content, start-up costs, and general ongoing support. In no particular order, the following three platforms should serve as your starting point when planning your online learning business.

THINKIFIC

Thinkific is a user-friendly platform with great support. Creatively, it offers a broad range of course-building options. Over and above the basics, you are able to incorporate live classes, quizzes, create community areas, and issue course certificates. It also offers many helpful selling and marketing options to boost your courses. Many of their features are free and the pricing of their various plans is very reasonable. Some drawbacks are that the platform is not mobile-friendly and it does not support PayPal for recurring payments.

TEACHABLE

Teachable is similar to Thinkific but compared with other platforms, Teachable is one of the easiest platforms to navigate and set up. They no longer offer free start-up plans but the basic and professional plans are moderately priced. Teachable offers all of the essential features needed to build quality online courses and have excellent marketing and selling tools. The platform is also mobile-friendly. However, its site-building options are limited, which will make it harder to customize the look of your teaching site and differentiate it from other similar course content sites. Like, Thinkific, Teachable does not support PayPal for recurring payments.

LEARNWORLDS

LearnWorlds is a platform that focuses on interactive learning. Some of its stand-out features are its advanced exam capabilities, interactive video and e-book reader, as well as excellent copyright protection features. Pricewise, the platform offers attractive plans that would be useful for first-time course content creators. A few other pluses are the platforms sales and marketing solutions such as coupons, subscriptions, and bundling options. A few of the platform’s cons include no options for site theme creation and its course reporting tools are basic. 

THE TAKEAWAYS

The best platforms are comparable in terms of price and fees. The determining factors between the top platforms would boil down to your specific course vision, feature, and option requirements. It may be more important for you to create a unique look and feel for your content; then again, a mobile-friendly platform could be a crucial factor. Regardless of your individual needs, between these three platforms, you should find a solution that strikes the right balance.