Course platforms split into two groups, and choosing from the wrong group is the mistake that costs people a year.<\/p>\n
Marketplaces<\/strong> bring you students but own the relationship, set the price, and take a large cut. Platforms<\/strong> give you the students’ email addresses and full pricing control, but you must bring your own audience.<\/p>\n Neither is better. But if you have no audience yet and choose a platform, you will sell nothing \u2014 and if you have an audience and choose a marketplace, you will hand over margin you did not need to.<\/p>\n Do you have an audience?<\/strong> An email list, a following, existing customers, inbound traffic. If not, you need either a marketplace or a serious plan to build one, and the platform choice is secondary.<\/p>\n Do you want to own the customer relationship?<\/strong> On a marketplace, the student is the marketplace’s customer. You generally cannot email them freely or sell them anything else. That is the real cost, and it exceeds the commission.<\/p>\n Is this a course, or a business built on courses?<\/strong> One course selling occasionally has different needs from a membership with a community and a roadmap.<\/p>\n One of the established options, aimed at individual creators and small businesses. Documented features cover course building, quizzes, certificates, drip content, affiliate management and built-in payment handling.<\/p>\n Its payment processing handles sales tax and VAT obligations on your behalf on some plans, which is genuinely valuable \u2014 digital course VAT rules across the EU and UK are unpleasant to handle manually.<\/p>\n Suits:<\/strong> individual creators selling a handful of courses. Watch:<\/strong> transaction fees on lower tiers.<\/p>\n The all-in-one option. Courses, website, email marketing, landing pages, pipelines and community in one system, so you are not stitching five tools together.<\/p>\n Priced accordingly, and that is the whole decision: if it replaces your email platform, website and course tool, the maths often works. If you already pay for those and like them, you are buying duplicates.<\/p>\n Suits:<\/strong> creators wanting one system and no integration work. Watch:<\/strong> cost, and the fact that each individual component is decent rather than best-in-class.<\/p>\n Similar territory to Teachable, with a free tier that lets you build and launch before paying, and generally strong course-building tools.<\/p>\n Suits:<\/strong> people who want to build the course before committing money. Watch:<\/strong> marketing features are lighter than Kajabi’s.<\/p>\n Simpler and cheaper than the above, bundling courses, digital downloads, memberships and email. Deliberately fewer features, which is the point.<\/p>\n Suits:<\/strong> creators selling a mix of digital products who want minimal setup. Watch:<\/strong> less depth if your course structure is complex.<\/p>\n Stronger on the learning side \u2014 interactive video, assessments, SCORM support and white-labelled mobile apps on higher tiers.<\/p>\n Suits:<\/strong> businesses where learning outcomes genuinely matter, including corporate training. Watch:<\/strong> more complex than a creator selling one course needs.<\/p>\n Community-first, with courses added. If the ongoing discussion is the product and the course is the on-ramp, this ordering matters.<\/p>\n Suits:<\/strong> memberships and cohort programmes. Watch:<\/strong> weaker as a pure course tool.<\/p>\n A WordPress plugin, so you own everything and pay hosting rather than per-student fees. Documented features include drip content, quizzes, certificates and course prerequisites.<\/p>\n Suits:<\/strong> businesses already running WordPress who want full control and no revenue share. Watch:<\/strong> you own maintenance, security, backups and video hosting. Video is the hidden cost \u2014 serving course video from shared hosting does not work, so budget for Vimeo, Bunny or similar.<\/p>\n Funnels, email and courses at a notably low price point, with a free tier.<\/p>\n Suits:<\/strong> cost-sensitive creators testing an idea. Watch:<\/strong> less polished than the established names.<\/p>\n Enormous built-in audience. That is the offer, and it is a real one.<\/p>\n The trade-offs are significant and should be understood before starting: Udemy controls pricing and discounting, its revenue share varies substantially depending on whether the sale came from its own promotion or your link, and you do not own the student relationship.<\/p>\n Suits:<\/strong> reaching people you could never reach yourself, or validating whether a topic sells. Watch:<\/strong> you are building Udemy’s asset, not yours.<\/p>\n Subscription-based rather than per-course. Members pay Skillshare; you are paid from a pool based on minutes watched.<\/p>\n Suits:<\/strong> creative and hobby topics with high watch time. Watch:<\/strong> income is unpredictable and depends on the pool and watch minutes, not on a price you set.<\/p>\nAnswer This Before Comparing Features<\/h2>\n
The Platforms<\/h2>\n
1. Teachable<\/h3>\n
2. Kajabi<\/h3>\n
3. Thinkific<\/h3>\n
4. Podia<\/h3>\n
5. LearnWorlds<\/h3>\n
6. Circle<\/h3>\n
7. LearnDash (WordPress)<\/h3>\n
8. Systeme.io<\/h3>\n
9. Udemy (marketplace)<\/h3>\n
10. Skillshare (marketplace)<\/h3>\n
How They Compare<\/h2>\n