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9 Best Online Course Platforms for 2025 (Compared)

I remember when we first launched our free WordPress video course website. Finding the right platform was a real headache! We needed something that gave us complete control over our content and branding, but also made it easy for our students to access the courses.

We tried everything from simple WordPress plugins to full-blown learning management systems – and learned a lot along the way. We eventually picked MemberPress for our courses, and couldn’t be happier.

But choosing the wrong platform can be a costly mistake. You might end up with limited features, hefty transaction fees, or a clunky interface that frustrates both you and your students.

In this guide, I’ll share my firsthand experience with the top online course platforms, highlighting the pros and cons of each. Whether you’re a blogger, small business owner, or seasoned entrepreneur, I’ll help you find the perfect platform to create, manage, and sell your online courses like a pro. 🧑‍💻

Best Online Course Platforms

Overview of the Best Online Course Platforms

In a hurry? Here’s the TL;DR for the best online course platforms for creators, so you can quickly compare them at a glance:

Best Online Course PlatformBest ForPricing
🥇MemberPressInstructors who need an all-in-one membership and course solutionStarts at $179.50/year for 1 site
🥈Thrive ApprenticeCourse creators focused on personalized content$149/year for a standalone plugin
🥉MemberMouseFor enterprise-level sitesStarts at $149.50/year
4WishList MemberCourse creators who want gamification features
$149.50/year for 1 site
5AccessAllyEntrepreneurs scaling online coaching programs and building communities$99/month
6LearnDashEducators in need of a feature-rich LMS for running tests and forumsStarts at $199/year
7TeachableUsers looking to build their courses on a standalone platform (not on a WordPress site)Starts at $39/month
8LifterLMSHobbyists looking for a platform with strong multimedia supportFreemium
Pro starts at $149.50 per year
9WooCommerceCourse creators who also want to sell physical products or other itemsStarts at $179 for 1 site

Didn’t find what you’re looking for? You may want to jump to our bonus section on the best online course platforms for students.

How I Test and Review Online Course Platforms

Finding the perfect online course platform means looking beyond the marketing hype. You need to consider factors like ease of use, pricing, features, and integrations, all for your specific needs.

So let’s start by going over how I evaluated each platform.

  • 🏫 Course-Building Features: For each learning management system (LMS), I tested every aspect of the course creation process. That included uploading various content types, creating quizzes, and setting up assignments.
  • 💳 Payment Systems: Platforms charging high transaction fees can eat into profits significantly. So, I evaluated payment gateways by running test transactions and analyzing fee structures. I looked for solutions offering multiple payment options, reasonable transaction fees, and flexible pricing models (one-time, subscription, payment plans).
  • 🔌 Integration Capabilities: I personally tested each platform’s integration with essential tools. I tried to connect them with popular email marketing services and content relationship management (CRM) software. I also looked into social media integration and analytics tracking.
  • 🛠 User Experience and Support: I wanted to find course builders that are easy to use for beginner course creators and entrepreneurs. But I also checked if they offer user-friendly interfaces for students. I also made sure that each platform comes with customizable templates and offers good customer support.
  • 📜 Platform Control and Flexibility: When testing, I encountered platforms with restrictive policies. So, I carefully reviewed their terms of service and content ownership rights. Flexibility-wise, I explored each platform’s customization options and export capabilities.

Why Trust WPBeginner?

At WPBeginner, we personally tested these platforms while building our own video courses. Our recommendations come from:

✅ Hands-on experience setting up and running courses on different platforms.

✅ Direct feedback from our community of course creators.

✅ Continuous monitoring of platform updates and feature changes.

For more information, see our complete editorial guidelines and review process.

Best Online Course Platforms For Creators and Entrepreneurs

I’ve separated this guide into 2 sections to make things easier for you. The first 9 course platforms are for content creators looking to build and sell online courses.

If you’re looking for the best online learning platforms for students, then click the link to jump to that bonus section instead.

Having that said, here are the best online course platforms for content creators and teachers:

1. MemberPress

MemberPress' homepage

MemberPress is the best WordPress LMS plugin for instructors who need an all-in-one membership and course solution. It makes it easy to build and sell online courses directly from your WordPress site, with powerful access controls and built-in payment options.

MemberPress powers WPBeginner’s video courses. It allows us to offer free courses in exchange for email addresses. Read our detailed MemberPress review to learn more about its features!

When using MemberPress myself, I found the course builder to be very straightforward, making it easy to create, manage, and sell courses.

Plus, the drag-and-drop editor is quite intuitive, which is perfect for beginners. You can add high-quality video content along with additional downloadable resources.

You also don’t need to worry about design skills. MemberPress includes a virtual classroom functionality that takes care of styling and works with all WordPress themes.

Course example in MemberPress virtual classroom

Need more than delivering learning materials? I have good news!

I’ve been really impressed by MemberPress’ wide range of course-related add-ons.

First, they have MemberPress Quizzes for creating engaging assessments for your students. You can choose from a lot of question formats, such as multiple-choice, true/false, or open-ended, to test your students’ knowledge.

The quizzes blocks

Then, there’s MemberPress Assignments.

With this add-on, you can easily assign practical tasks, set deadlines, and collect student submissions. It’s perfect for hands-on learning and project-based courses.

With assignment submissions, you can either ask your students to share a link or upload a media file.

Meanwhile, the MemberPress Gradebook makes it super easy to keep track of students’ quizzes and assignments. It automatically records all scores and progress, giving you and your students a clear overview of their performance.

MemberPress Gradebook sample

Here’s what makes it even better: MemberPress Courses includes all these features in one package.

So once you have the MemberPress Courses add-on installed, you can go ahead and activate these extra features whenever you need them.

Additionally, you can even run coaching sessions using this platform.

MemberPress CoachKit lets you create as many coaching programs as you want, manage groups of clients, and track progress with milestones. It also works with MemberPress Courses, so you can offer organized lessons.

Nutrition coaching using MemberPress CoachKit

To make it easier for your clients to book sessions, you can connect MemberPress CoachKit with Simply Schedule Appointments and Calendly.

When it comes to monetizing your courses, MemberPress’s powerful content access controls are a big help.

They allow you to sell unlimited courses with different pricing options and subscription plans. Plus, I like that it supports digital downloads with access control, so only logged-in students can access them.

In terms of integration, MemberPress checkout seamlessly integrates with your email marketing service. This way, you can add each student to your email list and notify them of new course upsells or discounts in the future.

Above all, I particularly like how MemberPress provides you with lots of ways to grow your course platform.

Want to build community? You can create a private social network using BuddyBoss. To increase sales, set up a referral system with Easy Affiliate. And for marketing, simply use SeedProd to create custom sales and webinar pages.

Pros of MemberPress:

  • Easy to use visual course builder, no coding required.
  • Improved learning experience with the classroom mode.
  • Drip course content, memberships with powerful access control, and group memberships.
  • Flexible pricing and payment options for your online school.
  • Multiple payment gateway support, including Stripe.
  • No sales percentage.
  • Extensive integration options.

Cons of MemberPress:

  • Potential learning curve for WordPress beginners.

Why I recommend MemberPress: In my experience, MemberPress stands out as the ultimate all-in-one membership plugin. With its built-in Courses add-on, you can easily create professional-looking online courses—no coding required.

Beyond course creation, MemberPress offers powerful access controls, allowing you to sell courses, grant exclusive content to members, and add engaging drip campaigns with ease.

Pricing: Starts from $179.50 per year for a single site license (no monthly fee).

2. Thrive Apprentice

Thrive Apprentice plugin

Thrive Apprentice is perfect for course creators focused on personalized content. This feature-rich visual course builder also doubles as a membership solution, offering in-depth reporting and advanced content customization tools.

After thoroughly testing Thrive Apprentice, I am impressed by its user-friendly interface and powerful course management tools. Read our full Thrive Apprentice review to learn more!

During setup, I found that Thrive Apprentice has an easy-to-use visual builder.

It comes with 55+ customizable course templates to get you started quickly. These include templates for course overviews, text, video, and audio lesson templates, and more.

Thrive Apprentice course templates

That said, course content organization is where Thrive Apprentice shines.

When developing test courses, the tool lets you group courses into chapters and chapters into modules. I found this to be very helpful in structuring content logically, supporting a smooth learning experience for students.

Group into a chapter button

Another great thing about Thrive Apprentice is its powerful content dripping.

With this feature, you can release lessons at consistent intervals for each student. For example, you can release a new lesson every week on Monday when someone enrolls in a new course.

The Sequential drip content default configuration

You can even apply different drip schedules, with different drip triggers, to the same course. I really like this feature, as this means you don’t have to duplicate your courses each time you get new students.

With Thrive Apprentice, I also learned how easy it is to show personalized content to different users. For example, you can display different page content for visitors and students to improve the user experience and increase conversions.

And aside from the course-building features, Thrive Apprentice comes with built-in membership functionalities. You can easily combine and sell access to your online courses, blog posts, pages, or anything else on your website, in just a few clicks.

Pros of Thrive Apprentice:

  • Ready-made course templates with a visual builder.
  • Drip content and flexible schedules.
  • Personalized content for users.
  • Custom downloadable certificates with QR codes to verify authenticity.
  • Detailed analytics and reports.
  • Membership features for protecting content.
  • Integrates with many tools via Uncanny Automator.

Cons of Thrive Apprentice:

  • Only built-in Stripe support.
  • Membership features are not as robust as MemberPress.

Why I recommend Thrive Apprentice: After thorough testing, I think Thrive Apprentice is a top-tier, user-friendly LMS plugin with built-in membership features. It provides over 55+ course templates for quick setup and a drag-and-drop builder for effortless customization.

With advanced tools like dripping for flexible content scheduling and the ability to show personalized content, you can create tailored learning experiences for different users.

Pricing: Starts at $149 per year for the standalone plugin. Or, you can purchase the entire suite of Thrive plugins, which includes Thrive Quiz Builder and Thrive Architect, starting at $299 per year.

3. MemberMouse

MemberMouse Courses

MemberMouse is a powerful WordPress membership plugin for enterprise-level sites looking to add course creation and upselling. Its reporting suite and built-in LMS, Courses for MemberMouse, offer a great way to manage and monetize online education.

I’ve spent hours exploring MemberMouse, and its advanced features truly stand out. Check out our in-depth MemberMouse review for more information.

When testing it out, I learned that MemberMouse lets you easily create complete courses, including lessons, quizzes, and certificates, using the familiar WordPress interface. It’s also easy to add videos, images, and downloadable materials using the drag-and-drop blocks.

The MemberMouse courses add-on for WordPress

You can keep your courses organized and engaging by adding progress-tracking bars and prompts to navigate between lessons.

I also really appreciate the ‘Classroom Mode’ template that automatically gives your courses a professional-looking presentation.

You can even personalize your Classroom Mode with your own logos, colors, and images in order to match your brand!

MemberMouse's built-in classroom mode

When it comes to membership management, MemberMouse makes it easy to set strong access rules to protect your courses.

For example, I found that it lets you restrict access to all of your lessons with a membership, bundle, or multiple sales packages.

Plus, you can use the cross-sell feature to promote locked courses to members who don’t have access and show a one-click purchase link to boost sales.

Want to track numbers? MemberMouse includes a built-in Reporting Suite within the WordPress dashboard.

MemberMouse Reporting Suite

In my opinion, this is a helpful feature for gaining valuable insights into your audience.

With reports on retention, customer value, and engagement, you can quickly see what’s working. You can use these insights to refine your membership site and marketing for better results.

Pros of MemberMouse:

  • Easy course creation with a drag-and-drop design.
  • Quizzes with various question types, such as true/false, multiple choice, and short answer.
  • Built-in student account page and downloadable course certificates.
  • Content protection controls and 1-click purchase.
  • Drip content scheduler.
  • Customizable classroom mode template.

Cons of MemberMouse:

  • Fewer integrations compared to some platforms.

Why I recommend MemberMouse: With its robust capabilities, MemberMouse is an excellent choice for enterprise-level membership sites. Plus, the Courses for MemberMouse makes this plugin one of the most powerful LMSs for adding online courses to your site.

It also excels with advanced drip content controls, 1-click upsells, and customizable, no-code course displays.

Pricing: Starts at $149.50 per year, which comes with the course builder, Stripe payments, email marketing integrations, and more.

4. WishList Member

Wishlist Member

WishList Member is another all-in-one WordPress membership plugin. It includes a full-featured learning management system, called CourseCure, for creating online courses. One thing that makes it stand out is its gamification features.

I’ve put WishList Member to the test, and it’s exceeded my expectations. Learn more about the tool in our detailed WishList Member review.

When researching, I tried to create a new course using its easy and lightning-fast course builder. It was just a matter of minutes until I could launch it.

It comes packed with professionally designed course templates for single lessons, course library pages, course index pages, single module pages, and more. I also like that the templates are fully customizable and mobile responsive.

Plus, I found that it works with popular page builders like Elementor and Divi.

You also get progress tracking built right in. Students can easily see how far they’ve come as they move through the course.

An example of an elearning course, created using WishList Member

Additionally, WishList Member has gamification add-ons, which can help boost course engagement. You can reward your students with badges and points for tasks like completing a course, passing a quiz, leaving a comment, and more.

WishList Member also supports 20+ popular payment providers. These include Stripe and PayPal, making selling your courses much easier.

Pros of Wishlist Member:

  • Fast course creation, no coding.
  • Customizable course templates through popular drag-and-drop page builder plugins.
  • Engaging quizzes with multiple actions for both passing and failing a quiz.
  • Course previews to boost enrollment.
  • Strong access rules and unlimited membership levels.
  • Gamification with points and badges.

Cons of Wishlist Member:

  • Advanced features may be overwhelming for beginners.

Why I recommend WishList Member: WishList Member is a solid LMS and membership plugin with an easy-to-use builder. What sets it apart is its powerful gamification add-ons, including points and badges, which boost engagement and loyalty.

Pricing: Starts at $149.50 per year for a single site license.

5. AccessAlly

AccessAlly LMS plugin

AccessAlly is a WordPress membership and LMS plugin for creating and selling courses, coaching, and memberships. Through hands-on testing, I found AccessAlly to be an excellent choice for course creators looking to build an active community around their niche.

It has an intuitive drag-and-drop builder that makes creating interactive courses easy.

It lets you upload various types of content, including videos, audio files, and more, which helps ensure a dynamic learning experience.

The autogenerated weekly module

There’s also a course creation wizard to help you get started faster. Just pick a pre-made template, choose whether the course is free or paid, and set up access with tags – it’s all pretty straightforward.

Based on your selections, the wizard will then automatically generate the course pages you need, including landing pages, module and lesson pages, registration pages, and more.

Key pages created

That said, in my opinion, one of the best AccessAlly features is the CommunityAlly plugin.

It’s a tool that allows you to set up private online communities for your students.

When testing it out, I learned that this tool can help you create a space for group discussions, enabling learners to ask questions, share ideas, and support one another. Plus, you can create an affiliate program and make a member directory.

Pros of AccessAlly:

  • Fast course creation with a setup wizard and drag-and-drop capabilities.
  • Options for live, evergreen, and progress-based courses.
  • Smart progress tracking with multiple objectives.
  • Course gamification with points, badges, and leaderboards.
  • Integrates with popular email marketing CRMs, such as ActiveCampaign, Kit, and Drip.

Cons of AccessAlly:

  • Fewer customization options for course appearance.

Why I recommend AccessAlly: If you want an excellent choice for group coaching, AccessAlly is a great option. Its CommunityAlly plugin allows you to create and run student forums.

Pricing: Starts at $99 per month for a single site license and unlimited courses. However, to access the complete learning management system, you need to upgrade to the Pro plan, which costs $129 per month.

6. LearnDash

The LearnDash LMS WordPress plugin

LearnDash is a popular WordPress LMS plugin and online course builder. It’s an excellent choice for educators who need a feature-rich LMS for organizing tests and running student forums.

LearnDash is very user-friendly and packed with essential LMS tools. The platform comes with an intuitive drag-and-drop course builder for creating any type of course and adding video lessons, quizzes, and assignments. Read our full LearnDash review to learn more!

When I tested LearnDash, I found that it supports time limits, limits attempts, and even randomizes questions. If you turn these on, you can make it harder for students to cheat, even without supervision.

There are also progression rules, such as requiring students to complete one lesson before moving on to the next.

Once you’ve set up your course, you can choose to give students full access right away or drip the content over time. Both options were easy to set up and worked smoothly during testing.

How to drip feed content to your students and learners

Integration-wise, LearnDash supports popular payment services and WordPress eCommerce plugins.

It also works really well with MemberPress, allowing MemberPress to manage subscriptions while LearnDash handles course management.

Using the SeedProd landing page builder, you can also create effective sales funnels for our courses. I also tested gamification features by integrating various WordPress gamification plugins, adding an interactive layer to the learning experience.

If you need SCORM or TinCan support, the UncannyOwl Toolkit (with the all-access pass) adds powerful features to LearnDash.

Pros of LearnDash:

  • Comprehensive WordPress LMS plugin.
  • Visual course builder for interactive courses.
  • Integrations for third-party tools.
  • No percentage taken from course sales.

Cons of LearnDash:

  • Weaker content access controls than MemberPress.
  • Less control over multiple subscription access.

Why I recommend LearnDash: It’s a versatile LMS plugin for WordPress that integrates seamlessly with third-party tools, including top eCommerce plugins.

LearnDash is perfect for online schools, training organizations, and entrepreneurs looking to create and sell courses effortlessly. Plus, with built-in features for quizzes and forums, it’s an excellent choice for educators who need interactive learning tools.

Pricing: Starting from $199 for a single site license.

Note: Wondering how LearnDash compares to MemberPress? See our article on MemberPress Courses vs LearnDash.

7. Teachable

The Teachable online course builder

Teachable is ideal for users who want to build and sell courses on a standalone platform without using WordPress. It’s a fully hosted solution, so you don’t need to worry about software management or updates.

During testing, I found that Teachable offers great flexibility – you can use it on your own custom domain name or as a subdomain on an existing website.

I was really impressed by how easy Teachable is to use. The drag-and-drop builder made it simple to create courses, upload content, and publish everything quickly.

It even auto-generates a sales page for each course. You can also customize it to match your brand, which is a nice touch, in my opinion.

Teachable's autogenerated sales page

I also liked the built-in marketing and analytics tools. They made it easy to track performance and fine-tune our course promotions.

Payments are just as smooth. Teachable handles the transactions for you and gives customers multiple ways to pay.

Pros of Teachable:

  • Incredibly easy to use.
  • No software management required.
  • No resource scaling worries.
  • Powerful integrations for marketing.

Cons of Teachable:

  • More expensive than MemberPress or LearnDash.
  • 5% transaction fee on basic plan transactions.

Why I recommend Teachable: As a standalone solution (not a WordPress plugin), Teachable is very convenient to use. It handles updates and backups for you, reducing admin work so you can focus on growing your training business.

Pricing: Starting from $39 per month for the basic plan with a 5% transaction fee. You can upgrade to the Pro plan, which has no transaction fees but costs $119 per month.

Note: Want a closer look at how Teachable compares to our top-pick platforms? See our article on Teachable vs Skillshare vs MemberPress.

8. LifterLMS

LifterLMS' homepage

LifterLMS is great for hobbyists looking for a WordPress-based platform with strong multimedia support. It’s a flexible LMS plugin that lets you easily create and sell courses online.

After thorough testing, I understand what makes LifterLMS such a powerful platform. It comes with all the essential tools that help you easily create online courses. Learn more about it in our complete LifterLMS review!

When trying it out, I found that LifterLMS is flexible enough to support anything from a small online coaching website to a full-fledged degree program.

I easily created multi-tier courses, adding training modules, lessons, categories, and more to structure content effectively.

I also explored its advanced features, including drip content, course progression requirements, and group memberships. These tools allowed users to control how students access material, making it easier to guide them through a structured learning journey.

Pros of LifterLMS:

  • Powerful for online learning communities.
  • Easy-to-use course builder.
  • Integrations for third-party services.

Cons of LifterLMS:

  • Costs can increase with individual add-ons.

Why I recommend Lifter LMS: Fitness coaches, musicians, leadership trainers, and education entrepreneurs can use Lifter LMS as their online course platform. With strong multimedia support and an easy setup wizard that builds essential pages, including a course catalog, it makes it easy to create a successful online training site.

Pricing: The free version can be downloaded from the WordPress plugin repository. To accept payments, you’ll need the Pro version, which costs $149.50 per year for a single site. Then, you’ll need to purchase add-ons separately.

9. WooCommerce

WooCommerce Sensei

WooCommerce is ideal for course creators who also want to sell physical products or digital downloads from the same store. As the world’s most popular eCommerce platform, it gives you full control over selling both courses and other product types with ease.

When testing WooCommerce for course sales and management, I used the Sensei LMS extension. And I found it to be a simple yet effective LMS add-on.

The tool made creating courses easy, letting users organize content with modules, lessons, and quizzes without any unnecessary hassle.

Plus, setting up a course website was quick and easy, especially when using the WooCommerce Storefront theme.

Pros of WooCommerce:

  • Simple and straightforward LMS.
  • Runs on WooCommerce for selling various products.
  • Extendable with essential WordPress plugins.

Cons of WooCommerce:

  • Requires paid add-ons for paid courses and subscriptions.
  • Lacks advanced LMS features.
  • Requires managing a WooCommerce store.

Why I recommend WooCommerce: With the Sensei LMS extension, WooCommerce makes it possible for you to add courses to your online store.

Pricing: Sensei LMS itself is free, but you’ll need a WooCommerce paid subscriptions add-on to create paid courses, which costs $179 per year.

Which Is the Best Online Course Platform? (Expert Pick)

After testing the top online course platforms for creators, here are my top recommendations based on ease of use, flexibility, and selling features:

  • MemberPress is ideal if you want an all-in-one solution to create, protect, and sell your courses on WordPress. It comes with a built-in course builder, coaching features, and powerful membership controls.
  • Thrive Apprentice is great for beginner course creators who want an easy-to-use visual course builder, personalized content delivery, detailed reporting, and a streamlined user experience.
  • Teachable is a solid choice if you prefer a hosted platform that handles all the technical setup for you. It’s easy to use and doesn’t require a WordPress site.
  • AccessAlly is best for coaches and entrepreneurs who want advanced automation, client portals, and community-building tools all in one place.

Each tool has its strengths, so the right one for you depends on your goals, budget, and preferred setup.

Bonus: Best Online Course Platforms for Students

Whether you’re a student or an aspiring professional, acquiring new skills and continuing to improve on them can open many doors of opportunity in the modern economy.

There are tons of online learning platforms for students that you can join to acquire a new skill or to follow your passion.

LinkedIn Learning

LinkedIn Learning

LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda) is a popular platform for learning digital, creative, and other professional skills. It offers a wide variety of subjects and classes for all levels of users (not just beginners).

In my experience, LinkedIn Learning stands out because its courses are taught by industry professionals with real-world expertise and recognized qualifications.

I tested the platform on different devices, and learning at my own pace was seamless everywhere, whether on their website or the iOS and Android apps.

A major highlight is the ability to earn certificates upon course completion. They appeared as verified badges when I added them to my LinkedIn profile. This makes it easy to showcase newly acquired skills to potential employers and connections.

Pros:

  • Higher quality courses taught by professionals with a relevant background
  • Badges and certificates that you can show off on your LinkedIn profile
  • You also get access to LinkedIn Premium with more salary and job insights, unlimited profile viewing, InMail credits, and more.

Cons:

  • More expensive than other online learning and skill-sharing platforms.
  • LinkedIn does not offer refunds, so you have to take advantage of their free trial before making a purchase.

Pricing: Free trial, but pricing starts at $39.99 per month.

Skillshare

Skillshare homepage

Skillshare is one of the largest online course platforms for students, offering hundreds of courses on a wide variety of subjects and categories.

During testing, I found that Skillshare offers a limited free trial. However, when I tried out the premium membership, I gained access to thousands of high-quality online courses across various topics.

Unlike some platforms, Skillshare doesn’t create its own courses.

Instead, courses are developed by independent professionals and educators. Since teachers are paid based on views, this creates an incentive for them to produce engaging, high-quality content. I definitely noticed this when I checked out the courses.

Pros:

  • It is affordable, and you can cancel anytime.
  • Thousands of classes on a very large number of skills and topics
  • Easy to use with a built-in community element that makes learning fun

Cons:

  • With too many courses, it can be difficult to decide where to begin.
  • Skillshare courses can be taught by anyone, and there are not too many checks on the quality or standardization of the courses.

Pricing: Skillshare Premium starts from $14 per month, paid annually.

Note: To learn more about how Skillshare stacks up against other platforms, see our comparison of Teachable vs Skillshare vs MemberPress.

Coursera

Coursera's homepage

Coursera is a great platform for learning new skills. It offers both free and paid courses, as well as full online degree programs.

When exploring the platform, I found a diverse range of courses, including those created in partnership with leading tech companies like Google and IBM.

These companies provide free courses to encourage the adoption of their technologies, and I noticed that many of them offer hands-on projects to reinforce learning.

Coursera also collaborates with top universities to offer online degree programs. The courses I looked at were well-structured and taught by qualified professionals with deep expertise in their fields.

Pros:

  • Some useful technical courses for beginners are available for free enrollment
  • Easy-to-use platform with relatively better quality control than similar platforms
  • Access to course materials from top IT companies and colleges
  • Takes a more academic approach to courses.

Cons:

  • Upselling of degree programs offered by colleges

Pricing: Varies based on the courses or programs you choose to enroll in.

FAQ About the Best Online Course Platforms

Choosing the right online course platform can be challenging, given the numerous options available. Below are some common questions to help you navigate this decision.

Can I sell courses directly from my own website?

Yes, platforms like MemberPress and AccessAlly enable you to sell courses from your website. These platforms offer tools for customization, payment processing, and student management.

Do I need technical skills to create an online course?

Not necessarily. Many platforms, including Thrive Apprentice, offer a visual-based course builder with drag-and-drop features, requiring no coding knowledge.

Can I offer certificates to students who complete my course?

Yes, a lot of platforms, including MemberPress, Thrive Apprentice, MemberMouse, and LinkedIn Learning, allow you to issue customizable certificates upon course completion.

Can I integrate third-party tools with my online course platform?

Yes, most platforms support integrations with tools like email marketing services, analytics, payment gateways, and webinar software, enhancing functionality.

How can I market my online course effectively?

Popular strategies include social media promotion, email campaigns, content marketing, and partnerships.

That said, you can also create affiliate programs for your students to encourage them to promote your courses in exchange for commissions.

By providing authentic recommendations from your students, you can expand your reach and boost enrollments without significant upfront marketing costs.

I hope this article helped you choose the best online course platforms. If you are selling your own online courses, then you may want to see our step-by-step tutorial on how to create an eLearning website and our guide on how to create a WordPress group learning program.

⚠️ Disclaimer: To help avoid choice paralysis, we only compared the top online course platforms. This list doesn’t include other eLearning platforms or course marketplaces like Thinkific, Udemy, Kajabi, Podia, LearnWorlds, WizIQ, iSpring, and Academy of Mine.

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Disclosure: Our content is reader-supported. This means if you click on some of our links, then we may earn a commission. See how WPBeginner is funded, why it matters, and how you can support us. Here's our editorial process.

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Reader Interactions

2 CommentsLeave a Reply

  1. Jiří Vaněk

    I started writing a tech blog, and users of my site expressed in the comments that they wanted more comprehensive tutorial guides. I already had some content written but was missing a platform to build it on. In the end, I found the combination of WordPress and MemberPress to be very effective. Even though this plugin isn’t the cheapest, it offers incredibly comprehensive tools for building a community and online courses. For me, it’s now an invaluable companion and a tool that has helped me monetize my site much more effectively.

  2. Moinuddin Waheed

    I am already using memberpress for making a course website for my students.
    it is very easy to implement different features and comes with one click course creator interface.
    it has very good student dashboard and gives the content access in an easy to use interface.
    it comes with a lot of integrations that makes the life easy to scale.
    Thanks for this guide.

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