Whether you’re a creator searching for the perfect place to upload and sell your courses or simply looking to buy some and expand your skills, those are the most popular and best online course platforms that you can use to get started.
Although there are many great online course platforms that you can use, I haven’t had the time to use them all. In the following list, you’ll only find a selection of platforms that I’ve used in the past and I’m happy with the way they work, either that’s for selling or buying courses. I’ll keep updating this article whenever I use a new platform.
What are online course platforms?
Put simply, online course platforms are websites that let anyone sign up for an account and either buy and watch courses that they find interesting or request to become tutors, uploading their own online courses and making money from sales.
There are many online course platforms that let you either buy or sell courses, and every single one of them has something unique to offer. Some of them may be focused on a specific niche, such as the Codecademy for example, which is perfect for developers and programmers who want to make money from their skills by teaching other people how to code, and a great solution if you’re looking at becoming one.
There are also some online course platforms which provide free courses every now and then, while others are fully premium, meaning that you’ll have to purchase every course. Some may also offer a more modernized and well-designed interface to watch your courses, and may even include more options, such as quizzes to help you test what you’ve learned from the preview lessons.
Most of the online course platforms that we’ll be seeing below are easy to use, come with a user-friendly interface and they all let you sign up in minutes and get with ease every course that you’re interested in.
How do you choose the best online course platform?
In the end, it all comes down to your personal needs and preferences, what you’re looking for, and if you’re looking at selling or buying online courses. Almost any platform has the necessary tools to help you either watch or sell courses, but some may be a better solution when it comes to specific skills and topics.
If you’re a content creator or teacher, I suggest you start by signing up to every platform and checking all their features, options, fees, and the interface they provide. Some may have more users who are looking for that specific topic that you’re teaching, others may keep a high fee for every sale that you make through their platforms, and others may be better for your long-run journey.
When it comes to choosing the best online course platform, you should ask yourself what is it that you’re looking for. For example, some may offer professional certifications and degree programs, while others may offer more practical and easier courses. Looking at the quality of the instructors, reading the reviews and checking all the available courses is a good way to find the best online course platform for your needs.
So yeah, there is no certain answer, as every platform has its pros and cons, and you’ll only be able to find the right one by checking them one by one. I’ll do my best to describe every platform and how it works, what it offers, and for which people are designed, and hopefully save you lots of time from trying every single one of them.
The 10 best online course platforms I’ve found
I haven’t tried everything there is out there, but when it comes to some of the most popular choices out there, you’ll find them in the following list.
1. Skillshare
To me, Skillshare is the best beautiful online course platform out there, with a modern, slick, and robust interface that has nothing to envy. Unlike other alternative platforms, Skillshare focuses on getting the best instructors out there and always provides high-quality lessons that you won’t find in any other place.
With over 25 thousand online classes, 600 thousand members, and over 8 thousand teachers, Skillshare is a great place for anyone looking to buy or sell their online courses. Some very well-known content creators have joined Skillshare and provide their courses, including known names such as Ali Abdaal and Marques Brownlee, so finding some of your favourite YouTubers for example is not that uncommon on Skillshare.
If you’re looking at becoming an instructor on Skillshare, you’ll have to apply and after approved, you’ll be able to publish a course as long as it meets the platform’s class guidelines. Also, it’s free and there are no hidden costs when publishing new courses. It’s important to note here that Skillshare works better for instructors who are focused on categories such as creativity, arts, design, freelance, lifestyle, and productivity, and may decline other off-topic online courses.
2. Udemy
I’ll start with Udemy, as it has over 70 million learners, 75 thousand instructors, and over 220 thousand online courses to choose from. Udemy is one of the leading online course platforms in the world, and it even has courses in 74 languages and 16 thousand enterprise customers, so it’s no joke. You’ll also find free online courses for a limited time, and grabbing them means that they’ll be saved forever in your account, saving lots of money over time for lessons that you may or may not want.
For people who are looking to become instructors, there are many resources to help you get started in Udemy, including a Marketplace Insights tool and an instructor’s dashboard to manage all your courses. You either record yourself with a smartphone or a DSLR camera or your screen and then simply edit and upload your courses on the platform.
Udemy is bar the biggest and most popular online course platform, it has millions of users and has an easy-to-use interface which both instructors and learners will have no trouble using. As with any other similar platform, it’s important to read the review before purchasing an online course, as they’re pretty helpful at what you’re going to be watching.
3. edX
When it comes to getting serious, this is where edX takes its place, being one of the best online course platforms for people looking at getting certificates and degrees. Although the platform only has 4,600 online programs to join, it has over 86 million learners and is one of the best options as of this time of writing.
edX is not a simple learning platform though, it was created by the education company 2U, Inc. edX and was founded by Harvard and MIT as an experiment to make the world’s best education website – and in big part, they’ve done just that. But apart from the classic online courses, edX has some of the best companies creating courses for the platform’s users, including names such as Amazon, Google, Catalyst, HP, IBM, Hamilton, Harvard University, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle, and many others.
You’ll mostly find professional-made online courses from career discipline, artificial intelligence and robotics to sustainability and public health. But when it comes to tutors and making money from selling your online courses, edX is not that great of an option. Actually, to teach on edX, you typically need to be affiliated with one of their partner institutions. These are usually universities, colleges, or reputable organizations that have a formal partnership with edX.
4. LinkedIn Learning
In 2015, LinkedIn acquired Lynda.com, one of the leading learning online platforms, and over the years the platform has rebranded to LinkedIn Learning, which you can easily access by logging in to your account. When it comes to their available courses, LinkedIn Learning is focused specifically on categories such as leadership, software development, project management, design, marketing, and personal development.
After finishing a course, learners receive a certificate that can be added to their LinkedIn profile. What has amazed me is that the platform offers personalized course recommendations based on your LinkedIn profile, career goals, and current job role. Unlike the basic tools of LinkedIn, which are provided for free, the LinkedIn Learning platform is subscription-based, but you can start your first month for free.
If you’re looking at uploading and selling your courses, LinkedIn Learning is a bit different, and as edX, they do not allow anyone to upload its lessons. More specifically, the platform selects industry experts to create content, but if you think you have what it takes, you can always contact them and apply as an instructor. When it comes to their interface, it’s pretty easy to use and watching or completing a whole course is as easy as clicking on it. There are also reviews from students to help you avoid anything that may not be for you.
5. Teachable
Teachable is a simple yet elegant online learning platform which makes uploading and selling your online courses easier than ever before. They also have a free plan, but it’s limited to one published course (or product, as they call them), and free users will have to pay $1,00 with a 10% transaction fee. Thankfully, you can decrease the transaction fees by upgrading to bigger premium plans, with the Pro having 0% transaction fees and up to 50 published products.
What makes Teachable one of the best online course platforms is that it offers everyone a chance to make money or learn by joining programs. For example, in Teachable, you can sign up whether you are a content creator, influencer, entrepreneur, business owner, musician, financial advisor, or even a yoga instructor.
Presumably, the platform has been the home for over 100,000 creators all over the world who share their knowledge, provide digital downloads, and complete online courses you can easily watch. As an instructor, you’ll also be able to generate course outlines and overviews in seconds, easily create in-depth quizzes to engage with your students and provide automated subtitles and translations for greater accessibility.
6. Thinkific
Thinkific was one of the latest online course platforms that I’ve tried lately, and it proved to be a great choice. They use AI-powered tools to help instructors fill out their courses, they have a bulk content importer to quickly import everything you have, an easy drag-and-drop builder, and their interface is as friendly as it gets.
When it comes to members, Thinkific has over 77,000 creators already joined their platform, and to help you even further, they also have an informative video to help you understand some of the features and tools the company provides to its instructors.
Unfortunately, their free plan won’t get you far, but thankfully, they have many cheap plans that you can start with, and the cheapest at $36 per month (if paid annually) will let you upload unlimited courses.
When it comes to instructors, you’ll also be able to integrate your account with third-party services, including Zoom, Zapier, Mailchimp, and Google Analytics, to expand your options and features even more. Enabling live lessons using Zoom’s video meeting services is also a great way if you’re looking to engage with your students even more.
7. FutureLearn
FutureLearn is not for instructors looking to sell their courses and make money from sales, it’s all about learning as a student. The online course platform was founded in 2012 and it’s known for providing some of the best online courses from leading universities and organizations.
The platform focuses on social learning, and students can engage with each other and with the instructors in the discussion forums, which is pretty neat. Free users also have limited access to over 1,400 short courses and restricted access to course content, with many courses being delivered weekly rather than upfront.
If you’re looking at getting access to bootcamps, this is a great platform to do that, but as of this moment of writing, they only have 14 available bootcamps that you can join, from software engineering, data analytics and user experience design to data analysis, python programming, content creation, and more.
8. Codecademy
As the name suggests, Codecademy is a tech-related learning platform that includes topics such as web development, data science, computer science, web design, artificial intelligence, machine learning, game development, mobile development, data visualization, and more.
Codecademy has over 50 million learners, there’s been over 3.7 billion code submits, and has a list of free online courses you can start watching immediately. Their design is modern, slick, and pretty beautiful to use, and you can find courses for almost any programming language that you’re looking for, including Python, C#, JavaScript, HTML and CSS, PHP, and so much more.
What I love about Codecademy is that it’s a cheap online learning platform that won’t get you out of your budget, with their cheapest plans starting from €10.50 per month to €13.99 alike, giving you unlimited access to their resources and courses.
There’s also a free plan to help you get started and have limited access to numerous courses. Unfortunately, if you’re an instructor, Codecademy does not operate as an open marketplace where anyone can upload courses. Instead, the platform manages the creation and publication of its courses internally.
9. MasterClass
MasterClass is a bit different when it comes to online course platforms, from their design philosophy to the courses they provide. If I were to choose MasterClass, that would be thanks to their teachers who focus on gymnastics, brain health, acting and performing arts, film and TV, sports and athletics to writing, business and entrepreneurship, and even food and drink.
When it comes to pricing, MasterClass is a premium learning platform, and if you’re looking at becoming an instructor, they’re not really looking for individuals who aren’t popular or experts in a topic. More specifically, MasterClass is known for featuring courses taught by world-renowned experts, celebrities, and leaders in various fields such as cooking, filmmaking, writing, music, sports, business, and more. These instructors are typically household names or highly respected figures in their industries.
Here’s the thing with MasterClass; Every time you access an online course, you know it’s going to be of high quality when it comes to video, with a crystal clear voice that you can easily hear. All their lessons are professionally made, and ultimately, it’s a value-for-money learning platform if it has what you’re looking for.
10. Coursera
Coursera is one of the most popular online course platforms in the world, and with a great range of learning opportunities, they offer some of the best and highest-quality online courses. Whether you’re looking to expand your skills or get certificates and degrees, the platform has over 300 leading universities and companies that keep on producing well-structured courses.
Google, Microsoft, IBM, Imperial College London, Stanford, Duke, Illinois, Arizona State University, and many others are among the well-known names that are part of Coursera’s platform. The company says that it helped over 148 million learners around the world to learn new skills and lots of confidence, and it’s been around since 2012.
When it comes to their interface though, that’s a whole other story. I feel it is a bit more cluttered than it should be, and sometimes it feels a bit chaotic to search for courses. Apart from that, if you’re looking at gaining a new certificate or degree, Coursera is a great place to join, as it consists of courses for data science, businesses, computers, language learning, personal development, arts and humanities, math and logic, and more.
What are custom-made online learning platforms?
Custom-made online learning platforms are exactly the same as we’ve seen above, with the only difference being that they sell fewer courses. Many instructors and content creators do not like using third-party online course platforms to sell their lessons, and instead, they build their own websites to do exactly that, as they don’t have any third-party companies keeping transaction fees.
If you found an online course which is not listed in the online course platforms that we’ve seen above, that doesn’t mean it’s not worth your money or that you shouldn’t purchase it. But before giving any of your money, you should always research the website and the instructor, check for any online reviews and what other students are saying – that’s a great way to avoid spending your money on courses that aren’t met for you.
Just because there are many marketplaces (let’s call them that) that let anyone upload their courses and easily make an income, that doesn’t mean that everyone will use them. There are many CMS platforms that are capable of running such websites that contain courses, including WordPress with third-party plugins such as the TutorLMS or LearnPress, which are tools to help you build your own custom website and sell or provide for free your online courses, having full control over your content.
Conclusion…
As you can see, every online course platform has something unique to offer, with some being open for any instructor to sign up and start selling its courses, or by working with specific universities or instructors that already have a name in their fields. Some may offer thousands of different online courses, but the quality may be lower than other platforms that focus on high-quality content instead of accepting everyone.
It’s important to remember that most platforms do give you a sneak peek of any online course before you join it, sometimes with limited access to its content, which it’s perfect if you don’t want to spend any money on the wrong platform or content. Some may offer plans that give you access to all of their courses, while others may separately sell every course.
Researching any website and instructor is absolutely crucial – and I really can’t stress this enough – before purchasing anything from them. There have been many times I’ve seen close friends buying online courses only to stop watching them after a while, saying that “they were the worst lessons I’ve ever seen”. So please make sure to take your time and do a quick search before deciding to invest in any of those online course platforms or their instructors.
Have you ever taken an online course? And if so, what learning platform did you use, and was it the right decision? Is there an online course platform that you’re currently using that I didn’t mention above? Let me know in the comments down below.
Uh, oh! Legal stuff! Yikes.. Yet important! Affiliate Links Disclaimer: Many of the links on my articles are affiliate links. That means if you click on one and make a purchase, I might earn a small commission, and I'll keep doing what I'm doing, reviewing everything with absolute honesty. Sounds good? Good.
