{"id":34101,"date":"2021-12-09T12:14:46","date_gmt":"2021-12-09T10:14:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/?p=34101"},"modified":"2021-12-09T12:14:46","modified_gmt":"2021-12-09T10:14:46","slug":"best-online-course-platforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/best-online-course-platforms\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Software to Create Amazing Online Courses"},"content":{"rendered":"
With an online course builder, you can take full advantage of the growing demand for digital education. Over the last couple of years, countless individuals have discovered how simple and convenient it can be to develop new skills online.<\/p>\n
If you have specialist knowledge to share, and a passion for connecting with people, you could thrive as an online course creator.<\/p>\n
Of course, achieving success with your own series of online courses<\/strong><\/a>, training classes or webinars requires more than just the right knowledge.<\/p>\n You also need the right technology to record and organize your videos, design quizzes and engage your students.<\/p>\n The good news is that there is plenty of software to build online training courses on the market. The bad news is sorting through all of these platforms can be a daunting concept.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why we\u2019ve researched, tested, and evaluated the best course creation software<\/strong> available, to help you find the top tools.<\/p>\n Using our extensive experience creating online courses, we\u2019ve narrowed down dozens of online course platforms, into the ultimate list.<\/p>\n LearnDash was the obvious top choice for our list because it\u2019s the main platform we use for our own online courses<\/strong><\/a>. LearnDash is a little different from other online course builders, as it\u2019s actually a WordPress plugin, so you can only use it when designing a course for a WordPress site.<\/p>\n Since WordPress is the biggest CMS in the world, LearnDash is pretty popular among a huge selection of educators, including market leaders like the University of Michigan.<\/p>\n LearnDash has a host of unique features, like \u201cFocus Mode\u201d which allows students to block out distractions when running through a course.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also a full-featured course builder, with access to email drip campaigns so you can send updates on your latest content to your students. There\u2019s even a \u201cgrade book\u201d tech that gives students a grade based on quiz and homework scores.<\/p>\n Pros:<\/strong><\/p>\n Cons:<\/strong><\/p>\n Pricing: <\/strong><\/p>\n Pricing for LearnDash is paid annually and starts at $199 for the Basic package. This comes with a license for one site, unlimited courses, and unlimited users.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a \u201cPlus package\u201d for $229 and a \u201cPro\u201d package for $369 per year.<\/p>\n LearnDash also has a free trial and a money-back guarantee just in case you\u2019re not totally happy.<\/p>\n <\/i>LearnDash is the best solution for building online courses on WordPress. It\u2019s also one of the best software options for the overall user experience \u2013 both for course creators and students.<\/p>\n Create a course with LearnDash<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n LearnWorlds is another very popular course builder, offering a variety of ways for course creators to interact with their students. You can gamify your courses and get students to compete against each other for prices, and design interactive videos.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also the option to offer free courses or mini-courses if you need to attract some more audience attention.<\/p>\n LearnWorlds allows users to extract transcripts from their courses, so they can convert them into things like eBooks and blogs. You\u2019ll also get a custom domain name, completely white-labeled content, and access to your own certificates of completion to provide to customers.<\/p>\n Aside from a host of basic content creation features, LearnWorlds comes with a range of unique tools, like the ability to create a comprehensive membership site, or access analytics that demonstrate the best ways to improve your sales. You can also integrate your course with social media tools.<\/p>\n Pros:<\/strong><\/p>\n Cons:<\/strong><\/p>\n Pricing:<\/strong><\/p>\n Pricing for LearnWorlds starts at $29 per month if you choose the annual package, which saves you 20%.<\/p>\n You can also upgrade to a \u201cPro Trainer\u201d package for $99 per month, which comes with no transaction fees.<\/p>\n <\/i>If you\u2019re looking for a course creator which gives you lots of ways to engage your audience, LearnWorlds is a great pick. You can really connect with your students however you choose.<\/p>\n Create a course with LearnWorlds<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Among the top online course platforms in the world, Teachable is an intuitive and beginner-friendly course builder, ideal for sharing knowledge with the masses.<\/p>\n This course creator has helped over 100,000 course creators sell more than $1 billion in coaching and courses over the years.<\/p>\n With Teachable, you get an attractive back-end environment, where you can set up drip-based course content in no time and plan your lessons for student engagement.<\/p>\n There\u2019s fantastic support available for both customers and creators too, so if you do have any issues, you won\u2019t be left without help. Teachable even offers tools to help you sell your online courses<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n For beginners, Teachable offers a range of learning resources, where you can learn how to develop and publish your online course. You can even access things like a custom domain to make your educational branding stand out.<\/p>\n Pros:<\/strong><\/p>\n Cons:<\/strong><\/p>\n Pricing:<\/strong><\/p>\n There\u2019s a free version of Teachable available for beginners, but you\u2019ll need to pay $1 and 10% for every transaction processed.<\/p>\n The free package enables unlimited student registration and allows for a single admin-level user.<\/p>\n Premium packages start at $39 per month for 2 admin-level users and range all the way up to $299 for 20 collaborating team members.<\/p>\n <\/i>If you\u2019re looking for fantastic customer service and support, Teachable is probably one of the top options around. We know many course leaders who rave about the company\u2019s approach to customer help.<\/p>\n Create a course with Teachable<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Thinkific has a lot in common with Teachable, at least in terms of ease-of-use and popularity. You can use this tool to build a variety of exciting courses for everything from digital marketing courses<\/strong><\/a>, to music theory.<\/p>\n Popular for its easy accessibility and free tier, Thinkific has plenty to offer creative educators \u2013 it\u2019s also trusted by leading brands like Hootsuite and Shopify.<\/p>\n Within Thinkific, you\u2019ll find a simple ecosystem for building your course with lightning-fast tools and user-friendly technology. There\u2019s no coding knowledge required to get started, and the responsive support team will be on-hand to answer any questions you might have.<\/p>\n You can pick a template for your course and start dragging-and-dropping content into place.<\/p>\n A course on Thinkific can feature everything from quizzes and assignments, to live lessons, drip schedules, and certificates of completion for your community.<\/p>\n Pros:<\/strong><\/p>\n Cons:<\/strong><\/p>\n Pricing:<\/strong> Thinkific\u2019s free version is great for test-driving the application\u2019s performance, with access to one admin account and a range of eCommerce features.<\/p>\n If you want to access a custom domain and other advanced features, you\u2019ll need at least the $49 per month Basic package.<\/p>\n The \u201cPro\u201d package enables priority support and \u201cprivate courses\u201d among other tools for $79 per month.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also a Premier package for $399 per month, with access to 15 group analysts, SSO, unlimited communities, and Brillium exams integration.<\/p>\n <\/i>Thinkific is perhaps the best free software to create online training experiences for a beginner. The free package is surprisingly generous, allowing you to put your education abilities to the test with professional tools.<\/p>\n Create a course with Thinkific<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Podia is a compelling all-in-one course creation platform with more than 50,000 members. It\u2019s not just a tool for teaching and creating courses but makes it easy to sell all kinds of work online, from webinars to one-off downloads like cheat sheets, audiobooks, and eBooks.<\/p>\n One of the most impressive things about Podia is its amazing community. The platform is great for bringing all your members, products, and discussions together in the same convenient space.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also a range of tools on Podia to help you market your online courses<\/strong><\/a>, including custom website solutions, email marketing tools, and live chat widgets.<\/p>\n Podia is fantastic for creating standalone courses featuring a number of different kinds of media, including images, video, audio files, and PDFs.<\/p>\n You can pre-sell your course by taking payments prior to launch and automating drip-based courses too.<\/p>\n Pros:<\/strong><\/p>\n Cons:<\/strong><\/p>\n Pricing: <\/strong><\/p>\n There are a handful of pricing options available through Podia, starting with the \u201cMover\u201d package for $39 per month, with zero transaction fees, unlimited courses, and digital downloads.<\/p>\n The \u201cShaker\u201d package is $79 for everything in Mover, plus the ability to build membership communities.<\/p>\n Finally, the Earthquaker package at $179 per month comes with a dedicated account manager and personalized onboarding.<\/p>\n <\/i>Podia is easily the best software for creating online courses if you want to build a robust community around your lessons. The membership functionalities are second to none, and you can even create affiliate relationships.<\/p>\n Create a course with Podia<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n iSpring Suite is one of the top course creation platforms on the market, thanks to the cost-effective pricing structure, easy-to-learn ecosystem, and feature-rich capabilities.<\/p>\n The learning authoring tool promises to help educators design the ultimate learning experience for their students as quickly as possible, with the minimum initial investment.<\/p>\n To ensure you can jump into course creation as fast as possible, iSpring Suite comes with access to a massive database of templates, design assets, and other handy features.<\/p>\n The system is compatible with most of the top LMS (Learning Management Systems) on the market, and there\u2019s a free trial for thirty days to experiment with.<\/p>\n Features range all the way from a custom quiz maker so you can put your students\u2019 skills to the test, to a professional video studio and conversion simulator. There\u2019s also an interaction editor, and flipbook creator, with dialogue simulations.<\/p>\n Pros:<\/strong><\/p>\n Cons:<\/strong><\/p>\n Pricing: <\/strong><\/p>\n There\u2019s a free trial for up to 30 days available for iSpring Suite.<\/p>\n After that, you\u2019ll need to pay around $570 per year for a single author, or you can get a discount for multiple authors (up to 3).<\/p>\n There\u2019s also iSpring Suite \u201cMax\u201d at $719 per month.<\/p>\n <\/i>iSpring Suite is the best course creation platform for access to free assets, templates, and tools when you\u2019re building your online course. You\u2019ll have endless images and characters to explore to bring your course to life.<\/p>\n Create a course with iSpring<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Widely considered one of the best tools on the market for course creation, Kajabi is a full suite of world-class tools combined to deliver the ultimate learning experience.<\/p>\n You can create and sell online courses in no time with Kajabi, and even access features to help you collaborate with a comprehensive team too.<\/p>\n Kajabi\u2019s online platform is unique because it gives you a host of intelligent ways to monetize your knowledge, transforming all kinds of ideas into coaching programs, podcasts, membership sites, communities, and more.<\/p>\n There are even product blueprints to help you start building. Kajabi accepts a range of payment options and allows you to access in-depth analytics into your customers.<\/p>\n For improving your chances of long-term sales and conversions, there\u2019s also access to in-built email marketing, so you can send drip messages straight to students and subscribers.<\/p>\n If you need extra functionality, integrations are available with leading tools like ClickFunnels and WordPress.<\/p>\n Pros:<\/strong><\/p>\n Cons:<\/strong><\/p>\n Pricing:<\/strong><\/p>\n Pricing starts at $119 per month for the Basic package which allows you to sell up to three products.<\/p>\n If you want to sell up to 15 products, create 15 pipelines, and have up to 25,000 contacts on your list, you\u2019ll need the $159 growth plan.<\/p>\n Alternatively, there\u2019s a $319 Pro package for access to 100 products, pipelines, and 100,000 contacts.<\/p>\n <\/i>Kajabi is ideal if you want an all-in-one environment for course creation, website building, and interactions with your target audience. You can even access built-in email marketing for easier lead nurturing.<\/p>\n Create a course with Kajabi<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The table below compares the best online course creation software in terms of cost and functionality offered with a free account.<\/p>\n Now that you have a clear idea of the best course creation software around, it\u2019s time to select the best online course builder for your needs.<\/p>\n Though we\u2019ve chosen our feature platforms based on their ability to appeal to a wide range of educators, there will be specific factors you need to consider to make your final choice.<\/p>\n Here are some points to think about:<\/p>\nTop 7 Best Online Course Platforms<\/h2>\n
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1. LearnDash<\/h3>\n
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2. LearnWorlds<\/h3>\n
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3. Teachable<\/h3>\n
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4. Thinkific<\/h3>\n
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5. Podia<\/h3>\n
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6. iSpring Suite<\/h3>\n
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7. Kajabi<\/h3>\n
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Comparison of the Best Online Course Builders<\/h2>\n
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\n Platform<\/strong><\/td>\n Cost<\/strong><\/td>\n Free Trial<\/strong><\/td>\n Best Platform For<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n LearnDash<\/a><\/td>\n $199-$299 per month<\/td>\n No (money-back guarantee instead)<\/td>\n WordPress course building<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n LearnWorlds<\/a><\/td>\n $29-$99 per month<\/td>\n Yes (14 days)<\/td>\n Student engagement<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Teachable<\/a><\/td>\n Free to $299 per month<\/td>\n Free version<\/td>\n Customer service and support<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Thinkific<\/a><\/td>\n Free to $79 per month<\/td>\n Free version<\/td>\n Simple online course creation<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Podia<\/a><\/td>\n $49-$179 per month<\/td>\n Yes (14 days)<\/td>\n Community development<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n iSpring Suite<\/a><\/td>\n $570-$719 per month<\/td>\n Yes (30 days)<\/td>\n Free assets and resources<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Kajabi<\/a><\/td>\n $119-319 per month<\/td>\n Yes (14 days)<\/td>\n All-in-one course creation<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n How to select a good online course builder?<\/h2>\n