Are you looking for the best online course websites or platforms? Whether you’re a content creator aiming to sell courses or a learner wanting to gain new skills, this guide is here to help. In this comprehensive article, we’ll explore the best online course websites, diving into their advantages and disadvantages to help you make the best choice.
What to search for in an Online Course Builder website?
Few things that you should search for in an online course builder website we mentioned beneath. These elements may influence your ability to make better courses and improve your business over time.
1. Course making features
Relying on what type of online course you need to sell, you may have specific features in mind that you’ll want. For example, you may need to create quizzes, provide homework to students, or suggest multiple payment methods.
Many learning management systems (LMS) allow various course making features. Make sure you analyze them before you sign-up so that you don’t have to change websites later on.
2. Payment solutions
You may also need to make sure that they allow payment solutions that are reasonably priced for you as the business proprietor. Some online course builder websites may credit a percentage of profits generated from selling every course, and this amount figures up over time.
3. Integrations
Integrations assist you to relate your online courses to third-party websites or platforms and marketing automation tools. For example, you may require to linked it with your social media marketing tool, [email marketing service (https://www.wpbeginner.com/showcase/best-email-marketing-services/)], or your CRM software.
Make guarantee that your online course website or platform allows third-party integrations and previously has many important ones ready to use.
4. Freedom and Flexibility
Many online course websites or platforms may hold their own terms and conditions that may harm your business. For instance, they may not permit you to sell some types of courses or may have the capacity to shut down your whole business without any warning.
Some websites or platforms negotiate on flexibility for smoothness of use, which means you have limited control over your courses, and you cannot add or combine new features/customization on your own course.
5. Efficiency of use and Support
As a course maker and entrepreneur, you want to pick a course builder that is comfortable for you to practice. It should originate with customizable templates, work with your personal website or platform, and offer good customer support.
You furthermore want to make sure that it is user-friendly for your customers and students too.
Holding these guidelines in mind, let’s take a look at the best online course websites or platforms on the market nowadays.
Best Online Course Websites or Platforms to Make and Sell Online Courses
We are revealing this guide into two segments. The first six course websites or platforms are for content or course makers searching to create and sell online courses.
If you’re searching for best online learning websites or platforms for students or learners, then please hit the link to take to that section.
So, here are the best online course websites or platforms for content inventors, makers, and teachers:
MemberPress is the best WordPress LMS plugin on the e-market and most comfortable method to create online courses.
It works on the head of WordPress, which powers above 39% of all websites or platforms on the internet.
MemberPress comes with an online-courses addon that permits you to comfortably create, manage, and sell online courses. Their drag and drop course builder is super comfortable to use.
You also don’t worry about design works. MemberPress combines a virtual classroom functionality that takes care of styling, customizing, and works with all WordPress themes.
The classroom mode is built to offer an interactive training event on your course website. You can add high-quality video content with extra downloadable stores.
The most beneficial part is that you receive access to MemberPress’s powerful content entrance controls. This permits you to sell unlimited courses with various pricing opportunities and subscription systems.
You can also include digital downloads with access control, so just logged-in students or learners can access them.
MemberPress checkout smoothly integrates with your email marketing service, therefore you can add every student or learner to your email list, so you can inform them of upcoming or new course discounts or upsell in the future.
You can attach a discussion forum applying bbPress to increase engagement, add an affiliate program or referral system using Affiliate Royale to boost sales, and build custom sales pages/webinar pages using SeedProd to develop your online course business.
Advantages:
- MemberPress is very comfortable for use also for beginners. You don’t require any coding skills to practice it.
- Visual course builder makes it so simple to make courses for educators or teachers.
- It contributes a more enjoyable learning experience for students or learners with the classroom mode
- Ability to sell group memberships, drip course content, and every powerful membership features.
- You have the right to set your personal course rates, price upfront vs subscription fees, have multiple pricing choices for your online school, and more.
- It permits multiple payment gateways like Authorize.net and Stripe for credit cards and complete PayPal support.
- It doesn’t take a percentage of your course sales like other websites or platforms.
- MemberPress combines with all common email marketing services like MailChimp, and they additionally have a Zapier integration that allows you to connect with above 2000+ apps.
- As it’s a WordPress plugin, you have the flexibility or rights to customize your website layout, add new features, and more without any limitations.
Disadvantages:
You’ll require to arrange a WordPress site which means installing updates and maintaining backups.
If you haven’t managed WordPress before, then there might be a small learning hook as you familiarize yourself with it. Maximum newcomers quickly overcome this period quite smoothly.
Pricing: Its starts from $149 per year for a single site license (there is no monthly fee).
How to Start with MemberPress:
To create and sell courses with MemberPress, you will require to build a WordPress website.
We have formed a comprehensive step by step on how to design a membership website in WordPress with MemberPress.
LearnDash is a very famous WordPress LMS plugin and online course maker. It permits you to simply sell online courses utilizing WordPress.
LearnDash appears with an intuitive drag and drops course maker that permits you to build any type of course, add interactive video lessons, assignments, quizzes, and more.
You can deliver all course materials right-way, or use the drip content feature to publish content as users run along a course. It is super comfortable to use and delivers you a number of tools you would want to see in an LMS website or platform.
It combines with all popular payment systems, bbPress, WordPress eCommerce plugins, and more. It also works with MemberPress providing you to let MemberPress handle subscriptions and LearnDash handle the course management.
You can build sales funnels for your courses or classes by using the SeedProd landing page builder and attach gamification by applying any of the WordPress gamification plugins.
If you’re trying to create TinCan or SCORM content, then you will need the UncannyOwl Toolkit with the all-access license. They enable you to attach various powerful features to LearnDash.
Advantages:
Full-fledged WordPress LMS plugin with lessons, quizzes, certificates, assignments, and more.
Easy and simple to use with a visual course developer that enables you to build interactive online courses.
Integrations enable you to attach third-party tools you’ll necessitate to promote your online course.
It never takes a percentage of your course sales or profits like other websites or platforms.
Disadvantages:
- Content path controls are not as strong as MemberPress.
- Limited or less control on building multiple subscriptions with various access controls.
- Runs on WordPress, then you’ll need to maintain your own site, which is much comfortable for most newcomers.
Pricing: Its starting from $159 for a single site license.
How to Start with MemberPress:
To create and sell courses with LearnDash, you must create a WordPress website.
To get started, you must have your personal domain name and web hosting. The domain name is your website’s place on the internet like ethosland.com, and web hosting is anywhere your website data are saved.
We suggest using Bluehost. They are giving ethosland users a reasonable 40% discount on hosting, a full free domain name, and one year free SSL certificate. Primarily, you can start for $3.95 per month.
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It is a hosted all-in-one platform that permits you to simply build courses and sell them without maintaining any software or installing updates.
You can work with Teachable on personal domain name or add or combine it as a subdomain to your present website.
It is super smooth to use and provides you an easy drag and drop platform to create courses, upload courses, and publish it. It additionally adds marketing and analytics to assist promote your course.
Teachable also supervise payments for you and suggests your customer’s multiple methods to pay. You can also use its deeply optimized sales to build landing pages for your courses.
Advantages:
- Amazingly comfortable to use.
- You don’t require to handle any software updates, installation, or backups.
- You also don’t worry about balancing resources as your business develops.
- Powerful integrations permit you to use third-party tools for marketing, selling, and growth.
Disadvantages:
Teachable is very costly than LearnDash or MemberPress.
It also requires 5% transaction fee per transaction if you are holding the basic plan.
Its pricing starts from $29 per month for a basic plan with 5% transaction fee. You can migrate to the Pro plan which has no transaction fees or charges but it costs $99 per month.
Thinkific also fully-hosted online course website or platform comparable to Teachable.
It’s also an intuitive drag and drops visual course maker that allows you to make highly interactive courses. You can upload any content or videos to your course.
Thinkific holds all features you can await from an LMS plugin. Plus, you can build many multiple subscription programs, create landing pages, and create a membership community.
Advantages:
- Thinkific is really simple to use for all users
- It is fully hosted which signifies you don’t need to suffer from installing software, backup, and additional technical aspects.
- You can increase your business without troubling about balancing the platform
Disadvantages:
It is so much expansive than WordPress powered LMS website or platform like MemberPress
Their free plan is very limited in features
Pricing: Poor free plan that permits you to allow up to three courses. Paid systems start at $39 per month.
LifterLMS is a popular and modern WordPress LMS plugin that you can use to build and attend courses online.
LifterLMS is a great platform and begins with tools that assist you in easily make online courses. It additionally gives a better learning experience for your users or students which is essential to create a community throughout your website.
It is enough to set up a little online coaching/learning website or a full-fledged degree presentation. It holds multi-tier courses, where you can add training categories, modules, lessons, and many more.
It has excellent features like drip content, group memberships, course progression requirements, and more.
Advantages:
- A great platform to build highly engaging online education communities.
- Comfortable to use with a simple course developer that helps you include any type of course element.
- Integrations for third-party services to assist you to promote and grow.
Disadvantages:
You require to maintain your WordPress website and install updates
The expense may rise if you want to buy individual addons
Pricing: It’s starting from $99 per year for a single website. You’ll need to buy addons individually and pricing for add-ons normally starts from $99 per year.
How to Start with MemberPress:
You’ll have to buy a domain name and web hosting to set up your WordPress site.
We suggest SiteGround, Bluehost, or any other recommended WordPress hosting provider.
WooCommerce is a very popular eCommerce platform in the whole world. It is strangely very easy and flexible which advances it a great base to make your online course.
For managing and selling online courses with WooCommerce, you’ll need their Sensei LMS extension.
Sensei LMS is a straightforward and very simple LMS add-on that allows you to build courses, lessons, add modules, and quizzes.
It is comfortable to use, and you can instantly set up a course website applying the WooCommerce storefront theme.
If you need to real-time analytics, you can use the MonsterInsights analytics plugin. To design custom sales pages, you may use SeedProd page builder.
Advantages:
Straightforward and simple LMS plugin
Runs on top of WooCommerce which permits you to sell other digital or physical products on the same website.
You can use basic WordPress plugins to spread your website and improve your business.
Disadvantages:
Requires paid addons to build paid courses and subscription plans
It lacks some of the advanced LMS plugin features.
You’ll need to control your WooCommerce store and install updates
Pricing: Sensie LMS itself is fully free, but you’ll have WooCommerce Paid Subscriptions add-on to build paid courses which costs $129 per year.
How to Start with MemberPress:
You’ll have to buy a domain name and web hosting to set up your WordPress site.
We suggest SiteGround, Bluehost, or any other recommended WordPress hosting provider.
Best Online Course websites or Platforms for Students/Learners
Whether you’re an ambitious expert or a student, collecting new skills and continue advancing on them can unlock many doors of opportunities in the current economy.
There are a ton of online learning websites or platforms for students/learners that you can connect to get a new skill or to track your passion.
LinkedIn Learning (heretofore, Lynda) is a popular best website or platform to learn creative, digital, and many professional skills. They are a huge variety of topics and classes for every level of users or learners (not just beginners).
LinkedIn Learning’s courses are formed by experts with real-world qualifications and experience in their specialty.
You can learn at your personal pace using their online teaching section or platform, or their iOS / Android app.
You also acquire to receive certificates upon fulfillment of a course which you can then present as a badge on your LinkedIn profile.
Advantages:
- More powerful quality courses prepared by specialists with relevant background
- Certificates and Badges that you can present on your LinkedIn profile
- Plus, You also get way to LinkedIn Premium with higher salary and job insights, InMail credits, extensive profile viewing, and more.
Disadvantages:
- More costly than other online learning sites and skill-sharing platforms.
- LinkedIn does not allow refunds, so you should take advantage of their free trial before buying.
Pricing: They have a free trial, but pricing begins at $29.99 per month.
Skillshare is one of the biggest online course websites or platforms for students/learners with hundreds of courses on a huge variety of topics and categories.
It has a free trial with limitations, then, you can upgrade to premium which provides you access to thousands of premium online courses that you can enter.
Courses are performed by specialists and teachers, not by Skillshare itself. Teachers/content makers are rewarded for these courses by views. This serves as an incentive for teachers or content makers to offer more high-grade quality and highly engaging courses.
Advantages:
- It is very affordable and you can cancel or drop anytime.
- They have thousands of classes on a very wide number of skills and subjects
- Simple to use with a built-in community part that makes learning with pleasure
Disadvantages:
- They have too many courses, that’s why it can be challenging to decide where to begin.
- Skillshare courses can be prepared by anyone and there are not too many checks on the standardization or quality of the courses.
Pricing: Skillshare Premium course starts from $3.29 per month and paid yearly.
Another good platform to learn new skills is Coursera.
They present a variety of paid and free courses and also online degree programs. Coursera has partnered with technology companies like IBM and Google who want to promote the practice of its technologies by allowing free courses.
In addition, they also cooperate with colleges giving online degree programs. The courses submitted are made by experts with qualifications and skills in the topic matter.
Advantages:
- There are some helpful technical courses for beginners and newcomers are available for free entry
- Comfortable to use platform with a moderately better quality control than comparable platforms
- They have access to course elements from top IT colleges and companies
- The course takes a more academic approach.
Disadvantages:
Upselling of degree programs administered by colleges
Pricing: It’s varies based on the programs or courses you choose to enroll.
Which is the Best Online Course Websites and Platform (Expert choice)
After judging all the popular online course websites or platforms, we suggest MemberPress as the best and most reliable online course website or platform to build and sell online courses.
If you’re a student or learner searching for the best online learning website or platform to develop your skills, then Skillshare and LinkedIn Learning are the best online learning websites or platforms for students or learners.
We hope this content helped you pick the best online course websites or platforms. If you are selling your personal online courses, then you may need to view our guide on how to grow your business online 2025 without the cost of a fortune.
If you enjoyed this article, consider subscribing to our YouTube Channel for more about earning online. You can also connect with us on Twitter and Facebook.
Disclaimer: to help eliminate decision paralysis, we only analyzed the top online course websites and platforms. This list doesn’t hold other e-learning platforms or course marketplace like Kajabi, Udemy, Podia, WizIQ, LearnWorlds, Academy of Mine, iSpring, etc.
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