How we compare online course platforms
We list 10 online course platforms sold to US creators, and a published rate card exists for 9 providers. Where a vendor negotiates terms instead of publishing them, the table shows a quote. Every price was read at the vendor's own pricing page, as the true monthly rate wherever the vendor sells one, rather than the discounted annual view most of these pages open on.
The calculator takes your monthly course revenue, active students and number of courses, picks each vendor's cheapest plan whose caps cover those figures, and adds that plan's cut of your revenue. Commission does not change the order.
Two limits worth stating plainly. LearnWorlds charges per paid enrollment rather than a share of revenue, listed as $5 per paid enrollment (Starter), none above, and the calculator does not collect enrollments, so its estimate is a floor. GetResponse can only sell courses from its Creator plan upward, so it is listed on that plan rather than on the cheaper email-only tiers.
The cut each online course platform takes from a sale
This is the number that decides the category. Several platforms charge a percentage of every sale on their cheapest plan and drop it one plan up. That creates a crossover: below some monthly revenue the cheap plan wins, and above it the same plan is the expensive choice.
| Provider | Entry plan /mo | Transaction fee |
|---|---|---|
| Circle | $89/mo (Professional) | 2% (Professional), 1% (Business), 0.5% (Circle Plus) |
| Coursera | By application | N/A (revenue share instead) |
| GetResponse | $69/mo (Creator) | 0% (Creator and above) |
| Kajabi | $179/mo (Basic) | 0% (Kajabi Payments; 2%, 1% or 0.5% via a third-party gateway) |
| LearnWorlds | $29/mo (Starter) | $5 per paid enrollment (Starter), none above |
| Podia | $49/mo (Mover) | 5% (Mover), 0% (Shaker and above) |
| Skool | $9/mo (Hobby) | 10% (Hobby), 2.9% (Pro) |
| Teachable | $39/mo (Starter) | 7.5% (Starter), 0% (Builder and above) |
| Thinkific | $54/mo (Basic) | 0% (Thinkific Payments; a per-plan gateway fee applies via Stripe or PayPal) |
| Udemy | Free to publish | N/A (revenue share instead) |
You can find any crossover in one step: take the gap between two plan prices and divide it by the difference between their fee rates. That is the monthly revenue at which the fee has eaten the whole saving. The calculator does this for every provider at once, so set your real monthly revenue rather than reading down the entry-price column.
Two things get blurred here. A platform's cut is not card processing: you still pay a processor on every sale, so a zero here means the platform's own cut is zero, not that selling is free. And where a vendor offers a zero cut only on its own payment rail, routing to your own gateway can bring a fee back, which is what the Kajabi and Thinkific rows say.
Student and course caps on an online course platform
The second bill nobody quotes is a limit. Several platforms cap active students or published courses on an entry plan, and crossing either forces an upgrade regardless of what you earn.
| Provider | Students included | Courses included |
|---|---|---|
| Circle | Unlimited members on every plan | Unlimited on every plan |
| Coursera | Unlimited | Agreed with Coursera as part of the partnership |
| GetResponse | 500 students (Creator) | Unlimited (Creator+) |
| Kajabi | 2,500 contacts (Basic), 25,000 (Growth), 100,000 (Pro) | 5 (Basic), 50 (Growth), Unlimited (Pro) |
| LearnWorlds | 1,000 active learners (Starter), 2,000 (Pro Trainer and above) | Unlimited (Pro Trainer+) |
| Podia | Unlimited customers on every plan | 50 (Mover), 150 (Shaker), Unlimited (Earthquaker) |
| Skool | Unlimited members on both plans | Unlimited on both plans |
| Teachable | 100 (Starter), 1,000 (Builder), 5,000 (Growth) | 5 (Starter), 10 (Builder), 50 (Growth) |
| Thinkific | 10,000 on every paid plan | Unlimited on every plan |
| Udemy | Unlimited | Unlimited |
A cap behaves differently from a fee. A fee scales with sales, so it only bites when the business is working. A cap can be crossed by a free lead magnet or a second course that has not sold anything yet. Read the wording closely: Kajabi counts contacts and LearnWorlds counts active learners, so free students consume the allowance you are paying for.
Where a platform's plans differ by features rather than caps, the calculator cannot see the feature you need. Live cohorts, certificates, communities and branding are what separate those plans, so price the plan you would really buy.
Marketplace or your own school: what an online course platform sells you
Udemy and Coursera are not platforms you host on. You list on their site, they bring the students, and they keep a share of each sale instead of charging a subscription.
| Provider | Revenue share | Custom domain |
|---|---|---|
| Coursera | Not published; partnership terms are negotiated | No, courses live on coursera.org |
| Udemy | 63% on sales Udemy sources, 3% on sales you bring through your own coupon or referral link | No, courses live on udemy.com |
At very low revenue a share of very little is less than any subscription. At real revenue the share is a large bill. The trade is not really about money, though. On a marketplace the learner belongs to the platform: it sets the discounting, holds the email address, and decides what to show them next. On your own school you pay up front, do your own marketing, and the audience is yours to sell to again.
So the question is whether you already have an audience. If you do, switch on the "Use my own audience" filter above and the marketplaces drop out. If you do not, the share a marketplace keeps is buying distribution you would otherwise fund yourself.
Community, email and the subscriptions an online course platform replaces
Comparing plan prices alone flatters whichever platform does least. The clearest split is between platforms built around courses and platforms built around a community that happens to contain courses. If a recurring membership is what you are really selling, that matters more than the entry price.
| Provider | Built-in community |
|---|---|
| Circle | Native, and the core of the product |
| Coursera | Course discussion forums |
| GetResponse | No |
| Kajabi | Yes, 1 community (Basic and Growth), 3 (Pro) |
| LearnWorlds | Yes, built-in community and social network on every plan |
| Podia | Yes, community spaces |
| Skool | Native, and the core of the product |
| Teachable | Yes, student discussions and comments |
| Thinkific | Yes, 1 community (Basic and Start), 3 (Grow) |
| Udemy | Q&A and announcements within each course |
Email is the other subscription in play, and on some rows it is metered separately from students or sold as an add-on.
| Provider | Email marketing |
|---|---|
| Circle | Paid add-on, Email Hub priced separately by contacts |
| Coursera | No, Coursera owns the learner relationship |
| GetResponse | Native, and the core product, with unlimited monthly sends |
| Kajabi | Native, unlimited marketing emails on every plan |
| LearnWorlds | Yes, built-in email |
| Podia | Native, with email contacts metered separately from students |
| Skool | Basic broadcasts to members |
| Teachable | Yes, basic broadcasts to students |
| Thinkific | Yes, email automation included |
| Udemy | Limited announcements only, Udemy owns the student relationship |
Price the stack, not the platform. A dearer plan that removes an email subscription and a community subscription can be the cheaper answer once all three bills are on the table.
Trials, billing basis and leaving an online course platform
Free plans are rare here. What each vendor offers instead is a trial on its own terms.
| Provider | Free plan |
|---|---|
| Circle | No, 14-day trial with no card required |
| Coursera | Not applicable, partnership is by application |
| GetResponse | Free plan for email tools only, courses need Creator or above |
| Kajabi | No, 30-day trial |
| LearnWorlds | No, 30-day trial |
| Podia | No, 30-day trial with no card required |
| Skool | No, free trial only |
| Teachable | No, 7-day trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee |
| Thinkific | No, 30-day trial |
| Udemy | Yes, no fee to create, host or publish |
The figures in our table are monthly rates you can cancel any month. Every row but Circle is billed that way; Circle's billing basis reads Annual only, so its row is the monthly equivalent of a year paid up front. Decide the platform on the monthly figures, then take the annual discount on whichever one you picked.
A course is not a quick thing to move, so check the exit. The self-hosted platforms put the school on a domain you control. The marketplaces do not, which is the difference between changing a supplier later and starting the audience again.