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The best online course platforms, priced honestly
19 platforms, priced at your own student count with the add-ons included. I have used 8 of them on camera and the verdicts are on their pages, with the timestamp for every claim. 19 publish a price, every one of them.
Every platform
checked 14 Oct 2026 · 2 need checking by handHosted course platforms: build, sell and deliver courses, often with community and email attached
Systeme.io also in Funnels and landing pages
Getting a course, a list and a funnel live for nothing, then paying very little as it grows.
LearnWorlds
Course design that goes deep: interactive video, assessments, learning paths, a branded app, for someone whose course IS the product.
Heights Platform
Growing from a first challenge to a large student base on one platform, with AI drafting the course and no cut of sales.
Teachable
Selling a handful of courses without wanting the platform to run your whole business.
Podia
Courses, downloads and a community on one simple bill, for a creator who wants the least admin.
Teachery
Paying once and owning it: one flat price, or a lifetime licence, with nothing metered.
Thinkific
A straight course platform with communities bolted on, where the price does not move with students.
Kartra also in Funnels and landing pages
Memberships and courses with the email, checkout and affiliate programme around them, priced by contacts.
GoHighLevel also in Funnels and landing pages
Courses and communities inside the same platform that runs your funnels, CRM, email and calendar, at one flat price with unlimited contacts.
Xperiencify
Courses built around gamification: points, streaks and triggers to get students to actually finish.
Kajabi
Running the whole business from one place: courses, the email list, the website, the checkout and the community, and paying for that convenience.
Community first: a paid community with courses, events and a feed inside it
Skool
A paid community with courses inside it, run from one feed, where the community is the product.
Mighty Networks
Community and courses together with a mobile app from day one, for a brand that wants its own network.
Circle
A community that feels like a product, with courses, events and a branded app around it.
Storefronts that take a cut of sales instead of a subscription
Payhip
Selling courses, downloads and memberships from a free storefront and paying a cut only when you sell.
Gumroad
Putting a course or a download on sale today with no bill until something sells.
Whop
Selling access to a community, a course or software with no subscription and the payments stack handled.
Questions
What is the best online course platform?
It depends on whether you are selling courses, a community with courses inside it, or downloads. Kajabi, Thinkific and Teachable are course platforms; Skool, Circle and Mighty Networks are communities first; Payhip, Gumroad and Whop are storefronts that take a cut instead of a subscription; LearnDash and Tutor LMS run inside your own WordPress. The quiz asks what you sell first, then compares.
How much does a course platform cost?
Anything from nothing with a cut of each sale (Payhip, Gumroad, Whop) to $29 to $499 a month. The figure to watch is the platform's own cut on its cheaper plans: Teachable Starter takes 7.5% of sales, Skool Hobby 10%, Podia Mover 5%, on top of card processing. At $2,000 a month of sales that cut is bigger than the subscription, so the quiz asks how much you sell and adds it.
Which platforms take a cut of my sales?
Gumroad (10% plus 50 cents), Payhip (5% on its free plan, 2% at $29, none at $99), Skool (10% on Hobby, 2.9% on Pro), Teachable (7.5% on Starter, none above), Podia (5% on Mover, none above), Circle and Mighty Networks (2% down to 0.5% by plan). Kajabi, Thinkific, Teachery, Heights, LearnDash and Tutor LMS take nothing beyond card processing. Every one of them still pays the card processor, about 2.9% plus 30 cents.
Can I run courses on a WordPress site I already have?
Yes. LearnDash and Tutor LMS are WordPress plugins licensed by the year (Tutor LMS has a free core), with no per-student fee. You run the hosting, the theme and the payment plugin, which is cheaper and more work than a hosted platform.
Do these platforms offer a free trial?
Thinkific, LearnWorlds and Heights Platform give you 30 days, in most cases with no card required. Kajabi, Teachable, Podia, Teachery, Circle, Mighty Networks, LearnDash and GoHighLevel give you 14. Payhip, Gumroad, Whop, Tutor LMS and Systeme.io also run a permanently free tier, so a short trial is less of a constraint there. The rest are demo-led with neither, which is worth knowing before you get attached to one.
Are these affiliate links?
Some of them, and it is marked clearly on every recommendation. It does not change what the quiz returns. Where two platforms score within a few points of each other the cheaper one wins, and several of the platforms recommended here pay nothing at all.
Who is behind this?
Dave Crawford. He builds operations and automation systems for small service businesses, which means he has spent a lot of time inside tools like these with real clients rather than reading their marketing pages. The prices here are checked against each company's own pricing page and rechecked weekly.