Selling online courses has never been more accessible — but choosing the wrong platform can cost you thousands in lost revenue, clunky student experiences, and fees that eat into every sale. With dozens of course platforms competing for your attention in 2025, the decision feels overwhelming. This guide cuts through the noise and breaks down the best platforms for selling online courses based on what actually matters to creators: revenue control, audience ownership, marketing tools, and ease of use. Whether you're launching your first course or scaling a six-figure education business, you'll find the right fit here.
What to Look for in an Online Course Platform
Before diving into specific platforms, it's worth understanding what separates a great course platform from a mediocre one. The cheapest option isn't always the best, and the most feature-rich platform isn't always the right fit for where you are right now.
Revenue Control and Transaction Fees
Some platforms take a cut of every sale you make. Others charge a flat monthly fee and let you keep 100% of your revenue. Over time, transaction fees can add up to a significant chunk of your income — especially once you're consistently selling. Always calculate what you'd actually take home at your expected revenue level before committing.
Audience Ownership
This is a big one. Some marketplaces host your course alongside thousands of competitors and technically own the relationship with your students. Platforms that let you build your own email list, communicate directly with students, and drive traffic from your own channels give you far more long-term security as a creator.
Marketing and Sales Tools
Can the platform handle coupons, upsells, affiliate programs, and email sequences? The best online course platforms aren't just hosting tools — they're full sales engines. If you have to bolt on five other tools just to run a promotion, that's friction you don't need.
Student Experience and Course Delivery
A well-designed student portal keeps learners engaged and reduces refund requests. Look for platforms that support video hosting, quizzes, completion certificates, drip content, and community features. The smoother the learning experience, the better your reviews and word-of-mouth growth.
The Best Platforms for Selling Online Courses in 2025
Here's a thorough breakdown of the top platforms, covering who each one is best suited for and where they fall short.
Teachable
Teachable has been one of the most popular online course platforms for years, and in 2025 it remains a strong choice for creators who want a polished, reliable setup without a steep learning curve. You get a drag-and-drop course builder, built-in payment processing, student management, and basic email marketing tools all in one place.
Best for: Creators launching their first or second course who want a clean, professional setup quickly.
- Free plan available (with transaction fees on sales)
- Paid plans start at around $39/month with reduced or zero transaction fees
- Supports coaching products, digital downloads, and memberships
- Built-in affiliate marketing on higher-tier plans
Watch out for: The free plan charges a 10% transaction fee, which adds up fast. The built-in marketing tools are useful but limited compared to dedicated email platforms.
Kajabi
Kajabi is the all-in-one platform that coaches, consultants, and serious course creators often graduate to once they're ready to scale. It combines course hosting, website building, email marketing, pipelines (sales funnels), community features, and podcast hosting under one roof. The price reflects that — Kajabi is one of the more expensive options — but for creators who are tired of duct-taping tools together, it can simplify operations significantly.
Best for: Established creators and coaches earning consistent revenue who want one platform to run their entire business.
- No transaction fees on any plan
- Plans start at around $69/month (billed annually)
- Excellent email automation and sales funnel capabilities
- Strong community and membership features
Watch out for: The cost is a real barrier for newer creators. If you're not yet generating consistent sales, you may not get enough value to justify the monthly spend.
Thinkific
Thinkific competes directly with Teachable and is often compared side by side. It offers a solid free plan with no transaction fees, which gives it a genuine edge for creators who are just getting started. The platform handles course creation, student progress tracking, certificates, and basic community features well.
Best for: Creators who want to start for free and scale gradually without being hit with transaction fees from day one.
- Free plan with no transaction fees (limited to one course and one community)
- Paid plans from around $36/month
- Strong quiz and assignment tools
- Thinkific Apps marketplace for extending functionality
Watch out for: The free plan is genuinely limited in scope. Email marketing and sales funnel tools are basic, so you'll likely need third-party integrations as you grow.
Podia
Podia is a creator-friendly platform that supports online courses, digital downloads, memberships, and webinars in one place. It has a reputation for excellent customer support and a clean, intuitive interface. Podia also lets you create a simple storefront and embed products directly on your website.
Best for: Creators who sell a mix of digital products — courses, downloads, and memberships — and want everything managed from one dashboard.
- Free plan available with an 8% transaction fee
- Paid plans from around $33/month with zero transaction fees
- Built-in email marketing and newsletter tools
- Good affiliate program management on higher plans
Watch out for: Course customisation and advanced learning features are less robust than Teachable or Kajabi. If your course experience needs to be highly polished and structured, you may hit limitations.
Gumroad
Gumroad sits more in the digital product space than the dedicated course platform category, but it's worth including because many creators use it to sell video courses, PDF guides, and bundled content with minimal setup. It's extremely simple to use and takes only minutes to publish your first product.
Best for: Creators selling straightforward course content, templates, or digital downloads who don't need a full learning management system.
- Free to start with a 10% fee per transaction
- No monthly subscription required
- Built-in discovery through the Gumroad marketplace
- Supports memberships and subscription products
Watch out for: Gumroad is not a true course platform. There's no learning portal, quizzes, or structured student experience. It's best for simple content delivery rather than a full course curriculum.
Udemy
Udemy is the world's largest online course marketplace, with millions of students actively browsing for courses. If you want built-in traffic and discovery without running your own marketing, Udemy is hard to beat. However, the trade-offs are significant.
Best for: Creators who want organic discovery and don't mind pricing constraints, or who want to use Udemy as a top-of-funnel lead generator.
- Free to publish — no upfront cost
- Udemy takes a significant revenue share (up to 63% on organic sales)
- Massive built-in audience and marketplace SEO
- Frequent promotional sales can devalue your pricing
Watch out for: You have very little control over pricing, and Udemy frequently discounts your course to as low as a few dollars during promotions. You also don't own the student relationship — Udemy does. This makes it difficult to build a loyal audience or generate repeat revenue without going through the platform.
How to Choose the Right Platform for Your Course Business
The honest answer is that the best platform depends on where you are in your creator journey and what your priorities are. Here's a simple framework to guide your decision.
If You're Just Starting Out
Focus on getting your first course live without overthinking the platform. Thinkific's free plan or Teachable's basic tier are both solid starting points. The goal is to validate your course idea, get your first paying students, and start collecting reviews and testimonials. You can always migrate to a more powerful platform once you have consistent revenue.
If You're Scaling and Need More Control
Once you're generating regular sales, the platform's marketing tools, email list integration, and affiliate capabilities start to matter much more. Kajabi or a self-hosted solution like WordPress with plugins (such as LearnDash or MemberPress) gives you maximum control. At this stage, owning your audience — particularly your email list — is critical for long-term stability.
If You Want to Minimise Costs Early On
Gumroad or Podia's free tier let you start selling without a monthly fee. Just factor in transaction fees when pricing your course — you need to make sure your margins still make sense after fees are deducted.
If You Sell Courses Alongside Coaching or Consulting
Kajabi and Podia both handle hybrid business models well. If you're a coach or consultant building a personal brand on social media, you'll want a platform that can handle booking, digital products, and community in one place rather than managing separate subscriptions for each.
Driving Traffic to Your Online Course: The Part Most Creators Skip
Choosing the right platform is only half the battle. The biggest reason most courses fail to sell isn't the platform — it's the lack of a traffic strategy. Here's what actually works in 2025 for driving consistent course sales.
Build and Grow an Email List
Your email list is the most valuable asset in your creator business. Unlike social media followers, email subscribers are people you can reach directly without algorithm interference. Growing an email list as a creator should start before your course launches — offer a free resource, mini-course, or challenge to capture leads and warm them up before you pitch your paid product.
Use Social Media to Create Demand, Not Just Awareness
Posting about your course isn't enough. Social media growth for course creators works best when you focus on educational content that demonstrates your expertise and naturally leads people to want to go deeper. Short-form video on TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts is particularly effective for reaching new audiences and driving them toward your paid offering.
Optimise Your Link in Bio
Every piece of social content you create should funnel interested viewers to a single, optimised destination. Your link in bio is where social traffic converts into students, subscribers, and customers. A well-structured link in bio page should direct people to your course sales page, your email opt-in, your free resources, and any other key offers — all in one place, without confusion.
Leverage Affiliates and Brand Partnerships
If your course platform supports affiliate marketing, recruit students who loved your course to promote it. Affiliate-driven sales can become a significant portion of your revenue with minimal ongoing effort on your part. Similarly, brand deals and sponsorships can fund your content production costs while you're still building course revenue.
Mistakes Creators Make When Selling Online Courses
Understanding common pitfalls can save you months of frustration and wasted money.
Waiting Until the Course Is Perfect
Perfectionism is the number one reason creators delay their launch. You don't need a fully produced, edited, and polished course to start selling. In fact, pre-selling your course before you've recorded everything is a proven strategy that validates demand and funds production. Start with a minimum viable version and improve it based on real student feedback.
Underpricing to Be "Accessible"
New course creators often underprice out of fear that no one will pay a high price. In reality, underpricing can signal low value and attract price-sensitive students who are less likely to complete the course or get results. Price based on the transformation and outcome your course delivers, not just the hours of content inside it.
Neglecting the Sales Page
Your course could be exceptional, but if your sales page doesn't clearly communicate the problem you solve, who it's for, what students will achieve, and why you're qualified to teach it, conversions will suffer. Invest time in your sales page copy — it's the most important piece of marketing you'll create for your course.
Not Collecting Student Data
If you sell on a marketplace like Udemy, you don't own your student relationships. Make sure that wherever you sell, you have a way to capture email addresses so you can market future courses, products, and offers directly to people who've already bought from you. Repeat buyers are far more valuable than constantly chasing new cold traffic.
Conclusion: Choose a Platform, Build Your Audience, and Start Selling
There's no single best platform for selling online courses — the right choice depends on your current stage, budget, technical comfort level, and business model. For most creators starting out, Thinkific or Teachable offer the best balance of features and cost. If you're ready to go all-in and want one platform to run everything, Kajabi is worth the investment. And if you just want to get something live fast with minimal friction, Gumroad gets the job done.
Whatever platform you choose, remember that the platform itself is just infrastructure. Your real competitive advantage is your audience — the people who trust you, follow your content, and are ready to invest in what you create. Building that audience consistently, growing your email list, and making it easy for potential students to find your course and take action is what separates creators who generate passive income from those who don't.
That's where Linkrr comes in. As a creator, your link in bio is one of your most important conversion tools — it's the bridge between your social media content and your course sales page. With Linkrr, you can build a clean, high-converting link in bio page that showcases your course, captures email leads, promotes your digital products, and even displays your media kit for brand deals — all in one place. If you're serious about monetising your online presence and driving real revenue from your content, get started with Linkrr today and make every link count.
