25+ Best Online Course Platforms in 2025: The Ultimate Guide

The world of online education isn't just growing; it's exploding. In 2025, the eLearning market continues its rise, transforming how we share skills, build businesses, and advance careers. With more people than ever seeking flexible, on-demand learning, creating an online course has become one of the most powerful ways to monetize your expertise. But here’s the catch: your brilliant content needs a brilliant home. The platform you choose can be the difference between a side hustle that fizzles and a thriving digital education business.

If you're feeling overwhelmed by the sea of options, you're not alone. We've been there, spending countless hours comparing features, testing dashboards, and comparing pricing plans. This guide is the result of that deep dive, combined with the latest insights, to save you time and confusion. We’ll move beyond basic lists and explore the pros and cons of over 25 platforms, helping you find the perfect match for your goals, budget, and technical comfort.

Let’s cut through the noise and find your ideal online course platform.

Online Course Platform Comparison

Here’s a quick list of the online course platforms we’ll be discussing and how each platform compares to the others.

Understanding Online Course Platforms in 2025

Before we jump into the reviews, it is important to understand the different types of course software. Picking the right category is as important as choosing the tool itself.

1. Course First Platforms: Like the name implies, these platforms focus mainly on courses. They provide comprehensive course creation tools and handle everything from course hosting to video playback, assessments, course certificates and more. They mostly do not provide advanced tools for building websites and landing pages or managing marketing. If you want to sell courses only and don’t care about selling other types of digital products, these platforms typically provide the best value because they do one thing (course creation tools) really well.

2. All-in-One Course Platforms: These are the Swiss Army knives of the industry. They handle everything from course hosting and video playback to building your website, managing email marketing, selling multiple types of digital products and more. You get a complete ecosystem of digital business tools under one login and one monthly fee. Ideal for solopreneurs, coaches, and small to mid-sized businesses who want to avoid juggling a dozen different tools.

3. Course + Community Platforms: These tools focus on both course creation tools and community tools.  They often have advanced discussion features, live learning features and more tools to drive better student-teacher and student-student interactions and engagement. They are great for those who value community engagement while learning takes place.

4. Online Learning Marketplaces: Think of these as the "Amazon for courses." You upload your course to their existing platform (like Udemy or Skillshare), and they provide the audience, hosting, and payment processing. The trade-off? High commissions, less control over pricing and branding, and intense competition. Perfect for building initial credibility or earning passive income from a broad audience, but less ideal for building a standalone brand.

5. WordPress LMS Plugins: This route turns your self-hosted WordPress website into a full-fledged learning management system (LMS). It offers maximum control, customization, and ownership of your data. You’re responsible for hosting, security, and updates, but you can build exactly the experience you want. Best for the tech-savvy creator or organization that demands deep integration with their existing WordPress site and plugins.

Current Trend: The line between these categories is blurring. Many specialized course platforms are adding more community and all-in-one features, and marketplaces are offering more tools for creator branding. The dominant trends are AI-powered content creation and personalization, deeper community and engagement tools (beyond simple forums), micro-credentialing and certificates, and a strong focus on mobile-first learning experiences.

The Top Course First Platforms for 2025

1. Thinkific: The Versatile Powerhouse

Best For: Entrepreneurs and businesses looking for a robust, scalable, and highly professional platform that balances power with usability.

Thinkific remains a top contender in 2025 by consistently refining its balance of depth and design. It’s built for creators who are serious about building a branded education business, not just uploading a few videos.

What’s New & Notable in 2025:

• AI-Powered Tools: Thinkific Labs now includes AI-assisted course outline generation, quiz question creation, and even marketing copy suggestions, dramatically speeding up the initial setup.
• Enhanced Community Spaces: Beyond forums, their community features now allow for live streams, cohort-based learning pathways, and more integrated student interaction.
• Advanced Analytics Suite: Deeper insights into student engagement, including video watch-time heatmaps and progress attrition points, help you improve your content.

Standout Features:

• Unmatched Customization: Offers near-total creative freedom with a drag-and-drop site builder, allowing you to match your brand perfectly without needing to code.
• Flexible Course Delivery: Support for multimedia lessons, drip scheduling, prerequisites, and multiple content types (video, audio, PDF, presentations, etc.).
• Powerful Commerce Engine: Sell one-time courses, subscriptions, memberships, and bundles. Offers coupons, payment plans, and affiliates.
• Zero Transaction Fees: On all paid plans, you keep 100% of your revenue (minus standard payment processor fees like Stripe/PayPal).
• Strong Ecosystem: A vast app store with integrations for everything from email marketing (ConvertKit, Mailchimp) to webinar tools (Zoom) and analytics.

Pricing:

• Basic: $49/month
• Start: $99/month. Adds unlimited live events, coaching and advanced sales tools.
• Grow: $199/month. The popular plan for growing businesses, adding memberships, affiliates, and advanced pricing.
• Plus: Custom pricing for large organizations needing volume discounts, onboarding, and dedicated support.

Verdict: Thinkific is a "safe bet" that grows with you. It’s powerful enough for complex courses but easy enough for beginners, especially with its excellent free resources like "Thinkific Fast Track."

2. Teachable: The Creator-Focused Classic

Best For: First-time course creators, coaches, and subject matter experts who prioritize a clean, simple, and fast setup process.

Teachable has built its reputation on being easy to use. It continues to refine that user experience while adding more power under the hood. Its philosophy is to get you from idea to enrolled student as quickly as possible.

What’s New & Notable:

• Streamlined Course Builder: A redesigned, even more intuitive interface for structuring your curriculum and adding content.
• Enhanced Video Hosting: Improved video analytics and delivery for a smoother student experience.
• More Integrated Payment Options: Continued expansion of its own payment processor (Teachable Payments) to more regions, simplifying revenue collection.

Standout Features:

• Incredibly User-Friendly: The backend is clean and logical, making course creation feel less daunting for non-technical users.
• Solid Core Features: Everything you need is there: lectures, quizzes, discussions, certificates, and integrated checkout.
• Strong Affiliate Management: One of the easiest systems to set up and manage an affiliate program for your course.
• Good Mobile Experience: The course player works well on mobile devices, and students can use the Teachable mobile app.
• Teachable Payments: In supported countries, this simplifies setup by handling payments directly, though standard transaction fees apply on lower plans.

Pricing:

• Free Plan: Launch one course with basic features and a 10% transaction fee + payment processor fee.
• Builder: $69/month (billed annually). Removes Teachable branding.
• Growth: $139/month. The most popular plan, removing transaction fees and adding graded quizzes, advanced reports, and integrated affiliate marketing.
• Advanced: $309 per month with bulk student enrollment and advanced user roles.

Verdict: Teachable is the go-to for a reason. It strips away complexity without stripping away essential functionality. It’s a fantastic place to start, learn, and grow a profitable course business.

3. SchoolMaker: The Platform that Prioritizes Learner Success

Best For: Creators, coaches, consultants, and educators who prioritize excellent student outcomes. It facilitates community and live interaction without unnecessary complexity.

While many course platforms build community features as an afterthought, SchoolMaker is built from the ground up for the modern course model. It focuses on blending live sessions, community interaction, and structured curriculum in a seamless, user-friendly interface.

Key Features:

• Cohort-Centric Design: The entire platform is organized around course cohorts, with clear timelines, live session integration (Zoom, etc.), and a dedicated space for each group.
• Beautiful, Intuitive Community: The native community feed is central to the experience, encouraging discussion, peer feedback, and accountability in a clean, modern interface.
• Simple Course Builder: Easy-to-use curriculum builder for pre-recorded materials, worksheets, and resources that complement the live experience.
• Focus on Live Engagement: Tools for scheduling, managing, and following up on live calls are front and center.
• All-in-One Payments & Management: Handle enrollments, payments, and student communication directly within the platform.

Pricing: Starts at $29/month with zero transaction fees

Verdict: SchoolMaker solves a specific problem beautifully. If your teaching model revolves around live group interactions and community, it is one of the best platforms out there.

4. LearnWorlds: The Interactive Learning Specialist

Best For: Trainers, educators, and corporate trainers who want to create highly engaging, interactive, and social learning experiences that go beyond passive video watching.

LearnWorlds has carved out a niche by focusing deeply on the interactivity of online learning. Its tools for engagement and interactivity are more advanced than ever, making it ideal for courses where student participation and comprehension are critical.

What’s New & Notable:

• AI-Powered Video Interactions: AI can now automatically suggest points in your videos to add interactive elements like quizzes or pop-up text.
• Advanced Assessment Engine: More question types, automated essay grading hints (AI-assisted), and sophisticated exam security features.
• Deeper Social Learning: Community features that feel like a dedicated social network, fostering peer-to-peer learning and accountability.

Standout Features:

• Interactive Video Editor: Add clickable hotspots, embedded questions, chapters, and transcripts directly into your videos to boost engagement.
• Interactive eBooks: Create rich, multimedia eBooks where students can take notes, highlight text, and interact with embedded media.
• Powerful Assessment Builder: Create certificates, graded assignments, and detailed quizzes with extensive branching logic.
• Native Mobile App Builder: Turn your school into a branded white-label mobile app for iOS and Android (on higher plans).
• Learning Analytics: Insightful data on student engagement, video watch time, and assessment performance.

Pricing:

• Free Trial: 30-day trial, no credit card required.
• Starter: $24/month (billed annually). Includes unlimited courses and a custom domain.
• Pro Trainer: $79/month. The core plan for growing creators, with unlimited courses, membership subscriptions, and affiliates.
• Learning Center: $249/month. Adds the mobile app builder, up to 25 admin accounts, and SSO.

Verdict: If your course's success depends on how well students learn and engage, not just if they buy, LearnWorlds is a good choice. It’s the platform for creating truly transformative educational experiences.

5. Ruzuku: The Straightforward and Supportive Option

Best For: Solo entrepreneurs, coaches, and small teams who want a reliable, no-fuss platform with exceptional customer support and an emphasis on getting you launched.

Ruzuku is known for its friendly interface and hands-on support. It offers all the essential course features without overwhelming complexity, and it includes email automation.

Key Features: Integrated email campaigns, drip content, coupons, affiliate management, and a supportive team.
Pricing: Starts at $99/month (billed annually).

6. Graphy: The Mobile-First Powerhouse

Best For: Content creators, educators, and influencers targeting mobile-first audiences. 

Graphy’s superpower is enabling creators to build a branded mobile app for their course/community in minutes, without any coding, recognizing that in many markets, mobile phones are the primary learning device.

Key Features:

• One-Click Branded Mobile Apps: The standout feature. Create native Android and iOS apps for your school with your logo and colors, distributed through app stores.
• Unlimited Hosting & Bandwidth: No worries about video storage or streaming costs, which is crucial for video-heavy courses.
• Multi-Format Content Support: Host live classes, pre-recorded videos, tests, PDFs, and even audio notes.
• Integrated Payment Gateways: Supports a wide range of international payment methods.
• Tools for Engagement: Features like live chat during streams, doubt-solving forums, and quiz creators.

Pricing: Starts at $49/month (billed annually)

Verdict: If your audience mostly uses smartphones for learning and you want to offer a premium, app-based experience without a huge app development budget, it is a compelling option.

The Top All-in-One Course Platforms for 2025

These platforms for online courses are designed to be everything you need for your online education business.

7. Kajabi: The Business-Building Ecosystem

Best For: Established entrepreneurs, influencers, and marketers who want to run their entire knowledge business, courses, coaching, community, podcasts, from one integrated system.

Kajabi calls itself the "Platform for Creators," and it lives up to that by being less of a simple course builder and more of a full business operating system. It’s premium, polished, and packed with marketing automation.

What’s New & Notable:

• Kajabi AI: A suite of AI tools that can generate course titles, email sequences, sales page copy, and even draft blog posts from a single prompt.
• Expanded Product Types: Seamlessly blend online courses with coaching sessions (via calendaring), physical products (through robust fulfillment integrations), and podcast hosting.
• Sophisticated Automation: Visual campaign builders (Pipelines) that let you create complex, multi-touch email and SMS marketing sequences based on user behavior.

Standout Features:

• Best-in-Class Marketing Funnels: Their pre-built "Pipelines" for product launches, webinars, and lead magnets are incredibly effective and save massive amounts of time.
• Beautiful, Conversion-Optimized Templates: Marketing pages, course players, and membership sites look fantastic out of the box and are designed for high conversion.
• Integrated Email & Communications: Includes a capable email marketing tool, landing pages, and forms, reducing the need for external services.
• Live Streaming & Events: Native tools for hosting live webinars, summits, and Q&A sessions directly within your Kajabi site.
• Kajabi Community: A built-in, highly-engaging community feature that feels native, not like an added forum.

Pricing:

• Kickstarter: Starts at $71/month (billed annually). Includes 1 product, unlimited funnels, and 250 contacts.
• Basic: Starts at $143/month (billed annually). Includes 5 products, unlimited funnels, and 2500 contacts.
• Growth: $199/month. The recommended starting point for most, offering 50 products, unlimited funnels, and 25,000 contacts.
• Pro: $399/month. For scaling businesses, with unlimited products, unlimited funnels, and 100,000 contacts.

Verdict: Kajabi is an investment. If you need just a course host, it might be overkill. But if you want an all-encompassing platform to manage your entire digital product suite and marketing with elegance and efficiency, it’s arguably the best on the market.

8. Podia: The All-in-One Simplicity Champion

Best For: Creators who sell a mix of digital products (courses, downloads, memberships) and want a dead-simple, unified storefront.

Podia’s mantra is "simplicity." It offers a cohesive platform where you can sell online courses, digital downloads, webinars, and memberships from one clean dashboard. Its strength is in its straightforwardness and transparent pricing.

What’s New & Notable:

• Improved Page Builder: While still focused on simplicity, the page and email builders have added more flexible blocks and styling options.
• Better Membership Features: Enhanced tools for managing and delivering recurring membership content.

Standout Features:

• Unlimited Everything: On its paid plans, you get unlimited courses, downloads, memberships, and customers. No caps.
• Built-in Email Marketing: Includes a capable email broadcast and automation tool, so you might not need a separate service like Mailchimp.
• All Product Types in One Place: Your customers can have a single login to access their courses, digital downloads, and memberships.
• Outstanding Support: Frequently praised for its responsive and helpful customer service.

Pricing:

• Free Trial: 30-day trial on all plans.
• Mover: $39/month + 5% transaction fee. Includes courses, downloads, and webinars.
• Shaker: $89/month. Adds memberships and affiliate marketing.

Verdict: Podia is elegantly simple. If you hate complexity and just want a trustworthy, fast platform to sell your knowledge without worrying about upsells or hidden fees, Podia is a breath of fresh air. It trades extreme customization for exceptional ease of use.

9. Systeme.io: The Budget Friendly All-in-One Tool

Best For: Entrepreneurs and small businesses on a tight budget who need a full suite of marketing, sales, and course tools without the high price tag of platforms like Kajabi.

Systeme.io has disrupted the market by offering an astonishingly comprehensive feature set at a very low cost. It’s built for the scrappy entrepreneur who wants to build sales funnels, send emails, run a blog, and sell courses, all from a single, affordable dashboard.

Key Features:

• Unbeatable Value: One low monthly fee covers funnels, email marketing, a website builder, an online course platform, a blog, and even an affiliate program manager.
• Visual Sales Funnel Builder: Create sophisticated automation sequences, webinar funnels, and product launch pathways with a drag-and-drop editor.
• Built-in Email Marketing: Includes automation, tagging, and segmentation, eliminating the need for a separate service like Mailchimp for many users.
• Simple Course Creator: While not as advanced as LearnWorlds or Thinkific for interactive learning, it provides all the core functionality for hosting video courses, drip-feeding content, and issuing certificates.
• Free Plan: A remarkably generous free plan allows you to manage up to 2,000 contacts and build 3 sales funnels, making it an incredible place to start.

Pricing: Starts at $17/month

Verdict: Systeme.io is a platform that offers incredible value for money. If you need an entire business operating system but have a startup budget, it’s the most logical choice. It trades some of the polish and deep course-specific features of premium platforms for unparalleled affordability and integration.

10. Kartra: The Marketing & Sales Machine

Best For: Established online marketers, e-commerce brands, and agencies who need powerful behavioral targeting, split-testing, and hyper-personalized automation tied to their courses and memberships.

Kartra is very similar to Kajabi, but with a deeper focus on advanced marketing technology. It’s less about "creating a beautiful course" and more about "engineering a high-converting sales machine." Its strength lies in tracking user behavior across pages, videos, and emails to deliver personalized experiences.

Key Features:

• Advanced Tracking & Tagging: Kartra automatically tags users based on their actions (e.g., watched 75% of video, clicked a specific link), allowing for incredibly precise automation.
• Split Testing Built-In: A/B test not just landing pages, but entire funnels, email sequences, and checkout forms to optimize conversions.
• All-in-One Dashboard: Includes a powerful helpdesk, membership sites, a calendar for scheduling, and a robust course delivery platform.
• Sophisticated Funnel Templates: Pre-built templates for complex, multi-step product launches, challenge funnels, and evergreen webinar sequences.
• Integrated Video Hosting with Analytics: See exactly how viewers engage with your videos, with heatmaps and watch-time data.

Pricing: Starts at $59/month

Verdict: Kartra is for data-driven marketers. If you want a platform that offers conversion rate optimization, behavioral email sequencing, and building a complex, automated sales ecosystem around your digital products, Kartra is a top choice. It has a steeper learning curve but offers unparalleled control over the marketing journey.

11. Payhip: The Straightforward Digital Storefront

Best For: Authors, designers, musicians, and creators who sell a mix of digital products (eBooks, PDFs, courses, music, software) and want a clean, simple, and fee-friendly storefront that integrates easily with an existing website.

Payhip isn’t a full "course platform" in the traditional sense; it’s an elegant digital sales platform that includes courses as one of many product types. It’s like a specialized Shopify for digital goods, with a fantastic free plan.

Key Features:

• Generous Free Plan: You can start selling immediately on the free plan, which only charges a 5% transaction fee. No monthly subscription is required.
• Sell Multiple Product Types: Seamlessly sell downloadable files (PDFs, audio, videos), online courses, coaching sessions, and even subscription memberships from the same store.
• Beautiful, Embeddable Storefront: Your store looks great and can be embedded directly into your existing WordPress, Squarespace, or custom website.
• Built-in Marketing Tools: Includes coupons, affiliate marketing, upsells, and email list integration.
• Low Transaction Fees: On paid plans, the transaction fee drops to 2% or 0%, competing favorably with platforms like Podia.

Pricing: Starts at $29/month

Verdict: Payhip is perfect for the creator who wants a minimalist, powerful, and cost-effective way to sell digital products online. If you already have a website and audience and just need a superior, embeddable checkout and delivery system for your course alongside your other digital offerings, Payhip is an outstanding choice.

The Best Community + Course Platforms in 2025

12. Skool: The Gamified Community & Course Hybrid

Best For: Entrepreneurs and group leaders who want a super simple, all-in-one space for community, courses, and gamification (like a calendar and leaderboard) without any complex setup.

Skool exploded in popularity by offering a refreshingly simple, flat-fee structure for unlimited members and courses. Its interface is clean, focused on group interaction, and uses gamification (points, leaderboards) to drive engagement.

Key Features: One all-inclusive price, integrated community and courses, group calendar for live events, and a straightforward user experience.
Pricing: A single plan at $99/month for everything.

13. Circle.so: The Premium Community Platform

Best For: Established course creators, membership site owners, and brands who want to add a deeply engaging, premium-feeling community space to foster connection, accountability, and ongoing value.

Circle.so isn't a traditional course platform. Instead, it has become the go-to solution for creators who understand that the long-term value of their offering often lies in the community around the content. It's designed to be the vibrant, dedicated "town square" for your students, separate from the passive consumption of pre-recorded lessons.

Circle successfully creates what sociologists call a "third place", a dedicated digital environment (beyond home and work) where your members belong. This transforms a one-time course purchase into an ongoing relationship, drastically improving customer retention and lifetime value.

Pricing: Starts at $89/month

Verdict: Circle.so offers tools to build courses, but it’s core strength is helping you build a loyal audience, reducing churn, and creating a sustainable membership business using top community features.

14. Mighty Networks: The Community-First Platform

Best For: Creators, brands, and coaches whose business model revolves around community, membership, and live interaction, with courses as a key feature within that ecosystem.

Mighty Networks flips the model: instead of a course platform with a community add-on, it’s a vibrant community platform with powerful course features built in. Its "Spaces" model for organizing content and events is very innovative.

Key Features: Live streaming, integrated events calendar, member profiles, subgroups, chat, and robust course delivery. Perfect for building a "branded home" for your audience.
Pricing: Starts at $49/month for the "Community" plan; courses require the "Business" plan at $129/month.

The Best Online Learning Marketplaces for 2025

Platforms to leverage an existing audience.

15. Udemy: The Mass-Market Behemoth

Best For: Instructors who want to reach a global audience of tens of millions, build credibility with a large student base, and earn income with minimal tech setup.

Udemy's strength is its traffic. Its weakness is the lack of control and low revenue per sale due to frequent deep discounts and high commission (up to 75% on sales they drive).

Considerations: You don't own the customer relationship, pricing is mostly controlled by Udemy's promotions, and competition is fierce.

16. Skillshare: The Creative Community Hub

Best For: Artists, designers, writers, and other creative professionals who want to teach project-based classes and be part of a subscription-based community.

Skillshare operates on a premium subscription model. Teachers earn royalties based on minutes watched by Premium members. It’s great for building a following in the creative space.

Considerations: Income is based on watch time, not direct sales. The focus is squarely on short, project-based creative classes.

17. Coursera: The Academic & Professional Credential Leaders

Best For: University professors, industry experts at major companies, and those creating content for formal certificates, specializations, and even online degrees.

These platforms partner with top universities and companies. You typically can't just sign up as an individual; you need to be affiliated with a partner institution. The content is high-level and academic/professional.

Considerations: Primarily for formal, accredited education. Not a platform for most independent creators.

18. LinkedIn Learning: The Professional Development Library

Best For: Established industry experts and professionals who want to create high-quality, polished courses for the business and professional skills market.

LinkedIn Learning curates its content carefully. Instructors are often approached or vetted. Courses are integrated with LinkedIn profiles, adding significant professional credibility.

Considerations: It's a closed marketplace. You need to apply and be accepted to become an instructor.

19. Domestika: The Artistic Powerhouse

Best For: Creative professionals, especially in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking markets (though English is growing), who want to create beautifully produced, in-depth creative courses.

Domestika has built a reputation for stunning course production values and a passionate community of creatives. It’s particularly strong in illustration, design, craft, and photography.

Considerations: Like other marketplaces, they handle hosting, sales, and promotion for a share of revenue. The audience is deeply passionate about creativity.

20. Simpliv: The Niche IT & Professional Marketplace

Best For: Instructors in IT, programming, business, and professional soft skills looking for an alternative to Udemy with a different audience base and fee structure.

Simpliv is an online learning marketplace that has carved out a space by focusing on practical, skills-based courses, particularly in the realms of IT, software development, business, and personal productivity. While it may not have the name recognition of Udemy, it serves a dedicated global learner base and offers instructors a distinct platform for distribution.

Pricing: There is no cost to publish courses on Simpliv. Revenue is generated through the share of sales of your course.

21. Pluralsight: The Technology & IT Skills Authority

Best For: Expert-level technology professionals (software developers, IT admins, cybersecurity experts) who want to create in-depth, skill-assessment-driven content for a professional audience.

Pluralsight is a subscription-based platform focused exclusively on technology. It's known for its skill assessments (IQ) and role-based learning paths. Instructors are vetted industry experts.

Considerations: The bar for content and instructor expertise is very high because it's a top destination for tech learning.

The Best Enterprise Learning Platforms

22. Academy of Mine: The Enterprise-Grade Solution

Best For: Universities, large training companies, and enterprises that need a fully customized, white-label LMS with advanced features like SCORM compliance, bulk corporate sales, and virtual instructor-led training (VILT).

Academy of Mine sits at the high end. It’s less a SaaS product and more a customizable solution with dedicated support and development.

Key Features: Fully white-labeled, API access, custom development, advanced reporting, blended learning tools (self-paced + live), and group management.
Pricing: Starts at a custom quote, typically from $600+/month.

23. DigitalChalk: The Customer Education Platform

Best For: B2B companies, software firms (SaaS), and organizations focused on customer and partner training, external certification programs, and extended enterprise learning.

This platform is built for the business-to-business world. It excels at branding, sophisticated learning paths, certification management, and analytics that prove ROI on training.

Key Features: Extensive branding options, complex learning pathways, certification and compliance tracking, eCommerce for B2B, and deep analytics.
Pricing: Enterprise-level custom pricing.

The Best WordPress LMS Plugins for 2025

For those who own their WordPress site and want complete control.

24. LearnDash: The Industry Standard WordPress LMS

Best For: WordPress professionals, developers, and serious course creators who want the most powerful, flexible, and feature-rich LMS plugin available.

LearnDash is the market leader for a reason. It’s incredibly robust, constantly updated, and works with almost any WordPress theme or plugin. Its "Focus Mode" for distraction-free learning is a standout feature.

Key Features: Advanced quizzes, drip-feed content, prerequisites, points/gamification, certificates, and a vast library of third-party integrations.
Pricing: A single-site license starts at $199/year.

25. LifterLMS: The Modern & Accessible WordPress LMS

Best For: WordPress users seeking a more modern, user-friendly interface than LearnDash, with a strong core and a modular approach via add-ons.

LifterLMS offers a beautiful, intuitive dashboard and a powerful course builder. Its philosophy is based on "builder" add-ons for specific functionalities (e.g., quizzes, memberships, advanced payments).

Key Features: Drag-and-drop course builder, built-in membership capabilities, engaging elements like badges and certificates, and a wide variety of premium add-ons.
Pricing: The core plugin is free. The "Universe Bundle" of all add-ons is $499/year.

26. Tutor LMS: The Rising Star for WordPress

Best For: Creators who want a feature-rich, freemium WordPress LMS with a front-end course builder, making it easy for instructors to manage their courses without touching the WordPress admin.

Tutor LMS has gained massive traction due to its generous free version and innovative features like a front-end course builder, multi-instructor support, and a Zoom integration for live lessons.

Key Features: Front-end dashboard for instructors, monetization options (WooCommerce, EDD, Paid Memberships Pro), quiz builder, certificates, and course preview.

Pricing: Starts at $199/year.

27. MasterStudy LMS: The Theme-Driven Powerhouse

Best For: Those who want a complete "education theme" for WordPress that includes a beautifully designed LMS plugin, ideal for creating sites that look like Udemy or Skillshare.

MasterStudy is both a WordPress theme and a plugin. It’s designed to create stunning online education marketplaces or single-instructor academies with a modern, responsive design.

Key Features: Pre-built demo sites for quick setup, a sleek course player, instructor profiles, WooCommerce integration, and a booking system for live lessons.

Pricing: The plugin is free to use. The full theme with premium add-ons is around $75.

Free Online Course Platforms

If you are a beginner to course creation and just want a free platform to test out the course business, here are some platforms that offer a free plan;

1. Udemy
2. Teachable
3. Skillshare
4. Systeme.io
5. Ruzuku
6. Payhip

We’ve already discussed each of these platforms in this article so you can read through and get more information about them.

How to Choose the Best Platform in 2025: A Step-by-Step Guide

With over 20 options, the final choice comes down to your specific needs. Ask yourself these questions:

1. What is my main goal? (Brand building, maximum revenue per student, reaching a massive audience, building a community?)

• If you want to build a proper “school” or business around courses, pick a platform with strong branding, monetization, scalability (Thinkific, Kajabi, SchoolMaker).
• If you just want to test an idea or target learners quickly without building an audience, marketplace platforms like Udemy or Skillshare may be better.

2. What is my technical comfort level? (Do I want everything in one tool, or am I comfortable connecting tools like WordPress, email providers, and payment gateways?)

• Don’t want to bother with hosting, security, or maintenance? Go for hosted all-in-one platforms.
• Comfortable with WordPress, plugins, and self-hosting? Go for self-hosted LMS or hybrid solutions.

3. What is my budget? (Consider both monthly fees and potential transaction fees.)

• Starting out or side-project? Choose lower-cost, simpler platforms (Podia, Skillshare, Udemy).
• Building a long-term brand? Choose platforms with more features and no transaction fees (Thinkific, SchoolMaker, Kajabi), possibly with higher costs but more growth potential.

4. What features are non-negotiable? (Drip content, quizzes, certificates, a built-in community, a mobile app, specific integrations?)

• Don’t need complex features? Choose simpler platforms like Podia, Teachable, Systeme.io
• Need comprehensive features such as community, interactive quizzes and more, choose SchoolMaker, Thinkific or Kajabi

5. What is my growth plan? (Will this platform scale with me, or will I need to migrate later?)

• If you plan to expand, add more courses, memberships, community and marketing funnels, pick a flexible, scalable platform with built-in marketing tools and integrations.

6. How much control do you want?

• Want full control over branding, pricing, and your own domain? Choose self-hosted or standalone course platforms (SchoolMaker, Thinkific, self-hosted LMS) are better.
• Prefer convenience, less maintenance, and built-in traffic? Choose marketplace platforms like Udemy or Skillshare.

7. What kinds of courses are you offering?

• Multimedia-heavy, interactive, community-focused courses (e.g. creative skills, coaching, professional training) benefit from richer platforms like (SchoolMaker, LearnWorlds, Thinkific).
• Simple video or lecture-based courses may do fine on Udemy, Skillshare, or more basic platforms.

Quick Decision Guide:

• "I want the easiest, fastest start to sell my first course." Choose SchoolMaker, Teachable or Podia.
• "I'm building a serious business with courses, memberships, and marketing funnels." Choose Thinkific or Kajabi.
• "Engagement and interactive learning are my top priorities." Choose LearnWorlds.
• "My business is all about community and live interaction." Choose SchoolMaker, Mighty Networks or Skool.
• "I already have a WordPress site and want total control." Choose LearnDash or Tutor LMS.
• "I want access to a huge existing audience and don't mind lower revenue per sale." Choose Udemy or Skillshare (for creatives).

Conclusion

The best online course platform is the one that best suits your unique vision, skills, and audience. The market provides more variety than ever, offering solutions for every need and budget.

Our advice? Start. Don't let the decision of which platform to choose slow you down. Most of these tools offer free trials. Pick the one or two that meet most of your requirements, sign up for their trials, and see what they offer. Build a sample lesson. Look at the dashboard. See how it feels.

Creating value and transforming your students' lives should be the most important thing. Whatever platform you choose is simply the tool to achieve that. Choose a reliable one, and then focus your energy on the most important part: creating an amazing course.

Here’s a video you can watch if you need more detailed information to help you choose the best online course platform.