BEST-OF · 2026

The Best Platforms for Selling Online Courses

If your goal is to sell courses to the public, you want a clean course builder, a checkout that converts and marketing tools that help you grow. These are the best platforms for creators selling courses.

Scored by the EverythingLMS review panel · how we score · Updated June 2026 · affiliate disclosure

PICK

Kajabi 92/100 · EXCEPTIONAL EDITOR'S CHOICE

Kajabi is the platform we point most serious course creators toward, and the reason is simple: it replaces about five separate subscriptions. You get the course builder, the website, the email tool, the sales funnels and the checkout in one account, and they actually talk to each other. For someone running a knowledge business rather than just publishing a single course, that consolidation is worth real money.

✓ PROS

Courses, website, email and funnels in one place
0% transaction fees on every plan
Strong marketing and automation tools

✕ CONS

Pricier than single-purpose course tools
Course-design depth trails LearnWorlds

Best for: Serious creators who want to run their whole business from one platform

0% transaction fees

from $89/mo

Start free trial ↗ Read full review →

PICK

Thinkific 90/100 · EXCEPTIONAL BEST FREE PLAN

Thinkific is the platform I most often suggest as the Teachable alternative, and for a lot of people it is the better choice. The course builder is clean and quick to learn, it charges 0% transaction fees on paid plans, and its free plan is the most genuinely usable of any tool here. You can build and launch a real course without paying a cent.

✓ PROS

0% transaction fees, even on paid plans
One of the most generous free plans available
Clean, intuitive course builder

✕ CONS

Marketing and email tools are lighter
Fewer advanced design options than LearnWorlds

Best for: Creators who want a solid course builder with no transaction fees, free to try

0% transaction fees

from $49/mo

Try free ↗ Read full review →

PICK

Teachable 88/100 · EXCEPTIONAL BEST FOR BEGINNERS

Teachable is the platform I recommend to anyone launching their first course who does not want to think about the tech. You can go from a blank account to a published, payable course in an afternoon. The interface gets out of your way, the course player is clean, and it quietly handles the annoying parts like EU VAT and payouts.

✓ PROS

Genuinely easy to set up your first course
Free plan to start with zero cost
Clean, reliable course player for students

✕ CONS

Transaction fees on the free and lower tiers
Site design and customisation are limited

Best for: First-time creators who want to launch a course quickly without a learning curve

Free plan (high fees)

from $39/mo

Try free ↗ Read full review →

PICK

LearnWorlds 86/100 · EXCELLENT BEST COURSE DESIGN

LearnWorlds is for creators who think of a course as a teaching product, not just a stack of videos. It does things the others do not: interactive video with questions baked into the timeline, rich assessments, proper certificates, and SCORM support for selling into companies. If learning outcomes matter to you, this is the platform that takes them seriously.

✓ PROS

Interactive video with in-video questions
Strong assessments, certificates and SCORM
The most flexible course design on this list

✕ CONS

Starter plan adds a $5 per-sale fee
Steeper learning curve than Teachable

Best for: Creators who want genuinely interactive, well-designed courses

Starter +$5/sale

from $29/mo

Start free trial ↗ Read full review →

PICK

Podia 84/100 · EXCELLENT BEST VALUE

Podia is the all-in-one for people who found Kajabi too much. It bundles courses, digital downloads, a community and email marketing into one tidy product that you can actually understand in an afternoon. For a creator who wants to sell a few different things without juggling tools, it hits a sweet spot of simple and affordable.

✓ PROS

Courses, downloads, community and email in one
One of the simplest tools to use
Free plan and affordable paid tiers

✕ CONS

Fewer advanced course and quiz features
No public API or deep integrations

Best for: Creators who want an easy all-in-one without paying Kajabi prices

Free plan available

from $39/mo

Try free ↗ Read full review →

PICK

Thrive Apprentice 82/100 · EXCELLENT BEST FOR WORDPRESS

Thrive Apprentice is the pick for people who already live in WordPress and want to own their course platform outright. Instead of renting space on a hosted tool and handing over a monthly fee plus a slice of sales, you run everything on your own site for a flat annual licence. Over a few years, that maths gets very appealing.

✓ PROS

Runs on your own WordPress site
One annual fee, no per-student or per-sale cut
Full design control via Thrive tools

✕ CONS

Needs WordPress and hosting to run
Not a hosted, set-up-for-you platform

Best for: WordPress users who want to own their platform and pay no per-student fees

No per-student fees

from ~$99/yr

See pricing ↗ Read full review →

At a glance

Tool	Index	Ease	From	Free	Best for
Kajabi	92	8.8	from $89/mo	—	Serious creators who want to run their whole business from one platform
Thinkific	90	8.8	from $49/mo	✓	Creators who want a solid course builder with no transaction fees, free to try
Teachable	88	9.0	from $39/mo	✓	First-time creators who want to launch a course quickly without a learning curve
LearnWorlds	86	7.9	from $29/mo	—	Creators who want genuinely interactive, well-designed courses
Podia	84	9.1	from $39/mo	✓	Creators who want an easy all-in-one without paying Kajabi prices
Thrive Apprentice	82	7.6	from ~$99/yr	—	WordPress users who want to own their platform and pay no per-student fees

HOW TO CHOOSE

Choosing the right tool

Prioritise the checkout and the fees together. The whole point is selling, so a smooth, trustworthy checkout matters, and so does what the platform takes. A great checkout that skims 5% per sale can lose to a plainer one that takes nothing once you are at scale.

Look for order bumps, upsells and coupons. Selling more to each buyer is where most of the growth is. Tools that support order bumps, one-click upsells and easy coupons will earn more per customer than a bare course page.

Decide how much marketing you want built in. If you would otherwise pay for separate email and funnel tools, an all-in-one like Kajabi can pay for itself. If you already have an email stack, a focused course tool like Thinkific keeps things lean.

Test the student experience too. A course that is a pain to take gets refunded and never recommended. Preview your test course as a student before you decide, on mobile as well as desktop.

FAQ

What is the best platform for selling online courses?

Kajabi is the strongest all-rounder for selling, with built-in funnels and 0% fees. Thinkific is the best no-fee course builder, and Teachable is easiest for a first launch.