When reviewing the best online learning platforms for students, it is important to take specific factors into consideration. The list of important factors includes cost, convenience, importance of the subject matter, and more. In deciding which learning platform is best for you, we have prepared the best for you.
If you are looking for free online learning platforms, consider some of the ones listed below.
Thinkific.
Best Overall Online Course Platform (Free or $49/mo)
Thinkific is the best overall platform to sell online courses.
It’s my #1 choice because the pricing is exactly in line with other affordable options on this list and it can deliver a high-end course experience.
- Course websites can be customized and you’d never guess they were Thinkific.
- Sales pages are highly optimized and look great.
- Student dashboards look nice and are customizable (you can add videos, text, and any downloadable file type to the same page).
- You can either send your entire course at once or drip it out over time.
- Free Wistia video hosting (a huge value).
That’s honestly all that you need for an optimized course website.
In fact, even though Thinkific plans start at just $49/month, huge brands like Fiverr use Thinkific to sell online courses.
I would have never guessed that this massive learning database was a Thinkific site until their team told me:
Their best (and most popular) Pro Plan offers a one-month free trial to get started.
First, this plan gives you the ability to create unlimited courses. It also features memberships and bundles, advanced pricing options, landing pages, certificates, and marketing tools.
Here’s a little preview of the experience creating a Thinkific course.
All that you do is create and customize your course with their drag and drop editor:
Next, you upload your content and choose one of their website templates:
Lastly, you set up payment methods (you can collect payments in over 100 currencies):
There are also a ton of customization options. If you want to build a completely custom site, their onboarding team takes your vision and helps you turn it into a reality.
Pros of Thinkific:
- Marketing automation and email features.
- Simple free plan to get started.
- Can fully edit the code of your course site.
- Customizable course certificates.
- Custom domains.
- Affiliate marketing help and reporting.
Here’s what people are saying about Thinkific:
- “You need to get on Thinkific. The team is creative, reliable, and offers unbeatable support. They always make sure all my bases are covered and, as a business owner, that’s invaluable.” – Lewis Howes
- “By teaching our audience how to scale and grow their business through online training, we’ve grown ours. We couldn’t have done it without Thinkific.” – John Lee Dumas, Entrepreneurs on Fire
- “I seriously can’t be more impressed with your customer support team. They are the perfect blend of efficient and personable. It’s like having my very own IT department.” – Kim Garnett
Thinkific Pricing:
- Basic ($49/month): Unlimited courses and students, drip (scheduled) content, custom domain, email integrations, and coupons.
- Pro ($99/month): Basic features, plus memberships and bundles, private courses, certificates, advanced HTML and CSS editing, assignments, live lessons via Zoom, and priority support.
- Premier ($499/month): Pro features, plus 50 course admins, onboarding package, and unlimited growth package (best for big teams).
Overall, I recommend the Thinkific platform as my #1 choice for course creators and entrepreneurs who are serious about creating, marketing, and selling their own course content.
You can get started today with a One-Month Free Trial of their Pro Plan with my link below.Try Thinkific
Learnworlds.
Best Course Creation Software for Interactive Learning ($24/month)
Learnworlds is a platform that’s best for course creators looking to interact in unique ways with their students.
Think quizzes, gamification, interactive videos, etc.
While the student experience isn’t as nice looking as a Thinkific course, it’s unique in that it offers students more interactive eLearning content.
Pros of Learnworlds:
- Interactive videos, e-books, gamification, and downloadable attachments.
- You can offer free courses.
- Can extract transcripts from your courses.
- A custom domain name and white-labeled content.
- Students can take notes and highlight important points.
- Certificates of completion.
- Custom mobile app on iOS for course.
- The ability to create coupons and discounts.
- Social media integrations.
- A new analytics platform to optimize your sales.
- The ability to create membership sites.
- A strong knowledge base.
- 24/7 support.
Pricing:
- Starter ($24/month paid annually): one admin, $5 fee per course sale, custom domain, unlimited courses, page builder tool, 4 payment gateways, coupons, and drip feed courses.
- Pro Trainer ($79/month): Starter features, plus no transaction fees, 5 admin accounts, subscriptions and memberships, custom checkout pages, live classes via Zoom and Webex, assignments, and affiliate management.
- Learning Center ($249/month): Pro Trainer features, plus a branded corporate academy, premium cloud servers, flexible invoicing, premium support, and premium account manager.
Get a free 30-day trial of Learnworlds with my link below and start building your interactive online community.Try Learnworlds
Kajabi.
Best High-End Online Course Platform for Professionals ($119/month)
Kajabi is the best high-end course builder tailored toward information business, not tiny course creators.
It’s best when it comes to email marketing automation. Automation is a crucial component of pre-sale, pre-webinar, drip course, and upsell emails – and Kajabi does it best.
Their “Pipelines” feature lets you create fully-automated marketing campaigns and funnels. These are pre-built frameworks for lead generation, with pre-written copy optimized for conversions.
It also features powerful course site themes, the ability to sell digital products, a customizable checkout, and blogging functionality.
Overall, it’s the best high-end course platform with more built-in tools and features, but it costs a little more than others on the list.
Kajabi Pros:
- Best all-in-one software for a true information business.
- Wistia video hosting is excellent.
- Major focus on sales and marketing tools.
- More built-in tools than other platforms.
- Can offer monthly recurring subscriptions.
- Integrated with Stripe and PayPal.
- Big names use Kajabi, including Amy Porterfield.
Kajabi Pricing:
Kajabi pricing is mainly based on the number of courses and active members you have:
- Basic ($119/month): 1 website, 1 admin, 3 products, 3 pipelines, 10,000 contacts, and 1,000 active members.
- Growth ($119/month): 1 website, 10 admins, 15 products, 15 pipelines, 25,000 contacts, 10,000 active members.
- Pro ($319/month): 3 websites, 25 admins, 100 products, 100 pipelines, 100,000 contacts, and 20,000 active members.
Where Kajabi really excels is its marketing automation tools. You can segment users in your list, send emails at certain times based on advanced triggers, and send professionally branded messages.
If you’re an established business and want to try one of the more advanced platforms on the market, Kajabi is a solid choice.
Start your free 14-day trial of Kajabi today.
edX
Cost: Individual courses are usually free to audit for a limited amount of time; certificates and longer programs vary in price.
Pros: You can most courses for free, including ones in longer programs (great for testing out a longer certificate program before committing to it); financial assistance is available
Cons: Some courses are archived, meaning you can still access them but can’t earn a certificate; Charges one lump sum for courses instead of a subscription fee
You can browse all edX courses here.
Coursera
Coursera; Alyssa Powell/Business Insider
Cost: Individual courses are usually free to audit; certificates and longer programs vary in price. You can also sign up for an annual Coursera Plus subscription ($399) and get access to 90% of Coursera’s offerings.
Pros: Many programs charge a monthly fee, so the faster you finish, the more money you save; financial assistance available; offers some free certification courses
Cons: No financial assistance for Coursera MasterTracks; you can only audit one-off courses (you will have to pay for ones that are part of a Specialization)
Popular courses:
The Science of Well-Being (Yale)
You can browse all Coursera courses here.
FutureLearn
Cost: Individual courses are usually free to audit; certificates and longer programs vary in price. You can also subscribe to FutureLearn Unlimited for $189.99 annually to get unlimited access to courses.
Pros: UK-based, offers more international options; offers some free certification courses
Cons: Not as many course options as edX and Coursera; you can only audit one-off courses (you will have to pay for ones that are part of an ExpertTrack).
LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning; Alyssa Powell/Insider
Cost: A LinkedIn Learning subscription is $19.99/month (annually) or $29.99/month (month-to-month).
Pros: Short video classes broken down into digestible segments; certifications go right on your LinkedIn profile; LinkedIn occasionally makes popular career courses free for a limited time
Cons: Less interactive; no way to submit homework assignments or reinforce what you’ve learned
Popular Courses:
Delivering an Authentic Elevator Pitch
The Six Morning Habits of High Performers
Excel: Advanced Formulas and Functions
You can browse all LinkedIn Learning courses here.
Codecademy
Codecademy; Alyssa Powell/Business Insider
Cost: Codecademy Pro is $39.99/month (month-to-month) and $19.99/month annually. Pro Student offers 35% off to eligible current students. (Note: Codecademy is currently offering 40% off Pro and Pro Student memberships through October 22.
Pros: Some free beginner options; a huge range of programming courses; Fun, hands-on projects
Cons: Less interactive than traditional coding bootcamps
Popular Courses:
You can browse all Codecademy courses here.
Udemy
Cost: You can pay a one-time fee per course or subscribe to a Udemy Personal Plan for $29.99/month for unlimited access to all Udemy courses
Pros: Easy to use on mobile; offers a huge range of course offerings; popular bootcamps are updated frequently so you’re working with the latest information; frequent sales on courses
Cons: Less interactive; harder to reinforce or test what you’ve learned; not all courses come with certificates
You can browse all Udemy courses here.
Conclusion
Most online learning platforms are free to use. However, some of them have premium features that are available with a subscription. The best online learning platforms will offer more than just lessons. Many of the websites let you connect with students or teachers around the world. You can also share videos or images that were created on these sites.