Which Third-Party Platform Should you Host your Online Course On?
If you’re working on an online course, one of your big questions is most likely: which platform should I choose to host my course?
You need a platform that looks the part, is straightforward to use and has all the features you might need.
The first thing to consider is whether to host on your own website, or on a third party site.
Let’s take a look at the benefits of hosting on third-party platforms (and which ones are the best!)
Hosting On Third-Party Platforms
When you’re just starting out, choosing an external platform to host your course on is a smart idea.
If you’re not sure what’s going to happen, whether your course will sell or not, or if you simply don’t want to invest time and money in your own platform just yet, third party sites such as the ones mentioned below might be the best option.
When you’re looking at different platforms, keep in mind the features or extras your course, membership, or digital product needs, and choose accordingly.
Teachable
Website: teachable.com
Offers a free plan: Yes!
You can create and host your course, make a sales page and a thank you page, enrol new students and start earning an income from your course on the free plan.
Lowest price (September 2021): Teachable’s free plan takes a 10% commission off every purchase and it doesn’t allow for third-party integrations, coupon codes or dripping course content. Most people start with the € 29/month option which allows for all that - or move to the € 99/month plan because of the affiliate marketing possibilities and the option to remove Teachable branding from your landing pages.
(insider tip: it is technically possible to use the Free or Basic plan, and upgrade to Pro just while you launch… then downgrade again after that)
What’s great about Teachable:
You can use the free plan to set everything up, then switch to a paid plan once students are enrolling (and paying) and you want the extra features.
The user experience is great; both the signup process and the courses themselves look good and are easy to use.
Teachable takes care of everything (if you want them to); they’ll pay out to affiliates and authors directly, so you don’t need to worry about that.
On the Teachable website, you’ll find a couple of examples for courses created with their platform.
2. Thinkific
Website: thinkific.com
Offers a free plan: Yes! You can have up to 3 courses for free (less than Teachable, who offer unlimited courses for free.)
As with Teachable, you need a paid plan to unlock extra features - like dripping the course content, affiliates, or integrations.
Lowest price (September 2021): around $39 per month, when billed annually.
What’s great about Thinkific:
Thinkific offers lots of options for student notifications. For instance, you can tell Thinkific to remind your students they haven’t finished a lesson yet.
You only pay transaction fees for third party payment processors (like Paypal or Stripe); Thinkific doesn’t charge you extra.
Example of a course hosted with Thinkific? Check them out here!
3. Membervault
Website: membervault.co
Offers a free version: Yes! It’s “forever free”, as long as you have less than 100 users and maximum 3 available products at any time.
Lowest paid plan (September 2021): around $19 per month
What’s great about MemberVault:
It’s really easy to see everything on offer in the blink of an eye.
That forever free plan! What’s not to love? Ok, it’s capped at 100 users - but with over 100 signed up for your courses, memberships or digital products, you’ll have the income to pay for the extra support.
MemberVault has built-in gamification - you can follow your students’ progress really easily.
It doesn’t limit you to courses, or to products that are hosted on Membervault; you can easily integrate it with your email service provider to promote your lead magnets, use it as a place to store your free resources, etc.
This is a link to my own MemberVault: most of my products are hidden as I only offer it to specific people. Behind the scenes, it hosts a couple of courses, but also different types of resources (free and paid), lead magnets, and technically, people could also book a call or hire me through MemberVault. I also give some clients the option to sign up and get access to everything in my Vault for free.
More examples of MV courses and more on this page!
4. Kajabi
Website: kajabi.com
Offers a free version: No. There’s a free 14-day trial, and a 30-day money-back guarantee - but no way to actually run your courses for free, or to create an account and build your platform at your own pace without paying for it from the get-go.
Lowest price (September 2021): $119 per month (if billed annually) - or $149 billed monthly if you don’t want to pay $1428 before you even know how it works.
What’s great about Kajabi:
Honestly? What’s so impressive about Kajabi is their fan base. Everyone I know who went with Kajabi stays with Kajabi - and LOVES it.
No transaction fees when students sign up
It has MUCH more than just course hosting. It includes email marketing, webinars & events, and so many ways to customise your courses.
My two cents about Kajabi: it’s an absolutely amazing platform that makes it so easy to set up your products and funnels all in one place… BUT a lot of people make the mistake of signing up for it before they’re ready, and lose thousands of dollars on it.
Also: the great thing about Kajabi is that it offers all-in-one (website, blogging, email marketing, sales funnels, lead generation, courses, memberships, webinars, digital products, etc) - but their email service isn’t very robust - and other options can be limiting. Most “higher-level” Kajabi users will use a different email service provider and even host their website elsewhere, and link it to their courses or products on Kajabi.
I always recommend getting started with a free or low-cost plan (like MemberVault or Teachable) and run your program at least once as a “beta” to see exactly what you need going forward… chances are you’ll want to stay with that platform for years before moving to a more expensive possibility like Kajabi or self-hosted options.
Which platform do you want to try out?
Hopefully this quick comparison was helpful and answered some of your questions about where to host your course.
Keep in mind there is no wrong choice here: it just depends on where you’re at, what your budget is, and what you want to offer to your buyers exactly. Oh, and personal preference, of course.
Do you have an online course or membership yet, or maybe an idea for an online programme you’d like to set up?
Schedule a call with us to discuss how we can help you create, market and launch an amazing offering that buyers will rave about - and refer even more of their peers to!
