Best Online Teaching Platform to Earn Money
Discover what 12 of the best online teaching platforms bring to the table for educators who want to monetize their knowledge and experience.
You’ve started building your lesson plans, and you know that you have knowledge for which people will pay. Even the equipment is handled – you have a recording device and microphone, and you’re practically set to start creating your lessons.
You just have one question:
What platform should you use to host those lessons? There are a ton of choices – which isn’t helpful due to how overwhelming that sheer volume of options can be – but these are the 12 best for monetizing your online lessons. Weigh up your options, and you’ll have no trouble selecting the best online teaching platform to earn money in your business.
1 – BlurBay
Video hosting platforms are hardly new. YouTube has been around since 2005, and it feels like a thousand other platforms have sprung up in its wake. But with BlurBay, you get a video hosting and streaming platform with a difference – it’s made with course monetization in mind. That’s what makes it the best online teaching platform to earn money from your craft.
With YouTube, you’re relying on ads to generate an income from your teaching. Even with a website giving you more control over monetization, you still have to worry about building that site and spending money constantly to maintain it. With BlurBay, you host your videos on an independent platform – no coding or investment required – in return for a small 5% commission for each video you sell.
And that mention of selling videos gets to the crux of how BlurBay works.
The platform applies a blur to your video (placed wherever you want) so viewers can only see your lesson up to a certain point. After that, they need to pay to view, with the money generated going directly to you. You essentially create a paywall, though the clever blurring approach means you can develop cliffhangers for your lessons to tempt people into paying for them. You don’t need a website; there’s no subscription, and you can start uploading monetized videos as soon as you sign up.
2 – Thinkific
With Thinkific, you can do something that BlurBay doesn’t enable you to do – build your own website. Granted, that website is based on a fairly limited set of templates. However, they’re still a boon for online teachers who want to go beyond selling individual videos by providing more content via blogs and similar means.
A drag-and-drop interface makes building your site relatively straightforward – with Thinkific even creating branded mobile apps based on that site – and the platform even has its own app store. Through this store, you can download apps that complement your courses, including apps to automate your emails and develop custom coupons for your students.
But Thinkific isn’t free, at least if you want to create several courses. Its basic plan – which only offers five student spaces per “community” that you make – costs $36 per month, while its “Start” plan sets you back $74 monthly. So, any teachers who consider this platform have to be prepared for a minimum outlay of $432 per year to keep their courses going. And, of course, halting your subscription means you lose access to your Thinkific website.
3 – Teachable
Like BlurBay, Teachable offers you a platform through which you can upload video lessons that students can watch. But it also allows those students to download the digital content you submit – be it video or written – so they can study on their own devices without staying logged into the platform. Add to that the ability to conduct live lessons via Teachable, and the platform has a lot going for it in the race for the best app to teach online and earn money.
That is until you get to the payment.
Opting for Teachable’s “Free” plan isn’t actually free at all. Though the plan lets you create as many courses as you like, you have to pay a transaction fee of $1 every time somebody buys that course, plus a 10% commission. So, if you sell a course for $100, $11 goes into Teachable’s pockets.
While that’s a pretty major downside – one that isn’t made better by subscription plans starting at $39 per month – Teachable does at least offer some handy tools for teachers. It lets you offer students subscriptions, payment plans, and one-off payments. Plus, it has integrated email marketing – ideal for attracting new students as well as collecting feedback from your existing ones.
4 – LearnWorlds
What makes LearnWorlds so interesting is that it equips teachers with an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant, which allows them to tinker with their course content. How useful that will be depends on the type of lessons you create. For example, it’s not ideal for video creators – outside of helping you to touch up scripts – but it is a good choice if you need a writing assistant to help you develop e-books that support your content.
That mention of e-books leads to another one of LearnWorld’s advantages – it has a built-in e-book creator. As a teacher, you can use those books for several purposes, including creating textbooks to go along with your video lessons or designing e-books to use as lead magnets in your marketing. If you’re unaware of lead magnets, they’re typically free giveaways marketers use to get contact details from prospective customers.
You also get a domain on which you can plant your course, though that domain disappears if you decide to stop using LearnWorlds. Plus, gamification is an option. The platform gives you several ways to build interactivity into your lessons, serving as a motivator for students who struggle to learn when simply watching a video.
5 – FreshLearn
Creating customized courses that incorporate text, imagery, and videos is FreshLearn’s domain. That might make it the best online teaching platform to earn money for people who want to deliver their content in multiple ways. And when you consider its course-building software – which uses drag-and-drop functionality to help you create a course workflow – it’s a great way to construct courses quickly while incorporating interactive elements.
You don’t even need to pay for the privilege, at least if you’re delivering basic course content. Its “Free” tier includes video hosting and payment integration. However, it does limit you to 25 student enrollments per course – not ideal for teachers who want to reach as many people as possible. Paying for one of its subscriptions removes those limitations, though it then adds the same problem you might have with Thinkific – a constant output that you have to keep up to continue delivering your lessons.
On the more positive side, special mention goes to the “Drip Content” tool. You can use it to lock specific parts of your course behind dates or certain student actions, creating anticipation for what’s to come next without actually showing it. It’s a similar approach to BlurBay’s video blurs and can be useful for creating cliffhangers that keep students engaged.
6 – EasyWebinar
In truth, EasyWebinar is as much a marketing platform as it is a teaching one. Many course creators use it to host pre-recorded webinars that cover the basics of their courses, with the goal being to convert viewers into paying students by the end of an hour-plus marketing spiel.
You can go down that route, too, and EasyWebinar – as the name suggests – makes it easy. In addition to allowing you to host both live and pre-recorded webinars, it delivers analytics for those sessions to show you how many people attended and who signed up for your course.
As for the teaching side, the mention of live webinars clues you into the interactivity on offer. Webinar attendees can ask questions and actively participate in lessons. Plus, you’re not prevented from using those live sessions as ongoing content – they can be recorded and hosted on the platform. Of course, the downside is that it’s focused primarily on webinar content. Written courses can’t be hosted, and the platform may be incompatible with more “traditional” lessons held outside of the webinar setting.
7 – Skillshare
If you often watch YouTube videos, you’re probably already well-versed in Skillshare offerings. After all, there’s hardly a YouTube creator that hasn’t promoted this platform at some point. But luckily, this platform isn’t all talk (and marketing!).
If the platform’s name hasn’t already tipped you off, Skillshare is primarily geared toward teaching skills. You can teach virtually any skill you’re good at, from creative writing to animation. Of course, there’s also room for “traditional” academic subjects, but Skillshare might not be the platform students turn to find these.
Suppose you decide Skillshare is the best online teaching platform to earn money. In that case, you’ll join a vibrant community of around 8,000 teachers. But do these teachers get paid well?
In short – yes. But only if your teaching videos get a lot of views from premium members. On the one hand, this incentivizes you to keep making high-quality, engaging content. But on the other hand, it means you might garner many views yet earn practically nothing if those views aren’t the “right” kind of views.
8 – Kajabi
Kajabi is a combined e-commerce and online teaching platform. As such, it allows you to create, market, and sell online courses all in one integrated system. Best of all? You don’t have to stop at only courses. You can also build websites, coaching programs, memberships, podcasts, and other digital products. Basically, Kajabi is a one-stop shop for building an online empire.
If you take Kajabi’s word for it, teachers on this platform can earn six figures by converting just 350 customers. Even better, there’s no transaction fee for any of those customers. However, there is a hefty fee for you to use Kajabi.
Kajabi plans start at $149 per month, and you only get to sell three digital products for that subscription fee. If you want to put out more courses, you’ll have to upgrade to the Growth plan, which costs $199 per month for 15 digital products, or the Pro plan, which will set you back as much as $399 per month for 100 products.
Sure, if you truly reach those 350 customers, these prices will be worth it. But if you’re a smaller creator or a beginner at teaching, it might take you a while before you can justify paying such high subscription fees.
9 – Udemy
If you’re in the online teaching or learning space, you’ve likely heard of Udemy. After all, it’s one of the largest online teaching platforms today, boasting millions of students. But is it also the best online teaching platform to earn money?
It can be, as this popular platform offers up to 63% revenue share. But unfortunately, not everyone will get to enjoy the perks of teaching at Udemy.
You see, you must first get approved to become an Udemy teacher offering monetized courses. This involves a rather lengthy process, which also concerns your video content. How? Well, your course must meet specific criteria for monetization on Udemy. It must last at least 30 minutes, encompass five lessons, and have HD quality. Plus, Udemy’s content review team must recognize it as valuable.
If this process doesn’t deter you from even giving Udemy a chance, here are some perks you might receive as a teacher on the platform. You’ll enjoy excellent marketing support, have access to built-in analytics, and set your own course prices.
10 – Podia
Similarly to Kajabi, Podia allows you to host multiple digital products under one roof. This makes it equally helpful to online teachers and e-commerce store owners. Combine both of these functionalities, and you get a well-developed and well-marketed online course.
Though you can just stick to publishing courses, creating a pre-launch campaign will help you build anticipation and attract a wider audience. With Podia, you can also bundle your course with any other relevant digital product, thus enhancing the overall value proposition but also your revenue.
Speaking of revenue, Podia is designed with profit in mind, just like BlurBay. But unlike BlurBay, there’s a subscription fee for using Podia, ranging from $9 to $89 per month. If you want to eliminate transaction fees, you must opt for the most expensive option. There’s also a severely limited free plan, but it comes with a hefty 10% transaction fee.
But remember, when paying for Podia, you’re paying for convenience. This easy-to-use platform takes care of most of the technical aspects, allowing you to focus on your craft and create high-quality content.
11 – WizIQ
WizIQ is a highly versatile platform that can cover all your teaching needs. Whether you prefer the “old school” classroom-like environment or embrace the benefits of pre-recorded courses, this platform offers a comprehensive solution for both live and recorded educational content. Even better, there’s also an app version of WizIQ, so your students can learn on the go.
WizIQ is the best choice if you want to ensure your online school is recognizable. Why? It gives you all the tools to create a fully branded online portal almost instantly. Plus, this learning portal doesn’t only have to host classes. You can also use it to create, publish, and conduct online tests in a few simple steps. This allows you to assess the progress of your students effortlessly.
But besides students, you’ll also be able to assess the performance of your courses. How? Thanks to WizIQ’s innovative e-learning analytics. This handy feature will measure aspects like course attendance, weak areas of your course, and course completion. Use these insights to tweak your course content, and you should always be on top of your teaching game.
As for the money aspect, WizIQ won’t take any commission from you. You only need to pay the monthly fee to use the service. Though this might sound great at first, remember that it also means you’ll have to arrange the payment options for your courses and live lessons, which can be quite a hassle.
12 – EdX
The last contender for the best online teaching platform to earn money slightly differs from other entries on this list. You see, edX primarily partners with top educational institutions to offer high-quality courses. However, it also offers a separate platform – Open edX – that allows external contributors to post courses.
This platform will be right for you if you primarily want to teach academic subjects online, such as computer science or business and economics. edX will equip you with the necessary tools to create and sell your courses, while the platform’s collaboration with prestigious institutions will do wonders for your marketing.
Though, be warned – using Open edX isn’t as simple as with the previously mentioned tools. But the ready-made audience will make any effort worth it.
As for your earnings, there are several ways to generate revenue with Open edX. You can put premium content behind a paywall, charge for certificates, and offer add-ons (e.g., mentoring). This gives you numerous income sources in the academic field, which isn’t exactly known for fair pay.
Why Is It So Important to Choose the Best Online Teaching Platform to Earn Money?
With the 12 platforms listed here, you have a pretty wide coverage of the online teaching spectrum. The likes of BlurBay and EasyWebinar are great for video content – in their own ways – with the other platforms offering more tools for written and interactive courses. But whichever platform you choose, you have to understand what makes an online learning tool useful to you as a teacher in the first place. Look for the following. Without them, you may get stuck paying for a platform that doesn’t serve your needs or those of your students.
Usability
Not every online teacher is a tech-head who wants to spend hours learning the ins and outs of the platform they’re using. Most aren’t, in fact, and they’d rather have a platform that makes it easy to upload their content so they can focus on the creation aspect. So, usability is important. If a platform makes you spend more time on uploading than you spend on creating, you know it’s not one of the best tutoring websites to make money, and you need to look elsewhere.
The Feature Set
The platform with the most features isn’t necessarily the best platform for your lessons.
Take LearnWorlds as an example. The fact that it offers e-books, marketing tools, and a ton of other features makes it attractive. But if you’re only looking to sell online videos, with none of the additional stuff that might go alongside them, then LearnWorlds would be a platform that costs a lot of money for you to use one of its many features. And if you’re looking for the best online teaching platform to earn money, spending lots of money on that platform doesn’t really make sense.
Think about what you need from your platform. Don’t get tempted by an extensive suite of features if you have no idea how you might actually use those features to deliver better lessons.
The Capacity for Growth
In traditional teaching, your capacity for growth is simple – you only have the space that a classroom affords. If that classroom only fits 10 students, then that’s it. You’re teaching 10 students.
By shifting to an online teaching model, you’re potentially opening your lessons up to a much larger audience. Some estimates say that the number of people taking online courses of all types could rise to as many as 57 million by 2027.
Monetization Options
Let’s not sugarcoat it – you need an online teaching platform that can actually earn you money. Sure, sharing your knowledge and craft is a reward in and of itself. But ultimately, your efforts must translate into tangible financial success for you to be motivated to continue creating high-quality content.
There are two characteristics you should be looking for in the best online teaching platform to earn money – robust monetization options and fair revenue share.
You don’t want a platform that will take more money than it will help you earn. That’s why you should be wary of platforms with a subscription fee and commission per sale. This model might pay off in the long run, but it can significantly eat into your immediate earnings.Top of Form
Marketing Tools
Online learning is undoubtedly the fastest-growing market in the education industry. Since 2000, it has grown by a staggering 900%. While this impressive figure means lots of opportunities for teaching online, it also means lots of competition.
That’s where marketing comes into play.
Your chosen teaching platform should offer at least some marketing tools. Whether it’s the option to “tease” your students with a cliffhanger like on BlurBay or tools to conduct a full-on pre-launch campaign like with Podia, having built-in marketing features is a must.
Start Online Teaching the Right Way – Choose the Best Online Teaching Platform to Earn Money
If a teacher creates a course and doesn’t have a platform on which to host it, does that course even exist? In the eyes of your students, it doesn’t, which is why it’s so crucial that you make the right decision when choosing your teaching platform.
BlurBay, for instance, makes it easy to both host and monetize your videos, with its blurring feature also being a great way to build anticipation in students. With EasyWebinar, you get marketing tools to go along with webinar hosting, while FreshLearn makes it easy to create multi-faceted courses. Before making your choice, consider how you wish to deliver your lessons. Once you know that, you’ll be able to dig through each platform’s feature set to find one that works for you.
