After COVID-2019 hit, online education has reached a new level. More and more people started learning online through various platforms and educational channels. Schools, colleges, and other educational institutions began to share their knowledge and skills on the web.
Today, we can’t imagine our lives without online courses, webinars, lessons, etc. Moreover, now people can access global networking. Learners participate in online courses of professionals from all around the globe without even having to leave their homes.
However, developing a quality online course can challenge creators if they do it manually. Fortunately, online education kickstarted the process of building reliable platforms that can help with professional online courses. Online course builders allow users worldwide to design courses that match their requirements and needs while requiring no knowledge of the code.
Thinkific is one of the online course creators that instantly comes to mind. Yet it carries several drawbacks you should be aware of. First of all, the cheapest basic plan will cost you $49 monthly without covering such features as live lessons and memberships.
Paying for them additionally might be pricey. Secondly, it involves a bit of a complicated learning process. Some users admit that it was quite a challenge for them to figure out how everything works and start creating their first online course. Finally, if you want to create a vast community of learners, it might be a problem because of the limited features.
By looking at all the cons Thinkific has, we’ve decided to guide you through the three best Thinkific alternatives which are more affordable, easy to use, and open to communities. You’ll have a quick look at each of the platforms to identify the best option for your business.
In this article, we’ll discover three excellent solutions for influencers, creators, online schools, business agencies, and other businesses involved in online education. One of these three platforms can become your perfect rescue for building quality online courses without much effort, time, and web developers.
SendPulse
SendPulse is an excellent all-in-one solution designed for marketers, businesses of all sizes, and creators. The platform offers an intuitive online course builder that helps you share your expertise, knowledge, and skills by building high-quality online courses and training programs.
Since SendPulse combines various tools and features for marketers and sellers, you can design a course and promote it across the most preferred channels like email campaigns, chatbots, pop-ups, web push notifications, and many more.
SendPulse has a user-friendly editor where you can craft your course from scratch. The structure and content of your course fully depend on your requirements. You can feel free to add all the necessary infographics, videos, images, eBooks, and audio lectures to enhance your students’ knowledge and skills.
Your course can contain lessons, quizzes, and homework. With the platform, you’ll be able to design the certificates of completion and send them to learners upon their successful competition of your course.
Creating a new online course in SendPulse
If you want to avoid spending hours or days on building a course from scratch, you can always scan through the available pre-built templates and choose the most suitable one for your business. When you plan to manage your course with a team of specialists, you can add up to 10 instructors. SendPulse allows you to assign roles with unique permissions and restrictions.
Here are some more of SendPulse’s features:
- unlimited number of courses;
- personalized link to the course;
- course monetization options;
- custom course domain;
- creating and using promo codes;
- course edit history;
- limiting course completion time;
- course recommendation system;
- customizing your student account style.
Pricing: You have two main options for the course builder: a free Basic plan and a paid Pro plan. The Basic plan enables you to create one course for 200 students with one instructor while a paid plan has no limits on the number of courses for 1,000 students costing you $21 monthly, if billed annually.
Teachable
Teachable is a great solution for creators, coaches, and teachers. It will help you design courses for various purposes: employee onboarding, online schools, and coaching businesses. If you want to build an online course for the first time, the platform’s community members will inspire you. The service is perfect for creating courses and monetizing your knowledge and skills. You can scale fast and establish a source of constant income online.
The platform is open to full customization. With its no-code builder, you can create your course and school in minutes. Intuitive drag-and-drop editor will help you with a professional online course by simply adding various content formats like videos, audio, templates, guides, etc. The service allows you to brand your course with easy-to-use customizations.
The platform’s tools and features ensure that your online course matches your branding. Teachable allows you to build your course from scratch or use its ready-to-go templates. You can personalize one of the existing templates and align it with your brand in minutes. The course builder is flexible meaning that you can utilize any type of multimedia and content. By adding audio, video, images, and text, you make your course more interactive and engaging.
Building a course in Teachable
With Teachable:pay, you can get paid automatically, manage payouts, and sell securely. The platform takes care of your payments while providing a seamless checkout system, fraud protection, and tax-inclusive pricing. Moreover, if you decide to take a Pro or Business plan, you won’t need to pay any transaction fees.
Here are some more of Teachable’s features:
- custom user roles;
- coupons and order bumps;
- custom domains;
- accelerator challenge access;
- membership tiers;
- public API access;
- advanced theme customizations;
- bulk student enrollment;
- removable branding.
Pricing: Teachable has a free plan and four paid plans, suitable for various business sizes. A free plan covers one course, one admin, and an author seat. The prices for paid plans range from $39 to $499 per month if paid annually. The cheapest paid plan includes five courses and one membership tier.
LearnWorlds
LearnWorlds is a perfect choice for building, selling, and promoting your courses, bundles, and memberships. Since more and more students use their smartphones to learn something new, the platform empowers you with the ability to create a branded mobile app for your school. You’ll be able to reach a wider audience and actively interact with them.
LearnWorlds is easy to set up and customize. You can create eye-catching themes for your course player and flexibility for multiple course pathways. Its no-code block-based builder allows you to create interactive courses by embedding videos, ebooks, face-to-face and group sessions, assessments, and surveys. The service takes video learning to the next level by automatically extracting transcripts, quizzes, and tables of contents. These features make the video experience with your online courses seamless and easily understandable.
LearnWorlds offers you a free library of beautiful ready templates. With their help, you’ll build engaging and mobile-friendly online courses in minutes. The platform allows you to add your content once and cycle automatically through all designs to find the right one.
Creating a new course from scratch in LearnWorlds
The service gives you full control of the customer experience. You can utilize your domain name and communicate your brand identity. Moreover, you can upsell and cross-sell by providing attractive offers, creating converting sales pages, and ensuring smooth checkout experiences. Students will be happy to buy your course and join your community.
Here are some more of LearnWorlds’s features:
- customizable course player;
- auto-transcripts and subtitles;
- no LearnWorlds branding;
- school cloning;
- in-school clone and sync;
- cross-schools clone and sync;
- multi-language site with Weglot.
Pricing: The platform has a 30-day free trial yet once it expires, you’ll need a paid plan to continue creating courses. The cheapest plan costs $24 monthly if billed annually, for unlimited paid courses. You’ll also need to pay $5 per course sale.
There are many options to consider. However, to choose the right solution suitable for your industry and business size, you should define the budget, features, and level of your skills. Once you have all these points listed, you’ll be able to utilize an appropriate platform and build outstanding online courses for your students.
