You’ve coached clients, you’ve mastered a niche, and you know your stuff… now it’s time to create a course and sell it to the masses!
But which online course platform for coaches do you choose and how do you know which one is best for you and your coaching business?
We’re Cass and Tee and we are here to help! We are the owners of Lovely Impact (the site you are reading this on right now ?), and on top of creating websites for coaches, we are kind of obsessed with business technology.
As certified coaches with over 20 years of combined tech experience, our customers always ask us… what’s the best platform to build my coaching course on?
If that’s you, and you are trying to decide where to build your course, make sure you read our entire review! That way you can choose what works for your coaching business.
But first… we want to quickly do an overview of online course platforms for coaches, just in case you don’t know what that is exactly.
Keep reading to learn more!
What are Online Course Platforms for Coaches?
Online course platforms for coaches are cloud-based learning platforms that you access via your browser. They allow you to provide educational content and resources to your students in one place.
Get Your Free Coaching Business Checklist!
Fill out this form to access our free comprehensive business checklist with 149+ actionable tasks to setup your coaching business for success.
Plus, join our email list to stay up to date.
These tools help you:
- Create an online course and integrate it into your coaching website.
- Upload videos, assignments, and fun content to engage your students.
- Sell your course online and collect payments.
- Meet and chat with your students and coaching clients via messaging, live webinars, and more.
- Monitor course progress and engagement.
The Best Online Course Platforms for Coaches
Here are our top picks for the best online course platforms for coaches:
1. Teachable
Best for coaches who want something easy to use and customize.
Teachable is a powerful online course platform that recently updated its branding, website, and copy to highlight its specific focus on coaches!
We love the focus on coaching, but the reason we ranked Teachable number one is that it’s so easy to use! No matter your technical expertise, you can create a course for your coaching business with their all-in-in-one platform. It includes full customization, payment processing, and multiple 3rd party integrations.
And we aren’t the only ones who love to keep things simple and easy to use… with over 100,000 creators using Teachable, it’s the most popular learning platform online.
Features
Teachable is an all-in-one platform that works with your coaching website to deliver a seamless and beautifully branded course experience to your students and coaching clients. Their features focus on customization, payment, and security.
The following is a list of the essential features that Teachable offers:
- Customize any aspect of your course, from the visual layout to site navigation, with the ability to dig deep into the code.
- Use a variety of third-party services, such as Google Analytics, Calendly, ConvertKit, and Mailchimp, to connect your course.
- Access detailed information about your earnings and payouts.
- Send targeted emails based on enrollment, completion, code redemption, and more to your customers and coaching clients.
- Accept credit and debit cards as well as PayPal.
Pricing
With unlimited courses and students included on and the free plan PLUS all three paid plans, you just need to choose which affordable option is right for you!
- Free plan: $0 per month
- Basic plan: $39 per month
- Pro plan: $119 per month
- Business: $299 per month
2. Thinkific
Best for coaches who want to grow their courses fast
Thinkific is another all-in-one online course platform with a focus on scaling your coaching business and increasing income. This tool is perfect for coaches with an established practice looking to grow and scale their online courses fast.
Created by Greg Smith, a course creator who wanted to take his LSAT course online, Thinkific’s mission is to revolutionize the way people learn and earn online, by providing them with tools that help them build empires.
Features
Thinkific’s features focus on providing ready-to-go tools that allow you to start marketing and selling your course immediately.
The following is a list of the essential features that they offer:
- Elevated student experience including live lessons, cohorts, assessments, certificates, progress tracking, and more.
- All-in-one business tool including drag and drop website builder, eCommerce, coupons, and monthly subscriptions.
- Product flexibility including courses, bundles, digital downloads, and memberships.
- Unlimited growth potential including open APIs, automation, and cloud hosting.
Pricing
There is no limit to the number of courses, students, and content that will be included on any of the three paid plans:
- Free plan: $0 per month
- Basic plan: $49 per month
- Pro plan: $99 per month
- Premier: $499 per month
3. Podia
Best for coaches who need tons of features
Podia goes way beyond creating and selling a course in your coaching business. It’s not just an online course platform, it also helps you manage webinars, downloads, and a community. Every tool you need is in one place.
Podia has been in business for over 7 years and prides itself on building tools that are easy to use, easy to customize, and easy to integrate. It was designed to shine a spotlight on your coaching business without distracting your customers and clients.
Features
When they said “everything you need”, they meant it. The following is a list of the essential features that Podia offers:
- Access all 5 Podia tools including Core, Sell, Market, Email Marketing, plus extras.
- Control how you want everything to look and where you want elements to appear.
- Create your online courses with any kind of content you like.
- Take payments before you launch.
- Test ideas and collect emails before investing in and launching your latest course.
- Tons of additional features including quizzes, polls, coupons, embeds, bundles, drip tools, and much more.
Pricing
Each plan comes with a free 14-day trial that requires no credit card, plus you get five or more tools for the price of one.
- Mover Plan: $39/mo or $390/yr (Save $78/yr)
- Shaker Plan: $79/mo or $790/yr (Save $158/yr)
- Earthquaker Plan: $179/mo or $1790/yr (Save $358/yr)
Final Thoughts
When it comes to growing and scaling a coaching business, it’s undeniable that online course platforms for coaches are needed to deliver, market, and sell their courses.
Having a course platform that is easy to use and allows you to develop a passive source of income, not only stabilizes your coaching business but also establishes you as an industry thought leader in your niche.
You can’t go wrong with these three choices when choosing an online course platform for coaches:
- Teachable: Best for coaches who want something easy to use and customize
- Thinkific: Best for coaches who want to grow their courses fast
- Podia: Best coaches who need tons of features
Remember, do your research and choose what works for you and your business!
About The Author
Hey! I’m Cass, a brand coach and the Co-Founder & Chief Brand Officer at Lovely Impact, a website template shop for coaches. I help coaches elevate their businesses with beautiful branding and websites. Here on our blog, my content focuses on branding, web design, and storytelling.
Hey! I’m Tee, a brand and marketing coach and the Co-Founder & CMO at Lovely Impact, a website template shop for coaches. I help coaches grow their coaching businesses digitally. Here on our blog, my content focuses on web design, marketing, business, and social media strategy.
