10 Best Online Course Platforms of 2026

Kajabi is built for experts who would otherwise stitch together a course host, an email tool, a page builder and a community app. Its pricing page lists Basic at $143 a month on annual billing, or $179 monthly, and that plan already covers 5 products across courses, coaching, memberships, downloads and podcasts, one website with a custom domain, unlimited landing pages and funnels, unlimited marketing emails to 2,500 contacts, and a private community. Kajabi takes no revenue share; on its own payments product US card rates start at 2.9% plus 30 cents, and outside processors add 2% on Basic. Videos get automatic transcripts and translations, and an AI assistant called Kajabi Cofounder is included on every plan. The trade-offs are cost and tiering. Live cohort courses, affiliate programs, advanced automations and removal of Kajabi branding start on Growth at $199 a month billed annually, and a branded app needs Pro.

Podia is the easiest place on this list to put a course, a download, a coaching offer and a community behind one storefront. Its pricing page lists Mover at $42 a month billed annually with 50 products, 500 videos, 25 community spaces and unlimited customers, plus a 5% transaction fee. Shaker at $84 a month billed annually removes that fee and adds affiliate marketing, upsells, PayPal and Zapier, and Earthquaker at $150 removes product and video limits. Every plan includes community, courses, downloads, coaching, events, a website and blog, a custom domain, landing pages, Podia AI tools, sales tax for 230 countries and email and chat support. The limit that bites first is email: Mover includes Podia Email for only 100 subscribers, Shaker for 500 and Earthquaker for 1,000, with add-ons beyond that. Podia also offers migration help, moving up to 50 products on Mover and 150 on higher plans.

Teachable keeps its focus on courses and digital products, and its pricing reflects that. Starter costs $29 a month on annual billing or $39 monthly and allows 5 products, AI creation tools, iOS and Android student apps, global payments and taxes, upsells and cart recovery. The catch is a 7.5% transaction fee on Starter, which disappears on Builder at $69 a month billed annually; Builder also raises the cap to 10 products and adds an affiliate program and real-time support. Growth at $139 a month billed annually allows 50 products and adds course certificates, removal of Teachable branding, imported students, custom admin permissions and free subtitles and translations. A Custom tier with a success manager and bulk sales features is quoted by sales. Teachable does not offer a free plan; it gives a 7-day trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Email marketing and community are lighter than in all-in-one suites, so many creators pair it with a separate email tool.

Thinkific concentrates on teaching tools. The Start plan includes unlimited courses, video lessons with student discussions, live cohorts and coaching with unlimited Zoom sessions, bookable calendars and attendance tracking, quizzes, graded assignments and branded certificates, plus bundles, upsells, payment plans and memberships on a custom domain. Grow removes Thinkific branding and adds 3 communities, bulk enrollment and imports, B2B seat sales paid by invoice, phone and priority chat support, API access and webhooks, and engagement reports. Expand adds 10 communities, more video bandwidth, email white-labeling, 15 admin accounts and revenue sharing with up to 10 partners. Thinkific has no free plan and offers a 30-day trial instead. A branded iOS and Android app is available as a separate add-on. The pricing page showed euro prices from our location, so we list Thinkific's USD price as pending; check the vendor page for current US pricing.

LearnWorlds sits between a creator course platform and a corporate LMS. Starter covers 1,000 active learners a month, 1 admin and 300 AI credits, with courses on your own domain, an AI course builder and quizzes, live 1:1 and group sessions and payments through your own Stripe or PayPal, but it charges a fee on every course enrollment. Pro Trainer drops the enrollment fee and adds subscriptions, memberships and payment plans, unlimited courses and learning paths, certificates, up to 20 SCORM uploads and 50+ integrations for 2,000 active learners and 5 admins. Learning Center adds full white-label, up to 10 client groups and automation triggers. This depth is why LearnWorlds suits trainers selling professional development, though it takes longer to learn than Podia or Skool. The pricing page showed prices without a clear USD label from our location, so we list the price as pending; check LearnWorlds' own page for current US pricing.

Skool keeps pricing and product deliberately simple. Its pricing page lists just two plans. Hobby costs $9 a month and Pro costs $99 a month, and both include unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls, a custom URL and affiliates. The real difference is the transaction fee: 10% of each sale on Hobby against 2.9% on Pro, so a creator taking more than about $1,300 a month in sales pays less in total on Pro. Annual billing gives 2 months free. The product puts a community feed, a classroom of courses and live calls in one group, which keeps members coming back and is easy to learn for both owners and members. What Skool leaves out matters too. The pricing page lists no website builder, landing pages, funnels or marketing email, so creators usually need another tool to attract buyers, and the course area lacks the quizzes, certificates and drip controls found in Teachable or Thinkific.

Systeme.io is the cheapest serious way on this list to sell a course with a funnel and email list behind it. Its pricing page describes a free plan with 2,000 contacts, 3 sales funnels and 1 course that never expires and needs no credit card, though it limits you to 1 automation rule, 1 email campaign and 500 students. Startup costs $17 a month for 5,000 contacts, 10 funnels and 5 courses, Webinar costs $47 for 10,000 contacts, 50 funnels, 20 courses and evergreen webinars, and Unlimited costs $97 for unlimited contacts, funnels and courses. All plans include unlimited emailing, unlimited file storage, unlimited students, an affiliate program and no transaction fees on Stripe or PayPal. Annual billing gives 2 months free. The trade-off is depth: course players, quizzes and community features are basic next to Thinkific or Kajabi, and the tool is built around funnels rather than a learning experience.

Circle is the most polished community-first option here for creators who sell memberships. Professional costs $89 a month on annual billing, with prices shown in USD, and includes unlimited members, community, courses, live events, a website, member directory and rich profiles, reporting, payments, gamification, a custom domain and iOS, Android and desktop apps, plus 2,500 Circle AI credits a month. It takes a 2% transaction fee and allows 20 spaces and 200GB of storage. Business at $199 a month adds workflows, custom profile fields, APIs and an MCP connection, branded email notifications and removal of Circle branding, and cuts the fee to 1%. Scale at $419 adds AI agents, unlimited workflows and SSO. Branded apps sit on the custom-priced Circle Plus tier. Marketing email is a paid add-on called Email Hub, priced from $99 a month for 10,000 contacts, so an all-in-one like Kajabi can work out cheaper for creators who also need email.

Mighty Networks combines community, courses and events and adds live streaming, which most rivals here do not include. Launch costs $79 a month on monthly billing or $950 a year, and covers unlimited members and spaces, private groups and cohorts, polls, chat, online and in-person events, courses, 3 hosts and 10 moderators, 200 GB of storage and 20 streaming hours a month for up to 100 viewers per stream. It takes a 2% transaction fee. Scale at $179 a month adds more automations, API and MCP access, and third-party integrations such as Zapier, Kit and Google Analytics, and cuts the fee to 1%. Growth at $354 adds advanced automations, expert sessions and priority support. An AI Cohost helps plan the community and draft its marketing pages. Free trials run on the Growth plan, so check which features you will lose after choosing Launch. Marketing email and funnels are not part of the plans.

Kartra starts from marketing and adds courses, which suits creators who sell through launches, webinars and funnels. Essentials costs $52 a month on annual billing or $59 monthly, but it is a narrow plan: 500 contacts, 10,000 emails and texts a month, 5 pages, 1 product, 1 membership or course and a 5% transaction fee. Starter at $99 a month billed annually is the realistic entry for a course business, with 2,500 contacts, unlimited email and SMS, unlimited pages, products, memberships and courses, video hosting, calendars, 5 team members and no transaction fee. Growth at $189 adds 12,500 contacts and 3 custom domains. All plans include a funnel mapper, analytics, checkouts and Kartra AI copywriting with a usage allowance. The interface covers a lot of ground, so it takes longer to learn than Podia or Teachable, and the course area is a membership portal rather than a full learning platform with certificates and quizzes.