Selling a course online means owning a small shop with an unusual product: the goods are hours of video and the customer expects a classroom after paying. The platform has to take the money, deliver the lessons in order, remember where each student stopped, and keep paying customers separate from everyone else. Most buyers discover the hard parts late. A plan that looked cheap takes a percentage of each sale. Certificates or a custom domain turn out to live two tiers up. The subscribers cannot be moved when you leave. This ranking covers 14 online course platforms, from hosted builders to WordPress plugins you run yourself. Every price, limit and plan detail below was read from the vendor own site in September 2026. We judged what it takes to reach a first sale, what the platform costs once fees are counted, and how much of the business remains yours.
Visibility in this ranking can be paid for. Payment moves a vendor's position within the
shortlist; it never adds a vendor, and it never changes a word of the review. The largest vendors in online course platforms
cannot hold places 1 to 3. How it works: placement disclosure ·
editorial process.
How we ranked these
Setup: from empty account to a course someone can pay for
Setting up a course platform is four jobs: load the lessons, build a sales page, connect a payment processor, and send a test student through checkout into the first lesson. On the hosted products that is an afternoon, and we favored vendors whose trial or free plan lets you finish all four before paying. Trial length matters more than it looks, because recording and uploading lessons is slow work; seven days and thirty days are different offers. The WordPress plugins are judged differently. Installing the plugin is quick, but you also choose hosting, arrange where video is stored and keep the site updated, so we scored them on how much arrives in one license and how much must be added.
The real price: subscription plus the cut of each sale
A course seller pays twice: a subscription, and a percentage of revenue. The percentage has two layers that vendors like to blur. One is the card processing charge from Stripe, PayPal or the vendor payment service, which nobody escapes. The other is a platform fee the vendor adds on top, and it ranges in this list from nothing to 7.5% of each sale. We compared each product at the plan where the platform fee reaches zero, since that is the plan a business with steady sales ends up on. We also read the quantity limits, because caps on products, active students or contacts push you up a tier as surely as a missing feature does. Introductory discounts were treated as discounts, not as the price.
Getting your data out: students, lessons and recurring payments
Three things need to leave with you: the student list with progress and purchase history, the lesson files, and the subscriptions that bill every month. The first two are usually tedious but possible. The third is the trap. If recurring payments run through the vendor own payment service, the stored cards may not move, and every subscriber has to sign up again on the new platform. Where a vendor lets you connect your own Stripe or PayPal account, the billing relationship stays yours, and we gave credit for that. We also credited plans that open an API, since an API is the practical route for bulk export. Keep master copies of every video outside the platform whatever you choose.
Independence from the vendor: whose school is it
The clearest split in this category is between renting a school and owning one. The three WordPress plugins here run on a site you control: the content sits in your database and the domain is yours. The hosted platforms trade that for convenience, so the questions become narrower. Can you use your own domain, and on which plan? Is the vendor name removed from the student area, and at what price? Does the vendor publish its plans, or can a fee change arrive by email? We also looked at who owns the vendor, since three products in this list belong to larger groups.
Who it's for: a creator, a coach or a training company
A solo creator selling one course to a mailing list needs a checkout, a video player and email, and is badly served by a tool built for instructional designers. A coach running a twelve-week program needs cohorts, discussion and some way to keep people showing up. A training company selling certified courses to other businesses needs assessments, certificates, several admin seats and possibly SCORM. These are three different purchases under one search term. We ranked for a small or mid-sized business that sells training as a product, and each review says which of the three buyers the tool suits. Platforms for training your own employees are a separate ranking, under learning management systems.
The 14 tools, reviewed
#1 LearnWorlds
Hosted course school with interactive video and SCORM · Cyprus · learnworlds.com
Hosted SCORM Interactive video
LearnWorlds takes first place because it treats the lesson as more than a video player. The feature list names interactive video with embedded questions, ebooks, an assessments builder, live sessions and SCORM import, which matters to a training company that already owns packaged content. A website builder and checkout are part of the same subscription, every tier gets a 30-day trial, and all three self-serve tiers carry a published price. Pro Trainer, at $79 a month on annual billing, is where the transaction fee disappears and unlimited courses, bundles, Zapier and 20 SCORM packages arrive. LTI 1.3 and full white-label sit on Learning Center.
Where it falls short
Starter is a thin plan: the vendor lists certificates, SCORM, subscriptions, bundles, affiliate marketing, Zapier and the mobile app as excluded from it, and it adds a $5 fee on every paid enrollment. Full white-label, unlimited SCORM and the advanced affiliate tools wait until Learning Center at $249 a month on annual billing, a steep step from Pro Trainer. No free plan is listed, only the trial.
Wrong for
A solo creator selling one inexpensive course will feel the $5 per enrollment fee on Starter quickly. Payhip or systeme.io, which both have free plans, suit that seller better.
Pricing: Starter is $24 per month billed annually or $29 monthly plus a $5 fee per paid enrollment; Pro Trainer is $79 billed annually or $99 monthly with no transaction fee; Learning Center is $249 or $299; Corporate is custom. (free trial)
Visit LearnWorlds →
#2 Podia
Website, email and course sales in one subscription · United States · podia.com
Hosted All-in-one Email included
Podia is the plain answer for someone who wants to stop stitching a site builder, a mailing tool and a checkout together. Its pricing page says every plan includes courses, downloads, coaching, events, the website builder, email marketing, custom domains and the built-in checkout, and the features page adds drip, quizzes, certificates and community. The plans differ in how many products, videos and email subscribers you get and in whether Podia takes a cut. The 14-day trial gives full access without a card. It ranks second because the scope is broad and the rules are easy to read, which is rarer in this market than it should be.
Where it falls short
The entry plan, Mover, carries a 5% fee on sales and is listed with up to 100 email subscribers, so an existing list outgrows it on day one. Affiliate marketing, upsells, PayPal and Zapier are listed from Shaker upward. The pricing page we fetched showed annual billing totals only, so the cost of paying month by month could not be confirmed. No free plan is listed.
Wrong for
A training company that needs SCORM import, graded assessments at depth or learner reporting will find Podia light. LearnWorlds is built for that kind of course.
Pricing: Mover is shown at $42 per month as $504 billed annually with a 5% fee on sales; Shaker is $84 per month as $1,008 billed annually with no fee; Earthquaker is $150 per month as $1,800 billed annually. (free trial)
Visit Podia →
#3 Tutor LMS
WordPress course plugin with a free core · Bangladesh · tutorlms.com
WordPress Self-hosted Lifetime license
Third place goes to the option that costs least to keep running. The vendor states that the full Tutor LMS core is free forever, and the Pro license is a flat yearly fee per site count rather than a monthly subscription that rises with sales. A one-time lifetime license is on the same price list, which almost nothing else here offers. The plugin runs inside your own WordPress site, and the product page names a course builder, more than 13 quiz types, a certificate builder, native eCommerce, WooCommerce integration, subscriptions, content drip and multi-instructor support. All paid tiers include every Pro add-on, so the choice is about site count only.
Where it falls short
You are the operations team. Hosting, backups, updates, caching and video delivery are yours to arrange, and none of that is in the license price. The AI Studio feature requires your own OpenAI API key. Annual licenses include updates for one year, so skipping renewal means running an aging plugin on a site that takes payments.
Wrong for
Anyone without a WordPress site, or without someone willing to maintain one, should skip the plugins entirely. Podia or Teachery handle hosting and ask for less attention.
Pricing: The core plugin is free; Pro is $199 per year for 1 site, $399 per year for up to 10 sites or $799 per year for unlimited sites, with one-time lifetime licenses at $499, $999 and $1,999. (free plan)
Visit Tutor LMS →
#4 Thinkific
Hosted course builder with communities and branded app · Canada · thinkific.com
Hosted Unlimited courses Communities
Thinkific does the central job without drama: a drag-and-drop course builder, quizzes, assignments and certificates, a community inside the learner area, and unlimited courses on every plan. The 30-day trial is long enough to load a real course and run a test sale. Plans separate mostly by commerce and administration features: paid memberships begin on Start, while API access, white label and the removal of Thinkific branding begin on Grow. The pricing table lists 10,000 current students on every plan through Grow. It sits fourth because the majors rule keeps the dominant vendors out of the first three places, not because the product is weak.
Where it falls short
The Basic plan has one admin seat, five digital downloads and no paid memberships. API access and white label are held for Grow, and single sign-on for the quote-only Plus tier. Payments through Thinkific Payments are listed at 2.9% processing, and using a third-party gateway adds a further fee that the page says varies by plan without giving the figure. No free plan is offered.
Wrong for
A seller who needs their own branding on the site from the first month will pay for Grow to get it. Teachery includes custom domains and every feature in its single plan.
Pricing: The pricing page we fetched showed euro prices: Basic €39 per month on annual billing or €53 monthly, Start €79 or €107, Grow €159 or €213, and Plus on a custom quote. (free trial)
Visit Thinkific →
#5 Teachable
Hosted courses, coaching and downloads with tax handling · United States · teachable.com
Hosted Tax handling Student apps
Teachable is part of Hotmart Company and one of the best-known names a first-time course seller meets. Its real advantage is the money side: the site says its checkout supports more than 35 local payment methods and that it automatically collects and remits sales tax, VAT and GST across more than 45 countries. For a one-person business selling to students abroad, that is work removed. Every plan includes the AI course tools, iOS and Android student apps, upsells and cart recovery. Builder and Growth are listed with a 0% transaction fee, marked with an asterisk on the pricing page. As a major it cannot rank higher than fourth.
Where it falls short
Every plan caps the number of products: 5 on Starter, 10 on Builder, 50 on Growth. Starter takes 7.5% of each sale and has no affiliate program and email-only support. Certificates and removing Teachable branding are listed only from Growth, at $139 a month on annual billing. The trial is seven days, short for building and testing a course, and no free plan exists.
Wrong for
A school with a large catalog of short courses hits the product caps early. Thinkific and LearnWorlds Pro Trainer both list unlimited courses.
Pricing: Starter is $29 per month billed annually or $39 monthly with a 7.5% transaction fee and 5 products; Builder is $69 or $89 with 10 products; Growth is $139 or $189 with 50 products; Custom is by quote. (free trial)
Visit Teachable →
#6 LifterLMS
WordPress course and membership plugin · United States · lifterlms.com
WordPress Self-hosted Memberships
LifterLMS is the WordPress plugin for a seller whose business is as much membership as course. The free core is listed with unlimited courses, unlimited memberships and unlimited students and teachers, which lets you build the whole school before spending anything. The features page names the course builder, drip content, prerequisites, quizzes, badges, certificates, subscriptions and payment plans. Bundles are priced per year by number of sites, and each comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. The vendor pitches it as a way to own the platform instead of renting one, and on a site you already run that is a fair description.
Where it falls short
The Stripe, PayPal and WooCommerce ecommerce add-ons are listed in the paid bundles, so taking card payments is where the free core ends for most sellers. The headline bundle prices are first-year introductory rates at half the normal price, and the vendor says all renewals are at full price, so the second year costs double. Email marketing and CRM add-ons start at the Universe bundle.
Wrong for
A buyer who wants a fixed license with a lifetime option should look at Tutor LMS. A buyer who does not want to run WordPress at all should look at Podia.
Pricing: The core plugin is free; the Earth Bundle is $199 for the first year (normally $398) for 1 site, Universe $299 (normally $598) for 5 sites and Infinity $799 (normally $1598) for unlimited sites, and the vendor states renewals are at full price. (free plan)
Visit LifterLMS →
#7 systeme.io
Funnel, email and course builder with a free plan · Ireland · systeme.io
Hosted Funnels Free plan
Systeme.io approaches the course from the marketing end. The platform lists sales funnels, email marketing, a website builder, affiliate management and automation alongside the course builder, and the pricing page states 0% transaction fees on every plan, including the free one. That free plan does not expire, needs no card, and allows one course with unlimited students and 2,000 contacts, enough to sell a first course for real. The course page names drip delays, graded multiple-choice quizzes, course bundles and video hosting without a storage limit. For a seller whose main skill is the funnel, the price is hard to argue with.
Where it falls short
The vendor says in its own FAQ that systeme.io has no native certificate generation, which rules it out for any course where a certificate is the point. The course limit is tight below the Webinar plan: one course on Free and five on Startup. The quiz feature is described as multiple-choice only. The course area is one module in a marketing suite, and it shows.
Wrong for
Training companies that issue certificates or need assignments and richer assessment should not start here. LearnWorlds or Thinkific are built around the course, not the funnel.
Pricing: Free plan with 1 course and 2,000 contacts; Startup is $17 per month with 5 courses; Webinar is $47 per month with unlimited courses; Unlimited is $97 per month; annual billing gives two months free. (free plan)
Visit systeme.io →
#8 LearnDash
WordPress LMS plugin from Liquid Web · United States · liquidweb.com
WordPress Self-hosted Annual license
LearnDash is a WordPress LMS plugin that is now part of Liquid Web, and its product page sells it on independence: no hosting lock-in and no proprietary dependencies. Every plan includes the drag-and-drop course builder, quizzes with eight question types, a certificate builder, scheduled content release and Stripe and PayPal payments, and the vendor says MemberDash, its membership plugin, is included in every plan. One license covers unlimited courses and unlimited learners. Pro and Elite add ProPanel, a real-time analytics dashboard. It suits a school that wants gradebooks and formal assessment on a site it controls.
Where it falls short
It is the only one of the three WordPress plugins in this ranking with no free version on its price list, and its entry price of $259 a year is above the other two. Essentials leaves out advanced reporting, the gradebook, group management and instructor roles. The free try is a 48-hour window, which is a look around and not a test. You still need WordPress hosting, which is not part of the license.
Wrong for
A buyer who wants to try a WordPress course plugin at no cost has two better starting points in Tutor LMS and LifterLMS, both of which have a free core.
Pricing: Essentials is $259 per year, Pro $399 per year and Elite $599 per year. (free trial)
Visit LearnDash →
#9 Kajabi
All-in-one platform for courses, coaching and marketing · United States · kajabi.com
Hosted All-in-one Premium price
Kajabi describes itself as one connected system for products, payments and marketing, and the product list backs that up: courses, coaching, communities, memberships, newsletters, digital downloads and podcasts, with email, automations, pages and analytics in the same account and access on web, iOS and Android. A seller already paying for four or five separate tools can plausibly replace them. The homepage offers a free 30-day trial and the pricing page a 30-day money-back guarantee on every plan. It is a major in this market, so it cannot sit in the top three, and its price places it lower still for a small buyer.
Where it falls short
Basic costs $179 a month on monthly billing and is limited to 5 products and 2,500 contacts, which is a lot of money for a small catalog. Staying with your own payment processor instead of Kajabi Payments adds a platform fee of 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth and 0.5% on Pro. The more of the business lives inside one account, the harder it is to leave.
Wrong for
A first-time course seller with no audience should not start at this price. Systeme.io and Payhip both have free plans that cover the first course.
Pricing: Basic is $143 per month billed yearly or $179 monthly; Growth is $199 or $249; Pro is $399 or $499; third-party payment processors add a platform fee of 2%, 1% and 0.5% respectively. (free trial)
Visit Kajabi →
#10 Payhip
Digital product store with courses and tax handling · United Kingdom · payhip.com
Hosted Free plan VAT handling
Payhip has the simplest price list in this ranking. The vendor says there is no feature-gating: every feature is available on every plan, the free one included, and the only thing that changes is the percentage Payhip keeps. Courses can hold videos, files, quizzes and assignments, with drip and certificates included, and they sit in the same store as digital downloads, coaching, memberships and physical products. Payhip also states that it collects and pays digital EU and UK VAT and US and Canadian sales tax on the seller behalf, a task that eats hours for a small European business. Payments run through PayPal, Stripe and other gateways.
Where it falls short
The free plan takes 5% of every sale, on top of what the payment processor charges, so a seller with steady revenue should do the arithmetic on Plus and Pro early. Payhip is a store first: the course features are listed in a single line of the features page, and nothing there mentions SCORM, cohorts or a learner community. Expect a competent course player, not a school.
Wrong for
A business whose product is a multi-month program with discussion and group work will want a learning-first tool. Heights Platform or Mighty Networks fit that shape better.
Pricing: Free Forever is $0 per month plus a 5% transaction fee; Plus is $29 per month plus 2%; Pro is $99 per month with no transaction fee. (free plan)
Visit Payhip →
#11 Teachery
Single-plan hosted course platform · United States · teachery.co
Hosted Single plan Lifetime option
Teachery removes the tier question. The vendor states that every plan includes all features with unlimited courses, customers, course hubs and custom domains, and that there are no hidden transaction fees or upsells. The only decision is how to pay: monthly, yearly, or once for life. The feature page lists lessons and sublessons, graded quizzes, completion certificates, drip schedules, community spaces with threaded replies, memberships that package courses and communities, customer affiliates with adjustable commission rates, and PayPal and Stripe checkout. A 14-day trial is offered. For a creator who wants predictable cost and their own domain from the start, it is a tidy choice.
Where it falls short
It is a small independent product and its scope is narrower than the suites: the feature page does not list a built-in email marketing tool or mobile apps, so plan on connecting a separate mailing service. The vendor pages we read do not say whether lesson video is hosted by Teachery, so confirm that during the trial. There is no free plan.
Wrong for
Sellers who want email marketing, funnels and the course in one account are better served by Podia or systeme.io, where those pieces are included.
Pricing: $49 per month, or $470 per year, or a one-time lifetime payment of $950; every plan includes all features. (free trial)
Visit Teachery →
#12 FreshLearn
Hosted courses, cohorts and memberships · United States · freshlearn.com
Hosted Free plan No platform fee
FreshLearn covers a wide set of formats for the money: courses, memberships, one-to-one and group coaching, live cohorts, workshops, e-books and community. The pricing page states 0% transaction fees, leaving only the payment processor charge. A free plan exists, limited to one product, 25 manual enrollments and five sales pages, which is enough to see the builder and publish a page. The company lists a registered US address in Delaware and an office in Hyderabad, India. It ranks in the lower half because the plan that most sellers will need is the second one, not the advertised entry price.
Where it falls short
The Pro plan leaves out community, live classes, certificates, assignments, assessments, branding removal and the Zapier integration; all of those begin on No Brainer. API access and user roles are held for No Brainer+. Pro has a single administrator. The default prices shown are tied to a longer billing commitment, and the page was not clear enough about the term for us to state it.
Wrong for
Anyone who wants every feature at the entry price should compare Teachery, which has one plan, or Payhip, which says it gates nothing.
Pricing: A free plan covers 1 product; paid plans are listed at $35 per month for Pro, $49 for No Brainer and $99 for No Brainer+ on the pricing page default billing option, with Enterprise on a custom quote. (free plan)
Visit FreshLearn →
#13 Heights Platform
Courses and community with gamification · United States · heightsplatform.com
Hosted Gamification No platform fee
Heights Platform is built for programs where completion matters more than catalog size. Its feature list pairs courses with community discussion, project posts, badges and a points system, plus student analytics, email marketing, a website builder and an assistant called Heights AI. The vendor charges no transaction fees, so only Stripe or PayPal processing comes off a sale. A 30-day trial needs no card. Plans are separated mainly by active students and email contacts: 100 students and one course on Challenge, then unlimited courses with 5,000 students on Basic and 10,000 on Pro. For a coach with a modest cohort, $49 a month buys most of the product.
Where it falls short
A custom domain and removal of Heights branding are listed only from Pro at $119 a month, so the two cheaper plans run under the vendor name. Active-student caps mean a successful free or low-priced course can force an upgrade. The legal entity, Velora Studios, LLC, gives a Delaware address while its terms are governed by Texas law, which says little about where the team actually sits.
Wrong for
A company that wants a larger vendor behind its training platform, or SCORM and LTI support, should look at LearnWorlds instead.
Pricing: Challenge is $29 per month for 1 course and up to 100 active students; Basic is $49 per month; Pro is $119 per month; annual billing saves 20%; a higher Academy tier also exists. (free trial)
Visit Heights Platform →
#14 Mighty Networks
Community platform with courses and native apps · United States · mightynetworks.com
Hosted Community-first Native apps
Mighty Networks belongs on this list for the seller whose course is really a membership. Its own summary of the product is community, courses and events, and the pricing table shows on-demand courses, cohort-based courses and live courses and challenges on every plan. Members use native iOS and Android apps, and the Mighty Pro tier offers branded apps in the app stores. The company gives Palo Alto, California as its headquarters. The 14-day trial runs on the Growth plan and needs no card. It ranks last because the course is the secondary feature, not because the platform is poor.
Where it falls short
Every plan takes a share of sales: 2% on Launch, 1% on Scale and 0.5% on Growth and Mighty Pro. A seller with real revenue pays that share for as long as the community runs. The trial puts you on the Growth plan at $354 a month, so what you test is not what the $79 plan delivers. Branded apps require the custom-priced Mighty Pro.
Wrong for
A seller of a self-paced course with no community element pays here for features that will sit unused. Thinkific or Teachery are a more direct fit.
Pricing: Launch is $79 per month or $950 per year with a 2% transaction fee; Scale is $179 per month with 1%; Growth is $354 per month with 0.5%; Mighty Pro is custom priced. (free trial)
Visit Mighty Networks →
Questions and answers
What is the best online course platform in 2026?
LearnWorlds is first in this ranking. It has the most complete lesson toolkit of the hosted products, including interactive video, assessments and SCORM import, a 30-day trial, and published prices from $24 a month on annual billing. Podia, in second place, is the better pick for a solo creator who wants the website, email list and checkout in one subscription and does not need formal assessment. Tutor LMS, third, suits anyone who already runs WordPress and wants the lowest recurring cost, since its core plugin is free and the Pro license is a flat yearly or one-time fee.
What is the difference between an online course platform and a learning management system?
The customer. An online course platform is built to sell training to people outside your company, so it has sales pages, a checkout, coupons, affiliates and tax handling. A learning management system is built to assign training to people inside your company, so it has user provisioning, compliance tracking and manager reports, and usually no checkout at all. Some products cross over: LearnWorlds supports SCORM and LTI, which are LMS standards. If the learners are employees who must complete the material, read the learning management system ranking instead.
Should I sell on a marketplace or on my own platform?
A marketplace brings an audience and keeps control: it decides how courses are listed and discounted, and the students are its customers. Your own platform brings no audience and gives you the rest, including the student email addresses, the price, and the right to move. Sellers who already have a mailing list or a client base almost always do better on their own platform. Sellers starting from zero sometimes use a marketplace for reach and their own site for the premium product. This ranking covers only platforms where you own the storefront.
How much do online course platforms take from each sale?
It depends on the plan more than the vendor. In this list the platform fee ranges from zero to 7.5%: Teachable Starter takes 7.5%, Podia Mover and Payhip Free take 5%, Mighty Networks takes 2% on Launch, and LearnWorlds Starter charges $5 per paid enrollment. Most vendors drop the fee to zero one or two tiers up. Card processing through Stripe or PayPal is charged separately in every case. Systeme.io, Teachery, Heights Platform and FreshLearn state that they add no platform fee of their own.
Can I create and sell an online course for free?
Yes, within limits. Payhip has a free plan with every feature and a 5% fee per sale. Systeme.io has a free plan that does not expire and allows one course with unlimited students. FreshLearn offers a free plan limited to one product and 25 manual enrollments. On WordPress, the Tutor LMS and LifterLMS core plugins are free, though you pay for hosting and, with LifterLMS, the payment add-ons come in paid bundles. Free here means no subscription; the payment processor still takes its charge on every sale.
Is a WordPress course plugin cheaper than a hosted platform?
On paper, usually. Tutor LMS Pro is $199 a year for one site and LearnDash Essentials is $259 a year, against hosted plans that bill every month. The plugin price leaves out WordPress hosting, a place to store and stream video, and the hours spent on updates and backups. For someone who already runs a WordPress site competently, the plugin is cheaper and gives more control. For someone who would have to hire that skill, a hosted plan is usually the lower real cost.
Where should the course videos be hosted?
Hosted platforms generally include video storage, and the limits vary: LearnWorlds lists unlimited video hosting on all plans, systeme.io says video is hosted with no storage limit, and Podia caps the number of videos on its two lower plans. WordPress plugins do not host video for you; ordinary web hosting is a poor place to stream from, so plan on a separate video host and embed the player. In either case keep the original files on your own storage. A platform is a place to publish video, not a place to archive it.
What happens to my students if I switch platforms?
One-time buyers are straightforward: export the list, import it into the new platform and grant access. Progress records usually do not transfer, so students restart their tracking. Subscribers are harder. If recurring billing ran through your own Stripe or PayPal account, the subscriptions belong to you and can often be reconnected. If it ran through the vendor payment service, you may have to ask each subscriber to sign up again, and some will not. Ask the vendor about this before the first subscription is sold, not when you are leaving.
Do I need SCORM support?
Only if you already have SCORM packages or your customers ask for them. SCORM is a packaging standard for e-learning content produced in authoring tools, common in corporate and compliance training. If you record video lessons and write quizzes inside the platform, you will never touch it. Among the platforms here, LearnWorlds lists SCORM from its Pro Trainer plan, capped at 20 packages, and unlimited on Learning Center. None of the other vendor pages we read for this ranking mentioned it, so ask directly if it matters.
Who handles VAT and sales tax on course sales?
By default, you do. A digital course sold to a consumer in another country is often taxable where the buyer lives, which means registrations and returns the seller has to file. Two vendors in this ranking say they take that on: Payhip states that it collects and pays digital EU and UK VAT and US and Canadian sales tax on the seller behalf, and Teachable says its payments service collects and remits sales tax, VAT and GST across more than 45 countries. With the others, assume the tax work is yours and ask an accountant.
Can I run live cohort courses on these platforms?
Several support it, in different ways. Mighty Networks lists cohort-based and live courses on every plan and is built around the group. FreshLearn lists live cohorts and workshops as product types, with live classes starting on its No Brainer plan. LearnWorlds includes live sessions in its feature list. Heights Platform pairs courses with community discussion and gamification. The live video itself usually runs through a meeting or webinar tool, so check which ones each platform connects to. For a purely self-paced course none of this matters and a simpler product will do.
