Find out which course platform is right for you!

Quiz Questions

• 1.
  What are you looking for in your course platform?

  • A.
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    Easy to use
  • B.
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    Integrations
  • C.
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    Price
  • D.
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    Gamification
  • E.
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    All-in-one systems
  • F.
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    Flexability
  • G.
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    Design
• 2.
  What's the ONE thing you absolutely want to AVOID when it comes to your course platform?

  • A.
    High cost
  • B.
    Using Zapier for integrations
  • C.
    Lack of customization
  • D.
    Too many features / not easy to yse
• 3.
  How do you feel about lifetime deals?

  • A.
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    Love them!!
  • B.
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    I prefer to pay as I go
  • C.
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    I'd need a free trail first
  • D.
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    Free is even better!
• 4.
  Want to eliminate any options before seeing your match?

  • A.
    ThriveCart Learn
  • B.
    Squarespace Courses
  • C.
    Teachery
  • D.
    Teachable
  • E.
    Kartra
  • F.
    Kajabi
  • G.
    Zenler
  • H.
    Notion
  • I.
    Xperiencify
  • J.
    MemberVault
  • K.
    Podia

Quiz Outcomes

• 1.
  ThriveCart

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  This page contains affiliate links which means if you go on to make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. This is my personal pick to host my courses & digital products!!Learn from ThriveCart is an excellent option if you already use ThriveCart for your checkout cart. Learn is easy to use, very customizable, and works seamlessly with your email marketing platform and obviously with ThriveCart for your checkout. It’s also very simple to embed your checkout into your Squarespace sales pages by simply adding the cart link to a button (this is what I use for my shop!)As an extra bonus, there is no monthly fee for ThriveCart, and the basic version Learn is included for free with your ThriveCart one-time purchase, with an optional one-time upgrade fee if you want to unlock more features. It is a higher investment at first, but over time with no monthly fees, it makes a lot more sense cost-wise since you'll be able to create unlimited courses. Even for earlier-stage course creators, it doesn't seem too hard for your course sales to quickly pay back this sort of investment!Here are the pros and cons of ThriveCart Learn:❌ Email Marketing: ThriveCart does a lot but it doesn't do email marketing, however, it’s very easy to connect your email marketing software of choice to your cart and courses ✅ Affiliate Program: If you opt for the Pro version of ThriveCart you can create a robust affiliate program for your course, including an affiliate asset library in your ThriveCart account✅ Landing Pages: In addition to creating fantastic carts, ThriveCart can also be used to make your landing pages with your checkout embedded directly into the page for even easier purchasing!✅ Membership Option: You can easily set up recurring membership payments for any product in your library and continue to add content to your membership as you go✅ Tripwires: This is another place ThriveCart shines, with a countdown timer option built into the landing page builder you can easily create a tripwire product and connect it to your lead magnet.-> You can read my in-depth review of ThriveCart Learn right here.AFFILIATE BONUS: Get €300 Michelle Credit to use on anything in my shop if you purchase through my affiliate link & email me your receipt!
• 2.
  Squarespace

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  This page contains affiliate links which means if you go on to make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. If you’ve already got your website built on Squarespace you may be considering simply hosting your course on their gated member’s area. The inbuilt member’s area in Squarespace is essentially a password-protected section of your website where you can host your course content. It’s a great choice for a simple, low-budget way to get started with creating courses but isn’t the most flexible option if you’re planning on running a complex membership or a large number of courses. There also aren't options for affiliate marketing or building a more complex learning experience, there is the advantage that your course website is hosted on your own website.Here are the pros and cons of Squarespace’s Members Area:✅ Email Marketing: Your membership area emails can be sent using Squarespace’s in-built email marketing system which keeps things nice and simple❌ Affiliate Program: Squarespace doesn’t have a built-in affiliate program, but you can set this up using a third-party software called Peaches✅ Landing Pages: This is Squarespace’s strong suit and you can build stunning landing pages directly on your website! ✅ Membership Option: Squarespace markets this as a membership portal and it works well for a simple content-focused membership model ❌ Tripwires: You’ll be using Squarespace e-commerce for your checkout which unfortunately doesn’t have tripwire functionality, but you can always upsell other offers inside your course!
• 3.
  Teachery

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  This page contains affiliate links which means if you go on to make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Teachery is a design-forward course platform with a lot to love. It was created by the husband and wife team behind Wandering Aimfully and is a beautiful, user-friendly course platform that will delight course creators and students alike. (Oh, and if you decide to join Jason and Caroline Zook in the Wandering Aimfully online community you’ll get lifetime access to Teachery, which is pretty cool!).This design-focused learning platform offers a wide range of course templates and almost unlimited customization, which means you can style your individual courses to look completely different if you want. Here are the pros and cons of Teachery:❌ Email Marketing: While Teachery doesn’t come with a full email marketing system, you can send course notification emails easily through their built-in email system. ✅ Affiliate Program: It’s super easy to start and share your affiliate program in Teachery as soon as you’ve created your course you’ll be able to invite partners to share it.✅ Landing Pages: You can build out nice, if a bit simple, landing pages to promote your course in Teachery or simply use their checkout and link to your sales page in Squarespace.✅ Membership Option: It's easy to manage your membership with the courses and checkouts native to Teachery.❌ Tripwires: At the moment, you can't add tripwire offers, however, you can now add bump offers to your checkout pages to increase your purchase totals.
• 4.
  Podia

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  Podia is a pretty cost-effective option for course creators, looks nice out of the box and is super easy to use. They have a powerful built-in membership option on their higher-up plans and a solid affiliate program setup for your digital products and courses. The basic plan is quite robust and they're investing heavily in offering further digital marketing tools such as website builders and email list management. Here are the pros and cons of Podia:✅ Email Marketing: There is a relatively simple email marketing software option included in your Podia account which is great for when you’re getting started✅ Affiliate Program: You can easily set up your affiliate program to start paying for those lovely referrals to your new course✅ Landing Pages: You can build a simple landing page to sell your course, though there aren’t a lot of customization options available so be prepared to play with what they have✅ Membership Option: Setting up a membership on a subscription plan is very straight-forward❌ Tripwires: Podia doesn’t have a tripwire option so you won’t be able to offer a limited-time discount on your course
• 5.
  Kajabi

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  Kajabi is a robust all-in-one option, but it is also fairly pricey for newer course creators. Because Kajabi has many built-in features and extras, it can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming for people who aren’t necessarily technologically savvy and some of the features are a little less established than others. Kajabi as the big name creator's pick for best online course platform, though that may be influenced by their generous affiliate program. However, even on the lower pricing plans, Kajabi is one of the most expensive options on the market so it's worth trying to snag a free trial before committing to this online course builder.Here are the pros and cons of Kajabi:✅ Email Marketing: There is a relatively good email marketing option inside of Kajabi that does all of the tagging and segmenting you’ll likely need as a newer course creator ✅ Affiliate Program: Kajabi has a nice affiliate program system with a good amount of control over your affiliate settings ✅ Landing Pages: There is a pretty good level of design control in Kajabi, though as a designer I can always tell when a sales page as been built there as there are some limitations in the design functionality ✅ Membership Option: This is where Kajabi shines! Creating a complex membership with dripped content and gated areas is all possible and relatively easy to set up ✅ Tripwires: You can easily set up a tripwire with a limited-time discount in Kajabi
• 6.
  Zenler

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  New Zenler is a great alternative to Kajabi that’s also an all-in-one solution but is a bit easier to use for less techy course creators. One of the interesting features of Zenler is the ability to host live classes and live interactive webinars. With video courses and video content being the industry standard for online course creators, New Zenler's features are quite attractive if you plan on focusing on delivering live online learning experiences.Here are the pros and cons of Zenler:✅ Email Marketing: Zenler has a built-in email marketing option that’s a great start for new course creators, much like Kajabi’s, ✅ Affiliate Program: It’s very easy to set up your affiliate program and bring in affiliate partners with their system ✅ Landing Pages: Again, like Kajabi you can build out your sales pages in Zenler, though there is some design limitations you’ll have to contend with.✅ Membership Option: Creating a membership and taking subscription payments is super easy in Zenler✅ Tripwires: Adding a tripwire or limited-time offer is simple and easy to set up in the Zenler builder
• 7.
  Kartra

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  Kartra is an all-in-one Kartra which includes a lot of features and can replace a lot of separate programs that you might be using now, though the monthly fees are high for a newer course creator. Perhaps one of the lesser known online learning platforms, Kartra may well be with considering as their course management systems are very user friendly and it's drag and drop course builder is quite intuitive to learn. Here are the pros and cons of Kartra:✅ Email Marketing: Pretty straightforward email marketing build in that’s great for newer course creators✅ Affiliate Program: Kartra comes with an affiliate program option ready to go✅ Landing Pages: Setting up and designing nice landing pages to sell your offers in Kartra is simple, though there isn’t a ton of flexibility when it comes to design.✅ Membership Option: You can create a subscription-based membership easily in Kardtra✅ Tripwires: Setting up tripwire offers is simple and straightforward
• 8.
  Teachable

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  Teachable is arguably the most popular course creation software on the market. They don’t include email marketing abilities, but honestly, it’s better to keep that separate and use ConvertKit or ActiveCampaign anyway. Also quite popular in the online course creation community, Teachable has a relatively good mobile app for students to watch your content or access their digital downloads on the go. However, the login process and premium pricing make it a challenging choice for those offering lower-cost or even free courses to grow their email lists. Here are the pros and cons of Teachable:❌ Email Marketing: Teachable doesn’t include an email marketing system, but as I said earlier this isn’t exactly a strike against them as a dedicated system is usually the best way to go anyway✅ Affiliate Program: Teachable comes with a native affiliate program that makes it easy to share commissions with your affiliates✅ Landing Pages: Designing simple landing pages is possible in Teachable, though they are very limited in design potential✅ Membership Option: Setting up a membership is easy with Teachable❌ Tripwires: Tripwires aren’t natively supported with Teachable
• 9.
  MemberVault

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  A rising star in the course platform market is MemberVault. Focused on creating supportive and interactive member experiences, MemberVault’s unique selling point is their integrated forms where you can gather customer responses straight from your courses. While integrations are still a little limited, if you’re looking for a high-touch member experience, MemberVault is well worth considering. You can also play with gamifying your course experience and get granular data on your customer progress.Here are the pros and cons of MemberVault:❌ Email Marketing: MemberVault doesn’t include an email marketing system and has limited direct integrations, however you can connect your email system of choice using Zapier.✅ Affiliate Program: MemberVault does come with an affiliate program, though many users choose who use an external cart software opt to use that for their affiliate programs for more granular control. ✅ Landing Pages: There’s a lot of flexibility with the landing page builder and they even boast you could host your entire website on MemberVault, though I’d advise keeping your own website if you’re using it for anything beyond selling your courses.✅ Membership Option: This is where MemberVault shines! It was built for memberships and has lots of advanced features to engage your members.✅ Tripwires: You can set up upsells and course bundles inside their dashboard to share more offers with your buyers.
• 10.
  Notion

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  While not truly a course software, Notion is a fun, free, flexible alternative if you're not quite ready to invest in a full-blown course platform.Notion allows you to publish pages that you can customize to include your course materials and then share with your customers for a fuss-free delivery system! Not a Notion Nerd yet 🤓? No worries, I've got you covered! Swipe my pre-built Notion Course Dashboard to quickly set up your budget-friendly course in a flash.
• 11.
  Xperiencify

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  Got gamification on the brain? Xperiencify is a fun focused course platform that makes it oh-so enticing for your students to work through your content. Shower your learners with points, prizes, and rewards to drive them to take action, make progress and fall in love with your learning experience.