The current trend of consumer behavior moving into online media is fast becoming the new standard for many businesses. It’s not surprising that the same is true for non-traditional education via the multitude of online courses now available online. This has opened more avenues of learning outside the classroom setting, and has empowered nearly anyone with an idea to share their knowledge.
Whether you wish to teach your hobbies, or something associated with your expertise, there are lots of online course platforms (OCP) or learning management systems (LMS) which can help you begin. Some OCPs will offer services from scratch, like creating your site, while others focus mainly on helping you achieve your target audience. The 1st step is discovering which one can transfer your ideas seamlessly onto the screens of your prospective students.
With all these LMS to choose from, there is one firm that has stood out because of its balance of reasonable pricing, customizability, ease of use, and marketing control. Teachable is the leading choice of instructors, and after pitting it against its rivals, it’s clear why.
Teachable vs Udemy Kajabi vs Teachable
Udemy was among the pioneers of LMS, which explains why and how their audience is still among the largest markets in the business: they were there . Udemy and Teachable are now two of the most popular options in selling online classes, but they are extremely distinct in nature and progressiveness.
Differences
Teachable allows users to construct their own course site and market their brand, while Udemy is simply a marketplace for course creators that have existing courses. At the very surface, this means that Teachable allows you to use your custom domain while Udemy will have your customers return to Udemy.com. On another level, Teachable gives you tools to create and customize the entirety of your site, from content editing and building to sales, which are not in any way possible on Udemy. Among the more immediate consequences of this is that Teachable allows you to communicate more directly with your clientele, by providing you with access to pupil’s data and information; but once you’re on Udemy’s platform, your students’ information is theirs alone for whatever other purpose it might serve them. And in line with this, Udemy seems to care about selling classes, period; so it is not just your courses, but every other class on their listing. There have been testimonials that said this, when even competitor’s courses are promoted to clients that the instructor brought in. Sure, that may work in favor of newer users who could need the advertising, but from the point of view of a loyal user, that business sense could seem too self-serving and unnecessary.
Marketing at a Price
It’s Udemy’s cut-throat policies that have turned off many former or potential users. They seem to know the very value of their following, and have taken advantage of it, much to the detriment of the lecturer. True, Teachable doesn’t promote the courses for its users, that responsibility is left entirely to them. In an extreme manner, Udemy markets their consumer’s courses aggressively, but with a substantial price. That price is a massive chunk of control and earnings.
Udemy began with a 90% creator revenue share, but they slashed those percentages to 70%, and then again quite suddenly to 50% throughout the years. A 50% share of the course revenues may still seem reasonable to others, particularly to those whose courses were previously created for other purposes and were merely shared more publicly on Udemy, but that hurt many of the instructors that were selling solely in the corporation’s site. On top of this, what have driven people over the edge are the limitations on pricing. In 2016, Udemy set a cap on its costs, and all courses on the system had to be within the $20-$50 range. That is regardless of the uniqueness or skillfulness of a program, and it is natural for some to turn away and look for better outlets for their thoughts. If you combine both of these policies, and have a class priced at $20 and a 50% instructor revenue, selling on Udemy becomes almost impossible as a reliable source of primary income.
So while it is true that Udemy has a large audience which you may choose to tap into, most of the topics that they offer are really very limited to mostly Technology and Personal Development. Consider their dog-eat-dog advertising strategies and absorption of your brand’s identity, I would say Teachable is the response to many of Udemy’s shortcomings. In the end, there is nothing more satisfying than building your own following.
Teachable vs Thinkific
Pricing Kajabi vs Teachable
If you’re looking for an LMS that is comparable to Teachable’s price, Thinkific is another great company that offers a lot for less. Both offer their first tier programs at no cost, and start charging for each higher tier thereafter. Many beginners choose Thinkific for its generous waiving of transaction fees on all of its plans; however a closer look at the fine print will show that it costs extra for certain options which are already included in Teachable’s monthly flat rates. But, those deviations are somewhat negligible, and with a range from $0-$499 per month, you really can’t go wrong with either of these two.
Beginner-Friendly
But pricing is not all that they have in common. Both allow their users to create and sell personalized courses in their hosted platforms, without the hassle of handling the technical aspects like website maintenance, hosting, and security.
Newbies to the biz have a tendency to gravitate toward these firms for their easy-to-use interface which allows nearly all formats of content, such as audio, video, PDFs, and other multimedia. The majority of these can be uploaded to the site by a simple drag and drop builder. They can host unlimited videos, create quizzes, send certificates, and track the progress of their pupils.
Kajabi vs Teachable
Convenience
One of the benefits of Teachable over Thinkific is the former’s course builder: it allows bulk changes to classes, which can be an enormous time-saver, especially for the ones that have built quite a number on their system; also it allows multi-format content in one lecture. What’s more is it can be connected to cloud providers, like Dropbox and Google Drive, for faster uploads from your devices.
In terms of course delivery, Teachable has an iOS application that permits students to learn on their mobile devices, which is something which Thinkific does not have.
Sales and Marketing
After the content production comes the selling and marketing of your classes. This is where Teachable wins by a landslide. Both give the liberty to sell one-time or recurring goods, offer discounts and packages, or affiliate programs, but Teachable has more options. The real clincher is Teachable’s 1-step checkout procedure, which reduces customer fallout (which happens more during outdated, 2-step procedures like Thinkific’s). Additionally, it comes with a 1-click upsell upon checkout, increasing transactions per customer. Another major benefit is Teachable’s payment gateway that accepts credit card, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay payments. Another service included is the automated payout to affiliates and writers (when applicable), taking care of tax forms and similar documentation. For those who have users from the EU, it even goes as far as including EU VAT on top of course prices. That definitely gives you more value for your own content. Click here to check out pricing for Teachable.
Teachable vs Podia Kajabi vs Teachable
One of the online course platforms with the cheapest top tier is Podia. Though it does not have a free plan, and its basic plan comes at $39/month (with Teachable at $29/month), its top and only remaining plan is offered at $79 (with Teachable at $399). This price gap could be a result of the vastly different things they each offer. On the one hand, Teachable is a fully customizable class creator and vendor, and on the other, Podia decided to focus on Online Course Hosting, Membership or Email Marketing, and Digital Downloads. Those will instantly help you narrow down your choice to what is best suited for you.
Podia’s compact classes lets users filter out other aspects that they might not need to dip into, like e-commerce. Its interface is simple, clean, and pretty great for novice instructors. Having said that, this is why it may not meet the needs of creators who wish to do more with their website. Since the variety isn’t much, more advanced users may find it lacking.
Course Creation and Control
Teachable beats Podia in design and customization tools, with options for simple uploads of files, texts, and quizzes. Those that dabble in code may also explore that within Teachable. Users can easily get the sleek look of a professional site by selecting from default themes that can be customized to satisfaction. Teachable’s editor makes it effortless to create changes and push upsells, maximizing both user’s time and profitability.
Both have a trickle content attribute for the ones that want to space the lessons offered to their students, and prevent cramming modules in 1 go. What is unique to Teachable is advanced control over course compliance, like keeping tabs on students’ completion of quizzes and lessons. It also has built-in certification that users can create and send to their clients at the end of the course. Concerning integrations, Teachable has better autoresponders and analytics, both of which are extremely important to sales and marketing.
Recommendation Kajabi vs Teachable
To summarize, Teachable‘s interface is approachable even to the most inexperienced users, has exceptional creation and builder resources for designing a sleek course website, gives you control over your advertising and sales, has features that cut time and effort on backend paperwork, and provides the best value for money. With more upgrades and user feedback, they’re certain to be a reliable choice for years to come.
