The present trend of consumer behavior moving into online media is fast becoming the new normal for many industries. It’s no surprise 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 enabled nearly anyone with an idea to share their knowledge.
Whether you wish to teach your hobbies, or something related to your expertise, there are many online course platforms (OCP) or learning management systems (LMS) which can help you get started. Some OCPs will offer services from scratch, like making your website, while others focus mainly on helping you achieve your target audience. The 1st step is finding which one can transfer your ideas seamlessly onto the screens of your prospective students.
With all these LMS to pick 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 top choice of instructors, and after pitting it against its rivals, it’s clear why.
Teachable vs Udemy Teachable vs Learnworlds
Udemy was among the leaders of LMS, which explains why and how their audience remains among the largest markets in the industry: they were there . Udemy and Teachable are currently two of the most popular options in selling online classes, but they’re very distinct in nature and progressiveness.
Differences
Teachable allows users to construct their own course website and market their brand, while Udemy is simply a market for course creators that have existing courses. At the surface, this means that Teachable allows you to use your custom domain while Udemy will have your clients keep coming back to Udemy.com. On another level, Teachable gives you tools to create and customize the entirety of your site, from content building and editing to sales, which are not at all possible on Udemy. Among the more immediate consequences of this is that Teachable lets you communicate more directly with your clientele, by providing you with access to student’s data and information; but as soon as you’re on Udemy’s platform, your students’ information is theirs alone for whatever other purpose it might serve them. And in line with that, Udemy seems to care most about selling classes, period; therefore it’s not only your classes, but every other course in their list. There have been testimonials that said this, when even competitor’s courses have been promoted to clients that the instructor brought in. Sure, that may work in favor of newer users who could use the advertising, but from the viewpoint of a loyal user, that business sense could seem overly spammy and unnecessary.
Marketing at a Price
It’s Udemy’s cut-throat policies which have turned off several 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 does not promote the courses for its users, that responsibility is left entirely to them. In an extreme fashion, Udemy markets their user’s courses aggressively, but with a significant price. That price is a massive chunk of control and revenue.
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 earnings may still seem sensible to others, particularly to those whose classes were previously created for different purposes and were only shared more openly on Udemy, but that hurt a number of the instructors that were selling solely in the corporation’s site. In addition to this, what have driven people over the edge are the limitations on pricing. In 2016, Udemy set a cap on its prices, and all courses on the system needed to be within the $20-$50 range. This is regardless of the uniqueness or skillfulness of a program, and it’s natural for some to turn away and look for better outlets for their thoughts. If you combine these two policies, and have a course 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 might want to tap into, most of the topics that they offer are really very limited to mostly Technology and Personal Development. Consider that and their dog-eat-dog marketing strategies and absorption of your brand’s identity, I would say Teachable is the answer to many of Udemy’s shortcomings. In the long run, nothing is more satisfying than building your own following.
Teachable vs Thinkific
Pricing Teachable vs Learnworlds
If you’re looking for an LMS that’s comparable to Teachable’s price, Thinkific is another great company that offers a great deal for less. Both offer their first tier plans at no cost, and start charging for every higher tier thereafter. Many beginners choose Thinkific for its generous waiving of transaction fees on any of its plans; however a closer look at the fine print will show that it costs extra for certain options that 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 can’t go wrong with either of these two.
Beginner-Friendly
But pricing isn’t all they have in common. Both enable their users to create and sell personalized classes on their hosted platforms, without the hassle of handling the technical aspects like site maintenance, hosting, and security.
Newbies to the biz have a tendency to gravitate toward these firms for their easy-to-use interface that allows nearly all formats of content, such as audio, video, PDFs, and other multimedia. The majority of these can be uploaded into the site with a simple drag and drop builder. They can host unlimited videos, create quizzes, send certificates, and monitor the progress of their students.
Teachable vs Learnworlds
Convenience
One of the benefits of Teachable over Thinkific is the former’s course builder: it allows bulk changes to courses, which can be an enormous time-saver, especially for the ones that have built quite a number on their system; and it allows multi-format content in 1 lecture. What’s more is it can be connected to cloud services, such as Dropbox and Google Drive, for faster uploads from your computer.
In terms of course delivery, Teachable has an iOS application that permits students to learn on their mobile devices, which is something that Thinkific does not have.
Sales and Marketing
After the content production comes the selling and marketing of your courses. This is where Teachable wins by a landslide. Both give the liberty to sell one time or recurring goods, offer discounts and bundles, or affiliate programs, but Teachable has more choices. The real clincher is Teachable’s 1-step checkout process, which reduces customer fallout (which happens more during obsolete, 2-step procedures like Thinkific’s). It also includes a 1-click upsell upon checkout, increasing transactions per client. Another major advantage is Teachable’s payment gateway which accepts credit card, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay payments. Another service included is the automated payout to affiliates and writers (when applicable), focusing on tax forms and similar documentation. If you 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 content. Click here to check out pricing for Teachable.
Teachable vs Podia Teachable vs Learnworlds
Among 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 provided 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 seller, and on the other, Podia decided to concentrate on Online Course Hosting, Membership or Email Marketing, and Digital Downloads. Those will immediately help you narrow down your choice to what’s best suited for you.
Podia’s streamlined classes lets users filter out other aspects that they might not have to dip into, such as e-commerce. Its interface is easy, clean, and fairly great for novice instructors. That said, this is also why it may not satisfy the needs of instructors who wish to do more with their site. Since the variety is not much, more advanced users may find it lacking.
Course Creation and Control
Teachable beats Podia in design and customization tools, with options for easy uploads of files, texts, and quizzes. Those that dabble in code may also explore that within Teachable. Users can easily get the slick look of a professional site by selecting from default themes which can be customized to liking. Teachable’s editor makes it easy to create changes and push upsells, maximizing both user’s time and profitability.
Both have a trickle content attribute for those that would like to space the lessons offered to their students, and avoid cramming modules in 1 go. What’s unique to Teachable is innovative 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 conclusion of the lessons. In terms of integrations, Teachable has better autoresponders and analytics, both of which are very important to sales and marketing.
Recommendation Teachable vs Learnworlds
To summarize, Teachable‘s interface is approachable even to the most inexperienced users, has exceptional creation and builder tools for designing a slick course website, gives you control over your marketing and sales, has attributes that cut time and effort on backend paperwork, and gives the best value for money. With more upgrades and user feedback, they are guaranteed to be a reliable choice for years to come.
