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 exact same is true for non-traditional education through the multitude of online courses now available on the Internet. This has opened more avenues of learning beyond the classroom setting, and has enabled nearly anyone with an idea to share their knowledge.
Whether you wish to teach your hobbies, or something associated with your expertise, there are many online course platforms (OCP) or learning management systems (LMS) that can help you get started. Some OCPs will offer services from scratch, like creating your website, while others focus mainly on helping you reach your target audience. The 1st step is discovering which one can transfer your ideas seamlessly onto the screens of your potential students.
With so many 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 creative entrpreneurs, and after pitting it against its competitors, it is clear why.
Teachable vs Udemy Teachable vs My Teachable
Udemy was one of 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 now two of the most popular options in selling online classes, but they are extremely distinct in essence and progressiveness.
Differences
Teachable allows users to construct their own course site and market their brand, while Udemy is merely a marketplace for course creators that have existing classes. At the surface, this means that Teachable allows you to use your custom domain while Udemy will have your clients 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 aren’t 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 pupil’s data and information; but as soon as you’re on Udemy’s platform, your students’ data is theirs exclusively for whatever other purpose it might serve them. And in accordance with that, Udemy seems to care about selling classes, period; therefore it is not only your classes, but every other class on their list. There have been testimonials that said this, when even competitor’s classes are promoted to clients that the instructor brought in. Sure, that may work in favor of newer users who might use the marketing, 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 that 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 doesn’t market 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 huge chunk of control and revenue.
Udemy started 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 reasonable to others, especially to those whose courses were previously created for other purposes and were only shared more openly on Udemy, but that hurt many of the instructors who were selling solely in the corporation’s site. In addition to this, what have driven people over the edge are the restrictions on pricing. In 2016, Udemy set a cap on its costs, and all courses on the system needed to be within the $20-$50 range. This is regardless of the uniqueness or skillfulness of a course, and it is natural for some to turn away and look for better outlets for their thoughts. If you combine these two policies, and have a class priced at $20 and a 50% creator revenue, selling on Udemy becomes almost impossible as a dependable source of primary income.
So while it’s true that Udemy has a large audience that you might choose to tap into, the majority of the topics which they offer are really quite limited to largely 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 response to many of Udemy’s shortcomings. In the long run, there is nothing more satisfying than building your own following.
Teachable vs Thinkific
Pricing Teachable vs My Teachable
If you’re looking for an LMS that’s comparable to Teachable’s price, Thinkific is another terrific 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 charges extra for certain features that are already included in Teachable’s monthly flat prices. However, those deviations are somewhat negligible, and with a range from $0-$499 per month, you really can’t go wrong with either of these.
Beginner-Friendly
But pricing isn’t all they have in common. Both allow 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 tend to gravitate toward these companies for their easy-to-use interface that allows nearly all formats of content, including audio, video, PDFs, and other multimedia. The majority of these can be uploaded to the courses by a simple drag and drop builder. They can host unlimited videos, create quizzes, send certificates, and track the progress of their pupils.
Teachable vs My Teachable
Convenience
Among the benefits of Teachable over Thinkific is the former’s class builder: it allows bulk changes to classes, which can be an enormous time-saver, especially for those that have built quite a number on their system; also it allows multi-format content in 1 lecture. What’s more is it can be linked to cloud services, like Dropbox and Google Drive, for faster uploads from your computer.
Concerning course delivery, Teachable has an iOS application that permits pupils to learn on their mobile devices, which is something which Thinkific does not have.
Sales and Marketing
Following the content creation comes the selling and promotion of your courses. This is where Teachable wins by a landslide. Both give the freedom to sell one time or recurring goods, offer discounts and packages, or add affiliate programs, but Teachable has more choices. The real clincher is Teachable’s 1-step checkout process, which decreases customer fallout (which happens more during outdated, 2-step procedures like Thinkific’s). Additionally, it includes a 1-click upsell upon checkout, increasing transactions per customer. Another major advantage is Teachable’s payment gateway which accepts credit card, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay payments. Another service included is the automatic 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 My Teachable
Among the online course platforms with the most affordable 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 can be due to the vastly different things they each offer. On the one hand, Teachable is a fully customizable course creator and seller, and on the other, Podia chose to concentrate 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 categories 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. Having said that, this is also why it may not satisfy the needs of creators who want 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 personalization tools, with choices for easy uploads of files, texts, and quizzes. The ones that dabble in code can also explore that within Teachable. Users can easily get the sleek look of a professional website by choosing from default themes which can be customized to liking. Teachable’s editor makes it effortless to create changes and push upsells, maximizing both user’s time and profitability.
Both have a drip content feature for those that want to space the lessons provided to their students, and prevent cramming modules in one go. What’s unique to Teachable is innovative control over course compliance, such as keeping tabs on students’ completion of lessons and quizzes. It also has built-in certificates that users can make and send to their students at the conclusion of the lessons. Concerning integrations, Teachable has improved autoresponders and analytics, both of which are extremely important to sales and marketing.
Recommendation Teachable vs My Teachable
To summarize, Teachable‘s interface is approachable even to the most inexperienced users, has excellent creation and builder tools for designing a slick course site, gives you control over your marketing and sales, has features that reduce time and effort on backend paperwork, and provides the best value for money. With more updates and user feedback, they are guaranteed to be a trusted choice for years to come.
