Udemy is one of the most popular course platforms on the internet and one of the most popular places to learn on the internet.
However….
As an instructor Udemy is one of the worst place to host your courses. I’ll list down why (they’re many reasons). Let’s dive into the Best Udemy Alternatives in 2021!!
- If you are a solo creator launching courses go for Podia
- If you are a SaaS company or startup go with Thinkific
- If you want to host your own content & use WordPress go for Thrive Apprentice
Why reconsider using Udemy?
Udemy is great for students however for many Instructors Udemy’s practice makes it an absolute nightmare.
1. Transaction Fee
Udemy takes 50% of your course cost on organic Udemy sales. Udemy and the instructor share equally on these sales, which might occur after a user browses the Udemy marketplace for courses, or makes a purchase via a Udemy promotion
Even on sales which you bring to the platform eg. from your own email list using their “instructor coupon”, Udemy takes a 3% cut.
2. Bottom of the barrel
They’re a ton of articles on the Internet on how to make money selling courses on Udemy. I honestly believe that it’s not worth it. Having worked with companies in the online course industry (I used to be the head of SEO at Foundr Magazine) Udemy is the bottom of the barrel when it comes to course platforms.
Udemy gets to decide how your tools are algorithmically ranked as well as how much you can charge for your courses. Also, Udemy doesn’t market courses that don’t discount themselves a ton.
Udemy is the Fiverr of online courses and if you want to be that kind of content creator then, by all means, go ahead. But if you want to get paid for what you’re worth then it’s a better choice to build your own brand and sell your courses on your own platform.
Note: In my experience Udemy is great to market free courses, that you can then use to get people into your own properties ie Email list and use it to grow your audience. Almost every course platform like Skillshare, Udemy etc aren’t great to market your paid courses, its better to own your own content and market your courses yourself!
Best Udemy Alternatives 2021
To save you the time I have decided to only pick the top Udemy Alternatives, it would’ve been easy for me to make this a “top 10” listicle but let’s be honest, most of the other alternatives aren’t worth your time, so here’s just the best of the best!
1. Podia – Best Udemy Alternatives For Solopreneurs
Podia is one of my favorite new online course platform in 2021 Just as ConvertKit changed the email marketing field by building a product designed for “Creator”, the guys at Podia have done the same for online courses!
Podia is basically an all in one marketing tool and platform for creators to monetize their audience. You can host your online course, market it with landing pages, send email newsletters + drips, and accept online payments, all for one low price.
Podia vs Udemy
Their pricing is also one of the simplest in the industry. While many of their competitors complicated things with having many plans that they can upsell you on, Podia keeps things simple.
Podia is available in 2 different pricing plans:
- Mover ($39/month): Online courses, Digital downloads, Email marketing, Zero transaction fees, Unlimited everything, 24/7 support.
- Shaker ($79/month): Everything in Mover + Memberships + Embedded Checkout + Affiliate marketing + Third-Party Code + FREE migration
Click Here To Try Podia Free For 14-days
2. Thinkific – Best Udemy Alternatives For Companies
Thinkific is one of the most powerful course creation platform available right now. Thinkific is one of the easiest to use course platform that makes it super easy for you to go from building your landing page to growing your customers.
They even have a free plan that allows you to host 3 courses and have unlimited students! It’s even used by companies like Hootsuite and Later to host their courses.
I tend to recommend it most of B2B companies that I work with as it all the tools and features you need to have your courses succeed at scale.
Teachable vs Udemy
While Podia is geared more towards the Solopreneur, Thinkific is definitely geared to the big SaaS companies looking to scale their customer acquisition with courses.
Thinkific is available in 4 different plans:
- Free – Test-drive Thinkific’s core feature set for free.
- BASIC – Start your course creation experience with the basic features and tools you need to launch your first course.
- Pro – For course creators ready to build a successful online course business, a complete suite of tools to create an amazing student experience
- PREMIER – For advanced customers ready to build an education empire, get all the Thinkific features + the Growth package. Designed for delivering online education at scale. No limitations – one flat fee.
You can get a 28% Discount on Thinkific. Simply click the link below and start a Free Month trial and pay “Annual” instead of Monthly once your trial expires.
3. Thrive Apprentice – Best WordPress Alternative to Udemy
If you’re tired of Expensive Course Platforms; Thrive Apprentice is a godsend!
Thrive Apprentice was recently launched by Thrive Themes and it’s honestly a game changer! It’s an easy to use WordPress plugin that can be used to create online courses on your WordPress blog!
Udemy vs Thrive Apprentice
Thrive Apprentice has easy to follow step-by-step setup process that makes it extremely easy for anyone to create stunning online course Lessons, Chapters and Modules with the fast-action design power of a professional web developer (without having to touch a piece of code).
How does Thrive Apprentice compare vs popular course platforms like LearnDash and Teachable??
Well, for starters it’s cheap!
It only costs a one time fee of $67/website to use Thrive Apprentice for life!
In comparison,
- LearnDash costs $199/year/website!
- Teachable costs $348/year in their basic plan and they take a 5% transaction fee on top of that WTF?
Price isn’t the only thing Thrive Apprentice stands out in. One of the biggest change that happens when you use a tool like Thrive Apprentice is that you are taking back control of your content.
You are looking at the big gatekeepers (…. Udemy…Teachable..) and saying “NO, I’m going to build my audience on my own, I’m going to own my own content!”
The downside is that you have to handle the structural issues that come with hosting your own content and dealing with WordPress and WordPress plugins. However, for the technical mindset person, Thrive Apprentice is the best value for the money!
How much does Thrive Apprentice cost? well, this will surprise you!
- Single License @ $67
- 5 License Pack @ $97 (
$335) - 15 License Pack @ $147 (
$1005)
Click Here to Get Thrive Apprentice
There you have it!
Best Udemy Alternatives
These are some of Best Udemy Alternatives in 2021, you don’t need 10 choices to pick from because these 3 will basically cover all your needs and remember, each Udemy alternative is good and bad in its own way, so there isn’t a single one that’s best.
- If you are a solo creator launching courses go for Podia
- If you are a company or startup go with Thinkific
- If you want to host your own content & use WordPress go for Thrive Apprentice
It makes more sense to understand your preferences and needs before the decision. After all, it doesn’t make sense to sell your courses on Udemy when it does tie to the results you want in your business.
All the best!
Read Next:
Leave a Reply