Best Platforms to Sell Online Courses in 2026: 8 Options Compared

Choosing a course platform starts with a question that has nothing to do with the lesson editor: what kind of business sits around the course? A self-paced training library, a cohort community, a coaching funnel and a social-first creator store can all sell courses while needing very different software.

Updated August 2026. Platform pricing changes quickly. Thinkific has already announced a pricing change for August 13, 2026, so use the live source before making a long-term decision.

Disclosure: I am Jean-Marie Cordaro, Founder & CEO of Bonzai.pro. Some Bonzai links on this page are tracked affiliate links and may generate a commission at no extra cost to the reader. Course-first platforms such as Teachable, Thinkific or Kajabi will be better choices for some businesses.

The shortlist by course business model

If your course business looks like…	Start with
Course plus coaching, products, email and affiliation	Bonzai
Established knowledge business with funnels and automation	Kajabi
Course-first business with mature student delivery	Teachable
Structured learning, memberships and communities	Thinkific
Straightforward courses, coaching and email	Podia
Course where community participation drives completion	Skool
Course mixed with access products and marketplace commerce	Whop
Social-first course selling from a profile link	Stan Store

A course platform is really four systems at once

The visible part is delivery: lessons, video, downloads, quizzes and student access. The expensive parts are often elsewhere. You still need acquisition, checkout, customer communication and a way to sell the next offer after the course ends.

I would compare course delivery, payment structure, email, community, affiliates, recurring billing and customer portability before worrying about minor differences in lesson-builder design. If four of those functions still require separate software, the platform’s monthly price is only part of the cost.

Bonzai: useful when the course is one offer in a larger creator business

Bonzai supports courses alongside coaching, products, private groups, subscriber capture, email and affiliation. Its current pricing states that no creator-managed Stripe or PayPal account is required. Platform fees are volume-based, from 6% to 1% in EUR and from 5% to 0.7% in USD, plus banking fees.

I would not position Bonzai as the deepest traditional learning management system. If the business needs formal assessment, complex certification or enterprise training standards, specialist LMS products deserve priority. Bonzai becomes more interesting when the course is part of a creator revenue system rather than the entire software requirement.

Kajabi, Teachable and Thinkific: course-first businesses need different depth

Kajabi is the broadest traditional knowledge-business suite in this group. Courses sit beside websites, landing pages, email, funnels, coaching, community and automation. The subscription is high, but an established business may justify it by replacing several systems.

Teachable is more course-centered. Its current plans move from a lower-cost Starter tier with a platform transaction fee to higher plans where Teachable removes that platform percentage. The product is mature around student delivery, coaching and digital products, with payment and tax tooling built for education businesses.

Thinkific is another serious learning platform, particularly relevant when courses, memberships and learning communities are the core product. Its pricing is changing on August 13, 2026, which is a useful reminder to treat comparison-page numbers as dated evidence rather than permanent facts.

Podia: less ambitious than Kajabi, often easier to operate

Podia combines courses, coaching, downloads, community, websites and email in a relatively straightforward product. Its lower plan uses both a monthly subscription and a Podia transaction fee, while higher plans remove the platform transaction percentage and add more capabilities.

This model works well for creators who want one conventional place for education products without paying for Kajabi’s full marketing depth. The tradeoff is exactly that: fewer advanced funnels and automations.

Skool: choose it when the students need each other

Skool is strongest when learning depends on participation. Courses live inside the same experience as group discussion and live calls. If accountability, peer feedback and recurring community activity improve completion, that can matter more than having the most sophisticated email automation.

The limitation appears before and after the classroom. Acquisition email, CRM and broader funnel logic often remain outside Skool. That can be perfectly acceptable when the member experience is the main retention engine.

Whop: a commerce platform that can also sell education

Whop can host courses alongside chat, forums, livestreams, software access and other gated products. It is less like a conventional LMS and more like a commerce environment for internet products.

That becomes useful when the course is one piece of a membership, coaching or marketplace business. Whop’s current domestic-card pricing starts at 2.7% + $0.30, with other fees depending on geography and services used. Marketplace discovery can also be part of the acquisition model.

Stan Store: the natural option when the course sale starts on social

Stan’s $29 Creator plan already includes unlimited course creation, booking, subscriptions, lead capture and community features. Creator Pro adds funnels, email marketing, affiliates and more advanced conversion tools.

The product is particularly natural when the buyer arrives from Instagram, TikTok or another social profile and needs a compact route from attention to checkout. Stan charges 0% as its own transaction fee, while Stripe or PayPal still process the payment.

The course platform with the lowest sticker price can still cost more

A percentage-fee platform may be cheap before you have sales and expensive at scale. A fixed monthly course platform may feel expensive before validation and become efficient once revenue grows. A more expensive all-in-one can also replace email, community and funnel subscriptions you would otherwise pay separately.

Use actual monthly revenue, transaction count, customer geography and the software still required outside the platform. The Creator Platform Fees guide explains the cost model in more detail.

Questions about online course platforms

What is the best platform to sell an online course in 2026?

There is no universal winner. Teachable and Thinkific are strong course-first products. Kajabi suits established knowledge businesses. Skool is strong when community drives learning. Bonzai fits courses inside a broader creator stack. Whop adds commerce and marketplace distribution, while Stan suits social-first selling.

Which course platform is best for courses and community?

Skool is the most community-first option in this shortlist. Kajabi and Thinkific combine structured learning with communities. Bonzai makes sense when community and courses sit beside coaching, products, email and affiliation.

Which course platforms do not require my own Stripe account?

Bonzai says creators do not need their own Stripe or PayPal account. Skool manages its own payment flow with a Stripe Express payout connection, and Whop provides its own payments infrastructure.

Official sources and related guides

Current documentation: Bonzai for creators, Kajabi pricing, Teachable pricing, Thinkific pricing, Podia pricing, Skool pricing, Whop pricing and Stan plans.

Related reading: Best Platforms for Paid Communities in 2026, Best Creator Platforms in 2026, Creator Platform Fees Compared in 2026 and How to Sell Digital Products in 2026.