[Updated September 28, 2023]
Using your well-earned expertise to create an online course is a smart way to grow your business beyond 1:1 client sessions. When you’re considering the logistics of how to create, deliver, and promote an online course, it may be tempting to look at options like a private Facebook group or your existing email provider. In reality, dedicated online course platforms – like Thinkific or Teachable – provide a more comprehensive set of features specifically designed for course creation, management, and engagement.
There are many versions of course software on the market. This makes it challenging for health and wellness pros to break through the noise and get trustworthy answers to the important questions:
This guide is intended to help you answer these questions and more. Use it as a starting point to compare online course platforms and figure out which option best suits your needs given your business stage now and where you’re headed in the future.
Investing in an online course platform is a strategic and flexible way to grow your business.
As a health and wellness pro, you always take the time to understand each client’s lived experience, expectations, and needs before you recommend treatment. Choosing the right online course creation software for your business requires a personalization mindset too.
You may have heard of online course platforms like Udemy or Coursera. These solutions put your course into an open online marketplace where potential clients from anywhere can pay to access your expert content. There is no subscription fee or cost to add your content to the platform, but you do have to be okay with revenue sharing. In practical terms this means you’ll only receive a percentage of the revenue your content generates on the platform.
There are many Udemy alternatives more suited to the needs of health and wellness pros seeking more control over their branded courses. For example, online course platforms like Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, and Kartra are subscription-based, offering you the power to create and sell your online courses on your own terms.
Before you start comparing platforms you should assess your practice maturity to understand which features matter most to your success. The capabilities you need from your online course creation software as a program-creation newbie will likely be different from those you expect as a seasoned pro with a growth plan in place.
As a health and wellness solopreneur you need to protect your budget and your time, so you don’t burn out trying to run your business. Here are some considerations to keep top of mind when you compare online course platforms:
If your practice is more mature, you may have already experimented with online courses and are now looking to expand your offerings. Here are some considerations for evaluating online course creation software at this stage of business growth:
Next, you'll want to know which online course platforms best suit health and wellness professionals, and which option is best for you.
A note: having a standalone course software comes with trade-offs. Since organizing, automating, and systematizing your practice will help you grow efficiently, combining your course and practice management software can help reduce time spent working on your business.
If you're using software for your courses that doesn't integrate with your other practice tools, you're leaving out opportunities for improved efficiency and organized record-keeping. Luckily, Practice Better has flexible software that allows you to run courses and evergreen programs for various use cases, from client onboarding, to memberships, to nurturing future clients.
Now that you’ve been introduced to a few popular online course platforms in addition to Practice Better, you likely have more questions. What are the pros and cons of Thinkific vs Teachable? Is Kartra a viable alternative to Thinkific? What are the best Teachable alternatives? How does Kajabi fit into the mix?
PlatformLanding page builderLanding page templatesCourse TemplatesEmail MarketingAnalytics and ReportingTraining and SupportSurveys and QuizzesAffiliate ProgramIntegrationsBuilt-in Community BuildingTransaction feesPlan Price Ranges (billed annually)TeachableYesLimited unless you upgrade to Business plan YesStarts in at Basic plan , LimitedYesYes, incl. Teachable:u YesPro and Business plans onlyYes (except in Free plan)NoYes, in Free and Basic plans$0/mo - $499/moKartraYesYesYesAdvancedYesYesYesYesYesNoNo$99/mo - $429/moThinkificYesYesYesLimitedYesYes, incl. Thinkific AcademyYesPaid plans onlyYesYesNo$0 - Custom pricing at the Plus levelKajabiYesYesYesAdvancedYesYes, incl. 24/7 live chatYesKicks in at Growth level planYesYesNo$119/mo - $319/mo
Teachable describes their solution as “a no-code platform for creators who want to build more impactful businesses through courses, coaching, and digital downloads.” Teachable offers an intuitive drag-and-drop builder for creating courses that include videos, slides, quizzes, and more.
Reviewers on Capterra confirm that Teachable is intuitive to use and easy to get started on. Complaints mainly center around generic templates, a lack of customizations, and marketing limitations.
Kartra is an all-in-one platform you can use to build your online business. In reality, it’s less online course creation software and more a suite of tools you can use to build all the components required to run your sales and marketing – like slick landing pages and sophisticated sales funnels.
Reviewers on Capterra confirm that Kartra is a helpful all-in-one solution for building landing pages, managing contacts, designing marketing funnels, and tracking conversions. Reviews rarely mention online course creation and hosting. Many users also find the price point steep.
Thinkific is a platform specifically designed to help people create and sell their online courses. Much like other Thinkific alternatives, it offers course templates and a drag-and-drop builder to ease course creation.
Pros:
Cons:
Reviewers on Capterra confirm that course creation and management is straightforward in Thinkific. Their complaints center around a lack of reporting tools, poor customer service, and narrow scope of use.
Kajabi lets you create, market, and sell online courses from one dashboard. It offers customizable templates and design tools with no need for coding or programming.
Pros:
Cons:
Reviewers on Capterra appreciate the ease of use and having everything integrated into one system – including email, landing pages, sales pages, shopping cart, website, blog, marketing funnels, and online courses. Many agree the learning curve and price point are both a little steep.
If you’re a health and wellness practitioner focused on offering courses to scale your practice you should be considering your business model and how many layers of software you’re comfortable managing in your tech stack. You’re likely also thinking about how to best protect your time and efficiency as you grow.
An all-in-one practice management solution with built-in course creation capabilities could be the right answer for you. The right platform will give you functionality to create and deliver online programs and courses, while also simplifying activities like scheduling, client management, billing, and more. Practice Better is an excellent choice if the following conditions apply in your situation:
In the end, you want to invest in a platform that provides your ideal mix of collaboration, growth, and efficiency. It’s the key to streamlining your operations and positioning your business for long-term scalable success.
Practice Better is the complete practice management platform for nutritionists, dietitians, and wellness professionals. Streamline your practice and begin your 14-day free trial today.
[Updated September 28, 2023]
Using your well-earned expertise to create an online course is a smart way to grow your business beyond 1:1 client sessions. When you’re considering the logistics of how to create, deliver, and promote an online course, it may be tempting to look at options like a private Facebook group or your existing email provider. In reality, dedicated online course platforms – like Thinkific or Teachable – provide a more comprehensive set of features specifically designed for course creation, management, and engagement.
There are many versions of course software on the market. This makes it challenging for health and wellness pros to break through the noise and get trustworthy answers to the important questions:
This guide is intended to help you answer these questions and more. Use it as a starting point to compare online course platforms and figure out which option best suits your needs given your business stage now and where you’re headed in the future.
Investing in an online course platform is a strategic and flexible way to grow your business.
As a health and wellness pro, you always take the time to understand each client’s lived experience, expectations, and needs before you recommend treatment. Choosing the right online course creation software for your business requires a personalization mindset too.
You may have heard of online course platforms like Udemy or Coursera. These solutions put your course into an open online marketplace where potential clients from anywhere can pay to access your expert content. There is no subscription fee or cost to add your content to the platform, but you do have to be okay with revenue sharing. In practical terms this means you’ll only receive a percentage of the revenue your content generates on the platform.
There are many Udemy alternatives more suited to the needs of health and wellness pros seeking more control over their branded courses. For example, online course platforms like Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, and Kartra are subscription-based, offering you the power to create and sell your online courses on your own terms.
Before you start comparing platforms you should assess your practice maturity to understand which features matter most to your success. The capabilities you need from your online course creation software as a program-creation newbie will likely be different from those you expect as a seasoned pro with a growth plan in place.
As a health and wellness solopreneur you need to protect your budget and your time, so you don’t burn out trying to run your business. Here are some considerations to keep top of mind when you compare online course platforms:
If your practice is more mature, you may have already experimented with online courses and are now looking to expand your offerings. Here are some considerations for evaluating online course creation software at this stage of business growth:
Next, you'll want to know which online course platforms best suit health and wellness professionals, and which option is best for you.
A note: having a standalone course software comes with trade-offs. Since organizing, automating, and systematizing your practice will help you grow efficiently, combining your course and practice management software can help reduce time spent working on your business.
If you're using software for your courses that doesn't integrate with your other practice tools, you're leaving out opportunities for improved efficiency and organized record-keeping. Luckily, Practice Better has flexible software that allows you to run courses and evergreen programs for various use cases, from client onboarding, to memberships, to nurturing future clients.
Now that you’ve been introduced to a few popular online course platforms in addition to Practice Better, you likely have more questions. What are the pros and cons of Thinkific vs Teachable? Is Kartra a viable alternative to Thinkific? What are the best Teachable alternatives? How does Kajabi fit into the mix?
PlatformLanding page builderLanding page templatesCourse TemplatesEmail MarketingAnalytics and ReportingTraining and SupportSurveys and QuizzesAffiliate ProgramIntegrationsBuilt-in Community BuildingTransaction feesPlan Price Ranges (billed annually)TeachableYesLimited unless you upgrade to Business plan YesStarts in at Basic plan , LimitedYesYes, incl. Teachable:u YesPro and Business plans onlyYes (except in Free plan)NoYes, in Free and Basic plans$0/mo - $499/moKartraYesYesYesAdvancedYesYesYesYesYesNoNo$99/mo - $429/moThinkificYesYesYesLimitedYesYes, incl. Thinkific AcademyYesPaid plans onlyYesYesNo$0 - Custom pricing at the Plus levelKajabiYesYesYesAdvancedYesYes, incl. 24/7 live chatYesKicks in at Growth level planYesYesNo$119/mo - $319/mo
Teachable describes their solution as “a no-code platform for creators who want to build more impactful businesses through courses, coaching, and digital downloads.” Teachable offers an intuitive drag-and-drop builder for creating courses that include videos, slides, quizzes, and more.
Reviewers on Capterra confirm that Teachable is intuitive to use and easy to get started on. Complaints mainly center around generic templates, a lack of customizations, and marketing limitations.
Kartra is an all-in-one platform you can use to build your online business. In reality, it’s less online course creation software and more a suite of tools you can use to build all the components required to run your sales and marketing – like slick landing pages and sophisticated sales funnels.
Reviewers on Capterra confirm that Kartra is a helpful all-in-one solution for building landing pages, managing contacts, designing marketing funnels, and tracking conversions. Reviews rarely mention online course creation and hosting. Many users also find the price point steep.
Thinkific is a platform specifically designed to help people create and sell their online courses. Much like other Thinkific alternatives, it offers course templates and a drag-and-drop builder to ease course creation.
Pros:
Cons:
Reviewers on Capterra confirm that course creation and management is straightforward in Thinkific. Their complaints center around a lack of reporting tools, poor customer service, and narrow scope of use.
Kajabi lets you create, market, and sell online courses from one dashboard. It offers customizable templates and design tools with no need for coding or programming.
Pros:
Cons:
Reviewers on Capterra appreciate the ease of use and having everything integrated into one system – including email, landing pages, sales pages, shopping cart, website, blog, marketing funnels, and online courses. Many agree the learning curve and price point are both a little steep.
If you’re a health and wellness practitioner focused on offering courses to scale your practice you should be considering your business model and how many layers of software you’re comfortable managing in your tech stack. You’re likely also thinking about how to best protect your time and efficiency as you grow.
An all-in-one practice management solution with built-in course creation capabilities could be the right answer for you. The right platform will give you functionality to create and deliver online programs and courses, while also simplifying activities like scheduling, client management, billing, and more. Practice Better is an excellent choice if the following conditions apply in your situation:
In the end, you want to invest in a platform that provides your ideal mix of collaboration, growth, and efficiency. It’s the key to streamlining your operations and positioning your business for long-term scalable success.
Practice Better is the complete practice management platform for nutritionists, dietitians, and wellness professionals. Streamline your practice and begin your 14-day free trial today.
Try any paid plan free.