Best Online Learning Platforms For Content Delivery Reviewed

It does not even take a 5-minute research to realize there are thousands of online learning platforms available. In fact, as you are reading this, someone is thinking of designing a better solution. So, how do you pick one that fits your educational and business goals?

To narrow down your choices even more, I did the homework of testing and reviewing some of the popular and not-so-popular online learning platforms to identify a list worth considering. 

Having talked to creators, coaches, and educators on various occasions, I outlined all the key aspects that matter when choosing an online learning platform. Some of the time, they shared their experience with a particular platform in pirate interviews. So, to make this list objectively valuable, I also considered their take, user reviews on other platforms, and discussion forums. 

By the end of this article, you will have a better understanding of what is considered the best solution for you. But first, let me share the judgment criteria. 

How do you know if a learning platform is best?

I assume you already know that no platform works for everyone. In case you want to try it yourself, here is the judgment criteria I followed when testing the online learning platforms:

• What content delivery options does the platform offer?
• What is the experience like from the point of view of admins, students, and instructors?
• How does the platform deliver what it promises?
• What are the opportunities to test and track the learning progress?
• Does the online learning platform offer the best value for its price?

As you get an overview about each solution, you may want to compare and see how they stack against each other. I highly recommend checking the comparisons our team of experts made to learn more details. On top of those, you can select any other learning platform from our base of 50+. 

• Uteach vs. Udemy
• Podia vs. Teachable
• Udemy vs. Skillshare

Uteach 

Best for: Launching your own branded online school with built-in teaching and automation tools. 

Uteach gives you a complete setup not just to create courses, but to manage everything from student enrollment to course delivery and payments. You can attach assignments to the course, add quizzes, and surveys to make the learning experience more engaging. 

If you are looking to provide a full learning environment for your students, you can find that with Uteach. The platform supports different learning formats, including but not limited to

• Blended learning
• Mobile learning
• Collaborative learning 

As an instructor, you can offer both pre-recorded courses and live sessions and enrich the lessons with downloadable resources. Unlike with marketplaces, here you can establish your own academy under your own rules. 

One of the greatest parts is that you can start with the AI course idea generator, turn it into an outline with AI, and start easily. 

When it comes to tracking student progress, quizzes and assessments are not just for the checkpoints. There are 6 more answer options besides the multiple choice. You can totally customize the student experience in this regard. For example, randomize the options, provide explanations to wrong answers, choose the layout of the quiz, and so much more. 

As the students pass the quiz, they can automatically receive certificates with your school branding. All of those results reflect in the analytics section. 

User reviews and feedback 

There are several reasons why reviewers choose Uteach over other popular solutions, including:

• Solid solution that offers more solutions at a more affordable price
• White-label website design and customization
• Freedom to create without limitations 

In one of the weekly interviews with various educators, creators and trainers, I was talking to one of the creators at Uteach. During the live, Angel Rodriguez also shared what he likes best about Uteach. 

“I've used other popular platforms. I've used at least five of them, and I can tell you that Uteach is by far my favorite. One of the biggest things for me that brought me to Uteach was the ability to blog right there on the site. That is a huge difference-maker. A lot of the other platforms don't offer that at all, and the social aspect is the way that you bring your customers into your particular online course that you're trying to create.”

 

Angel Rodriguez

Trainer, creator

Pricing 

The best thing about Uteach pricing is that you have no limits on what you create and how much you sell. Uteach does not make you upgrade the plan just because your content and business grow. Plus, all features are included in all plans, so you are not limited in this regard. The only thing to decide is whether you want to be charged commission-based or just a fixed price. The pricing starts at $39 for the Launch plan. 

Also see: Uteach Review

Udemy 

Best for: Reaching a large audience quickly without handling tech setups.

If you have been researching online learning platforms to deliver your courses, you surely have heard about Udemy. 

In my latest interviews with course creators, almost every one of them found getting the audience challenging. Up to a certain extent, Udemy helps you with that challenge. As one of the biggest course marketplaces, the platform offers over 250.000 courses and has over 80 million students. 

What people like about Udemy

• A wide audience to present their educational content
• Intuitive editor to upload and organize courses
• Flexible pricing options so that you can sell with subscriptions or a single purchase (unlike other marketplaces)

Cons 

• No opportunities for those who prefer delivering live courses
• You do not truly own the relationship with your students
• You still need to make great efforts to market your course, as the competition is high 

Now, let’s see what the course experience is like. Uploading your courses on Udemy is honestly easy. The platform guides you through the process of adding the key outcomes, requirements, and details about yourself as an instructor. For content, you can upload video (MP4), PDFs, and audio files. You can also embed external links. But I would say the system really wants you to stick to video-first content. 

One of the things I like about Udemy is that the quizzes for coding exercises are separate, so you can add the questions easily. On the other hand, you can only add multiple-choice questions. For that reason, the Udemy quizz functionality seems more like a “just-for-the-sake-of-it” activity. 

As for the student's point of view, the dashboard is clean, and the mobile access is great. But the platform has a binge-watch feel to it. Students find you through categories, search, related courses, and email promotions. 

There is a Q&A section where students can ask questions, and you can respond, which is nice. But there are no community and discussion forums per course. So to speak, you are the content, and they are the consumer. 

User reviews and feedback 

According to the reviews users left on review platforms like Capterra and Trustpilot, as well as discussion forums, you need to sell hundreds of courses monthly to earn a decent amount. 

“Udemy has been a great learning tool and a platform to bridge perceived knowledge gaps for employees in my department; it's incredible, but pricey. Their pricing method per course makes it very expensive…”

 

Samuel A. 

Verified Reviewer on Capterra 

Here is feedback from a Quora discussion that I think summarizes the experience of Udemy as an online learning platform. 

Pricing 

If a student buys your course using your personal referral link, you keep 97% of the sale. But when Udemy drives the sale through its own marketplace or promotional campaigns, it takes a 63% cut, leaving you with just 37% of the revenue. 

Also see: Udemy Review

Skillshare 

Best for: Creators who want to earn passive income from short classes in a subscription-based community. 

Skillshare is an online learning platform that offers over 30,000 classes, mostly in creative and practical fields. It has a community of more than 12 million registered users from over 180 countries and offers a subscription-based model. 

If we take a look at the point of view of statistics, the courses on Skillshare are typically 20-60 minute long, pre-recorded courses. 

What people like about Skillshare 

• Has a community of learners who are interested in learning creative skills
• Supports mobile learning with the mobile app
• Offers opportunities to organize collaborative learning with projects

Cons  

• The revenue share model also depends on the watch time of your courses
• Standing out takes real effort in quality and promotion.
• The content formats you have are limited.

Once you get an account, you can go ahead and view your classes, or click on the “Create Class” to teach. Like with most of the marketplaces, you first need to apply and be sure your courses correspond to their guidelines and requirements. 

As we create the course, the process is basically uploading the video and filling in the basic details like the language, description, and the title. Beyond that, what I find useful with Skillshare is that they support project-based learning. 

So, you can expect your students to create something as a result of the class and count it as an assignment. The platform has lots of helpful resources, such as how to create a project assignment, tips on filming and producing the course content, and the like. 

That being said, I did not find any opportunities to create any kind of assessment. And if you prefer having quizzes and tracking assessment scores, you would need to use external quiz creation tools. 

As for the student’s perspective, there is no roadmap or module progression to follow the courses. They can post their class projects, leave reviews, ask questions in the discussion tab, and follow teachers they like.

User reviews and feedback  

Skillshare has an average rating of 4.7 stars on Capeterra. Instructors think the platform is easy to use and fits their basic needs. As for the students, they mention there are lots of courses for beginners, but if you are an advanced learner in a particular creative field, the platform will not be as effective. 

“So far I am really enjoying this platform. It is easy to use via laptop or mobile. There is so many classes to choose from and the admin tools are easy to use. Tech support is responsive”.

 

Brenda K. 

Verified Reviewer on Capterra

People on Quora also think that delivering courses on an online learning platform like Skillshare is easy. One of the users who has created over 200 courses on Skillshare mentions that you just need to find a topic, break it down into key lessons, and fill in the required data. That data also includes SEO titles and descriptions to help your course appear higher on search engine result pages. 

Pricing 

Teaching on Skillshare is free for instructors- there are no upfront or ongoing costs required to become a teacher or to host your classes. 

Also see: Skillshare Review

Heights Platform 

Best for: Building a structured online academy with AI functionality

Heights Platform is a creator-focused online learning platform that lets you build and sell structured courses, coaching programs, digital products, and memberships under your own brand. You can create multi-step learning paths, drip content, assign projects, issue certificates, and track learner progress. It also includes tools to build a private community, offer upsells, and run affiliate programs. As you can see, you have multiple ways to engage the students and grow your income.

What people like about Heights Platform 

• Has a community-centered approach with projects, voting, replies, etc
• Offers an AI assistant for not only content-related but also business-related tasks
• Supports student engagement with built-in gamification tools

Cons 

• Setting up the course and content takes too many clicks
• Limited quizzing and assessment capabilities with just multiple-choice

It took me a lot of time to figure out the key functionality to create and deliver education content on the Height Platform. Though I discovered this online learning platform offers lots of opportunities to create the course and make it engaging, the number of features was overwhelming. 

The greatest thing is that the platform supports multimedia content. While you are building the course, the lesson editor shows you exactly what students will see. You can drag and drop to add and organize lessons, embed HTML content, and customize styles. 

Lately, the platform has been developing AI tools. You can use them to generate course outlines, lesson content suggestions, web pages, etc. 

If you have a clear vision of what you want the course experience to be like, the AI tools really help a great deal. All I did was describe in my own words the outcomes I want for the course and what products I want the course to include. 

As the AI suggests the outline, it gives recommendations on the topics you want to touch, what points to include, and how to improve the course overall. 

With all that being said, I still find that having decent quizzing functionality would be great. Because all you can do is add multiple-choice questions. So, if you are a quiz fan like me, you would hardly find enough opportunities to customize the assessment experience or make it engaging. 

User reviews and feedback 

People reviewing Heights Platform were overall happy with the experience they had with this online learning platform. In fact, it has an average rating of 4.9 stars on Capterra. To give you an idea of what kind of student experience you can create, here is an example review. 

“You can switch into different views, to experience the course as a student too, which really helps as you build your lesson plan. The ability to add downloads, videos, and worksheets directly into each section is perfect, and adds a new dimension to the overall experience for the students”. 

 

Sara. H

Verified Reviewer on Capterra

Pricing

The pricing of Heights Platform starts at $29/month with the Challenge plan. The platform does not limit the amount of content you can create. However, it does limit the number of students. So, as your student base grows, you will need to upgrade the plan. 

Also see: Heights Platform Review

Podia 

Best for: Educators who want to deliver online courses, digital products, and coaching all from one simple platform. 

If you are looking for an online learning platform with a clean, intuitive setup to manage all your educational content in one place, you can find that with Podia. It lets you create and deliver online courses, host webinars, share digital resources, offer coaching programs, and nurture your community through built-in email marketing tools.

Podia has about 150.000 users and claims to be an all-in-one solution. 

What people like about Podia

• Super intuitive interface, and you can launch quickly
• Does not limit the number of products and courses you can create
• Opportunities to build membership sites and communities with recurring subscription options

Cons 

• There is no mobile app available
• No opportunities to establish a truly branded experience

To create a pre-recorded course, you can start by setting up a product and choosing Online Course. And then you can easily add sections and lessons using a drag-and-drop interface. Each lesson can include videos, text, PDFs, audio files, or embedded content like YouTube or Loom. 

You can also make the online learning experience better with Podia’s communities. Though it does not come with advanced community-building options, you can still create different topics, post polls, and share updates with your learners. 

Another aspect I like about Podia is the pricing options for your offers. You can sell products as one-time purchases, set up payment plans for higher-ticket items, or charge recurring fees through memberships. And in reviews, some users noted that, too.

User reviews and feedback 

Speaking of reviews, Podia has an average rating of 4.6 stars on Capterra. One of the most commonly mentioned aspects people liked about their experience with Podia is the ease of use. 

“Podia is so easy to use. I cannot overemphasize how important this feature is when setting up and supporting online courses. Podia's customer support is responsive and thorough until the issue is resolved”. 

 

Rev C. 

Verified Reviewer on Capterra

Pricing

Podia has three main pricing tiers. While they no longer offer a traditional free plan, you can still use Podia for free if you are just using their email marketing tool and have under 100 subscribers. For full access to selling courses and digital products, plans start at $39/month. 

Also see: Podia Review

Teachable 

Best for: Having a structured, course-first platform with solid monetization tools.

Teachable lets you build structured, multimedia-rich courses with sections and individual lectures. Each lecture can include video, audio, text, PDFs, images, and quizzes. You can drip content over time or make it available all at once. 

There is a built-in quiz tool (basic, no advanced logic), and you can issue course completion certificates through their native integration.

What people like about Teachable

• Has lots of third-party integrations for marketing, automations, and analytics
• Handles the taxes for you if you are in the US or Canada
• You can offer flexible payment options, including Buy Now Pay Later

Cons 

• No opportunity to have live classes
• Limited opportunities to customize everything to your brand, and no white-label mobile app 

As an online learning platform, Teachable does not stand behind with the AI tools. Before I started creating the curriculum, the platform suggested getting started with the outline generator. And if you are adding a multiple-choice quiz, you can generate the questions with the AI as well. When the students pass the quiz successfully, you can award them branded certificates. 

Speaking of the student experience, Teachable has the basics to keep the learners engaged. You can use the groups and discussion boards to let the learners interact with each other. Also, as you publish the course, you can allow the students to leave questions and feedback on it. 

Most creators like the monetization opportunities Teachable provides and how everything is organized. From the admin perspective, I like that you can keep separate records based on their contact status, such as leads, actual students, affiliates, etc. 

User reviews and feedback 

As I was going through the reviews, one thing was clear: Users found Teachable easy to use and quick to set up. Most of them liked the various layout options for the courses and were happy with the type of educational materials they could offer. Here is a review snippet that sums it up:

“This software is easy to get started on a Pro account; you have everything you need. It's a great drag and drop course content & sales pages - handles all the sales and taxes if you like”.

 

Ruth. P

Verified Reviewer on Capterra

Pricing 

When it comes to pricing, Teachable offers four main pricing options. The Basic plan, when you pay monthly, starts at $59 with 5% transaction fees. Yet, it also limits the number of products and courses you can create, so you would eventually have to upgrade. 

Also see: Teachable Review

Claned 

Best for: Designing social learning courses with progress-tracking in mind.  

If you prioritize structured, interactive, and learner-centric experiences to deliver your educational content, you can find that with Claned. The last online learning platform on our list integrates pedagogical design and social learning skills. It mostly focuses on building learning around communities. 

What people like about Claned 

• You can make the learning content interactive with in-context discussions
• Beyond standard formats, Claned accommodates diverse materials, including VR games
• Provides strong analytics and tracking of learner results

Cons

• No opportunity for live classes
• Limited customization for the learning academy elements, such as certificates

Claned supports a wide array of content types, including videos, PDFs, webinars, VR/AR materials, and more. You can organize these materials into structured modules. To do that, the platform suggests creating boards. 

When you access your account, you can see the overview of the platform and tips and tricks to use it in one of the ready-made boards. 

What I liked about this platform is the contextual commenting system, which allows learners to highlight and discuss specific parts of the content directly. That makes the learning experience perfect if you want an online learning platform supporting social and peer-to-peer learning. 

The platform's analytics tools provide insights into both individual and group learning behaviors. 

User reviews and feedback

Reviewers praise Claned for its intuitive, modern interface and ease of use, making it accessible for both educators and learners to create and engage with online courses. Users highlight its strong support for social and collaborative learning. 

“So easy to structure courses and add content elements. Studying is contextual and learner-centered. I like the social learning possibilities and the possibility to create great learning experiences”.

 

Hanne K. 

Verified Capterra Reviewer

Pricing  

Claned has different tiers for individuals and teams. For individual creators, the pricing depends on the number of users. The pricing is €6 per user. 

How do you choose the best online learning platform for you?

You can agree when I say there can never be one best platform. The reason is that your business needs will likely change, or you may adopt a new educational approach that your current platform does not support. 

That is why, when choosing a solution, you want to be sure the platform can scale with you at any given point. To make that choice easier for you, here is a small checklist to consider:

• Do I want my own branded academy, or can I keep publishing courses on marketplaces?
• What course formats do I currently offer, and which is the direction I will expand on later?
• How important is learner progress tracking, homework submission, or issuing certificates?
• Do I plan to build a community or membership around my content?
• What kind of sales funnels, email automation, or upselling options do I need? 

Next is how you can actually scale with that platform. It is because almost all the platforms price according to how many courses, pages, and products you can have. If you want to create and sell more courses, you have to upgrade the plan. But this is not the case, Uteach. Here, you have unlimited courses and products, and the features are not limited to the plan you use.

If you have already created courses on another platform or need a hand getting started, Uteach offers migration support and setup assistance to make the transition smoother.

Want to see how it all works? Schedule a free demo with one of our specialists and get personalized guidance to launch your course on the right online learning platform.