7 Best Software Tools to Create Engaging Online Courses
Creating an online course might seem like a herculean task. But today with the amount of tools available in the market, creating and delivering online courses has become easier than ever before.
In this blog post, we will explore the 7 best course creation software platforms and discuss their pros and cons. We will also provide some tips on how to choose the right course creation software for your needs.
What is Course Creation Software?
Course creation software is a platform that allows you to create an online course and distribute them to your target audience in a single place without having to do the heavy lifting behind the scenes.
It is an all-in-one solution that makes the process of creating, delivering, and managing online courses hassle-free. These platforms provide tools and features that help you create engaging courses which are tailored to your student’s needs while also simplifying your life as a creator.
The course creation software platforms are typically web-based and they enable you to create courses without any coding knowledge. You can easily create content, upload videos, assign quizzes, and handle payments with ease.
The course creation software also allows you to manage your students, track their progress, and analyze the results.
Benefits of Course Creation Software
There are many benefits of using course creation software for teaching online courses. Here are some of the key benefits:
- Save time and effort
With course creation software, you can quickly create, launch, and manage online courses with ease. You don’t have to write any code or hire developers. - Engaging content
You can create highly engaging content. There are options to add videos, images, audio, quizzes, and more to make your courses interactive and engaging. - Accessibility
Course creation software platforms are typically web-based, which makes them accessible for your students to download & learn from the resources in a single place. - Security
The course creation software platforms offer high-level security to protect the privacy of your student's data and ensure that your courses are safe. - Analytics
You can analyze the performance of your courses with the help of course creation software. You can track the progress of your students and get insights into their performance.
The 7 Best Course Creation Software Platforms
There are many course creation software platforms available today, but selecting the right one can be a daunting task. To make it easier for you, here's a list of the 7 best course creation software platforms. Let’s take a look at them:
Kajabi
Kajabi is an all-in-one course creation software platform. It provides tools for creating, hosting, and marketing your courses.
They provide website builder, email marketing software, CRM, payments, and analytics out of the box.
You can also use Kajabi to manage your students and track their progress.
Pros:
- Easy to use
- Great customer support
- A great set of tools to manage everything in a single place
Cons:
- Expensive plans compared to other solutions
- Limitations in the number of products
Teachable
Teachable is built specifically for creating online courses.
It cannot be seen as an all-in-one product but it's suited for the purpose of creating online courses.
You can create and deliver engaging courses with the help of Teachable as it has a variety of features like quizzes, discussions, student segmentation etc.
All their plans allow you to create unlimited courses & accommodate unlimited students
Pros:
- Free to start
- Rich in course management features
- Unlimited courses & students right from free plan
Cons:
- It's limited to creating a course.
- Relatively higher transaction fees in the free & basic plans
Podia
Podia is a popular platform for selling online courses, and digital products with ease
The paid plans support unlimited products and unlimited storage. The free plan has a transaction fee on each sale while the paid plans have a fixed monthly fee
Podia also supports integration with multiple email marketing platforms & drip content
Pros:
- Unlimited courses even in the basic plan
- Multiple integrations
Cons:
- Affiliates are available only in the Shaker plans
- Priority support is available only in the highest plan
LearnWorlds
LearnWorlds is a cloud-based course creation software platform that offers a full-fledged LMS solution.
It offers features such as memberships, quizzes, blogging, community features, and so on.
It has support for surveys and HTML5 for video content in the courses.
Pros:
- Great customer support
- Flat fee in the starting plan
Cons:
- Overwhelming dashboard
- Lacks marketing automation
Thinkific
Similar to Teachable, Thinkific does not fall under the all-in-one platform category. It's built specifically for course creation
Thinkific allows you to create private courses, schedule content, etc. Their dashboard is pretty straightforward and easy to understand
Their paid plans allow you to create unlimited courses & accommodate unlimited students
Pros:
- Easy to use,
- Unlimited courses & students in paid plans
Cons:
- Expensive plans
- Need for improved dashboard UI/UX as it looks relatively simple
Ruzuku
Ruzuku is another course creation software platform designed for teachers and course creators.
It has plenty of options out of the box like customizing the landing pages, and courses to suit your brand's style
Like the other platforms, it also has options to add videos, images, and quizzes for your course but there's support for only multiple choice quizzes as of now. And their lowest pricing plan is quite expensive
Pros:
- No transaction fees in all plans
- Unlimited courses & students
- Free plan included
Cons:
- Expensive plans
- Limited customization compared to other options
Udemy
Udemy is one of the oldest course creation software platforms. It provides tools for creating, and hosting your courses.
Udemy has its own marketplace which can act as a good channel for distributing your course
But it's extremely limited in its options to manage the entire process from course creation to management all in a single place and hence not suitable in such cases.
Pros:
- Well-known platform
- Marketplace distribution
Cons:
- Limited customization options
- Course review & approval go through systemic processes
- Lack of community support
How to Choose the Right Course Creation Software
Choosing the right course creation software can be a daunting task. Here are some tips to help you choose the right software for your needs:
- Decide on the type of course you want to create: Each software has varying needs for different course types like prerecorded courses, webinars, etc.
- Consider the features: Make sure to consider the features offered by the course creation software before selecting one.
- Compare the different platforms: Compare the different course creation software platforms based on factors like pricing and compatibility
- Read reviews: Read reviews of the different course creation software platforms to get an idea of the pros and cons of each software.
- Try out the software: Once you have narrowed down your options, try out the software to understand it better. Some of the platforms above have a generous free plan and free trials
Other Free Software to Create Online Courses
If you’re on a tight budget, there are some free course creation software platforms available. Here are some of the free course creation software platforms:
- Google Classroom: Google Classroom is a free and simple software to create a live class with students. It has extremely limited options and the feature for recording and managing students is absent
- Canvas by Instructure: Canvas by Instructure is a learning management solution for teachers & educators.
- Open edX: Open edX is a free course creation platform from edX. You can host it on your servers if you're up for hiring a developer or writing some code.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are many course creation software platforms available today. We have discussed the 7 best course creation software platforms and their pros and cons. We have also discussed some tips on how to choose the right course creation software for your needs. Finally, we have discussed some free course creation software platforms.
If you are looking for the best software to create online courses, we hope that this article was helpful. Try out the different course creation software platforms to find the one that best fits your needs.
