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Selling a course involves more than uploading lessons. You need a page that explains the offer, a way to collect enquiries, checkout, student access and follow-up. Buying a separate subscription for each job can leave you paying for tools you barely use.
HighLevel puts courses and memberships alongside a website and funnel builder, CRM, email, booking calendars and workflows. It is worth considering first if you want to manage the journey from interested visitor to paying student in one system.
That does not make it the cheapest starting point. If you are testing your first course and do not need a CRM or marketing workflows, a platform with no monthly subscription may be the better choice. Start with the work you need done, not the longest feature list.
Start with these
1. HighLevel: courses and follow-up in one platform
Why: Your lessons, sales page and follow-up do not have to live in separate systems.
HighLevel lets you organise a course into modules and lessons, add videos, quizzes, assignments and downloadable material, then package it into an offer. Offers can provide free, one-time or recurring access. Students access their courses through the Client Portal; courses can also sit within its Communities learning area.
The same platform includes forms, sales funnels, contact records, email and SMS marketing, calendars and workflow automation. You can connect course purchases to access, and configure workflows to grant a course offer when your chosen conditions are met. That is the useful all-in-one angle: collect interest, sell access, welcome students and keep the relationship in one place.
When it fits
- You sell courses alongside coaching or services and want one contact record for each customer.
- You will actually use funnels, email follow-up and workflows, rather than only hosting lessons.
- You already use HighLevel for your business and want to explore its course tools before adding another platform.
- You have time to configure payments, access and communications, then test the student experience.
When to choose something else
- You have no audience yet and need a waitlist before a paid platform.
- You want a simple course shop without a wider CRM and marketing setup.
- Your choice depends on a particular assessment, reporting or accessibility requirement. Test that requirement directly instead of assuming an all-in-one covers it.
HighLevel has a paid monthly subscription, not an ongoing free plan. Its standard trial lasts 14 days, and billing starts automatically afterwards unless you cancel. Email, SMS, calling and premium AI can incur usage charges; optional add-ons cost extra too. Check the current monthly plan and usage terms through our listing, including rates for your country.
A paid course also needs a connected, supported payment provider. Course access and workflows require configuration: do not assume that creating a checkout automatically gives every buyer the correct lessons.
2. Choose a smaller platform if you only need to sell and teach
Why: A first course does not necessarily need the rest of HighLevel's marketing system.
- Payhip: for a course shop without a monthly platform subscription. Its Free Forever plan includes the course tools, but charges a platform fee on sales, with payment-provider fees on top. You can organise lessons, use quizzes, drip content and issue completion certificates. Payhip's own video hosting is a paid extra; embedding video hosted elsewhere does not add a Payhip video-hosting charge. Check the external host's costs and privacy settings. This is a sensible first option if structured lessons matter more than CRM workflows.
- Gumroad: for selling course material or memberships with merchant-of-record sales-tax handling. There is no monthly subscription, but direct sales carry a platform fee plus payment-processing fees. Discover marketplace sales have a different fee that includes processing. Gumroad handles sales-tax collection and remittance where it has obligations as merchant of record; that does not remove your own business or income-tax responsibilities. Choose it for that selling model, not because no monthly bill means no costs.
- Thinkific: for a dedicated teaching platform. Its Start plan includes courses, quizzes, assignments, completion certificates, memberships and a custom domain. It has a 30-day trial, not an ongoing free plan. Compare it when the learning experience is your main requirement, rather than assuming it is a cheaper alternative to HighLevel. Payment processing and, depending on country and provider, third-party gateway fees also need checking.
A pay-once alternative to assess: Skillplate. Its time-limited AppSumo lifetime offer covers selling courses, memberships and downloads, with a storefront and members area. Pay once does not mean fee-free: Tier 1 takes a 10% sales commission and has limits of 1,000 active users, 15 hours of stored video and 15,000 streaming minutes a month. Stripe handles payments, so check processing charges too. The offer is for new Skillplate users only, requires activation within 60 days and is listed as refundable for up to 60 days. Check the current offer terms before buying. Consider it if those limits and the ongoing commission suit your course; do not choose it just to avoid a subscription.
Before choosing, build one sample lesson and walk through enrolment as a student. Check navigation on a phone, downloads, access emails and how you will support someone who cannot log in.
3. Build an audience without duplicating your tools
Why: You need people who want the course before you need a large library of lessons.
If you choose HighLevel, start with its forms, pages and email tools rather than immediately adding separate subscriptions for those jobs. Allow for email usage charges and configure your follow-up deliberately.
If you take the smaller-platform route, Kit has a free plan for up to 10,000 subscribers, with no email sending limit. Every plan includes landing pages with built-in sign-up forms. That gives you somewhere to describe the idea and collect a waitlist before paying for a separate website.
Write a clear promise: who the course is for, what they will learn and what it will not cover. Ask prospective students which problem they want help with. Do not buy more software to avoid having that conversation.
Keep purchase messages separate from optional marketing, explain what people are signing up for and make opting out straightforward. Do not assume a platform's features settle your legal responsibilities.
Add these later
4. A separate sales site, only if the included page is not enough
Why: You need a clear offer, not several website subscriptions.
HighLevel has website and funnel builders; Payhip has a store builder and course sales pages; Thinkific includes site and landing-page tools. On the waitlist path, Kit can provide the landing page.
Use what you have first. If you later need a separate site, compare the options in Build a Website. Check custom-domain, branding and form requirements before choosing a plan.
5. Booking for coaching alongside the course
Why: Individual coaching calls need a booking process. They do not automatically need another paid tool.
HighLevel includes booking calendars. If you are using a separate course platform, Cal.com offers a free individual plan for one user with unlimited booking links and calendars. It can accept payments through Stripe and PayPal; processing still has its own costs.
A booking tool is not the same as live-session delivery. Check your meeting service separately, including participant limits and recording permissions. Do not add a scheduler simply because you plan to send everyone the same workshop link.
Pick your starting route
- Courses, coaching and ongoing marketing in one business: HighLevel. Main trade-off: monthly subscription, usage costs and configuration time.
- First structured course, without a platform subscription: Payhip Free Forever. Main trade-off: fees on sales; Payhip-hosted video is extra.
- Simple selling with merchant-of-record sales-tax handling: Gumroad. Main trade-off: direct and marketplace fees differ; processing can be additional.
- Prefer a one-time platform purchase: Skillplate. Main trade-off: sales commission and tier limits still apply.
- Teaching tools are the main buying decision: Thinkific. Main trade-off: paid subscription after the trial; check payment fees.
- Still checking whether anyone wants the course: Kit landing page and waitlist. Main trade-off: builds an audience, not a full student learning area.
Choose one route, prepare a small useful course and test the whole purchase-to-access journey before inviting students. Add tools when a specific limit gets in the way. Moving everything into one login can be useful; paying for an all-in-one before you use it is not a requirement for launching.
Browse the categories
Compare more options by the job you need done:
- Sell Online, for course and product platforms
- Create Content, for email and creator tools
- Accept Payments
- Generate Leads, for forms and waitlists
- Build a Website
- Take Bookings
