Sell Online Courses Through Marketplaces
There are marketplaces specifically for online video courses, which are a significant part of digital products. While this guide focuses more on smaller digital products like ebooks, templates, and smaller videos, creating an online course about any topic is also a valuable option.
Selling online courses is a great way to share your knowledge and earn money. Two popular marketplaces for courses are Udemy and Skillshare. These platforms provide you with everything you need to create, promote, and sell your courses.
Popular Platforms
There are several platforms that allow you to publish your course and get discovered by learners. Below are two of the most popular marketplaces that make it easy to upload your course, attract students, and get paid—all without building your own system.
1/ Udemy
Udemy is one of the largest online course marketplaces in the world. It’s a great option if you want to focus on creating high-quality video lessons without worrying about marketing, hosting, or payment systems. Millions of students use Udemy to search for new skills, making it a strong channel for discovery.
What Makes Udemy Great
- Massive Built-In Audience
- Easy Course Builder
- Automated Promotion
- Progress Tracking and Reviews
Reach millions of students actively searching for courses in every category imaginable.
Upload videos, create quizzes, organize your content, and structure your curriculum—no tech skills needed.
Udemy runs email campaigns, sales events, and discounts to help drive traffic to your course.
Students can rate your course, leave reviews, and track their learning—building social proof as you grow.
Pricing
- Revenue Share
- You earn 97% of the sale price when you promote your own course
- You earn 37% on organic Udemy sales (traffic they drive)
👉 View Instructor Revenue Share
Why Choose Udemy
If your goal is reach and volume, Udemy makes it easy to get your course in front of the right people. It’s ideal for creators who want to test course ideas quickly or build passive income by tapping into a global learning audience.
Extra Tip: Courses under $50 tend to perform best on Udemy. If your course is more premium or niche, consider using Udemy as a lead magnet and upselling higher-ticket content on your own platform.
2/ Skillshare
Skillshare is a learning platform focused on creativity, freelancing, and self-development. It's project-based and community-driven, which makes it ideal for creators, artists, and educators in visual or skill-building fields.
What Makes Skillshare Great
- Creative-Focused Audience
- Hands-On Teaching Format
- Built-In Marketing
- Royalties Based on Watch Time
Perfect for courses in design, illustration, photography, productivity, writing, and more.
Skillshare emphasizes short, engaging video lessons and actionable class projects.
Your course can be featured through Skillshare’s newsletters, social posts, and platform promotions.
You earn based on how many minutes students spend watching your content—not sales.
Pricing
- Royalty Payments
- You earn a portion of Skillshare’s monthly membership pool, based on watch time and engagement.
Why Choose Skillshare
Skillshare is perfect if you want to build your brand in a specific creative niche. Instead of selling individual courses, you earn passive income as more students discover and engage with your content over time.
Extra Tip: Use Skillshare to build your following and drive people toward your other digital products or newsletter. Many instructors use it as part of a larger ecosystem—not just for revenue.
3/ Teachable Discover
Teachable Discover is a curated course marketplace by the Teachable platform. It allows you to list your course in front of an existing audience while keeping more control over your branding and pricing. It’s a great bridge between building your own course website and using a full marketplace.
What Makes Teachable Discover Great
- Built-In Audience
- Ownership & Branding
- Flexible Pricing
- Course Delivery & Checkout
Discover helps you get traffic without building your own from scratch—while still looking like your own brand.
You still host your course on your own Teachable site but get added visibility through Discover.
Set your own prices and even use discounts or bundles to increase sales.
You don’t need external tools—everything from payment to content delivery is handled inside Teachable.
Pricing
- Free to list on Discover
- Teachable takes a 50% commission on Discover sales, but you keep 100% of sales from your own promotion.
Why Choose Teachable Discover
This option is ideal for creators who want marketplace exposure without giving up control. It’s also helpful if you're already using Teachable and want extra visibility without managing more platforms.
Extra Tip: Use Discover to test demand for a course topic. Once you see traction, build your own sales page and direct traffic there to keep 100% of the revenue.
Should You Use a Marketplace or Build Your Own?
Using a marketplace can save you a lot of time—but it also comes with trade-offs.
If you:
- Want fast results
- Don’t want to handle tech, payments, or delivery
- Prefer focusing on content creation
→ Then a marketplace is the fastest way to start earning.
But if you:
- Want to build a long-term brand
- Care about customer experience and data
- Plan to upsell or create a digital product ecosystem
→ Then building your own platform gives you more control and profit over time.
You don’t have to choose just one. Many creators launch their first course on Skillshare or Udemy to build an audience, then later build a branded site or funnel for higher-ticket offers and bundles.
At the end of the day, it’s about matching your goals and resources. Choose the platform that helps you move forward fastest—and refine from there.