About Best Online Course Platforms

Best Online Course Platforms is an independent directory of software and providers for teaching and learning online. It does not run courses, host schools or sell any of the products listed.

How a product gets listed

A listing is a product whose job is online teaching or learning, checked on its own website before it is added. That covers software a creator, company or school teaches with, and providers that sell or publish a catalog of online courses. A learner-facing provider qualifies on its catalog, meaning an organization publishing several current courses open to the public. One instructor's own course, or a single masterclass sold from one page, is left out.

Several kinds of site are left out on purpose. Review, comparison and course-search sites rank other people's products, which is our job, so they are not listed. Agencies and content studios that build courses for clients are services rather than platforms. General-purpose tools such as funnel builders, checkout carts, webinar software and general video hosting are listed only when their own site has a product page for courses. A university's admissions pages and degree programs are left out too, though its open catalog of online courses can be listed. One product gets one entry. A platform with several country sites, or one that has changed its name, is listed once under its current name.

Category membership needs evidence. A product joins a category because its own pages describe what that category is about, whether that is a mobile app, a WordPress plugin, live cohorts, proctored exams or a course for children. We do not infer it from a logo or a single line in an industries menu.

How the write-ups are written

Almost every write-up is built from the provider's own published pages, such as pricing pages, feature and course pages, help centers and legal pages. A price, fee, course count or accreditation appears only when those pages state it, and it is attributed to them. Where a provider's own site blocks automated reading, a write-up may draw on published pages about it elsewhere, and says so. We have not taken every course or run a school on every platform listed here, and the write-ups do not pretend otherwise.

How listings are ordered

Within a category, the course platforms that creators and students recognize by name come first. Star ratings, where shown, come from visitors.

Money

Providers are not charged to be listed. An outbound link may be an affiliate link, which means we may earn a commission if you sign up or buy after clicking. That does not change which products are listed or what their write-ups say.

Suggestions and corrections

If a platform or course provider is missing, you can suggest it through the submission form. If a listing has a fact wrong, or a provider has changed its prices or plans, send a note through the contact form. It is the only way to reach us.