The online course industry is booming, and choosing the right platform can make your success as a course creator. Whether you’re an educator, coach, or entrepreneur, your platform should not only host your content but also help you market, sell, and scale it.
Among all the many options out there, three names inevitably stand out in 2025: Thinkific, Teachable, and Zenler. Each has developed a loyal user based with its unique experience. However, when considering selecting the most efficient, and future-proof platform, they stack up on how to serve.
Getting Started: Which Platform Offers the Easiest Setup?
Thinkific: Flexible and Scalable
Thinkific has long been a favorite platform for course creators; who want flexibility & control. It offers a professional-looking interface, drag-and-drop builder, & a range of course delivery options like quizzes, certificates, and drip schedules. Thinkific’s strength lies in its modular setup; allowing creators to customize their site extensively.
However, this flexibility has a downside; many features need to be added through other tools. Need email marketing?, Hook up Mailchimp or ConvertKit. Want to host webinars? You’ll probably need Zoom or some other third-party tool. So you’ve got multiple accounts, subscriptions, and workflows to deal with as your course business grows.
In short, Thinkific is powerful-but only if you’re all right hacking together your tech stack.
Teachable: Simplicity First, Limited Depth
Teachable is known for its clean, user-friendly interface that appeals to first-time course creators. Setting up your course, uploading content, and accepting payments is a smooth process. It also supports upsells, and integrates with Stripe and PayPal, making monetization simple.
But for advanced features and customization; Teachable shows its weakness. There are no features for live webinars, or detailed building funnels, but it does have some tools to market. Marketing features are pretty basic unless you are on the premium plans, but from what I have learned, for creators who want to scale and automate, Teachable often requires other platforms.
Teachable, again, is a wonderful entry-level platform. The growing business can easily outgrow what Teachable has to offer in a relatively short period.
Zenler: The All-in-One Superhero
Zenler is that platform that came along wishing to serve everything in one single, unified interface, which makes it one of the best online course creator. It’s an all-in-one solution that hosts courses, includes email marketing, funnels, communities, webinars, and automation without needing extra tools or plugins.
What makes Zenler stand out is that it’s designed for serious creators; who need to scale without becoming bogged down in tech headaches. Unlike many other online membership platforms, Zenler let’s you design; gorgeous landing pages, host live webinars, develop sales funnels, send automated email sequences, run communities, and monitor performance—all from one dashboard. This efficiency saves time, money, and brainpower.
Moreover; Zenler’s pricing is designed to be affordable, and transparent; especially considering how many tools are bundled into the platform. For the cost of one subscription, you’re getting what would otherwise require 4–5 separate tools.
Final Verdict: Which Platform Wins in 2025?
Choosing the right course platform, depends on where you are in your creator journey.
If you want deep customization, & don’t mind using multiple integrations; Thinkific might be the best choice.
If you’re just starting, & want something simple, and easy to use, Teachable will be the best choice.
But if you’re looking for a complete solution that scales with your business; Zenler clearly leads the way in 2025.
With Zenler, you’re not just getting a course platform—you’re getting a complete business ecosystem that supports every stage of your growth.
