18 Free online course platforms in 2025

Here, we’ll help you explore different online course platforms with a range of easily accessible learning resources that you can readily share with your team. These platforms also offer you intuitive tools for building your online courses from scratch and monitoring the learning progress of your employees.

What is an online course platform?

You can think of an online course platform as a digital classroom where students can take various courses remotely. Other platforms allow instructors to host live learning sessions and dictate the pacing of the lessons, while others create self-paced courses to give students more flexibility. 

1. SC Training (formerly EdApp)

• Best for: Workplace compliance and onboarding of frontline employees

SC Training sets the standard for high-quality online course platforms with its comprehensive microlearning content library. Filled with expertly designed courses for various industries, you’ll get to explore elearning resources like retail, construction, cybersecurity, leadership, and even OSHA training.

If you want to secure accredited, up-to-date, and good online courses, SC Training also offers a range of certified, sponsored online classes, that are developed in collaboration with some of the most reputable brands and thought leaders in the world.

As the best online course platform, SC Training (formerly EdApp) allows you to create online courses through its powerful course creation tool where you have the option to customize most of these courses to fit your branding specifications and your learners’ training needs.

You can upload your brand image and logo, add more lessons or edit the content, or even include slides of gamified quizzes to check their learning progress. For non-native English speakers, this LMS software has a built-in AI translation tool that can translate courses into a specific language that they’re comfortable with.

• Cost: Free (up to 10 users); paid plans available
• Key features: Microlearning content library, editable courses, creator tool, gamified quizzes, AI translation tool

2. Coursera

• Best for: professional and academic learners

Over the years, Coursera has gained increased popularity for its paid and free e-learning courses that are mostly hosted by the best university professors and industry experts from around the world.

The majority of their programs are aimed at professionals seeking to improve their skills and abilities, receive a promotion or raise, or start a new career. Whether your industry falls to information technology, business, or social sciences, Coursera definitely has something ready for your team. 

Most of the courses in this platform are delivered in online video lectures that your learners can take whenever they’re available. Some are also deployed with self-paced quizzes and hands-on projects, ensuring optimum engagement from your team. Coursera can provide a certificate of completion for a separate fee. 

• Cost: Free; paid courses with certificates
• Key features: Expertly designed online courses, video lectures, self-paced quizzes, hands-on projects, certificate of completion

3. edX

• Best for: academic institutions looking for courses on higher education

edX is also a great place to find high-quality online courses that can help your team expand their skills and knowledge and drive them to deliver exceptional performance. There are over 3000+ courses on this platform, designed and hosted by some of the world’s leading institutions such as Harvard, MIT, Oxford, Google, Microsoft, and more.

Delivered in video format, the courses can be taken by your learners at their own pace. A download option is also available so they can stream the classes anytime and anywhere. Different types of corporate training and enterprise training courses are also available to help your team learn new skills and improve performance. 

As a global non-profit organization, most of the courses here are free for everyone. The only downside with this platform is that it has no authoring tool that you can use to customize or edit training content. 

• Cost: Free
• Key features: Educational-oriented online courses, self-paced learning, offline streaming 

4. FutureLearn

• Best for: higher education and professional learning

Developing new skills and expertise can also be achieved with FutureLearn. This online course platform has more than 2,000 unique programs that deal with a variety of subjects, including healthcare, business management, creative arts, and more.

Similar to Coursera and edX, these courses are also prepared by world-class universities and industry experts and delivered through videos, articles, discussions, even quizzes, and other activities.

But what makes this platform special is that it offers unique programs focused on providing in-depth courses in a specialized field. These are backed with independent certificate management software, some even with academic credit that they can use to earn a professional degree. 

• Cost: Free (limited access)
• Key features: Unique online courses in videos, articles, discussions, and quizzes

5. MasterClass

• Best for: hobby and lifestyle learning

MasterClass gives your team access to 100+ online classes hosted by acclaimed and well-known experts and celebrities. They can learn how to cook restaurant-grade cuisines with Gordon Ramsay, build a brand with Diane von Furstenberg, or develop their own fashion style with Marc Jacobs.

Each course includes 15-20 engaging videos that are mostly 10 minutes long. Supporting a self-paced learning experience, your learners can take and complete them anytime their schedule allows. They can also download the app on their phone and view the courses on the go. 

The con for this platform is that their course catalog is scarce and limited since they only invite the world’s top best to discuss their topics. Plus, most courses target those at the beginner level, making it less than ideal for those who plan to retrain existing and already seasoned employees. 

• Cost: 10 USD per month (billed annually)
• Key features: 100+ online classes hosted by acclaimed and well-known experts and celebrities, self-paced learning, mobile device accessibility

6. Skillshare

• Best for: individual creatives and freelancers

At Skillshare, you’ll find hundreds of online video courses for different topics, including entrepreneurship, photography, film and video, marketing, and so much more. The video classes, which vary from recorded to live, are hosted and facilitated by experienced teachers, who are acclaimed experts in their respective fields. 

Skillshare courses are 100% online, allowing the learning to take place anywhere and anytime with their preferred gadgets. The platform mostly consists of educational videos that last 30-40 minutes in length.

• Cost: 13.99 USD per month
• Key features: online video courses (live and recorded), desktop and mobile accessibility

7. ELearning Brothers

• Best for: Custom and large-scale course development

If you need training content fast, ELearning Brothers is the ultimate lifesaver. Regardless if you need to develop hard or soft skills or update your team on the recent compliance or safety regulations, they have you covered.

It consists of mobile-responsive microlearning courses put together by subject-matter experts and instructional designers. Most of these online lessons come with interactive elements, knowledge checks, and assessments for successful learning without a face-to-face training session. 

This platform can also lend a hand in developing custom training content with its advanced authoring tool. If you like, you can also develop courses in a VR format and apply real-life scenarios for a more fun and engaging learning experience for your employees. 

• Cost: Pricing plans available upon request
• Key features: Ready-made microlearning courses, content development with advanced authoring tool, VR training

8. Open LMS Work

• Best for: Corporate workforce training

Previously known as Learnbook, Open LMS Work is loaded with interactive eLearning tools and features to build and manage presentation slides, quizzes, and games. It also lets you upload interactive videos, securing a higher learning success in your organization. 

The platform allows you to run live webinars and virtual conferences, deliver online courses, and discuss learning content with your team and colleagues in real-time. You can even record the discussion and publish them as courses so your team can still revisit them for their self-paced learning. 

There are no ready-made courses available on this platform. However, subscribing will give you access to ten off-the-shelf classes from partners like GO1, which has more than 50,000 programs on digital marketing, finance, and more. 

• Cost: Contact for pricing
• Key features: Friendly content creation tools, webinars and virtual conferences, access to partner courses

9. isEazy

• Best for: easy course creation for small businesses

isEazy's cloud-based authoring tool is tapped by many, as it doesn’t require technical design skills to create professional-looking course materials. Just choose from their interactive slide templates and layout system to get started, and simply click, drag, and type to edit your courses.

You can also make your training content more dynamic by adding personalized images, audio, and videos, even quizzes and flashcards. Backed by cloud technology, enjoy peace of mind that your work will never get lost in the process, ensuring maximum productivity. 

It’s important to note that isEazy requires creators to craft online courses from scratch, since they don’t have a dedicated course library. Existing training material from powerpoints must also be manually transferred into the platform.

• Cost: Free (up to 3 projects); paid plans are also available
• Key features: e-Learning content authoring tool, built-in test creation capability

10. Khan Academy

• Best for: K-12 and early college free learning

Khan Academy is a free course platform with thousands of videos made by experts. The online learning website has a flexible selection of course materials. This includes elementary topics like basic maths and English up to professional courses like computer programming and calculus. 

Learners can choose from different topics to personalize their own learning journey. Each subject matter has a handout and a practice exercise that they can take at their own pace. There are also quizzes in between each lesson that can help reinforce new knowledge among learners. 

• Cost: Free
• Key features: course library, personalized learning, supplementary documents, practice exercises, assessments for every course

11. Kajabi

• Best for: Course selling and marketing

Develop training courses and make money out of them with the Kajabi platform. Thanks to its smart yet easy-to-use product generator, you can build polished, profitable digital courses and launch them into the market in just a few easy steps. You can also create membership sites that deliver more exclusive content for your target audience.

Forget about the hassles of worrying about coding or programming. All the tech issues are covered by Kajabi so that you can just focus on growing your business. This online e learning platform also hosts its very own Kajabi University where you can find a range of training courses, although they are intended mostly for digital entrepreneurs.

• Cost: 89 USD per month
• Key features: Self-paced content sharing, custom registration, online conferencing, detailed reporting, Kajabi University

12. LearnWorlds

• Best for: Interactive course creation

LearnWorlds is another online course platform that allows you to create an engaging learning experience for your employees. This virtual learning environment is especially adept with video learning, allowing you to synchronize transcripts, add quizzes, and other interactive elements. 

Creating an account will give you access to their course library, course player, templates, ebooks, and a social community. Their course player features note-taking and highlighting functions, making it easier for learners to go through lesson readings and keep track of important concepts.

• Cost: Starts at 29 USD per month
• Key features: Course player with note taking and highlighting capabilities, interactive templates, video learning, built-in social community

13. WizIQ

• Best for: hosting live virtual classes

WizIQ provides you with an all-in-one learning management system and online course platform that you can use to set up and manage your employees’ training with ease. It supports multimodal learning, giving learners the option to use real-time audio, video, or textual communication. 

Virtual classroom and HD video conferencing features allow learners to participate in synchronous online classes and collaborate with peers on group assignments. To further boost engagement, you can also give learners access to interactive whiteboards, polls, and even quizzes.

Accessible on both desktop and mobile devices, WizIQ makes it easy for you to design, customize, and deploy your training materials through their user-friendly course builder. All you have to do is set up your learning portal, upload your learning content, and you’re good to go. You can even leverage the platform to sell your own courses as well. 

• Cost: Contact for pricing
• Key features: Virtual classroom, mobile app, customizable learning portal, course selling

14. Thinkific

• Best for: Course creation and sales promotion

With Thinkific, you can add and edit training content, quizzes, and upload your videos easily with their drag-and-drop software features. Through this online course platform, you can also schedule lessons, automate content, and even set pricing for the courses you want to sell. 

There are a number of features that make this platform favorable among course creators. A Thinkific review by Email Vendor Selection tests all its features, giving potential users a brief look into its reliability and value for money. 

Should you wish to find samples to guide you with the courses, there are available videos on the site. Those looking for free training resources also have a limited selection that they can check out.

• Cost: Starts at 49 USD per month
• Key features: Drag and drop editor, course selling, course library

15. 360training

• Best for: Regulatory and compliance training for enterprises

360training is a free online course platform designed for workers in the construction, manufacturing, food and beverage, and real estate industries. It offers a diverse range of specialized courses that learning and development professionals can buy and deploy to their employees in just a few quick clicks. 

Their OSHA Campus course library is designed specifically to help construction workers meet their compliance requirements and adhere to specific safety regulations. Some of their courses also include HAZWOPER training, aerial lift operator safety training, confined space entry training, and preventative maintenance training courses. 

Additionally, the platform offers a comprehensive list of self-paced technical courses. It also provides learners with 24/7 support and the option to save progress as they go.

• Cost: Prices vary per course
• Key features: Industry-specific compliance training, 24/7 support, save as you go self-paced learning

16. High Speed Training

• Best for: UK-based compliance and certification

High-Speed Training is another online course platform that offers industry-specific training courses. They have over 180 courses that talk about health and safety, education, food hygiene, safeguarding, HACCP, asbestos awareness, and more. They’ve also got specialized topics on manual handling, workplace first aid, and more.

Each of their courses meets Continuing Professional Development (CPD) guidelines and is also accredited by the CPD certificate service. This makes sure your learners are receiving quality training that can help them earn accreditation as well. 

• Cost: Prices vary per course
• Key features: Industry-specific training courses, over 180 courses, CPD certificate

17. Ruzuku

• Best for: Simple course launching for small businesses and individual creators

Ruzuku is another online course platform built with a powerful and user-friendly interface. It allows you to create and run great online courses even without design experience or technical expertise. You can even customize the designs to fit your brand and incorporate content suited to your students’ learning objectives. 

If needed, you can also add PDFs, Word files, powerpoints, and other documents to your course content. Uploading additional files makes them downloadable for self-paced learning. 

But it’s not just limited to course creation and deployment. Ruzuku’s course health feature lets you keep track of your team’s learning progress, including activity completion and any queries or comments about the courses. Any updates made by participants will be sent to you automatically via email.

• Cost: Free (up to 5 students); paid plans available
• Key features: Course authoring, self-paced content sharing, detailed reporting

18. Codecademy

• Best for: tech and coding training

Codeacademy is an all-in-one online course platform and training solution that provides learners with easy access to web development services and computer science courses. It’s got coding language courses on Python, HTML, Javascript, SQL, C++, and more. They also have resources for data science, cybersecurity, and other technology topics. 

Aside from offering their training programs for professionals, they also offer them to students at a discounted price. Users can also take advantage of some of the site’s features, including the chats, forums, and chapters. There’s also events to meet up with other students and discuss coding and computer science-related topics. 

• Cost: Free plan; paid plans vary per demographic
• Key features: Coding related courses, chats, forums, chapters, events

What is an online course platform?

You can think of an online course platform as a digital classroom where students can take various courses remotely. Other platforms allow instructors to host live learning sessions and dictate the pacing of the lessons, while others create self-paced courses to give students more flexibility. 

What’s the difference between an LMS and an online course platform?

The difference between a learning management system (LMS) and an online course platform largely depends on its audience. An LMS is built with schools and corporations in mind. Meanwhile, online course platforms cater more to individual creators and small businesses who want to make and sell courses with minimal expertise.

Because of this distinction, many will find that the featured tools of an LMS may focus more on tracking training performance. Other features may also center on online course management automation to efficiently deliver and edit multiple courses for larger groups.

What tools do online course platforms offer for course creation?

While LMS emphasizes course management and other macro tools, online course platforms usually highlight tools that make online course creation faster and easier. Below are some of the tools commonly offered by online course platforms:

• Drag-and-drop builder: skips the hassle of manually coding course elements into the website, making it more accessible to users with no coding experience.
• AI content assistants: fast tracks course creation by generating a course from a single prompt. Creators are given the option to double check and edit the course if needed.
• Custom branding and templates: offers pre-built templates to prevent creators from worrying about course designs, with customization options to maintain brand alignment. 
• Marketing and sales integration: built-in tools to help set up payment gateways, sales pages, and promotional content for creators who wish to make a profit out of their courses.
• Multimedia support: allows effortless uploading of various multimedia formats for additional learning resources that can increase comprehension and retention.
• Quiz and assessment builders: often asks users to import existing learning material to be automatically converted into quizzes and assessments.

How to choose the best online course platform?

As remote work and learning starts to become a norm, more and more online course platforms are starting to emerge. Choosing which one to stick with starts to become an overwhelming task. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you choose the best platform for you and your team.

1. Identify your goals. Your objectives will determine what features will matter most to you. This helps you determine how much value a platform can offer for maximum cost-effectiveness. 
2. Consider your audience. Think about who your learners are, what their preferred learning style is, and what additional needs you might have to consider. Everybody learns differently, so it’s important to find features that cater to your audience for an effective training program. 
3. Assess key features. Many platforms offer a diverse suite of course creation tools. Make sure your chosen platform addresses as many needs as possible to maximize your investment.
4. Evaluate usability and support. It’s especially important for course creators with less technical expertise that the platform has an intuitive interface. At the very least, make sure customer support and onboarding materials are readily available for creators to refer to.
5. Review platform’s pricing and scalability. Compare subscription fees, transaction costs, and free trials. Make sure the platform fits your budget long-term and can scale with your needs as your courses grow.
6. Test before you commit. Take advantage of free trials or demos to get hands-on experience with the platform before making a final decision.