Podia has been one of the greatest all-in-one online content selling portals available, allowing you to purchase online courses, subscriptions, & digital products all in one place. Unlike competing platforms such as Teachable or Thinkific, Podia enables you to do a lot more for a lot less money.
What is Podia?
If you’re searching for an all-in-one online accounting but don’t want to pay the premium fee for Kajabi, maybe Podia is the way to go. Podia has also suited you if you wish to offer subscriptions, digital products, & courses.
I’ve been using the Podia software for a while now, & I’d like to share my thoughts with you.
You’ve probably come across a bewildering array of possibilities if you’re looking for the best platform for creating and selling online courses. Luckily, by identifying your course and company needs, you may reduce them down. Consider the following scenario:
- Are you looking for a solution that is somewhat hands-off or one that enables for extensive customization?
- Do you require a professional site with company websites, third-party connectors, and a fully functional sales funnel?
- Are you planning to create simple or interactive courses?
If you’ve come across a Podia review while looking for an appropriate eLearning platform and thus are ready to take the plunge, make sure you’ve done your homework and read on. In this essay, we’ll compare and contrast five Podia alternatives. But, first, let’s have a glance at Podia and see what it has to offer.
Overview of Podia
Podia is a comprehensive eLearning platform that allows you to create and sell an endless digital downloads, number of courses, & memberships. Because of its creator-first mindset, businesses and training centres may focus solely on content distribution rather than the hassles of constructing a website & distributing their courses.
The backend is designed to be extremely easy and simple, removing the need for specific technical knowledge, coding, or programming. You simply need to upload your digital stuff. The main media types are supported by Podia:
Podia, on the other hand, will be useless if you’re using publishing tools which can publish courses utilising Tin Can, SCORM, or AICC. It’s ideal for individuals who want to make simple, stand-alone courses that can be sold as digital content or downloaded.
The simple website builder from Podia serves as your full sales funnel. All you have to do now is pick from a list of pre-built templates and go from there. Customers can effortlessly go to your store, explore your highly qualified sales pages, & make purchases. However, keep in mind that you have very little control over the design & feel of the website, as well as the ability to incorporate branding.
Podia, on the other hand, has a slew of marketing features, including email & affiliate marketing, an incorporated membership website that can be coupled with other products, & a whole slew of connectors, including Google Ads, Facebook, and GetResponse, to name a few.
What do I like about Podia?
- The user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) are both very sophisticated and simple to use.
- Unlike Kajabi, which has a limit on the number of items you can create, comes with an unlimited number of courses and goods.
- It provides storage & bandwidth so you can upload your own movies instead of using Vimeo or Wistia.
- Podia allows you to create courses, memberships, & digital items all from the same platform.
- Podia is a great value for the things it offers.
- Possibility of creating your own affiliate programme for your fans to profit from by marketing your products
- It provides storage & bandwidth so you can upload your own movies instead of using Vimeo or Wistia.
- Embedded checkout options, which allow customers to complete the checkout process while leaving your website
- Email marketing using drip functionality included (also not present in Thinkific or Teachable)
- There are a lot of triggers & actions in Zapier.
- Pre-launch mode allows you to generate buzz before your official launch.
- Podia has a 0% service charge on sales, but Teachable has a 5% transaction fee, even on their paid version. They are centred on the creator.
What is it about Podia that I dislike?
- Personalization fields are missing from their email composer.
- There aren’t as many extensive course-compliance options as on Teachable.
- It lacks certification features like Teachable, as well as native interfaces with platforms like Accredible, which Thinkific offers.
- There is a shortage of design versatility (at the very least, custom CSS options might have been added). At the very least, the duo has supplied a variety of themes.
- Doesn’t have google analytics builders or funnels, thus it’s not a complete replacement for Kajabi or Kartra. To build your sales funnel, you might need to use WordPress or ClickFunnels.
- The Shaker plan is the only one that offers membership & one-page checkout.
- The absence of a free plan like Thinkific’s or Teachable
Pros
- It’s simple and intuitive to use.
- Hosting, storage, & bandwidth are all unlimited.
- There are no transaction costs.
- Payment is made right away.
- Integrations with third parties
Cons
- SCORM, and AICC content types are not supported.
- Only simple, one-tiered courses are possible.
- I’m unable to develop learning routes.
- There are no built-in quizzes.
- There are no certificates for course completion.
Pricing
Podia offers two low-cost options.
Mover strategy. $39/month. This subscription includes a storefront, limitless courses & downloads, and Tin Can, email marketing, as well as all you need to promote and sell the courses.
The Shaker strategy. $79/month. This package offers everything in the Mover plan plus additional e-commerce capabilities like blog pages, memberships, affiliate marketing, & embedded checking.
Despite all of Podia’s outstanding features, the price may ultimately be the deciding factor. You can choose between the Mover & Shaker plans with Podia pricing, which cost $39 and $79 per month, respectively. Furthermore, in April, they launched their new Earthquaker package, which costs $179 per month. This plan includes everything in the Shaker plan, plus a few extras.
Instead of paying a premium for more administrative skills, the Earthquaker plan offers five for free. In addition, your monthly email subscriber limit is increased from 15,000 to 50,000. However, it also includes some extremely cool “extras,” such as a white-labeling, dedicated account manager, including monthly calls with Podia’s course-creation experts.
If you’re still undecided, you also can reap the benefits of the risk-free 14-day trial. You’ll be able to test out all of Podia’s features to see if it meets all of your requirements.
If you determine that Podia is appropriate for you, a yearly subscription is highly recommended because you get 2 weeks of free service. Podia is also not the cheapest alternative, but it provides value & convenience thanks to its straightforward layout, user-friendliness, & uncomplicated payout procedures.
Podia pricing fluctuates, so keep an eye on the company’s site for the most up-to-date information.
Problems in Podia Pricing
Podia is the cost-effective option that provides a great amount of value, according to various reviewers. However, design techies & developers who want to customise their storefront & product sites may find it lacking. The price of comfort and ease is a loss of control. However, these design constraints are minor, & Podia is constantly updating & adding new features to its platform. Although Podia is praised for its customer support, several users have expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that it only offers email or live chat help.
Podia allows you to design your full sales process in one location by connecting your products, website, email marketing, and sales. It’s ideal for entrepreneurs or solo producers who wish to sell digital content & manage their businesses without wanting to study & manage various platforms. Podia courses, on the other hand, are fairly constrained in terms of instructional design. You’ll need to seek elsewhere if you want to construct structured, hierarchical programs with learning routes or greater degrees of involvement, such as dialogue simulations or interactive visuals.
When it comes to choosing a platform for creating and selling your online courses, the sheer amount of possibilities available can be overwhelming. Perhaps you’re brand new to creating online courses and are looking for the first platform to host them on. In other circumstances, you may already be using a platform to host your courses online but are considering moving.
It’s tempting to tend towards the major store brands like Thinkific, Teachable, or Kajabi when choosing from a broad choice of options. Isn’t it true that they’re used by all of the main players? As these systems are impressive and offer a wide range of features and customization options, in this review, I’ll introduce reader to Podia, the user-friendly, one-stop store solution that simplifies not only the online learning supply chain, but also the customer acquisition process once your software is delivered!
It seems like a crucial element of a Podia evaluation, given the unusual name. The plural meaning of the word “podium” is “podia,” which refers to a platform from where you can be seen & heard. Podia is the full-featured online storefront where you may host & sell the online courses, downloads, and subscriptions, thus using the plural form is very suitable in this context. It’s a platform that focuses on helping entrepreneurs, small company owners, and creatives earn passive money.
Podia has achieved a lot of traction in the e-commerce world due of its creator-friendly policies, despite the fact that it is newer than some of its key competitors (e.g., Kajabi). There aren’t many digital stores that offer immediate payment for sales with no interest charges! For many, that appealing trait is a big selling point in and of itself!
Nonetheless, most people are drawn to the platform since it is simple to use and comprehensive. You may have been a passionate artist with a lot of fantastic ideas, but you don’t have the technical know-how to create and run online courses. Another daunting task may be determining how to get the digital products to market.
Podia is, of course, extremely useful if you already have your digital content hosted on a website or another selling platform. Perhaps your company is rapidly expanding, putting undue strain on the performance of your website. Or, depending on how many things you pay for and don’t utilise, your existing platform is “overkill.”
Perhaps you’d like to link your membership website to your e-commerce platform. In most other circumstances, your membership website would have to be hosted independently from your products. However, Podia is the only service that enables both. Making this process easier for your clients can help you increase your customer exchange rate! In fact, Podia’s interface & checkout procedure have been thoroughly tested to assure optimal exchange rates.
What’s the bottom line? Allow Podia to manage the practicalities so you can focus on “creating.”
Podiatric Features and Functionality
Podia has done a lot to stay competitive and keep up with e-learning demand since we released the original edition of this review. They’ve updated their platform, making significant improvements in response to consumer input. Before we get into the details, here’s a basic rundown:
- Site editor with advanced features
- Digital downloads & online courses are available.
- Site with a membership component.
- Everything is unlimited.
- Campaign for affiliate marketing.
- Conversion rates were tested and improved for the best results.
- Users can sell subscriptions on a monthly or annual basis.
- There are no transaction costs and the payout is immediate.
- Excellent customer service (available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week).
- There is no restriction on migration.
You’re in as long as you up for the free 14-day trial! There is no need to use a credit card. In fact, you don’t even have to confirm the email address. Podia prioritises you, the creator, by allowing you to try out all of the website’s capabilities without making any obligations.
Podia makes creating and selling digital products a breeze. As previously said, the platform is not designed for techies who want complete control over the appearance and feel of the storefront.
Regardless, they’ve managed to find a better balance among ease of use & customizability since the launch of their new website editor. Due to their “minimalist” design style, I felt Podia’s website editor to be extremely limiting prior to this upgrade.
You can not, for example, attach background graphics to your web pages before. However, the new site builder not only allows for background pictures in every section, but it also includes extensive editing capabilities to help you achieve the perfect appearance! As illustrated below, you can change the transparency, blur or mix photos, and fully alter their colour and contrast.
Podia side editor –
Adding backdrop graphics was, in fact, perhaps the most requested change, demonstrating how seriously they treat customer feedback (they’re also praised for their customer service!).
Not to add, the site editor overhaul simplifies an already simple procedure by removing the cumbersome sidebar navigation. Such that, if you’re changing a section, you’ll just see the toolbar for that section. If it’s in use, it’s only visible. It used to be a little clumsy and took up a lot of room. Without it, you may now see your entire web page/screen as if you were a customer!
It also allows for a more efficient revision process. Instead of navigating through the sidebar to find the section you want to modify, simply click on this within the page, as well as the editor will appear! Simple improvements like this help the new editor run smoothly.
Dropdowns are shown in the Podia site editor.
In terms of actual “editing,” you can change the appearance of your logo and links, and also the background & text colours, in your headers. When it comes to text, you can not only choose from a greater choice of fonts, but you can also change the height, spacing, and weight of the text. To alter text to this extent, you’ll usually need to have some basic Html coding knowledge. But it’s all pre-programmed for you! You may even see how the site pages would look on smart phones before you publish them. The amount of attention that went into this improvement astounds me.
Podia is fantastic since it takes care of all the heavy work for you! Its simple and basic style enables you and your clients have the best possible user experience!
Podia review image of digital product alternatives
Podia leads you to the homepage as soon as you join up or log in, where you may choose whether to create a membership site, an online course, or a digital download. Stripe, a secure & rapid payment solution that concurrently contains all of your customer & financial data, powers Podia’s membership sites. You can set up both quarterly and seasonal member subscriptions using this method.
Unless you’re a content producer, service provider, or merchandise company with digital stock to offer, a membership site based along the same platform will allow you to bypass the “middle man” & sell straight to your customers. Podia is also the only e-commerce service that allows you to combine any of the digital products alongside memberships. Perhaps you’ve launched an online program and want to upsell your customers by giving unique content for a small monthly price. You could, on the other hand, provide a free subscription or “fan club” to attract a wider customer base while also strengthening your customer ties. Podia’s membership & bundling features exemplify the company’s creator-first approach.
Podia’s flawless email marketing capabilities are another fantastic feature. You can collect email addresses both from current and potential customers via any prelaunch and/or retail webpages, irrespective of whether you’re solely in the charge of making online courses and digital downloads. Do you really want to keep your messaging consistent yet are limited by time? There is no need to be concerned. Podia allows you to generate well-formatted newsletters & drip campaigns to keep your customers informed. If you’re new to marketing or marketing in general, Podia will do the heavy lifting by tracking email click, open, & unsubscribe rates for you.
On this site, there are a plethora of options! Podia goes over and beyond by handling affiliate marketing & email marketing initiatives. Your clients are your most valuable asset, not just because they maintain you financially afloat, but also because those who can help you expand your reach. If you develop online courses, your target audience is likely to be other entrepreneurs who are interested in continuing their education for personal improvement and/or commercial initiatives. Podia sends out customised links to the affiliate marketers, allowing them to link back to the products. These hyperlinks are also useful for tracking affiliate sales.
Podia is extremely straightforward to browse from the interface, unlike alternatives like Teachable or Thinkific. The pop-up that appears whenever you add a new product, including such online classes or digital downloads, is identical. After that, you’ll be asked to enter a product name as well as a storefront description, with filler text guiding you through each field. Every stage of the content production, marketing, & selling process is essentially babysat by Podia.
Podia review screen image of adding additional products –
Whenever you click “Generate & continue” after entering in the product title and description for the course or digital version, you’re taken to a page that merely requests you to upload the pre-designed content, in keeping with the site’s basic and user-friendly design. Remember that Podia assists you in organising your material rather than developing it. You may add text, files, new sections, links, and also quizzes to your courses! If you don’t want your students to get ahead of themselves, Podia also allows you to drip the course information over time. By their very nature, digital downloads are considerably easier to use: simply upload the files and create sections to categorise them.
For the Podia review, a screenshot of the digital downloads manager was taken.
Everything is unlimited, which is another game-changing, originator feature of Podia. There are no limits to the amount of bandwidth, students, sales, digital downloads, memberships, or clients you can host! There are no additional fees or hidden costs involved with utilising the site. You want to pay for food, not the utensils when you go out to eat. However, most e-commerce platforms impose a transaction fee of roughly 5% on top of the subscription price for accessing the same services. All you have to do with Podia is pay the monthly subscription. They’ll use your subscription money to support their own operating expenditures. Isn’t that how it ought to be?
Review of Podia: Final Thoughts
Podia is slowly establishing itself as a big player in the e-commerce space, with the potential to rival Teachable and Thinkific in terms of popularity. Nonetheless, also as a one-stop shop solution, this system is creator-friendly, with infinite everything, zero service charges, & ultimate ease. It is the only e-commerce company that allows you to bundle certain digital content with your membership, and it maintains your membership website with your digital products.
Podia isn’t the cheapest option, but it provides a lot of value because to its clear and easy UI. The user experience it provides not only accomplishes the majority of the hard lifting for non-techies, but its simple design is ideal for high customer gross margins.
If you’re a techie or a designer who wants complete control over the appearance and feel of the storefront & landing pages, you may find Podia lacking in features. Regardless of their background, a rising number of creatives & entrepreneurs are opting for Podia’s creator-first attitude over good investments like Teachable or Thinkific.
Alternatives to Podia –
iSpring Marketplace
iSpring Marketplace is a robust online learning platform. You may easily construct a training programme from start then host & sell courses & webinars online using the platform.
The platform accepts a variety of material formats, including SCORM, DOC, PDF, XLS, PPT, PPTX, FLV, MP4, and SWF, allowing you to use it with any learning programmes you have.
iSpring Market is a ready-to-use marketplace that integrates seamlessly with Zapier, Zoom, Google Analytics, Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net, & WordPress.
You can simply track performance, learners’ activity, quiz results, and income data with iSpring Market’s e-commerce reports, and identify what material is most popular. This data aids you in improving your learning content in order to increase revenue.
Search engines (Google, Bing, etc.) may see course pages, which are able to gain more students. You may take payment via credit or debit card or online payment systems with iSpring Market. The website accepts over 30 different currencies and allows you to offer courses all over the world.
To reach a larger audience and increase learner engagement, you might offer discount coupons to your clients. Points and badges can also be used by administrators to start training more engaging.
Podia is a substantially comparable alternative to iSpring Market. It’s simple to use, intuitive, and will help you get the course marketplaces up and operating in no time. Simply create a storefront & upload your products. Almost any file type is supported by iSpring Market:
- Documents (MP4, FLV) Videos (PDF, DOC, XLS)
- Demonstrations (PPT)
- Packages for SCORM (quizzes, dialogue simulations, etc.)
The platform’s learning path capabilities, ability to handle SCORM material, and highly dynamic courses assist you in creating well-designed & structured eLearning courses. Another fantastic feature of iSpring Market is the ability to create certification programmes and award certificates automatically. It has a distinct advantage over Podia because of all of these formative assessment aspects.
You can quickly display your courses on a beautiful and professionally designed storefront with each course having its own description, page, and even reviews with iSpring Market. One can also add your own personal branding to the storefront by altering the colour scheme and adding a logo. You have a variety of alternatives for motivating purchasers and increasing sales, including discounts, discounts, even freebies.
From both the testing period & e-commerce sides of producing, hosting, and selling courses, iSpring Market has you covered. Not to mention extensive analytics, which offer you with a deep understanding of both student progress & activity, and also full profitability and profits data.
What do you enjoy the most?
- It offers a user-friendly interface. Both students & moderators will find it simple to use.
- It is quite affordable for both large and small businesses.
- It comes with an easy-to-use administrator panel.
- It supports a large number of languages.
- Users can be created by randomly generating passwords.
G2.com gathered and hosted the review.
What are your pet peeves?
- There is no live chat option for Flora LMS customer care.
- The design does not properly adapt to mobile devices.
- The material boxes of the classes have errors.
G2.com gathered and hosted the review.
Suggestions to others contemplating the product: I strongly advise you to use Flora LMS to satisfy your organization’s educational needs. It’s a program with a quick time commitment and a low cost.
G2.com gathered and hosted the review.
What issues are you attempting to address with the product? What advantages have you noticed?
We intended to establish an online course at the company wherein I work so that students may learn classes at their own speed. We were able to upload the courses but are now offering customers online subscriptions. Students can now enroll on the site without having to contact one of our sales representatives. Furthermore, we were able to make courses more intuitive, resulting in improved feedback and positive grades.
Pros
- Learning paths/structured courses are created using an intuitive learning site.
- Certificate programs/certificates are created.
- E-commerce & course design components are well-balanced.
- Capabilities for webcasts
- Google and Bing will immediately display your storefront.
Cons
- There is no application framework or quizzes built-in.
- Basic marketing characteristics (i.e., no creating landing pages or funnels)
- Pricing
The price structure of iSpring Market is fairly straightforward. There are five plans available, each based on the amount of customers you have.
50 GB 1,000 users, for $77 per month ($924 annually).
2,000 users with 100 GB of storage for $247 per month ($2,964 per year).
If you get more than 2,000 users, a bespoke plan may be available.
Such plans are offered per month, although they are billed annually. Nevertheless, iSpring Market is available for a 14-day trial period with no obligation and no credit card required!
The final word
iSpring Market is an excellent platform for companies and training institutes looking to rapidly and easily construct highly organised courses or comprehensive certification programmes. It also supports practically every file type, allowing for a diverse range of course designs & high degrees of interactivity. If you’re seeking a network that can help you get organic traffic from top search engines & increase sales, iSpring Market is the place to go.
Kajabi
Overview of the Platform
Kajabi is a system that connects Podia & iSpring Market features. It, like Podia, does not allow you to create hierarchical course structures; instead, all of your courses are referred to as “digital products.” Rather from calling itself with an eLearning system or a learning management software, Kajabi refers to itself as a “online business platform.” So, while the course design aspects are minimal, the sales and marketing features are sophisticated and intricate, nearly to the point where professional training or specialised knowledge is required.
Kajabi has a course editor that allows you to create content right from the site, but many customers have complained about how unintuitive it is. You can still create courses with many forms of multimedia, including presentations, digital documents, including audio recordings. If you want to include videos, one disadvantage is that you’ll have to host them on third-party websites such As youtube or Wistia.
However, as previously said, Kajabi’s key strength is its marketing capabilities. It not only allows you to construct highly personalised websites, but it also comes with a number of pre-built landing page themes, allowing you to build a complex sales pipeline, and allows you to start a variety of promotional campaigns. However, these useful tools come at a price, and Kajabi is one of the more expensive solutions on this list. You won’t get the most out of the software if you’ve a customised website with marketing features in place, and if you’re not at least reasonably familiar with digital marketing strategies.
Pros
- There are numerous marketing options available.
- Websites with a lot of flexibility
- You have the ability to create your own sales pipeline.
- Webinars are hosted by this company.
Cons
- Platform that isn’t primarily designed for eLearning (but rather for internet enterprises in general).
- Structure and learning paths are lacking in the courses.
- A learning curve may be required for the interface.
- Knowledge with digital marketing methods is required Price
Pricing
Effective marketing tools aren’t cheap, and Kajabi is no exception. Kajabi offers three different pricing options:
- The most basic plan is $119 per month.
- $159/month growth.
- $319/month for the pro version.
The Basic package includes everything you’ll need to get your courses up and running, as well as market and sell them effectively. You may, for example, host your items, design unique websites & landing pages, and construct your own sales funnel. Additional options, such as advanced automation, affiliate marketing, and white-labeling, are available as you progress through the tiers. In addition, certain functionalities are enhanced. The Growth strategy, for example, gives 15 products and pipelines rather than three in the Basic plan, while the Pro provider gives 100.
The final word
Kajabi is a terrific alternative if you don’t mind getting one’s hands dirty in the program marketing process. While the courses will be freestanding and one-tiered, you’ll have all of the tools you need under one roof to guarantee that your course offers reach your target audience. Kajabi is also ideal if you want complete control over the design and feel of the storefront & sales funnel. However, if you want more control over the direction and feel of your courses, Kajabi may be too restrictive.
Thinkific
Overview of the Platform
Thinkific is among the most well-known eLearning platform providers. It enables you to produce, market, and sell online courses while maintaining your brand’s integrity.
Thinkific, for example, does have a Site Builder tool that lets you choose between the three different themes, which together allows you to customise your branding by adding your own font styles, colour scheme, as well as a variety of content, such as photographs, videos, & audio files.
Thinkific allows you to construct well-structured courses divided into “Chapters” (or “modules”). It offers a built-in quiz & survey generator, as well as the ability to audio files, incorporate videos, presentations, and photos into your courses. If you really need to store your videos, you’ll should use a third-party platform like Wistia, just like with Kajabi. You can also use Vimeo, YouTube, or third-party sites such as Brillium Exams to embed them.
Thinkific provides all of the essential e-commerce capabilities. It’s compatible with a variety of third-party integrations, including ActiveCampaign & ConvertKit email marketing platforms, in addition to incentivization tactics like coupons, freebies, & discounts.
Despite its customizable capabilities and the fact that its organizational setting and e-commerce subsets are beautifully balanced, Thinkific is a simple platform with a low downward slope even for the most technically impaired.
Pros
- Platform that is extremely user-friendly
- Customization options are moderate.
- Features a learner-centered course design
- A wide range of third-party integrations are available.
- Allows you to import a variety of file kinds in bulk.
Cons
- Wistia is required for video hosting.
- Pricing for SCORM/Tin Can/AICC material is not supported.
Thinkific offers four pricing options that are all reasonably priced:
Plan with no cost. This subscription allows you to do whatever you need, including host courses, create quizzes, and have an infinite number of students. However, before upgrading, you also can host/sell three courses.
$49 for the basic plan. This subscription includes everything else in the Free plan, plus the ability to host/sell an infinite number of courses, as well as marketing & administrative tools.
$99.00 for the Pro plan. This is the most popular plan at Thinkific. It includes it all in the Basic plan, but with the addition of two site administrators and 5 course authors. This subscription also provides advanced modifications and the ability to create memberships.
$499 for the Premier plan. The Premier plan includes it all in the Premium plans, but it is designed for the eLearning industry’s “big fish.” It has five site administrators and 50 program authors. Additionally, because this plan predicts significant business growth, you will receive an onboarding package.
The final word
If you’re an edupreneur or business searching for a low-tech approach to quickly develop, build, & sell online courses, Thinkific is a good choice. Despite the fact that its Site Builder tool only has major factors, you still have a lot of customization options for the websites, such as colour schemes, font styles, and white-labeling. You won’t be able to sell programs with active quizzes or branched scenarios because it doesn’t support SCORM/Tin Can/AICC. Programs will be capable of providing a wide range of multimedia, but they will also allow for passive study.
Teachable
Overview of the Platform
Teachable is a Podia rival and a platform that is quite similar to Thinkific. In fact, in the world of eLearning, the latter two frequently square off against one another. However, there are a few distinguishing characteristics among them. Teachable, for example, is just as consumer friendly and easy to access as Thinkific, but Teachable also has more branding & customisation choices than Thinkific. Teachable, on the other hand, is far less expensive than Thinkific.
Teachable’s course building procedure is straightforward. All you must do is upload your stuff, which includes videos, photos, mp3 audio files, or PDFs. Teachable, like Thinkific, does not support SCORM, which means that while the courses can include a variety of content, they will mostly focus on passive rather than active (or interactive) education.
Teachable, on the other hand, includes important course design options. You may simply structure your courses into “parts” and “lectures” (modules & lessons, respectively) and construct quizzes, however the question types are limited (i.e., multiple-choice only).
Teachable also offers a variety of high-quality e-commerce possibilities. You can, for example, sell your courses for a set price, a subscription, or a membership. Of course, businesses have a variety of choices for incentivizing potential purchasers, such as discounts & add-ons. Teachable, on the other hand, only has one theme, whereas Thinkific’s Site Builder has three. On the plus side, Teachable allows for HTML/CSS programming on each site, which is a great approach to compensate for the dearth of theme possibilities.
Pros
- User-friendly UI with a high level of intuitiveness
- All websites have HTML/CSS coding enabled.
- Can design well-structured courses
- Sales funnel with a high conversion rate
Cons
- For web sites, there is only one theme available.
- SCORM/high-interactivity courses are not supported.
- Options for creating quizzes are limited (multiple-choice only)
- Plans at reasonable prices
Pricing
Teachable is far less expensive than Thinkific, as previously stated. Its pricing is divided into three categories: Basic, Professional, & Business (all of which are billed annually):
- The most basic plan is $29 per month.
- $79/month for a professional.
- $399 per month for business.
While all of the plans allow for an unlimited number of users, course uploads, storage, & bandwidth, the Basic plan, unlike the higher options, charges a 5% service charge. Everything in the Basic plan is included in the Professional plan, plus more course branding and development capabilities like graded quizzes, certification, and sophisticated website customization. The Business plan, of course, includes it all in the Pro plan, but adds extra admin tools like 100 admin users & mass enrollment.
The final word
Teachable is a good option for businesses & training institutions searching for a low-tech, cost-effective way to develop, store, & sell courses everything in one place. If you want a little customizable solution that is also hands-off, this is a perfect alternative. Teachable courses, on the other hand, may be low on the interaction scale due to the lack of SCORM support. On this platform, you still can sell multimedia-rich & structured courses.
Gumroad
Overview of the Platform
Another Podia option is Gumroad, that has been in the e-commerce market since 2011. However, it isn’t as well-known in the eLearning field because the network is more focused on selling “digital products” than on selling online courses. You can use that to market and eBooks, sell music, and even physical things, for example. Unfortunately, this means you won’t be able to sell properly organized, full-fledged eLearning packages through Gumroad.
Gumroad is mostly used as a download repository. As a result, all of your courses will have to be conscience within a single digital product, limiting the amount of design components you can use in your courses. As a consequence, you won’t be able to include any interactive elements in your courses. Gumroad, on the other hand, would be a good fit if that’s the course design paradigm you’re using.
Gumroad’s e-commerce tools allow you to sell their products using one of three business models: subscription, fixed-price, or preorder (for users waiting for a new release). While the platform manages your storefront, you may still customise your homepage in your own colour scheme, custom URLs, and CSS coding.
Gumroad, on the other hand, is fairly limited in terms of incentives for the platform that primarily serves as a shopping cart. For example, it only enables discount codes for buyer incentives rather than bundles, upsells, or even order increases.
Overall, if you’re a novice with pre-designed, self-contained material that you want to sell with minimal effort, Gumroad is a good place to start.
Pros
- Beginners will appreciate how easy it is to use.
- CSS modification is possible.
- Integrations with other parties at a low cost (ConvertKit, Infusionsoft, Drip)
Cons
- Only have the ability to create/sell extremely basic courses (low interactivity)
- There are few to no track design features.
- E-commerce characteristics that are essential
- The platform isn’t just for eLearning.
Pricing
Gumroad offers two straightforward price options:
Free. You can design and customise your storefront & sell as many digital content as you like with the free account, but email dispatching is limited. Only when you make the sale do you have to pay. Each sale costs Gumroad 8.5 percent plus $0.30 (USD).
Premium. $10/month. You get it all in the Free plan plus 3rd-party analytics, CSS customisation, and custom domains when you upgrade to the Premium plan. The charges per sale are reduced to 3.5 percent + $0.30 (USD) under this plan.
The final word
Keep in mind that Gumroad is, first & foremost, a shopping cart with very simple capabilities. While it isn’t ideal for enterprises that require all of the bells & whistles, it is a very cost-effective alternative for novices trying to get up to speed quickly. Furthermore, if you’re generating eLearning products instead of full-fledged courses with a curriculum / structure, this platform is severely limited.
Invanto
It allows you to create tests and tasks for your pupils, as well as award certificates to them. Here are a few of Invanto’s most important features:
- Videos are available indefinitely.
- Bandwidth is limitless.
- Sites are limitless.
- Integration with Zapier
- Engine for translation and integration
- SSL + custom domain
- a coupon maker
- dripping content
- Templates for emails
- Designer of the website Designer of the checkout page Manager of the team
- Manager of the client
- Features of the agency
- There are no limits to how many sub-accounts you can have.
The cost of Invanto is determined on the total number of users on your sites. Plans for 0 to 100 users start at $10 per month. Whenever the number of customers reaches 100, the price jumps to $99 per month.
Pros
- Invanto includes many goods in one bundle, eliminating the need to purchase multiple items and spend time integrating them.
- For beginners, Invanto is incredibly affordable and doesn’t skimp on features.
- You may create coupons in a central location and distribute them to your audience.
- There are just a few native integrations available in Invanto. Their Zapier & webhook integrations, on the other hand, are fairly robust.
Cons
- Some aspects of Invanto, such as certification, might be improved.
- Because Invanto’s built-in streaming video speed isn’t up to par, you might need to use Vimeo.
- Overall, if you’re a course designer seeking for a less expensive alternative to Podia, Invanto is a great choice.
- It, like Podia, does not charge a transaction fee and offers an infinite number of courses, memberships, & digital product development options.
- Explore the word picture 2 of Invanto Thinkific.
- Thinkific is a fantastic online course platform (review).
- It isn’t all-in-one like Podia.
- You may, however, develop online courses & membership sites with Thinkific.
- You’ll need to combine Thinkific’s product bundling & membership pricing features to deploy memberships. You may also establish multi-level memberships to market your material more effectively.
However, you should be aware that Thinkific does not allow you to sell digital things. You might need to use programs like ThriveCart, Gumroad, SamCart, and others for this.
Final Thoughts on Podia Alternatives
Choosing the best eLearning system can be a complex and time-consuming task. However, as soon since you get a clear picture of your business & eLearning objectives, you ought to be able to limit down your choices quickly.
iSpring Market is a good option to Podia if you want to build and sell high-interactivity teaching materials that are search engine friendly, well-structured with learning paths, and to include completion certificates. It’s also the sole platform that can handle SCORM-compliant material.
Podia, Kajabi, and Gumroad are your best bets if you’re producing simple, self-contained/standalone courses. While Podia is easy to use and provides all you need, it lacks Kajabi’s marketing capabilities. Podia, on the other hand, still provides more e-commerce options than Gumroad, that takes minimalism to a whole different level & essentially operates as a simple shopping basket.
Teachable & Thinkific are two other good choices. They both have all you need to market engaging courses, but neither is SCORM-compliant.
Simply consider the types of courses you’re creating, whether quickly you want to launch & sell it, and how engaged you want to be in marketing, sales, & customisation.
However, you can use iSpring Market for free to get started. Before the 14-day trial period ends, you might have the courses up – and – running!
Podia seems to be a good all-in-one platform for selling digital products. It allows you to offer memberships, online courses, and digital products, among other things. Many people admire it because of its creator-centric business model.
However, Podia may well not be suitable for everyone.
There are several drawbacks to Podia that you should be aware of. like, The subscription feature is available in Podia’s $79/month Shaker plan. Podia has a restricted number of customization options and a limited number of design options. Only their Shaker package allows you to use 3rd-party elements like Facebook pixels and tracking codes. There are certain advanced marketing tools missing, such as funnels & behavior-based actions.
So, while looking for Podia competitors, look for products that are economical, offer a lot of customization options, and don’t skimp on core functions like 3rd-party code compatibility, even in premium services.
When you compare Podia to Thinkific, you’ll notice that Podia offers fewer integrations. Thinkific, on the other hand, interfaces with a wide range of products, including eCommerce, analytics, automation tools, email marketing, and so much more.
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