Sharing knowledge, teaching people, coaching, and similar other things has become one of the best ways to earn money on the Internet. There are a lot of things to go about this.
Blogging is the most popular form of blogging. It is almost as old and well-known as the Internet itself. Although some believe that vlogging is its younger cousin, blogging has not lost its appeal. However, there are still people who love to read the content they’re interested in and not just videos.
And speaking of videos, another angle into which you can learn from is through video essays. These videos can provide a lot more insight than just a short presentation, especially when it comes to music, literature or film.
Video lectures and tutorials are also gaining popularity in terms of education. Back in school, Math was a subject that I loved, and my classmates and me would search YouTube tutorials to find solutions to word problems.
It was a new way to learn and educate growing up. It seemed like once again, the knowledge was able to spread wider and was more accessible to a lot more audience.
It was only a matter of time when formal courses, and education would also build a branch on the online world.
Then there it was, the Course building websites have come.
For those of you who prefer a more visual experience, here is a video review from Legit Marketing Reviews’ YouTube channel. Do check out our article below, however, because it has a comprehensive overview of Podia.
Sites for Course Construction Podia Vs 529
Course building websites or to refer to them in their proper name: Learning Management Systems are platforms, services, or websites that deliver digital content, especially educational ones to a desired audience.
These websites even allow learning to be done remotely. While LMS can be used for remote or distance learning, it isn’t the only one capable of this. Distance learning has been a thing since 1924. Podia Vs 529
Therefore, to be more precise, LMS is basically distance learning through the internet. LMS can either be hosted locally or via a vendor. Cloud hosting is a common method used by most vendors to host learning materials and courses. These vendors usually follow a SaaS (Software as a service) model.
Learning Management Systems especially gained popularity during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic as face-to-face and regular school learning became impossible and impractical due to isolation and social distancing measures put in place by different governments across the world.
LMS websites have been around since then and vendors sites are still in existence. Many of these websites, which have been around for a while, are now household names because of their popularity and use during the pandemic.
Then new websites have also come out, generating buzz and trying to be the next big thing.
These sites all share the same goal of creating and learning courses on the best platform, but some specialize in specific areas.
Podia an Overview
Podia is a Learning Management System that markets itself as an all-in-one platform. It enables you to sell online courses, coaching, webinars, digital downloads, or you can sell all of them in a bundle.
Among all LMS, it probably is one of the most affordable price plan. It is a great choice for course creators who are searching for an affordable LMS solution. It is affordable and allows you to create unlimited courses and products, which are great for digital product sellers.
Podia website builder is very simple and there is no coding required. Thus, it is a perfect fit for those who are in a rush and just want to get their courses or digital products out there. However, it does not sacrifice customization.
Many users feel that Podia can be too restrictive when it comes to designing websites. This is because Podia’s website builder doesn’t require coding.
For some features that are lacking, Podia offers a wide range of integrations. It allows you to add various email service providers, payment gateways and analytics tools to your website, from Zoom to Zapier.
Podia Features
Podia offers a number of features that allow its users to create a website and customize it in a way they want. It also offers enough tools to conduct your business.
Podia is probably the most affordable LMS website. It has the best integration and membership communities. You can even get it on all Podia plans.
Speaking of plans, with the exception of the free plan, all tiers on Podia’s subscription does not take any transaction fees from all your purchases. This means that you own the money no matter what you sell. Podia Vs 529
> > Click Here to Check Out Podia < <
- Interface – Podia’s interface is a minimalistic and sleek UI that greets you when you log in. It is very simple and intuitive that you can access most features mostly within just three clicks. Podia’s interface is simple and intuitive.
- Course Creation – Podia supports course creation with text, quiz, coaching and files. However, it does not have all lesson types and may fall behind the competition.
Podia’s Embed feature is a game changer. There are over 1900+ platforms you can embed from, including Soundcloud, Youtube, and TikTok. Podia also allows you to drip your content/lesson, so you can pace them in whatever way you want.
Overall, it has a superb course creation feature, but the lack of retention reports keep it from being perfect.
- Marketing – Podia’s marketing features allows for email marketing, however it is a very basic email marketing tool that allows you to send broadcasts and email campaigns. It does not have email templates, and it doesn’t offer automation or personalization options.
Other marketing features offered by Podia include the ability to sell more products, give coupons to customers and pre-launch courses that can be used to generate interest.
Overall, Podia’s marketing platform does more than enough to increase your sales. The only thing that really lets it down is the absence of advanced automation. But that is to be expected of a basic platform like Podia.
- Podia is most vulnerable in this area. Although they have a lot of customization options available, it is not very “customizable”. Most of the things you can do are only about the texts and colors. Podia Vs 529
There are very few templates available. It lacks HTML/Custom CSS customization. Although this may sound like a problem, some people would prefer it that way. {Non-techies would probably not notice and would prefer the ease of use.|The ease of use would be preferred by non-techies.
- Payment Processors – For Payment Processors, Podia integrates Stripe and Paypal for collecting payment from your students. Podia does not charge transaction fees for any sales or transactions you make through your website.
That said, there might be additional fees that come from Stripe or Paypal, as such, you still have to pay for them. These fees are usually very low, so they shouldn’t cause any problems.
Podia Price
Podia offers four types of plans. Each with their own features. These include:
| Free ($0 per month) | Mover ($33 per month) |
|
|
| Shaker Plan ($75 per month) | Earthquaker Plan ($33/month) |
|
|
Podia Pros and Cons
Pros
- Podia’s UI/UX is refined to the point that even non-techies are able to grasp its use easily. It is easy to set up and users will be satisfied.
- Podia allows you to sell various digital products, from the usual courses, to memberships, webinars, and community or digital downloads. You can even sell these things in a bundle.
- Podia offers unlimited products and courses in all of their plans.
- Their unlimited offer also applies to storage and bandwidth where you can host your videos. While you have the option, you don’t need to use Vimeo, Wistia or other video hosting sites.
- To increase your reach, you can use Podia’s integrated affiliate program. You do have to be on the Shaker and Earthshaker plans to utilize this function.
- You can send broadcasts and campaigns through their built-in email marketing. You can even add entrance and exit conditions for these campaigns.
- Podia offers over 1900+ integrations across various apps, email service providers and payment gateways. For those without native integration, you can use the Zapier integration along with its many triggers and actions.
- The pre-launch mode of Podia is helpful for testing the waters and analysing interest before committing to a course.
- Podia claims to be creator-centric and they charge 0% on all sales
- Podia also provides built-in quizzes, community, certificates, and community. For memberships, you can use the community page.
> > Click Here to Check Out Podia < <
Cons
- Email Composer does not offer personalization options. It even lacks pre-made templates, a drag and drop editor and split-testing.
- Podia’s system doesn’t have a course compliance feature. The most common report that you will get is the number of people who have completed a course. It lacks details.
- Podia is very basic in terms of customization. There is no support for custom CSS/HTML customizations
- You might need to use third-party apps and services to really create landing pages and sales funnels such as WordPress, or ClickFunnels
- Only a handful of lesson types are supported. Some that are missing include Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline and HTML 6 Content, assessments, etc.
- Affiliate program is also lacking. Affiliate-specific commissions are not available.
- Podia does not have a mobile application.
Podia versus Kajabi
Kajabi an Overview
Kajabi is a Learning Management System that provides the user an all-in-one platform to create courses and products while at the same time hosting them.
The platform is very sophisticated, and has many features like automation. This makes it ideal for marketers and course creators who have previous experience in this field. To fully utilize Kajabi’s capabilities, users need to have technical knowledge.
Kajabi allows you to also sell memberships, coachings, communities and podcasts along with other digital products.
Kajabi offers a mobile app that is different from other LMSs. This is because smartphones have quickly become the most preferred device for almost everyone. It really gives the company a boost in terms of the market.
Kajabi Features
Kajabi also offers a lot of features to ensure that their higher price point is worth every cent that you pay for. Kajabi’s website builder and many other features are highly customizable.
Marketing tools are probably the best area where Kajabi shines. It offers all the standard bells and whistles but what investors and Kajabi’s rivals really envy is its automation system. Yes that’s right! Kajabi offers automation in lots of its features, especially their emails.
Kajabi’s Pipelines are another unique feature. Kajabi’s pipelines offer a lot to eliminate the need for funnel-building tools like ClickFunnel and other websites.
- Interface – Logging in to Kajabi brings you to its dashboard. It looks neat and minimal with little to no clutter. Overall it gives off a very modern aesthetic. The accessibility is also satisfactory. You can get to all of Kajabi’s features within 3 to 5 clicks.
Kajabi’s homepage also includes a search assistant that can help you navigate the site whenever you are lost or just too lazy to click on stuff. This will redirect you to the Kajabi App’s features and tools.
Kajabi’s page loads very quickly and provides a smooth experience.
- Course Creation – Kajabi’s course creator is extremely robust. It allows you to create different categories. You can choose the best option based on the course you’re presenting to students.
You can choose from: mini-courses, online courses, drip courses, or do a custom one of your own. Kajabi offers templates or blueprints to help you create your courses. Kajabi already provides a “skeleton” for your course. All you need to do is add content.
Kajabi also allows you to structure your course in categories and subcategories. That way, you can decide how you present these courses to your students. This is particularly useful if you are slowly introducing your content.
Kajabi lets you use text, audio, video, assessments, images, and files to create your courses. You can even combine these content and add them on a single course. As of the moment, Kajabi does not offer live lessons.
As for the student’s side. Kajabi’s course delivery is minimalistic and sleek. There is no clutter that can serve as a distraction to your students.
- Marketing – At its most basic, Kajabi offers all of the expected products to make your products enticing to buyers. It allows you to sell coupons, upsells, and order bumps. You can even customize this stuff to ensure more value for your money.
Kajabi’s strongest point is email marketing. You can send broadcasts and email sequences using this tool. Kajabi’s email marketing also provides you with various email templates. Podia Vs 529
Kajabi can send any type of email, no matter what it is. Kajabi’s email marketing is even more powerful when it is combined with an automation function.
Not only does it make your job faster and easier. It opens up a lot of options too. Kajabi makes it easy to use third-party sales funnels. You can also customize their pipelines.
When used properly and effectively, it will increase your customer conversion rate leading to more sales. Podia Vs 529
- Design and Customization – Kajabi’s design options are among the most customizable in the market. Even the lower plans provide you with various themes that you can use to fit your course or brand. These themes look professional.
You can even upload your own theme if you want to. You can access their code editor if you purchase the top Kajabi plan. This allows you to customize even the smallest details.
As for the Page Builder, Kajabi allows you to design course pages, membership site, checkout pages, landing pages and even more. Each block can also be customized using a block system. Even then, they are already page-specific and function specific.
- Kajabi does not have a native payment gateway for Payment Processing. It integrates Stripe and PayPal as well as other third-party integrations. Some regions even have more gateways available.
As for those regions who don’t have integration, you can use third party integration through Webhooks or Zapier.
Kajabi provides the checkout page on one page. This page can be personalized to include testimonials and sales videos to increase your product sales.
Kajabi price
Because of its robust and feature-rich nature. Kajabi has the highest rates among all the LMS services found on the internet. You cannot also get a free trial. It has also become a common practice to include names for the different tiers that their plans have.
In the case of Kajabi they have the Growth, Basic, and Pro. All plans also give you access to Kajabi University. This is Kajabi’s very own knowledge base that can help users with its functionality.
> > Click Here to Check Out Podia < <
| Basic ($149 per month) | Growth ($199 per month) |
|
|
| Pro ($319 per month) | |
|
Kajabi Pros and Cons
Pros
- Kajabi offers a variety of courses that you can choose from
- Provides Templates and Blueprints to help you get started
- With their automations, their email marketing solutions are some of the best on the market.
- Provides you with built-in assessments that allows you to grade and assess your students. These can also be automated
- Has a mobile app that is perfect for students who want to consume the courses on their phone
- Also comes with a membership feature where you can sell or give exclusive products to members with different tiers
- Automating and advanced automation (with conditional filter), allows you to complete tasks quickly and easily on your website.
- Has a very powerful theme builder that you can customize according to your needs. By paying more, you can even access a code editor to really flesh out your website
- It comes with a blog feature to promote your brand
- Removes the need for third-party funnels with their own version of a pipeline. There are even many different pipeline templates available for use. Podia Vs 529
Cons
- It is more expensive. Their lowest plan costs $149 per month
- They have no available plans that support unlimited products. The lowest plan offers only 3 products and 3 pipelines, the highest offers 100 products and 100 funnels.
- Kajabi lacks course completion certificates and course compliance features
- There are no page templates for your landing pages, thank you pages, and some others. You can edit the default templates for your pages as you need.
- There are no guarantee badges available on the checkout page
- Kajabi doesn’t have their own payment gateway
- Kajabi’s community is missing some features that make it as interesting as the rest.
> > Click Here to Check Out Podia < <
Podia versus Teachable
Teachable an Overview
Teachable is among the best online course platforms currently in the market. This LMS is used by course creators, teachers, professionals, coaches, entrepreneurs for business as well as teaching. You can even sell these courses, and coaching in a single bundle
Teachable’s greatest strength can be found in its course compliance feature. This feature is mostly missing from most LMS and online course platforms. This feature is not usually available on most LMS and online course platforms.
Teachable offers advanced reports about student progress and video analytics to demonstrate student engagement.
Teachable also does not depend on integration for its payment gateways, opting for their own system instead. It even handles EU/VAT making your life and those of your European Students easier overall.
Teachable is also among the cheapest LMS available out there. It even offers a free plan that allows you to sell one course only. It does have its limitations. However, this free plan can be very useful when you just want to test out the waters.
Teachable Features
- Interface – Teachable’s interface is actually very neat and brings about a modern feel. The right sidebar contains most features. It may take three to four clicks to get to sub-features.
Although it does not include a search function, this is due to how easy it is for users to navigate from one option to the next.
Teachable’s pages load slower than other LMSs, but this is not noticeable and I wouldn’t have noticed it if I wasn’t actively comparing websites.
- Course Creation – Teachable doesn’t provide any templates or pipelines to help you create courses. This setup can be difficult, especially for newbies in web design.
Courses or Content are also divided into sections and lectures found inside each section. Content type can be text, video, files, quizzes, code examples, custom codes, and upsells.
These files can be combined into one lecture. For example, you could add a quiz to a video lecture. This might seem a hassle to set-up at first,but Teachable has a bulk upload feature that allows you to put up your files faster.
These files can be uploaded once they are saved.
As for delivery, Teachable also allows for drip scheduling, meaning you can drip your content depending on when your student enrolled. That said, this feature only drips sections and not lectures. Podia Vs 529
Then there is the course player, which has a neat feature of allowing students to add personal notes, for them to use while learning. The only problem is that you will need to use the power editor to modify this player.
In which case, people who do not know how to code might find themselves lost.
Teachable’s Course Compliance feature is also worth noting. This feature is where Teachable really shines among the competition. With this feature, you are able to control how the students view and consume your lectures.
From deciding the lecture order to making sure they watch the whole video lecture. Quizzes can be used as a way to check their understanding before they are able to continue or pass a lecture.
The results can then be passed on the various detailed reports you can get from Teachable, which is another tool that you can use to effectively teach your students.
- Marketing – Teachable offers basic marketing features such as free previews, coupons, and pre-selling a course. They function like the other LMS marketing features and they serve the same purpose of enticing others to buy your products.
Teachable offers basic email marketing features. However, it lacks some key features such as sequences, templates and automations.
One thing that Teachable lacks is a dedicated affiliate program. You will need to create affiliates by yourself. It does however allow you to create affiliates for your product.
These affiliates will be paid through the website’s own payment gateways by Teachable. Podia Vs 529
- Design and Customization – In terms of overall theme, Teachable is really not that customizable. The service only gives you one theme. You can only customize very few things like the logo and branding, the fonts, as well as the theme and background color.
> > Click Here to Check Out Podia < <
Nevertheless, if you pay for the business plan, you will have access to the power editor. This allows you to use custom code to modify the theme of the page.
The page builder itself is much more customizable than you might expect. They provide you with several building blocks depending on your needs. You can even find block layouts to make banners, images with text and email. And even pricing for your products.
You can use CSS/HTML, just like the themes, to add more personalization to your website.
- Payment Processors – Teachable is the only LMS service that has its own payment gateway. There are two payment options: Monthly Payment Gateway and Teachable Payments. The former is a godsend to EU students as they can handle EU/VAT calculations.
Teachable has a “Back Office”, which handles all affiliate payouts. Unfortunately, to access the old Stripe or PayPal services, you will need to be on their professional plans.
Overall, Teachable Payment Processors make it easier for your students and customers to easily make payments and checkouts.
Teachable price
If we include the free plan, Teachable has four plans total. These plans are similar to the others in terms of accessibility and features. To ensure which plan is for you, we have placed what they offer in each price point. That said, you can try the free plan, which acts as a free trial to test Teachable’s environment.
| Free ($0 per month) | Basic ($39 per month) |
|
|
| Pro ($119 per Month) | Business ($299 per Month) |
|
|
Teachable Cons and Pros
Pros
- You can host unlimited courses with the paid plans
- It is the best choice if you are a teacher and want to focus on teaching.
- It’s built-in course completion certificates can be combined with the course compliance giving you the ability to host academic courses
- Its course player allows your students to take notes while watching or listening to your lecture, thus promoting a pro-active learning environment. It even has a subtitle feature
- HTML/CSS scripts can be embedded to lectures, opening up a lot of interesting and engaging opportunities.
- You can use it for unlimited video hosting
- It has a robust membership feature to allow for exclusive content depending on membership tiers
- The bulk upload feature makes your workflow more comprehensive
- You can choose to have comments added to your courses
- Use an ios app to let your students access the content wherever they are.
- Payment processing platforms has an ability to handle EU/VAT sales
- It has its own native payment gateways bypassing the need to integrate other services
- Its native payment gateways also has “Back Office’ that process payouts for affiliate commission and other complex payment
- Has an in-depth student reports and video analytics, Podia Vs 529
> > Click Here to Check Out Podia < <
Cons
- The free plan does not have enough features to be called a plan.
- Your sales are subject to a 5% commission under the Basic Plan
- They don’t use a drag-and-drop builder. They use custom CSS and power editors. This is bad news to non-techies
- A lack of a community feature
- You would need to know how to code in order to fully customize their course player
- When issuing refunds, you would need to avail of third-party services.
Thinkific versus Podia
The Overview of Thinkific
Thinkific, another LMS service, puts course building at its forefront. It has everything you need to create a web page and start building your courses.
Thinkific is also very easy to use and as such, it is one of the most beginner friendly online course creators on the market. In fact, it is so beginner friendly that Thinkific’s very own free plan allows you to create three courses, with no investment required. They do charge a transaction fee.
Thinkific flaunts itself as the “go-to platform for running an online course business”.
As such, Thinkific puts its core focus on it’s curriculum creation capabilities. This is why the course creation features are the most important.
This means their selling and marketing aspects are poor.
Useful Features
- Interface – Logging into Thinkific brings you to the admin area. This will be your hub that allows you to navigate the whole Thinkific Platform.
The sidebar allows you to access every feature that Thinkific has to offer. These features are usually found and organized in a logical way. You might not be able to find certain features in the places you think they should be.
The interface is overall decent but it has its flaws.
- Course Creation – Thinkific’s greatest strength is found on its course creation mechanism. Even its free plan offers a lot of options to make your course as enjoyable as it can be.
Thinkific’s platform allows you to use different types of media such as videos, pdf, audio, Google docs, captivates, storylines, among others. Thinkific also allows you to bulk upload your contents. You will need to organize each lesson separately to make the bulk upload work.
Thinkific allows you to drip-feed your content, allowing you to manage and pace your course. Podia Vs 529
Although it doesn’t have a course compliance option, Thinkific lets you incentivize students using leaderboards, awards and scoring to motivate them to complete your course.
Thinkific also allows you to manage your course in different ways. You can manage discussions, answer questions from students, and even approve or hide discussions.
Thinkific also allows you to manage quizzes and assignments as much as possible.
- Marketing – This is probably where Thinkific is at its weakest. Their marketing features are limited to the essentials. Worse, it may only be available for a specific tier or higher.
Thinkific offers course bundles that can be used to create a membership website.
Thinkific does not have a sales funnel builder. You will also need integration. Even then, the whole checkout is a bit clunky with limited customization.
Email marketing at Thinkific is also very limited. You can only send your marketing emails to students who are already enrolled in your courses. As such, the best you can do is to tell them about new courses or products as well as send the email updates.
Thinkific allows you to add affiliates for your products and courses. It allows you to choose how much commission you want.
Your affiliates will also receive their own private dashboard to monitor the performance of the unique affiliate links. The affiliate tracking pixel can’t be modified and remains in place for 30 days.
- Design and Customization – Thinkinfic has a decent level of customizability. They offer three themes to choose from. You can then select from these three themes, your theme styles. These styles can be thought of as presets that allow you to choose your site’s aesthetic.
That said, their level of customizability is not as good as Kajabi. Thinkific allows you to import themes that have been developed by developers. You can customize your themes with code if you have the technical knowledge.
Thinkific also uses a drag and drop page builder. Each block in this builder is called a “section” and there are 20. It is very easy to use and you can add a section to your page with only just 1 click. Podia Vs 529
- Payment Processors – Thinkific has its own payment processor, Thinkific Payments. This is part of a tool called TCommerce suite of tools. This tool offers seamless shopping, subscriptions and payment plans.
However, it seems like this is only available for the USA, UK, and Canada. Other than those countries, Stripe integrations and Paypal integrations can be used.
Thinkific Price
Thinkific offers four plans, including a free one. The best plan, the free one, is the best. It gives you the most features and limits the number of courses that you can create or sell.
That said, Thinkific also offers a Growth feature that gives more powerful tools in their Pro plan. Other than that, they also offer Thinkific Plus for enterprise clients.
| No cost ($0 per Month) | Basic ($39 per month) |
|
|
| Pro ($79 per month) | Premier ($399 per month) |
|
|
> > Click Here to Check Out Podia < <
Thinkific Pros and Cons
Pros
- Thinkific’s permanent free offer is the Thinkific Free Package
- Has different course payment options for different types of students and schools
- No transaction fees for any payments made by learners
- Premium packages give you unlimited online purse options
- Their page builder is easy to use, and it can be further customized if you have the coding know-how
- It has a robust course builder to make your course as engaging as possible.
- You can use Thinkific to give incentives such as leaderboards, awards, and scores to motivate your students.
Cons
- Many of the features they offer are not user-friendly.
- Beginners would probably be disappointed with the lack of custom options, and they might be lost in the sea of code
- Very weak marketing features.
- Checkout page very clunky
- Does not have chat support. Email support might take up to one day for a proper response. This includes time zones.
Verdict Podia Vs 529Podia Vs 529
With all those laid out in hand, we can finally see how Podia compares to other Learning Management Systems. Through this, I hope you can find the right platform to host your products, courses and businesses.
Verdict: Podia versus Kajabi
Podia and Kajabi function pretty similarly as they are both all-in-one platforms. The two main factors that will determine which platform you choose are price and customization. Podia Vs 529
Podia is the best choice if you are looking for an all-in-one platform that’s affordable and doesn’t require much customization. An important thing to note is that, in its low price point, Podia allows you to upload an unlimited number of courses.
If you don’t have the budget but still want a personal touch, Kajabi is the right choice. Kajabi offers advanced automation and automation for marketing that will make it easier to update your customers and market to them.
Verdict: Podia versus Teachable
This matchup is much more difficult to compare to the one above. Teachable and Podia are experts in different areas. Your business’s direction would determine your decision.
You should choose Podia if what you need is mostly to sell courses, coachings, memberships, and other digital products, you would need more of a digital platform. Podia is more suited to your needs.
You should choose Teachable if you want to focus more on the “course” and “teaching” part. Teachable offers a stronger course-building platform than Podia. Also, Teachable’s greatest and most unique feature is its course compliance which helps to properly monitor your student’s course completion.
Verdict: Podia versus Thinkific
This is a simple statement that Thinkific is essentially a cheaper version Teachable. As such, picking between the two would be the same as choosing between Podia or Teachable.
If you want to sell your digital products, Podia is the right choice. Podia has a stronger marketing tool than Thinkific. This would be a benefit for some.
You should choose Thinkific if you would rather focus on making courses, but you don’t want to pay Teachable’s high prices. Though their plan is more limited, Thinkific can be used to learn how to make online courses. Bear in mind, Thinkific has no course compliance feature and puts focus on a more positive and incentivized motivation. Podia Vs 529