Create an online course for free: tools and softwares
If you're eager to develop your first course and aren't able to afford it, no worries! You can make an online course no cost (or at the very least for a minimal cost) and increase your investment as your business grows.
However, that's only one method to build an online course at an affordable price. We'll look at the software and other tools available to build your online course using very little or no investment upfront.
Online course creation tools to create an online course at no cost
The software you employ in the course design process make the difference in your success. They aid you in creating a quality product which your students will enjoy. They help you automate your workflow and reduce time. They also aid in selling to more customers, which means you will earn more money.
1. : free trial + an affordable tech stack
Utilized by novice course creators as well as multi-million dollar entrepreneurs, helps you streamline your business, so you can concentrate on the things you excel at: developing courses, coaching programmes as well as memberships and many other digital goods which serve your clients.
Alongside the online course creator it also provides all the tools you require to start your course and expand your company, including:
- Builder for websites
- Build a landing page
- Sales funnel builder
- Marketing software for email
- Course video hosting
- Pages for ordering
- Payment processing
's Basic plan ($119 a month, billed annually) permits you to create 3 products, 3 sales funnels, infinite page landing pages, as well as unlimited marketing emails sent to as much as 1,000 customers.
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2. Filmora, iMovie, and Davinci Resolve are free and affordable video recording and editing software
A must-have software to use that is essential for online learning is a video recorder and editor. Wondershare Filmora not only lets you make and edit your video using the same interface It's also flexible and simple to make use of.
You can use it to create videos with talking heads and screen-capture videos -- a feature that you won't find in similar tools for artists.
If you're new to video editing, Filmora gives you templates that make it easy to make professional, polished videos. If you're an experienced video editor, you'll appreciate its more advanced features, such as keyframes, split screens, motion tracking, present templates, and auto beat sync.
Filmora is available for desktop, iPad, and mobile devices. All three versions can be downloaded free, but to gain access to advanced features and remove the watermark, you'll have to upgrade to a paid version.
The plan for the year is $49.99 per month.
In the event that you're using an Apple computer, you already can access iMovie from the app store. It's free and easy to download and editing video. Additionally, it allows you to record audio and add slides. This is great for those who are making their first video maker or an online course creator looking to put together an easy video
If you're a pro with advanced video-editing skills, DaVinci Resolve is another free software and doesn't limit Mac users. It offers audio post-production as well as color grading and correction. Due to this functionality, it may become more complex to utilize.
3. Zoom: free virtual meetings and recordings
If you're looking for a 100% free video recorder, Zoom could be the best choice. Set up a meeting, click record, and then begin instructing. Even though it's not a video editor however, it has tools that make teaching easier.
Zoom's free plan provides Unlimited meetings that can be up to 40 minutes in length. The plan also includes automated captions, easy screen-sharing features, and editable whiteboards. If you prefer to host live lessons, Zoom's Free plan lets you host up to 100 participants.
Following your "meeting," your recording will be stored on the cloud or to your personal computer (your option). You will receive the audio recording (M4A) as well as an MP4 video format (MP4) along with the text of your conversation.
At $149.90 annually the plan can be upgraded to Pro and Pro Plus, however the basic plan includes all the tools you require to design a a high-quality course.
4. Canva: free and low-cost graphic
It doesn't matter if it's thumbnails of videos, course handouts or social media posts promoting your course, you'll need to create graphics. Canva is a completely free program that lets you make it easy to create stunning images that suit your brand and your personal style.
Canva Free gives you more than 250,000 free templates with more than 100 different types of images, as well as 5 gigabytes in cloud storage. If you'd like to make use of graphics or components which are of a premium quality and have a premium look, you can do so for a small fee.
Canva Pro unlocks unlimited access to premium elements such as a brand kit groups to help you organize your projects as well as a background removal tool. You'll also get 1TB of cloud storage. For $119.99 annually, it's an affordable upgrade for discerning designer.
5. Snagit: low-cost screen capture (free trial)
Another option for creating videos and graphics is the Snagit program. Free for fifteen days, a lifetime license is only one payment of $62.99. That gives you a standard one-time license that works for Windows and macOS and the first year's maintenance.
Although other screen-capturing tools are available for free however none can offer the quality of Snagit's captures. Snagit provides high-definition images and videos. It also has editing tools that allow you to trim your videos, mark up your screenshots and even create animated GIFs.
You can use it to create your course videos, provided that the duration of your classes is one time or less. Additionally, it could serve as a simple editor to alter the size of images as well as edit images and video. This is a great low-cost option for instructors.
6. MailerLite: Free email hosting
The email marketing software is an vital software that is essential for online courses. The software will be used to create a list of customers and potential customers who are enthralled by the work you're doing.
MailerLite MailerLitehas a Free plan that allows up to 12,000 monthly email messages and 1,000 contacts. The plan includes an email automation builder, an online site that has 10 landing pages as well as sign-up forms, pop-ups and other forms. It also has e-commerce integrations, so you can collect the payment on your MailerLite landing page.
If you use MailerLite to design a website and landing pages, they'll receive a random URL "subscribepage.com" to create landing pages, and "mailerpage.com" for websites. You must upgrade to a paid plan to get a customized domain.
Even though this might not be the best option but it will allow the opportunity to begin building your list of email subscribers and selling your course online for free. When you begin to earn money then you'll be able to move to a paid subscription or opt for an all-in-one option.
7. YouTube: free video hosting
Some course builders have the ability to provide free or low-cost plans by not including video hosting in their platforms. Users must find another way to host their course videos.
The most efficient and simplest solution is YouTube that offers free, unlimited video hosting. After uploading your video it is important to set its visibility as "unlisted." This means it will not be displayed in search results.
YouTube is linked directly to the Google profile. It's straightforward to begin by logging in to YouTube then click your profile picture, and start channels.
You can upload videos from your desktop, phone or using recording software. YouTube assigns a link to your video. This link is used to upload your video to your course builder.
YouTube can be a great choice for hosting video content with no cost, however there are some drawbacks. Videos that are not listed can be shared out, meaning people who don't pay could be able to access the course materials. And, at the end each video YouTube suggests other videos that you should watch. It could distract your students and lead them to turn away from the lesson instead of advancing into the next class.
8. Veed: free video and low-cost video hosting
If you'd like to stay clear of "watch the next" advice at the bottom of your videos, Veed offers free video hosting for videos less than 10 minutes. The videos you upload will be accompanied by an image of watermark that is removed once you upgrade to a paid-for plan.
Veed allows you to create, edit, publish, collaborate, and store videos all from one location. Use the platform to record or edit and then host talking-head videos on one platform.
It is possible to create MP4 videos in 720p resolution with a maximum file size of 250MB on the Free plan. There is a limit of 2GB space for files.
To get more limits, you can upgrade to the Premium plan ($18 a month). That allows 25-minute videos and 1080p resolution. If you want 4K videos that are that are up to two hours in length You'll have upgrade to the Professional plan for $30 a month.
9. Landingi: a low-cost website builder
The Landingi Core plan costs $30 per month. It's less if you sign up annually. It allows you to create unlimited landing pages for 1000 unique visitors per month. It also comes with a custom domain. In order to integrate it with your email marketing program or Zapier You'll have change to the Create plan ($65 a month). The plan increases your limit of traffic up to 20,000 unique visits per month . You can also add two domains.
It is possible to try Landingi for free for 14 days. This could be enough time to begin selling online classes for free!
10. PayPal: low-cost payments
Once your course has been created, you need to sell it. With a free PayPal accountbusiness account, you can easily to accept online payments without having a merchant account. It is possible to set up for one-time or recurring installments and payments.
PayPal is an ideal choice for taking payments as it seamlessly integrates with the majority of landing page builders as well as shopping carts. If you don't have a landing page it's not a problem. It is possible to accept payment through an PayPal.me URL to customers.
In contrast to merchant accounts that can cost $500 or more a month, you only pay PayPal when you sell something. If a potential customer purchases the course through your PayPal integration or button, PayPal will take a tiny percentage of the purchase price prior to depositing the money into your PayPal account.
11. Stripe: low-cost transactions
Another popular payment method one is The Stripe. Like PayPal it is a one-time payment for Stripe when you've sold something. You can accept credit cards and debit cards. Then, it deposits the profits directly into your account at the bank and you do not need the funds transferred to gain access to these funds.
Stripe is compatible with a variety of websites, however you are able to create your own payment pages directly with Stripe.
Stripe Checkout gives you a already-built and hosted payment site for selling one-time purchases and subscriptions. Its capabilities include auto-complete address payment options, one-click transactions and real-time card validation. brand-name identification for cards, as well as built-in security and fraud prevention.
Other options for collecting payments with Stripe includes shareable links, flexible invoicing or in-person transactions.
With Stripe When you have a successful purchase from a customer, you'll pay 2.9% + $0.30.
12. Zapier: free and affordable integrations
If you are thinking of how to create an online course for no cost, it is important to understand how tools integrate with one another. Many of the software for online courses play nice together. However, if they do not, you'll need an easy way to create an integration.
Zapier can automate your work across 5,000+ apps by using simple workflows, conditionsal logic, and formatting of data. Start with nothing and move to the Professional plan once you're prepared.
One platform does everything
We've provided you with 12 tools that will assist you in starting your journey with minimal or no initial expenditure. This is a solution to the issue of creating online courses for free, but it introduces additional issues.
Using different tools and tools, you'll have to connect them into a single tech stack and make sure you integrate them to provide a smooth customer experience. Additionally, you'll need to move between platforms in the process of creating your courses, funnels, or emails.
The cost with this approach starts at around $200 and could go upwards to as much as $10,000 in order to develop your own course. It is essential to get a large number of clients before you can turn into a profit.
An all-in-one platform like could help you save time, money as well as stress. lets you:
- Design a mobile-friendly, professionally-looking and user-friendly website that requires no experience in design. Drag and drop the mouse to design an infinite amount of pages.
- Make use of your domain name for a unique online presence for your website as well as online classes.
- Establish sales and marketing funnels for email. Design email campaigns, automate mail flows, re-marketing strategies as well as other features with drag-and-drop simplicity. With integrated marketing pipelines as well as step-by-step guidance, you can develop and sell to your list easily and efficiently.
- Design upsells, discounts, as well as free trial offers. It's not necessary to work with clunky programming or conflicting plugins. This makes it easier to build multiple upsells, downsells, and free trials for your loyal customers.
- Lay out and design your course with ease. 's course builder gives you template plug-and-plays that cover the most popular kind of classes. Just a few clicks you can lay out and plan your course including assessments, quizzes, videos, and worksheets.
- Pay online. Integrates with Stripe as well as PayPal which makes it simple to take payments directly through your site.
- Develop more than an online course. This includes paid newsletters, memberships Podcasts, coaching, and memberships. If you think of it, you can build it with .
You can start with the cheapest investment available in the Basic plan. You can build three different products as well as gain 1000 active users prior to having to upgrade to the Growth plan.
Its educational website, University, gives you high-quality tutorials and tutorials that will show you how to build an educational course, but also how to transform your learning into a lucrative business.
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