How to price your online course, with the platform's cut in the sum

Published prices, verified

How to price a course in four decisions

1. Anchor on the outcome, not the hours. Write one sentence about what the buyer can do after the course that they could not do before, and what that is worth to them in money or time. A course that gets a freelancer their first $2,000 client supports a three-figure price; a course that teaches a hobby supports a two-figure one. Production effort is your cost, not their value, and it should not appear in the sum.
2. Pick the shape before the number. A one-off purchase is simplest and converts best cold. Tiers (course alone, course plus community, course plus a call) let the same content carry two or three prices and usually raise average order value more than raising the base price does. A cohort with a start date and live sessions justifies the highest price and the most work. Choose the shape first, because the platform you need depends on it.
3. Subtract what the platform keeps. Take the platform cut from the verified table below (it ranges from 0% to 10% on entry plans), add card processing of roughly 3% plus a fixed fee per sale, and subtract the monthly plan. On a $200 course selling ten copies a month, a 10% cut costs $200 and a $179 plan with no cut costs $179: the crossover is around ten sales. Below it the cut is cheaper; above it the fixed plan is. Run your own numbers, not ours.
4. Test the price on the page, not in your head. Launch at the anchored price with a real deadline or a real bonus rather than a discount. If the first cohort sells out, raise the price for the next one; if the page converts under 1% of warm traffic, fix the promise before touching the price. Prices are easier to raise than to cut in public.

What the common price points signal

Sub-$50 courses sell on impulse and on volume, and they suit platforms that take a cut rather than a monthly fee, because the fixed cost of a plan can exceed a month's sales. Courses in the $100 to $500 range are the bulk of the market: they need a sales page, an email sequence and a refund policy, and at that price a 5% to 10% platform cut is a material line. Above $1,000 the buyer expects access to a person (a cohort, office hours, a community) and the platform matters less than the delivery.

The verified prices on this page let you put a number on the platform for each band. Read the entry plan and the cut together: a free plan that takes 10% is cheap until it is not, and a $179 plan with no cut is expensive until it is not.

Pricing mistakes that the platform choice makes worse

Choosing a platform on its monthly price alone ignores the cut, which grows with your success. Choosing on the cut alone ignores the plan, which is paid whether you sell or not. Choosing on a vendor's own revenue examples ignores that they are marketing: this site repeats none of them, and nothing here says what your course will earn.

Annual billing is the other trap. Several vendors print only the annual figure on the page; the table says so where that is the case, so an entry price billed yearly is compared as printed, never re-derived into a monthly charge the vendor does not offer.

Common questions

How much should I charge for an online course?

Anchor on what the buyer gains, then pick a shape. Most self-paced courses with a real outcome sit between $100 and $500; cohorts with live access run higher; impulse courses under $50 need volume. Subtract the platform cut from the verified table before deciding.

Does the platform's cut change the right price?

It changes the right platform more than the right price. Work out your expected monthly sales, then compare a percentage cut against a fixed plan at that volume; the crossover point is where a no-cut plan starts to win.

Should I offer a payment plan?

For courses above about $300, yes: a three-instalment option raises conversion and the platform handles the schedule. Check the vendor's own page for whether instalments carry the same cut as a one-off sale.

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