You will be able to read a full CourseCraft review below, but since the platform has now been discontinued, we have several alternatives lined up for you, if you would like to try something similar.
| Pricing | Course Making Features | Compared to CourseCraft | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kajabi | Basic – $149 monthly Plus – $199 monthly Pro – $399 monthly |
✅ + all-in-one features | It’s more expensive, but has way more extensive and professional features. |
| Thinkific | Free – $0 Basic – $39 monthly Pro – $79 monthly Premier – $399 monthly |
✅ | There is a free plan available and yet again, Thinkific provides more features than CourseCraft. There are no transaction fees. |
| Kartra | Starter – $99 monthly Silver – $199 monthly Gold – $299 monthly Platinum – $499 monthly |
✅ + all-in-one features | Kartra is an all-in-one platform. Even though it’s possible to create courses with Kartra, it is not the main feature this platform offers. No transaction fees. |
| LearnWorlds | Starter – $29 monthly Pro Trainer – $99 monthly Learning Center – $299 monthly Corporate – contact LearnWorlds |
✅ | There is a $5 transaction fee per course subscription with Starter plan. CourseCraft Free and Club plans had 9% and 5% transaction fees. |
| Podia | Mover – $33 monthly Shaker – $75 monthly EarthQuaker – $166 monthly |
✅ | Podia is similar in terms of simplicity to CourseCraft. Plans are relatively cheap. There are no transaction fees. |
| LearnDash | Basic – $159 annually Plus – $189 annually Pro – $329 annually |
✅ | LearnDash is a WordPress add-on, so it will work best for those who have an active WordPress Site. |
What is CourseCraft?
CourseCraft is an easy-to-use e-course platform that helps anyone create, publish, and start marketing an e-course in as little time as possible. Unlike some other platforms with a steep learning curve, CourseCraft handles all “backend” technical aspects and lets creators focus on creating the best course possible.
This makes it ideal for anyone new to creating e-courses and those who don’t have much technical knowledge or experience. CourseCraft users can concentrate 100% on producing and selling their courses without being troubled by distracting design and user experience decisions.
CourseCraft at a Glance
If you’re curious about CourseCraft and want to know what it has to offer, here are its main features at a glance.
Affordability & Pricing
One of CourseCraft’s biggest selling points is its free plan lets you create up to three e-courses and start selling them right away. The downside is that there are a host of limitations on the free plan, including a 9% fee on all transactions. To avoid this, you’ll need to upgrade to either the “Club” or “Society” plan, costing $31 and $63 per month, respectively, when billed annually.
Free
9% Transaction Fees-
100 Participants
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2GB Content
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60-min Videos
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CourseCraft Branding
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Unlimited Courses
Club
5% Transaction Fees-
Unlimited Participants
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Unlimited Content
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Unlimited Videos
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Custom Branding
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Unlimited Courses
Society
0% Transaction Fees-
Unlimited Participants
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Unlimited Content
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Unlimited Videos
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Premium Features
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Unlimited Courses
User Experience & Ease of Use
CourseCraft’s other main draw is that it’s incredibly simple to use and navigate, making it perfect for those new to e-course creation.
CourseCraft’s clear instructions about using every aspect of the platform mean that no technical knowledge or experience is required to get started.
The CourseCraft team provides a great user experience and offers tons of training material.
Sales & Marketing
CourseCraft offers excellent landing page design with a Q&A section and custom branding features.
You can easily integrate courses with any type of page or blog and promote your landing page on any form of social media. However, custom branding only comes with paid plans, and the platform lacks such features as email marketing.
You can only create monthly memberships with the most expensive paid plan, “Society.”
Course Creation & Engagement
CourseCraft makes it easy to create engaging courses with drip content features, discussion forums, and engaging videos. Even the free plan offers course stats and statistics that let you know how participants respond to your course. Advanced features such as forms and quizzes are only available on the “Club” plan, while adding multiple collaborators is only available to “Society” users.
Design & Customizability
CourseCraft provides just enough customizability and design features to provide a professional-looking course. No design or programming skills are required, and the training material makes course creation simple. Upgrading to a paid plan lets you unlock the custom branding feature so you can add your logo and match your course color scheme to your company’s color palette. However, that’s about it when it comes to custom design features.
Customer Support & Training
CourseCraft offers a comprehensive knowledge base with a step-by-step guide for almost any feature in CourseCraft, which is impressive. They also offer various courses to learn handy information about the platform and see how CourseCraft works from the student’s perspective. CourseCraft’s email and live chat support are excellent, with a typical average response time of two hours.
5 Best CourseCraft Alternatives
There are dozens of e-course creation platforms out there and our experienced team has tested and reviewed almost all of them. If you’re curious about how CourseCraft stacks up against the competition, here is our pick of the five best CourseCraft alternatives to choose from.
Kajabi
In our team’s opinion, Kajabi is the best all-in-one online course platform bar none. If you’re prepared to pay more in monthly subscription fees, Kajabi lets you use its premium library of course templates to create very high-quality courses and market them with slick landing pages and website templates. Unlike CourseCraft, Kajabi offers built-in email marketing, which lets you promote and sell your course more intuitively.
Thinkific
Thinkific also offers a free plan, but they do not charge any transaction fees. In contrast, CourseCraft charges a 9% transaction fee on the free plan. Thinkific’s main advantage over CourseCraft is that it offers “Site Builder.” This lets you easily make your site look exactly how you want it. You can add, drag, and drop sections, and choose from a wide range of templates, themes, and styles. It’s incredibly powerful, simple, and easy to use.
Podia
Although Podia does not offer a free plan, it is one of the most simplistic course-building platforms on the market and starts at just $39 per month. Unlike CourseCraft, Podia lets you create an “all-in-one” digital storefront from which you can sell anything from downloads to memberships, and online courses. It’s one of the best online course tools for creators.
Simplero
If you already have a large business and are looking to scale, Simplero is well worth a look. It’s extremely affordable, starting at just $24 per month. However, this price increases if you want to unlock more features. Simplero’s main advantages over CourseCraft are its built-in e-mail marketing, course catalogs, and affiliate tracking. This lets you build your email list and market directly to your customers, helping you scale more efficiently.
Kartra
Although Kartra is much more expensive than CourseCraft, starting at $99/month for its “Starter” plan, it is a complete “all-in-one” system (similar to Kajabi), so you can host your website, landing page, and email marketing all from one place. This lets you see the entire customer journey and use tracking analytics to gauge how your courses resonate with participants.
CourseCraft Review – The Good & Bad
After extensively reviewing CourseCraft, our team was more than impressed by its simplicity, the level of support on offer, and the ease with which first-time creators can start marketing and selling their courses. However, several factors were either disappointing or inconvenient, and we’ll discuss them below.
Pros of CourseCraft
Our team noted that CourseCraft excelled in the following areas:
- Focus on the course content
CourseCraft simplifies the entire process of designing, presenting, and marketing the course, letting you focus 100% on the course content.
- Custom branding option
CourseCraft’s paid plans make it possible to add a logo and match the color scheme of the course to your blog, website, or business.
- Large Knowledge Base
You don’t need any web design or marketing knowledge to create a professional-looking course on CourseCraft. CourseCraft explains all aspects of the process in a large body of training material.
- Allows easy integration with other websites and blogs
CourseCraft’s “Club” plan unlocks embeds and custom HTML, letting you sell your course from your website or blog.
Cons of CourseCraft
While CourseCraft is a top-notch learning management system, our team has noted a few minor drawbacks.
- Large transaction fees
Yes, CourseCraft’s free plan lets you create up to three free courses and add up to 100 participants per course. However, it does charge a 9% transaction fee, something that you’ll need to sign up for the “Club” or “Society” plan to avoid entirely.
- Few design & customization possibilities
If you want to add custom branding (like a logo) and custom scripts and styles, you’ll need to pay for CourseCraft’s “Club” plan ($39 per month with an annual subscription). However, there’s little else in the way of design and customization on offer.
- No email marketing
In our team’s opinion, the biggest drawback of CourseCraft from a marketing perspective is that you cannot collect the email addresses of course participants.
Course Creation Process on CourseCraft
Making a course on CourseCraft couldn’t be simpler; all you need is an email address to get started. You can also connect your Twitter, Facebook, or Google account to log in without a password. Here’s how the course creation process works:
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Set up the basics
Click on the big “Create New Course” button and add a title, description, and cover photo.
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Add Lessons & Groups
Start building your course by creating lessons and adding them to different groups.
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Edit your lessons
Add content such as text, images, videos, and more.
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Create your Landing Page
Set up your landing page and start selling your course.
Key CourseCraft Features
Our team has reviewed dozens of e-course platforms and knows what sets CourseCraft apart from the competition. Here are the key CourseCraft features that you need to know about.
Simple Lesson Editor
CourseCraft’s lesson editor is a breeze to use and is flexible enough for any type of course. You can add text, images, videos, and downloadable files to create the best possible course for your students.
Convenient Payment Options
CourseCraft makes it easy to get paid. You can connect your PayPal or Stripe account (or both) and get paid immediately after enrollments. All payments are subject to a 9% transaction fee on the free plan, but CourseCraft will waive this fee on paid plans.
Easy Lesson Scheduling
You have a range of options when it comes to scheduling your lessons. You can set them to publish on a specific date or a certain number of days after enrollment. This scheduling helps you guide and direct the pace of your course.
Membership Sites
Upgrading to the “Society” plan lets you create monthly memberships that help engage your supporters with your creative process. Membership sites help you stay connected to your audience and make a reliable income from your content. You can choose which courses you want to include and boost engagement by writing regular posts.
Forms and Quizzes
One of the best reasons to upgrade from a free plan to a paid plan is the ability to add forms, quizzes, or surveys to your course. These options help boost course engagement and lets you interact with people who enroll in your course. You can view all entries in CourseCraft.
Comments
While CourseCraft doesn’t let you collect the email addresses of people who enroll in your course, you can send them comments directly on each lesson. This lets you interact, have conversations, and answer any questions they may have.
Add-Ons
One of the best reasons to upgrade from a free CourseCraft plan to a “Club” plan is that you can start selling extra optional “add-ons” to your course. This lets you sell anything from downloadable e-books to consultation guides, consulting hours, or anything else you can think of. This feature can help drive revenue by netting extra sales and boosting your income.
Work With Collaborators
CourseCraft courses can be continually improved and refined so that they stay fresh and relevant. One of the best ways to do that is to collaborate with friends and colleagues and let them edit lessons and create their own amazing lessons.
Custom Branding
Upgrading to a paid CourseCraft plan lets you add your logo and match the color scheme to your business, website, or blog. This helps you create a professional-looking course that fits perfectly with your brand.
Stats
CourseCraft offers a helpful stats page so you can track the number of visitors to your landing page and how many course sales you get. By regularly reviewing your stats, you can make marketing decisions about how best to promote your blog.
