I've been an online course creator since 2007. I've hosted my courses on various platforms and seen many changes in the online learning industry since I started. My first courses were on a platform called MonkeySee. These courses were professionally produced and distributed originally through their website. At the time, YouTube was only a couple of years old, and MonkeySee wanted to see if they could dominate the free online learning video market before YouTube got a hold. The fact that MonkeySee ended up moving all of its videos over to YouTube tells you all you need to know. I also wasn't paid for that and signed away ownership of all my curriculum material. So no big loss.
My next stop was Udemy. In the beginning, Udemy was a fantastic place to host and sell courses. They had a growing marketplace, and there wasn't as much competition at first, so some people were making great money there. Udemy could never settle on a business model that worked for both the company and the creators, so I moved my courses over to Thinkific.
I loved Thinkific as a host site, and I liked that I kept most of my money from sales. But the marketing was all on me, and my sales weren't as robust as I'd like them to be. Then THinkific changed their business model and put some stringent limitations on the free and basic programs that automatically boosted me onto a service level I didn't need and couldn't afford. Teachable seemed to be the best option from there.
Then a couple of years later, Teachable did the same thing. They put new limits on the level I'd been paying for that automatically bumped me into the next subscription price, which was about $1200 more a year. This is a pattern I've seen in many Saas companies, so you've probably had it happen, too.
When Teachable made this decision, I decided to find another hosting solution for my courses. LearnDash is the least friendly platform, and it's only for WordPress - EW! - I think. I was pleasantly surprised to find Payhip offers course hosting in its menu of services. I've been a Payhip user and fan for several years but hadn't put them together with course hosting. When I found out there's no up-front monthly fee and that I can name my price, I was happy to move my courses over.
The only hitch has been finding a video hosting solution. Payhip offers one, but I knew I needed more space and bandwidth. I sent a query about this to customer service and within an hour had received a reply with the recommendation of Streamable. I've started moving my courses over and have been very pleased with the simplicity and performance of the platform.
