Create an online course for no cost: software and tools
If you're looking to design your first course , but you aren't able to afford it you're in luck! You're able to develop an online course for absolutely nothing (or at least, at a low cost) and then increase the amount you invest in the event that your business expands.
However, that's only one method to build online courses at affordable cost. Let's explore the software and the tools that you could use to build your online course using minimal or no initial investment.
The tools for making an online course that is free
Tools you utilize to create your course make an impact on your course's success. They help you create high-quality products that students love. They help you automate your workflow and reduce time. They also aid in selling to more people, so you will earn more money.
1. A free trial plus an affordable tech stack
Used by first-time course creators up to multi-million-dollar entrepreneurs, it helps you streamline your business, so you can concentrate on the things you are best at: creating courses, coaching programmes as well as memberships and many other digital goods that serve your customers.
Additionally, its online course building tool it also provides all the tools you require to start your course and expand your company which includes:
- Website builder
- Landing page builder
- Builder of sales funnels
- Email marketing software
- Hosting of course videos
- Order pages
- Payment processing
Basic Plan ($119 per month, which is billed annually) allows you to build three sales funnels, infinite landing pages, and unlimited marketing emails sent to as much as 1000 customers.
Try free for 14 days
It has everything your business requires for your online business. Everything you need in one location. Yes! Let's go!
2. Filmora, iMovie, and Davinci Resolve: no-cost and affordable video editing and recording software
The most important software needed to use for online classes includes a video recording tool and editor. Wondershare Filmora does not just let you make and edit your video in the same workspace, it's flexible and easy to use.
It is possible to create videos with talking heads as well as screen captures -- a feature that you won't find in similar tools for artists.
If you're just beginning to learn about video editing, Filmora gives you templates which make it simple to produce professional-looking videos. If you're an experienced editor, you'll appreciate the more sophisticated features including keyframing, split screen motion tracking, the present template, and automatic beat sync.
Filmora can be downloaded for PC, iPad, and mobile devices. Each of the three versions is downloaded free, but to gain access to advanced features and get rid of the watermark, you'll require an upgrade to the paid version.
The plan for the year is $49.99 per month.
Or, if you have an Apple laptop, you are able to access iMovie from the app store. It's free and easy to download and editing video. You can also 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 have more advanced editing skills for video, DaVinci Resolve is another free software and doesn't limit Mac users. It supports audio post-production, color grading, as well as color correction. However, due to the features, it could be more difficult to operate.
3. Zoom: Free recordings and virtual meetings
If you are looking for an unrestricted video recorder, Zoom could be the best option. Host a meeting, hit record and begin teaching. Even though it's not an editor for videos but it comes with features that facilitate teaching.
Zoom's free plan provides the ability to hold meetings for as long as 40 minutes long. The plan also includes automated captions, easy screen-sharing features as well as editable whiteboards. If you'd prefer hosting lessons in person, Zoom's free plan allows you to host at least 100 students.
After the "meeting," your recording will be saved to the cloud or your computer (your choice). The program will provide you with the audio file (M4A), a video format (MP4), and an audio file (M4A), as well as a text document of the chat.
At $149.90 for a year, you can upgrade 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

If it's thumbnails for videos as well as course handouts or media posts to promote your class You'll have to make graphics. The Canva is a no-cost program that lets you make it easy to create stunning images that suit your brand and your personal design.
Canva Free gives you more than 250,000 of free templates, more than 100 types of photos, and five gigabytes in cloud storage. If you wish to utilize graphics or components that are high-quality and have a premium look, you can do so at a cost of a modest amount.
Canva Pro unlocks unlimited access to premium features including a brand kit, groups to help you organize your projects, and a background remover. Also, you'll receive 1TB of cloud storage. With $119.99 per year, it's the perfect upgrade for those who are designers.
5. Snagit: low-cost screen capture (free trial)

Another option for creating videos and graphics can be Snagit. It is free for the first 15 days, the lifetime license costs just one time payment of $62.99. That gives you a standard one-time license that works for Windows as well as macOS and the first year's maintenance.
Although other screen-capturing tools are free to download but none of them can match the quality of Snagit's captures. Snagit gives you high-def graphics and videos, an editor that allows you to trim your videos, mark up your screenshots as well as create animated GIFs.
It is possible to use it to make your own course videos, as long as the duration of your classes is one an hour or less. Plus, it can double as a simple editor to modify images, resize them and even edit the graphics as well as videos. This is a great low-cost option for course creators.
6. MailerLite EmailerLite: Hosting of free email
Email marketing software is another important software to use for online classes. You'll use it to build a list of customers and prospects who love the work you're doing.
MailerLite has the option of a free plan which allows up to 12,000 monthly emails and 1,000 contacts. It includes an email automation builder, website that has 10 landing pages as well as sign-up forms, pop-ups and other forms. It also has e-commerce integrations which allows you to collect payments from the MailerLite website's landing pages.
If you're using MailerLite to create a site or landing pages, you'll be assigned a random URL "subscribepage.com" for landing pages, and "mailerpage.com" for web pages. Upgrade to a paid subscription to get a customized domain.
Even though this might not be the best option however, it allows the opportunity to begin building your list of email subscribers and selling your course online for free. When you begin to earn money, you can move to a paid subscription or switch to for an all-in-one solution.
7. YouTube: free video hosting
Some course developers can offer no-cost or cheap plans, but they are not providing video hosting on their platforms. Users must find another option to host their videos.
The fastest and most simple option to upload your video is YouTube which offers you an unlimited, free video hosting service. When uploading your video, the key is to change its status to "unlisted." That is how it won't appear in the search results.

YouTube is tied with your Google profile. Therefore, it's straightforward to begin: sign in to YouTube and click on your profile image, and start a channel.
Upload videos using your phone, desktop or even recording applications. YouTube gives you a URL to your video. This link is used to upload the video to the course builder.
YouTube is a good alternative for hosting videos on no budget, but it has its drawbacks. Unlisted videos can still be shared , so those who aren't paying could have access to your course content. And, at the end each video YouTube suggests other videos to watch next. This may distract your students and lead them to turn away from the lesson rather than progressing to the next lesson.
8. Veed: no-cost video and low-cost video hosting

If you want to avoid "watch the next" suggestions at the conclusion of your video, Veed offers free hosting of videos shorter than 10 minutes. The videos you upload will be accompanied by a watermark, removable when you upgrade to a paid plan.
Veed lets you make, edit, and publish, collaborate, and host videos on one platform. Utilize the platform to create editing, upload, and share talking-head videos on this same platform.
You can produce MP4 videos in resolution of 720p, up to a maximum file size of 250MB for the plan for free. The limit is 2GB file storage.
To get more limits, upgrade to Premium plans ($18 per month). That allows 25-minute videos and 1080p resolution. If you want 4K videos that are up to 2 hours long it is necessary upgrade to the Professional plan for thirty dollars per month.
9. Landingi: a low-cost website builder
The Core plan of Landingi costs just monthly at $29 and less if you pay annually. The plan allows you to create an unlimited number of landing pages and 1000 unique visitors per month. You can also have a customized domain. In order to integrate it with your email marketing tool or Zapier, you'll need be upgraded to Create plan ($65 monthly). It increases the number of visits you can have to 20,000 unique visits each month, and you can use two domains.
It is possible to try Landingi for free for 14 days. That might be enough to start selling your online course for no cost!
10. PayPal: affordable payments
Once your course has been developed, you must sell it. With a free PayPal business account, it's easy to accept payments online without a merchant account. It is possible to set up for one-time or recurring payment and subscriptions.
PayPal is an ideal choice for accepting payments because it is compatible with all landing page builders or shopping carts. If you don't have a landing page there's no issue. Accept payments by sending an PayPal.me URL to customers.
Contrary to merchant accounts, which may cost up to $500 each month, you pay PayPal for sales. If a potential customer purchases the course through your PayPal button or integration PayPal is charged a small portion of the price paid before depositing your income in the account of your PayPal account.

11. Stripe: cheap transactions
Another payment option that is popular one is Stripe. Similar to PayPal, you only pay for Stripe when you've sold something. The service allows you to accept credit cards and debit cards. Then, it deposits your profits directly into your account at the bank and you do not need move funds in order to get the funds.
Stripe is integrated with many websites, however it is also possible to build your payment page through Stripe.
Stripe Checkout gives you a ready-to-go, hosted page to offer one-time purchase or subscriptions. The features it offers include auto-complete addresses payment options, one-click transactions with real-time validation of cards, identity of the card brand, as well as security and fraud prevention.
Other options for collecting payments with Stripe include shareable links, flexible invoicing or in-person transactions.
With Stripe, when an individual purchases your course successfully the course, you'll be charged 2.9 percent plus $0.30.
12. Zapier: free and affordable integrations
In the process of deciding how you can develop an online course for free, make sure you know how these tools interact to each other. Many of the software for online courses play nice together. If they don't then you'll require a simple way to create an integration.
Zapier can automate your work across 5,000+ apps using simple workflows, conditional logic, and formatting of data. Start with nothing and move to the Professional plan when you're ready.
One platform does everything
The tools we've shared with you are 12 that will aid you to start without any initial investment. This is a solution to the issue of making online courses no cost, however it also brings additional issues.
Using different tools, you'll need to integrate them into a single tech stack and make sure they are integrated to ensure a seamless customer experience. It's also necessary to switch from one platform to another when building your funnels, courses, or emails.
The cost with this approach starts at around $200 and may go as high as $10,000 to create your online course. That means you have to attract a significant number of potential customers before you begin turning profits.
All-in-one platforms like this can make you money, time, and stress. allows you to:
- Make a responsive, mobile user-friendly and professional-looking website without any design expertise. Just drag and drop to design an infinite number of websites.
- Make use of your domain name to create a branded online presence for your website and online courses.
- Set up email marketing and sales funnels. Create email campaigns, automated emails, re-marketing campaign along with other things using the drag and drop feature. With built-in marketing pipelines and steps-by-step instructions, you'll be able to build and market to your audience quickly and effectively.
- Create upsells, downsells, as well as free trial offers. It's not necessary to work with clunky programming or conflicting plugins. It makes it simple to design many upsells and downsells and free trials to your faithful customers.
- Build and lay out your course in a snap. 's course builder gives you plug-and-play templates to help you design the most typical kind of courses. Just a few clicks you can lay out and plan your course with quizzes, assessments, videos and worksheets.
- Accept online payments. Integrates with Stripe and PayPal, making it easy to take payments directly through your website.
- Build more than just 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 a low-cost investment in 's Basic plan. You can build three items and acquire 1,000 active customers before you need for an upgrade Growth plan.
The free portal for education, University, gives you detailed tutorials and guidelines that show you not just how to build a course, but how to turn your learning into a lucrative enterprise.
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