Find Your Perfect Online Coaching Platform: The Top 5 Options Reviewed and Compared

This is a quick guide to the best online coaching platforms in 2023. Read on and see if you can find one to host your online coaching programs and community.

Coaching is a staggering $15 billion industry and is still growing. For sure, coaches are the ones running the show. But, many people tend to forget the solid systems backing them up. I’m talking about online coaching platforms.

Every online coaching business needs a reliable online coaching platform. These platforms help you streamline your coaching business and thrive in the highly competitive digital world.

Whether you are just starting or thinking of migrating to a new platform, this quick guide is perfect for you.

Let us begin by understanding what an online coaching platform is.

What Is An Online Coaching Platform?

An online coaching platform is a software-powered online platform designed for hosting online coaching programs.

The platform has all the necessary coaching tools for hosting live coaching sessions, content delivery, and client engagement. However, you can track client progress with analytics, perform data collection, and manage clients.

Basically, it’s a complete solution for conducting online coaching. However, not all platforms are equal. Some may have the edge over others and differ in many aspects.

Best Online Coaching Platforms 2023

Now, I’ll round off the best online coaching platforms out there. These platforms will enable you to have a solid digital presence in the domain of online coaching.

Dive right in to find the best online coaching platform for yourself.

1 – GroupApp – The Go-To All-In-One Learning Community Platform!

GroupApp is an all-in-one learning community platform. It is suited for Group Coaching, membership communities that coaches run, and for delivering online courses. Trusted by 967+ creators, it cuts the hassle for coaches and their clients. It bridges the gap between your courses and the community.

What’s Good

• GroupApp offers an in-built advanced course builder. You do not have to use any third-party tools to make online courses for your coaching business. It is simple and does not require any technical knowledge to use. You can incorporate video-recorded lectures, PDFs, course resources, and audio into your course lessons.
• It is well-suited for coaches offering Group Coaching, membership programs, and online courses.
• With GroupApp, you do not have to rely on multiple platforms to host your courses and community. This saves time, cuts costs, and increases efficiency.
• GroupApp provides a seamless and user-friendly experience that is free from all sorts of complexities.
• GroupApp is one of the most reasonably-priced options when it comes to online coaching platforms. Plus, it has a Free plan!
• You can schedule the launch of your course lessons on a particular date or a number after a student enrolls in your course.
• GroupApp has an in-built course management dashboard. The dashboard displays all key course analytics, such as views, enrollments, access requests, client assessment, tracking, opt-outs, and client performance in different tabs.
• With Group, you can effortlessly sell your Group coaching program, courses, and membership packages.
• You can easily upload and organize your courses and learning materials inside your community.
• Using GroupApp, you can send emails and post broadcasts to your community to boost engagement.
• With GroupApp, you can easily integrate your community with any of your favorite marketing tools.

Now, this is what we can call a complete solution!

What’s Not Good

• GroupApp is only available in English.
• GroupApp only offers payment integration with Stripe, but you can collect payments using your own payment processor and add them to your GroupApp Community..

Click here to check the complete pricing detail for GroupApp.

2 – Kajabi

Kajabi is one of the oldest online coaching platforms. However, over the years, it has evolved into a multi-functional platform.

Now, it refers to itself as an “all-in-one commerce knowledge platform”. That makes it a broad-scope platform with a broader set of features.

One can use Kajabi to host courses, create email marketing campaigns, make landing pages, and collect payments. Plus, you can use it to make websites and sell digital products, as it offers an in-built marketplace.

What’s Good

• Kajabi is an extensive platform with a wide range of features all in one place. That means it can be a complete solution for creating an online coaching business.
• It enables you to create your personal brand, and you also get a custom domain to host your website directly on Kajabi.
• Kajabi has an in-built analytics system that records page views, product progress, offers sold, affiliates, video analytics, revenue, and course subscriptions sold.
• You can build sale funnels and pipelines for your coaching business with Kajabi.
• Allows you to make affiliate programs to market your courses to a wider audience.

What’s Not Good

• Kajabi is more on than the premium side. It stands as one of the most expensive online coaching platforms.
• There is no FREE plan at Kajabi. Although, you can get a 14-day free trial.
• If you already have a website, you won’t be able to import it from WordPress to Kajabi. You will need to start everything from scratch if the case of switching your platform.
• Kajabi does not offer a white-label coaching app for its users.
• Kajabi is not suitable for beginners at online coaching due to its complexity and high price.
• You cannot integrate Google Analytics 4, which is a big drawback of Kajabi.
• Online coaches with the Basic Plan do not have access to 24/7 customer support.
• You cannot have unlimited clients or active members in any of Kajabi’s plans.

Here’s a detailed Guide To Kajabi Pricing 2023.

3 – Thinkific

Thinkific is an online course platform designed for entrepreneurs, creators, and online coaches. Online coaches can create, market, and sell their coaching programs through Thinkific.

It is a phenomenal online coaching platform that enables coaches to build their own white-label sites. Moreover, it is equipped with all sorts of tools required by coaches.

Although it is a versatile platform, it focuses primarily on creating and selling learning products.

Let’s round off what’s good and what’s not about Thinkfic.

What’s Good

• You can integrate 80+ third-party apps with Thinkific.
• Thinkific provides you with instant access to your funds.
• There is a free plan available for you to kick-start your online coaching business and courses.
• It allows you to create a website for your coaching business that helps you sell your courses and coaching business.
• Thinkific makes it easy to sell your courses and coaching program through built-in checkout pages.

Click here for an in-depth Thinkific Review.

What’s Not Good

• Thinkific does not have an in-built video streaming and events feature like GroupApp. It offers a Zoom integration that may not be convenient for online coaches.
• It is not a suitable platform for building a community around your coaching programs as the community platform and features are limited.
• Thinkific requires you to have basic knowledge of HTML/CSS to take full advantage of their website builder feature. This is a big drawback and can make setting up your coaching program complicated. You might need to hire a separate person for that, which is an added cost.
• The free plan is very limited in nature and does not provide any capacity for scaling up.
• It is not recommended for beginners for online coaching as it becomes pricier over time.

Click here to view the pricing details for Thinkific.

4 – Podia

Podia is heaven for online coaches. This platform enables online coaches to effortlessly sell online coaching programs as a digital product and also 1:1 sessions with clients.

Moreover, coaches have the option to build their custom websites and become full-on entrepreneurs. Coaches can also launch communities for their clients with multiple tiers and different access levels.

What’s Good

• Online coaches get a one-stop solution for their needs. Podia provides you with course-building, coaching sessions, marketing, and monetization tools in one place.
• Podia allows you to integrate your favorite scheduling applications for coaching sessions.
• You get a 14-day free trial period, and no card is required for this trial period.
• Podia offers 1900+ third-party app integrations using iFramely for your website.
• The platform offers a robust website builder to create customized landing pages and coaching websites.
• Podia provides an in-built range of useful tools to build your email marketing campaigns and promotions.
• You will not be charged any transaction fees on payments collected through Podia.
• There is no coding or technical know-how required as you can effortlessly build your site with a drag-and-drop editor.

What’s Not Good

• Podia charges an 8% transaction fee for the Free plan. The zero transaction fees benefit is only for the paid plans(Mover and Shaker Plans).
• The free plan provides little to no value for beginners. Instead, it can take a toll on your ability to start making money in your coaching business.
• There are limited payment gateways.
• Podia does not offer a mobile app for users.
• You can add a limited number of members to your coaching community. To add more, you will have to pay an additional $20 per month.
• Customization is very limited at Podia.
• Your coaching clients cannot submit any workbooks or projects as there is no submission feature available.

Click right here to view Podia’s Pricing Plans.

5 – Nudge Coach

Lastly, we have Nudge Coach. This is a specialized coaching platform. Customizable daily client progress trackers can take your coaching to a whole new level. Moreover, the platform is very user-friendly, and no code is required.

Nudge Coach is specifically designed for coaches. This focused approach enables it to provide more tailored solutions for online coaching businesses.

What’s Good

• The best thing about Nudge Coach is that it’s a simple platform for client management.
• Nudge Coach allows online coaches to stay close to clients with easy communication mechanisms such as messaging and subgroups.
• It offers a white-label coaching mobile app. That means you can create fully customized coaching apps for your business.
• Nudge Coach is super user-friendly and free from complexities.
• It can also be configured as HIPAA Compliant Platform for healthcare coaching programs.

What’s Not Good

• The biggest drawback of Nudge Coach is that there is no feature to collect payments.
• Nudge Coach is not suitable for beginners as it is quite pricey. It gets pricier and the Nudge Coach White label app starts at $600.
• This is not the right platform if you are thinking of scaling your online coaching business.
• There is a lack of automation in Nudge Coach that can affect your productivity.
• There are no templates available for creating any coaching program.
• There is no event feature or live chat feature for coaching sessions. You will have to use Zoom for that.

There You Have It!

Now, you have 5 online coaching platforms. The ball is in your court now. Choose wisely as this decision is pivotal.

But how can you choose the right platform?

First, look for one-stop solutions or all-in-one platforms. Such platforms will save you time, money, and effort. When running an online coaching platform, the last thing you want to do is juggle between platforms.

Choose one platform. That’s best for your clients too.

Next, look for all-in-one learning community platforms because such platforms are well-suited to help you scale your coaching business. However, such platforms have just the right online coaching tools.

If you want to see what such platforms are like, consider GroupApp.

Here’s GroupApp

GroupApp is an all-in-one learning community platform trusted by 967+ creators and coaches. With GroupApp, you can host your coaching courses, community, and memberships in one place.

It’s a perfect platform for beginners and experienced coaches. Online coaches like you are using GroupApp to scale and grow their coaching business.

Meet Aimee Carlson, a mindset coach, and owner at She Force. She is one of the many online coaches having a great experience with GroupApp.