There are generally three ways to sell courses online: listing them on a course marketplace, renting a course platform, or selling them on your own website. None of these methods is inherently better than the others; the difference lies in who helps you find students, how revenue is split, and who owns the student list. This guide helps you determine which approach is right for you.
| Course Marketplace | Course Platform | Your Own Website (Kanorio) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Listing courses on a third-party marketplace to sell alongside other instructors | Renting a course system to build your own course site | Hosting courses on your brand website, with courses, store, blog, and newsletters all in one place |
| Who finds students | The platform provides traffic and recommendations | Mostly up to you | Mostly up to you; Kanorio provides enrollment tools |
| Revenue sharing | Usually based on order source; instructors often receive 30–50% for sales from platform traffic | Monthly fee-based; some plans charge additional transaction fees | Monthly plan fee plus platform fee (Free 9%, Pro 3%, Business 0%); funds go directly to your payment account |
| Student list & Email | Usually not provided; you must contact students via platform announcements or messaging | Yes | Yes; you can export data and retain each student's newsletter consent status |
| Sending newsletters | Subject to platform rules | Depends on the platform; some require third-party email services | Built-in (Pro plan and above) |
Course marketplaces are suitable for instructors who are just starting out and do not yet have their own audience: the platform helps you gain exposure, but the trade-off is revenue sharing and loss of control over student data. For instructors who already have fans, a community, or a steady stream of customers, selling on your own website usually allows you to retain more revenue and build long-term relationships with the same group of students.
Your own website does not have the built-in traffic of a course marketplace, so you need to bring your own students. Kanorio's built-in marketing tools can help: collect leads with free courses or handouts, drive search traffic with a blog, issue early-bird discount codes, send newsletters to subscribers when new courses launch, and display reviews or pinned announcements on your site. See for details.
Most instructors can sell courses directly using Kanorio without writing any code. If you already have a website or require special designs or workflows, you can connect your courses to your own site, allowing students to log in and take courses directly on your domain. See to learn how.
The following features are not currently available; please use third-party tools if you need them:
Kanorio does not restrict you from selling elsewhere. However, some course marketplaces have rules regarding exclusivity, pricing, or directing traffic to external websites. Please check the terms of your original platform first.
Yes, course features are available on all plans. However, the Free plan shares 200 MB of storage across all free sites in your account, charges a 9% platform fee, and does not support newsletters. It is better suited for selling e-books or handouts. For video courses, please refer to Course costs for a breakdown.
Yes. In the "Students" tab of your course, click "Export CSV". This will export the status, progress, enrollment and completion dates, minutes watched, and certificate serial numbers for each student based on your current filters. See Students and access.
No. Students log in to your site using the email they used to purchase the course by receiving a verification code. They will see your brand and will not see any Kanorio account registration process.
| Brand & URL | Platform's brand and URL | Your own URL | Your own URL and a complete brand website |
| Pricing & Discounts | Platform often runs site-wide promotions; you may not control pricing | You decide | You decide |
| Progress & Data | Viewable in the platform dashboard | Yes | Yes; also accessible via AI assistant or API |