Online course marketplaces like Udemy provide one of the best platforms for accessing potential students for your online courses. These platforms also invest heavily in marketing, meaning instructors don’t have to worry too much about lead generation.
The problem is that you don’t have much flexibility when you publish your courses on these platforms. You have to play by their rules, and any revenue your course generates must be shared with them.
It’s for these reasons that people seek Udemy alternatives like GetResponse. In this post, we’re going to compare GetResponse and Udemy to see which platform is ideal for online course creators.
GetResponse vs Udemy comparison table
| Features | GetResponse | Udemy |
| Course creation and customization | – AI-powered course builder – Module courses with text, video, audio, webinars, quizzes, and certificates. -Premium Newsletter – Integration with WordPress and website builder included. | – User-friendly course builder with resources for beginners. – Built-in teaching center with guides on course creation. – Limited customization options. |
| Revenue & ownership | – Full ownership of course revenue. – Provides marketing tools like email marketing, web building, and automation. – No platform transaction fees. | – Based on revenue-sharing (3% for personal referrals, 63% for Udemy-led sales) .- Courses must adhere to Udemy’s pricing and promotional guidelines. |
| Pricing & plans | – 30-day free trial and then$48.30/month for the content monetization hub (includes course builder, email marketing, website/landing page builder, and automation tools) | – Free to start; revenue-based model deducts a percentage from each sale. – No upfront costs, making it accessible for beginners. |
| Target audience | – Ideal for creators who want full control over their courses, marketing, and audience. | – Best for beginners or creators who want minimal involvement in marketing. |
Overview of GetResponse and Udemy
GetResponse is a popular marketing platform with tools for email marketing, marketing automation, SMS campaigns, web push notifications, and eCommerce.
Beyond these solutions, we also have a content monetization hub that allows instructors and other experts to monetize their knowledge in different ways.
The content monetization hub features an AI-powered online course builder. This software helps you create multi-module online courses with several lessons, quizzes, and even completion certificates.
Besides the course creator, we have tools for creating premium newsletters and membership sites. These provide an alternative way of monetizing your content, especially if you prefer generating recurring revenue from your efforts. It’s easier to do so with premium newsletters and a membership site than with an online course, where the industry standard is a one-off payment.
Udemy, on the other hand, is an extremely popular online course marketplace. Its solution provides all the tools you need to create an online course and launch it into its readily available market.
One of Udemy’s biggest selling points is that it is a recognized brand that runs extensive marketing campaigns to attract potential students.
Also, unlike top online course builders like GetResponse, which charge you to use their tools, Udemy gives you the tools for free. This lowers the barrier to entry significantly, allowing more people to create and publish their online courses.
Instead of charging you upfront, Udemy has a revenue-sharing model. We’ll talk more about this when we look at pricing and plans below.
GetResponse vs. Udmy features comparison
Let’s break down the different features these two platforms offer:
Course creation and customization
GetReseponse offers an AI course builder that helps you structure and create your online course. The generative AI feature can also help you create your course outline and module description.
The course builder allows you to use different types of content, including text, audio, video, webinars, and even external resources.
Our platform also allows you to build interactive quizzes. These quizzes help you assess students and keep the learning journey engaging. Once the students have completed the course and passed the quiz, you can issue them a customized certificate to demonstrate their accomplishment.
GetResponse also allows you to build a creator profile where you can demonstrate your expertise and online courses. You can also enable comments and ratings on your courses. This allows students to interact with each other and share feedback on your course material.
Our platform also supports an integration with WordPress, which is vital if you already have an existing audience on a WordPress blog or website.
If you don’t have an existing website, don’t worry. Our online course builder package comes with unlimited access to our marketing tools, which include a website and landing page builder. You can use these to set up your online presence and start promoting your course.
Udemy has a simple, easy-to-use course builder that anyone can use to build and launch their first online course in hours.
The platform also has many learning resources in its “Teaching Center,” where you can access educational materials on creating and recording your course.
Plus, they have an instructor support team that reviews your first test videos to ensure you’re creating engaging learning materials. They can also answer any questions you may have about building your course or using their tools.
Marketing and promotion tools
This is one of the few areas where there is a significant difference between GetResponse and Udemy. GetResponse gives you access to some of the best marketing tools for creating and running your own marketing campaigns.
Meanwhile, Udemy handles most of the marketing on your behalf. Of course, you have the option to promote your Udemy course on social media and other channels, but Udemy only gives you basic features (coupon code and referral links) to do so.
When you purchase the content monetization hub plan, GetResponse will give you unlimited access to the autoresponder, email marketing software, website builder, landing page creator, marketing automation, popups & forms, and integrations & API.
That means you can set up your online course landing page or website, start collecting email addresses, create and deploy your email campaigns (with customizable templates to help you), and automate some of your email series. All within a single platform!
Now, of course, this means that besides creating your course, you’ll need to handle its marketing yourself. That’s an extra headache that some creators may not be okay with. If that’s the case, then you will likely find Udemy to be the better choice for you. The drawback is you may have to share up to 63% of your revenue (from each sale) with the platform.
But if you can create and handle the marketing campaigns yourself, we recommend you use GetResponse’s tools to build these campaigns and have full ownership of your course. This ensures that you collect 100% of your online course sales. Also, unlike most online learning platforms, our plan doesn’t charge any transaction fees.
That said, we must admit that Udemy makes life very easy for online course instructors. The platform runs global marketing campaigns to attract potential students. It has attracted a record 1 billion enrollments and 73 million students, with more than 200,000 published courses.
They also have excellent retargeting campaigns to bring back website visitors who do not convert. If your course is selected for the Udemy business, you’ll have even more earning opportunities, as it will be available to businesses and enterprises that want to train their employees.
Pricing and plans
GetResponse has a 30-day free trial, after which you’ll need to pay $48.30 per month for the content monetization hub. This gives you access to the course builder, where you can create and publish unlimited courses. You also gain access to the membership site and premium newsletter tools.
Besides the monetization solutions, you’ll have unlimited access to our marketing tools. These include:
- Email marketing (with free email templates)
- Autoresponders
- Marketing automation
- Website & landing page builders (templates included)
- Integrations & API
This plan has no transaction fees and comes with 24/7 live chat support.
The starting price of $48.30/mo accommodates 1000 contacts and up to 500 active students. Pricing adjusts based on the number of contacts. So the next plan costs $55.30/mo and accommodates 2500 contacts and up to 1,000 active students.
Udemy does not charge anything to get started. This is another reason the platform is so attractive to beginners. You can set up your course for free, and they’ll only take a cut of your sales.
How much do they take? That depends on whether the student came through your promotional efforts or the platform’s.
If a student signs up through your coupon or referral link, you get to keep 97% of the sale. So, Udemy only takes 3% of that sale.
If a student signs up after interacting with Udemy’s advertisement or while browsing the marketplace (i.e., any enrollment where no coupon code or referral link was used), the instructor only keeps 37%, and Udemy takes 63% of the sale.
Note that the above percentages are net of any applicable taxes or fees.
Also, keep in mind that Udemy has several standards you must meet to monetize your course. For example, the course must have at least 2 hours worth of video content. Otherwise, it’ll be published as a free content.
Our marketing solution also has a free plan that you can use in case in case you’ve already built your course on Udemy or other platforms.
Integration and compatibility
GetResponse integrates with a wide variety of third-party tools to extend its functionality even further. For instance, it connects with popular payment processing tools like PayPal and Stripe. It also integrates with WordPress and eCommerce tools like Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, and ClickFunnels.
Udemy also supports some integrations, which are particularly helpful for businesses using the platform for employee training. It connects with learning management systems (LMS) like 360 Learning, Buk, Classera, Cypher Learning, LinkedIn Learning, Microsoft Viva Learning, and Degreed.
It also connects with communication tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams.
It’s worth pointing out that Udemy is available on both browsers and mobile devices. GetResponse also has a mobile app that can help students access your materials and learn while on the go.
Target audience and use cases
GetResponse is ideal for online educators who are providing professional or personal development. This includes fitness and music coaches, online marketing teachers, language tutors, and financial educators.
Our platform is also the perfect choice for any experts who want a scalable online course builder with advanced marketing tools. We’ll give you access to our popular marketing solutions without charging you extra so that you can build and promote your online course from one place.
Meanwhile, Udemy is ideal for individuals who are just getting started with building online courses and an audience. The platform’s simplicity is a plus for beginners. Also, since they handle most of the marketing on your behalf, you can focus on creating your course material.
One strategy worth considering as a beginner is to use Udemy to build your audience and sell your first course. You can then slowly transition to a scalable solution like GetResponse that gives you more freedom and ownership over your courses.
Choosing the right platform for your online course
Both GetResponse and Udemy give you easy-to-use course-building tools. Udemy has a beginner-friendly interface. However, GetResponse gives you slightly more customization options and overall branding freedom.
In terms of marketing, GetResponse gives you all the key features you need to handle marketing on your own. Meanwhile, Udemy will help you out through its marketplace (where your course can be discoverable) and global paid advertising efforts. They also give you coupon codes and referral links in case you want to do some self-promotion. But ultimately, you get more features with GetResponse.
Finally, regarding pricing, GetResponse charges $48.30/mo upfront, but you keep 100% of your online course revenue. On the other hand, Udemy has no monthly subscription, but it takes between 3% and 63% of each sale.
To sum up, we’d say go with GetResponse if you want maximum flexibility and are okay with handling your own marketing. Choose Udemy if you want a readily available target audience of potential customers and are comfortable with the revenue-sharing model.