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How much do online courses really pay?

Udemy pays 37% of its own marketplace sales and 97% through your link. Your own site keeps more, but then you find every buyer.

✓ Checked 9 Nov 2026 against company pages and independent sources · Next check 5 Feb 2027
A woman teaching online at a laptop, in front of bookshelves

A course is made once and sold many times. The real choice is who finds the buyers: a marketplace such as Udemy pays you 37% of the sales it brings in, while your own platform leaves you to do the marketing.

What do you need for online courses?

  1. Something people will pay to learnCheck they already search for it.
  2. Time to make itA good course takes weeks.
  3. A way to reach buyersThis is the real work.

What you keep

Udemy, through your own link
97%
Udemy, its own marketplace
37%
PlatformCostWhat it means
Teachable Starter$39 a month + 7.5%Transaction fee on sales
Teachable, higher plansFrom $89 a month, 0%No transaction fee when you use Teachable Payments
Gumroad10% + $0.50Or 30% through its Discover page

On a $100 course at Udemy’s 37%, you keep $37. On Gumroad you keep $89.50, but you found the buyer yourself. Our sums.

What it adds up to

Sales of a $100 courseUdemy marketplace (37%)Your Udemy link (97%)Gumroad (10% + $0.50)
10 sales$370$970$895
50 sales$1,850$4,850$4,475
200 sales$7,400$19,400$17,900

On your own link and on Gumroad you find every buyer yourself. Our sums on the numbers above: an example, not a promise.

When do online courses pay you?

QuestionAnswer
Paid out atSources differ on Udemy, from $0 to $50
First moneySources differ on Udemy: about 60 days after the sale, or around the 7th of the next month

What is the catch with online courses?

  • Udemy’s own pages could not be read when we checked, so its rates rest on independent sources and on its 2023 letter to instructors, filed with the US SEC.
  • For subscriptions, that letter set the instructor share at 15% from January 2026, and Learning Revolution says instructors split that pool by minutes watched.

How to start with online courses

  1. Test demand firstPre-sell before you record.
  2. Pick where buyers come fromThat decides the platform.
  3. Make a short versionSell it, then expand.

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