A Complete Guide to Create An E-learning Platform Like Udemy

The Online Educational Market is Booming!
All thanks to innovative platforms like Udemy, the education sector is seeing a huge transformation of positive change, including increased interest of students and personalized learning opportunities.

And, seeing this revolution, many users and investors are ready to be a part of it.

Well, such curiosity ignites a spark and that spark leads to question.

How much does it cost to create an eLearning platform like Udemy? What is the process of developing a website like Udemy?

Don’t worry! This guide to create a platform like Udemy will answer your query and completely enlighten you with all the knowledge.

Overview of the Educational & E-learning Market

You aren’t the only one who is looking to develop an educational platform?

There are many businesses and investors who are ready to jump on the bandwagon, but the question is why?

Reason being, that the market is flourishing, and here are some stats backing this statement.

• The educational market is becoming stronger than ever. As a result, it is expected to grow from $3438.78 bn in 2023 to $3707.96bn in 2024 and will reach $4980.51 bn in 2028.
• Learning online can be significantly faster: studies show a 60% improvement in learning and knowledge retention compared to traditional classroom settings.
• Many college students prefer online learning! A survey revealed that 41% of students find e-learning more effective than traditional classroom teaching.
• Besides, half of the students (47%) of students surveyed felt online instruction quality matched traditional classes.
• As of Udemy, it shines as one of the most affordable platforms compared to its competitors.
• Breaking down language barriers! Udemy boasts courses in a whopping 77 languages, making education accessible to a global audience.
• 85 million learners are taking the help of Udemy, which is a testament to the platform’s high-quality content.

Udemy-Video Based E-Learning Platform

You must be living under rocks, if you haven’t heard about the e-learning platform, Udemy.

This is an e-learning giant that provides video-based online courses that are mainly aimed at students and professionals of all fields, but not limited to that.

Launched back in the year 2010, by Eren Bali, Gagan Biyani and Oktay Caglar, the platform has gathered quite a following over the past decade.

If you are someone who wants to develop an e-learning platform, there is no other platform that serves as a better example of how education platform development should be done but Udemy.

As of 2018, eight years after its launch, the platform recorded 20 million active users at the start of the year. And by the end, they had 10 million more, making it a total of 30 million users across the internet.

But, this doesn’t end here; today they have 69 million registered users with 213,000+ courses generating billions in revenue.

Now, that you got a clear picture of Udemy, let’s find out why one should create a website like Udemy.

Reasons to Develop a Platform like Udemy

While there are many with firm visions, some are still looking for reasons to develop an e-learning platform.

This is why we shall be discussing some reasons as to why create a platform like Udemy is a smart choice?

1. Everyone Can Afford it

See, schools and colleges especially the quality ones are really expensive. As a result, not everyone can afford it.

Seeing the situation of the market, creating e-learning apps like Duolingo, Coursera, and Udemy made a smart move by offering education with affordable pricing. This made users curious and also got them interested in trying them out.

2. Target Wide Audience

Besides, these institutions target specific age groups of people. And, people who want to continue their studies later or learn a new skill, either drop out or feel left out.

Thanks to e-learning, it is not a problem anymore.

And, now when your school is online, anyone and everyone can join it, regardless of their age group or interest. In fact, this has made it easy for professionals to obtain new skills as per their busy schedules.

Besides, it is also visible that these platform are able to reach a wider audience than traditional educational institutions. And by leveraging this, you can make billions in revenue in the market.

3. Customized Learning Experience

One of the top reasons that users love websites like Udemy is because they tailor learning to you, which is exactly what the purpose of edtech is.

Regular schools can’t do this, but are these learning platforms smart? They leverage the power of artificial intelligence to customize what you learn, making it personal as well as effective.

Educational platforms like Udemy are a great hit because they can adjust what you learn and how you learn to fit your needs. This makes these apps attractive that they help you remember things better!

4. Increase Revenue

Seeing the growth of the current market, we are sure that if you want to build an eLearning Website like Udemy, then this is the right time for it.

There is no second thought that every business invests in app development to make a good amount of revenue. And, the reason to create an eLearning platform like Udemy is the same.

Market of education has the potential to make a lot of money by creating a successful e-learning. If you hit the right spot, you can make not only Millions but even Billions.

5. Learn At Your Own Pace

Do you know what are the best advantages that draw people to these platforms? It’s self-paced learning.

You see most of the professional and school courses on these platforms are self-paced meaning you can learn as per your terms, there is no pressure or strict schedule. They can re-watch videos at their own convenience which helps them to not only learn the topic but also get in-depth knowledge.

This is surely a big deal for students, which is why you should consider getting a feature-rich solution from a mobile app development company to make an app like Udemy.

With that said, if you are planning to embark on a development journey, then here are some features that you should include in the platform.

Features to Include in an Educational Platform like Udemy

Believe it or not, features are the backbone of any e-learning platform. So, if you want to build a platform similar to it, it is necessary to take over the market with some top features.

Let’s look at some of the must-have features of an e-learning website, as mentioned below.

• User-Friendly Search & Browsing

To build a website like Udemy, you should allow your user to search as per their query, which makes it necessary to integrate a user-friendly search & browsing.

Through this, they can search for subject matter through keywords, categories, skill levels, and more.

Besides, filtering helps them to narrow down search results and focus on what they are looking for.

• Course Content

It’s a top feature of any educational app through which the app offers a plethora of course content that their users never run out of.

This includes offering video lectures, downloadable material, quizzes, and assignments.

Also, it’s important to provide closed captions and subtitles for accessibility. This makes the lesson clearer and more engaging for users.

• Personalized Learning

Customized learning in the context of an e-learning platform means tailoring the learning experience to every individual user.

This creates a positive environment for every student and makes them feel like it’s better to understand a topic rather than cram it up.

Through these platforms, people can watch content at their own pace through the material as fast or slow as they need.

• Video-Based Content

In e-learning platforms, the primary thing is that they deliver content & information through videos.

You see, many topics are better explained with text and pictures, so people believe that things explained visually help them remember things better which seems true.

Udemy isn’t alone! There used to be several platforms such as Lynda that focused on video-based learning. Later, Lynda merged with LinkedIn to offer its courses on a bigger platform. This truly shows how video-based content is in demand.

So, you shouldn’t overlook this feature.

• Gamification

Learning doesn’t have to be boring. So, let’s make it awesome!

You can add some amazing game features to the platform, like points, badges, and maybe even challenges.

That way, studying will feel more like playing a game that you actually enjoy. To do so, you can create leaderboards for courses or topics, allowing users to compete with friends or family.

Besides, you can include quizzes with points and feedback to make learning more interactive and engaging. Your users will surely love to see such a feature. And perhaps this might make you the best educational apps for them.

• Offline Access

To create a website like Udemy, Offline access is a must.

You see, there are regions with low data coverage, if you are planning to target a wide range of users then allow them to download course content and access it whenever they want without an internet connection.

This helps the user to learn them at their own pace, without being restricted by internet availability.

• Account Management Dashboard

No more hunting for information!

The dashboard keeps everything in a central place that allows users to view and manage their account information, settings, and activity. Besides, it also keeps users updated in every aspect.

When is your next bill due? Or if there’s any new offer? Check your dashboard- it’s got you covered.

Get ready to supercharge your vision! These features could turn your education app idea into a massive hit. Let’s dive right in and see how to turn your app into a reality!

How to Create a Video-Based E-learning Platform like Udemy?

So, “How to create an E-learning platform like Udemy?’’

Knowing this, it is a must to understand the complete development process.

Undoubtedly, it’s a rewarding process, but also has some things that you need to do on your own. Here we shall be doing to same:

Step 1: Find an Idea

The first step to create an e-learning website like Udemy is to have a top-notch app idea.

It’s not rocket science; all you need to do is a thorough market research. This way, you can keep the guesswork out and actually work on facts.

Moreover, the information gathered here can be of use later down the line. So, it is really necessary to ensure a research strategy that is efficient and organized.

Step 2: Cross-check it

Before leaping into development, let’s validate your education app idea!
This is where the need to cross-check functioning comes in.

We’ll need to check your idea’s viability, user demand, and potential ROI. Once we’re confident we have a winner, we can tackle the next crucial step.

Step 3: Plan its Functionality

Once you have the idea, it’s time to plan its functionality.

You can use some of the well-known features for your platform including user profile, course browsing, search with filters, and more.

Soon, you will need to add some advanced features such as quizzes, assignments, discussion forums, etc. But, make sure to get more features as per your user feedback.

Step 4: Front-End Development

The work of front-end development is to deal with UI/UX design.

Anyhow, this is one of the most important steps to build an e-learning platform like Udemy. This is where you can make a difference and get a competitive edge. It’s all about creating a memorable user experience and interface for your users.

Once it is done, time to move to the server side.

Step 5: Back-End Development

Back-end development is similar to behind-the-scenes that power your platform to function.

This way, one can write codes that execute on webservers handling many tasks such as data processing, database interactions, and platform logic.

Nevertheless, all of the documents and contracts have been signed already, protecting the privacy and uniqueness of your project.

Step 6: Testing

Once your online learning portal is ready, it’s time to test the platform.

The purpose of mobile app testing is basically to find bugs and errors in the app and eliminate them as soon as possible to ensure a seamless experience for your user.

Step 7: Launching

Following the testing, the platform is now launched in the market.

It’s time to make the platform available to your target audience to download. As per the pre-discussion, you can publish your app to the Play Store or submit your app to the App Store.

It might take some time to hear back from them, till then make sure to prepare some marketing strategies to make people know about your platform.

Step 8: Maintenance & Services

Once you build an eLearning platform like Udemy and launch it.

It’s time for a new journey that is “Maintenance & Services”. If you don’t want to fail like the majority of others, it is highly recommended to consider your user feedback and work on it.

Cost to Develop a Platform like Udemy

Do you want to know the cost to create a website like Udemy?

The Udemy-like website development cost can be somewhere between $20,000 TO $50,000. This cost can increase or decrease as per your project needs and requirements.

Well, it’s not wrong to say that to make smart decisions for your platform, it’s essential to understand the cost to develop an educational app.

Now, let’s see a brief breakdown:

This is just an estimate! Now, to know about the right cost to create an online education platform like Udemy, you should consult a reliable company like Nimble AppGenie with all your requirements.

Factors Affecting the Cost to Build an eLearning Website like Udemy

If you want to know about the cost to create a website like Udemy, then it becomes necessary to know about the relative factors that can affect this cost.

This section of the blog explores such factors:

1. Features

Features can be anything from basic to advanced.

Now to create your platform like Udemy, adding basic features such as a search function, user management, course listing, video streaming, and payment processing will cost less.

But, if you get inspired to add some advanced such as integrating AI into your educational app, gamification elements, or any advanced analytics then the cost might be high.

The solution lies in maintaining a balance between your features and budget.

2. Development Team Location

Once you have an idea to create an online education platform like Udemy, it’s time to hire mobile developers.

Hiring can be done from any region. But, this choice can also affect your cost. How? Due to high living standards, it might be possible that the developers from countries like the USA charge you more compared to countries like Asia.

If you will take a look at the table below, you will get to know how cost differs:

3. UI/UX design

Yes, this is another factor to consider for the cost to build a platform like Udemy.

It means putting the needs and expectations of your target users at the forefront of the design process.

UI/UX Design can arouse emotions in users. However, people often feel trapped in thinking that a lot of elements and design choices will make their app/website better. But, no, this can actually confuse users while draining your money.

It’s suggested to keep your platform design simple and user-friendly, which will not only reduce the design cost but also create a more enjoyable experience for users.

4. Development Approach

There are several ways to create a platform like Udemy, such as In-house, Staff Augmentation, freelancers, or outsourcing to a marketplace app development company.

The choice is yours, but what we suggest, you can go for outsourcing as it is cost-effective and also ensures quality work under the guidance of expert developers.

With this out of the way, let’s talk about how you can recover the investment made.

Monetization Models to Create an Online Education Platform like Udemy

The idea to launch a platform raises the question of how to earn by creating an eLearning platform like Udemy. As a result, there are several monetization strategies available in the market.

Explore them and choose the best.

• Freemium

A well-known education app business model that is made from Free and Premium meaning as a platform you can offer a limited selection of free courses to attract users.

Premium Features like Certificates, access to exclusive courses, or instructor interaction can be offered for a fee. You can stay ahead of the competition by leveraging new trends in education technology into premium features, giving reasons to users to pay for it.

• Corporate Training Model

This is a great benefit of having an educational app through which you can offer a dynamic and engaging way to learn. You can partner with different businesses to offer customized training programs or courses for their employees.

This can be a great model to earn high revenue from bulk deals, catering to specific markets with unique needs.

• Subscription Model

Users pay a monthly or annual subscription fee for unlimited access to a library of courses. This offers certainty for revenue and encourages user management.

If you can integrate some amazing features, then you can make some recurring revenue streams, and promote user loyalty and content consumption.

• Paid Course Model

This is also a common model for eLearning platforms, similar to Udemy itself.

This way, instructors can create and upload courses, set their prices, and you can charge a share of their revenue for each enrollment. It’s a great way to make a name for your app for delivering high-quality content and making money out of it.

With that, the guide to create a platform like Udemy has come to an end. The next section will be of your use.

How Nimble AppGenie Can Help to Create a Platform Like Udemy?

If you want to embark on a journey of Udemy-like platform development, then Nimble AppGenie is the best education app development company for that.

We prioritize our client’s goals and ensure that they get an exceptional result that not only meet their needs but also drive user engagement and business growth.

We also achieve this through a collaborative development process, ensuring clear communication and client involvement every step of the way.

Have an idea? Contact us to turn into a successful Product.

Conclusion

E-learning platform development has been growing quite popular in recent years. And with the recent success of e-learning platforms like Udemy, everyone wants to know how to create a website like Udemy. if this is something that you want to do, it is highly recommended that you consult a market-leading app development company i.e. Nimble AppGenie who can help you with the same.

FAQs

Yashshree Purohit

Yashshree Purohit, an experienced Technical Content Writer at Nimble AppGenie boasts over 5 years of expertise crafting compelling content across multiple domains. Passionate about transforming complex ideas into clear and compelling narratives, she excels in creating content that resonates with the audience.