What you need to build a course marketplace from scratch

A course marketplace is a website where multiple instructors can upload and sell their own courses to students. You are not selling one course—you are building the platform that hosts many courses and takes a commission or fee from each sale. This is different from a single-course website, which requires fewer moving parts.

To build one, you need four things working together: a hosting platform that can handle multiple user accounts, a payment processor that splits revenue between you and instructors, a way to deliver video and course materials securely, and a system to track student progress and issue certificates. You can buy all of this pre-built as a package, or you can assemble pieces yourself.

The two main routes are using a dedicated marketplace platform (like Teachable, Kajabi, or Thinkific) that handles everything, or building on a general website builder (WordPress with plugins, or a custom-coded solution) where you assemble the pieces yourself. The first route is faster and requires no coding. The second route costs less per month but demands technical knowledge or hiring a developer.

Key Takeaways

  • Dedicated marketplace platforms like Teachable and Kajabi include hosting, payment processing, student accounts, and video delivery in one monthly fee, with no coding required.
  • WordPress-based marketplaces using plugins like LearnDash or LifterLMS cost less monthly but require you to manage hosting, security, and plugin compatibility yourself.
  • You must choose a payment processor that supports split payments—sending part of each sale to the instructor and part to you—before you launch.
  • Video hosting is separate from your website hosting; storing large video files on your own server will slow your site down, so use a dedicated video service like Vimeo or Wistia.
  • Your marketplace needs a way to verify that students have completed courses before issuing certificates, which most platforms handle automatically.

Dedicated marketplace platforms: all-in-one solutions

Platforms like Teachable, Kajabi, Thinkific, and Podia are built specifically for selling courses and hosting multiple instructors. You sign up, create your marketplace, set your commission rate, and instructors can start uploading courses. The platform handles student accounts, payment processing, email notifications, and certificate generation.

Each platform charges you a monthly fee (usually $39 to $299 depending on features and student volume) plus a percentage of each sale (typically 5 to 10 percent, though some waive this if you pay a higher monthly fee). The instructor receives the rest. You do not need to touch code, manage servers, or handle security updates.

The trade-off is less control over the look and feel of your marketplace, and you are locked into that platform's payment processor and revenue split model. If you want to switch platforms later, moving hundreds of courses and student records is difficult. Start by comparing the commission rates, monthly costs, and instructor dashboard features of three to five platforms to see which fits your business model.

WordPress-based marketplaces: lower monthly cost, more work

If you already host a WordPress site or want to avoid monthly platform fees, you can build a marketplace using plugins. LearnDash and LifterLMS are the most common. You install the plugin on your WordPress site, configure it to allow multiple instructors, connect a payment processor, and instructors can upload courses.

Monthly costs are lower—WordPress hosting runs $5 to $30 per month, and plugins cost $0 to $300 per year depending on features. However, you are responsible for keeping WordPress, plugins, and your server find. If a plugin breaks after a WordPress update, your marketplace goes down until you fix it. You also need to choose and configure a separate payment processor that supports split payments, such as Stripe Connect or PayPal Commerce Platform.

This route makes sense if you have technical skills, already run a WordPress site, or are willing to hire a developer to set it up and maintain it. For a first marketplace, most people find the dedicated platforms faster to launch, even if the monthly cost is higher.

How to handle payments and instructor payouts

Your payment processor must support split payments—the ability to automatically send part of each sale to the instructor and part to your account. Stripe Connect and PayPal Commerce Platform both do this. When a student buys a $100 course and you take 20 percent, Stripe automatically sends $80 to the instructor's bank account and $20 to yours.

Most dedicated marketplace platforms (Teachable, Kajabi, Thinkific) handle this automatically—you set your commission rate in the dashboard, and the platform manages the split. If you use WordPress, you must configure your payment processor yourself or hire a developer to do it. This is not optional; if you try to collect all the money and manually send instructors their share, you will create a bookkeeping nightmare and instructors will distrust you.

Decide your commission rate before you launch. Common rates are 15 to 30 percent for the marketplace, leaving 70 to 85 percent for the instructor. Higher commissions discourage instructors from joining; lower commissions mean you do not make enough to cover your costs. Many marketplaces offer a tiered model: lower commission rates for instructors who bring in high sales volume.

Video hosting and course content delivery

Do not store video files on your web server. A single course with ten hours of video can be 50 to 100 gigabytes. Serving that from your own server will slow your entire marketplace down and cost you money in bandwidth fees. Instead, use a dedicated video hosting service like Vimeo, Wistia, Bunny, or Mux.

These services store your videos, stream them to students without buffering, and let you control who can watch (so students cannot share the video link with friends). They also track how much of each video a student has watched, which you can use to verify course completion. Most charge $20 to $100 per month depending on how much video you are storing and streaming.

Your marketplace platform or WordPress plugin will have a field where you paste the video embed code from your video host. The student sees the video player on your course page, but the actual file is served from the video host's servers. This separation keeps your marketplace fast and your costs predictable.

Setting up instructor accounts and course uploads

Your marketplace needs an instructor dashboard where teachers can upload courses, set prices, write descriptions, and see their earnings. Dedicated platforms provide this out of the box. If you use WordPress, plugins like LifterLMS include an instructor dashboard, but you may need to customize it or hire a developer to match your brand.

Decide upfront what instructors can and cannot do. Can they set their own prices, or do you set a fixed price? Can they run promotions and discounts? Can they see student email addresses, or do you keep those private? Can they delete their course after students have enrolled? These rules should be in your instructor agreement, which every instructor signs before uploading.

Most platforms let you approve courses before they go live, or you can allow instructors to publish when ready. Approving courses takes time but protects your marketplace's quality. Allowing when ready publishing gets courses live faster but means you may have to remove low-quality or inappropriate content later.

Student progress tracking and certificates

Your marketplace must track which lessons each student has completed so you can issue certificates only to students who finished the course. Dedicated platforms do this automatically—when a student watches a video or completes a quiz, the platform records it. WordPress plugins like LearnDash also track progress, but you need to configure what counts as "completion" (for example, watching 90 percent of each video, or passing a final quiz).

Certificates are usually a PDF that the student can read after completing the course. Most platforms generate these automatically with the student's name, course title, and completion date. You can customize the certificate design, but the platform handles printing and delivery.

Some instructors want to issue their own certificates or require a passing grade on a final exam before the certificate is awarded. Make sure your platform supports these variations, or you will have to handle them manually.

Choosing between building now or waiting

If you have instructors ready to upload courses and students ready to buy, launch on a dedicated platform when ready. You can move to a custom solution later if you need more control. If you are still recruiting instructors or testing the market, start with a free trial of Teachable or Thinkific to see whether the model works before you commit money.

If you have a large budget and specific requirements (for example, you want to integrate your marketplace with an existing company database, or you need white-label branding), hire a developer to build a custom marketplace using WordPress or a framework like Laravel or Django. This costs $10,000 to $50,000 upfront but gives you full control and no monthly platform fees.

Most first-time marketplace owners should start with a dedicated platform. The monthly cost is worth the time you save, and you can always rebuild on WordPress or a custom solution once you have proven the business works.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can instructors use their own payment processor instead of mine?

No. Your marketplace needs one payment processor so you can split revenue automatically. If each instructor uses their own processor, you cannot take a commission and you cannot verify that sales actually happened. Instructors receive their share through your payment processor's payout system, usually within 24 to 48 hours of a sale.

What happens if an instructor uploads a course and then disappears?

Students who already bought the course should still have access to it. Your instructor agreement should say whether you can remove the course after a set period of inactivity, or whether you keep it live indefinitely. If you remove it, decide whether students get refunds. Most marketplaces keep courses live even if the instructor is inactive, so students do not lose access.

Do I need to pay taxes on the commission I take from each sale?

Yes. The commission is your business income and is taxable. You also need to issue 1099 forms to instructors if they earn over $600 in a year (in the United States). Talk to an accountant about your specific situation, but do not assume the platform handles this for you—it does not.

Can students read course videos to watch offline?

Most video hosting services let you disable downloads to prevent piracy. You can allow downloads for some courses and disable them for others. If you allow downloads, students can share the video files, so this is a trade-off between convenience and security.

What if I want to sell courses myself on the same marketplace?

You can. Create an instructor account for yourself and upload your courses like any other instructor. You still pay the platform fee or plugin cost, but you do not take a commission on your own sales. Some marketplace owners do this to model what a good course looks like for other instructors.