Ubunya vs Udemy
Udemy brings students and keeps most of the money. Ubunya keeps your academy yours.
Udemy is the largest open course marketplace: anyone can publish a video course, and Udemy brings the students, sets frequent discounts and handles checkout. In return instructors keep 37% of a marketplace sale (97% when the student came through the instructor's own coupon) and a share of Udemy's subscription revenue that falls to 15% in 2026. Ubunya is your own academy: your brand, your learners, your programmes, and 0% taken from what they pay you.
The short answer
Choose Udemy if
- You want to reach a huge audience with a self-paced video course.
- You don't have an audience yet and need a marketplace to find students.
- Low prices and frequent discounts suit your topic.
Choose Ubunya if
- You run programmes with intakes, live sessions and a cohort.
- You want your own brand, address and learner contacts.
- Learners pay you directly, by bank, mobile money, card or an employer.
- You need attendance, certificates and reports for funders.
Udemy and Ubunya at a glance
- Price to you
- Udemy: Free to publish
- Ubunya: One plan agreed with you, paid by invoice in your currency. Every feature is included.
- What you keep
- Udemy: 37% of marketplace sales, 97% via your own coupons; 15% of subscription revenue in 2026
- Ubunya: 100% of what learners pay you
- Pricing control
- Udemy: Udemy runs site-wide discounts
- Ubunya: You set every fee
- Learner contacts
- Udemy: Stay with Udemy
- Ubunya: Yours
Feature by feature
| Feature | Ubunya | Udemy |
|---|---|---|
| Community feed, categories and polls | Course Q&A | |
| Courses, lessons and progress | Self-paced video courses | |
| Points, levels and leaderboards | ||
| Live sessions | Live rooms in the browser, with breakout groups and recording | |
| Admissions | Application forms with a review queue | |
| Cohorts | Intakes with seats, dates and class times | |
| Attendance | Online and in person, with QR check-in | |
| Certificates | Issued on completion, with a public check page | Completion certificates |
| Small groups | Squads inside each cohort | |
| Impact reporting | Impact reports and follow-up surveys | Course sales and reviews |
| Payments made outside a card checkout | Bank transfer, M-Pesa, UPI, Pix, card and cash recorded, with receipts and balances | Udemy's checkout only |
| One payer for many learners | An employer or sponsor pays for several learners | Udemy Business, sold by Udemy |
| WhatsApp and SMS | WhatsApp and SMS reminders and announcements | |
| Email broadcasts and automatic sequences | Limited announcements | |
| Phone app | Installable app under your own name and logo | Udemy's app |
| Web address | ubunya.com/yourname, or your own domain | A page on udemy.com |
| Developer access | Public API, MCP server and CLI | |
| Fee on what learners pay | 0% | Udemy keeps 63% of marketplace sales |
Udemy details as of November 2026, from Udemy: instructor revenue share, Udemy: updating subscription terms, S&P Global: Coursera's Udemy deal and published reviews. Prices and fees change, so check Udemy's site before you decide.
What Udemy really costs
The plan price is only part of the bill. Here is what each platform costs a month when 200 learners each pay $50 ($10,000 a month), on the cheapest plan that can sell memberships, billed yearly where offered: the plan, the platform's fee, and card processing where it is charged separately.
| Platform | Monthly cost | How it adds up |
|---|---|---|
| Skool Pro | $372 | $82 plan (yearly) + 2.9% Skool fee |
| SchoolMaker | $386 | $36 plan (yearly) + 0% + Stripe |
| Thinkific | $386 | $36 plan (yearly) + 0% + Stripe |
| LearnWorlds Pro Trainer | $429 | $79 plan (yearly) + 0% + Stripe |
| Kajabi Basic | $493 | $143 plan (yearly) + 0% + Kajabi Payments |
| Mighty Networks Launch | $629 | $79 plan (yearly) + 2% + Stripe |
| Whop | $630 | $0 plan + 3% community fee + 2.7% + $0.30 |
| Circle Professional | $639 | $89 plan (yearly) + 2% + Stripe |
| Disco | $749 | About $399 plan + Stripe |
| Teachable | $889 | $39 plan + 5% Teachable fee + card processing |
| Skool Hobby | $1,008 | $7.50 plan (yearly) + 10% Skool fee |
| Maven | $1,350 | $0 to list + 10% of each sale + Stripe |
| Patreon | $1,350 | 10% platform fee + 2.9% + $0.30 |
| Discord | $1,600 | 10% fee + about 6% desktop processing |
| Udemy | $6,300 | Free to publish; Udemy keeps 63% of marketplace sales |
| Ubunya | Your plan | One plan by invoice and 0% on learner payments. Learners pay you directly, by bank transfer, mobile money, card or cash, so nothing passes through Ubunya. |
Worked from each vendor's published prices in November 2026. Fees change and card rates vary by country, so check before you decide.
A marketplace listing or your own academy
Udemy's draw is reach: millions of learners browse it, and a course can sell without any audience of your own. The trade-off is control. Udemy decides discounts, keeps the learner relationship, and pays instructors 37% of a sale it brings in, or 97% when the learner used the instructor's own coupon or link. Its terms also let it change revenue shares, and the subscription share falls to 15% in 2026.
In 2026 Coursera agreed to combine with Udemy, so instructors may see further changes as the two marketplaces come together.
Ubunya is your own community at ubunya.com/yourname or your own domain. Learners join your programmes, pay you directly and stay in your alumni network, and Ubunya takes nothing from those payments.
Cohorts, not just a membership
Udemy sells self-paced video courses that learners start whenever they like. Ubunya starts from the programme: you open an intake with a start date, seats and class times, people apply, your team admits them, and they move through the cohort together until graduation.
Every learner has a record that follows them: which intake they joined, which sessions they attended, what they paid and which certificate they earned. When a funder or board asks how the last cohort went, the answer is already there.
If you only need an open membership that anyone can join with a card, Udemy may be all you need. If you admit people into programmes that start and finish, that structure is what Ubunya is for.
Getting paid the way your learners pay
Udemy takes every payment through its own checkout and pays instructors their share later. Many of the organisations we work with are paid by bank transfer, mobile money such as M-Pesa, UPI or Pix, a company cheque, a card on their own machine (Visa, Mastercard, American Express) or cash at the first session, often in instalments.
Ubunya records each payment against the learner's fee account, issues a receipt, shows the balance and reminds people before an instalment is due, by email, WhatsApp or SMS. Nothing is taken from what your learners pay: Ubunya charges 0%.
When an employer pays for ten staff, one payer covers all ten seats and gets one invoice, while each learner still has their own place in the cohort.
Where Udemy is the better choice
No platform suits everyone. Udemy does these things better than Ubunya:
- A huge built-in audience of learners.
- No cost to publish and nothing to set up.
- Udemy handles checkout, refunds, tax and marketing.
Moving from Udemy to Ubunya
- Request a community. We set it up with your name, logo and colours, at ubunya.com/yourname or on your own domain.
- Import your members from a CSV export, with their names, emails and phone numbers.
- Recreate your programmes and courses. Lesson videos can be uploaded or embedded, and we can help with the move when we agree your plan.
- Invite members to sign in. Their history starts in Ubunya from the next intake.
Questions
How much do Udemy instructors earn?+
Udemy instructors keep 37% of a sale Udemy brings in, and 97% when the learner used the instructor's coupon or referral link. Subscription earnings are a share of a pool, set at 15% of subscription revenue from January 2026. Check Udemy's instructor terms for current rates.
Can I run cohorts or live classes on Udemy?+
Udemy is built for self-paced video courses. It doesn't run intakes with start dates, live sessions, attendance or admissions. Ubunya does.
Udemy or Ubunya: which should I choose?+
Choose Udemy to reach a large marketplace with a self-paced course. Choose Ubunya to run your own academy under your brand, with cohorts, attendance, certificates and fees paid directly to you.
Other comparisons
Bring your next cohort to Ubunya
Request a community today. We review every request by hand.