Sales
How to price an online course?
Price is a promise plus boundaries: who enters, for how long, with how much of your time. Not “the Facebook average.”
6 min readUpdated 2026
How much does an online course cost? As much as the promise and your calendar can hold. A 97 złoty price with 1:1 in the background will drag you into support. A 4000 złoty price without proof and without a cohort stays a poster.
The amounts below are illustrations, not madebyu customer results and not platform pricing. The site subscription is separate — on the pricing page.
Transformation
The tighter and more checkable the result, the higher you can go. “You’ll feel better” stays on a low shelf. “In 6 weeks you deliver a 20-photo gallery to a client” — a different conversation.
Audience
Hobby and first step: a lower threshold, more people, simpler support. Specialists and companies: a higher price, fewer units, harder FAQ (invoice, team access). Do not mix both on one page without two products.
Format
- —Recorded lessons: scales, price for the program, not for your hour on Zoom.
- —Cohort with live: your presence is in the price — higher, fewer seats.
- —Hybrid: recording + two Q&As. A price between self-paced and 1:1.
Access period
12 months, 24, unlimited — that is a hosting cost and a promise. Shorter access lowers the price or raises the “I have to finish this” feeling. Say it in the FAQ, not in a footnote.
Support level
No comments, email, a group, assignment review. Each rung is hours. If you do not want reviews — do not promise them. A price without support can be lower and more honest.
Cohort vs self-paced
| Self-paced | Cohort | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Lower, open | Higher, sign-up window |
| Your time | Low after recording | High in the running weeks |
| Completion | Depends on self-discipline | Group pace helps |
Membership price
Monthly for a reason to come back — not for an archive someone can download in a weekend. A yearly plan cheaper than 12× month if you want predictability. Course or membership.
One-time payment
One amount, a clear scope. The simplest checkout. In madebyu that is the natural model for a course product.
Subscription
It makes sense with a library that grows. Weak for a finished 6-week program — then people feel they are paying for something that already sits there. Stripe Connect in madebyu will handle both; the decision is a product one.
Early bird
A discount for decision speed, with an end date. An eternal “-40%” teaches waiting. Early bird should close a waitlist, not embarrass the regular price.
Deposit
For a live, a retreat, a cohort with limited seats — part now, the rest before start. For a purely recorded course usually unnecessary. madebyu is not a bank installment system; do not promise installments checkout does not have.
Count recording hours and the first year of support. If the price does not cover that, it is a hobby with an invoice. Sales: how to sell online courses.