Best platforms to sell live classes in 2026

The best platform to sell live classes depends on your model: Maven suits cohort courses, Kajabi and Teachable suit all in one course businesses, Luma suits event ticketing, CreativeLive is curated, and Masterclass.tv is a live first marketplace.

There is no single best option for every expert. A founder selling one evening session to an existing audience needs something different from a coach running a six week cohort or a creator building a library of recorded courses. This guide compares six platforms by how they work, who they suit and what to check before you commit. Features and pricing change often, so confirm current details on each platform's own site before you decide.

What to look for in a platform for live classes

Before comparing names, decide which of these matter most to you:

• Live room. Is streaming built in, or do you connect a separate video tool?
• Interaction. Can viewers ask questions in a structured way, or only in chat?
• Replays. Are sessions recorded automatically, and can you sell the replay afterwards?
• Pricing model. Do you pay a monthly subscription, a percentage of sales, or both?
• Discovery. Does the platform bring you new viewers, or do you bring all of them yourself?
• Audience ownership. Can you export attendee emails and contact them later?
• Payouts. When and how do you get paid?

Platforms to sell live classes, compared

Each description below is based on how these platforms present themselves publicly. Plans and fees change, so treat this as a starting point for your own check.

Maven

Maven focuses on cohort based courses: multi week programs where a group goes through live sessions together, usually with assignments and a community. It is popular with operators and industry practitioners teaching professional skills. Maven generally earns a share of course revenue rather than charging a large fixed monthly fee, which lowers the cost of trying it.

Good fit if you want to run structured multi week programs with a defined start and end. Less ideal if you mainly want to sell single live sessions or a steady stream of one off classes.

Kajabi

Kajabi is an all in one platform for creator businesses. It covers course hosting, websites, email marketing, landing pages and communities in one subscription. Its built in live video runs inside Course and Coaching products and holds up to 200 people, according to Kajabi's help center, and plans start at 179 USD a month, or 143 USD billed yearly. The core is still a course and marketing toolkit. If live sessions are what you sell, compare it on our Kajabi alternative for live classes page.

Good fit if you want one place for your website, email list and courses and you already have an audience to sell to. Less ideal if you are just starting and do not want a monthly subscription before your first sale, or if live teaching is your main product.

Teachable

Teachable is one of the longest running course hosting platforms. It is built around recorded courses, coaching products and digital downloads. Depending on the plan, it charges a subscription and may add transaction fees. Its pricing page lists no built in live video, so live elements usually come from connecting a video meeting tool. Our Teachable alternatives for live classes guide covers the options in detail.

Good fit if your business is mostly recorded courses with occasional live calls. Less ideal if live sessions are the center of what you sell and you want the live room, Q&A and replay handled in one place.

Thinkific

Thinkific hosts self paced courses, memberships and communities. Live sessions run through its Zoom Meetings and Webinars integration, which its pricing page lists on the Start plan and above, so the stream and the recording sit in your Zoom account. It charges no platform fee with its own payments. If you mainly teach live, our Thinkific alternatives for live classes comparison goes through the options.

Good fit if your income is mostly recorded courses. Less ideal if you want to sell single live classes without a second video tool.

Mighty Networks

Mighty Networks is a community platform with native livestreaming, events and courses. Its pricing page lists 100 viewers per stream and 20 streaming hours a month on Launch at 79 USD a month, rising to 1,000 viewers on Growth at 354 USD, with transaction fees of 2 to 0.5 percent. Selling one event means a paid Space with its own plan. See the Mighty Networks alternative for paid live classes for a side by side. Running a community on Circle instead? Our guide to Circle alternatives for paid live sessions covers its live room and stream caps.

Good fit if members pay you monthly and live sessions are part of the membership. Less ideal if you sell classes one ticket at a time to people outside the community.

Luma

Luma is an event platform known for clean event pages, registrations and calendars. It is widely used for community meetups and online events in the tech world. You can sell paid tickets, and the platform generally takes a fee on paid tickets unless you are on its paid plan. The live session itself usually runs on a separate video tool that you connect. If that is the gap you keep hitting, see our Luma alternative for paid online classes, which compares the two side by side.

Good fit if you need a simple event page and registration for online or in person events. Less ideal if you want built in replays you can sell later, or a marketplace that brings viewers to your class.

CreativeLive

CreativeLive is known for live broadcast classes in photography, design, video and other creative fields, taught by instructors it works with. Viewers can watch classes and buy access to the library. For most experts it is not a self serve platform where you list your own class; it is closer to a curated channel.

Good fit if you teach a creative subject and the platform invites you to teach. Less ideal if you want to publish on your own schedule, set your own price and own your attendee list.

Masterclass.tv

Masterclass.tv is a live first marketplace. Experts schedule a live class, set the ticket price and stream from the browser studio or any streaming app with a stream key (RTMP). Viewers buy a ticket or hold All Access, watch live, ask questions in an upvoted queue that the host answers on air, and keep the replay, materials and a certificate of attendance.

For experts, the model is straightforward:

• One test class with a room of 100, to try the studio before choosing a plan.
• Pro at 99 USD per month, or 49 USD per month billed yearly: room of 1,000, unlimited classes, replay sales after the class, affiliate links, cohorts and 1 on 1 bookings, branded event page, full funnel analytics and 2 co hosts.
• Studio at 299 USD per month, or 149 USD per month billed yearly: everything in Pro plus a room of 5,000, email sequences, analytics export, 10 co hosts and 5 team members.
• On every plan you keep 75 percent of every ticket. Payouts go to your own connected payout account after the class, and you can export attendee emails.

Classes marked "Included in All Access" also earn from a revenue pool: half of All Access revenue is shared monthly between experts by minutes watched. The full plan list is on the pricing page for experts.

Good fit if live sessions are your main product and you want discovery, ticketing, the live room, replays and payouts in one place. Less ideal if you want a full website builder and email marketing suite for a mostly recorded course business.

How the pricing models compare

The biggest structural difference between these platforms is how they charge. Each model favors a different stage of business.

Questions to ask before you choose

1. Is live the product, or an add on? If live is the product, favor a platform built around the live room.
2. Who brings the viewers? If you have a large audience, discovery matters less. If not, a marketplace helps.
3. What happens after the class? Check whether replays are automatic and whether you can sell them.
4. Can you leave with your audience? Attendee email export matters for every long term business.
5. What does the first month cost? Compare a realistic first month, not the best case.

Our take

Each platform here does something well. Maven is strong for cohorts. Kajabi and Teachable are strong for course businesses that live on recorded content and email. Luma is strong for event pages. CreativeLive is strong for selected creative instructors. Masterclass.tv is built for experts who want to sell live sessions with Q&A, replays, materials and certificates included, and who want a schedule and categories that bring in viewers.

If you are deciding whether a live first marketplace fits you, read how teaching live on Masterclass.tv works, and look at the live masterclass format from the viewer side. Browsing a busy category, such as digital marketing classes, is a quick way to see how classes are presented to buyers.