Expertise Pays vs Course marketplaces (Udemy, Skillshare and similar)

Course marketplace, or your own site?

A marketplace sells you one thing: traffic. That is genuinely valuable when you have none. What you pay for it is a revenue share, control over pricing, and — the part people underestimate — the customer relationship. Here is how to do the maths.

Side by side

	Expertise Pays	Course marketplaces (Udemy, Skillshare and similar)
Where traffic comes from	You bring it (SEO, ads, social, your list)	Existing marketplace audience
Revenue share	0% — the full price reaches your account	A share of every sale, often larger during their promotions
Student list	Yours; you can email and re-market	Theirs; usually no contact details
Pricing control	Entirely yours	Constrained by platform-wide discounting
Brand	Your domain, your design	Inside their frame
Repeat sales	Sequences and offers straight to your own list	Hard to reach past buyers directly
Cold start	Hard — no list means no first students	Easy — they put you in front of people

Compiled from each vendor's public information, for reference only. Plans, prices and fee rules change — check each vendor's own site for current terms.

So which one should you pick?

We are not going to pretend we suit everyone. See which side sounds more like you.

Pick Course marketplaces (Udemy, Skillshare and similar) if…

→It is your first course and you have no audience at all — the traffic is worth more than the fee.
→You want to validate whether the topic sells before investing in a site.
→Your topic sits squarely inside the marketplace's existing audience.

We are the better fit if…

✓You already have an audience, a list or steady organic traffic — the revenue share is pure loss.
✓You want repeat business: advanced courses, coaching, physical products.
✓You want students to remember your name rather than the marketplace's.
✓You need contact details to build a long-term relationship.

FAQ

Can I do both?

Yes, and it is a common strategy: put an entry-level course on the marketplace as an acquisition channel, keep advanced offers on your own site, and give marketplace students a reason to join your list (a bonus resource they redeem with their email).

How do I get traffic to my own site?

This is the honest cost of going independent. The platform includes a blog with SEO tooling, funnels, lead forms and automated email sequences precisely so you have the tools — but it takes months, not days. Do not switch expecting the marketplace's traffic to follow you.

How big does the revenue share have to be before leaving is worth it?

Multiply your expected annual course revenue by the marketplace's effective take rate, then compare that with the subscription. The higher your revenue, the more obvious the answer. Early on, when revenue is small, the traffic is usually worth more than the fee.

Other comparisons

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