This article will help you figure out how much does it cost to create an online course if you want to establish a course business.
Writing course content, recording course videos, and putting your course online are all part of the process of creating a course.
You must make multiple selections at each phase, making estimating the cost of establishing an online course a difficult undertaking.
So we decided to conduct a thorough cost analysis, and we discovered that publishing an online course can cost anything between $140 and $10,770.
The real cost, however, is determined by a number of factors that we’ll go over in-depth later in this article.
Which LMS platform is right for you? This article will explain it more
Contents
What Does the Cost to Create an Online Course Depend On?
As you might expect, the cost of developing an online course is complicated by a number of aspects, so predicting it is difficult. Here are some choices that will have an impact:
- What kind of course videos do you want to make?
- You’ll need high-quality course videos (as well as equipment).
- Whether or whether you wish to outsource specific responsibilities
- Your course’s duration
- And there’s more!
If you wish to do the majority of the job yourself, for example, the prices will be substantially lower than if you outsource the majority of the work. Similarly, employing free course development tools can help you save money.
The majority of these selections will be influenced by your skillset, budget, and available time.
I’ll go over how these choices affect the cost of producing an online course in the next chapters. After that, based on your exact case, you can add separate prices in different parts to acquire the entire cost for your goal.
To make estimating the cost even easier, I’ve broken the course creation process into three distinct phases:
- Creating course content
- Recording course videos
- Setting up your course
Let’s take a closer look at the many processes involved in the process and how much you should budget.
1. Creating Course Content
The first step in the course design process will be to create content for your course. Let’s look at the many sorts of content you would need to develop to estimate the cost at this stage:
- Written content for course videos, PDFs, PowerPoint slides, and websites, among other things.
- Slides for video presentations
- Graphics and branding assets for your course materials
In terms of video material, most online courses are between 2 and 8 hours long, therefore we’ll base our calculations on that assumption.
To begin, we’ll calculate the cost of the content writing portion of the project, which includes course videos, PDFs, and presentation slides.
It will clearly not cost you anything if you develop all of the content yourself. And while most first-time creators don’t outsource this aspect, let’s take a look at the potential expenditures if you do.
Let’s start by figuring up how many words you’ll need to outsource.
A 60-second video script will typically have 120 words. So, for screenplays for 2-8 hours of video content, the total word count will be 14,400-57,600 words.
Assume that the course has one PDF page for every 15 minutes of video content. For 2-8 hours of video footage, that’ll be 8-32 pages.
With 300 words per page of material, the word count for PDF support resources will range from 4,800 to 19,200 words.
If you’re making presentation-style videos, 30 slides for an hour of video is a common approach. And, because a presentation shouldn’t have too much text, 30 words for each slide is a decent estimate.
As a result, for presentation-style videos, you should expect to have 1,800-7,200 words of text on slides.
Let’s look at the overall word count you’ll need to outsource for courses ranging from 2 to 8 hours in length, including all of the following headings.
As you can see, a 2- to 8-hour course will contain 21,000 to 84,000 words, which includes video scripts, course PDFs, and presentation slides. If your course does not include presentation-style videos, the number will be slightly lower.
Let’s now assess the entire cost of hiring a freelance writer to generate this material.
You may anticipate a freelance writer to write 500 words in an hour if you provide a clear outline and comments at every step, plus you can add 20% more time for revisions.
We looked into the typical fee for a copywriter on Upwork, and a competent freelancer can be found for $40 per hour.
2. Recording Course Videos
The cost of making videos for your course is determined by the type and quality of films you desire.
For example, if you want to make talking head films in which you speak to the camera, you’ll need to consider the cost of the equipment, as well as the expense of setting up a basic home studio and video-editing software.
For making screencast or presentation-style videos for your course, you’ll only need an audio recording setup and screencasting software.
Let’s start with the expense of creating screencast videos.
There are several screencasting programs available, but Screencast-O-Matic, in my opinion, provides the finest value for money.
It includes great video editing and enhancing features in addition to all of the normal screen recording features, so you won’t need any additional video editing software.
Screencast-O-Deluxe Matic’s plan is less than $20 for an annual license, and it includes all of the capabilities you’re likely to need.
Many course makers struggle with recording high-quality audio, so I recommend utilizing a microphone and a pop filter to get high-quality audio for your course videos.
On Amazon, you can acquire the Blue Yeti microphone’s starting version for $100, plus a pop filter for $10.
To calculate the cost of making screencast videos, add the numbers together.
As you can see, using screencasting software to generate screencast or presentation-style movies will cost around $130.
Let’s look at how much it costs to make talking-head videos, which are another popular video format for online courses.
If you’re a first-time maker on a tight budget, I propose shooting your course videos with your smartphone camera. Larger sensors and improved algorithms are available in the latest smartphone cameras, which can help you generate high-resolution films.
An external webcam, such as the Logitech C920, is another alternative. It costs roughly $80 and may be used to capture videos directly from your laptop.
A tripod will also be required to support and stabilize your camera while capturing videos. Good tripod support can be had for less than $25, and the most popular smartphone tripod stands on Amazon for only $24.
To construct your final course videos, you’ll also need video editing software. Camtasia is one of the most popular video editing programs available, and it costs roughly $250.
Now add these figures together to get a rough estimate of the cost of making course videos with a smartphone camera:
As you can see, using a smartphone camera to create course videos will cost roughly $384, and using an external webcam would cost somewhat more.
While smartphone cameras are adequate for most creators, if you want to create a premium course, I recommend using a DSLR camera.
The Canon EOS 70D is the one I recommend, and the beginner version costs $898 on Amazon.
To make your final videos, you’ll need a tripod, microphone, pop filter, and video editing software in addition to a DSLR camera.
Plus, to generate professional-quality videos, you may need a little more complicated home studio setup to handle things like lighting, background, and sound panels.
3. Setting Up Your Course
Once you’ve completed your content, you’ll need to publish it to an online course platform to begin selling it.
You may now choose from a number of online course platforms, but Thinkific, in my opinion, provides the best value for money for a beginner.
The platform includes sophisticated learning and engagement capabilities, as well as unlimited video hosting and technical support.
Furthermore, Thinkific allows you to create a website and accept payments, eliminating the need for a separate website builder and shopping cart.
The Thinkific Basic Plan is $49 per month, supports unlimited students, and includes the majority of the tools you’ll need.
However, if you require more sophisticated services such as communities or life lessons, you must subscribe to its Pro Plan, which costs $99 per month.
The ability to create sales funnels and use email marketing to promote your course is something Thinkific does not have. For the same, you’ll require additional tools.
For example, you’ll need an email marketing service like ConvertKit (which starts at $29 per month) and a blogging platform like WordPress (which costs at least $20 a month).
Another alternative is to use an all-in-one platform such as Kajabi, which allows you to create sales funnels and send emails. Kajabi’s monthly pricing starts at $149.
Although both Thinkific and Kajabi will provide hosting, you will still need to purchase a domain name for your course website. A domain name can be purchased for $10 from a domain registrar such as NameCheap.
Despite the fact that both platforms are incredibly user-friendly, you may still want to hire someone to put up your course and sales page.
15 hours is a decent estimate in my experience, and you can easily find an experienced freelancer who will do this for you for $35 per hour. As a result, you should budget $525 for the work of building up your course and sales page.
With this in mind, let’s take a look at all of the expenditures associated with creating an online course.
As you can see, your course platform and associated tools will set you back anything from $100 to $149 per month. This is the bare least; depending on your specific tech stack, you may wind up paying much more.
In addition, if you prefer to outsource the course setup, you need a budget of $535.
We didn’t touch the marketing budget in this article because it was out of scope, but you should prepare for it and set aside money for it.
Conclusion: How Much Does It Cost To Create An Online Course
The cost of producing a course has been broken down into three sections in this guide: generating course content, recording course videos, and setting up your course. You’ll get the entire costs involved if you add them all up.
If you create a screencast or presentation-style videos and do all of the material writing, design, slide development, and video editing yourself, the total cost of creating your course will be $140 + $100-$149/month.
If your course contains talking-head videos and you do all of the work yourself, the cost will be roughly $394 + $100-$149 every month.
If you plan to create more quality course videos with a DSLR camera, the cost can rise to $1,498-$2,098 + $100-$149/month.
Finally, you should anticipate paying somewhere between $3,193 to $10,770 for services like content production, video editing, and course setup.
I hope you found the information to be helpful in determining the cost of a course you would wish to design. Please feel free to leave any questions or recommendations in the comments section below.
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