2022's 5 Training Software Frontrunners to Monetize Your Courses & Programs

What’s the best way to make money doing what you love? Business coaches, trainers, managers, and consultants are constantly searching for the holy grail: a way to make sustainable income inspiring others. But it’s not easy, right?

You have to take detailed notes, adjust practices and approaches to your audience, build powerful courses, and balance a never-ending stream of headache-inducing scheduling conflicts. Luckily, you don’t have to do it alone. With the right online training software, you can build pitch-perfect automated courses, navigate 1:1 and group scheduling with ease, and monetize your courses to deliver value to you and your clients, partners, or trainees.

You keep me searchin' for a training software of gold... and I'm gettin' old. — Neil Young IF he would have been singing about training software

Here’s the problem: there are hundreds of online training solutions on the market. So, how do you find the platform that best fits your wonderfully unique needs?

We’ve got you covered. This quick comparison of training software frontrunners will help you demystify the training software landscape. Put down the Tylenol. And get ready to spend less time banging your head into the wall. Here’s everything you need to know about training software in 2022.

What is a Training Software?

There is no single definition of training software. It means different things to different people. Massive organizations may use “training software” to refer to learning management systems (LMS). These large-scale solutions are aimed at creating comprehensive employee training or course training modules for large classes. They’re less focused on monetization and coach and trainer success. And you likely won’t find scheduling, monetization, and other coach-centric features in these solutions.

Other people call anything that can be used to create courses “training software.” So, the definition is certainly loose. And that broad definition doesn't always make sense for the specific situation you're in. If you're a business coach looking to sell your services, chances are you're not looking for the same software platform as a professor looking to organize their class would be.

So, for the purposes of this comparison, we'll define training software as a platform that professionals can use to provide training content to others for payment. Coaches and teachers who want to sell their expertise can use this type of platform to create and monetize their training courses for anyone who wants to learn from them. In addition, training courses should be coach or trainer-centric. They’re built to help you succeed at life, not just to offer courses. A well-balanced training software should help you balance your hectic schedule, give you the tools and resources you need to monetize courses at scale, and help you build fantastic courses that are easy to follow and incredibly rewarding for your clients.

How Do You Monetize Online Courses?

Finding the right business training software is so important because it plays a huge role in turning your expertise into revenue. It’s the magic foundation that stabilizes you while you create, automate, and integrate your courses into the rest of your service business. And the right platform can simplify everything from scheduling to payments. So, needless to say, your training software can make or break your courses. Plus, good-fit software saves you some major headaches, frustrations, and all-around aggravation.

But it doesn't end there. Oh, not a chance! The right online training software platform can also help you manage your client relationships: from attracting clients to your website to signing up for individual courses and even managing payments. It’s an end-to-end powerhouse for building your future coaching/training/mentoring empire.

With all that in mind, monetizing your online courses requires a few central steps:

• Know exactly who your target audience is, including their learning styles and preferred learning experiences.
• Build great lesson modules focused around their needs that isn't easily available for free elsewhere.
• Break that learner content down into small enough chunks to allow for modern training habits and preferences. 
• Create an easy pricing and monetization system that manages payments, sign-ups and more.
• Actively promote your courses to your audience using their preferred communications channels.

Each of those steps, of course, takes some significant thought and planning. Fortunately, you're never on your own — at least not when you choose from some of the best business training platforms in the market today. 

So, Which Software is Best for Online Training?

A quick look at independent review sites like Capterra’s best training software picks, G2’s best course authoring software picks, or G2’s best online course providers confirms just how many options are out there. Fortunately, trusted software review sites like these are immensely helpful because they include real, independent customer reviews that help you understand which of the many options truly serves your needs. These are our top 5 online training software options for 2022.

Our Top 5 Training Software Picks From G2 & Capterra’s Training Industry Frontrunners Lists:

1. Profi

Are we tooting our own horn? Maybe a little. But that's what happens when you get multiple awards from respected leaders in the field like G2 and Gartner. We're proud of our training solutions for monetizing your expertise online. And the testimonials from our customers back us up.

Profi works especially well for trainers and coaches-turned-trainers because it's more than just a place to host your pre-recorded courses. It's a powerfully simple platform designed to help coaches help others, thanks to features like scheduling and running live sessions, creating pre-recorded training content and courses and managing client relationships from the moment they engage (via landing pages connected to your booking calendar and course content, notifications and direct messaging, client notes and tons of sharing features for those with a team or network of coaches/trainers to:

• share their calendar,
• shared services,
• share forms — allowing you to template forms,
• share client notes, and
• share clients among different coaches or trainers).

All of that sharing and relationship building, of course, includes a monetization system where you can charge clients and learners membership or subscription fees through a unified billing system. In other words, it's exactly what training software should be: a single platform to manage and monetize your coaching and training business.

2. Thinkific

Specifically designed for trainers, coaches, and consultants, Thinkific is an online course software that allowsusers to both create and deliver branded online courses. Features range from live sessions to pre-recorded modules using a drip schedule and pre-built certificates of completion.

The integrated monetization feature includes an integrated payment processor and a streamlined course checkout system. However, the software doesn’t include any tax and bookkeeping tools on the back-end. It also doesn’t support blended or hybrid learning with in-person course-building.

3. HoneyBook

HoneyBook is a well-established brand in the online coaching space because of how efficiently it can help you manage your projects and clients, and organize payments. Once set up in the system, coaches and teachers can automate their busy work, help new clients sign up and schedule sessions and courses with clients.

Its drawback is that it's not as comprehensive as Profi for full training production. For example, it doesn;t integrate live hosted or pre-recorded sessions and training content that can easily be monetized without requiring a lot of your time. For example, there are no templated courses that include pricing modules, requiring coaches and trainers to build their learner platforms from scratch. With that said, the integrated payment and client management systems still make it a strong contender as a platform designed to help coaches and trainers grow their business.

4. Paperbell

Paperbell advertises itself as the only software platform coaches (and trainers) need. And it indeed comes close, with features that range from scheduling to payments and billing, client management, client portals, and integrated video calling. Additional features like custom landing pages make the experience seamless for clients just wanting some help and expertise from your coaching business.

Unlike Honeybook, Paperbell does have some ability to monetize content-as-a-product as well. That comes in the form of digital downloads, which coaches and trainers can offer their clients as part of a larger package or individual products. It's not a comprehensive learning management software, but it can create a better experience for clients needing some more tangible takeaways in addition to their live sessions.

5. TrainerCentral by Zoho

As its name suggests, TrainerCentral looks to position itself as a solution to help you "coach learners from everywhere." That includes hosting live sessions and workshops, evaluating clients through quizzes, and creating unlimited online courses that audiences can access as needed to learn at their own pace. 

The backend admin tools, however, are a bit more limited than some of the other options on this list. The analytics and feedback modules are strong, and so is the monetization feature handling subscriptions and payments. But the course-building system comes with fewer templates and leaves trainers largely on their own. But if you already have great courses and need some monetization, TrainerCentral is a great choice.

Finding the Best Training Software for Your Needs

In the end, no two training software solutions are exactly the same. Some focus on training content first, while others prioritize the back-end management system.

Our overall takeaway: Profi is a natural solution for coaches and trainers. It’s intuitive, smart, fast, and ultimately a holistic, end-to-end solution capable of helping you go beyond monetization. We’ve built-in all necessary features for the front-end and back-end of your coaching and training business: from session scheduling, client management, collaboration and sharing to building online courses and monetizing those courses.

Ready to learn more? Book a Demo with one of our Product Coaches today to see these features in action and help you monetize your training business.

Did another solution look like it fits you better? That’s okay, too! At the end of the day, we’re here to empower coaches and trainers — whatever you need. Stick around, read our blog, and learn more tips to take your coaching to the next level, no free 30-day subscription required!