Have you thought about starting your own coaching business? If you have, then there are quite a few things to consider.
Most importantly, do you possess the right skills to help someone achieve their goals? You also need to have the right technology in place to deliver the information to your clients. This is where it’s critical to find the best online coaching platform.
Within this article, I’m going to go into detail about what you should look for when evaluating different coaching platforms. I’m also going to walk you through some of my favorite coaching platforms.
Ready to get started? Let’s go.
What to Look For In an Online Coaching Platform
Depending on your coaching business some coaching platforms might have features that are more important than others. However, below are some things you should consider when picking a coaching platform.
Usability
The last thing you want to do is spend hours learning how to use any business software. The same goes for your clients. Your coaching platform needs to be easy to use and navigating the different features should be simple.
Smooth Enrollment Functionality
Your coaching platform should allow your clients the ability to easily sign up for coaching sessions. They should also be able to access their client portal and pay invoices.
Scalability
As you grow your coaching business, you need your coaching platform to grow along with you. Will it allow you to have unlimited clients or will that cost you more money each month? Does it give you the ability to offer your clients new products such as courses or mastermind groups?
Customer Support
Just like you want to provide your clients with the best possible support, you should expect that from your online coaching platform as well. Do they have phone support seven days a week? What about online chat?
5 Best Online Coaching Platforms
These are my five favorite online coaching platforms.
1. Thinkific
When digging into different coaching platforms, Thinkific really stood out to me. Running a coaching business means you need to be able to provide people with information so it can be easily digested.
Thinkific allows you to put together online courses so you can organize and efficiently present materials to your clients. They can go through everything at their own speed and ask you questions along the way.
What I really love about Thinkific is that it’s an all-in-one solution. You can build a website or landing page for your coaching business, put together courses, and interact with your clients through live lessons.
Features
- Drag and Drop Course Builder – Quickly build out courses for your students using Thinkifics templates and drag and drop editor.
- Live Lessons – Instead of scheduling Zoom calls with clients, you can use set up recurring live lessons directly through Thinkific.
- Multimedia Lessons – People learn in different ways. Thinkific allows you to build out a variety of learning experiences for your clients. This could include videos, interactive files, and even material that’s hosted outside of Thinkific.
- Integrated Payment Processing – No need to have your clients pay you outside of Thinkific, with their integrated payment processing feature you can get paid from clients in over 100 different countries with $0 processing fees.
Pricing
Thinkific has a few different pricing levels including a free option that will allow you to test out the product before investing too much into it.
- Free – $0
- Basic – $49 per month ($36 when billed annually)
- Start – $99 per month ($74 when billed annually)
- Grow – $199 per month ($149 when billed annually)
2. Upcoach
Upcoach is another of my favorite online coaching platforms. Why? Because it’s built exclusively for online coaching programs. It doesn’t matter if you specialize in one-on-one coaching, group coaching, cohort coaching, or Masterminds.
You’ll have the ability to build out courses and other training materials. You’ll also be given all the tools needed to keep yourself organized as you gain more clients.
You can add meeting agendas to your Google Calendar and give clients the ability to add agenda items if there are things they want to cover during live sessions.
One of the most important things to remember when building a successful relationship with coaching clients is accountability. Upcoach offers to-do lists as well as the ability to create accountability groups.
If there is one negative about Upcoach it’s that they don’t have built in live lesson capabilities. Instead, you can integrate Zoom meetings into your plans.
Features
- Create Courses and Other Training Documents – You’ll be able to create courses for your clients, where you can add as many lessons as needed. You can also create and assign interactive worksheets.
- Programs – Upcoach is built around programs. You can create different programs for different clients or for a group of clients if you’re focus is on group coaching programs.
- Agendas – Keeping yourself to a schedule can help you become a more efficient coach. Agendas provide transparency between yourself and your clients so everyone knows what to expect during coaching sessions.
- Communication Tools – Giving your clients the ability to converse with you outside of scheduled appointments can be a nice value add for the client. Upcoach allows you to have one-on-one or group chats with clients.
Pricing
Upcoach offers a few different pricing options depending on how many clients and team members you have.
- Launch – $39 per month ($29 per month when billed annually)
- Grow – $49 per month ($39 per month when billed annually)
- Scale – $99 per month ($79 per month when billed annually)
They also have an enterprise plan for big coaching companies that have more than 10 team members.
3. Satori
Satori is another great online coaching platform for anyone looking to launch a coaching business.
Not only does it cater to a one-on-one coaching program, but also to those that offer group coaching.
Where Satori differs from the first two online coaching tools on my list is that they focus exclusively on coaching management.
They don’t offer features that help you to engage your clients through communities or allow you to sell online courses. Instead, they’re very good at helping you run your business. They help you with everything from client onboarding and coaching agreements to client payment processing.
Features
- Customized Packages – One of the best ways to attract a larger number of clients to your digital coaching business is by offering a variety of packages. With Satori, you can offer prospective clients different package types. You can even create a custom package for individual clients.
- Simple Client Enrollment – Being able to provide a good client experience is important. Satori provides customers with one-touch client signups and sends automatic follow-ups to make sure clients book their appointments.
- Recurring Billing – Knowing exactly when you’re going to get paid can help take some stress off running an online coaching business. You’ll have the ability to set up recurring billing each month for your clients.
Pricing
Compared to many online coaching platforms that provide a more all-inclusive experience, Satori has a much more budget-friendly pricing structure, including a free plan.
- Explorer – Free
- Pioneer – $19 per month ($15 per month when billed annually)
- Trailblazer – $39 per month ($32 per month when billed annually)
4. Mighty Networks
No matter if you’re looking to build your online coaching business or need an online course platform, Mighty Networks is a great choice.
Mighty Networks is built on a sense of community. While your clients are working with you because they believe you possess the skills to help them grow, collaborating with others can be powerful.
Features
- Group Chat Events – Group chat events will bring your clients together so they can share their knowledge.
- Livestreaming – Have something important to tell your clients? You can live stream to your entire network or just to specific spaces.
- Quickly Schedule Events – You can get started scheduling sessions with just a click. Your clients will also receive reminders to join a live meeting.
- Coaching App – The Mighty Networks app gives your clients access to all your information no matter where they are.
Pricing
Mighty Networks has three different pricing plans that start at $33 per month. They also offer a two-week free trial so you can test everything out before you lock yourself into a paid plan.
- The Community Plan – $39 per month ($33 per month when billed annually)
- The Business Plan – $119 per month ($99 per month when billed annually)
- Mighty Pro – Must call for pricing
5. CoachAccountable
The next online coaching platform that I want to highlight is CoachAccountable. They’re going to help you spend more time coaching your clients and less time running the business side of the job.
The one thing that a lot of professional coaches enjoy is the group coaching capabilities. You can create different projects for a group of clients and then assign different tasks to each of them. This helps promote collaboration between like-minded people.
Features
- Schedule Appointments Easily – You can choose to schedule sessions with clients or have them do it on their own. Scheduling will sync to most external calendars.
- Track Client Progress – You and your clients are given a client engagement dashboard. Not only will this help both parties to stay accountable, but it lets you track progress.
- Process Payments – You can set up one-time or recurring invoices for your clients. You can also integrate with services like Stripe, Square, or Paypal to process online payments.
Pricing
Pricing for CoachAccountable is a little different from some of the other online coaching platforms. Instead of providing unlimited clients within coaching packages, pricing will depend on the number of clients you have.
To help you understand if CoachAccountable is the best tool for your coaching practice, they offer a 30-day free trial.
Best Coaching Plaform FAQ
What is an Online Coaching Platform?
Online coaching platforms are software that helps coaches manage their businesses. Depending on the coaching software, they can help onboard clients, schedule and manage appointments, give you the chance to build a community around your clients, provide you with email marketing capabilities, invoice and receive payments, and much more.
Which Platform is Best For Online Coaching?
There are a lot of digital coaching platforms available. During my research, I found that depending on the type of coaching business you run certain platforms might be better than others. However, overall I feel that Thinkific, Upcoach, and Satori are the three best online coaching platforms.
How Do You Run Successful Coaching Sessions?
If you want to run a successful coaching business, one of the most important things you can do is provide your clients with value. If they don’t feel like they getting anything from the money they’re spending, they’re going to cancel. By choosing the best online coaching platform, you’ll be able to provide your clients with all the content and live lessons they need to succeed.
