ChatGPT answers, unedited

If your #1 constraint is “I have no audience, so I need the platform to bring me students,” I’d focus on true marketplaces rather than platforms like Teachable or Kajabi.

The main options

For your specific situation, Udemy is probably the platform I'd investigate first—especially if your topic is something people already search for, such as software, business skills, productivity, coding, design, languages, or professional skills. Udemy explicitly provides a Marketplace Insights tool showing student demand, search volume, and revenue data for potential topics. Udemy Support

Skillshare is worth considering if your content is more creative/project-oriented. Skillshare says its search and recommendation systems surface classes to existing members, and it promotes selected classes through Browse pages, recommendations, and other channels. Skillshare Help Center However, there is an important 2026 wrinkle: teachers now need at least 50 followers to qualify for monthly royalty payments, alongside additional publishing/watch-time requirements. Skillshare Help Center Skillshare Help Center

Teachable does have a product catalog and discovery features, but it's fundamentally a platform for building your own education business, rather than a marketplace whose primary job is supplying you with new students. Teachable Help Center Teachable

My practical framework

If you're starting from zero audience:

1. Search-driven professional/technical topic → Udemy
2. Creative/project-based topic → Skillshare
3. You already have an audience → Teachable/Thinkific/etc. become much more interesting
4. Eventually, you can use a marketplace for discovery while building your own audience/email list separately.

The important distinction is that “course platform” and “course marketplace” aren't the same thing. Udemy and Skillshare put your course alongside an existing catalog that students browse; Teachable gives you the infrastructure but generally expects you to bring the audience. webflow.com

If you tell me what you'd teach (e.g. AI, coding, fitness, music, business, design, language, etc.), I can narrow this down to the 2–3 marketplaces where students are actually likely to discover a new creator in that category.

Teachable does have a product catalog and discovery features, but it's fundamentally a platform for building your own education business, rather than a marketplace whose primary job is supplying you with new students.

My practical framework

If you're starting from zero audience:

If built-in student discovery is the priority and you currently have no audience, I’d focus on marketplaces, not platforms like Teachable/Kajabi that mainly give you the storefront but expect you to bring the traffic.

The two I’d look at

Udemy is particularly suited to the "I have zero audience; find students for me" situation. Students already browse/search its course catalog, and Udemy also distributes selected courses through external resellers to reach additional audiences. Udemy Ruzuku

Skillshare can be attractive if you're teaching something creative. It explicitly uses search, recommendations, Browse pages, and curated features to surface classes to its existing members. It also publishes data on what members are searching for, which can help you choose a topic with existing demand. Skillshare Help Center Skillshare Help Center

One important 2026 wrinkle: Skillshare changed its teacher economics. As of July 16, 2026, teachers need at least 50 followers plus an additional publishing/watch-time requirement to qualify for monthly royalty payments. Skillshare Help Center Skillshare Help Center

My practical framework

• Teaching coding, software, business, productivity, professional skills, etc. → investigate Udemy first.
• Teaching illustration, design, photography, video, crafts, creativity, etc. → investigate Skillshare. Skillshare's currently open teacher categories are heavily concentrated in creative disciplines. Skillshare Help Center
• Already have an audience → Teachable/Thinkific/Kajabi become much more interesting, because you can bring your own traffic and have substantially more control.
• No audience + premium course + niche nobody searches for → neither marketplace is a magic solution. Discovery works much better when the topic corresponds to an existing learner search.

If you tell me what you want to teach, I can compare Udemy vs Skillshare vs 2–3 other marketplaces specifically for that subject, including discovery, fees, competition, pricing, and how hard it is for a brand-new creator to get the first students.

Udemy is particularly suited to the "I have zero audience; find students for me" situation. Students already browse/search its course catalog, and Udemy also distributes selected courses through external resellers to reach additional audiences. support.udemy.com ruzuku.com

Skillshare can be attractive if you're teaching something creative. It explicitly uses search, recommendations, Browse pages, and curated features to surface classes to its existing members. It also publishes data on what members are searching for, which can help you choose a topic with existing demand.

One important 2026 wrinkle: Skillshare changed its teacher economics. As of July 16, 2026, teachers need at least 50 followers plus an additional publishing/watch-time requirement to qualify for monthly royalty payments.

My practical framework

For a solo creator with zero audience who needs built-in student discovery, Udemy is the clearest fit. It’s a true course marketplace where students actively search and browse courses, unlike Teachable, Thinkific, or Kajabi, which generally require you to bring the traffic. Ruzuku Webflow

• Udemy: built-in discovery; free to publish; trade-off is lower revenue/control. OwnKit
• Skillshare: also has built-in discovery, particularly suitable for creative/project-based classes; earnings work differently through its membership/royalty model. Mighty Networks
• Teachable/Thinkific/Kajabi: better for owning the customer relationship, but you generally need to supply the audience yourself. Webflow

Practical path: start on Udemy to test whether strangers will buy your topic, then consider moving deeper offerings to an owned platform once you have traction.

If your #1 constraint is “I have no audience, so I need the platform to bring me students,” I’d prioritize marketplaces over platforms like Teachable, Kajabi, or Thinkific.

My ranking

1. Udemy — best overall for a solo creator

• Strongest fit for search-driven discovery: students actively search Udemy for courses by topic, goal, and skill. Udemy Support Udemy Support
• Particularly good for practical, searchable subjects: software, AI, business, coding, productivity, etc.
• You can publish without first building an audience.
• The downside is competition and less control over pricing/revenue than selling directly.
• Best choice if: your course solves a problem people already search for.
• Skillshare — best for creative/visual subjects

• Skillshare has built-in search, browsing, recommendations, and editorial promotion to help students discover classes. Skillshare Help Center
• It explicitly provides teachers with data on what students are searching for, which is useful when you don't already know what will sell. Skillshare Help Center
• However, Skillshare's 2026 teacher strategy is increasingly focused on creative disciplines, and some categories are currently closed to new teachers. Skillshare Help Center
• Best choice if: you're teaching design, illustration, photography, video, crafts, creativity, etc.
• Gumroad — good secondary option, but not my first choice

• Gumroad does have Discover, which recommends products to prospective customers beyond your existing audience. Gumroad Gumroad
• But there's an important catch: Discover eligibility requires at least $100 in genuine sales first, so it isn't really a zero-to-one student acquisition engine. Gumroad
• Best choice if: you're selling ebooks, templates, resources, mini-courses, or digital products alongside your main course.

What I'd do in your position

If you literally have zero audience, I'd start with Udemy and treat it as a student-discovery engine, rather than immediately paying for your own course platform.

The strategy would be:

Search demand → narrowly targeted course → Udemy marketplace → first students/reviews → build reputation → eventually move premium offerings/direct sales to your own platform.

Skillshare is the better starting point if your subject is strongly creative. Its current search/recommendation system is explicitly designed to surface classes to its existing members. Skillshare Help Center

One important distinction: “built-in audience” doesn't mean guaranteed students. Your topic, title, thumbnail, positioning, reviews, and early engagement still matter enormously. Skillshare, for example, says early student engagement can influence how highly a class rises in search. Skillshare Help Center

Bottom line:
No audience + practical/searchable course → Udemy.
No audience + creative course → Skillshare.
Already getting some sales / selling digital products → Gumroad.

If you tell me what you want to teach and roughly what you'd charge ($20, $50, $100+, etc.), I can tell you which marketplace is likely to be the best fit and why.

If your #1 requirement is built-in student discovery and you have zero audience, I’d start with Udemy.

My ranking for your situation

1. Udemy — best overall for zero audience

Udemy is unusually well suited to the "I have expertise but nobody knows me yet" problem. Its Marketplace Insights tool gives instructors data on student demand, search volume, and potential revenue before they create a course. Udemy also doesn't charge an upfront instructor fee. Udemy Support Udemy Support

The big tradeoff is economics: you sacrifice a substantial portion of revenue in exchange for access to the marketplace and its discovery engine.

I'd choose Udemy if you're teaching: programming, AI, business, Excel, productivity, certifications, marketing, professional skills, etc.

2. Skillshare — potentially better for creative subjects

Skillshare has genuine internal discovery through search, browse, recommendations, homepage promotion, and curated features. Its algorithm considers things such as relevance and student engagement, so a new creator can potentially get discovered without bringing an audience. Skillshare Help Center

It's particularly attractive for art, illustration, design, photography, video, animation, and other creative skills. Skillshare

There's an important 2026 wrinkle, though: teachers now need at least 50 followers to qualify for royalty payments, so it's less attractive than it used to be for someone starting completely from zero. Skillshare Help Center

3. Teachable / Thinkific — not my first choice yet

These are better when you already have traffic.

They give you much more control over pricing, branding, and the student experience, but you're largely responsible for bringing the students yourself. Teachable does have a product catalog/discovery mechanism, but I wouldn't choose it primarily as a customer-acquisition strategy. Teachable Help Center

What I'd actually do

If I were a solo creator starting from zero audience, I'd use a two-stage strategy:

Stage 1 — Discovery:
Put a focused course on Udemy and use its marketplace/search data to figure out what students actually want.

Stage 2 — Ownership:
Once you've accumulated students, testimonials, and knowledge of what sells, build your own platform/audience around your best-performing topic.

That avoids the classic mistake of spending months building a beautiful course website and then realizing you have no traffic.

Bottom line:

• No audience + need discovery → Udemy
• Creative subject + no audience → Skillshare is worth testing
• Existing audience → Teachable/Thinkific/Kajabi
• Want to validate an idea before investing heavily → Udemy is probably the strongest starting point

If you tell me what you want to teach (e.g. coding, fitness, music, AI, language, business, art), I can narrow this down considerably because the best marketplace varies a lot by subject.

1. Udemy — best overall for zero audience

Udemy is unusually well suited to the "I have expertise but nobody knows me yet" problem. Its Marketplace Insights tool gives instructors data on student demand, search volume, and potential revenue before they create a course. Udemy also doesn't charge an upfront instructor fee. Udemy Support Udemy Support

The big tradeoff is economics: you sacrifice a substantial portion of revenue in exchange for access to the marketplace and its discovery engine.

I'd choose Udemy if you're teaching: programming, AI, business, Excel, productivity, certifications, marketing, professional skills, etc.

2. Skillshare — potentially better for creative subjects

Skillshare has genuine internal discovery through search, browse, recommendations, homepage promotion, and curated features. Its algorithm considers things such as relevance and student engagement, so a new creator can potentially get discovered without bringing an audience. Skillshare Help Center

It's particularly attractive for art, illustration, design, photography, video, animation, and other creative skills. Skillshare

There's an important 2026 wrinkle, though: teachers now need at least 50 followers to qualify for royalty payments, so it's less attractive than it used to be for someone starting completely from zero. Skillshare Help Center

3. Teachable / Thinkific — not my first choice yet

These are better when you already have traffic.

They give you much more control over pricing, branding, and the student experience, but you're largely responsible for bringing the students yourself. Teachable does have a product catalog/discovery mechanism, but I wouldn't choose it primarily as a customer-acquisition strategy. support.teachable.com

What I'd actually do

If I were a solo creator starting from zero audience, I'd use a two-stage strategy:

Stage 1 — Discovery:
Put a focused course on Udemy and use its marketplace/search data to figure out what students actually want.

Stage 2 — Ownership:
Once you've accumulated students, testimonials, and knowledge of what sells, build your own platform/audience around your best-performing topic.

That avoids the classic mistake of spending months building a beautiful course website and then realizing you have no traffic.

Bottom line:

If your #1 constraint is “I have no audience, so the platform itself needs to bring me students,” I’d prioritize marketplaces over creator-store platforms like Teachable, Kajabi, or Podia.

My ranking

1. Udemy — best overall for most solo creators

• Built-in marketplace search and discovery.
• Students can find you without following you first.
• You can publish without paying a hosting fee. Udemy Support Udemy Support
• Marketplace sales where Udemy brings the student currently pay instructors 37% of net revenue; sales through your own coupon/referral can pay 97%. Udemy Support
• Particularly good for practical, searchable topics: software, business, technical skills, professional development, etc.

Verdict: If you want to make a conventional video course and have zero audience, this would be my first choice.

2. Skillshare — best for creative subjects

• Your class is automatically added to Skillshare's catalog, so you're not entirely responsible for bringing your own students. Skillshare Help Center
• Skillshare actively uses recommendations and search to surface classes, with algorithms considering relevance and student engagement. Skillshare Help Center
• The downside is that students generally don't buy individual classes; they're subscribing to Skillshare. Skillshare Help Center
• Skillshare has also recently been emphasizing fewer, higher-quality, more engaged classes rather than simply having a huge catalog. Skillshare Help Center

Verdict: Very attractive for design, illustration, photography, writing, creativity, productivity, etc.

3. Outschool — excellent if your audience is kids/teens

• This is much more of a true marketplace: Outschool says it markets classes to its existing audience and helps teachers reach new students. Outschool Support
• Parents actively search/filter classes by subject, age, grade, price, etc. Outschool Support
• It supports both live and self-paced classes. Outschool Support
• Outschool says it has 900,000+ learners across 174 countries. Outschool Support

Verdict: Potentially the strongest option if you're teaching children or teenagers.

What I'd choose

The important distinction is marketplace vs. storefront. If you have no audience, I'd not start by paying for a beautiful standalone course website. You'd essentially be building an empty shop and then having to figure out how to get people into it.

I'd start on Udemy or Skillshare, use the marketplace to get your first students/reviews, and only later move toward owning the customer relationship with your own site.

If you tell me what you want to teach and roughly how much you want to charge ($20, $100, $500+, etc.), I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 platforms and compare student discovery, fees, competition, and earning potential.

If your #1 requirement is built-in student discovery and you have zero audience, I’d prioritize a marketplace over Teachable/Kajabi/Thinkific.

My ranking

1. Udemy — best overall for a solo creator with no audience

• Students actively search the marketplace for specific skills.
• You don't need an email list or social following to get discovered.
• Particularly strong for practical, searchable topics: software, AI, coding, business, productivity, certifications, etc.
• Your course becomes discoverable after passing Udemy's quality review. Udemy
• The big downside is competition and less control over pricing/revenue.
• Skillshare — best if you're teaching creative skills

• Strong fit for design, illustration, photography, video, animation, crafts, creativity, and related topics.
• Skillshare explicitly provides search, browse, recommendations, and staff promotion to help students discover classes. Skillshare Help Center
• It also publishes data on what members are actively searching for, which is useful when you're choosing your first topic. Skillshare Help Center
• Important 2026 change: Skillshare has tightened teacher/royalty eligibility, so I'd evaluate it differently than older reviews of the platform. Skillshare Help Center
• Teachable / Thinkific / Kajabi — don't start here if discovery is your main problem

• They're better when you already have an audience.
• You get much more control over branding, pricing, and the customer relationship, but you are largely responsible for bringing students yourself. Webflow

The simple answer

No audience + searchable skill → Udemy.

No audience + creative skill → Skillshare.

Existing audience → Teachable/Thinkific/Kajabi becomes much more attractive.

If I were starting from zero, I'd actually use Udemy as the discovery engine first, validate which topic gets traction, and only later build an owned course business around the winning topic.

If you tell me what you want to teach, I can compare Udemy vs. Skillshare specifically for that subject and tell you which has the better chance of bringing you your first 100 students.

For a solo creator with no audience, the key requirement is different from what many course-platform comparisons focus on: you need distribution, not just hosting. You want a marketplace where students are already searching. Webflow

My shortlist:

1. Udemy — best overall for zero-audience creators

Best fit: searchable skills where people already have intent.

Examples:

• coding
• AI tools
• Excel
• design software
• marketing
• business skills
• language learning
• productivity

Why it fits:

• Students already browse and search the marketplace.
• You can publish without first building an audience.
• Reviews and course ranking can compound discovery over time. Steve Wootten FloatJet

Downsides:

• Heavy competition.
• Less control over pricing and the student relationship than owning your own platform. Webflow

My pick if you have no audience: start here.

2. Skillshare — best for creative/project-based teaching

Best fit:

• illustration
• photography
• writing
• crafts
• design
• creative workflows
• short practical classes

Skillshare is more discovery-oriented for creative learners, with students browsing classes rather than always searching for a specific certification-style outcome. CiteHawk Zapier

Downside:

• The business model is different from selling a premium course directly; earnings are tied to the platform model rather than you setting a standalone price. Steve Wootten

3. Coursera — usually not the first choice for a solo creator

Great learner audience, but it is generally geared toward university, company, and institutional partnerships rather than individual instructors publishing independently. Biztoolkit

What I would do in your situation

A practical path:

1. Publish a focused course on Udemy to test demand.
2. Use student questions/reviews to improve the curriculum.
3. Build an email list or community outside the marketplace.
4. Later move higher-value offerings (coaching, cohorts, premium courses) to your own platform. Webflow

The biggest mistake for a no-audience creator is starting with a beautiful course website and then discovering nobody is arriving.

If you tell me what you want to teach (topic + beginner/intermediate/advanced + price target), I can suggest the marketplace with the best odds.

If you are a solo creator with no audience and your top priority is built-in student discovery, you should generally start with a marketplace, not a standalone course platform. The strongest options are:

Biztoolkit Webflow## My recommendation: start with Udemy (for most creators)

Udemy is usually the best fit when you have:

• no email list
• no social following
• no paid marketing budget
• a topic people already search for

Good Udemy topics tend to be:

• Excel, Power BI, coding, AI tools
• business skills
• design software
• productivity
• career skills
• certifications or exam prep

The advantage is that students are already on the platform looking for solutions. The downside is that you compete against many instructors, and you give up some pricing and customer relationship control. Ruzuku

Choose Skillshare instead if you teach creative work

Skillshare is a better match for:

• illustration
• photography
• video
• writing
• crafts
• creative entrepreneurship

Its discovery model fits people browsing for inspiration and projects rather than searching for a specific professional outcome. stevewootten.com

A practical path for a solo creator

1. Launch your first course on Udemy or Skillshare

• Use marketplace traffic to validate demand.
• Optimize your title, thumbnail, description, and reviews.
• Collect proof

• Student questions
• Testimonials
• Common pain points
• What lessons people value most
• Build your own platform later

• Move premium offers, coaching, community, or advanced courses to your own site.
• Keep the marketplace course as a discovery channel.

WebflowIf you tell me what you want to teach (e.g., coding, language, fitness, art, business, AI, music), I can rank the best marketplaces for that specific niche.

If you are a solo creator with no audience and your top priority is built-in student discovery, you generally want a marketplace, not a course-hosting platform. The best choices are usually:

Biztoolkit Webflow## My recommendation by situation

1. You have zero audience and want your first students

Start with Udemy.

Why:

• Students already search there for specific outcomes (“learn Python,” “Excel dashboards,” “AI tools for marketers”).
• You can publish without first building an email list or social following.
• Reviews and search ranking can compound over time.

The downside:

• You compete with many similar courses.
• Pricing is heavily influenced by marketplace promotions.
• You do not fully own the student relationship. FloatJet Ruzuku

Best course types:

• “How to use X tool”
• “Beginner → intermediate skill”
• Career skills
• Certifications/prep
• Specific problem-solving courses

2. You teach something creative

Try Skillshare.

It works better for:

• illustration
• design
• photography
• video
• writing
• creative workflows

Skillshare’s model is more like a subscription library, so creators often benefit from making engaging, shorter, project-based classes rather than one huge flagship course. Aspects Inspire Steve Wootten

3. You want a serious business eventually

A common path is:

1. Put a discovery-friendly course on Udemy/Skillshare.
2. Learn what students actually buy.
3. Build your own site/email list.
4. Sell premium versions (coaching, cohorts, advanced courses, community).

Marketplaces are good for finding demand; owned platforms are better for building an asset. CreatorStackClub Webflow

My short ranking for your exact case

1. 🥇 Udemy — best default choice for a solo creator with no audience
2. 🥈 Skillshare — best if your topic is creative
3. 🥉 YouTube + your own course later — best long-term discovery engine, but slower initially
4. Teachable/Thinkific/Kajabi — wait until you can bring your own students

The biggest factor is not the platform—it’s whether your topic already has search demand. A great course on a topic nobody searches for will struggle even on a marketplace.

If you tell me what you want to teach (e.g., AI, fitness, language, art, coding, business, music), I can suggest the platform most likely to get your first 100 students.

If you are a solo creator with no audience and your top priority is built-in student discovery, you generally want a marketplace, not a course-hosting platform. The trade-off is that marketplaces give you reach but less control over pricing, branding, and the student relationship. Ruzuku Webflow

My ranking:

Biztoolkit Webflow## Best default choice: Udemy

For a creator starting with zero audience, I would usually start with Udemy because:

• Students already search there for specific skills.
• You can publish without bringing your own audience.
• Search demand can validate whether your topic has buyers.
• It works well for “I want to learn X” topics (Excel, coding, AI tools, marketing, design software, languages, business skills). Biztoolkit Steve Wootten

The downside:

• Your course competes against many others.
• Discounts and marketplace pricing can limit your control.
• Students are primarily Udemy’s customers, not your owned audience. Ruzuku

Choose Skillshare instead if…

Your course is something people enjoy browsing and creating, such as:

• illustration
• photography
• graphic design
• writing
• crafts
• productivity systems
• creative software workflows

Skillshare’s subscription model and project-oriented classes can work well for creators whose teaching style is visual and inspiration-driven. Steve Wootten

I would avoid starting with…

Teachable / Thinkific / Kajabi

Great tools, but they solve the delivery problem, not the discovery problem. If nobody knows you exist, you still have to bring students through ads, SEO, social media, partnerships, or an email list. Webflow

Coursera

Excellent reputation, but it is generally aimed at universities, companies, and credential-based education rather than a solo creator uploading a first course. Biztoolkit

A practical beginner strategy

1. Publish your first course on Udemy (or Skillshare if it is strongly creative).
2. Use marketplace search data to see what students respond to.
3. Build an email list from outside the marketplace over time.
4. Later move premium offers (coaching, cohorts, advanced courses) to your own platform.

If you tell me what you want to teach (e.g., AI, fitness, art, coding, language, business, hobby, etc.), I can suggest the platform where a new creator is most likely to get discovered.

Coursera

If your #1 requirement is built-in student discovery and you have zero audience, I’d put Udemy first, with Skillshare second.

My ranking

1. Udemy — my default recommendation

Udemy is particularly attractive when you have no following, because students are already searching the marketplace for courses. Its Marketplace Insights tool also gives instructors data on student demand, search volume, and revenue before deciding what to teach. Udemy Support

Your course also becomes discoverable in the marketplace once it passes Udemy's quality review. Udemy Support

The big downside is economics/control: you're competing against thousands of other courses, and Udemy controls much of the pricing/promotion environment. Its global price tiers and Deals Program can affect the price students see. Udemy Support

Best strategy: make a narrowly targeted course around something people are already searching for, rather than starting with a broad "my expertise" course.

For example:

• Bad: "Learn Photography"
• Better: "iPhone Photography for Real Estate Agents"
• Bad: "Learn Excel"
• Better: "Excel Dashboards for Small Business Owners"
• Bad: "Learn AI"
• Better: "ChatGPT for Recruiters: Automate Candidate Research"

2. Skillshare — potentially better for creative topics

Skillshare has genuine internal discovery through search, browse, recommendations, and curated features. It explicitly says its search algorithms consider relevance and student engagement, and it promotes selected classes and teachers to its audience. Skillshare Help Center

It's particularly compelling if you're teaching things like:

• illustration
• graphic design
• photography
• video
• writing
• creative software
• crafts
• freelancing/creative business

Skillshare also says you don't need to be famous to start teaching there. Skillshare Help Center

One important 2026 wrinkle: Skillshare changed its teacher earnings model and eligibility requirements, so I wouldn't choose it purely because of the old "royalties from every minute watched" model you may have seen in older comparisons. Skillshare Help Center Skillshare Help Center

What I would do in your position

Start with Udemy if your subject is a searchable professional/practical skill.

Start with Skillshare if your subject is primarily creative.

Then, once you prove that people actually want the course, consider moving the business layer to your own platform. Marketplaces are excellent for discovery, but they're less attractive for building a long-term owned audience. CreatorStackClub

So the basic progression I'd recommend is:

No audience → Udemy/Skillshare → validate demand → build audience → eventually own your platform.

If you tell me what you want to teach, I can also tell you which marketplace is likely to give you the best chance of getting your first 10–100 students without an existing audience.

If your #1 requirement is built-in student discovery and you have zero audience, I’d start with udemy.com.

My ranking for a solo creator

Why Udemy is probably your best starting point

Udemy explicitly has a marketplace where students browse for courses, and its Marketplace Insights tool gives instructors data on student demand, search volume, and revenue for potential topics. There's also no fee to create and host courses. Udemy Support Udemy Support

The tradeoff is economics: for a sale generated through Udemy's marketplace rather than your own promotion, instructors currently receive 37% of the net amount. If you bring the buyer through your own coupon/referral, the share is 97%. Udemy Support

That's actually a reasonable trade when you're starting from zero audience: you're sacrificing margin in exchange for Udemy doing some of the customer acquisition.

When I'd choose Skillshare instead

skillshare.com is particularly attractive if you're teaching design, illustration, photography, video, writing, creative software, crafts, or other creative skills. Skillshare has search/recommendation systems specifically designed to help students discover classes, and it publishes data on topics students are actively searching for. Skillshare Help Center Skillshare Help Center

But there's an important 2026 wrinkle: Skillshare changed its teacher-earnings model and eligibility requirements in July 2026, so I'd be more cautious about relying on it as your primary income source. Skillshare Help Center Skillshare Help Center

What I'd do in your position

Start on Udemy → use it to validate demand → build your own audience later.

Don't spend months creating a giant $500 flagship course. Make a narrow course around a specific searchable problem, e.g.:

Bad: "Learn Graphic Design"
Better: "Figma UI Design for Beginners"
Even better: "Design Your First SaaS Dashboard in Figma"

Get the first course ranking/reviews/students, then use those students and your course expertise to eventually move toward your own platform where you control pricing and the customer relationship.

If you tell me what you want to teach (e.g. coding, AI, fitness, music, design, business, language, etc.), I can tell you which marketplace has the strongest built-in demand for that specific subject and how I'd position the first course.

For a solo creator with no audience, the key requirement is not the course builder — it is student discovery. You want a marketplace where people are already searching for things to learn. Webflow

My ranking would be:

1. Udemy — best overall for zero audience

Best for: practical, searchable skills

Examples:

• Python/programming
• Excel, Power BI, data analysis
• AI tools
• marketing
• design software
• business skills
• productivity

Why it fits:

• Students are already browsing and searching.
• You can publish without bringing an audience.
• Search rankings, reviews, and course quality can create a discovery loop. Steve Wootten Ruzuku

Trade-offs:

• Heavy competition.
• Less control over pricing and customer relationship.
• Revenue share is the cost of using the marketplace. CreatorStackClub

My pick for most first-time creators: start here.

2. Skillshare — best for creative/project-based teaching

Best for:

• illustration
• photography
• writing
• video
• crafts
• design
• creative workflows

Why it fits:

• Discovery is built around browsing and creative projects.
• Shorter, project-driven classes can work well. Steve Wootten

Trade-offs:

• Less suited for expensive flagship courses.
• Earnings are tied to the platform’s membership model rather than a simple course purchase. Biztoolkit

3. Maven — good later, not first

Best for:

• live cohorts
• professional skills
• expert-led workshops

The issue: without an audience or reputation, getting the first students is harder because you are usually responsible for attracting attention.

Avoid starting with these if you have no audience:

• Teachable
• Thinkific
• Kajabi

They are good tools, but they are storefronts, not marketplaces. They help you sell once people know you exist; they generally do not solve discovery. Webflow

A practical beginner strategy

1. Publish a focused course on Udemy (or Skillshare if it is creative).
2. Target a specific search problem, not a broad topic. - Better: “Excel Dashboards for Non-Analysts”
3. Worse: “Learn Excel”
4. Use student questions and reviews to improve the course.
5. Later move your highest-value audience into your own email list/community and premium offerings.

If you have no audience today, I would choose:

• Udemy → most skill topics
• Skillshare → creative topics
• Maven → if you already have expertise and can teach live cohorts

The biggest factor is not the platform; it is whether your topic already has student search demand. Steve Wootten

If your #1 constraint is “I have no audience, so I need the platform itself to bring me students,” I’d start with Udemy.

My ranking for a solo creator

Why I'd pick Udemy

Udemy is actually a marketplace, rather than simply course-hosting software. Students search/browse the marketplace, and Udemy explicitly provides instructors with Marketplace Insights showing student demand, search volume, and revenue for potential topics. Udemy Support

Most importantly for you, Udemy distinguishes between sales you generate yourself and sales generated through the marketplace. For marketplace-driven sales where no instructor coupon/referral is used, the instructor share is currently 37% of net revenue; sales through your own instructor promotion can yield 97%. Udemy Support

So the tradeoff is essentially:

Udemy:

“I'll accept lower margins in exchange for access to an existing pool of learners.”

Teachable/Kajabi/etc.:

“I'll keep more of the money, but I need to bring the learners.”

For someone starting with zero audience, I'd take the first deal.

One important caveat: Skillshare changed

I wouldn't automatically choose Skillshare just because it has an audience. In 2026, Skillshare requires teachers to have at least 50 followers and meet additional watch-time/publishing requirements to qualify for monthly royalties. Skillshare Skillshare

That makes it less attractive than it used to be for a completely unknown creator whose immediate goal is earning from student discovery.

Skillshare classes are still automatically added to its catalog, so there is genuine platform discovery. Skillshare But its current economics put more emphasis on building engagement and a following.

What I'd do if I were starting from zero

Start on Udemy → validate the topic → build reviews → then diversify.

I'd choose a course topic where people are already actively searching for a solution, rather than starting with something broad like “My Creative Journey.”

For example:

• “Excel for Real Estate Analysts”
• “Beginner Blender for Product Visualization”
• “How to Build a Shopify Store”
• “Financial Modeling for [specific profession]”
• “Python Automation for [specific job]”

The more specific the problem + audience, the easier it is for marketplace search to match you with the right students.

Once you have traction, you can use Udemy as your discovery engine while eventually moving your highest-value offerings—coaching, advanced courses, memberships, etc.—to a platform you control.

Bottom line: for a solo creator with zero audience, I'd choose Udemy first. The lower revenue share is the price you pay for not having to manufacture your own audience from scratch. Udemy Support Udemy Support

If you tell me what you want to teach, I can also rank Udemy vs Skillshare vs Domestika vs Maven vs other marketplaces specifically for your subject, including how likely each is to deliver organic student discovery.

Udemy:

“I'll accept lower margins in exchange for access to an existing pool of learners.”

Teachable/Kajabi/etc.:

“I'll keep more of the money, but I need to bring the learners.”

For someone starting with zero audience, I'd take the first deal.

One important caveat: Skillshare changed

I wouldn't automatically choose Skillshare just because it has an audience. In 2026, Skillshare requires teachers to have at least 50 followers and meet additional watch-time/publishing requirements to qualify for monthly royalties. help.skillshare.com help.skillshare.com

That makes it less attractive than it used to be for a completely unknown creator whose immediate goal is earning from student discovery.

Skillshare classes are still automatically added to its catalog, so there is genuine platform discovery. But its current economics put more emphasis on building engagement and a following.

What I'd do if I were starting from zero

Start on Udemy → validate the topic → build reviews → then diversify.

If your #1 constraint is “I have no audience, so the platform itself needs to bring me students,” I’d prioritize a true marketplace over platforms like Teachable, Kajabi, or Podia.

My ranking

🥇 I'd start with Udemy

For someone starting from zero audience, Udemy is unusually well aligned with your situation because the marketplace itself is designed around students searching for courses.

Udemy explicitly provides Marketplace Insights, which shows student demand, search volume, and revenue information for topics you're considering. Udemy Support

Your course also becomes discoverable in the Udemy marketplace once it passes their quality review. Udemy Support

There's another important advantage: Udemy says its reseller partnerships can expose selected courses to students who might not otherwise discover Udemy. Udemy Support

So the model is basically:

student searches → finds your course → Udemy handles checkout/platform → you get the student

rather than:

you build course → now you have to figure out how to get people to your website.

🥈 Skillshare is the other one I'd seriously consider

Skillshare has genuine internal discovery through search, browse, recommendations, curated features, and Staff Picks. Its current search system considers things such as title, description, tags, relevance, and student engagement. Skillshare Help Center

It also publishes data on what its members are actively searching for, which can be useful when you're trying to choose a topic with existing demand rather than guessing. Skillshare Help Center

The catch is the business model: Skillshare classes aren't generally sold individually; students access the catalog through membership. Skillshare Help Center And as of July 2026, Skillshare has changed its teacher-earnings eligibility requirements, so I'd pay particular attention to those before committing. Skillshare Help Center

The key distinction

If you're teaching coding, AI, Excel, business, marketing, productivity, finance, career skills, etc. → Udemy.

If you're teaching illustration, photography, design, writing, crafts, animation, creative software, etc. → Skillshare.

If you're teaching something highly specialized and can build demand yourself, then an owned platform becomes more attractive later.

My default strategy for a zero-audience creator would be: start on Udemy/Skillshare to exploit their existing demand, prove that people will pay for the topic, then eventually move your highest-value offer onto an owned platform.

If you tell me what you want to teach + roughly how much you want to charge, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 marketplaces and explain which one is most likely to get you your first 10 students.

For a solo creator with no audience, the key requirement is built-in student discovery, so you should generally start with a marketplace, not a course-hosting platform. Platforms like Teachable, Thinkific, and Kajabi are excellent for creators who already have traffic, but they do not bring you students. CreatorStackClub Teachable

My ranking for your situation:

Steve Wootten Ruzuku## My recommendation

Start with Udemy if:

• Your topic solves a searchable problem
• People already type queries like: - “learn Excel”
• “Python for beginners”
• “how to use AI tools”
• “project management basics”
• “Photoshop fundamentals”
• You want your first students without building an audience

Udemy is probably the strongest fit because students already browse and search there. The trade-off is less control over pricing and the customer relationship. CreatorStackClub Learning Revolution

Start with Skillshare if:

• You teach something visual or creative: - illustration
• photography
• writing
• crafts
• design
• productivity systems

Skillshare tends to work better for shorter, project-based classes rather than a long premium course. Steve Wootten

A practical path for a new solo creator

1. Publish a focused beginner course on a marketplace.
2. Use student questions/reviews to improve the course.
3. Create a second, more specialized course.
4. Build an email list and audience outside the marketplace.
5. Move premium offers (coaching, cohorts, advanced courses) to your own platform.

A common mistake is building a beautiful course website first and then discovering nobody knows it exists. Marketplaces solve the hardest early problem: getting in front of learners. Ruzuku

If you tell me your topic/niche (e.g., AI, fitness, language, design, coding, career skills, music, etc.), I can suggest the best marketplace and the type of course format most likely to get discovered.

If your #1 requirement is built-in student discovery and you have zero audience, I’d put Udemy first.

My ranking for your situation

1. Udemy — best overall

• It is a true course marketplace, so students are already searching for things to learn.
• Its Marketplace Insights tool shows student demand, search volume, and revenue potential for topics before you build. Udemy Support Udemy Support
• You don't need to pay to become an instructor, and you don't need an existing audience. Udemy Support
• The marketplace can also expose selected courses through external reseller partners, potentially reaching students who wouldn't otherwise find Udemy. Udemy Support
• Best for: practical, outcome-oriented courses—software, AI, business, productivity, marketing, technical skills, etc.
• Skillshare — good, but more niche

• Skillshare has genuine internal search, browse, recommendations, and promotion to its existing members. Skillshare Help Center
• However, there's an important 2026 catch: you need at least 50 followers to qualify for royalty payments, so it's less attractive if you're starting literally from zero. Skillshare Help Center Skillshare Help Center
• Skillshare is currently concentrating new-teacher categories around creative fields such as design, illustration, photography, animation, film/video, AI & Innovation, etc. Skillshare Help Center
• Best for: creative/visual skills and bite-sized project-based learning.
• Teachable / Kajabi / Podia — not my choice initially

• These are much better once you have an audience because you get substantially more control over pricing, branding, and the customer relationship.
• But with zero audience, you're largely responsible for bringing the students yourself. That's exactly the problem you're trying to avoid.

The key distinction

Think of it this way:

No audience → marketplace first → audience later → own platform eventually.

For a solo creator, I'd actually use Udemy as a discovery/validation engine, rather than trying to build a polished course business from day one.

The particularly useful feature is Marketplace Insights: before spending weeks recording a course, check whether people are already searching for the topic and whether the marketplace appears underserved. Udemy Support

One caveat: marketplace economics can be considerably worse than selling directly, so once you've developed an audience, your strategy can change.

If you tell me what you want to teach (e.g. AI, coding, fitness, language, design, career skills, music, etc.), I can tell you which marketplace has the strongest built-in discovery for that specific subject and what I'd choose in 2026.

If built-in student discovery is your #1 requirement and you’re starting with zero audience, I’d rank the major creator-course marketplaces roughly like this:

🥇 My pick: Udemy

For a solo creator starting from zero, Udemy is probably the safest choice.

The important distinction is that Udemy is actually a marketplace, rather than simply course-hosting software. Public courses can be discovered through the Udemy marketplace, and Udemy provides a Marketplace Insights tool showing student demand, search volume, and revenue information for potential topics. support.udemy.com

It also explicitly says that free courses can be used to build a student audience and test demand. support.udemy.com

So the model is roughly:

You bring the expertise → Udemy brings marketplace traffic → students search/browse → your course competes for that demand.

That's much more attractive when you don't already have an email list, YouTube following, LinkedIn audience, etc.

🥈 Skillshare — potentially better for creative subjects

Skillshare is particularly compelling if you're teaching design, illustration, photography, video, animation, creativity, or similar subjects.

Skillshare says its search, browse, and recommendation systems help students discover classes, and it actively promotes selected teachers/classes through things like homepage features and personalized recommendations. help.skillshare.com

It also publishes in-demand topics based on member searches and engagement, which is useful when you're trying to choose a topic without an existing audience. support.udemy.comhelp.skillshare.comhelp.maven.com

One important 2026 caveat: Skillshare has narrowed the categories currently open to new teachers, with its current focus heavily centered on creative fields. help.skillshare.com

Why I wouldn't start with Maven

Maven now has marketplace discovery, including homepage browsing, personalized emails, and trending placements. But Maven itself describes marketplace discovery as an accelerant rather than a replacement for distribution and says it works when you've already generated some traction. help.maven.com

That's almost the opposite of your situation.

And I'd avoid Teachable initially

Teachable is great when you already know how you're going to acquire students. But if your requirement is specifically:

"I have no audience. I need the platform itself to find students for me."

then I'd favor a marketplace over a standalone course-hosting platform.

Bottom line:
No audience + solo creator + need built-in discovery → start with Udemy.
No audience + creative subject → seriously consider Skillshare.

If you tell me what you want to teach (e.g. AI, coding, fitness, music, business, design, language, etc.), I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 marketplaces for that specific subject, including their current fees/revenue splits and how much discovery they actually provide.

For a solo creator with no audience whose top priority is built-in student discovery, you generally want a marketplace, not a course-hosting platform. The best fit is usually:

1. Udemy — best overall for zero audience

udemy.com

Why it fits:

• Students actively search for topics, so you can get discovered without a following.
• Huge catalog and learner base make it easier to validate niche ideas. Ruzuku
• Works well for practical, outcome-driven courses: software, business skills, marketing, productivity, design, coding, etc. TechSifted
• Low barrier to entry: you can publish without first building an email list or community. Ruzuku

Downsides:

• Heavy competition.
• Less control over pricing and customer relationship compared with owning your platform. Ruzuku
• Revenue per student is lower when the marketplace brings the student. CreatorStackClub

Best strategy: Treat Udemy as a discovery engine. Make a focused “solve one problem” course, collect reviews, then later add higher-priced products elsewhere.

2. Skillshare — good for creative niches

skillshare.com

Best for:

• Illustration
• Photography
• Writing
• Design
• Animation
• Creative entrepreneurship

Skillshare is discovery-friendly because students browse within a subscription library, but its model rewards engagement/watch time rather than direct course purchases. Aspects Inspire

Less ideal if you teach:

• Programming
• Advanced business
• Professional certification topics

3. Coursera — usually not for a solo beginner

coursera.org

Great learner reach, but it is mainly built around universities, companies, and institutional partners rather than individual creators uploading courses freely. Heresthebest

Platforms I would not start with if you have zero audience

• Teachable — good for owning your brand, but you bring the students.
• Thinkific — similar: strong tools, weak discovery.
• Kajabi — powerful, but usually makes more sense after you have traffic.

My ranking for your exact situation

If you are starting from zero followers, zero email list, and zero brand recognition, I would usually launch on Udemy first, use the marketplace to find what students actually buy, then move successful topics into your own ecosystem later. Ruzuku CreatorStackClub

The biggest factor, though, is your topic: a beginner Python course, a watercolor class, and a career coaching program have very different “best marketplaces.”

For a solo creator with no audience, the key question is not just “where can I host a course?” but “where will strangers discover me?” Marketplaces are usually better than creator platforms for that specific problem because they already have learner traffic. Ruzuku Ruzuku

My ranking:

1. Udemy — best overall for zero audience

Best for: practical, searchable skills

Examples:

• Programming
• AI tools
• Excel/data
• Marketing
• Business skills
• Design software
• Productivity

Why it fits a new solo creator:

• Students already search for topics on the platform.
• You can publish without needing your own following.
• A good title, thumbnail, reviews, and course SEO can generate discovery. Steve Wootten

Downsides:

• Heavy competition.
• Pricing is heavily influenced by platform promotions.
• You have less control over the student relationship. Ruzuku

Verdict: Start here if your topic solves a clear problem people already search for.

2. Skillshare — best for creative teachers

Best for:

• Illustration
• Photography
• Video
• Writing
• Craft
• Design
• Creative workflows

Why it works:

• Discovery is built around browsing and creative projects.
• Short, project-based classes can perform well. Steve Wootten

Downsides:

• Less ideal for high-priced professional training.
• Earnings depend more on engagement/subscription economics rather than direct course sales. Aspects Inspire

Verdict: Strong choice if your teaching is visual and project-oriented.

3. Coursera — usually not for a solo beginner

Best for:

• University instructors
• Companies
• Credential-based education

For most independent creators, it is harder to enter because content is typically associated with institutions and partners. Biztoolkit

Platforms I would not start with if you have no audience

These are good products, but they are mostly hosting/sales tools, not discovery engines:

• Teachable
• Thinkific
• Kajabi

They give you more control, but you generally need to bring the students yourself. Ruzuku

A practical beginner strategy

For a solo creator starting from zero:

1. Put your first course on Udemy (or Skillshare if it is creative).
2. Use it to validate: - Do people click?
3. Do they finish?
4. Do they leave reviews?
5. What questions do they ask?
6. Later build your own email list/community and move premium offerings to your own platform.

A marketplace is basically a student acquisition channel. Your own platform is a business ownership channel. Many creators eventually use both. Ruzuku Ruzuku

If you tell me your topic/niche (e.g., coding, language teaching, fitness, art, business, AI, etc.) and whether you want passive course sales vs coaching/community, I can narrow it down.

If your #1 requirement is built-in student discovery and you have zero audience, I’d start with Udemy.

My ranking for your situation

1. Udemy — best overall

• Students actively search the marketplace for specific skills/topics.
• Udemy gives instructors a Marketplace Insights tool showing demand, search volume, and revenue data before you create a course. Udemy Support Udemy Support
• You don't pay a monthly fee to publish.
• For sales generated organically through Udemy, instructors currently receive 37% of net revenue; if you bring the student yourself through your promotion, it's 97%. Udemy Support
• Best for: software, business, AI, coding, productivity, professional skills, practical how-to courses.
• Skillshare — best if you're teaching creative skills

• It has genuine built-in discovery through search, browse, recommendations, paid advertising, and editorial promotion. Skillshare Help Center
• Particularly strong for design, illustration, photography, video, freelancing, and other creative subjects. Skillshare
• The downside for a brand-new creator is important: as of 2026, you need 50 followers to qualify for royalty payments. Skillshare Help Center
• So I'd put it behind Udemy if you literally have zero audience.
• Teachable / Thinkific / Kajabi — not ideal initially

• These are much better when you already have an audience because you have to bring the students yourself.
• They're attractive later because you get much more control over pricing, branding, and the customer relationship.

The important distinction

If you're starting from:

No audience → need students → want to validate whether people will pay

I'd choose Udemy first.

If you're starting from:

No audience → creative subject → want exposure to a creative learning community

I'd consider Skillshare.

And I'd avoid building your own course site initially. You're essentially paying for infrastructure before you've proven that anyone wants the course.

One strategy I'd seriously consider: use Udemy as your student-discovery/validation engine, then once you have proof of demand and some students, build your own higher-priced product elsewhere. That lets the marketplace do the hardest part—finding your first customers—without making it your permanent business model.

If you tell me what you want to teach, I can tell you which marketplace is likely to have the strongest built-in demand for that specific subject.

If your #1 constraint is “I have no audience, so I need the platform itself to bring me students,” I’d put Udemy first, with Skillshare second.

1. Udemy — my first choice

Udemy is particularly well suited to a creator starting from zero audience because it operates as an actual course marketplace. Its Marketplace Insights tool shows student demand, search volume, and revenue information for topics, so you can research demand before investing heavily in a course. Udemy Support Udemy Support

It also gives you analytics on how students discover your courses and what other subjects your students are interested in. Udemy Support Udemy Support

And there's an interesting 2026 development: Udemy courses can now be surfaced through its ChatGPT app, giving marketplace courses another potential discovery channel. Udemy Support

The catch: you sacrifice some pricing/revenue control in exchange for that distribution. That's a reasonable trade when your alternative is having nobody see your course.

udemy.com

2. Skillshare — potentially better for creative subjects

Skillshare has genuine internal discovery: search, browsing, recommendations, homepage promotion, and staff-curated features can put classes in front of existing members. Skillshare Help Center

I'd consider it particularly strongly if you're teaching design, illustration, photography, video, animation, or other creative skills. Skillshare itself says those are among its most popular categories. Skillshare

However, there's an important 2026 wrinkle: teachers now need at least 50 followers to qualify for monthly royalty payments. Skillshare Help Center That's not necessarily a dealbreaker, but it makes Skillshare somewhat less attractive for a truly brand-new creator.

skillshare.com

What I'd do in your situation

Start on Udemy → validate demand → build an audience → eventually move your premium offer to your own platform.

The mistake I'd avoid is starting with Teachable/Kajabi/Thinkific because they give you a beautiful storefront but don't solve your biggest problem: getting strangers to discover you.

A good strategy is:

1. Find a specific problem people already search for.
2. Use Udemy's marketplace data to validate demand.
3. Make a focused course rather than a giant “everything about X” course.
4. Use the first students/reviews to improve it.
5. Once you have proof of demand and some students, build your own email list/community.
6. Eventually use your own platform for higher-priced courses, coaching, memberships, etc.

If you tell me what you want to teach (e.g. coding, fitness, AI, language learning, music, design, business), I can tell you which marketplace has the strongest built-in discovery for that specific subject and what I'd choose between Udemy, Skillshare, Maven, Outschool, etc.

Udemy is particularly well suited to a creator starting from zero audience because it operates as an actual course marketplace. Its Marketplace Insights tool shows student demand, search volume, and revenue information for topics, so you can research demand before investing heavily in a course. Udemy Support Udemy Support

It also gives you analytics on how students discover your courses and what other subjects your students are interested in. Udemy Support Udemy Support

And there's an interesting 2026 development: Udemy courses can now be surfaced through its ChatGPT app, giving marketplace courses another potential discovery channel. Udemy Support

The catch: you sacrifice some pricing/revenue control in exchange for that distribution. That's a reasonable trade when your alternative is having nobody see your course.

udemy.com

2. Skillshare — potentially better for creative subjects

Skillshare has genuine internal discovery: search, browsing, recommendations, homepage promotion, and staff-curated features can put classes in front of existing members. Skillshare Help Center

I'd consider it particularly strongly if you're teaching design, illustration, photography, video, animation, or other creative skills. Skillshare itself says those are among its most popular categories. skillshare.com

However, there's an important 2026 wrinkle: teachers now need at least 50 followers to qualify for monthly royalty payments. Skillshare Help Center That's not necessarily a dealbreaker, but it makes Skillshare somewhat less attractive for a truly brand-new creator.

If your #1 constraint is “I have no audience, so the platform needs to bring me students,” I’d put Udemy first.

My ranking for a solo creator

Why Udemy: it is actually a marketplace rather than merely course-hosting software. Your course can be discovered through Udemy's marketplace, search, recommendations, promotions, etc. Udemy explicitly provides a Marketplace Insights tool showing student demand, search volume, and revenue data before you create a course. support.udemy.com

The tradeoff is economics: for a sale that comes through Udemy without your own promotion, instructors currently receive 37% of net revenue; sales through your own instructor coupon/referral can pay 97%. support.udemy.com

That's actually a reasonable trade when you're starting from zero audience: you're effectively exchanging some margin for distribution.

One important caveat: Skillshare

Skillshare has real internal discovery—its search, browse, recommendations, and editorial features can surface classes to members. help.skillshare.com

But I'd rank it below Udemy for your particular situation because as of 2026, Skillshare requires teachers to have at least 50 followers to qualify for monthly royalty payments, along with other eligibility requirements. help.skillshare.com

So if you're literally starting at 0 followers + 0 audience, that's a meaningful disadvantage.

The strategy I'd use

Don't think of this as:

“Which platform should become my entire business?”

Instead:

Udemy = discovery engine → validate topic → get first students/reviews → learn what people actually want → eventually build your own higher-margin product.

Udemy's marketplace is particularly useful for this because it gives you demand information before you invest heavily in production. support.udemy.com

If you tell me what you want to teach (e.g. AI, coding, fitness, language, art, business, music, etc.), I can narrow this down considerably—because the best marketplace changes a lot by subject.

If your #1 constraint is “I have no audience, so the platform needs to bring me students,” I’d put Udemy first, Skillshare second, and Maven a distant third.

1. 🥇 Udemy — best match for your situation

udemy.com

This is the one I'd test first if you're starting from zero audience.

Udemy explicitly has a marketplace where students discover courses, and its Marketplace Insights tool gives instructors data on student demand, search volume, and revenue for particular topics. Udemy Udemy Support

That makes it particularly good if you're teaching something people already search for, such as:

• Software / AI tools
• Coding
• Business skills
• Excel / data
• Career skills
• Productivity
• Marketing
• Professional certifications

The tradeoff is economics: you're essentially renting distribution. Udemy controls much of the marketplace experience, and you'll generally earn less per student than you would selling directly.

For a solo creator with zero audience, though, I'd prioritize distribution over margin initially.

2. 🥈 Skillshare — potentially better for creative subjects

skillshare.com

Skillshare has genuine internal discovery through search, browse, recommendations, staff picks, and its own marketing. Its recommendation system shows classes to members based on their interests, while search uses things like your title, description, tags, and student engagement. Skillshare Help Center

It's particularly attractive for:

• Design
• Illustration
• Photography
• Video
• Animation
• Creative software
• Creative careers

One important 2026 wrinkle: Skillshare now requires at least 50 followers to qualify for monthly royalty payments, so I wouldn't choose it purely because you're starting with zero audience. Skillshare Help Center Skillshare Help Center

3. Maven — only if you're selling a premium cohort experience

help.maven.com

Maven does have marketplace discovery, including search, category browsing, and algorithmic trending placement. But Maven itself describes discovery as an “accelerant, not a replacement, for distribution.” Maven Help Center

So I wouldn't pick Maven if your primary requirement is:

“I have nobody following me. Please find my first students.”

I'd consider it if you have a compelling expertise-based course that can command hundreds or thousands of dollars, particularly a live cohort course.

My recommendation

If I were starting as a solo creator with zero audience today, I'd do:

Udemy → validate demand → build audience → eventually move premium products to your own platform.

The key is to choose the marketplace based on how students search, rather than simply uploading something you're interested in teaching.

For example, a course called:

“Learn AI”

is a weak marketplace product.

Something like:

“ChatGPT for Real Estate Agents: Automate Listings, Emails & Lead Follow-Up”

has a much clearer search/discovery proposition.

If you tell me what you want to teach, I can rank Udemy vs Skillshare vs Maven specifically for your topic and tell you which one has the best chance of getting your first 10 students without an audience.

If you’re a solo creator with no audience and your top priority is built-in student discovery, you generally want a marketplace, not a course-hosting platform. The best fits are:

Steve Wootten Ruzuku## My recommendation for your situation

1. Start with Udemy if your topic is searchable

For a creator starting from zero, Udemy is usually the strongest first bet because students actively search for specific skills there. Examples:

• Python programming
• Excel
• AI tools
• Photoshop
• marketing
• project management
• language learning
• business skills

The downside: you compete with many instructors, pricing is often marketplace-driven, and you have less control over the student relationship. Ruzuku CreatorStackClub

2. Pick Skillshare if your content is creative

Skillshare is attractive for creators teaching things like:

• illustration
• photography
• filmmaking
• writing
• crafts
• design
• creative workflows

Its discovery model fits shorter, practical classes where students browse and try projects. Steve Wootten CourseFacts

3. Avoid starting with Teachable/Kajabi-style platforms alone

Platforms like Teachable are better once you have:

• an email list
• YouTube/social traffic
• a community
• a personal brand

They give you more control, but they generally do not solve the “how do I get my first students?” problem. Steve Wootten CreatorStackClub

A practical beginner strategy

For a solo creator at zero audience:

1. Put a focused, searchable course on Udemy (or Skillshare if creative).
2. Use student questions/reviews to improve the course.
3. Build an audience channel alongside it (YouTube, newsletter, LinkedIn, etc.).
4. Later move higher-value offers (coaching, advanced courses, community) to your own platform.

A marketplace is best viewed as a student acquisition channel, not necessarily your forever home. Ruzuku

If you tell me what you want to teach (coding, fitness, art, business, language, etc.) and whether it’s live/cohort-based or prerecorded, I can narrow this to the best platform.

If your #1 requirement is built-in student discovery and you’re a solo creator starting from zero, I’d put Udemy first.

My ranking for your situation

1. Udemy — my default recommendation

Udemy is specifically built around marketplace discovery. Udemy currently says it has 80 million students, and courses are discoverable through its marketplace, search, recommendations, promotions, and other distribution channels. It also provides Marketplace Insights to help instructors assess demand before creating a course. Udemy

That's a particularly good combination for someone with zero audience:

Search demand → discoverability → first students → reviews → more discoverability

The catch is economics and control. You're competing against lots of courses, Udemy influences pricing/promotions, and you don't get the same ownership of the student relationship that you'd have with your own platform.

I'd choose Udemy if: you're teaching something people actively search for, such as Excel, Python, design software, AI tools, photography, business skills, project management, etc.

2. Skillshare — potentially better for creative subjects

Skillshare has genuine internal discovery through search, browsing, recommendations, and editorial promotion. Skillshare explicitly says its search/recommendation systems help students discover classes, and it publishes data about topics students are actively searching for. Skillshare Help Center Skillshare Help Center

However, there's an important 2026 caveat: Skillshare has narrowed its focus toward creative disciplines. New teachers are currently being accepted primarily in areas such as AI & Innovation, Design, Art & Illustration, Animation, Photography, Film & Video, and Creative Career. Skillshare Help Center Skillshare Help Center

Also, Skillshare isn't an individual-course marketplace in the same way Udemy is: students subscribe to Skillshare and access the catalog rather than buying your class individually. Skillshare Help Center

The interesting strategy

If I were starting completely from scratch, I'd use a marketplace to acquire the first students rather than paying for a standalone course platform immediately.

I'd probably do:

Udemy → validate topic → get reviews/students → build audience → eventually add your own platform

The important thing is to choose a topic with existing marketplace search demand, rather than making a course around something you personally think people should want.

If you tell me what you want to teach (e.g. AI, fitness, music, coding, business, art, language, etc.), I can tell you which marketplace has the strongest discovery potential for that specific subject.

If your #1 requirement is built-in student discovery and you have zero audience, I’d narrow it to Udemy vs. Skillshare.

My pick: Udemy

For a solo creator starting from scratch, Udemy is probably the strongest default.

Udemy explicitly has a marketplace search system and a Marketplace Insights tool showing student demand, search volume, and revenue data for potential topics. support.udemy.com It also allows free courses as a way to build an initial student audience and test demand. support.udemy.com

Udemy instructor resources

When I'd choose Skillshare instead

Choose Skillshare if your subject is design, illustration, photography, video, writing, freelancing, productivity, or another creative-oriented skill.

Skillshare has search, browse, personalized recommendations, and staff curation for discovering classes. Its current search system considers things such as relevance, student engagement, and new classes. help.skillshare.com It also publishes current data on what members are searching for, which is useful when you're trying to choose a topic without an existing audience. help.skillshare.com

One important caveat: Skillshare changed its teacher earnings system in July 2026, including new eligibility requirements for monthly royalty payments, so I'd evaluate the economics carefully before committing heavily to it. help.skillshare.com

Skillshare for teachers

What I would not choose first

I wouldn't start with Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, Podia, etc. if you literally have zero audience.

They're better thought of as your own storefront/course business, not marketplaces. You generally have to bring the students yourself. A marketplace gives you a shot at being discovered before you've built an email list, YouTube channel, or social following.

The strategy I'd use

Start on Udemy → validate demand → build your own audience → eventually move/expand onto your own platform.

The key isn't simply picking the marketplace with the most users. It's picking a specific problem people are already searching for.

For example, instead of:

"Learn Excel"

I'd target:

"Excel Financial Modeling for Real Estate Investors"

or:

"How to Automate Your Small Business With Zapier"

That gives the marketplace search algorithm a much clearer audience/problem to match you with.

If you tell me what you want to teach (and whether it's video course, cohort, templates, coaching, etc.), I can tell you which marketplace I'd choose and how I'd position the first product for discovery.

If your #1 requirement is built-in student discovery and you have zero audience, I’d put Udemy first, with Skillshare second—but they suit different kinds of creators.

🥇 My pick: Udemy

For your specific situation—solo creator + no existing audience + need students to find you—Udemy is probably the strongest starting point.

Its marketplace is specifically designed around students searching/browsing for courses, and Udemy even provides Marketplace Insights showing student demand, search volume, and revenue information for potential topics. support.udemy.com

The tradeoff is economics: for a sale generated through Udemy's marketplace rather than your own coupon/referral, instructors currently receive 37% of the net amount. If you bring the student yourself through your promotion, the share is 97%. support.udemy.com

That's actually a reasonable trade if your alternative is 100% of nothing because nobody knows you exist.

Udemy

🥈 Skillshare is interesting if you're a creative

Skillshare has genuine internal discovery through search, browse, recommendations, curated features, and Staff Picks. Its search algorithm considers relevance while also giving exposure to new classes and student engagement. help.skillshare.com

However, there's an important 2026 caveat: Skillshare has recently tightened its focus and teacher eligibility, concentrating on a smaller set of engaged teachers and creative categories. New teachers currently have to apply and be approved, and the categories open to new teachers include areas such as AI & Innovation, Art & Illustration, Design, Photography, Film & Video, and Crafts & DIY. help.skillshare.com

Its monetization is also different: teachers earn primarily through royalties based on member engagement/watch time rather than simply receiving a percentage of an individual course sale. help.skillshare.com

Skillshare

The strategy I'd use

If you're starting from literally zero audience, I'd do:

1. Start on Udemy → validate demand → get your first students/reviews.

2. Don't make a huge generic course. Pick a very specific problem people are already searching for.

For example, instead of:

"Learn Excel"

do:

"Excel Financial Modeling for Real Estate Analysts"

The narrower course gives the marketplace a much clearer idea of who should discover you.

3. Once you've proven demand, consider adding your own platform.

That's when Teachable/Thinkific/Kajabi become much more attractive: you can capture the higher-margin sales and own the customer relationship, while using marketplaces as discovery channels.

So if I had to give you one answer:

No audience → Udemy.
Creative subject → consider Skillshare.
Existing audience → Teachable/Thinkific/Kajabi.

If you tell me what you want to teach, I can also tell you which marketplace is likely to give that specific topic the best built-in discovery.

If your #1 constraint is “I have no audience, so the platform must help me get discovered by students,” I’d start with Udemy.

My ranking for a solo creator

Why Udemy is probably your best fit

Udemy is actually designed around marketplace discovery. Its Marketplace Insights tool gives instructors data on student demand, search volume, and revenue for topics, which is particularly useful when you don't already have an audience. support.udemy.com

More importantly, Udemy distinguishes between sales you generate yourself and sales generated through the marketplace. For marketplace-driven sales, instructors currently receive 37% of the net amount; sales through your own coupon/referral can yield 97%. support.udemy.com

So the tradeoff is basically:

Udemy:
less revenue per sale → much better chance of getting discovered

Your own course site:
more revenue per sale → you have to find the students

For someone starting from zero, I'd take the first deal.

Skillshare is the main alternative

If you're teaching illustration, design, photography, video, freelancing, creative software, or another creative subject, I'd seriously consider Skillshare. Its marketplace is explicitly centered on discovery within a community of creative learners, and teachers earn through royalties based on minutes watched plus referrals. www.skillshare.com

Skillshare also has programs specifically intended to help promising teachers grow their audience and gain additional platform promotion. help.skillshare.com

One important caveat

Don't choose a marketplace merely because it has lots of students. Your topic needs to have marketplace demand but not be hopelessly saturated.

If I were starting with zero audience, I'd do this:

1. Research 5–10 course topics on Udemy Marketplace Insights.
2. Look for topics with meaningful search demand and manageable competition.
3. Make one narrowly targeted course, rather than a giant generic course.
4. Optimize the title/thumbnail/description around what students actually search for.
5. Use the first course to generate reviews and discover what students want next.
6. Once you have some traction, consider adding your own site/email list so you aren't permanently dependent on marketplace economics.

Bottom line:
👉 No audience + need built-in discovery = Udemy.
👉 Creative subject + discovery = consider Skillshare.
👉 Existing audience = Teachable/Kajabi/etc. become much more attractive.

If you tell me what you want to teach (e.g. AI, coding, fitness, music, business, art, language, etc.), I can tell you which marketplace is likely to give that specific topic the best student discovery.

If your #1 constraint is “I have no audience and need the platform to bring me students,” I’d start with Udemy.

My ranking

1. 🥇 Udemy — best for a zero-audience creator

Udemy is explicitly a course marketplace, so students can discover you through marketplace search and browsing rather than requiring you to bring your own traffic. It also gives instructors Marketplace Insights, showing demand and search volume for potential course topics. support.udemy.comsupport.udemy.com

That's a particularly good fit if you're willing to make courses around specific problems people are already searching for.

For example, I'd favor:

“Excel for Small Business Bookkeeping”

over:

“My Complete Productivity System”

The first has much clearer marketplace search intent.

The downside is that you sacrifice some pricing/control and revenue compared with selling directly. But when you have zero audience, paying that price for distribution can be worthwhile.

Udemy

2. 🥈 Skillshare — excellent if you're in creative territory

Skillshare also has meaningful internal discovery. Its recommendations and search algorithms surface classes based on relevance, engagement, titles, descriptions and tags. help.skillshare.com

It's particularly attractive for things like:

• illustration
• graphic design
• photography
• video
• writing
• animation
• crafts
• creative software
• creative business

One important difference: Skillshare isn't primarily an individual-course marketplace. Students subscribe for access to the catalog rather than purchasing your course individually. help.skillshare.com

Skillshare is also currently being more selective about teachers and content, with first-time teachers requiring approval. help.skillshare.com

Skillshare

What I would not do initially

I wouldn't start with Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, etc. if you literally have zero audience.

They're excellent infrastructure, but they're primarily tools for selling to an audience you already have. A beautiful course website doesn't solve the hardest problem you're describing: “Where do my first 100 students come from?”

The strategy I'd use

Start on a marketplace → validate demand → build your audience → eventually move/expand to your own platform.

For a solo creator, I'd probably do:

Udemy → 2–3 narrowly targeted courses → identify what sells → build email/social audience around the winning topic → eventually add your own higher-priced product.

The especially useful part is that Udemy gives you marketplace demand data before you commit to a topic. support.udemy.comsupport.udemy.com

If you tell me what you want to teach, I can also tell you whether Udemy, Skillshare, or another marketplace is likely to have the best student discovery for that specific subject.

For a solo creator with no audience, the best choice is usually a true marketplace, not a course-hosting platform. You need discovery more than you need fancy branding at the start. creatorstackclub.comwww.ruzuku.com

My ranking:

techsifted.com

My recommendation for your situation

Start with Udemy if:

• you have zero audience
• your topic has search demand (coding, business tools, productivity, language, design, career skills)
• you want your first students and reviews
• you are willing to treat it as a discovery channel, not your forever home

Udemy is probably the closest thing to “Amazon for courses”: students are already searching, and a good title, thumbnail, curriculum, and reviews can create organic sales. creatorstackclub.comwww.ruzuku.com

Start with Skillshare if:

• your course is creative and project-based
• you teach illustration, photography, crafts, writing, animation, etc.
• you prefer a subscription audience model

techsifted.com

A common solo-creator path

1. Publish your first course on Udemy/Skillshare to get discovered.
2. Collect testimonials and learn what students actually want.
3. Build an email list or community.
4. Move premium offerings (coaching, cohorts, advanced courses) to your own platform later.

The mistake many new creators make is starting with a platform like Kajabi or Teachable because it looks professional—but those tools help you sell to an audience you already have. They generally do not solve the “nobody knows I exist” problem. creatorstackclub.com

If you tell me your course topic, I can suggest the marketplace where you’re most likely to get discovered.

If your #1 requirement is built-in student discovery and you have zero audience, I’d start with Udemy.

My ranking for your situation

Why Udemy: students actively browse/search its marketplace, and Udemy provides a Marketplace Insights tool showing student demand, search volume, and revenue information for potential topics. There's also no fee to create and host courses. support.udemy.com

The major downside is economics: when Udemy itself drives a marketplace sale, instructors currently receive 37% of net revenue; if the student buys through your own coupon/referral, you receive 97%. support.udemy.com That's a worthwhile trade if you're deliberately using Udemy to acquire your first students rather than maximize margin immediately.

What about Skillshare?

Skillshare is attractive if you're teaching illustration, design, photography, video, animation, creative careers, etc. www.skillshare.com It has a genuine built-in student community.

However, there's an important 2026 catch: since July 16, teachers need at least 50 Skillshare followers plus additional watch-time/publishing requirements to qualify for monthly royalty payments. help.skillshare.com For someone starting from literally zero audience, that makes it less attractive as your first marketplace.

The strategy I'd use

Start on Udemy → get discovered → collect proof → build your own platform later.

Don't start by building a beautiful course website nobody knows exists. Instead:

1. Find a topic with demonstrable Udemy demand.
2. Make a narrowly focused course solving one concrete problem.
3. Optimize the title/thumbnail/description around what students actually search for.
4. Get your first reviews and students.
5. Once you have traction, launch a higher-priced version or companion product on your own platform.

The key distinction is: Udemy is a customer-acquisition channel; Teachable/Kajabi/etc. are business infrastructure. With no audience, acquisition is the bottleneck.

If you tell me what you want to teach (e.g. coding, fitness, drawing, AI, language learning, business, music), I can tell you which marketplace is likely to have the best built-in discovery for that specific subject.

If built-in student discovery is your #1 requirement and you have zero audience, I’d start with Udemy.

My ranking for a solo creator with no audience

1. Udemy — best starting point

Udemy is unusually well suited to your situation because students are already searching its marketplace. Udemy even provides instructors with Marketplace Insights showing student demand, search volume, and revenue data for potential topics. support.udemy.com

The big tradeoff is economics: when a student finds you organically through Udemy's marketplace, instructors currently receive 37% of the net amount; sales driven by your own coupon/referral can pay 97%. support.udemy.com

That's actually a reasonable trade if you're starting from zero distribution. You're essentially exchanging margin for access to Udemy's existing demand.

Especially good for: software, AI, business, marketing, productivity, technical skills, certifications, professional skills, etc.

2. Skillshare — potentially better for creative subjects

Skillshare has genuine internal discovery through search, browsing, recommendations, and staff curation. Its search algorithm considers relevance and student engagement, and Skillshare explicitly provides teachers with data about topics students are searching for. help.skillshare.com

The catch is that Skillshare is much more oriented toward creative learning—design, illustration, photography, video, animation, creative careers, etc. www.skillshare.com

Also, the business model is different: students generally subscribe rather than buy individual classes, and teacher earnings are based largely on engagement/watch time rather than a straightforward course purchase. help.skillshare.comhelp.skillshare.com

One important 2026 wrinkle: Skillshare recently changed its teacher-earnings model and eligibility requirements, so I'd examine those carefully before making it your primary income platform. help.skillshare.comhelp.skillshare.com

What I would not start with

Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, Podia, etc. are better thought of as your own storefront/course business, not student marketplaces.

That's a critical distinction:

Marketplace: "I need the platform to find my customers."
Course platform: "I already have customers and need somewhere to sell to them."

With no audience, the first problem is much more important.

My recommendation

If I were starting from zero:

Udemy → prove demand → build reviews/students → establish an email audience → eventually move higher-value products to your own platform.

And I wouldn't start by making a giant 20-hour course. I'd use Udemy's marketplace/search data to identify a specific problem people are already looking for, then make the smallest excellent course that solves it.

If you tell me what you want to teach, I can also compare Udemy vs. Skillshare vs. other marketplaces specifically for that subject and tell you where a zero-audience creator has the best chance of getting their first 100 students.

For a solo creator with no audience, the key requirement is not course-building features — it’s built-in student discovery. That narrows the field a lot.

My ranking would be:

www.ruzuku.com

Best default choice: Udemy

If you have zero audience, Udemy is usually the strongest first marketplace because students are already searching there. It works especially well if your course solves a clear search problem:

• “Excel dashboards for beginners”
• “Python programming”
• “SQL interview preparation”
• “AI tools for marketers”
• “Photoshop basics”
• “Project management fundamentals”

The downside: you are competing inside a crowded marketplace, and the platform controls much of the pricing/discovery experience. floatjet.com

Choose Skillshare instead if you teach creative skills

Skillshare is often better for:

• illustration
• photography
• graphic design
• writing
• crafts
• creative workflows

Students tend to browse for inspiration and projects rather than searching for a career outcome. stevewootten.com

A strategy many solo creators use

1. Publish a focused beginner course on Udemy or Skillshare to get discovery.
2. Collect reviews and learn what students struggle with.
3. Build a more premium offer later on your own platform (community, coaching, advanced course, templates, etc.).

Marketplaces are good for finding your first students; owned platforms are better for building a long-term business. www.ruzuku.com

If you tell me what you want to teach (e.g., coding, fitness, language, art, business, music, AI, etc.), I can recommend the best marketplace for that specific niche.

If your #1 requirement is built-in student discovery and you have zero audience, I’d put Udemy first.

My ranking for your situation

Why Udemy: students actively search its marketplace, and Udemy even provides Marketplace Insights showing student demand, search volume, and revenue potential for topics. You can also start without paying to host courses. support.udemy.com

The important catch is economics: when Udemy generates the sale through its marketplace rather than your own promotion, instructors currently receive 37% of the net amount. If you bring the buyer through your coupon/referral link, the share is 97%. support.udemy.comsupport.udemy.com

Skillshare is the runner-up

I'd choose Skillshare over Udemy if you're teaching something like illustration, design, photography, video, writing, animation, or another creative/project-based skill. Skillshare explicitly positions itself around creative learning and says it has hundreds of thousands of learners. www.skillshare.com

However, there's an important 2026 change: starting July 16, Skillshare requires teachers to have at least 50 followers plus a watch-time/publishing requirement to qualify for monthly royalty payments. help.skillshare.com That makes it less attractive than it used to be for a completely unknown creator.

What I'd do in your shoes

Start with Udemy → validate demand → build your own platform later.

Don't begin by paying $30–$150+/month for Teachable/Kajabi/etc. if your biggest problem is "How do I get my first students?" Those platforms give you much more ownership, but generally expect you to bring the traffic. Marketplace platforms trade some revenue/control for access to existing demand. creatorstackclub.com

The bigger strategic question is what you're teaching. If you tell me your course topic (e.g. coding, fitness, language, AI, music, career skills, art, etc.), I can tell you which marketplace has the strongest built-in discovery for that specific niche and how I'd position the first course.

For a solo creator with no audience, the key requirement is different from what most “course platform” comparisons emphasize: you need distribution, not just course hosting. Platforms like Teachable, Thinkific, and Kajabi are excellent for creators who can already bring traffic, but they generally do not solve the “where do my first students come from?” problem. creatorstackclub.com

My shortlist:

stevewootten.comzapier.com

My recommendation by situation

1. You have zero audience + teach a searchable skill → start with Udemy

• Good examples:
  • Excel
  • coding
  • AI tools
  • design software
  • marketing skills
  • business skills
  • languages
• Students are already browsing/searching there.
• Your first goal is validation: “Will strangers pay attention to this topic?” stevewootten.com

2. You teach creative skills → consider Skillshare
Good fits:

• illustration
• photography
• writing
• crafts
• design
• productivity projects

Skillshare’s discovery model fits classes where learners browse for inspiration and projects rather than searching for a specific professional outcome. stevewootten.comzapier.com

3. Avoid starting with Teachable/Kajabi/Thinkific if discovery is your #1 need
They are better once you have:

• an email list
• YouTube/social following
• clients you can upsell
• SEO traffic

They help you own the business, but they are not marketplaces in the same way. creatorstackclub.com

A practical solo-creator path

1. Publish a focused beginner course on Udemy or Skillshare.
2. Use student questions/reviews to improve it.
3. Build an email list from your broader content.
4. Move your premium offer to your own platform later.

A common mistake is making a huge “complete masterclass” before knowing whether anyone is actively looking for that outcome. A smaller, searchable course usually gives a better first test.

If you tell me what you want to teach (e.g., coding, art, fitness, business, language, AI, music, etc.) and whether you want income or audience-building first, I can narrow this to the best platform.

If your #1 requirement is built-in student discovery and you have zero audience, I’d start with Udemy.

My ranking for a solo creator with no audience

Why Udemy: its marketplace is explicitly designed to generate sales from people browsing Udemy rather than only from your own audience. For sales not attributed to your own promotion, instructors currently receive 37% of net revenue; sales through your own coupon/referral get 97%. support.udemy.com

More importantly for your situation, Udemy has Marketplace Insights, which lets you examine student demand, search volume, and revenue for topics before you build the course. support.udemy.com

Udemy instructor information

Skillshare is the strongest alternative

If you're teaching design, illustration, photography, video, writing, productivity, or other creative skills, I'd seriously consider Skillshare. Its search/recommendation system actively surfaces classes to members, and Skillshare publishes data on what students are searching for to help teachers choose topics. help.skillshare.com

However, there's an important 2026 wrinkle: Skillshare changed its teacher-earnings model and eligibility requirements beginning July 16, 2026. help.skillshare.com So I'd evaluate the economics carefully rather than assuming the old Skillshare model still applies.

The key distinction

If you're starting from zero audience, don't confuse:

Marketplace

"People are already here looking for something. Can my course get surfaced to them?"

with

Course-hosting platform

"Here's my beautiful course website. Now I need to find people to send to it."

For your situation, I'd choose the first category initially.

My default strategy:
Udemy → validate demand → get your first students/reviews → build an email list/audience → eventually add your own platform.

If you tell me what you want to teach (e.g. coding, AI, fitness, music, design, business, language, etc.), I can narrow this down to the 2–3 marketplaces where a completely unknown creator has the best chance of getting discovered, including their current revenue splits and audience size.