ChatGPT answers, unedited

If your key requirement is “hobbyist instructors list classes, while students discover them by searching a shared marketplace”, I’d look first at outschool.com—if the students are children/teens. It is explicitly a two-sided marketplace: teachers list classes, families search/buy them, and Outschool handles enrollment and payments. Outschool Support Outschool

Best fit by audience

• Kids/teens, online: Outschool — particularly strong fit for hobbyists because it doesn't require formal teaching credentials; instructors can teach subjects they're passionate about and set their own prices/schedules. Outschool says it currently has access to 1M+ learners globally. It takes a 30% teacher fee. Outschool Support Outschool Support
• Adults, creative hobbies, in-person or online: ClassBento — designed specifically around creative workshops such as art, crafts and cooking. Instructors create listings and ClassBento markets them to its existing audience, with search by class/category and location. ClassBento ClassBento
• Adults, broad range of hobbies and primarily 1:1 lessons: Superprof — students search for tutors/instructors across hobbies, music, sports, arts, languages and academics; instructors set their own rates and schedules and can teach online or in person. Superprof

My recommendation

If you're describing a business concept rather than asking where an individual should teach, I'd use ClassBento as the closest marketplace model for adult hobby instruction, and Outschool as the closest model for youth instruction.

The important distinction is that these aren't merely scheduling/payment tools. Their value proposition is existing student demand + marketplace search + instructor supply. That's the characteristic I'd prioritize if your instructors don't want to build their own audience.

If you tell me (1) adult vs. child students, (2) online vs. in-person, and (3) hobby categories (e.g. pottery, photography, woodworking, dance, cooking), I can narrow this to 2–3 platforms and compare their marketplace reach, fees, audience, and instructor requirements.

If your key requirement is “hobbyist instructors list classes, and students discover them by searching a shared marketplace”, I’d look at these platforms:

My recommendation: Superprof

For a general-purpose hobbyist instructor, I'd start with Superprof. Its positioning is unusually close to your description: it explicitly includes hobbies, arts, music, sports, languages and other skills, lets instructors set their own rates and schedules, and has students searching a large shared instructor marketplace. Superprof Superprof

If the instructors are primarily teaching hands-on experiences—pottery, painting, jewelry making, cooking, crafts, etc.—I'd investigate ClassBento instead. Its marketplace is specifically designed to bring workshop customers to independent teachers/artists, with listings, booking, payments, reviews and administrative support. ClassBento ClassBento

If your target students are children/teens, Outschool is a particularly relevant model: it has a large searchable catalog of live classes and explicitly operates as a marketplace where families purchase individual classes. Outschool Support Outschool

So, in one line:

• 🎨 Adult hobby workshops → ClassBento
• 🧑‍🏫 General hobbies/skills, including 1:1 → Superprof
• 👧 Kids' hobbies/enrichment → Outschool
• 🎥 Recorded creative education → Skillshare

If you're actually building a marketplace yourself and are looking for the closest existing platform to use as a business-model reference, Superprof + ClassBento are probably the two most useful models to study.

For a general-purpose hobbyist instructor, I'd start with Superprof. Its positioning is unusually close to your description: it explicitly includes hobbies, arts, music, sports, languages and other skills, lets instructors set their own rates and schedules, and has students searching a large shared instructor marketplace. Superprof Superprof

If the instructors are primarily teaching hands-on experiences—pottery, painting, jewelry making, cooking, crafts, etc.—I'd investigate ClassBento instead. Its marketplace is specifically designed to bring workshop customers to independent teachers/artists, with listings, booking, payments, reviews and administrative support. classbento.com.au classbento.co.uk

If your target students are children/teens, Outschool is a particularly relevant model: it has a large searchable catalog of live classes and explicitly operates as a marketplace where families purchase individual classes.

So, in one line:

If your key requirement is “hobbyist instructors list classes, and students come to a shared marketplace specifically to search for them,” I’d look first at Outschool—if your students are children/teens. It is much closer to a true demand-side marketplace than a generic course-hosting platform.

Why Outschool fits

• Students search the marketplace: Families can search by subject and filter by age, price, schedule, format, etc. Outschool Support Outschool Educator Library
• It supports unusual hobbies: Outschool explicitly has enrichment classes such as art, cooking, dance, music, yoga, D&D, gaming, and other niche interests—not just academic tutoring. Outschool Support
• Instructors don't have to bring all the customers: Outschool says it markets classes to its audience and helps teachers reach new students. Outschool Support
• It handles marketplace infrastructure: Listings, enrollment, payments, messaging, and the online classroom are integrated. Outschool Support
• Search optimization actually matters: Outschool documents how its marketplace search matches queries to class listings and ranks eligible classes, so instructors can compete for existing student demand. Outschool Educator Library
• The tradeoff is significant: Outschool currently takes a 30% teacher fee, leaving the instructor 70% of the class price. Outschool Support

If the students are adults

Then I would not automatically choose Outschool, because its marketplace is specifically for learners ages 1–18 and it doesn't support adult classes. Outschool Support Outschool Support

For an adult hobby marketplace, the important distinction is whether you're selling:

• 1:1 instruction → a tutor marketplace such as Superprof is more relevant. It has an open marketplace where students search tutor profiles and choose among instructors, including online, in-person, and group lessons. Superprof
• Small-group hobby classes/workshops → I'd look for a marketplace oriented around experiences/classes rather than tutoring.
• Self-paced hobby courses → a course marketplace is a different model, because discovery and enrollment work differently from scheduled instructor-led classes.

So the short answer:
Kids/teens + hobby classes → Outschool.
Adults + 1:1 hobby instruction → Superprof-type marketplace.
Adults + scheduled group hobby workshops → I'd evaluate experience/class marketplaces separately.

If you tell me (1) adult vs. kids, (2) online vs. in-person, and (3) 1:1 vs. group, I can narrow this to 3–5 marketplaces where the marketplace itself supplies student demand rather than merely giving instructors a website.

If the key requirement is “my instructors are hobbyists, and their students discover them by searching a shared marketplace”, I’d favor a true discovery marketplace over a course-hosting platform.

My shortlist

My first choice: Heirloom, if your instructors teach things like pottery, woodworking, baking, sewing, crafts, herbalism, etc. It explicitly positions itself around learners searching for local hobby classes, and instructors list classes while Heirloom handles discovery, booking and payment. It currently takes 15% per booking rather than charging a subscription. Heirloom

For a broader marketplace that isn't restricted to physical/local hobbies, I'd investigate Daris. It explicitly says students search for what they want to learn, while instructors set their own rates and schedules. It's currently in beta, with 0% commission for the first three months and a stated 10% rate afterward. Daris

ClassForThat is particularly interesting if your instructors might offer a mix of online, in-person, and recorded classes. Its stated model is explicitly marketplace-oriented: students find teachers, while the platform markets teachers to new students. ClassForThat

What I would not choose

I wouldn't start with Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, etc. for this use case. They're primarily “bring your own audience” platforms. Your stated advantage is the opposite: aggregate demand so a person searching for “beginner pottery near me” or “online watercolor class” can discover an instructor they didn't already know.

Likewise, a generic tutoring marketplace can work technically, but hobby instruction benefits enormously from category-specific discovery—e.g. “pottery,” “woodworking,” “knitting,” “photography,” “calligraphy,” rather than simply “teacher.”

If you're actually building this marketplace

I'd use Heirloom as the closest reference model, but design the product around:

• Search-first discovery: “What do you want to learn?”
• Very granular hobby categories
• Location + online filters
• Beginner/intermediate/advanced
• One-off workshops vs recurring lessons
• Instructor profiles with photos/videos of their work
• Reviews specifically about the class, not just the instructor
• Calendar/date availability
• “Book this class” rather than “contact instructor”
• A marketplace fee rather than monthly instructor subscription

The crucial economic insight is that you're selling instructors access to aggregated student demand, not merely providing them with scheduling software. That's the distinction between a marketplace and an instructor SaaS product. AllCoaching Launch Your Academy

If you tell me what kinds of hobbies/classes you're targeting (e.g. crafts, music, outdoor skills, cooking, fitness, etc.) and whether they're primarily online or local/in-person, I can narrow this to the 3 best existing platforms and compare their fees, student traffic, instructor requirements, and marketplace mechanics.

ClassForThat is particularly interesting if your instructors might offer a mix of online, in-person, and recorded classes. Its stated model is explicitly marketplace-oriented: students find teachers, while the platform markets teachers to new students. ClassForThat

What I would not choose

I wouldn't start with Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, etc. for this use case. They're primarily “bring your own audience” platforms. Your stated advantage is the opposite: aggregate demand so a person searching for “beginner pottery near me” or “online watercolor class” can discover an instructor they didn't already know.

Likewise, a generic tutoring marketplace can work technically, but hobby instruction benefits enormously from category-specific discovery—e.g. “pottery,” “woodworking,” “knitting,” “photography,” “calligraphy,” rather than simply “teacher.”

If you're actually building this marketplace

I'd use Heirloom as the closest reference model, but design the product around:

• Search-first discovery: “What do you want to learn?”
• Very granular hobby categories
• Location + online filters
• Beginner/intermediate/advanced
• One-off workshops vs recurring lessons
• Instructor profiles with photos/videos of their work
• Reviews specifically about the class, not just the instructor
• Calendar/date availability
• “Book this class” rather than “contact instructor”
• A marketplace fee rather than monthly instructor subscription

The crucial economic insight is that you're selling instructors access to aggregated student demand, not merely providing them with scheduling software. That's the distinction between a marketplace and an instructor SaaS product.

For hobbyist instructors (people teaching pottery, cooking, photography, crafts, music, gardening, games, fitness, etc.) where students discover them through a shared marketplace, I’d prioritize platforms that already have a marketplace/search model rather than just course-hosting software.

Here are the strongest fits:

My recommendation by use case

• Local, in-person hobby workshops: Start with HobbiHopp. It is the closest to a “Yelp + Airbnb Experiences for hobby classes” model. HobbiHopp
• A wide variety of hobby topics and class formats: Try ClassForThat. ClassForThat
• Online group classes: Consider PassionClass. PassionClass
• If you are building your own marketplace: Look at marketplace infrastructure rather than instructor tools (search, profiles, reviews, scheduling, payments, messaging).

For a startup creating a marketplace for hobby instructors, the features I’d consider essential are:

• Skill/category discovery (“learn pottery near me”)
• Instructor profiles with portfolios
• Reviews and social proof
• Class scheduling and capacity limits
• Payments + refunds
• Messaging before booking
• Recurring classes
• Waitlists
• Location filters
• Trust/safety checks

A key strategic choice is whether you want to be:

1. A local experiences marketplace (like hobby workshops and meetups), or
2. A global learning marketplace (like tutoring/online classes).

The best platform depends heavily on which of those two models you’re targeting.

If your model is “hobbyist instructors list classes, and students search a shared marketplace to discover and book them”, you want a two-sided marketplace rather than just course-hosting software. The best fit depends on whether your classes are local/in-person, online, or both.

Best marketplace platforms to consider

My recommendation by scenario

1. Neighborhood hobby classes (pottery, knitting, cooking, gardening, crafts)

Choose HobbiHopp or a similar local-class marketplace model. The key value is that students search by interest + location + date, not by knowing an instructor already. HobbiHopp

2. “Anyone can teach anything” marketplace

Choose ClassForThat or LRNGO. These are closer to a general instructor marketplace where discovery happens around the subject being taught. ClassForThat LRNGO

3. If you are building your own marketplace

Look for a platform that supports:

• Instructor profiles
• Search by hobby/category/location
• Class listings with photos and reviews
• Calendar availability
• Booking and payments
• Messaging
• Ratings/reviews
• Cancellation policies
• Instructor payouts
• Marketplace SEO pages (“beginner pottery class near me”)

For a hobbyist audience, I would avoid traditional LMS platforms (such as course-hosting tools) because they usually assume the instructor already has an audience. A marketplace’s main job is demand discovery: students arrive first and find the instructor.

If you are asking because you want to launch your own marketplace, I’d recommend looking at marketplace builders (Sharetribe, Bubble, Arcadier, etc.) rather than adopting an existing consumer marketplace. The right choice changes a lot depending on whether you want local classes, online lessons, or a global hobby directory.

2. “Anyone can teach anything” marketplace

Choose ClassForThat or LRNGO. These are closer to a general instructor marketplace where discovery happens around the subject being taught.

3. If you are building your own marketplace

Look for a platform that supports:

If your key requirement is “hobbyist instructors list classes, while students come to a shared marketplace and search for what they want to learn,” I’d shortlist these:

My strongest recommendation: ClassBento

If you're talking about things like pottery, painting, woodworking, cooking, photography, crafts, dance, music, gardening, or other passions taught by independent practitioners, I'd investigate ClassBento first.

Its model is unusually close to what you're describing: instructors create listings and ClassBento brings them a marketplace audience actively looking for creative experiences. It explicitly describes itself as a destination for creative classes and says instructors are automatically connected with its community after creating listings. ClassBento

It also supports in-person and online discovery, with students searching by class/category and location. ClassBento

If the students are kids: Outschool

For children/teens, I'd choose Outschool instead. It's very explicitly built as a two-sided marketplace: teachers list classes, families search the marketplace, and Outschool handles enrollment and payments. Outschool Support Outschool Support

What's particularly relevant to your question is that formal teaching credentials aren't required; instructors can teach based on expertise or passion. Outschool Support Outschool also publishes guidance on how its search algorithm matches families' queries to class listings, which is a strong indication that marketplace search/discovery is central to the business rather than merely an add-on. teach.outschool.com

The big limitation: Outschool is focused on learners ages 1–18, so it isn't a general adult hobby marketplace. Outschool Support

The strategic distinction

If you're asking because you're considering building a marketplace yourself, I'd frame the benchmark this way:

• ClassBento = “I want to do something fun/interesting.”
• Outschool = “My child wants/needs to learn something.”
• Skillshare/Udemy = “I want an online course.”

For a marketplace where the instructor may be an ordinary hobbyist rather than a professional educator, and where demand-side search is the primary customer-acquisition mechanism, ClassBento is probably the closest analogue.

If you tell me what kinds of hobbies/classes and whether the students are adults or kids, I can narrow this to the 3 best platforms and compare their fees, instructor requirements, marketplace traffic, and discovery model.

It also supports in-person and online discovery, with students searching by class/category and location. ClassBento

If the students are kids: Outschool

For children/teens, I'd choose Outschool instead. It's very explicitly built as a two-sided marketplace: teachers list classes, families search the marketplace, and Outschool handles enrollment and payments. support.outschool.com support.outschool.com

What's particularly relevant to your question is that formal teaching credentials aren't required; instructors can teach based on expertise or passion. support.outschool.com Outschool also publishes guidance on how its search algorithm matches families' queries to class listings, which is a strong indication that marketplace search/discovery is central to the business rather than merely an add-on.

The big limitation: Outschool is focused on learners ages 1–18, so it isn't a general adult hobby marketplace.

The strategic distinction

If the key requirement is “hobbyist instructors want to list classes, and students already come to the marketplace searching for things they want to learn,” I’d prioritize a true discovery marketplace over a generic course-hosting platform.

My shortlist

My recommendation

For adult hobbyists teaching local, hands-on classes, I'd investigate HobbiHopp first. It is specifically built around discovering local hobby classes—pottery, painting, cooking, crafts, music, woodworking, etc.—rather than expecting instructors to bring their own audience. Students search by category/location, browse instructors, read reviews, and book. HobbiHopp HobbiHopp

hobbihopp.com

For an instructor who wants the broadest existing marketplace for finding students, Superprof is probably the safer established choice. It covers 1,000+ subjects including arts, music, sports and hobbies, lets instructors set their own rates/schedules, and supports both online and in-person teaching. Superprof

superprof.com

For children's/teen hobby instruction, I'd choose Outschool. It has an unusually strong marketplace-search model: families search/filter classes, while instructors can respond to demonstrated demand through topic requests. It explicitly includes “Games & Hobbies,” arts, music and life skills, and doesn't require a teaching credential. Outschool Support Outschool Outschool

outschool.com

For creative workshops, ClassBento is another particularly interesting marketplace: it positions itself as a destination for creative classes and says instructors get connected automatically with its existing workshop-seeking audience. ClassBento

classbento.co.uk

If you're asking because you're considering building such a platform

I'd actually use a different benchmark. The winning proposition isn't merely:

“A place where instructors can sell classes.”

It's:

“A place where people go specifically to discover something fun to learn.”

That distinction matters enormously for the marketplace flywheel. You want students arriving with searches like “pottery class near me,” “beginner woodworking,” “learn watercolor,” “crochet class,” “sourdough workshop,” etc., rather than instructors having to advertise their own listings.

In that case, HobbiHopp and ClassBento are the closest models to study, while Superprof is the better model for the broader instructor marketplace and Outschool is the strongest model for demand-driven class discovery.

If you tell me whether you're thinking local/in-person, online, or both—and adults vs. kids, I can narrow this to the 3 best platforms and compare their fees, marketplace size, instructor economics, and discoverability.

If your key requirement is “hobbyist instructors want access to students who are already searching a shared marketplace”, I’d prioritize a true marketplace over a course-hosting platform.

My top picks

1. Superprof — best general-purpose option

• Strong fit for individual hobbyists: instructors can list themselves across arts, music, sports, hobbies, languages, and academics.
• Students actively search profiles and choose instructors.
• Instructors set their own rates and schedules and can teach online or in person.
• Superprof says it has millions of teachers worldwide and 2,000+ subjects. Superprof Superprof
• Best for: guitar, photography, drawing, crafts, cooking, dance, chess, fitness, languages, etc.
• Caveat: it is more of a teacher/student marketplace than a curated “discover cool classes” marketplace.
• ClassBento — best for creative hobby workshops

• This is probably the closest match if the instructors are makers, artists, cooks, crafters, or other hobby-based workshop leaders.
• ClassBento explicitly markets itself as a destination where people search for creative classes and says it handles marketplace promotion, bookings, reminders, reviews, and other admin. ClassBento ClassBento
• It operates in the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. ClassBento
• Best for: pottery, painting, jewelry, baking, floral design, crafts, cooking, etc.
• Caveat: considerably narrower than Superprof.
• Outschool — best if the students are children

• Outschool is a genuine marketplace: instructors create classes and families browse/search and enroll.
• It explicitly includes Arts, Games & Hobbies, Life Skills, Music, and other interest areas. Outschool
• It has more than 1M learners/families in its marketplace and handles payments, video infrastructure, messaging, etc. Outschool Support Outschool Support
• Teachers set their own prices and formats, but Outschool currently takes a 30% teacher fee. Outschool Support
• Caveat: it's specifically for learners ages 1–18, so it's not appropriate for an adult hobby marketplace. Outschool Support

What I'd choose

For the model you described, my first choice would be ClassBento if the hobbies are predominantly creative/experiential, and Superprof if the subject range is broad.

The important distinction is that you don't want something like Teachable or a generic course-hosting platform. Those give the instructor tools to sell courses, but the instructor generally has to bring their own audience. You want a platform with existing consumer search demand + instructor supply + reviews/discovery + booking/payment infrastructure.

If you're actually building a marketplace yourself for this audience, that's a somewhat different question—I can also recommend the best existing platform/marketplace software to launch this kind of two-sided marketplace.

If your key requirement is “hobbyist instructors want to be discovered by students who are already searching a shared marketplace,” I’d prioritize a true marketplace over a standalone course/booking tool.

My top picks

1. ClassBento — best overall for hobby/creative instructors

• Built specifically around art, craft, culinary, and other creative workshops.
• Instructors create listings and ClassBento markets them to its existing audience rather than requiring each instructor to generate all the demand themselves. ClassBento ClassBento
• Particularly attractive for in-person local classes, including hobbyists doing teaching as a side hustle.
• It operates in the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. ClassBento
• No upfront/fixed listing fee; it earns through commissions on bookings. ClassBento

I'd choose this if your instructors teach things like pottery, painting, jewelry making, cooking, crafts, floristry, etc.

2. Superprof — best for one-on-one or broad hobby instruction

• Has a much broader subject marketplace: arts, music, sports, languages, hobbies, academics, and more. Superprof
• Students search for instructors, and instructors set their own rates and schedules.
• Better fit if the marketplace needs to accommodate individual lessons rather than scheduled workshops.

I'd choose this for guitar, photography, sewing, chess, fitness, language practice, crafts, etc.

3. Outschool — best if classes are online and/or for children

• It's explicitly a marketplace: instructors list classes and gain access to a large existing learner/family audience. Outschool says it has 1M+ learners/families globally. Outschool Support Outschool Support
• No teaching credential is required, although instructors go through Outschool's approval/safety requirements. Outschool
• Takes a 30% teacher fee, leaving the instructor 70%. Outschool Support
• Skillshare — best for scalable recorded creative instruction

• Students already come to Skillshare specifically looking to learn creative skills.
• Better for recorded/on-demand classes than local hobby workshops or live recurring lessons. Skillshare

One interesting newer option

HobbiHopp is worth watching if your concept is specifically local hobby classes taught by ordinary passionate people. It lets students search for local classes, browse instructors, request times that aren't already scheduled, and book/pay through the marketplace. HobbiHopp

What I'd pick

If you're actually looking for a platform to build your own marketplace on—where independent hobby instructors list classes and students search one shared catalog—I would approach the recommendation differently. In that case, tell me whether the classes are local/in-person, online/live, or both, and I can recommend the best marketplace software/white-label platform rather than a marketplace to join.

If the key requirement is “the students already search on the marketplace, rather than the instructor having to bring their own audience,” I’d shortlist these:

• ClassBento — best for local, hands-on hobbies. It is explicitly a marketplace for art, craft, culinary, and other creative workshops, and says it automatically connects instructors with its existing audience and advertises their listings. It also handles bookings, reminders, receipts, reviews, and rescheduling. ClassBento ClassBento

Best fit: pottery, painting, cooking, crafts, photography, floral arranging, jewelry, dance, etc.

• Outschool — best for children's/teen hobby classes online. Teachers list classes and get access to Outschool's learner marketplace; Outschool handles enrollment and payments and markets classes to its audience. It explicitly doesn't require formal teaching credentials, although instructors must meet its eligibility and screening requirements. Outschool Support Outschool Support

Best fit: drawing, Minecraft, music, languages, chess, coding, crafts, D&D, etc., for ages 1–18. It doesn't support ordinary adult classes. Outschool Support

• Skillshare — best for prerecorded creative instruction. It has a large global community searching for creative classes, and hobbyists can teach creative skills and potentially earn from evergreen courses. Skillshare

Best fit: illustration, photography, design, writing, crafts, creative software—not primarily live/local instruction.

My recommendation

If you're describing a marketplace you want hobbyist instructors to join because their target students are already searching there, I'd choose ClassBento if the experience is primarily local/in-person, and Outschool if it's live online and aimed at kids.

The important distinction is that these are demand-side marketplaces, not merely instructor storefronts. That's valuable for a hobbyist because the instructor can potentially get discovered through marketplace search instead of having to build an audience from zero.

If you're actually building a marketplace for this business model, rather than looking for one to join, I can also recommend the best existing platform/marketplace model to copy and explain the economics (commission, discovery, payments, reviews, scheduling, and supply acquisition).

If your key requirement is “I’m a hobbyist instructor, and I want students to discover me by searching a shared marketplace rather than me having to build my own audience,” I’d prioritize these:

Best fits

1. ClassBento — best for hands-on hobbies

• Strong fit for pottery, painting, crafts, cooking, floristry, jewelry, etc.
• Students browse a shared marketplace by activity/location.
• Specifically targets independent makers and people teaching as a side hustle.
• Handles booking, payments, reminders, reviews, and marketing.
• Teachers currently pay a 20% commission on marketplace bookings in the UK; there are no upfront/fixed listing fees. ClassBento ClassBento
• It operates in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand, so it's particularly interesting if you're in the US. ClassBento

classbento.com

2. Superprof — best for 1:1 or recurring instruction

• Much broader subject coverage: music, sports, arts, languages, hobbies, academics, etc.
• Students actively search for instructors by subject and location.
• You set your own rates and schedule.
• Particularly good if your hobby is something that works as a private lesson or coaching relationship rather than a scheduled workshop. Superprof

superprof.com

3. Skillshare — best for scalable online instruction

• Students already come to the platform specifically looking for creative skills.
• Good for drawing, illustration, photography, design, crafts, writing, etc.
• The model is much more “publish a course and get discovered” than “schedule a local class.”
• Skillshare says hundreds of thousands of people use the platform to learn creative skills. Skillshare

skillshare.com

My recommendation

If you're describing something like “someone loves woodworking/knitting/pottery/calligraphy and wants to teach occasional classes to people who are already searching for that hobby,” I'd choose ClassBento first.

The important distinction is:

HobbiHopp is also worth watching if you're specifically interested in a marketplace designed around local hobby classes: it lets students search by hobby and location, view instructors, message them, and even request a time when no scheduled class works. HobbiHopp

If you tell me what kind of hobby instructors you're targeting (e.g. quilting, woodworking, music, gardening, photography, fitness, etc.) and whether classes are in-person, online, or both, I can narrow this to the 3 best marketplaces and compare their fees, audience, geography, and instructor requirements.

If the key requirement is “hobbyist instructors want access to students who are already searching a shared marketplace”, I’d prioritize a marketplace over a course-hosting platform.

My top picks

1. ClassBento — best overall for hobbyist workshops

This would be my first choice if you're talking about things like pottery, painting, jewelry making, cooking, floral arranging, crafts, dance, or similar hobbies.

ClassBento is explicitly built as a marketplace for creative classes, rather than merely software that lets an instructor sell classes from their own website. Instructors create listings and ClassBento brings them customers through its marketplace and advertising. It also handles bookings, rescheduling, reminders, receipts, and reviews. ClassBento ClassBento

That's a particularly good fit for a hobbyist because the instructor doesn't have to solve the hardest problem themselves: “Where do I find people who want to take my class?”

classbento.com

2. Outschool — best if the students are children/teens

If your target is ages 3–18, I'd strongly consider Outschool.

It's explicitly a marketplace: families search for classes, and independent instructors create their own offerings, set their prices, schedules, class sizes, and topics. Outschool says educators can teach hobbies and highly specialized interests, not just conventional academics. Outschool Educator Library

The tradeoff is that Outschool takes 30% of enrollment revenue, and instructors have to go through identity verification/background checks. Outschool Educator Library Outschool Support

teach.outschool.com

3. Skillshare — best for asynchronous/recorded hobbies

Skillshare is attractive if the hobbyist wants to record a class once and sell access repeatedly, particularly for art, illustration, crafts/DIY, photography, design, animation, etc.

It has a large existing learner community and instructors can earn from engagement with their classes. However, there is an application/approval process for first-time teachers, and Skillshare currently limits which categories it accepts from new teachers. Skillshare Help Center Skillshare Help Center Skillshare Help Center

skillshare.com

4. Udemy — good for “learn a skill,” less ideal for hobby workshops

Udemy has the strongest general-purpose course marketplace of these options. There's no fee to become an instructor, and students search a common catalog of courses. Udemy Support

But its model is oriented toward on-demand courses, rather than “I want to find a local person teaching a Saturday pottery workshop.” So I'd put it behind ClassBento for the use case you described.

What I'd choose

If you're evaluating this for a hobbyist who says, “I know how to do something and want people who are already looking for classes in that thing to find me”, my ranking would be:

1. ClassBento — physical/virtual hobby workshops
2. Outschool — children and teens
3. Skillshare — recorded creative classes
4. Udemy — structured, on-demand courses

The important distinction is marketplace demand vs. creator tooling. Platforms such as Teachable, Thinkific, Wix, etc. can make an instructor's business look professional, but they largely leave the instructor responsible for bringing students. For a hobbyist with no existing audience, that's a major disadvantage.

If you tell me what kind of hobby classes (e.g. woodworking, crochet, photography, music, gardening, cooking) and whether they're in-person or online, I can narrow this to the 2–3 marketplaces that are actually strongest for that specific niche.

ClassBento is explicitly built as a marketplace for creative classes, rather than merely software that lets an instructor sell classes from their own website. Instructors create listings and ClassBento brings them customers through its marketplace and advertising. It also handles bookings, rescheduling, reminders, receipts, and reviews. ClassBento ClassBento

That's a particularly good fit for a hobbyist because the instructor doesn't have to solve the hardest problem themselves: “Where do I find people who want to take my class?”

classbento.com

2. Outschool — best if the students are children/teens

If your target is ages 3–18, I'd strongly consider Outschool.

It's explicitly a marketplace: families search for classes, and independent instructors create their own offerings, set their prices, schedules, class sizes, and topics. Outschool says educators can teach hobbies and highly specialized interests, not just conventional academics. Outschool Educator Library

The tradeoff is that Outschool takes 30% of enrollment revenue, and instructors have to go through identity verification/background checks. Outschool Educator Library Outschool Support

teach.outschool.com

3. Skillshare — best for asynchronous/recorded hobbies

Skillshare is attractive if the hobbyist wants to record a class once and sell access repeatedly, particularly for art, illustration, crafts/DIY, photography, design, animation, etc.

It has a large existing learner community and instructors can earn from engagement with their classes. However, there is an application/approval process for first-time teachers, and Skillshare currently limits which categories it accepts from new teachers. help.skillshare.com help.skillshare.com help.skillshare.com

skillshare.com

4. Udemy — good for “learn a skill,” less ideal for hobby workshops

Udemy has the strongest general-purpose course marketplace of these options. There's no fee to become an instructor, and students search a common catalog of courses. support.udemy.com

But its model is oriented toward on-demand courses, rather than “I want to find a local person teaching a Saturday pottery workshop.” So I'd put it behind ClassBento for the use case you described.

What I'd choose

If you're evaluating this for a hobbyist who says, “I know how to do something and want people who are already looking for classes in that thing to find me”, my ranking would be:

For hobbyist instructors (people teaching pottery, woodworking, gardening, cooking, photography, music, crafts, fitness, languages, etc.) where students discover teachers through a shared marketplace, I’d prioritize platforms that provide:

• Instructor profiles
• Search/discovery by skill or category
• Booking and payments
• Reviews/reputation
• Marketplace demand (not just a course-hosting tool)

Here are the strongest fits:

My recommendations by use case

1. Local hobby workshops (best match)

Choose:

• ClassBento
• OpenClass
• ClassForThat

These are closest to the “I know how to do something; people nearby want to learn it” model. OpenClass, for example, positions itself around local classes where community members discover and book instructors. OpenClass

Examples:

• “Beginner pottery wheel workshop”
• “Learn sourdough baking”
• “Intro to watercolor painting”
• “Build your first birdhouse”

2. Online niche experts

Choose:

• Outschool (especially for children)
• PassionClass
• Skillshare

3. One-on-one coaching or lessons

Choose:

• Superprof
• TakeLessons

If you are building this type of marketplace yourself

The closest product pattern is probably a blend of:

• Airbnb Experiences (experience discovery)
• Etsy (maker identity)
• ClassBento/OpenClass (class booking)
• Thumbtack (local service search)

Key features I would include:

1. Instructor profile (“what I make/teach”)
2. Search by interest, location, age, skill level
3. Class listings (one-time workshop + recurring series)
4. Calendar and payments
5. Reviews after attendance
6. Instructor verification/trust badges
7. Group pricing and minimum enrollment
8. Marketplace recommendations (“students who liked pottery also liked glass blowing”)

For a general hobbyist marketplace, my shortlist would be:

1. ClassBento — best creative hobby fit
2. OpenClass — best local community model
3. ClassForThat — broadest “teach anything” concept
4. Outschool — best if students are children/families

The ideal choice depends heavily on whether your instructors teach in-person local workshops, live online classes, or self-paced courses.

If the key requirement is “hobbyist instructors list classes, while students discover them by searching a shared marketplace,” I’d look first at Outschool—if your students are children/teens. It is probably the closest fit to the marketplace model you describe.

Best fits

• outschool.com — Best overall for kids/teens

• Built around independent instructors creating their own classes.
• Students/parents search a common marketplace rather than needing to know the instructor beforehand.
• Supports essentially any hobby or special interest, including games, cooking, art, music, dance, yoga, and other enrichment. Outschool Support Outschool
• No formal teaching credential is required; instructors need relevant expertise/passion and go through identity/background checks. Outschool Support
• Instructors set their own prices and schedules; Outschool currently takes a 30% fee. Outschool Outschool Support
• Particularly compelling because Outschool explicitly provides access to its existing learner audience rather than merely giving instructors scheduling software. Outschool Support
• classbento.com.au — Best for adult/local hobby workshops

• More appropriate if you're talking about adults booking experiences such as pottery, candle making, painting, cooking, crafts, wellness, etc.
• Its model is explicitly a marketplace: instructors create listings and ClassBento connects them with people searching for creative workshops. ClassBento
• Particularly attractive for in-person/local classes.
• Skillshare — Better for prerecorded courses

• Good if instructors want to produce a course once and sell/monetize it repeatedly.
• Less suitable if the core product is a live hobby class with a scheduled instructor-student interaction.

My recommendation

If you're evaluating platforms for a new marketplace concept, I'd use this distinction:

The important thing is that you don't want a SaaS tool that merely lets instructors build their own websites. You want a two-sided discovery marketplace with existing student demand. Outschool and ClassBento are much closer to that model because the marketplace itself supplies the search/discovery layer.

If you're asking because you're considering building this type of marketplace yourself, I can also give you a shortlist of 10 existing platforms ranked specifically by marketplace liquidity, instructor onboarding, fees, student discovery, and suitability for hobby classes.

If the key requirement is “hobbyist instructors want access to students who are already searching a shared marketplace”, I’d prioritize a true marketplace over a course-hosting platform.

My top pick: Outschool

Outschool is probably the closest fit if your instructors teach kids or teens and their subjects include hobbies, crafts, games, arts, music, special interests, etc.

• Students/parents browse and search a common marketplace rather than needing to discover an individual instructor elsewhere.
• Instructors can set their own topics, prices, schedules, class sizes, and formats.
• Outschool explicitly supports hobby/special-interest classes and says no formal teaching credential is required—expertise or passion in the subject can be sufficient. Outschool Educator Library Outschool Support
• It handles listings, enrollment, payments, messaging, and much of the marketplace infrastructure. Outschool Support
• The tradeoff is significant: Outschool currently takes a 30% teacher fee, leaving instructors 70% of the class price. Outschool Support

teach.outschool.com

If the students are adults: Skillshare

Skillshare is worth considering if the hobbies are things like drawing, photography, crafts, design, writing, illustration, creative software, or other creative skills.

The important distinction is that Skillshare is more content/course marketplace than live instructor marketplace. Students search Skillshare's catalog, and teachers can build an audience there. Skillshare Skillshare

However, Skillshare changed its teacher economics in 2026 and is putting more emphasis on a smaller group of engaged, high-quality teachers, so I'd be more cautious about it for a brand-new hobbyist instructor. Skillshare Help Center

skillshare.com

The decision I'd make

The important strategic point is that “marketplace demand” is more valuable here than the software itself. A platform where an instructor can make a beautiful course but has to bring their own students isn't solving the problem you described.

If you tell me what kinds of hobbies/classes these instructors teach (e.g. pottery, knitting, woodworking, dance, photography, gardening, cooking) and whether the students are kids, adults, local, or online, I can give you a much tighter shortlist of 3–5 marketplaces and compare their audience, fees, discovery/search, and instructor requirements.

If the key requirement is “hobbyist instructors list what they teach, while students discover them by searching a shared marketplace,” I’d shortlist these:

My recommendation: Superprof

For your specific description, Superprof is probably the closest existing model. It has the important marketplace loop:

Student searches for a hobby → discovers multiple instructors → compares profiles/prices/reviews → contacts an instructor.

It explicitly covers hobbies, arts, music, sports and other non-academic subjects, rather than being restricted to conventional tutoring. Superprof

The important caveat is that Superprof is primarily a teacher-directory/lead-generation marketplace, rather than a polished “book a hobby class” marketplace. Students can browse profiles, but Superprof's U.S. model currently charges students a $49/month Student Pass to contact tutors, and lessons can subsequently be arranged directly with the instructor. Superprof Superprof

If what you're envisioning is more like:

“Airbnb for hobby lessons” — anyone who is genuinely good at something can offer a class, and people searching for that hobby can discover and book them

then ClassBento is arguably the better product reference, particularly for in-person, experiential hobbies. It handles ticketing/admin and markets instructors to people already looking for creative experiences. ClassBento ClassBento

So I'd rank the models:

1. ClassBento — best reference for hobby experiences/workshops
2. Superprof — best reference for open-ended instructor discovery
3. Outschool — best reference for structured online hobby classes
4. Skillshare — best reference for on-demand creative courses

If you're asking because you're evaluating what platform to use for your own hobby-instructor marketplace, I can also compare these from the instructor acquisition, student discovery, marketplace liquidity, fees, and business-model perspective.

For your specific description, Superprof is probably the closest existing model. It has the important marketplace loop:

Student searches for a hobby → discovers multiple instructors → compares profiles/prices/reviews → contacts an instructor.

It explicitly covers hobbies, arts, music, sports and other non-academic subjects, rather than being restricted to conventional tutoring. Superprof

The important caveat is that Superprof is primarily a teacher-directory/lead-generation marketplace, rather than a polished “book a hobby class” marketplace. Students can browse profiles, but Superprof's U.S. model currently charges students a $49/month Student Pass to contact tutors, and lessons can subsequently be arranged directly with the instructor.

If what you're envisioning is more like:

“Airbnb for hobby lessons” — anyone who is genuinely good at something can offer a class, and people searching for that hobby can discover and book them

then ClassBento is arguably the better product reference, particularly for in-person, experiential hobbies. It handles ticketing/admin and markets instructors to people already looking for creative experiences.

If the key requirement is “hobbyist instructors list classes, while students discover them through a shared marketplace”, my first recommendation is ClassBento.

classbento.com

Why ClassBento fits

• Marketplace-first discovery: students search/browse classes rather than needing to know the instructor beforehand.
• Well suited to hobby instructors: it explicitly targets artists, makers, cooks, and individuals running teaching as a side hustle. ClassBento ClassBento
• Strong categories for hobbies: art, craft, cooking, pottery, creative workshops, etc.
• They bring the students: ClassBento says it promotes instructor listings through its marketplace and advertising. ClassBento
• Low upfront risk: instructors can list without upfront/fixed listing fees; ClassBento earns through commission when a booking happens. ClassBento
• Handles marketplace operations: booking, payments/admin, reminders, receipts and reviews are built in. ClassBento
• Works beyond a marketplace: instructors can also use its booking widget on their own website/social channels, so they aren't locked into marketplace-only acquisition. ClassBento

Two alternatives worth considering

Superprof is better if the hobby is primarily a 1:1 skill lesson—music, languages, sports, arts, crafts, etc. It has a huge tutor marketplace and lets instructors set their own rates and schedules. Superprof

superprof.com

ClassForThat is another marketplace explicitly built around students searching, comparing and booking classes, including online and in-person classes. ClassForThat

classforthat.com

My pick by business model

If you're actually choosing a platform for a new marketplace business, rather than choosing where to list your own classes, I'd approach this differently: the important question becomes which platform has the strongest student-side demand/network effects in your specific hobby category and geography. I can compare 5–10 marketplace platforms on student acquisition, instructor fees, marketplace traffic, geography, class formats, and suitability for hobbyists.

If your key requirement is “hobbyist instructors list classes, while students discover them through a shared marketplace/search engine,” my first recommendation is Outschool—especially for online instruction.

Best fit: Outschool

Outschool is explicitly built as a two-sided marketplace: instructors create listings, students/families search and browse the marketplace, and Outschool handles enrollment, payments, messaging, and much of the marketplace demand generation. Outschool Support Outschool Support

It is unusually well suited to hobbyist/special-interest teaching. Its catalog includes things such as cooking, art, music, yoga, D&D, video games, and other niche interests—not just traditional academic subjects. Outschool Support

For instructors, the economics are straightforward:

• Instructors choose their topic, price, schedule, class size, and format.
• They can teach one-off classes or recurring/multi-week courses. Outschool Educator Library Outschool Support
• Outschool takes a 30% teacher fee, leaving the instructor 70% of enrollment fees. Outschool Support Outschool Support
• There is no upfront fee to teach.
• Importantly for your marketplace requirement, Outschool actively helps expose classes to its learner audience rather than simply providing booking software. Outschool Support
• Its search/discovery system considers the student's search query, filters, and other contextual signals, so the marketplace itself is part of the product's value. Outschool Educator Library

outschool.com

If the classes are primarily in-person: ClassBento

ClassBento may actually be the better choice for art, craft, cooking, and other hands-on hobbies.

It is specifically a marketplace for creative workshops. Instructors create listings, while ClassBento markets those listings to its existing audience and handles bookings, rescheduling, reminders, receipts, and reviews. Class Bento

classbento.com

My recommendation

The important distinction is that Outschool and ClassBento are marketplaces, not merely instructor-management tools. That's what you want if the instructor's biggest problem is “I have something I can teach, but I don't have an audience searching for it.”

If you tell me (1) online vs. in-person, (2) kids vs. adults, and (3) the types of hobbies, I can narrow this down to the 3–5 best existing marketplaces, including their fees, audience size, geography, and how much demand they generate for instructors.

If the key requirement is “hobbyist instructors list classes, and students discover them by searching a shared marketplace”, I’d prioritize a true two-sided marketplace over a course-hosting platform.

My shortlist

1. classbento.com.au — best fit for creative/local hobbies

• Built specifically around creative workshops and experiences: art, crafts, cooking, etc.
• Instructors create listings while ClassBento provides marketplace discovery, bookings, reviews, and marketing.
• Particularly strong if your instructors teach in-person hobby classes and you want students to search by activity/location.
• Its Australian marketplace reports 1M+ classes delivered; the UK version similarly positions itself as a major marketplace for creative classes. Class Bento ClassBento
• hobbihopp.com — most directly aligned with “hobbyist instructor”

• Specifically designed for local hobby classes.
• Students search for things like pottery, crochet, painting, gardening, etc., while independent instructors can list classes and accept bookings.
• It also supports flexible “ask for a time” requests, which is unusually useful for hobbyists who don't want to maintain a rigid schedule. HobbiHopp HobbiHopp
• I'd investigate this first if your marketplace is primarily local, informal, and hobby-oriented.
• classeasily.com — good general-purpose local-class marketplace

• Covers workshops, classes, and experiences across pottery, cooking, fitness, creative activities, etc.
• Instructors can list on the marketplace to get new customers, while also embedding booking on their own website.
• It currently advertises a 12% platform fee + card processing for marketplace bookings. ClassEasily ClassEasily
• outschool.com — best if the students are kids/teens

• This is a much larger established marketplace, with independent instructors offering live classes in everything from academics to highly specific hobbies.
• Teachers set their own subjects, prices, schedules, and class sizes; Outschool handles marketplace discovery, payments, and infrastructure.
• The tradeoff is that it's specifically oriented toward learners ages 3–18, and Outschool takes 30% of enrollment revenue. Outschool
• skillshare.com — best for online, on-demand creative skills

• Strong marketplace demand for creative learning, with a large existing learner community.
• Better for recorded/evergreen classes than local, scheduled hobby workshops. Skillshare

What I'd choose

If you're actually looking for a platform to build your own marketplace on rather than a marketplace to join, that's a different recommendation. In that case, I'd look at marketplace infrastructure such as Sharetribe, where you can create a marketplace with instructor profiles, searchable class listings, booking, payments, reviews, and commission-based monetization. Sharetribe

If you tell me (1) in-person vs. online, (2) adults vs. kids, and (3) your country/city, I can narrow this to the best 2–3 platforms and compare their fees, student reach, booking tools, and instructor requirements.

If you mean a two-sided marketplace where hobby instructors list classes and students search/browse a shared catalog, I’d look at platforms built around discovery + booking, not just course hosting. Good fits:

Best overall fits

ClassForThat

Best match for: “students search for any hobby class”

• Students can search by class/category, compare instructors, and book classes. ClassForThat
• Good for broad hobby categories: crafts, cooking, music, arts, fitness, languages, etc.
• Marketplace-first model means instructors benefit from shared discovery rather than only selling to their own audience. ClassForThat

HobbiHopp

Best match for: local hobby teachers and community classes

• Designed around discovering local hobby classes and letting instructors host classes on their own schedules. HobbiHopp HobbiHopp
• Particularly suited for: - pottery
• cooking
• gardening
• crafts
• photography
• music
• neighborhood workshops HobbiHopp

NicheVerse

Best match for: a broader “learn anything” marketplace

• Supports classes and courses across categories such as arts, creativity, life skills, sports, and more. NicheVerse
• Better if your hobby instructors include both online and in-person formats.

If instructors need more ownership of their business

LearnDesk

Best match for: instructors who want marketplace discovery plus their own teaching business

• Provides tools for bookings, payments, content, and marketplace exposure. Learndesk
• More like “Shopify for instructors” than a pure hobby marketplace.

If your niche is narrower

• Music lessons: Thoven — focused on searchable music teacher profiles, matching, scheduling, and payments. Thoven
• Youth enrichment / extracurriculars: Extracurricular — oriented toward activities like sports, coding, arts, and tutoring. Extracurricular

My shortlist by business model

If you are building this type of marketplace rather than joining one, I’d compare these on: instructor acquisition, student demand generation, take rate, scheduling/payment features, reviews, and whether instructors can bring their own students.

If your key requirement is “hobbyist instructors list classes, while students discover them by searching one shared marketplace”, I’d shortlist these:

1. classbento.com — my first choice

This is probably the closest match to what you're describing. It's explicitly a marketplace for creative classes and workshops, rather than merely software for an instructor to sell their own audience.

ClassBento says it has delivered 1M+ classes, has thousands of teachers, and markets instructors' listings to its existing audience. It covers things such as art, crafts, cooking, pottery, floristry and other hands-on experiences. ClassBento Class Bento

The particularly attractive model for a hobbyist is:

• Instructor creates a listing.
• Students search/browse the marketplace.
• ClassBento handles bookings, payments, reminders, reviews and other administration.
• The instructor chooses the what, when and where.
• ClassBento actively markets the listings rather than simply giving the instructor a storefront. ClassBento ClassBento
• Its Australian operation currently states a 20% marketplace commission, with a substantially lower fee for bookings originating through the instructor's own website. Class Bento

Caveat: it's particularly strong for creative/experiential classes and local workshops. If your hobby category is something like chess, guitar, coding, language learning, or academic enrichment, another marketplace may fit better.

2. superprof.com — best broad marketplace

If you want almost any hobby to be searchable, Superprof is compelling. It explicitly includes sports, music, arts, hobbies, languages and academics, with 1,000+ subjects advertised. Students search teacher profiles and contact/book instructors. Superprof

It's especially appropriate if instructors are offering:

• Guitar lessons
• Photography
• Drawing
• Sewing
• Chess
• Dance
• Gardening
• Cooking
• Fitness/sports
• Languages
• Other specialized skills

The tradeoff is that Superprof feels more like a teacher/tutor marketplace than a marketplace of scheduled hobby experiences. That's an important distinction.

3. outschool.com — excellent if students are children

Outschool is a genuine marketplace where instructors create classes and students search the marketplace. It specifically embraces hobbies and special interests, alongside academic subjects, and supports both group and 1:1 classes. Outschool

It's a particularly strong choice if your target is ages 3–18 and you're primarily online. Outschool handles payments and provides access to its existing learner community. Its educator documentation says it takes a 30% service fee on enrollments. Outschool

4. hobbihopp.com — interesting for hyper-local hobbies

HobbiHopp is almost exactly the concept of a local hobby-class discovery marketplace: students browse classes near them, while instructors get a booking system. Its positioning is explicitly around local creative/hobby classes and connecting students with local instructors. HobbiHopp

I'd investigate it if your thesis is “people want to discover hobby classes in their community”, rather than primarily online instruction.

My recommendation

If you're evaluating these as a platform for hobbyist instructors, I'd rank them:

1. ClassBento — best match for adult hobby/creative workshops + shared marketplace discovery
2. Superprof — best for very broad categories + individual instructors
3. Outschool — best for children/teens + online group classes
4. HobbiHopp — best for local/community hobby discovery
5. ClassForThat — interesting broader marketplace, but I'd want to validate its current student traffic before relying on it. ClassForThat

The key distinction I'd use when choosing: don't optimize for “best instructor software.” You specifically want a platform that has consumer search demand. ClassBento is the strongest match because its business model explicitly revolves around aggregating students and sending them to instructors' listings, rather than expecting each hobbyist to bring their own audience. ClassBento

If you tell me what kind of hobby classes (e.g. woodworking, knitting, photography, gardening, music, crafts) and whether they're online or in-person, I can narrow this to the 2–3 marketplaces most likely to actually generate students.

HobbiHopp is almost exactly the concept of a local hobby-class discovery marketplace: students browse classes near them, while instructors get a booking system. Its positioning is explicitly around local creative/hobby classes and connecting students with local instructors.

If the key requirement is “hobbyist instructors list classes, and students discover them through a shared marketplace”, you want a two-sided marketplace rather than a standalone course-hosting tool. The best fit depends on whether your students are kids, adults, local/in-person, or online.

Best marketplace platforms for hobby instructors

1. Outschool — best for kids’ enrichment and hobby classes

outschool.com

Best for: coding, art, crafts, music, languages, games, STEM, cooking, niche interests.

Why it fits:

• Students/parents actively search a marketplace for classes.
• Instructors can create their own class listings, pricing, and schedules.
• Strong discovery engine for unusual topics and “passion classes.”
• Handles payments and marketplace logistics. Outschool's Educator Library Outschool Support

Tradeoffs:

• Primarily focused on learners ages 3–18.
• Requires instructor approval and safety processes. Outschool's Educator Library
• Marketplace competition means instructors need good titles, thumbnails, and reviews.

Pick this if: your hobby instructors teach children or teens.

2. Skillshare — best for creative adults and self-paced classes

skillshare.com

Best for: illustration, photography, design, writing, crafts, creative software, entrepreneurship.

Why it fits:

• Learners come specifically to browse a catalog of creative classes.
• Instructors can publish classes after approval.
• Good for building evergreen content rather than scheduling live sessions. Skillshare Skillshare

Tradeoffs:

• Less suited for live local workshops.
• Less of a “book a teacher for Tuesday night” marketplace.

Pick this if: hobby instructors want passive income from recorded lessons.

3. Fiverr — best for one-on-one skill coaching

fiverr.com

Best for: language practice, music coaching, portfolio reviews, tutoring, niche expertise.

Why it fits:

• Huge marketplace search behavior.
• Students search by skill and buy instructor services.

Tradeoffs:

• Designed around gigs/services, not courses.
• Instructors must compete heavily on price and positioning.

Pick this if: the “class” is really a personalized session.

4. Udemy — best for structured courses

udemy.com

Best for: hobby experts who can package knowledge into a complete course.

Tradeoffs:

• Less community-oriented.
• Students usually buy a course, not an ongoing instructor relationship.

5. Build-your-own marketplace: Sharetribe or bubble.io — best if you want your own branded ecosystem

Best for: creating “the Airbnb of hobby classes.”

You would control:

• Instructor profiles
• Student search
• Reviews
• Payments
• Categories
• Local discovery
• Memberships

Tradeoff:

• You must create the student demand yourself.

My recommendation by use case

If you are starting a marketplace business for hobby instructors (rather than just finding a place to teach), I would look most closely at Sharetribe or a custom marketplace model, because existing platforms own the student relationship and discovery traffic. If you are an instructor trying to get students quickly, Outschool is probably the closest match to your description. Outschool's Educator Library

For hobbyist instructors (people teaching crafts, cooking, photography, music, fitness, languages, woodworking, gardening, etc.) where students discover them through a shared marketplace, you want a platform with:

• instructor profiles
• marketplace search/discovery
• class listings
• booking + payments
• reviews
• scheduling
• ideally local + online discovery

Here are the strongest fits:

My recommendations by scenario

If you are an individual hobby instructor trying to get students

Start with:

1. HobbiHopp — best match for local hobby discovery. HobbiHopp
2. Lessons.com — better if your category overlaps with music, fitness, arts, sports, or recurring lessons. Lessons.com
3. ClassForThat — good if your class is unusual and fits "learn anything." ClassForThat

If you want to create the marketplace yourself

Look at:

• Sharetribe for a no/low-code marketplace foundation. Sharetribe
• A custom marketplace if you need niche matching (e.g., "find local pottery teachers" or "home cooks teaching regional cuisine").

Features I would prioritize for hobby instructors

A good platform should support:

• searchable categories ("pottery," "bread baking," "beginner guitar")
• location radius search
• group classes (not only 1:1)
• recurring classes
• instructor ratings
• photos/videos of past work
• waitlists
• deposits and cancellation policies
• student reviews tied to completed bookings

If your goal is specifically a marketplace like Airbnb Experiences but for hobby teachers, I would lean toward HobbiHopp-style discovery or building on Sharetribe rather than a tutoring-focused marketplace. HobbiHopp Sharetribe

If you mean a marketplace where hobbyist instructors list classes and students discover them by searching a shared catalog, I’d look at platforms built around local experiences, enrichment, and independent instructors rather than traditional LMS tools.

Here are some good fits:

My recommendation by scenario:

• You are an instructor trying to get discovered: start with ClassForThat or HobbiHopp because they already have the “students search → find → book” model. www.classforthat.comwww.hobbihopp.com
• You are creating a marketplace business: use Sharetribe (or a similar marketplace builder) so you control categories, SEO, instructor onboarding, commissions, and student experience. www.sharetribe.com
• Your niche is local classes (pottery, cooking, crafts, photography, gardening, woodworking): prioritize a local-discovery marketplace because location and trust matter more than a generic course catalog.

For a hobby instructor marketplace, the key features I’d require are:

• instructor profiles with photos, credentials, and reviews
• searchable categories + location filters
• class scheduling and availability
• payments and payouts
• waitlists
• recurring classes
• messaging between students and instructors
• marketplace SEO pages (“beginner pottery classes near me,” etc.)

If you are starting a new marketplace company rather than choosing one as an instructor, the platform choice changes significantly.

If your key requirement is “hobbyist instructors want students to find them by searching a shared marketplace”, I’d prioritize a true marketplace over course-hosting software.

My top picks

1. hobbihopp.com — best fit for local hobby classes

• Specifically built around discovering local hobby classes.
• Students browse classes nearby, book and pay through the platform.
• Designed for instructors ranging from professional artists to passionate home cooks.
• Supports instructor profiles, reviews, scheduling, payments, and recurring teaching.
• Particularly attractive if your instructors teach things like pottery, cooking, painting, crafts, music, or other hands-on activities. HobbiHopp Google Play
• outschool.com — best established marketplace, but mainly for kids

• Huge built-in marketplace: Outschool says it has 140,000+ live classes spanning academics and enrichment.
• Excellent discovery mechanism: parents search the marketplace and choose among instructors/classes.
• Particularly strong for art, music, coding, languages, games, crafts, and other interest-led classes.
• Major limitation: its audience is children ages 3–18, so it isn't appropriate if your target students are primarily adults.
• Teachers currently give up 30% of enrollment revenue to Outschool. Outschool Outschool Support
• passionclass.co — interesting for adult hobby/interest classes

• Explicitly positions itself as an open marketplace for live classes.
• Categories include creative arts, music, photography, writing, cooking/lifestyle, wellness, languages, and more.
• This is closer to the “teach what you're passionate about / students browse a marketplace” model you're describing than generic course platforms. PassionClass
• classforthat.com — broad marketplace for almost anything

• Students can search, compare, and book online, in-person, or recorded classes.
• Teachers set their own pricing.
• Its open-platform commission is currently 20%; students you bring yourself can be taught at 0% commission. ClassForThat ClassForThat
• lrngo.com — broad instructor/student marketplace

• Designed specifically to connect people who want to teach and people who want to learn, locally or online.
• Supports everything from individual teaching to classes and instructor profiles.
• More general-purpose than hobby-focused. LRNGO

What I'd choose

If you're evaluating this as a platform for your own instructors rather than simply looking for somewhere to teach, I'd start with HobbiHopp and PassionClass. They are closest to the specific flywheel you're describing: many instructors → searchable shared inventory → students discover instructors they didn't already know → booking/payment happens on the marketplace.

That's an important distinction from platforms like Teachable, Kajabi, or WorkshopFolio: those are primarily instructor-owned storefront/booking tools, where the instructor is expected to bring the students. WorkshopFolio, for example, explicitly focuses on giving instructors their own booking link rather than providing the shared student-discovery marketplace you're looking for. WorkshopFolio

If you tell me (a) adult vs. kids, (b) online vs. in-person, and (c) hobby categories, I can narrow this to the 2–3 marketplaces with the strongest existing student demand for your use case.

If the key requirement is “I’m a hobbyist instructor, and I want students to discover me by searching a shared marketplace”, I’d prioritize a true marketplace over tools like Teachable/Kajabi that mainly help you sell to an audience you already have.

My top picks

• classforthat.com — best general-purpose fit. It explicitly lets students search, compare, and book classes, and supports online, in-person, and recorded classes. Teachers set their own prices; its current model says it charges 20% for students acquired through its open marketplace, while students you bring yourself are commission-free. ClassForThat ClassForThat

Good for: unusual hobbies, crafts, practical skills, one-off workshops, and instructors who don't necessarily want to build a full course business.

• skillshare.com — best for creative hobbies taught asynchronously. It has an established learner community and specifically welcomes subject-matter enthusiasts, with classes spanning art, illustration, design, photography, animation, productivity, etc. Teachers earn through royalties based on viewing plus referrals. Skillshare

Good for: drawing, crafts, photography, writing, design, illustration, creative software, etc.
Caveat: you're competing in a huge catalog, and the economics are quite different from selling a $50 live workshop directly.

• outschool.com — best if your students are children/teens. It's specifically a marketplace for live online classes for kids and teens, including creative and hobby subjects. Gemlist

Good for: chess, crafts, music, art, coding, science hobbies, languages, gaming, etc.

• gliss.live — interesting option for live hobby instruction. It positions itself as a marketplace for independent instructors across painting, music, robotics, ceramics, fitness, tutoring and other interests, with students discovering and booking classes. Gliss

Good for: live instruction where the instructor's personality and expertise matter.

• classeasily.com — particularly interesting for local workshops. It focuses on local classes and experiences such as pottery, glassblowing, cooking, fitness, and creative events, and gives independent instructors tools to list and schedule experiences. ClassEasily

Good for: in-person hobby workshops where students search for something fun to do locally.

What I'd choose

If you haven't told me the hobby yet, ClassForThat is probably the closest match to your description. Its fundamental model is exactly student searches marketplace → compares instructors/classes → books. ClassForThat

If you're teaching creative skills via prerecorded classes, I'd choose Skillshare.

If you're teaching live classes, especially in-person/local, I'd investigate ClassEasily and Gliss.

If you're teaching kids, I'd strongly consider Outschool.

One important distinction: platforms such as WorkshopFolio are useful for running a class business, but they aren't really the solution you're describing—they give you booking infrastructure rather than supplying a shared pool of students. workshopfolio.com

If you tell me what hobby you'd teach, whether it's online or in-person, adult vs. kids, and typical class price, I can narrow this to the 2–3 marketplaces where your target students are actually most likely to search.

If your key requirement is “hobbyist instructors list classes, while students discover them by searching a shared marketplace,” I’d shortlist these:

My top pick: CourseHorse

CourseHorse is probably the closest match if you're talking about adult hobbyists teaching things like cooking, art, dance, crafts, languages, music, photography, etc.

Students actively browse its marketplace by subject and location, and CourseHorse says it has 75,000+ active classes and 1.7M monthly student impressions. It also specifically markets itself to class providers as a way to acquire students rather than merely providing scheduling software. CourseHorse CourseHorse

coursehorse.com

If the instructors are genuinely individual hobbyists

I'd look particularly closely at ClassBento. Its model is explicitly built around creative workshops and independent/small-business instructors: instructors create listings and ClassBento connects those listings to its existing audience of people looking for creative experiences. Class Bento

classbento.co.uk

If the students are children

Then Outschool is the strongest choice. It is explicitly a marketplace for independent educators offering academic subjects and hobbies/special interests, and it handles discovery, enrollment, payments, and much of the infrastructure. Teachers set their own prices and schedules; Outschool currently retains 30% of enrollment fees. Outschool Support Outschool's Educator Library Outschool Support

teach.outschool.com

Bottom line:

• Adult + local/in-person hobbies → CourseHorse
• Creative workshops/experiences → ClassBento
• Kids + online hobby instruction → Outschool
• Recorded creative education → Skillshare

If you're actually building a marketplace for these instructors rather than looking for a place to teach, that's a different question—I can recommend the best software/platform to launch your own two-sided marketplace (e.g. Sharetribe vs. Arcadier vs. custom).

Students actively browse its marketplace by subject and location, and CourseHorse says it has 75,000+ active classes and 1.7M monthly student impressions. It also specifically markets itself to class providers as a way to acquire students rather than merely providing scheduling software. CourseHorse CourseHorse

coursehorse.com

If the instructors are genuinely individual hobbyists

I'd look particularly closely at ClassBento. Its model is explicitly built around creative workshops and independent/small-business instructors: instructors create listings and ClassBento connects those listings to its existing audience of people looking for creative experiences. Class Bento

classbento.co.uk

If the students are children

Then Outschool is the strongest choice. It is explicitly a marketplace for independent educators offering academic subjects and hobbies/special interests, and it handles discovery, enrollment, payments, and much of the infrastructure. Teachers set their own prices and schedules; Outschool currently retains 30% of enrollment fees. support.outschool.com teach.outschool.com support.outschool.com

If the key requirement is “I’m a hobbyist instructor with little/no audience, and I want students to discover me by searching a shared marketplace,” I’d prioritize marketplaces over course-hosting platforms.

My shortlist

1. Lessons.com — my first choice for broad hobby instruction.
Lessons.com explicitly positions itself as a marketplace where instructors can reach students who are actively searching for lessons and classes. It covers a very broad range of categories and says it has 2M+ students and 100,000+ partner businesses. It also handles booking, payments, scheduling, and client management. lessons.com

This is particularly attractive if the instructor teaches things like guitar, photography, dance, tennis, crafts, cooking, fitness, or another skill where students are looking for a person to teach them, rather than buying a polished video course.

2. ClassForThat — arguably the closest conceptual match.
ClassForThat describes itself specifically as an online marketplace where students search, compare, and book classes. Students can compare teachers on format, ratings, price, level, audience, and language, then purchase directly from the teacher's calendar. www.classforthat.com

That's almost exactly the marketplace behavior you're describing.

3. PassionClass — excellent for hobby/creative classes.
It's explicitly built around live, interactive learning and includes categories such as art, music, writing, photography, cooking/lifestyle-type subjects, languages, wellness, and technology. It also allows people to list classes on the marketplace rather than requiring them to build an audience first. www.passionclass.co

4. Skillshare — if the hobby can be packaged as a recorded course.
Skillshare says its teachers include professionals, experts, and subject-matter enthusiasts, and its audience is already composed of people looking to learn creative skills. www.skillshare.com

The downside is that it's fundamentally a content subscription marketplace, rather than a marketplace for booking a hobbyist for a live one-on-one or small-group lesson.

5. Udemy — strong search demand, but different business model.
Udemy is particularly good when the hobby can become a searchable, structured video course. The advantage is that students already search Udemy for courses; the disadvantage is intense competition and less control over the student relationship. www.mightynetworks.com

The important distinction

I'd divide your use case into three categories:

• “Book me to teach you my hobby” → Lessons.com / ClassForThat / PassionClass
• “Buy my recorded course about my hobby” → Skillshare / Udemy
• “Find someone nearby to do a hobby activity with” → Hobvia is worth investigating; it specifically supports listing and booking local classes and lessons. www.hobvia.com

If you're evaluating this for building a business

If by “recommend” you mean you want to choose a platform where hundreds/thousands of independent hobby instructors can list offerings and students search the marketplace, I'd start with ClassForThat and Lessons.com.

The critical marketplace characteristics I'd look for are:

1. Students can search without knowing the instructor's name
2. Search by hobby/category + location + format
3. Individual instructor profiles
4. Reviews/ratings
5. One-off classes as well as recurring lessons
6. Instructor-controlled pricing and availability
7. Marketplace handles payment and booking
8. The platform itself generates student traffic
9. Low/no upfront cost for instructors
10. Ability to teach niche hobbies, not just mainstream academic subjects

That last point is important: a marketplace's existing student demand is much more valuable to a hobbyist than sophisticated course-creation software. A platform like Teachable can give an instructor a beautiful storefront, but it doesn't solve the hardest problem: getting strangers to find that storefront.

If the key requirement is “hobbyist instructors want to list themselves, while students discover them by searching a shared marketplace”, I’d recommend Superprof as the strongest general-purpose option.

Best options

🥇 My pick: Superprof

Superprof Netherlands

Superprof is unusually well matched to hobbyist instructors because it isn't limited to conventional academic tutoring. Its Dutch marketplace explicitly covers music, sports, art, leisure, languages, and more than 1,000 subjects. Instructors create their own profiles, set their rates and schedules, and students search for and select instructors themselves. www.super-prof.nl

That's important for your use case because the marketplace itself supplies the demand/discovery layer. An instructor doesn't necessarily have to build an audience on Instagram, Google, or their own website first.

The model is essentially:

Student searches → browses instructors → compares reviews/prices → contacts instructor → books lesson

Superprof also supports both online and face-to-face teaching. www.superprof.com

🥈 ClassBento — better for workshops

ClassBento for teachers

If by “hobbyist instructor” you mean someone running things like pottery, painting, candle-making, cooking, crafts, floristry, or other creative workshops, I'd actually choose ClassBento over Superprof.

It's specifically built as a marketplace for creative classes. Instructors create listings and ClassBento markets them to its existing audience; it also handles booking administration, reviews, rescheduling and transactional communications. classbento.co.uk

The distinction is:

• Superprof: “Find a person who can teach me X.”
• ClassBento: “Find an interesting class/experience I can book.”

For hobby instruction, that second discovery model can be extremely powerful because the student may not already know which instructor they want.

What I'd choose

If you're evaluating platforms for a business or marketplace concept, I'd use this rule:

1:1 skill/lesson → Superprof
Group creative experience → ClassBento
Self-paced video course → Skillshare
Children's online classes → Outschool

For a new marketplace specifically targeting hobbyist instructors, I'd study ClassBento's marketplace model particularly closely. It solves the hardest marketplace problem—getting students to search for the class rather than requiring the instructor to bring their own audience—while still letting individual creators supply the inventory. ClassBento says it has delivered more than one million workshops in the UK and has millions of visitors annually. classbento.co.uk

If you tell me what kinds of hobbies/instructors you're targeting (e.g. photography, woodworking, knitting, dance, cooking) and whether classes are online, in-person, 1:1, or group, I can narrow this to the 3 marketplaces that are actually closest to your use case.

If the key requirement is “hobbyist instructors need to be discovered by students who are already searching a shared marketplace,” I’d favor a true marketplace over a standalone booking/website tool.

My top pick: Outschool

Best if your instructors teach online, particularly to kids/teens.

Why it fits:

• Students/families search the marketplace itself, rather than instructors having to bring their own traffic.
• Instructors can teach subjects based on their passions and expertise; formal teaching credentials aren't required. teach.outschool.com
• Teachers set their own prices and schedules.
• Outschool handles enrollment, payments, messaging, and the online classroom. support.outschool.com
• It explicitly provides marketplace demand: Outschool says it has 1M+ learners/families globally, and even gives teachers information about requested topics/search terms. support.outschool.com
• The tradeoff is significant: Outschool takes 30% of enrollment revenue. teach.outschool.com

Outschool

If you mean adult/local hobby classes

I'd look more closely at ClassEasily or HobbiHopp.

• ClassEasily is specifically positioned as a marketplace for local workshops, classes, and experiences—things like pottery, glassblowing, cooking, fitness, and creative activities. It gives instructors tools to list experiences, manage schedules, accept bookings, and reach new students. classeasily.com
• HobbiHopp is even closer to your description: people discover and book local hobby classes, while instructors can teach on their own schedule and build a local following. www.hobbihopp.com

ClassEasily
HobbiHopp

What I would not choose

If marketplace discovery is the critical feature, I wouldn't start with something like WorkshopFolio. It's excellent as instructor infrastructure—booking, payments, waitlists, recurring classes, waivers—but its model is essentially “bring/manage your own students,” not “students come to a shared marketplace.” www.workshopfolio.com

My ranking for your specific business model:

If you tell me (1) adult vs. kids, (2) local/in-person vs. online, and (3) what kinds of hobbies, I can narrow this to the 2–3 marketplaces with the strongest student-search/discovery model and compare their fees, audience size, and instructor requirements.

If your key requirement is “the instructor has a hobby/skill, but the students discover them by searching a shared marketplace”, I’d prioritize a true discovery marketplace over course-hosting software.

My top picks

1. ClassForThat — probably the closest match to your description.
It explicitly operates as an online marketplace where students search, compare, and book classes. It supports online, in-person, and recorded classes, and instructors set their own prices and schedules. Its open marketplace takes a 20% commission, while students you bring yourself are not subject to that commission. classforthat.com

ClassForThat

2. ClassBento — excellent if the hobbies are physical/creative.
If you're talking about things like pottery, painting, jewelry making, cooking, crafts, flower arranging, etc., this is particularly compelling. ClassBento says it has millions of visitors and has delivered more than 1 million workshops, while handling discovery, booking administration, reviews, and marketing for instructors. classbento.co.uk

ClassBento

3. Outschool — best if your students are children/teens.
It's a huge marketplace for live classes covering both academics and unusual interests, with more than 140,000 classes according to its current comparison page. Teachers are vetted and families discover classes through the marketplace. The tradeoff is that Outschool retains 30% of enrollment revenue. outschool.com

Outschool

What I would choose

If you mean something like:

“A person who is really good at woodworking, chess, knitting, photography, gardening, cake decorating, fishing, sewing, etc. wants to teach it, but doesn't want to build an audience first.”

I'd start with ClassForThat for a broad marketplace, or ClassBento if the activities are primarily hands-on creative workshops.

The important distinction is that Classwire, Teachable, Kajabi, etc. are primarily tools for selling to an audience you already have. For your use case, you want the platform itself to have search traffic and a student marketplace. Classwire, for example, gives instructors public class pages and registration/payment tools, but its model is essentially helping an existing independent teacher manage their own students. classwire.app

If you tell me what kind of hobby instructors and students you have in mind (adult vs. kids, online vs. in-person, and examples of 5–10 subjects), I can narrow this to the 3 marketplaces with the best student-demand fit and compare their fees, audience size, geographic reach, and instructor requirements.

If your key requirement is “hobbyist instructors can list what they teach, while students come to a shared marketplace specifically to search and discover classes,” I’d prioritize these:

Best overall: Outschool

Outschool

Outschool is probably the strongest fit if your students are children/teens. It is explicitly a marketplace: instructors create classes, set their own prices and schedules, and get access to a large existing learner audience. It supports everything from conventional academics to hobbies and highly niche interests. support.outschool.comteach.outschool.com

Catch: it is specifically for ages 3–18, and instructors go through an approval/background-check process. Outschool currently retains 30% of enrollment revenue. support.outschool.comteach.outschool.com

Best for adult hobby learners: Superprof

Superprof

Superprof is a broad instructor marketplace covering arts, music, sports, languages, hobbies, and academics, with students searching for individual instructors. Teachers set their own rates and schedules and can teach online or in person. www.superprof.com

I'd favor it if the business model is primarily “find an instructor for a skill” rather than “browse a catalog of scheduled classes.”

Best for structured online lessons: Lessonface

Lessonface

Lessonface is particularly good for music, arts, and languages. Students search teacher profiles, filter their options, or request a teacher match; instructors control their rates and schedules. It also supports group classes and self-paced courses. www.lessonface.com

Interesting option for local hobby classes: ClassEasily

ClassEasily is closer to an “Eventbrite for hobby classes” model: local workshops and experiences such as pottery, glassblowing, cooking, fitness, and creative activities. Instructors/studios can list experiences, manage schedules, accept bookings, and reach new students. classeasily.com

One I'd investigate closely: ClassForThat

ClassForThat

This is unusually close to your description. Students search for a class, see teachers offering it, compare teachers, and book. It supports online, in-person, and recorded classes. Teachers set their pricing, and the marketplace charges 20% for students acquired through its open platform. www.classforthat.com

My shortlist by use case:

If you're building a marketplace rather than looking for somewhere to teach, the distinction is important: I'd use ClassForThat as the closest marketplace-model reference, Outschool as the benchmark for marketplace liquidity/discovery, and ClassEasily as the reference for local hobby experiences.

If the key requirement is “hobbyist instructors list their offerings, and students discover them by searching one shared marketplace,” I’d shortlist these:

My recommendation: Outschool — with an important caveat

If you're talking about hobbyists teaching things like drawing, chess, LEGO, crafts, coding, music, cooking, magic, etc. to children, Outschool is unusually well aligned. It explicitly welcomes classes based on instructors' passions and expertise, including hobbies and “super special interests,” and instructors create their own classes, prices, schedules, and formats. teach.outschool.com

It also behaves much more like the marketplace you're describing than a conventional course-hosting product: families search the marketplace, discover class listings, and enroll. Outschool says it provides educators with access to a global community of learners and currently describes a community of more than 1 million learners/families. support.outschool.com

The downside is significant: Outschool is for learners ages 3–18, not adults. support.outschool.com It also takes a 30% service fee and requires instructor approval, identity verification, and background checks. teach.outschool.com

If the students are adults

I'd lean toward Skillshare for creative hobbies—especially drawing, crafts/DIY, photography, design, animation, and similar skills. Skillshare is explicitly built around people discovering classes within a large creative-learning community, and its current teacher categories include Crafts & DIY, Art & Illustration, Photography, Animation & 3D, etc. www.skillshare.com

The major difference is the business model: Skillshare is much better for recorded, self-paced content than “find an instructor and book a live hobby lesson.” Teachers earn through monthly royalties based on minutes watched, plus referral bonuses. www.skillshare.com

For live adult hobby instruction, I'd investigate Superprof first. It is explicitly an open marketplace where students choose among tutors, with online, in-person, and potentially group lessons depending on the instructor. www.superprof.com

If you're evaluating platforms for a marketplace you might build

The distinction I'd make is:

• Want instructors to be discovered through search? → Outschool / Superprof / Skillshare
• Want live classes with schedules and enrollment? → Outschool
• Want 1:1 instructor/student matching? → Superprof
• Want recorded courses that can sell repeatedly? → Skillshare
• Want local, hands-on workshops? → ClassBento

If you tell me whether your target students are children, adults, or both—and whether classes are live, in-person, or recorded—I can narrow this to the 2–3 strongest platforms and compare their fees, discovery/search, instructor onboarding, and marketplace economics.

If your key requirement is “hobbyist instructors list classes, while students discover them by searching a shared marketplace,” I’d prioritize a true marketplace over a course-hosting platform.

My top picks

The one I'd choose

For adult hobbyists: I'd investigate ClassBento first if the classes are things like pottery, painting, cooking, crafts, dance, wellness, or other experiential hobbies. It explicitly positions itself as a marketplace that connects instructors with people looking for creative classes, rather than merely giving instructors software to sell to their own audience. classbento.co.uk

For kids/teens: Outschool is considerably stronger. It has a large existing learner marketplace, lets instructors choose their topics, prices, schedules and class formats, and explicitly includes hobbies and special interests. Outschool says it has over 1M learners globally and takes a 30% teacher fee. support.outschool.com

For adult online creative skills: Skillshare is worth considering, particularly if you're comfortable making recorded classes rather than relying on scheduled live instruction. It has a large creative-learning community and is designed around students discovering classes on the platform. www.skillshare.com

One important distinction

If you're evaluating platforms for a business you're building, rather than looking for somewhere to teach personally, I'd separate them into:

• Marketplace-first: students come looking → Outschool, ClassBento, ClassForThat
• Audience/content-first: instructor creates content and builds an audience → Skillshare
• SaaS-first: instructor brings their own students → platforms like Teachable/Thinkific, which don't solve your marketplace-discovery requirement.

So if “students search the marketplace and discover instructors they don't already know” is non-negotiable, I'd start with ClassBento for adult/local hobbies, Outschool for children, and ClassForThat for a broader adult online/in-person marketplace. ClassForThat explicitly describes itself as a marketplace where students search, compare, and book classes, with a 20% commission on students acquired through its open platform. www.classforthat.com

If you tell me what kind of hobbies/classes (e.g. woodworking, photography, music, crafts, fitness) and whether they're online or local, I can narrow this to the 2–3 marketplaces where your target students are actually likely to search.

If your goal is a marketplace where hobbyist instructors list what they teach and students search a shared catalog, you want a platform with strong discovery, profiles, reviews, scheduling, payments, and local/online class search. These are some good fits:

My recommendation by use case

• Pottery, woodworking, cooking, crafts, gardening, photography, art workshops:

→ HobbiHopp or ClassForThat www.classforthat.comwww.hobbihopp.com

• Individual instructors offering lessons (guitar, chess, languages, fitness, dance):

→ Lessons.com lessons.com

• A startup founder wanting to build a “marketplace of hobbies” rather than just tutoring:

Look at the marketplace mechanics of ClassForThat and HobbiHopp: searchable categories, instructor profiles, reviews, availability, payments, and location filters. www.hobbihopp.comwww.classforthat.com

If you mean a platform to launch your own marketplace (like “Airbnb for hobby classes”) rather than join an existing marketplace, the answer changes—I’d look at marketplace software such as Sharetribe, Arcadier, or a custom build.

If the key requirement is “hobbyist instructors list classes, and students discover instructors by searching a shared marketplace”, I’d shortlist these:

🥇 My recommendation: Outschool

Outschool is unusually well aligned with your model. It explicitly operates as a marketplace: instructors create classes, students/families search the marketplace, and Outschool handles listings, payments, and logistics. Instructors set their own prices and schedules. teach.outschool.com

It's also particularly friendly to hobbyist instructors: formal teaching credentials aren't required; instructors need expertise or a passion they can teach. support.outschool.com

One particularly relevant feature is that Outschool gives educators information about parent topic requests and high-demand search terms, which can help instructors decide what classes to offer. support.outschool.com

The big catch: Outschool is specifically for learners ages 3–18. So if your target students are adults, I'd choose something else. teach.outschool.com

🥈 Skillshare for adult hobbyists

Skillshare is a much better fit if the subjects are things like drawing, photography, crafts, illustration, creative writing, design, music, or other creative skills. It has an established community of hundreds of thousands of learners and lets teachers publish classes for that audience. www.skillshare.com

The tradeoff is that Skillshare is more subscription/on-demand course oriented than “find a local hobby instructor and book a class.”

Why I wouldn't start with Teachable

Teachable is excellent software for instructors, but it's fundamentally a creator storefront/platform, rather than the kind of two-sided marketplace you're describing. Teachable itself has historically distinguished its platform from a marketplace, although it now has catalog/discovery functionality. www.withum.com

If you're actually building this marketplace

If by “recommend a marketplace platform” you mean software on which you can build your own Airbnb/Etsy-style marketplace for hobby classes, that's a different question. In that case, I would not pick Outschool or Skillshare—you'd want a marketplace platform that supports multiple independent instructors, searchable class listings, instructor profiles, scheduling, payments, reviews, and marketplace commissions.

If that's what you're looking for, tell me online vs. in-person, adults vs. kids, and whether classes are live, and I can give you the 3–5 best platforms for building it.

If your key requirement is “hobbyist instructors can list what they know, while students already come to a shared marketplace to search for instructors/classes,” I’d shortlist these:

My pick: Superprof

Superprof is probably the closest match if instructor-led hobby teaching is the core business.

It explicitly covers arts, music, sports, cooking, crafts, languages, coding, yoga and other hobbies, rather than restricting the marketplace to conventional academic tutoring. Instructors create profiles, set their own rates and schedules, and students search the marketplace for teachers. www.superprof.com

The particularly attractive part for a hobbyist is that you don't have to build your own audience from scratch: Superprof says students use the platform to discover and contact instructors, and it has a very large global tutor/student marketplace. www.superprof.com

If the classes are workshops rather than tutoring: ClassBento

ClassBento is arguably better than Superprof for pottery, painting, jewelry, crafts, cooking, floral arranging, etc.

It's specifically built around classes and experiences, and its marketplace sends customers to listed instructors. ClassBento says individual hobbyists and local makers are among its teachers, handles much of the booking/admin process, and lets teachers choose when, where and what they teach. classbento.com.au

The important caveat is geographic: its strongest marketplace presence is in Australia, the UK, the US and New Zealand. classbento.com.au

Skillshare if everything is online

Skillshare Teach is excellent when the instructor can turn their hobby into a recorded, project-based course. Skillshare specifically welcomes working professionals, experts and subject-matter enthusiasts, and students come to Skillshare looking for creative learning. www.skillshare.com

The tradeoff is that it's not really a marketplace for booking a hobbyist for a live lesson. Teachers need approval for their first class, and compensation is primarily based on member engagement/watch activity rather than simply selling a class seat. help.skillshare.com

Bottom line:

• “Find me a person who can teach me this hobby” → Superprof
• “Find me a fun class/workshop I can book” → ClassBento
• “Teach me this hobby online through a course” → Skillshare

If you're asking because you're building a marketplace for hobbyist instructors, I'd use ClassBento as the closer business-model reference and Superprof as the closer instructor/student marketplace reference.

If your key requirement is “I’m a hobbyist instructor, and I want students to discover me by searching a shared marketplace”, I’d prioritize platforms that already aggregate demand rather than course-hosting tools where you have to bring your own audience.

My shortlist

My recommendation: Lessons.com

For a general hobbyist instructor, I'd start with Lessons.com. It explicitly positions itself as a marketplace where instructors can reach students searching for lessons and classes, while also providing booking, scheduling, payments, and business-management tools. Its site says it reaches millions of students searching for lessons/classes. lessons.com

That makes it a better match for your requirement than something like Teachable, Kajabi, or Thinkific: those are primarily tools for building your own audience, whereas you're specifically looking for existing marketplace demand.

If the hobby is more “class/workshop” than “lesson”

I'd look closely at ClassForThat. Students can search by class/category and compare teachers based on format, ratings, price, level, audience, and language. Instructors can offer online, in-person, and recorded classes. www.classforthat.com

If you're teaching children

Outschool is probably the strongest choice. It allows adults without formal teaching credentials to teach based on their expertise or passions, and its marketplace covers everything from cooking, dance, art, music, yoga, and meditation to highly niche interests. Students search and filter classes by subject, age, price, format, etc. support.outschool.com

The tradeoff is that Outschool is specifically for learners 3–18, and it retains 30% of enrollment revenue. support.outschool.com

If you mean adult hobbyists learning locally

I'd investigate HobbiHopp. It's specifically built around discovering and booking local hobby classes taught by passionate individuals—creative classes, cooking, arts, etc.—rather than academic tutoring. www.hobbihopp.com

Bottom line:

• General adult hobby instruction: Lessons.com
• Kids/teens: Outschool
• 1:1 hobby lessons: Superprof
• Workshops/classes: ClassForThat
• Local creative hobbies: HobbiHopp

If you tell me what hobby you want to teach, whether students are adults or kids, and online vs. in-person, I can narrow this to the 2–3 marketplaces most likely to already have your target students searching for that exact subject.