ChatGPT answers, unedited

If by “marketplace software” you mean a platform that hosts cohort-based courses and has its own audience that can discover/promote new cohorts, Maven is the clearest fit I found.

Best fit: Maven

Maven is specifically built around live, cohort-based courses rather than primarily self-paced courses. Its marketplace gives instructors access to an existing learner audience, with several discovery mechanisms:

• Marketplace discovery: students can browse courses by category and keywords.
• Personalized/recommendation emails: Maven says courses can be surfaced to relevant students through its emails.
• Trending placements: courses with recent enrollment momentum can receive additional marketplace visibility.
• Homepage discovery: listed courses can appear to students browsing Maven.
• New-cohort promotion: Maven has built-in cohort launch emails and marketing tools for converting interested/waitlisted students. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center
• Maven currently says its platform has 500K+ serious learners and describes the marketplace as a way to reach people beyond your own network. Maven

One important caveat: Maven isn't a pure “post your course and we'll fill the cohort” marketplace. You generally need to generate some initial traction yourself. Currently, Maven says a course becomes eligible for marketplace listing after 100 waitlist leads or 2 paid enrollments, followed by its review process. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center

How I'd think about the options

So if your key requirement is:

“I want to run recurring live cohorts and have the platform itself expose each new cohort to people who already use the marketplace.”

I'd put Maven at the top of the shortlist. Its entire product/distribution model is unusually aligned with that requirement. Maven itself says its marketplace and recommendation emails only surface courses with open cohorts, and its discovery system is explicitly designed to amplify courses after instructors establish initial traction. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center

If you tell me what kind of course you're selling (B2B/professional, consumer, technical, hobby, etc.) and approximate price ($100 / $500 / $2,000+), I can compare Maven vs. 5–10 alternatives specifically on marketplace-driven enrollment, including how much of the student acquisition each platform actually provides.

If your key requirement is “a marketplace where I can run cohort-based courses and have the platform itself promote new cohorts to its existing student audience,” Maven is the clearest fit I found.

How the main options compare

Why Maven stands out

Maven is specifically built around live, cohort-based courses, rather than taking a traditional self-paced course platform and adding scheduling on top. Maven Maven

More importantly for your question, its marketplace has actual distribution mechanisms:

• Students can discover courses by browsing/searching Maven.
• Maven sends personalized recommendation emails to students.
• Courses can receive algorithmic “trending” placement based substantially on recent sales momentum.
• Maven says courses can be included in weekly student emails when they're trending relative to other upcoming courses. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center
• When you open another cohort, Maven lets you reuse the course structure and promote the new cohort to your interest list using its launch-campaign/email tooling. Maven Help Center Maven

There's an important catch: Maven isn't simply a passive marketplace where you upload a course and wait for students. You generally need to generate initial traction. Maven currently says a course needs 100 waitlist leads or 2 paid enrollments to qualify for marketplace listing, followed by a quality review. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center

Once listed, however, Maven explicitly describes its model as your own marketing generating initial momentum and Maven's discovery systems amplifying it. Maven Help Center

One particularly relevant feature

If you're planning something like:

Cohort 1 → Cohort 2 → Cohort 3 → Cohort 4

Maven supports multiple cohorts under the same course, and you can duplicate the syllabus/events from the previous cohort. You can also keep a future cohort open for enrollment while the current cohort is running. Maven specifically recommends doing this because its marketplace and recommendation emails only surface courses that are actively open. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center

So if built-in distribution to a marketplace audience is the deciding criterion, I'd put Maven at the top of the shortlist.

If you tell me your course category (e.g. professional skills, fitness, language, parenting, hobbies, coding) and typical price ($50 / $500 / $2,000+), I can narrow this down to 3–5 marketplaces that actually have an audience for that type of cohort.

If your key requirement is “I run live cohort-based courses, and the platform itself should help promote each new cohort to its existing student audience,” the clearest fit I found is Maven.

How the main options compare

Why Maven stands out

Maven is specifically built around cohort-based education, rather than adapting a conventional self-paced LMS to cohorts. Maven Circle

More importantly for your question, Maven actually has a student marketplace/discovery mechanism:

• Students browse courses on Maven's marketplace.
• Maven sends personalized weekly course recommendations based partly on students' interests and activity.
• Courses with upcoming cohort start dates and recent enrollment momentum can receive more promotion.
• Courses can appear in homepage/trending discovery.
• Maven says its marketplace and recommendation emails only surface courses with an open cohort. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center

There's also a useful distinction: Maven isn't simply promising to advertise every new cohort automatically. You generally need to establish some initial traction before your course is listed publicly—currently 100 waitlist leads or 2 paid enrollments, followed by a quality review. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center

Once you're on the platform, Maven also has tools for announcing new cohorts to your own interest list and running launch campaigns. Maven Help Center Maven

One important distinction

If by “promotes new cohorts to its student base” you mean:

“I launch Cohort #2, and the platform automatically markets it to people who took/considered Cohort #1 and other relevant students on the marketplace.”

Then Maven is unusually close to exactly that model.

Udemy has student marketing tools, including promotional emails, but its rules specifically focus on promoting your other Udemy courses to your Udemy students rather than providing a general marketplace audience for cohort launches. Udemy Support

Circle, meanwhile, is stronger if you want to own the community and customer relationship, but its proposition is fundamentally different: it provides the infrastructure for cohorts and community rather than a Maven-style course marketplace. Circle

So if marketplace-driven enrollment is a core requirement, I'd start by evaluating Maven. If you tell me your course type (e.g. $500–$5,000 professional course, consumer course, certification, coaching cohort), I can also compare Maven vs. Circle vs. Skool vs. Udemy vs. Thinkific specifically on how much new-student distribution each platform actually provides.

If your key requirement is “I run cohort-based courses, and the platform itself helps promote each new cohort to an existing student audience,” the standout is Maven.

Best fit: Maven

Maven is unusually well matched to this model because it is both:

• Cohort-course software — you can create multiple scheduled cohorts, reuse your syllabus/events, manage enrollment, community, payments, etc. Maven Maven Help Center
• A marketplace with its own student audience — once your course qualifies for marketplace listing, Maven can surface it through homepage discovery, personalized recommendation emails, and trending placements. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center
• A promotion engine for new cohorts — Maven's emails are personalized based partly on students' interests, and courses closer to their start date and with stronger momentum can receive more promotion. Maven Help Center
• Built for repeat cohorts — you can create a new cohort by copying the previous cohort's syllabus and events, then open it for enrollment. Maven Help Center

There's an important catch: Maven isn't a pure “upload your course and we'll sell it for you” marketplace. You need to generate some initial traction before marketplace listing. Current requirements include either 100 waitlist leads or 2 paid enrollments, after which Maven reviews the course for listing. Maven Help Center

How I'd rank the alternatives

Kajabi, for example, now has native cohort-based courses with scheduled content and live sessions, but its model is much more “build your own audience and market to them” than “marketplace sends you students.” Kajabi Kajabi

The distinction that matters

There are really two different categories:

1. Course infrastructure

“Give me software to run my cohorts.”

Think Kajabi, Thinkific, Circle, Teachfloor, etc.

2. Course marketplace + infrastructure

“Give me software to run my cohorts and introduce them to people already looking for courses.”

That's where Maven is much more differentiated. Maven explicitly says its marketplace and recommendation emails surface open cohorts to relevant students, and its algorithm considers factors such as relevance, timing, and recent enrollment momentum. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center

So if built-in distribution to a student base is a hard requirement, I'd start with Maven, rather than Kajabi/Thinkific/Circle.

If you're asking because you're evaluating/building a marketplace product yourself, I can also give you a list of 10 platforms that have this “cohort software + marketplace distribution” model, including their audience size, take rate, discovery mechanics, and whether they actively email students about new cohorts.

If your key requirement is “host cohort-based courses + get exposure to an existing student audience when I launch a new cohort,” there’s one platform that stands out:

Best fit: Maven

Maven is specifically designed around cohort-based courses and has a student marketplace/discovery layer.

• Cohort-native: You can create multiple cohorts of the same course, with different start dates. Maven Help Center
• Marketplace discovery: Listed courses can be discovered by students browsing Maven.
• Personalized promotion: Maven sends weekly personalized course recommendations to students based on their interests and activity. Courses starting soon and those with enrollment momentum get more visibility. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center
• New-cohort promotion: When you open a new cohort, Maven automatically sends branded launch emails to your waitlist. Maven Help Center
• Existing student base: This is the important distinction—you aren't relying entirely on your own email list/social following. Maven can surface your course to relevant students already using the marketplace. Maven Help Center

The catch is that Maven isn't really a generic LMS with a marketplace bolted on. Its marketplace is part of the product's core value proposition, and you need some initial traction before getting marketplace listing/discovery. Maven Help Center

How the alternatives compare

For example, Circle supports fixed-date cohort courses and has strong community/engagement functionality, but its model is much more “build and monetize your own community” than “we'll distribute your next cohort to our student marketplace.” Circle

Kajabi now supports genuine cohort-based courses with scheduled content and live sessions, but its strength is your own audience, CRM, email, and marketing funnel rather than a Maven-style student marketplace. Kajabi Kajabi

So if marketplace-driven enrollment is a major criterion, I'd start with Maven. It's unusually well aligned with the specific flywheel of run cohort → build student base → launch next cohort → platform recommends it to relevant students.

If you tell me what kind of cohort course you're selling (e.g. $500 career course, $5k executive program, consumer course, etc.), I can compare Maven against 5–10 other platforms specifically on marketplace reach, fees/revenue share, ownership of student data, and ability to promote subsequent cohorts.

If you mean a marketplace (not just an LMS) that can help fill new cohorts by promoting them to an existing student/learner audience, the strongest fit today is:

1. Maven — best match for marketplace-driven cohort growth

maven.com

• Built specifically around live cohort-based courses.
• Has a learner-facing marketplace where students browse courses and instructors.
• Can help creators reach learners beyond their own email list/social following.
• Handles cohort logistics: applications, enrollment, scheduling, reminders, live sessions, and community. LearnStream Teachfloor
• Trade-off: you give up some margin through platform fees/revenue share and have less ownership of the audience relationship than with a standalone platform. Ruzuku Mighty Networks

Best for: expert-led courses ($200–$2,000+), professional skills, career development, AI/product/leadership topics, and instructors who want discovery.

Other options (but less marketplace-oriented)

Udemy

udemy.com

• Has a huge learner marketplace and can promote courses through its ecosystem.
• Strong for self-paced courses.
• Less naturally suited for high-touch cohort experiences (live weekly sessions, peer accountability, cohort community).

Best for: using marketplace reach to sell scalable courses rather than premium cohorts.

Coursera

coursera.org

• Has enormous learner distribution.
• Typically aimed at universities, companies, and credential-style learning.
• Not usually the choice for independent instructors launching recurring cohorts.

Best for: institutions and credential programs.

Mighty Networks

mightynetworks.com

• Strong for community-led learning.
• Good if you already have an audience and want students to continue engaging after the cohort.
• Does not function like a student marketplace in the way Maven does. Mighty Networks

Best for: memberships, alumni communities, ongoing cohorts.

Kajabi

kajabi.com

• Excellent marketing stack: email, funnels, landing pages, payments.
• Helps you promote cohorts to your own audience.
• Does not provide meaningful marketplace discovery. Miha Cacic

Best for: creators who already have an audience.

Quick decision table

If the key requirement is specifically "when I launch cohort #2, the platform should notify/promote it to students from cohort #1 and similar learners", Maven is closest to that model. For a mature cohort business, many operators eventually combine a cohort platform with their own CRM/email list so they own the student relationship. Ruzuku

If you mean a marketplace (not just an LMS) that can both host cohort-based courses and help fill future cohorts by promoting them to an existing student audience, the shortlist is much smaller. Most course platforms help you sell to your audience; only a few provide meaningful discovery. Ruzuku LearnStream

Best fits

LearnStream Kajabi## The closest match: Maven

For your exact requirement — "promotes new cohorts to its student base" — Maven is probably the closest. It is designed around live cohort courses and includes marketplace discovery so prospective students can find courses outside the instructor's own audience. The trade-off is that you give up some margin through platform fees/revenue share and have less control than running everything on your own stack. Ruzuku Maven Help Center

If you already have students and want repeat cohorts

Consider a platform like:

• Kajabi — strong for email marketing, launches, automation, and managing alumni lists, but you bring the audience. Kajabi
• Circle — good if your cohort experience depends heavily on community and alumni engagement.
• Disco — better suited to academies and organizations running multiple cohorts. LearnStream

A common growth setup

Many successful cohort businesses use a hybrid model:

1. Marketplace for discovery: Maven (new students)
2. Owned audience: email list + community (repeat cohorts)
3. Referral/affiliate engine: alumni promote the next cohort

That way, each cohort creates the audience for the next one rather than starting from zero. Rekomi

If your priority is specifically "I have no audience and need the platform to bring me students", Maven is the one I would evaluate first. If your priority is "I already have thousands of students and want to maximize repeat enrollment," a standalone platform plus CRM/community is usually stronger.

If your key requirement is “I run live cohort-based courses, and the platform itself helps expose each new cohort to its existing student audience,” the standout is Maven.

Best fit: Maven

Maven is unusually well matched to this model because it combines cohort-course infrastructure + a marketplace + student discovery.

• Native cohort support: fixed start/end dates, live sessions, community, applications, payments, etc. Maven Maven Help Center
• Marketplace discovery: once your course qualifies for listing, students can discover it on Maven's marketplace. Maven Help Center
• Promotion to Maven's existing students: Maven says listed courses can be included in personalized emails to students, with promotion influenced by relevance, cohort start date, and recent enrollment momentum. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center
• Homepage/trending exposure: courses can also be surfaced through Maven's homepage and trending placements. Maven Help Center
• Launch emails to your own leads: Maven automatically sends a cohort-launch campaign to people on your course interest list when enrollment opens. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center

So there are actually two audiences you can tap:

Your audience → waitlist, Lightning Lessons, email campaigns
Maven's audience → marketplace, recommendations, personalized student emails

That's fairly unusual among course platforms.

How I'd rank the options

For example, Circle supports fixed-start/end cohort courses and has referrals/cross-promotion, but its model is much more about building and monetizing your own community than having a marketplace distribute your cohorts. Circle

The important distinction

If by “promotes new cohorts to its student base” you mean:

“I don't want to build the entire audience myself. I want the platform to have thousands of learners and recommend my upcoming cohort to relevant people.”

Then Maven is the clearest match I've found.

Maven explicitly says its marketplace surfaces courses to students, and that listed courses can appear in recommendation emails to its student base. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center

One caveat: Maven doesn't simply blast every new course to everyone. You generally need traction to qualify for marketplace listing (currently 100 interest-list leads or 2 paid enrollments, plus quality review), and its recommendation system is algorithmic. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center

If you're evaluating this for a business model where you want to recruit instructors and then give them distribution to your marketplace's existing students, I can also give you a comparison of Maven vs Udemy vs Coursera vs Section vs Disco vs Circle, specifically on who owns the student audience, marketplace discovery, cohort support, and revenue share.

If your key requirement is “I run cohort-based courses, and the platform itself should promote each new cohort to its existing student audience,” the standout is Maven.

Best fit: Maven

Maven is unusually aligned with that model because it combines:

• Cohort-native course delivery — live, scheduled, instructor-led courses rather than primarily self-paced courses.
• A student marketplace — students can browse courses by topic and see trending, best-selling, and starting-soon cohorts. Maven
• Personalized student emails — Maven says it recommends courses to students based on their interests, past activity/enrollments, enrollment momentum, and how soon the cohort starts. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center
• Algorithmic promotion — courses with recent enrollment momentum can receive additional marketplace/trending exposure. Maven Help Center
• Your own student/interest-list marketing — Maven has broadcast and cohort-launch campaigns for announcing new cohorts to people already interested in your courses. Maven Help Center Maven

The important distinction is that Maven isn't just a course-hosting tool with an optional marketplace. Marketplace discovery and promotion are part of the product's core model.

How I'd compare the major options

For example, Teachable's current product is primarily organized around running your own school and courses; it doesn't have Maven's comparable student-marketplace/recommendation engine. Teachable Help Center

The particularly interesting part of Maven

Maven explicitly says that once a course is listed, it can be included in personalized weekly emails to students, with recommendations influenced by:

1. how soon the cohort starts,
2. recent enrollment/earnings momentum, and
3. relevance to the individual student's interests. Maven Help Center

So there's a genuine flywheel:

Cohort → enrollments → momentum → marketplace visibility → Maven recommendations → more students → next cohort

That's much closer to what you're describing than a conventional LMS.

There is one catch: Maven wants courses to demonstrate initial traction before marketplace listing—currently 100 waitlist leads or 2 paid enrollments, followed by a quality review. Maven Help Center So it isn't quite “upload a course and immediately get thousands of marketplace leads.”

Bottom line: If distribution to an existing learner base is a primary criterion, I'd put Maven well ahead of Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, and similar course-hosting platforms.

If you're actually evaluating this for a marketplace business you're building—i.e., you want to know which software lets multiple instructors sell cohorts while the marketplace itself cross-promotes new cohorts to students—that's a somewhat different shortlist, and I can compare the best white-label marketplace platforms for that use case.

If you mean a marketplace that not only hosts cohort-based courses but also helps fill future cohorts by promoting them to an existing learner audience, the shortlist is fairly small. Most course platforms (Kajabi, Thinkific, Teachable, etc.) help you sell to your audience; they do not really function as marketplaces. www.ruzuku.com

The strongest fits:

Best match: Maven

Maven was specifically built around live cohort-based courses and has a marketplace where learners can discover courses from instructors. www.producthunt.com It is the closest to the model:

1. Instructor creates a new cohort.
2. Learners browse/discover courses.
3. Platform helps with enrollment, cohort operations, and community.
4. Future cohorts can benefit from the platform’s learner ecosystem. www.ruzuku.com

Tradeoff: marketplace distribution usually comes with less control and/or revenue sharing compared with owning your own stack. www.ruzuku.com

If you already have thousands of students

A different model may work better:

• Use Kajabi or Circle for your owned audience.
• Automate alumni marketing:
  • “Next cohort opens”
  • alumni referral campaigns
  • waitlists
  • certificates + upsells
  • community announcements

Kajabi supports cohort-based courses with scheduled progression and live sessions, but the discovery engine is your own marketing channels rather than a marketplace. help.kajabi.com

If you are trying to build a “course marketplace that repeatedly fills cohorts”

I would evaluate:

1. Maven — closest out-of-the-box fit.
2. Disco — better for cohort academies and organizations running many cohorts. www.disco.co
3. Circle + your own marketplace layer — best if you want ownership of the student relationship.
4. Kajabi — best if your strength is marketing automation rather than marketplace discovery.

A key question: are you looking for a platform where you are one instructor selling cohorts, or are you trying to build a marketplace like Udemy/Maven where many instructors publish cohorts and the platform promotes them to students? The software choices are very different.

If by “promotes new cohorts to its existing student base” you mean the platform itself has an audience of learners and can surface/market your upcoming cohort to them, there’s one clear standout:

Best fit: Maven

Maven is specifically built around live, cohort-based courses + marketplace discovery. Students browse upcoming courses, and Maven can expose your course to its learner audience rather than requiring you to bring 100% of the demand yourself. Ruzuku Mighty Networks

The important distinction is:

Teachfloor, for example, is excellent for actually running cohorts—scheduled courses, live sessions, peer reviews, communities, etc.—but it explicitly emphasizes owning the student relationship rather than marketplace distribution. Teachfloor

One important caveat

Maven is closer to “marketplace discovery” than “automatically email every existing student whenever you launch a new cohort.” Its marketplace lets learners discover upcoming courses, but you shouldn't assume that simply listing a new cohort guarantees distribution to the platform's entire student base. SoloClientStack

So if your requirement is specifically:

“I want to create Cohort #2, and the software automatically tells people who took/are interested in Cohort #1 about Cohort #2.”

then I'd look beyond conventional course marketplaces. Kajabi, Circle, and similar owned-audience platforms are actually stronger for this lifecycle marketing, because you control the student list and can segment previous students and announce the next cohort. Kajabi, for instance, now has native cohort-based courses. help.kajabi.com

If you tell me whether you're looking for (a) a marketplace that brings you new students or (b) software that automatically sells the next cohort to your existing students, I can give you the 3–5 best options specifically for that model.

If your key requirement is “host cohort-based courses + get those cohorts promoted to an existing marketplace/student audience,” the standout is Maven.

Best fit: Maven

maven.com is unusually well aligned with this model:

• Built specifically around cohort-based courses rather than adapting an evergreen-course platform to cohorts. Maven Maven
• Has a real marketplace where students browse courses, including “Trending,” “Best selling,” “Starting soon,” and “New on Maven.” Maven
• Actively recommends courses to its student audience. Maven says its recommendation emails and homepage surface courses with open cohorts and enrollment momentum. Maven Help Center
• Its discovery system includes personalized weekly emails and algorithmic/trending placements, in addition to marketplace browsing. Maven Help Center
• It supports the full cohort operation: landing pages, email marketing, student management, content, community, events, and payments. Maven
• The tradeoff is that marketplace distribution isn't completely automatic from day one. Maven currently requires traction (e.g. 100 interest-list leads or 2 paid enrollments) plus a quality review before a course is listed publicly. Maven Help Center

How I'd compare the alternatives

CourseHorse is worth a look if your definition of “marketplace” is broader than professional cohort courses: it says it reaches a large student audience through its marketplace, media partners, newsletters and apps, and uses personalized recommendations/email marketing to drive registrations. CourseHorse

Kajabi, meanwhile, now has native cohort-based courses, but its strength is the creator owning the marketing funnel and audience—not Kajabi sending your next cohort to a large shared student marketplace. Kajabi Kajabi

Bottom line

If you're looking for “Shopify/Airbnb-style marketplace + cohort-course infrastructure + the marketplace itself helps fill my next cohort,” I'd start with Maven.

The particularly important distinction is that Maven isn't merely course software with a directory attached; its discovery system is explicitly designed to send relevant students toward open cohorts. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center

If you're evaluating this as a marketplace business—i.e., you're looking for software that would let you operate a marketplace of many instructors/cohorts and then market new cohorts to the marketplace's existing student base—that's a different (and much smaller) category. I can give you a shortlist of platforms that support multi-instructor marketplace + cohort courses + marketplace-wide student promotion.

If by “marketplace software” you mean a platform that both hosts cohort-based courses and has an existing learner audience that it can market your next cohort to, the standout is Maven.

Best fit: Maven

Maven is unusually well aligned with what you're describing:

• Built specifically for cohort-based courses — live, multi-session courses with fixed cohorts. Maven
• Has a real marketplace/discovery layer, rather than merely giving you course-hosting software.
• Promotes listed courses to its existing student base through personalized emails, homepage discovery, and algorithmic/trending placements. Maven explicitly says its emails can feature courses to all students, with relevance, cohort start date, and recent sales momentum affecting promotion. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center
• The promotion is particularly relevant for new cohorts. Courses with open cohorts are eligible for marketplace exposure, and Maven says it promotes courses closer to their cohort start date. Maven Help Center
• It has a flywheel across courses: students can discover one instructor/course and then take additional offerings.
• There is a qualification hurdle: currently, a course generally needs 100 waitlist leads or 2 paid enrollments, plus a quality review, before being listed in the marketplace. Maven Help Center

One important caveat: Maven isn't a pure “upload your course and we'll fill it” marketplace. Its own documentation describes marketplace discovery as an accelerant to your marketing rather than a replacement for building initial traction. Maven Help Center

How I'd rank the alternatives

Outschool is a genuine marketplace: it markets classes to its audience and handles enrollment, and learners can take multi-week courses. But its core market is children/teens and parents, so it's a very different proposition from Maven. Outschool Support Outschool Support

Circle is excellent if your goal is to build your own community and repeatedly sell cohorts to that community. It supports fixed-date cohort courses and cross-promotion/referrals, but it's fundamentally more of a community/course platform than a marketplace that supplies you with new students. Circle

The key distinction

If your requirement is:

“I teach a cohort → those students remain in the platform → when I launch the next cohort, the platform can expose/promote it to its broader student base.”

then Maven is probably the closest match in the current market.

If you're looking for something more like “Udemy, but specifically for high-ticket professional cohort courses, where the marketplace itself is a meaningful acquisition channel,” Maven is even more clearly the relevant comparison.

If you tell me what kind of cohorts you're selling (e.g. B2B leadership, coding, fitness, language, AI, creator education) and your expected price ($100 / $1,000 / $5,000+), I can give you a more comprehensive list of 5–10 platforms and specifically compare how much student acquisition each marketplace provides versus just hosting your course.

If your key requirement is a marketplace that already has students and actively promotes new cohorts, the list is surprisingly short.

For true cohort-based learning, only one major platform has marketplace discovery as a core feature.

1. Maven (best fit)

Maven was built specifically for live, cohort-based courses.

Pros:

• Existing audience looking for live courses
• Marketplace discovery
• Applications and waitlists
• Cohort scheduling
• Email reminders
• Community
• Premium pricing (many courses are $500–2,000+)

Trade-offs:

• Revenue share
• Less branding flexibility than owning your own site
• Works best for business, AI, design, leadership, product management, career, and professional education rather than hobby topics. LearnStream Ruzuku

2. Circle + your own marketing

Circle supports excellent cohort experiences and community, but it is not a marketplace.

You'll need to bring your own audience through:

• newsletter
• LinkedIn
• YouTube
• affiliates
• paid ads

Great if you already have demand. Circle

3. Kajabi

Kajabi is excellent if you want:

• landing pages
• funnels
• email
• memberships
• cohort launches

But it does not provide marketplace discovery. It helps you convert your own audience rather than supplying one. Guideflow

4. Thinkific / Teachable

Both support timed or scheduled courses but rely on your own marketing. They are learning platforms, not marketplaces. Ruzuku

If your goal is "marketplace growth"

Few education marketplaces actively market instructors' new cohorts. Besides Maven, consider niche platforms if your subject fits:

• O'Reilly Media — enterprise and tech instructors.
• Frontend Masters — invited instructors.
• Reforge — curated experts.
• Section — business leadership cohorts.

These generally operate through invitations or selective partnerships rather than open marketplaces.

My recommendation

If your highest priority is:

• Built-in audience + promotion of new cohorts: Maven is the strongest option.
• Maximum control and margins: Circle or Kajabi plus your own marketing.
• Long-term business: Many successful creators start on Maven to validate demand and acquire students, then later migrate repeat customers into their own branded platform while continuing to use Maven as a discovery channel. Mihael Cacic LearnStream

If you tell me your topic (AI, software, finance, coaching, creative skills, healthcare, etc.), I can narrow the list to the marketplaces that are most effective for that subject.

If your goal is "marketplace growth"

If your key requirement is “I run live cohort-based courses, and I want the platform itself to promote my next cohort to its existing student audience,” the strongest fit I found is Maven.

Best fit: Maven

Maven is unusually well aligned with that model because it combines:

• Cohort-native course delivery — live, multi-session courses with cohort community and scheduling.
• A student marketplace — students browse courses by category, search, and see upcoming cohorts.
• Personalized promotion to existing students — Maven says it sends weekly personalized course recommendations based on a student's interests and past activity.
• Algorithmic promotion — courses with recent enrollment momentum can appear in "Trending" placements.
• Promotion based on cohort timing — courses starting soon get higher priority in recommendation emails.
• An existing learner base — rather than requiring you to build all the demand yourself. Maven Help Center Maven

The important caveat is that Maven isn't a pure “list your course and we'll fill it” marketplace. You need some initial traction: currently, a course needs 100 waitlist/interest-list leads or 2 paid enrollments to qualify for marketplace review, and Maven emphasizes that your own marketing creates the initial momentum that its marketplace then amplifies. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center

Maven explicitly says its recommendation system considers time to cohort start, recent enrollment/earnings momentum, and individual student relevance. That's quite close to what you're describing: “I have a new cohort opening; tell relevant people already in the marketplace about it.” Maven Help Center Maven Help Center

maven.com

How I'd compare the options

The distinction is important: most course platforms are “software for selling to your audience.” Maven is closer to “software + a demand marketplace.”

For example, Teachable/Thinkific/Circle can be excellent if you already have an email list or community, but they generally don't solve the specific problem of getting your new cohort in front of relevant people who are already students on the platform.

One interesting Maven feature

Maven's own documentation says that after a course is listed, it can be surfaced through:

1. Marketplace browsing/search
2. Trending placements
3. Personalized weekly emails to students

And courses with cohorts starting soon and recent enrollment momentum are more likely to be recommended. Maven Help Center

So if you're evaluating platforms specifically for built-in distribution, I'd put Maven considerably ahead of the conventional LMS platforms.

If you tell me what kind of cohorts you're selling (e.g. professional education, fitness, language, creator courses, B2B training, etc.) and roughly your price per student, I can give you a shortlist of 5–10 marketplaces ranked specifically by how much student acquisition/distribution they provide, including their fees and audience size.

For example, Teachable/Thinkific/Circle can be excellent if you already have an email list or community, but they generally don't solve the specific problem of getting your new cohort in front of relevant people who are already students on the platform.

One interesting Maven feature

Maven's own documentation says that after a course is listed, it can be surfaced through:

1. Marketplace browsing/search
2. Trending placements
3. Personalized weekly emails to students

And courses with cohorts starting soon and recent enrollment momentum are more likely to be recommended.

So if you're evaluating platforms specifically for built-in distribution, I'd put Maven considerably ahead of the conventional LMS platforms.

If your key requirement is “sell cohort-based courses and have the marketplace itself promote new cohorts to its existing student base,” Maven is the clearest fit.

Best options

Why Maven stands out

Maven is unusually close to the model you're describing:

• It is specifically designed around live cohort-based courses. maven.com
• Courses can be listed in a student-facing marketplace, where learners browse by category and keywords. help.maven.com
• Maven sends personalized weekly course recommendations to students based on their interests and activity. Courses closer to their start date and showing enrollment momentum can receive more exposure. maven.comhelp.maven.commaven.com
• Maven can surface courses through its homepage, marketplace, trending placements, and recommendation emails. help.maven.com
• It supports multiple cohorts for the same course, so you can run the same program repeatedly rather than creating an entirely new product each time. help.maven.com
• It also has alumni broadcasts, referrals and other mechanisms for getting previous students back into the ecosystem for subsequent offerings. maven.com

There is an important catch: Maven doesn't simply guarantee distribution to its entire student base. Its discovery system is algorithmic. Courses need to establish traction, and marketplace listing requires either 100 interest-list leads or 2 paid enrollments, plus approval. help.maven.com

So I'd characterize the model as:

Your acquisition → initial cohort traction → Maven marketplace/discovery → Maven recommendations → additional students

rather than:

Upload course → Maven automatically fills every cohort.

If you're evaluating this for a marketplace business—i.e. you want many instructors to list cohort courses and you want the platform to actively cross-sell each instructor's new cohorts to the marketplace's existing learners—then Maven is probably the closest existing reference model, but there are some interesting gaps you could build around it.

If by “marketplace software” you mean a platform that both hosts cohort-based courses and has an existing student audience it can promote new cohorts to, there’s one particularly strong fit:

Best fit: Maven

Maven is unusually well aligned with exactly this model:

• Native cohort-based courses: It was built around live, scheduled cohort courses rather than adapting a self-paced LMS to cohorts. Maven Maven Help Center
• Built-in marketplace: Courses can be discovered by students browsing Maven, including through categories, search and trending placements. Maven Help Center
• Email recommendations: Maven sends personalized recommendation emails to students, and open cohorts with enrollment momentum can be surfaced there. Maven Help Center
• Existing student base: Maven says more than 15,000 students had taken Maven courses and described roughly 30% of enrollments as coming from its marketplace in an earlier announcement. Maven
• Repeat cohorts: You can keep the next cohort open while the current one is running, allowing marketplace discovery and existing interest-list traffic to feed the next cohort. Maven Help Center
• Built-in marketing: Interest lists, broadcasts, Lightning Lessons, landing pages, referrals and marketplace discovery are all part of the ecosystem. Maven Help Center

The important nuance is that Maven isn't simply an LMS with a directory. Its marketplace/discovery system is explicitly designed to help instructors get demand from students already browsing Maven. It does, however, expect instructors to generate some initial traction: currently, a course generally needs 100 interest-list leads or 2 paid enrollments before marketplace listing/review. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center

Other platforms

For example, Disco is excellent for running cohorts and communities, but its model is fundamentally your branded learning community, rather than a marketplace that sends you prospective students. Disco Disco

If your requirement is specifically…

“I create a new cohort → the platform has students interested in the subject → the platform recommends my new cohort to those students → they enroll.”

I'd shortlist:

1. Maven — strongest match by far.
2. Mighty Networks — worth considering if you're building a large membership/community and cohorts are one product within it.
3. Disco — strong if you already have the student/member base and want sophisticated cohort/community infrastructure.
4. Teachable / Thinkific — better if distribution isn't important and you mainly need course commerce/LMS functionality.

One distinction matters a lot: Maven's marketplace is genuine demand generation; most “cohort platforms” are merely cohort-delivery software. That's why the list gets much shorter when you add the requirement that the software itself should promote new cohorts to an existing student base.

If you're evaluating this for a marketplace business where multiple instructors create cohorts and you want the platform to cross-sell each instructor's new cohorts to students from other cohorts, that's a somewhat different—and more interesting—set of options.

“I create a new cohort → the platform has students interested in the subject → the platform recommends my new cohort to those students → they enroll.”

I'd shortlist:

If your key requirement is “host cohort-based courses + have the platform actively promote new cohorts to its existing student audience,” the standout is maven.com.

Best fit: Maven

Maven is unusually well aligned with this model because it combines:

• Cohort-native course delivery — scheduled, instructor-led courses with specific start dates.
• A student marketplace — students can browse courses by category, search, and see “New,” “Trending,” “Best selling,” and “Starting soon” cohorts. Maven Maven
• Promotion to Maven's student base — Maven sends personalized weekly course recommendations based on students' interests and activity. Courses starting soon and those gaining enrollment momentum get more exposure. Maven Help Center
• Algorithmic discovery — successful cohorts can appear in trending placements, with recent paid enrollments being a major factor. Maven Help Center
• Built-in cohort marketing — Maven has cohort-launch emails and tools for communicating with interested/waitlisted students. Maven Help Center

The important caveat is that Maven isn't a “submit your course and we'll fill it for you” marketplace. You generally need initial traction: currently, a course needs 100 waitlist leads or 2 paid enrollments to qualify for marketplace listing. Once listed, Maven's discovery system can amplify the traction you're generating yourself. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center

How I'd compare the options

For example, Lemon Squeezy does have a marketplace and says accepted products can be promoted to its wider audience, but it's fundamentally a digital-product marketplace, rather than a marketplace built specifically around live cohort learning. Lemon Squeezy Docs

So if “the platform itself brings me students for each new cohort” is a core requirement, I'd start with Maven by a pretty wide margin.

If you're actually looking to build your own marketplace of instructors/cohort courses (rather than choose a platform to host your course), that's a different—and more interesting—set of options. I can compare platforms specifically for that model too.

If your key requirement is “host cohort-based courses and also have the platform promote new cohorts to an existing student marketplace/audience,” the standout is Maven.

Best fits

Maven is the closest match to what you're describing. Its marketplace is specifically designed around live learning. Once a course qualifies for marketplace listing, students can discover it through Maven's site, personalized emails, and algorithmic/trending placements. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center

There is an important nuance: Maven doesn't simply blast every new cohort to its entire student base. Its discovery system rewards traction. Currently, a course generally needs 100 interest-list leads or 2 paid enrollments and to pass review before marketplace listing. Once listed, Maven can surface courses through homepage browsing, personalized recommendation emails, and trending placements. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center

Maven also explicitly says its marketplace/recommendation emails surface courses with open cohorts and strong enrollment momentum. Maven Help Center

If you're evaluating this as a marketplace business

I'd divide the market into two models:

• Marketplace + cohort infrastructure: Maven — the strongest match if you want the platform itself to contribute demand.
• Cohort infrastructure only: Circle, Disco, Teachfloor, Mighty Networks — stronger if you already have the audience and primarily need software to run the cohort. For example, Circle supports fixed-date cohort courses, live sessions, community, and cross-promotion, but its positioning is much more about helping you grow your community than giving you access to a marketplace of prospective students. circle.so circle.so

If you're asking because you're building or choosing a platform for a marketplace of instructors, I can also give you a more targeted comparison of Maven vs. Udemy vs. Coursera vs. Maven-like newer marketplaces, specifically around “we recruit instructors, host cohorts, then market each new cohort to our existing learner base.”

Maven is the closest match to what you're describing. Its marketplace is specifically designed around live learning. Once a course qualifies for marketplace listing, students can discover it through Maven's site, personalized emails, and algorithmic/trending placements. help.maven.com help.maven.com

There is an important nuance: Maven doesn't simply blast every new cohort to its entire student base. Its discovery system rewards traction. Currently, a course generally needs 100 interest-list leads or 2 paid enrollments and to pass review before marketplace listing. Once listed, Maven can surface courses through homepage browsing, personalized recommendation emails, and trending placements.

Maven also explicitly says its marketplace/recommendation emails surface courses with open cohorts and strong enrollment momentum.

If you're evaluating this as a marketplace business

I'd divide the market into two models:

If your key requirement is “I run cohort-based courses, and the platform itself helps promote each new cohort to an existing student marketplace,” the strongest fit is Maven.

Best fit: Maven

Maven is unusually aligned with this model because it combines:

• Cohort-native course delivery — live sessions, projects, community, fixed cohort dates, etc.
• A marketplace of courses where students can discover instructors beyond their existing audience.
• Promotion to its student base — Maven says listed courses can be included in personalized student emails, homepage discovery, and algorithmic/trending placements. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center
• Repeat-cohort economics — you can run the same course multiple times with new start dates rather than creating a new product each time.
• Built-in marketing infrastructure including landing pages, email campaigns, payments and student management. Maven Maven

Importantly, Maven's current discovery model isn't simply “publish and we'll blast your course to everyone.” You generally need to generate initial traction (for example, waitlist leads or paid enrollments), after which Maven amplifies the course through its marketplace and personalized distribution. Maven Help Center

Maven explicitly says its recommendation emails consider how soon the cohort starts, recent enrollment/earnings momentum, and relevance to each student's interests. Maven Help Center

maven.com

How I'd rank the alternatives

Udemy is worth considering if marketplace distribution is more important than the cohort experience. It has a huge learner marketplace and lets instructors send promotional emails to learners who have enrolled in their paid courses, but its model is much more oriented toward on-demand courses than high-touch cohort businesses. Udemy Support

Circle can handle fixed-date cohort courses very well and has a discovery surface called Circle Discover, but I'd view that as a community platform with discovery rather than a true cohort-course marketplace. Circle Circle Discover

The important distinction

If what you're really looking for is:

“I want to publish Cohort #2, #3, #4, etc., and have the platform automatically expose those new dates to people who took or browsed other courses on the marketplace.”

then Maven is probably the closest thing to what you're describing.

If you're building a business around multiple instructors / many courses / recurring cohorts, rather than being an individual course creator, the answer gets more interesting. There are marketplace/community platforms that may be better suited to that model.

If you tell me whether you're (a) an individual instructor, (b) a school/training company, or (c) building a marketplace for other instructors, I can narrow this down to the 3–5 platforms that best fit that exact model.

If your key requirement is “run cohort-based courses and have the platform itself promote upcoming cohorts to its existing student base,” the standout is Maven.

Best fits

1. Maven — closest to what you're describing

Maven is specifically designed around cohort-based courses plus marketplace distribution. Students can discover courses through Maven's website, personalized emails, and algorithmic/trending placements. Maven explicitly says its recommendation emails and homepage surface courses with open cohorts and strong enrollment momentum. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center

That makes the model roughly:

Instructor → launches cohort → Maven marketplace/discovery → Maven's student audience → enrollments

It also supports creating additional cohorts and copying the syllabus/events from one cohort to the next. Maven Help Center

maven.com

The important caveat: Maven's discovery isn't simply “email every student about every new cohort.” Courses have to build initial momentum/qualify for marketplace discovery, after which Maven can amplify them. Maven Help Center

2. Disco — better if you own the student community

Disco is more of an academy/community platform than an open marketplace. It has cohort courses, community, events, messaging, automation and member management in one system. Disco Disco

Its advantage is that you can build a persistent student community and expose new learning products to those members. Disco's architecture explicitly lets members explore learning products, including cohort-based courses, from the community. Disco

disco.co

So I'd think of Disco as:

You own the audience → students join your community → you promote subsequent cohorts/products to them.

3. Disciple — particularly interesting for alumni

Disciple has a very explicit “sell the next program to your existing alumni” model. Its training-provider product supports in-app course listings, early-access offers for alumni, and tracking conversion from cohort to cohort. It specifically markets the ability to market new programs to alumni of older ones. Disciple

disciple.community

This could actually be better than Maven if what you mean by “promotes new cohorts to its student base” is:

“Someone takes Course A, and I want the platform to automatically help me sell them Course B when the next cohort opens.”

My recommendation

If you're looking to build a marketplace where multiple instructors offer cohort-based courses, I'd investigate Maven first. Its marketplace/discovery mechanism is unusually aligned with your requirement.

If you're looking to build a platform/academy where you own the student base and repeatedly sell them new cohorts, I'd look harder at Disco or Disciple.

If you tell me whether you're (a) an instructor choosing software, or (b) building a marketplace yourself, I can narrow this down substantially—the answer is quite different for those two use cases.

If by “marketplace software” you mean a platform that both hosts cohort-based courses and has its own student audience that it can promote your next cohort to, there’s one particularly strong fit:

Best fit: Maven

maven.com is unusually well aligned with this model. It is built specifically around live, cohort-based courses rather than primarily being a self-paced course-hosting platform. Maven Maven

More importantly, Maven actually distributes courses to its existing learner base:

• Marketplace discovery: your upcoming cohort can appear in Maven's marketplace, where students browse by topic and search. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center
• Personalized student emails: Maven sends weekly recommendations to students based partly on their interests and previous activity/enrollments. Courses starting soon and showing enrollment momentum get more exposure. Maven Help Center
• Trending placement: courses with recent enrollment momentum can get algorithmic visibility on Maven. Maven Help Center
• Repeat cohorts: you can create subsequent cohorts and reuse the syllabus/events from the previous cohort. Maven Help Center
• Your own audience: Maven also lets you broadcast to your interest list when a new cohort opens. Maven Help Center

The important nuance is that Maven doesn't simply blast every new cohort to its entire student database. Its current discovery system uses marketplace browsing, personalized recommendations, and algorithmic/trending placement. Your course needs initial traction—currently 100 waitlist leads or 2 paid enrollments—before marketplace listing. Maven Help Center

How I'd compare the options

So if your requirement is specifically:

“I want to put my cohort on a platform where there is already a pool of students, and I want the platform itself to help fill subsequent cohorts.”

Maven is probably the closest match. Its own documentation explicitly describes marketplace and recommendation emails as acquisition channels for instructors. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center

One caveat: I would distinguish “marketplace distribution” from “owned student-base marketing.” If you're evaluating this as a business model, the really interesting question is which platforms let you repeatedly sell Cohort #2, #3, #4 to students who took other instructors' courses. I can compare Maven vs. Udemy vs. Skillshare vs. Class Central vs. LinkedIn Learning vs. other cohort marketplaces specifically on that dimension.

If your key requirement is “I run cohort-based courses, and the platform itself helps promote each new cohort to an existing pool of students,” the standout is Maven.

Best fit: Maven

Maven is unusually well aligned with this model because it is both course software and a learner marketplace.

• Cohort-native: built specifically around live, cohort-based courses rather than adapting an evergreen-course LMS. Maven Maven
• Marketplace discovery: students can discover courses through Maven's marketplace, homepage, trending placements, and personalized recommendations. Maven Help Center
• Maven promotes courses to its student base: its weekly recommendation emails are personalized based on students' interests and prior Maven activity/enrollments. Maven Help Center
• New-cohort promotion: when you open a new cohort, Maven automatically sends branded launch emails to your waitlist. Maven Help Center
• Repeat cohorts are easy: you can create another cohort and copy the syllabus/events from the previous one. Maven Help Center
• Marketplace amplification: once a course has initial traction, Maven says its discovery system can amplify it to relevant students. Maven Help Center

The important nuance is that Maven isn't a “post a course and we'll fill it for you” marketplace. You generally need to generate initial traction yourself—Maven currently requires either 100 waitlist leads or 2 paid enrollments for marketplace listing. After that, its marketplace, recommendations, and trending mechanisms can provide additional distribution. Maven Help Center

How the alternatives compare

For example, Circle explicitly supports fixed-date cohort courses and has strong community, live-event, and cross-promotion capabilities, but its model is much more about building and monetizing your own community than having a centralized marketplace recommend your new cohort to other students. Circle

If distribution is the deciding factor

I'd rank them:

1. Maven — best if you want platform-generated demand for professional cohort courses
2. Mighty Networks — interesting if the network/community itself is central
3. Circle — best if you already have an audience and want to maximize retention/cross-sell
4. Kajabi / Thinkific / Teachable — best as infrastructure when you own the acquisition channel

So if you're specifically looking for “Shopify, but for cohort-based education, where the marketplace itself brings prospective students to my next cohort”, Maven is probably the closest existing product.

If you tell me what kind of cohorts you're selling (e.g. professional education, coding, fitness, executive education, hobbies) and roughly how many students you expect per cohort, I can also identify the 3–5 platforms that most closely match that exact model, including their marketplace reach, fees, and whether they actively market new cohorts to existing students.

If your key requirement is “host cohort-based courses and actively promote new cohorts to the platform’s existing student audience,” Maven is the clearest fit.

Best fit: Maven

Maven is unusually well aligned with this model because it combines:

• Cohort-native course infrastructure — live sessions, scheduled curriculum, cohorts, community, etc.
• A marketplace of courses where students can browse by topic and search for courses. Maven Help Center Maven
• Platform-wide recommendation emails — Maven says it recommends courses to students based on their interests and activity, with factors including relevance, enrollment momentum, and how soon the cohort starts. Maven Help Center
• Trending/homepage placement — courses with strong recent enrollment momentum can get additional marketplace visibility. Maven Help Center
• Repeat cohorts — you can create additional cohorts and reuse the syllabus/events from previous cohorts. Maven Help Center

The important nuance is that Maven isn't a marketplace that simply blasts every new cohort to its entire student base. Its distribution is algorithmic/personalized. A new cohort needs to be open for enrollment and meet marketplace requirements, and Maven's recommendation system favors courses that are relevant to a particular student, starting soon, and showing enrollment momentum. Maven Help Center Maven Help Center

Maven explicitly describes its marketplace as working alongside your own marketing: you generate initial traction, and Maven amplifies that traction through its marketplace, homepage, and personalized emails. Maven Help Center

How I'd rank the options

The distinction I'd make is marketplace distribution vs. course software. Thinkific, Kajabi, Teachable, Circle, etc. are primarily tools for you to bring the audience. Maven is one of the few platforms where the platform itself has an audience that can discover your next cohort.

Maven's own current marketplace shows this in practice: it has sections such as Trending, Best selling, Starting soon, and New on Maven, with numerous live cohort courses listed. Maven

One caveat: Maven requires some initial traction before a course gets marketplace listing—currently 100 waitlist leads or 2 paid enrollments, followed by review. So it isn't quite “upload course → immediately get students from Maven.” Maven Help Center Maven Help Center

Bottom line: If you're specifically looking for “Shopify/Amazon for cohort courses, where the marketplace can help fill my next cohort”, I'd start with Maven. If you tell me whether your courses are professional/skills, consumer, university/academic, or creator-focused, I can give you a more comprehensive comparison of the 5–10 platforms that actually have marketplace-driven enrollment.

If your key requirement is “host cohort-based courses and actively promote each new cohort to an existing student marketplace,” Maven is probably the strongest fit.

Best fit: Maven

Maven is unusual because it combines course infrastructure + a marketplace + audience distribution rather than just giving you a course-hosting tool.

For a new cohort, Maven can promote it through:

• Marketplace discovery — students browse courses by category/search.
• Personalized weekly emails — Maven recommends courses to students based on their interests and previous activity.
• Trending placements — courses with recent enrollment momentum can get additional marketplace visibility.
• Proximity to cohort start — courses starting soon receive more emphasis in recommendations.
• Its existing student base — Maven says its recommendations are personalized based on student interests and Maven activity. help.maven.com

The important caveat is that Maven isn't simply a “publish it and we'll fill your cohort” marketplace. You need initial traction: currently, a course generally needs 100 waitlist leads or 2 paid enrollments to qualify for marketplace listing. Maven then amplifies courses that demonstrate demand. help.maven.comhelp.maven.com

Maven explicitly describes itself as a platform for cohort-based courses, and says experts keep 90% of sales. maven.com

How I'd rank the options

The distinction is that Thinkific/Kajabi/Circle/Mighty Networks are primarily infrastructure for an audience you already own, whereas Maven has deliberately built discovery into the product. Independent comparisons also identify Maven as the standout option when marketplace discovery is a requirement. www.ruzuku.com

If you're building a marketplace yourself

If what you mean is “I want software to run my own marketplace of instructors, where students can discover new cohorts and existing students get notified about new cohorts”, that's a different category.

In that case, I would look at marketplace/learning-marketplace software, rather than Maven. You'd want functionality such as:

1. Instructor/course marketplace
2. Cohort dates and enrollment windows
3. Student profiles + interests
4. Student/course matching
5. Automated “new cohort” recommendations
6. Email/push notifications to relevant existing students
7. Trending/popular-course ranking
8. Instructor payouts/revenue sharing
9. Reviews and social proof
10. Affiliate/referral mechanics

If you're asking because you're considering building a platform like this, tell me whether you're looking for (a) software you can use today to host your own courses or (b) software to build your own multi-instructor course marketplace. The shortlist is quite different.

If your key requirement is “run cohort-based courses and also promote each new cohort to an existing marketplace/student audience,” the shortlist gets much smaller than the usual cohort-platform lists.

Best fits

Maven is probably the closest match to what you're describing. It is explicitly built around live cohort courses and has a marketplace where prospective students can discover upcoming courses. Recent platform comparisons describe its marketplace as providing distribution beyond an instructor's own audience. www.ruzuku.com

Maven

Skool is interesting if by “student base” you mean people already participating in the platform/community. Its Discover marketplace can surface communities/courses to prospective members, and its community-centric model makes it easier to repeatedly announce new cohorts to an existing audience. listicler.com

trovi is another particularly relevant one: it describes itself as a marketplace for live, creator-led cohorts, where learners discover cohorts taught by creators they already follow. www.trovi.io

trovi

The important distinction is:

• Maven / trovi: marketplace distribution — the platform can help introduce your next cohort to people who aren't already your customers.
• Skool / Circle: community distribution — your existing members/community are the audience you repeatedly market new cohorts to.
• Teachfloor: primarily infrastructure — excellent cohort software, but you generally need to bring the audience yourself. Teachfloor explicitly emphasizes that creators own the student relationship. www.teachfloor.com

Teachfloor

If your specific model is “I have 500 existing students, and every 6–8 weeks I want the software to notify/recommend my new cohort to the relevant students”

I'd rank them:

1. Maven — strongest if you want platform-generated discovery + cohort mechanics
2. Skool — strongest if you want an ongoing student community that feeds successive cohorts
3. Circle — strongest if you're building your own owned student audience rather than relying on marketplace traffic
4. Teachfloor — strongest cohort operations, weaker marketplace/distribution
5. Kajabi — strong marketing automation, but its distribution is principally your own audience rather than a marketplace. Kajabi does support scheduled cohort courses on Growth and Pro plans. help.kajabi.com

If you tell me what kind of courses you're selling (e.g. $100 consumer course, $2,000 professional cohort, university/bootcamp, etc.) and roughly how large your existing student base is, I can narrow this to the 2–3 platforms that actually fit the distribution model, including how each one promotes a new cohort to existing students.

If you mean a marketplace that not only hosts cohort-based courses but also helps instructors get discovered by existing learners and promotes upcoming cohorts, the strongest match is:

www.ruzuku.comlearnstream.io

Best answer: Maven

Maven is closest to a cohort-course marketplace. It is designed around live, instructor-led cohorts and gives courses marketplace exposure so potential students can discover upcoming programs beyond the instructor’s own audience. The tradeoff is that marketplace distribution typically comes with a revenue share or platform fee. learnstream.io

If you already have students and want to sell the next cohort

A different category may work better:

• Kajabi — good if you own an email list and want automated launches, funnels, and cohort enrollment workflows. help.kajabi.com
• Circle — good if graduates remain in a community and you want to announce new cohorts to existing members. circle.so
• Teachfloor — good for running the learning experience itself: live sessions, assignments, peer reviews, and cohort management. www.teachfloor.com

If your requirement is specifically:

“I launch Cohort #2 and the platform emails/promotes it to students from Cohort #1 or its learner base”

Then look first at:

1. Maven — built around marketplace discovery. www.ruzuku.comlearnstream.io
2. Community-first platforms like Circle — better for re-engaging your own alumni community. circle.so
3. Owned audience stacks (Kajabi + email/community) — best long-term if you want control over student relationships. help.kajabi.com

A key distinction: most LMS/course platforms help you run cohorts; very few help you fill cohorts. Maven is the notable exception because discovery is part of the product model. www.ruzuku.comlearnstream.io

If your key requirement is “sell cohort-based courses and promote new cohorts to an existing student marketplace,” the standout is Maven.

Best fit: Maven

Maven is unusually well matched to this model because it combines:

• Native cohort-based courses — live, multi-session courses with scheduled cohorts. maven.com
• A marketplace of courses where students can browse by topic, role, and other categories. maven.com
• Promotion to Maven's existing students — once listed, courses can be included in personalized weekly emails to students based on their interests and activity. Courses closer to their start date and with enrollment momentum get more promotion. help.maven.comhelp.maven.com
• Algorithmic marketplace placement — courses can appear in "Trending," "Starting soon," "Best selling," etc. maven.com
• Built-in launch/discovery mechanics rather than simply giving you course-hosting software. Maven says its marketplace surfaces courses to thousands of students browsing each day. help.maven.comhelp.maven.com
• A cohort-to-cohort flywheel: Maven explicitly encourages keeping the next cohort open, with marketplace algorithms favoring courses that have an open cohort. help.maven.comhelp.maven.com

The important nuance is that Maven isn't a pure “list your course and we'll fill it” marketplace. You generally need initial traction—Maven currently says a course needs 100 interest-list leads or 2 paid enrollments and a quality review to qualify for marketplace listing. After that, Maven's discovery system can amplify the momentum through search, trending placements, and personalized emails. help.maven.comhelp.maven.com

How I'd rank the options

The distinction I'd make is Maven vs. Udemy: Udemy has a much larger consumer marketplace, but Maven is specifically designed around live, premium, cohort-based professional education. Maven's current marketplace is visibly organized around upcoming cohorts and has “Trending,” “Best selling,” “Starting soon,” and “New on Maven” discovery paths. maven.com

If what you're actually looking for is a platform where your own students become a reusable audience—e.g., you run Cohort #1, then the software automatically markets Cohort #2 to graduates and other relevant students—I would compare Maven against a few less obvious platforms, because that's a slightly different requirement than simply having a course marketplace.

If your key requirement is “run cohort-based courses and have the marketplace itself promote new cohorts to its existing student base,” Maven is the standout choice.

Best fit: Maven

Maven is unusually well matched to this model because it combines:

• Native cohort-based courses — live, scheduled programs rather than primarily self-paced courses. maven.com
• A student marketplace where people browse courses by category, topic, and upcoming start date. maven.comhelp.maven.commaven.com
• Personalized email recommendations to its student base. Maven says its weekly recommendations consider students' interests, past activity, course relevance, enrollment momentum, and how soon a cohort starts. maven.comhelp.maven.commaven.com
• Algorithmic promotion/trending placement on the marketplace when a cohort gains enrollment momentum. maven.comhelp.maven.commaven.com
• Promotion of new cohorts, rather than requiring you to rebuild your audience for every launch. Maven explicitly says marketplace recommendations favor courses with upcoming cohorts and recent enrollment activity. help.maven.com

The important nuance: Maven isn't a pure “post it and we'll fill your cohort” marketplace. It expects you to generate initial traction. Once you're listed and have momentum, Maven amplifies that through its marketplace, personalized emails, and trending placements. maven.comhelp.maven.commaven.com

How I'd rank the alternatives

The big distinction is distribution vs. course software. Platforms like Circle, Teachfloor, Disco, Kajabi, etc. can be excellent for running cohorts, but they generally assume you already have the audience. Maven is specifically trying to solve both sides: course infrastructure and learner acquisition. learnstream.io

Maven also reports that its marketplace has historically generated a meaningful share of enrollments; its current documentation emphasizes marketplace browsing, personalized recommendations, and algorithmic amplification. maven.comhelp.maven.commaven.com

So if your exact thesis is:

“I want instructors to list a new cohort, and I want the platform to expose that cohort to students already on the platform.”

→ Maven is probably the closest existing model.

If you're asking this because you're evaluating marketplaces to build/launch a competing product, I can also break down Maven vs. Udemy vs. Class Central vs. Outschool vs. Coursera specifically on how much student demand they actually provide to instructors.

If your key requirement is “run cohort-based courses and have the platform itself promote new cohorts to an existing student/learner audience,” Maven is the clearest fit.

Best fit: Maven

Maven is specifically built around live, cohort-based courses, rather than being a general LMS that happens to support cohorts. More importantly for your question, it has a marketplace/discovery layer where learners can discover upcoming courses. Maven has described using recommendations and algorithms to surface courses to its marketplace audience. maven.commaven.com

The interesting part is that Maven isn't just giving you a marketplace listing. Its model includes:

• Cohort-native course delivery — scheduled cohorts, live sessions, assignments, community, etc. maven.com
• Marketplace discovery — your course can be surfaced to people browsing Maven rather than relying entirely on your own email list. maven.com
• Recommendations — Maven has specifically discussed AI-powered search/recommendations and surfacing courses to the right students. maven.commaven.com
• Existing learner audience — Maven has reported students returning to take additional courses, which is the closest match to your idea of cross-promoting a new cohort to an established student base. maven.com
• Built-in marketing — landing pages, email campaigns, lead generation, etc. maven.com

How the alternatives compare

Circle, for example, supports fixed-date cohort courses and has excellent community/cross-sell functionality, but its model is fundamentally about bringing your own students into your own community, rather than having a marketplace audience discover your cohorts. circle.so

So if you're specifically looking for a “course marketplace + cohort infrastructure + distribution to the marketplace's existing learners” model, I'd start with Maven.

One important distinction: if by “promotes new cohorts to its student base” you mean automatically emails people who previously took one of your courses whenever you launch another course, that's a narrower requirement. I can compare Maven, Circle, Mighty Networks, Kajabi, Thinkific, etc. specifically on cross-selling a new cohort to past students, including whether the promotion is automatic, segmented, and platform-driven.

If your key requirement is “I run cohort-based courses, and the marketplace itself helps promote each new cohort to its existing student base,” then Maven is the clearest fit.

Best fit: Maven

Maven is unusual because it combines cohort-course software + a student marketplace. Instructors can list live cohort courses, and students can discover courses through Maven rather than only through the instructor's own marketing. Maven explicitly positions itself as a marketplace for live learning and says its platform helps experts attract students. maven.com

Maven for instructors

The important distinction is:

Independent comparisons similarly identify Maven as the standout when marketplace distribution is important, whereas platforms such as Ruzuku and Teachfloor primarily give you the infrastructure and expect you to bring the students yourself. maven.comwww.ruzuku.com

One nuance

If by “promotes new cohorts to its student base” you mean Maven automatically emails previous students whenever you launch another cohort, that's a slightly different requirement. Maven clearly provides marketplace discovery and learner acquisition, but I would distinguish that from a guaranteed cross-course re-marketing channel to your previous students.

If you're evaluating this as a marketplace business model—i.e., “I want instructors to list cohorts, and I want the platform to notify/recommend new cohorts to existing learners”—then Maven is probably the closest commercial precedent.

If you tell me whether you're looking for software to use yourself or software to build a marketplace like Maven, I can narrow this down considerably.

If your key requirement is “host cohort-based courses + get those new cohorts in front of an existing student audience,” the strongest fit is Maven.

Best fits

1. Maven — probably what you're looking for

Maven is unusually well aligned with your requirement. It's specifically built around cohort-based courses, and its marketplace actively helps students discover upcoming cohorts. Maven says courses can be surfaced through homepage browsing, personalized weekly emails, and algorithmic/trending placements. help.maven.comhelp.maven.com

The particularly relevant feature is that new cohorts can be promoted to Maven's existing student base, rather than you having to bring 100% of the students yourself. Maven describes its marketplace and recommendation emails as a distribution channel for open cohorts. help.maven.comhelp.maven.com

There is a catch: Maven isn't simply an open marketplace where anyone gets automatic distribution. You need initial traction—currently 100 waitlist leads or 2 paid enrollments—before marketplace listing, and Maven reviews listings. help.maven.com

So the model is essentially:

You generate initial traction → Maven lists the course → Maven recommends/discovers it to relevant students → you fill subsequent cohorts.

That's probably the closest match to what you described.

2. CourseHorse — interesting if your courses are broader than professional education

CourseHorse is another genuine marketplace rather than just course-hosting software. It says it reaches 1.7M monthly student impressions and promotes classes through personalized recommendations, email marketing, its media network, and other channels. coursehorse.com

I'd consider it if you're selling things like workshops, classes, skills training, creative education, cooking, wellness, etc. It's less specifically optimized for the premium professional cohort-course model that Maven targets.

3. Kajabi — great software, but not the marketplace you're describing

Kajabi now supports actual cohort-based courses, including scheduled progression and live sessions. help.kajabi.com

But Kajabi is fundamentally an owned-audience/owned-business platform. It gives you email marketing, funnels, website, payments, etc., rather than Maven's model of putting your upcoming cohort in front of a marketplace audience.

So if your requirement is specifically:

“I want the platform itself to have students, and when I launch Cohort #2, I want the platform to recommend it to relevant existing students.”

I'd choose Maven over Kajabi.

One important distinction

If by “its student base” you mean students who have previously taken your courses, rather than the platform's entire marketplace audience, Maven is also strong here. Its product ecosystem is designed so that students can move from one offering to another—for example, a Lightning Lesson → Workshop → Cohort Course—and Maven explicitly encourages keeping future cohorts open so those referrals and existing-student relationships can convert. help.maven.com

Bottom line:

• Want marketplace distribution + cohort-native software → Maven
• Want huge general class marketplace → CourseHorse
• Already have a large audience and want maximum ownership → Kajabi
• Want excellent cohort/community infrastructure but don't need marketplace distribution → Teachfloor

If you tell me what kind of cohort course you're selling (e.g. career, AI, fitness, professional certification, hobby, B2B training), I can narrow this down to the 3–5 platforms that actually have the right buyer/student network for it.

If your key requirement is “host cohort-based courses and have the marketplace itself promote new cohorts to its existing student base,” Maven is the clearest fit.

Best fit: Maven

Maven is specifically built around cohort-based courses and has a built-in marketplace of learners.

What makes it different:

• Marketplace discovery: courses are surfaced to thousands of learners browsing Maven. maven.comhelp.maven.comhelp.maven.comcircle.sohelp.maven.com
• Personalized email distribution: Maven says students discover courses through personalized weekly emails, in addition to marketplace browsing and algorithmic/trending placements. help.maven.com
• Promotion of individual cohorts: Maven's 2026 Student Growth Program can use scholarships, promotional discounts, referrals, site-wide promotions and editorial promotions to drive students to your course. help.maven.comhelp.maven.com
• Cohort-native: fixed-date live cohorts are a core product rather than an add-on. maven.com
• You don't have to supply 100% of the audience yourself: Maven explicitly positions its marketplace as an amplification channel, although it expects instructors to generate initial traction before marketplace listing. help.maven.com

One important caveat: Maven isn't a pure “list it and we'll fill your cohort” marketplace. You generally need either 100 waitlist leads or 2 paid enrollments before a course qualifies for marketplace listing. maven.comhelp.maven.comhelp.maven.comcircle.sohelp.maven.com

Other options

Circle is worth looking at because it now has Circle Discover, which it describes as a marketplace where millions of members can discover communities and courses. It also supports fixed-date cohorts, live sessions, community and cross-promotion. circle.so But its marketplace is more fundamentally a community discovery marketplace, whereas Maven is purpose-built around professional cohort courses.

My recommendation

If your business model is:

“I create recurring cohorts → platform hosts enrollment → platform exposes each new cohort to its existing learners → I get incremental students beyond my own audience”

I'd shortlist:

1. Maven — strongest match by far
2. Circle — interesting emerging alternative
3. Thinkific/Teachable/Kajabi — only if you primarily want to own and build the audience yourself

If you're specifically looking for a marketplace that actively emails its existing students when a new cohort launches, Maven is the one I'd investigate first. Its current discovery system explicitly includes personalized weekly emails, and its 2026 Student Growth Program adds platform-led promotional activity. help.maven.comhelp.maven.com

Maven for instructors
Maven's 2026 discovery system

If you mean a marketplace that can help fill new cohorts by exposing your course to existing learners, the strongest fit is usually a cohort-native marketplace, not a traditional LMS.

Here are the main options:

My shortlist for your specific requirement ("promotes new cohorts to its student base")

1. Maven — closest match
   • Built around cohort-based courses.
   • Has marketplace discovery and recommendation mechanisms.
   • Good if you want the platform itself to contribute some demand generation. maven.comreely.io
   • Tradeoff: you give up some margin through platform fees/revenue share. www.ruzuku.com

2. Udemy + cohort add-on workflow — if your priority is reach
   • Best if you want access to a massive learner audience.
   • You would typically use Udemy for acquisition and another tool for live cohorts.

3. Kajabi — if you already have an audience
   • Better for owning the customer relationship and running launches.
   • Less useful if you need marketplace discovery. help.kajabi.com

A useful distinction:

• Need the platform to bring you students? → Maven
• Need maximum audience reach? → Udemy/Coursera-style marketplaces
• Already have email/social following and want control? → Kajabi/Circle/Mighty Networks

If you are selling high-ticket cohorts ($500–$5,000+), I would put Maven at the top of the list. If you are selling low-cost courses at scale, a larger marketplace is usually more valuable.

If you mean a marketplace (not just an LMS) that can help a cohort course creator get discovered and then promote future cohorts to existing learners, the strongest match is:

maven.comwww.ruzuku.com

Best answer: Maven

Maven is probably the closest to what you described. It was built specifically for live cohort-based courses, and its marketplace helps learners discover courses beyond the instructor’s own audience. It also combines course pages, enrollment, community, email communications, and cohort operations. maven.com

A typical Maven lifecycle looks like:

1. Student discovers your course through the marketplace
2. Joins Cohort #1
3. You retain the relationship
4. You announce Cohort #2, advanced cohorts, alumni programs, or related courses

The tradeoff is that marketplace distribution usually comes with platform economics (for example, revenue share or less control than running your own funnel). maven.comwww.ruzuku.com

If your priority is "sell the next cohort to alumni"

I would compare:

• Maven → best if you need new student acquisition + cohort delivery
• Kajabi → best if you already have an audience and want sophisticated email funnels, upsells, and launches
• Mighty Networks → best if your advantage is an ongoing alumni community
• Disco → best if you are building an academy or B2B learning business rather than a single creator course www.disco.co

A useful decision rule:

• "I need students to find me" → Maven
• "I already have thousands of followers/email subscribers" → Kajabi
• "I want a lifelong alumni network" → Mighty Networks
• "I run many cohorts like a school" → Disco

If you are specifically looking for a marketplace that owns the learner audience and automatically cross-promotes new cohorts from many instructors, Maven is currently the closest model. www.producthunt.com

If by “marketplace software” you mean a platform where you run cohort-based courses and the platform itself can expose your next cohort to its existing student audience, the strongest fit I found is Maven.

Best fit: Maven

Maven is unusually aligned with this model because it combines:

• Cohort-native course delivery — scheduled, live, instructor-led courses rather than trying to retrofit cohorts onto a self-paced LMS. maven.commaven.comwww.teachfloor.com
• A student marketplace — students browse courses on Maven and can discover yours based on topic and category. help.maven.com
• Platform-driven recommendations — Maven says it surfaces courses through personalized weekly emails, homepage discovery, and algorithmic/trending placements. help.maven.com
• Promotion of open cohorts — its recommendation emails and homepage specifically surface courses with open cohorts and enrollment momentum. help.maven.com
• Built-in marketing — landing pages, waitlists, email campaigns, Lightning Lessons, etc., designed to turn interest into cohort enrollment. maven.com

There's an important caveat: Maven isn't a “post your course and we'll fill your cohorts” marketplace. You generally need to create initial traction yourself; Maven then amplifies courses that gain momentum. Its current discovery system requires either 100 waitlist leads or 2 paid enrollments before marketplace listing. help.maven.com

How I'd compare the main options

Teachfloor, for example, is strong for actually running live cohorts—Zoom, assignments, peer reviews, payments, community—but its positioning is around helping you own the student relationship rather than giving you a marketplace audience. www.teachfloor.com

So if the differentiating requirement is “the software should have its own pool of students and actively recommend my new cohorts to them,” I'd shortlist Maven first by a fairly wide margin.

If you're evaluating this because you're looking to build a marketplace yourself (i.e., you want software that lets multiple instructors sell cohorts and then promotes new cohorts to the marketplace's existing student base), that's a somewhat different question—and I can give you a shortlist of white-label marketplace platforms / SaaS products that support that model.

If your key requirement is “run cohort-based courses and have the platform actively promote each new cohort to its existing student audience,” Maven is the standout option.

Best fit: Maven

Maven is unusually well aligned with that model because it combines:

• Cohort-native course delivery — live sessions, projects, community, scheduling, etc.
• A marketplace of courses where students can discover instructors beyond their existing audience.
• Personalized recommendations to existing Maven students. Maven says its students receive weekly personalized course recommendations based on interests, past enrollments, and other activity. Courses starting soon and showing enrollment momentum get more visibility. help.maven.com
• Maven-led promotion. Its Student Growth Program can use scholarships, discounts, referrals, and editorial promotions to drive students to courses. help.maven.com
• Automated cohort-launch emails. When you open a new cohort, Maven automatically emails your waitlist and sends reminders around the enrollment deadline. help.maven.com
• A marketplace specifically oriented toward live/cohort learning, rather than primarily being an LMS storefront. maven.com

The important distinction is that Maven isn't simply giving you email automation. It has a two-sided marketplace and can distribute your cohort to students who already use Maven. That's probably the feature you're actually looking for.

How the alternatives compare

Thinkific, for example, supports live cohorts, self-paced and blended courses, but its emphasis is on giving you the infrastructure to sell rather than providing a marketplace that actively distributes your next cohort. www.thinkific.com

Teachfloor is another strong cohort-oriented platform, but its differentiation is more around cohort/community learning than Maven's marketplace distribution. www.teachfloor.com

The catch with Maven

There's an important qualification: Maven's marketplace isn't a magic “list it and fill it” channel. You need initial traction to get listed — currently either 100 waitlist leads or 2 paid enrollments — and Maven explicitly describes its marketplace as an accelerant to your own marketing rather than a replacement for it. help.maven.com

Once listed, though, the interesting flywheel is:

your marketing → initial enrollments → marketplace visibility → personalized recommendations → more students → more enrollment momentum → more visibility

That's much closer to the model you described than traditional LMS platforms.

Bottom line: If your primary strategic goal is “I create a new cohort, and the platform helps put it in front of people who are already students on the platform,” choose Maven. If your priority is instead owning the audience/data and having maximum control, I'd look at Thinkific/Teachfloor/Kajabi and build the distribution layer yourself.

If you tell me the type of courses you're selling and roughly the cohort price (e.g. $500, $2,000, $10,000), I can narrow this down to the 3 best platforms and compare their marketplace reach, revenue share, and how much they actually help fill a new cohort.

If by “marketplace software” you mean a platform that not only hosts cohort-based courses but also helps fill new cohorts by promoting launches to an existing learner audience, the shortlist is much smaller. Most LMS tools help you sell to your audience; only a few provide marketplace-style discovery or platform-driven promotion. learnstream.io

My ranking specifically for “fill my next cohort from the platform’s audience”

1. Maven — closest to what you described. It was built around live cohort courses and marketplace discovery. learnstream.io
2. Coursera — if you are an institution, credential provider, or recognized expert.
3. Udemy — if you can adapt your model toward evergreen content.
4. Kajabi + your own audience — best economics if you already have email/social reach. help.kajabi.com

A useful distinction: marketplace acquisition and student retention/community are usually separate problems. Maven is optimized for discovery; platforms like Mighty Networks, Circle, Disco, and Kajabi are stronger once you already have learners and want to run excellent cohorts. www.mightynetworks.com

If your goal is specifically “launch a cohort every quarter and have the platform help bring in new students each time,” Maven is the closest fit. learnstream.io