How Much Do Online Course Creators Actually Make?

Udemy's FY2025 annual report says its instructors collectively earned $168 million across more than 90,000 instructors — an implied average near $1,867 — with just 11 clearing $1 million. Thinkific separately reported $460.0 million in gross customer sales across 35,000+ customers in 2025, a gross-sales figure rather than take-home pay.

The two numbers are not equivalent: Udemy reports earnings actually paid to instructors after its revenue share, while Thinkific reports gross transaction volume processed for its customers before platform fees, payment fees and taxes. Neither company discloses a median, so both averages are pulled upward by a small number of large sellers.

What does Udemy itself report that instructors earn?

Udemy's Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 states that "In 2025, instructors collectively earned $168 million" across a platform of "more than 90,000 instructors," which works out to an average of roughly $1,867 per instructor for the year (Udemy Inc., FY2025 Form 10-K, filed with the SEC).

Total instructor earnings on Udemy fell year over year: Udemy's Form 10-K for fiscal year 2024 reported that "instructors earned $190.6 million" with "Udemy's top 13 instructors each earned more than $1 million" and "nearly 1,700 instructors earned more than the average annual income in their home country" (Udemy Inc., FY2024 Form 10-K), so the $168 million reported for 2025 represents a decline of about 12% in the total pool paid to instructors even as the instructor base grew from more than 80,000 to more than 90,000.

Udemy has also cut the subscription revenue-share pool paid to instructors from 25% to 20% effective January 2024, to 17.5% in January 2025 and to 15% in January 2026 (Udemy Instructor Team, subscription terms update). That declining pool applies only to Udemy Business subscription sales and not to an instructor's own coupon or referral sales, which Udemy's help center says still pay the instructor 97% of revenue.

A widely quoted figure of $3,306 in average annual Udemy instructor income comes from a secondary study of roughly 200,000 courses built on Udemy's FY2021 disclosures and February–April 2023 enrollment data, not from Udemy itself (sellcoursesonline Udemy earnings study). Treat it as a dated third-party estimate; Udemy's own filings, above, are the primary record. This marketplace dynamic is discussed further in how much content creators make on average.

What do creators earn on dedicated course platforms?

Gross sales per seller run far higher on a self-serve platform than on an open marketplace. Thinkific Labs (TSX: THNC) reported $460.0 million in gross merchandise volume for fiscal year 2025 across a base it describes as more than 35,000 customers — roughly $13,000 in gross annual sales per customer, before platform fees, payment fees and taxes.

Thinkific's audited full-year 2025 results, filed as a Canadian public company (TSX: THNC), report GMV of $460.0 million for the year, total company revenue of $73.2 million, and average revenue per paying customer of $175 per month in the fourth quarter (Thinkific Labs Inc., Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results, March 5, 2026). Thinkific defines GMV as "the total dollar value of all transactions of course sales, membership subscriptions, or other products or services by our customers, facilitated through our platform during the period, net of refunds," so it measures what learners paid creators, not what creators kept.

That $460.0 million spread across "more than 35,000 customers" implies average gross sales near $13,000 per Thinkific customer for 2025. It is a directional benchmark, not a like-for-like comparison with Udemy's $1,867 implied instructor average: Thinkific's customer base explicitly includes companies such as GoDaddy, Nasdaq and Datadog alongside solo creators, its GMV is gross rather than net, and Thinkific publishes no median or percentile breakdown of what individual customers sell.

Platform marketing data, not audited earnings evidence. The stage bands below come from Ruzuku, a smaller course platform, and describe its own published framework for course businesses rather than a measured sample of creator incomes. Use them as a planning heuristic, not as market-wide evidence:

Ruzuku associates $30,000–$100,000 in annual course earnings with a multi-course catalog and an engaged email audience of 1,500–5,000 subscribers. For platforms designed around direct audience relationships, see best creator monetization platforms.

Why is course-creator income concentrated at the top?

Course income concentrates at the top because production is front-loaded and sales depend on an audience the creator already has. Udemy's FY2025 Form 10-K reports that nearly 1,600 of its more than 90,000 instructors — about 1.8% — earned more than the average annual income in their home country in 2025, while 11 instructors each cleared $1 million. The same top-heavy pattern shows up in blogger income benchmarks, where salary averages differ sharply from how many bloggers earn anything.

Spread across the more than 290,000 courses published on Udemy, the $168 million instructors earned in 2025 works out to about $578 per published course. The pool is also shrinking per head: instructor earnings fell from $190.6 million in 2024 to $168 million in 2025 while the instructor base grew from more than 80,000 to more than 90,000, cutting the implied average from about $2,383 to about $1,867 (Udemy Inc., FY2024 Form 10-K and FY2025 Form 10-K).

The mechanics behind that concentration are ordinary. Scripting, recording and packaging a multi-lesson course all happen before the first sale, and a student has to trust a creator enough to prepay for an outcome they have not yet experienced — which is far easier when the creator already has an email list and a track record. Ruzuku's own framework starts a course business at 8–15 beta students before it earns anything.

What does it take to build a course that earns real money?

Full-time course income generally takes three things: a topic validated with a small paying beta cohort, an engaged email audience — Ruzuku puts the $30,000–$100,000 stage at 1,500–5,000 subscribers — and more than one course to sell to the students you already have. Working backward from Ruzuku's published stages:

1. A validated topic: Creators commonly test the idea with a small beta cohort before producing the complete course.
2. An engaged audience: Ruzuku associates its $30,000–$100,000 stage with approximately 1,500–5,000 engaged email subscribers.
3. More than one course: A multi-course catalog gives existing students another relevant product to buy and reduces dependence on one launch.

These assets usually take time to develop. The course model often asks creators to build the curriculum, audience and sales system before meaningful revenue arrives.

Is there a lower-effort way to earn from an audience?

Yes. A creator without the audience size or production time a full course demands can sell one-time interactions instead — a personalized shoutout, an answered question, a defined service or a tip — priced individually, with no curriculum to build, no launch to run and no minimum follower count to clear first.

This is not a replacement for a course business when a full curriculum is the goal; it is a way to earn from an existing audience while building a course, or instead of creating one.

One example of this model: FanBell charges no monthly fee and has no follower minimum, applying only a 12% platform fee when a fan actually pays (FanBell pricing) — including payments for a paid interaction — with payouts processed through Stripe to the creator's bank account (how FanBell works).

Frequently asked questions

What is the average income for an online course creator?

On Udemy, the implied average is about $1,867 a year: the company's FY2025 Form 10-K reports $168 million earned collectively by more than 90,000 instructors in 2025. On Thinkific, average gross sales per customer were near $13,000 in 2025, from $460.0 million of GMV across more than 35,000 customers.

How many students do you need to make money from a course?

There is no universal number because revenue depends on price, fees and sales volume. Ruzuku associates early traction of $5,000–$30,000 per year with about 25–40 students per launch and roughly two launches annually. Its $30,000–$100,000 stage is associated with a multi-course catalog and 1,500–5,000 engaged email subscribers (Ruzuku).

Why do most course creators earn so little?

Course creation combines front-loaded production with audience-dependent sales, so earnings concentrate among creators who already have reach. Udemy's FY2025 Form 10-K reports that nearly 1,600 of its more than 90,000 instructors earned more than the average annual income in their home country in 2025, and that 11 instructors each earned more than $1 million.

Can I earn from my expertise without building a full course?

Yes. One-time paid questions, shoutouts, services and tips let a fan purchase a specific interaction without requiring a complete course. FanBell is free to start with no follower minimum or monthly fee, and its 12% platform fee applies only when a fan pays.

Get started

You don't need a finished course or a five-figure email list to start earning from the people who already follow you. Create your free FanBell page and turn on paid questions, shoutouts, services, tips, or project support — the first one can be paid the day you share your link.