If you’re like most course creators we work with, you’re paying for more software than you’re actually using. Every month there’s another subscription on your credit card, and at least a few of those tools haven’t been opened in weeks.
It’s not just the cost. Every tool you add means another login, another learning curve, and another place where something can fall through the cracks.
And when things get complicated, you end up spending more time managing your tools than doing the work that actually moves your business forward.
You’re definitely not alone in this. It’s one of the most common patterns we see when we start working with a new client.
After 12+ years of building and running our own course businesses, and helping hundreds of clients do the same, we’ve landed on a small set of tools that covers the core of what a course business needs. In this post, we’ll walk through what we use, what we recommend to our clients, and why simpler is almost always better.
Just getting started and choosing tools for the first time? Start with our guide on how to choose the right tech tools for your first online course. This post is for the course creator who’s already running and wants to know what actually works.
Table of Contents
The Tool Trap: Why More Isn’t Better
The Shiny Object Syndrome
Every week, it seems like there’s a new “revolutionary” software launch promising to transform your business. The marketing is compelling, the demos look amazing, and the testimonials are glowing.
So you sign up. And then, two months later, you’re back to your old tools while that shiny new subscription quietly charges your credit card month after month.
This is shiny object syndrome, and it costs you way more than just the subscription fee.
We recently worked with a client who was using 23 different tools to run what was essentially a straightforward consulting business. She had separate platforms for email marketing, client management, project tracking, invoicing, scheduling, analytics, and more.
Her monthly software costs? Over $2,800.
Most of these tools barely talked to each other. That meant she was spending hours each week manually moving data between platforms, dealing with integration failures, and trying to remember which tool did what.
When we helped her consolidate down to a handful of core tools, her monthly costs dropped to under $500. She also gained back 10+ hours per week, which is time she now spends on her clients instead of her software.
Why We Keep Adding Tools
It’s easy to think that the right tool will solve a business problem. Revenue stalling? Get a CRM. Team chaos? Find a project management platform. Marketing not converting? Sign up for automation software.
We’ve all been there.
But here’s the truth: adding another tool to a messy process doesn’t fix the process. It just makes the mess more expensive. The course creators we work with who’ve simplified their operations didn’t do it by finding better tools. They did it by getting clear on what they actually needed, and getting rid of the rest.
Every new tool means something else to learn, maintain, pay for, and connect to everything else you’re running. That’s mental energy that could be going toward strategy, client relationships, or your next course.
How We Choose the Tools We Recommend
Before we walk through specific tools, here’s how we evaluate them. These are the same criteria we use for our own business and when advising clients. If a tool doesn’t meet all four, it doesn’t make the cut.
Integration over perfection. We’d rather have a tool that’s 80% perfect but works well with our other systems than a “best in class” platform that requires manual workarounds. For example, we chose Ontraport over tools that had better email builders, because Ontraport’s CRM, payment processing, and email all live in the same place and share the same data without any duct tape.
Scalability without complexity. The tool needs to grow with you without requiring a complete overhaul every time your business hits a new stage. You don’t want to migrate your entire email list and sales history to a new platform every two years.
Single point of accountability. When something breaks (and it will), you want to know exactly who to call. Multiple vendors pointing at each other is one of the fastest ways to lose a day.
Does it eliminate manual work? If a tool doesn’t automate something you’re currently doing by hand, or make an existing process significantly faster, it doesn’t earn its place.
The Power of Tools That Work Together
Here’s what most entrepreneurs miss when they’re comparing tools: finding the perfect platform for every single task matters less than finding tools that work together without you manually connecting them.
When your CRM connects to your email platform, which connects to your payment processor, which feeds data to your project management system, information moves automatically. That means when a customer purchases your course, they’re automatically:
- Added to the appropriate email sequences
- Enrolled in the proper customer onboarding process
- Tagged in your CRM based on what they bought
- Given access to the right materials
- Assigned to the correct team member for follow-up
Now think about what that looks like when you’re instead copying customer information across three or four platforms after each purchase.
Here’s the bottom line: the goal isn’t finding the perfect set of tools. It’s finding tools that work together well enough that you can stop thinking about them and get back to your actual work.
Your CRM, Email, and Sales Platform
Your CRM is where your leads, customers, email sequences, and sales all come together. Getting this one right matters more than any other tool decision you’ll make, because everything else connects to it.
Our recommendation: Ontraport
We’ve been using Ontraport for over 10 years, and it’s the tool we recommend to clients who have (or are building toward) multiple offers, email sequences, and customer segments. Here’s what it handles:
Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Every lead, prospect, and customer lives in Ontraport. You can see their complete history, track their interactions with your content, and know exactly where they are in your sales process.
Email marketing and automation. All of your email sequences, newsletters, and automated follow-ups run through one platform. Ontraport handles everything from welcome sequences to complex behavioral triggers.
Sales funnel management. Landing pages, checkout pages, and sales funnels are built and hosted within Ontraport. When someone moves through your funnel, everything is tracked automatically.
Payment processing. It handles payments, subscriptions, payment plans, and failed payment recovery.
Affiliate management. Ontraport tracks commissions, generates affiliate links, and handles payouts.
The key here is that all of these functions share the same data. When someone makes a purchase, they’re immediately tagged in the CRM, added to the appropriate email sequences, and their affiliate (if applicable) gets credit. No manual steps, no data syncing, no things falling through the cracks.
Why We Chose Ontraport
We didn’t start with Ontraport. We first used iContact, plus a handful of other tools for tracking sales, processing payments, and running automations separately.
The turning point came when we realized we were spending more time managing our tools than using them to grow our business. We needed one platform that could handle multiple functions well, rather than several platforms that each did one thing perfectly.
Here’s what made the difference for us:
True all-in-one functionality. Everything works natively without third-party integrations.
Advanced automation. Ontraport doesn’t just send emails based on time delays. It can trigger actions based on website visits, email opens, purchase behavior, and dozens of other factors.
Advanced segmentation. You can create specific segments based on purchase history, engagement levels, and custom fields. This allows for targeted marketing that feels personal at scale.
Robust reporting. You can track campaign revenue, email performance, and funnel drop-off in one place.
We’ve now been with them for over 10 years and couldn’t imagine running our business without all their features.
When Ontraport Might Not Be Right for You
Ontraport isn’t the right starting point for everyone. If you have a simpler business model with one or two offers, and you’re not ready for advanced automation, it’s more than you need right now.
The learning curve is steeper than simpler platforms, and the cost is higher than basic solutions.
For course creators who want solid email marketing, simple automations, and a clean interface without the learning curve, we recommend Kit. It handles email sequences, landing pages, and basic tagging well, and it’s built with creators in mind. You can always move to something more robust as your business grows.
How We Use Ontraport: Specific Examples
Here’s what our Ontraport setup looks like day to day.
Lead nurture sequences. When someone downloads one of our free ebooks, they automatically enter an email sequence that delivers value while positioning our paid programs. The sequence includes behavioral triggers, so if someone clicks on a link about our Course Creation Services, they get tagged and receive additional emails specific to that interest. No manual tagging, no remembering to move someone to a different list.
Customer segmentation. Because everything lives in one platform, we can see exactly where each person is in their journey. Someone who purchased a course six months ago gets different communication than someone who just opted in for a free guide. A client who’s clicked on our corporate training content three times gets tagged and routed to the right follow-up. That level of targeting would take hours of manual work across separate tools.
Checkout pages and payment plans. All of our checkout pages are built in Ontraport using their drag-and-drop editor. When someone purchases, payment processing happens seamlessly. We also offer payment plans that are managed automatically, including handling failed payments and sending payment reminders.
Reporting in one place. When we want to know which email sequence is actually driving sales, or where people drop off in a funnel, we pull that up in the same platform where the emails and funnels live. There’s no exporting data from one tool and importing it into another to piece together what happened.
Getting Started with Ontraport
If you’re considering Ontraport, here’s where to start:
Start with your email list. Import your existing contacts and set up basic email sequences. Get comfortable with the email builder before moving to more complex automation.
Build one simple funnel. Create a lead magnet landing page connected to an email sequence. This will help you understand how Ontraport’s different features work together.
Set up your CRM fields. Decide what information you want to track about your contacts and customers. Ontraport’s strength is in segmentation, but that only works if you’re collecting the right data.
One thing to keep in mind: don’t try to recreate your entire existing system overnight. Start simple and add complexity gradually.
Your Course Hosting Platform
This is where your actual product lives. Your course platform is what your students log into, where they watch your videos, complete your worksheets, and track their progress. It needs to be reliable, easy for your students to navigate, and simple enough for you to manage without a developer.
Our recommendation: Thinkific
We’ve been using Thinkific for years, both for our own courses and for the courses we build for our clients. It’s the platform we recommend to the majority of course creators we work with.
Here’s why it works:
Clean, distraction-free learning environment. Your students see your content and nothing else. No ads, no competing recommendations, no platform branding pulling attention away from your course.
Flexible content delivery. Video, text, quizzes, downloads, assignments. You can structure your course however it needs to be structured for your students to get results.
Robust completion tracking. You can see exactly where each student is in your course, who’s falling behind, and where people tend to drop off. That data is valuable when you’re improving your course over time.
Built-in community features. Thinkific has added community tools that let you create discussion spaces tied to your course, so your students can connect without you needing a separate platform.
Easy integration with other tools. Thinkific connects well with Ontraport, email platforms, and payment processors. When someone purchases through your sales funnel, they can be automatically enrolled in the right course without manual steps.
Our students consistently tell us how easy it is to navigate their courses and track their progress. That matters more than most people think, because a confusing platform creates support tickets and frustration that have nothing to do with your content.
If You’re Comparing Platforms
Thinkific’s basic plan starts at around $36/month, and the plan most course businesses need runs about $125/month billed annually. For what you get, that’s reasonable. We’ve seen clients spend more on platforms that are harder to use and less reliable.
If you’re earlier in the process and still weighing options, our post on how to choose the right tech tools for your first online course walks through the key questions to ask before committing.
Your Project Management Platform
Once your course business is running, the operational side grows fast. Client deliverables, team coordination, student support, internal processes. Trying to manage all of it through email and memory works for a while, but it breaks down quickly as you grow.
Our recommendation: Teamwork
Teamwork is where we manage every client project, internal process, and support request. Here’s what it handles:
Client project management. When we sign on a new Course Creation Services client, we automatically create their project from our template. This includes every task required to take them from initial strategy to course launch, with realistic timelines based on what we’ve seen across hundreds of projects.
Clients can see exactly where things stand and what’s coming next. When a client asks for an update, we can show them right in Teamwork instead of pulling together a status email.
Internal process management. We have template projects for every major business process, from onboarding new team members to launching a new product. This means nothing falls through the cracks, and we can continuously improve our systems based on what actually works.
Team coordination and accountability. Teamwork keeps everyone aligned on priorities and deadlines. No more “I thought someone else was handling that” conversations.
Help desk for client and student emails. Our customer service emails flow into Teamwork’s help desk, where they’re automatically assigned to the right team member based on the type of inquiry. This is one of the most underrated features of any project management tool, and it solves a problem most growing course businesses run into: the shared Gmail inbox.
When your support runs through a shared email inbox, only the person logged in can see the conversation history. If someone’s out sick or on vacation, whoever covers for them is starting from scratch. With a help desk, every team member can see every conversation, who responded, what was said, and what’s still open. That visibility matters more than most people realize until they have it. Nothing gets lost, handoffs are seamless, and you can actually see patterns in what your students are asking about.
Getting Started with Teamwork
We didn’t start with Teamwork. We started with Google Docs (works if everyone’s disciplined) and Trello (great until we hit complex multi-phase projects). Eventually we needed time tracking, real reporting, and a system that could scale with our client load.
If you’re considering switching, here’s our recommended approach:
Start with one type of project. Don’t try to move your entire operation into Teamwork overnight. Pick one type of recurring project (like client onboarding or a webinar) and create a timeline for that process.
If you’re managing support through a shared email inbox, start with the help desk. That one feature can be the single biggest quality-of-life improvement for your team, and you’ll see the value within the first week.
Your Collaboration and Communication Platform
You need a place where your team creates, shares, and communicates, and where clients can access deliverables without a dozen back-and-forth emails.
Our recommendation: Google Workspace
Google Workspace is the foundation layer that connects everything else. Here’s what it handles:
Professional communication. Your email addresses use your own domain (not gmail.com), which makes a real difference in how prospects perceive you. Beyond that, Gmail’s filtering and organization features help keep your inbox manageable even when you’re processing hundreds of emails per week.
Real-time collaboration. When you’re working on client deliverables, marketing campaigns, or internal processes, multiple team members can edit the same document at the same time. No more emailing versions back and forth or wondering which file is the latest.
Secure file storage and sharing. Google Drive stores all your client files, templates, and business documents. You can share specific folders with clients or team members without worrying about version control or access management.
Meeting and communication infrastructure. Google Meet handles your client calls, team meetings, and webinars. The recordings automatically save to Drive, and calendar invites include the meeting links automatically.
How This Looks Day to Day
Client deliverable creation. When we’re developing a client’s course content, we create a shared Google Drive folder for their project. All stakeholders can access the latest versions of storyboards, tools, slide decks, scripts, and copy. Comments and suggestions happen right in the documents, eliminating the need for separate feedback emails.
Team meetings and planning. Our team meetings happen in Google Meet, with the agenda shared as a Google Doc that everyone can edit in real-time during the meeting. Action items get added to the doc during the call, then transferred to Teamwork projects afterward.
Content creation and review. Blog posts like this one start in Google Docs where our team can collaborate on writing, editing, and fact-checking.
Client communication. While Ontraport handles automated email sequences, direct client communication happens through Gmail. The integration with Google Calendar means scheduling calls is seamless.
Supporting Tools We Recommend
The tools above cover the core of running your course business. These three handle specific jobs that come up regularly, and we’ve found them well worth having alongside the core set.
Canva for design. Course thumbnails, social media graphics, worksheets, branded templates. Your entire team can create professional-looking visuals without design training, and anyone can jump in and make a quick edit without involving a designer. We use Canva for almost all of our client-facing course assets, and most of our clients end up adopting it for their own businesses too.
Vimeo for video hosting. For your premium course content, you want a hosting platform without ads, distracting recommendations, or YouTube’s algorithm sending your students elsewhere. Vimeo gives you privacy controls, clean playback, and customizable players that match your branding. We host all of our course video content on Vimeo and embed it directly into Thinkific.
1Password for password and security management. If you use the same password (or variations of it) across multiple platforms, a breach at one service means hackers can walk right into your email, your CRM, and/or your payment processor. 1Password generates and stores a unique password for every account, so you don’t have to remember them or be tempted to reuse them. It also makes secure sharing easy when you bring on a team member or contractor. You can give someone access without revealing the actual password, and revoke it the moment they leave. We use it for every login across our team.
What This Actually Costs
Let’s talk numbers, because this is where the simplicity argument really lands.
The average course business we work with spends at least $2,000-5,000 per month on software subscriptions, often with significant overlap between tools.
Here’s what our core setup costs:
- Ontraport: $297/month
- Thinkific: ~$125/month (billed annually)
- Teamwork: $99/month
- Google Workspace: $18/month per user
The supporting tools (Canva, Vimeo, OptinMonster) add roughly $75-150/month depending on your plans.
The bottom line: everything we need to run our business, serve our clients, and manage our courses costs well under $800 per month. Compare that to $2,800+ for a typical multi-tool setup, and over a year that’s a meaningful difference.
But the real savings is in time. When your tools share data and work together, you’re not spending hours each week on manual data entry, troubleshooting integration failures, or trying to remember which platform has the information you need. That time goes back into the work that actually grows your business: creating better content, improving your client experience, and developing your next offer.
Making the Switch: Your Action Plan
Before You Start
Audit your current subscriptions. List every software tool you’re paying for and calculate your monthly costs. Identify tools with overlapping functions. These are your first candidates for elimination.
Map your essential processes. Write down the core activities that generate revenue: lead generation, email marketing, sales processing, client onboarding. Figure out which of our three tools can handle each function.
Document your pain points. Where do you currently waste time moving data between systems? Which tools require constant maintenance? What processes break down when someone goes on vacation? These problems often point to integration issues that our three-tool system can solve.
Implementation Tips
Start small. Begin with free trials and migrate one function at a time. Don’t try to switch everything simultaneously.
Test before going live. Set up test contacts and sample projects to ensure everything works before canceling old tools.
Keep backups during transition. Run new and old systems in parallel for at least two weeks to ensure everything transfers correctly.
Focus on improvement, not replication. This is your chance to simplify processes, not just move them to new platforms
If you’re looking for more information on course creation tools (like learning platforms or landing page creation tools), our post on How to Choose the Right Tech Tools walks you through the key questions to ask and our favorite tools.
Your Next Steps
After 12+ years, we’ve learned this: More tools won’t solve your problems. Better systems will.
The approach we’ve outlined in this post isn’t complicated. It’s about having the clarity and focus to choose tools that actually serve your customers and your bottom line, instead of adding another subscription every time something feels hard.
If you want to put this into practice, start here: pick one business function that’s currently scattered across multiple platforms. Audit what you’re paying for it. Cancel what you’re not using. Consolidate where you can.
Give it 30 days and track what changes. You’ll either save real money and real time, or you’ll discover your current setup works better than you thought. Either way, you’ll know for certain.
What’s the first tool you’re going to consolidate?