Blog Post

5 great online course booking systems for training providers

19/01/2018

Here are 5 pay as you go online systems for training providers that want to publish a course catalog, manage enquiries and take bookings online. Some of them do a bit more - you can manage the delegate after the booking, share course materials, track attendance and collect course feedback. All 5 systems take the pain out of trying to manage enquiries from large numbers of delegates.

Start here if you’re a training provider that wants to begin to streamline the way you pick up new learners. To get onto the list the systems had to meet two simple criteria:

  1. Self-sign up with a free trial - super quick to get started.

  2. Really obvious pricing - cost visible on the website and easy to calculate.

Here they are (alpha order):

  1. Administrate

    Key Features - course management, CRM, sales, finance and LMS. Full end-to-end for training providers.
    Cost - most popular plan is £75/month per administrator and £2/event per learner.


  2. ampEducator

    Key Features - Web based student information system. Student prospecting, management of student lifecycle. Online payments. Integration with Moodle.
    Cost - 100 students - $149/month.


  3. Eventbrite

    Key Features - Publish events, sell tickets. Could be used for one off courses but less suited to training providers with multiple courses & runs of courses.
    Cost - Essentials plan is 4% and £0.49 per paid ticket (you can pass that cost onto person buying the ticket).


  4. Booking Hound

    Key Features - Widgets for embedding booking forms in websites, online payments, unlimited courses and events.
    Cost - variable charge. On Pro version it’s £25/month for up to 100 transactions and £75/month for up to 500.


  5. Bookwhen

    Key Features - Custom booking forms. Discount codes, online payments. List upcoming events and courses on custom schedule pages.
    Cost - Standard is £19/month for 800 bookings a month, 5 admin users, 3 schedule pages.

Training providers with ambitions to grow should think carefully before making their choice. They should also look more widely - there are other well established course booking system providers that didn’t make the list because their systems are not self-sign up and it may take a little bit longer to get the free trial. Established software providers - perhaps with slightly older systems - tick the longevity box and they will have worked with a wide range of different training companies. Talk to them if you’re going to grow your learner numbers and you’re looking for a long term relationship.