My 7 best online coaching platforms for business growth in 2024- Review, pricing, pros & Cons

Are you ready to integrate coaching into your business? Or maybe coaching is your major business. Choosing the right online coaching platform is important to help you succeed in your business. Making this decision may involve checking out the features available to you, user-friendliness, and integrations. In this guide, I ranked and reviewed the best coaching platform for you to make a choice. 

The coaching market has seen a vast improvement in the past few years. A study on coaching executive staff showed an ROI of 529% to the business. The market size of the coaching business in the US is valued at 11.6 billion in 2021, at a 1.2% growth from 2016. 

The key driver to this tremendous perceivable success is the growing global demand for coaching services in career, business, and personal development, among others. Much better, the availability of online coaching platforms has improved the possibility of being able to learn with just a screen in front of you. 

Finding the best coaching platform isn’t a breeze; getting one tailored to your coaching business’s needs can be mind-boggling. Given the numerous options available, it’s also a challenge telling the best apart from the lousy ones offering bang-average features. 

However, your search for a proficient coaching platform ends here since I’ve selected the best you could use to start or grow your coaching business.

What is a Coaching Platform?

 A coaching platform is a software that helps people optimize performance and improve various aspects of life. Essentially, these platforms are for coaches specializing in personal life, skills, relationship, and career coaching, among others. Most platforms equip coaches with the best features to enable seamless client communication and efficiently handle marketing and scheduling appointments.

Coaching can be free or paid, but most proficient platforms offer premium and more versed coaching services. As such, it’s always commendable to be selective of the coaching platform for your business, giving you the best bang for your dollar and leaving your clients head over wheels with your services. 

While that counts, how do you choose the best coaching platform for your coaching business?

What are the Best Coaching Platforms You Can Use?

No doubt you now understand how best you can find a coaching platform. But which pick is the best and offers the best services to drive your clients head over heels? Here are my seven best coaching platforms that I’ll gladly recommend you use.

Thinkific

Overall best coaching platform 

Just a few coaching platforms come close to the proficiency level Thinkific offers, and it’s one of my best picks for all the good reasons. This platform was founded in 2012 and has offered legitimate free and priced plans to over 36,000-course creators.

Its marketing approach is way above par, and getting new clients while keeping the existing ones has never been easier. I put this platform at the top of the list because I assure you that it’ll delight you.

Key Features

• Easily create and customize courses that match your brand, with the ability to create your course in over 40 languages to increase your reach.
• A full suit of business tools to market and sell your course online
• High-quality video hosting with HD support and multiple file formats, including FLV and MP4.
• Thinkific also has a mobile app for Android and iOS devices.
• Receive payment in various currencies
• Incredible customer support to address every concern and answer all questions concerning using the platform

Thinkific is also lenient with its pricing and offers a free plan to get yourself more familiar. Besides, you can add as many students as possible and provide more basic services, but you can unlock more features with the paid plans.

If you need to scale your business and offer the best coaching experience to your students, the Basic, Pro, and Premier plans are paid and can be more practical. Thinkific plans are as follows:

• Free Plan – $0
• Basic Plan – $39 monthly
• Pro Plan – $79 monthly
•  Premier Plan – $399 monthly

Mighty Network

Best for user friendliness 

Mighty Networks better connects you with your audience, but it’s more intriguing because it also connects other members. Moreover, it’s an intuitive platform that makes it easier to use and efficiently reach your coaching goals.

What makes this platform sought-after is its unique approach to enabling clients to engage each other, facilitating the coaching process.

It focuses on creating a community and forming memberships for more client-centric service delivery.

Whether you want to create a course, market your podcast, or coach and train people, this platform makes it straightforward for you.

 Key Features

• You can create an ambassador program to reward members with successful referrals.
• You can also download your membership data and keep a copy of your members’ information, making it easy to reach them and follow up on issues with ease.
• Setting your terms and conditions to coin rules on members using your resources is more accessible.
• Thanks to the Mighty Insights program, it’s quite a breeze to track your goals and assess progress.

Mighty Networks offers three pricing plans, all having a 14-day trial period. Quite unfortunately, you don’t get a free plan. When paid annually, Mighty Networks plans are as follows:

• Community Plan – $33
• Business Plan – $99
• Mighty Pro Plan – Quote-based

When paid monthly, Mighty Networks Plan is as follows 

• Community Plan – $39
• Business Plan – $119
• Mighty Pro Plan – Quote-based

Acuity Scheduling

Best for scheduling coaching sessions anytime

I love this platform because it guarantees convenience and builds sturdier client-coach relationships. You don’t have to set phone tags or alter your schedule, which is confusing. Instead, it gives your clients the liberty to choose their most convenient meeting times and remind them later. All you have to do is show up at the right time. 

You can customize virtually everything to meet your business or brand experience using Acuity Scheduling.

Much better is that this platform allows you to collect information through contact forms, so it’s easy to know what your customers want even before starting the coaching sessions.

 Key Features

• Control your availability 24/7 while managing employees and improve your flexibility.
• Never lose track of any appointment with acuity scheduling by synchronizing your calendar, and stay in the loop always.
• Easily organize your schedule by auto-adjusting for programs, and let your clients choose their best times.
• Send automated reminders to clients, so they’re always in the know about your meetings while ensuring they’re prompt.

Every Plan in Acuity scheduling is paid for, and you can opt for monthly or annual plans. However, monthly goals are sought-after and include the following:

•  Emerging Plan – $14 monthly
•   Growing – $23 monthly
•    Powerhouse – $45 monthly

When paid monthly, acuity scheduling pricing goes thus. 

•  Emerging Plan – $15 monthly
•   Growing – $25 monthly
•    Powerhouse – $50 monthly

TrueCoach

Best for personal trainers and gym owners

TrueCoach offers you the freedom to coach hands-free while it takes care of the rest of the back-breaking work for you. It is trusted by more than 20000 personal trainers, coaches, and gym owners with more than 250 thousand happy clients. Its sophisticated algorithms can do all the tedious work, analyzing clients and assessing their progress.

I recommend this software to novices and new players in their coaching niches since it has intuitive user interphase and easy-to-manage features.

 With over twenty thousand coaches and fifty delivered workouts, there’s no better way to scale your coaching business than joining this platform.

 Key Features

•  You can use the progress tracking feature to see how your customers are faring and make the necessary changes for better coaching.
• The program builder feature lets you create programs that your clients can follow easily.
• The email notification program lets you stay in the loop with updates and new client information so that it’s easy to follow up with your clients when they need help.
• Client management tools ensure you’re always aware of your clients and that you duly satisfy them with your services.

TrueCoach offers a free plan to help you ease into the platform and get an acquaintance. However, the paid plans are usually better since they unlock many features that typically start with a 14-day trial period. 

When paid annually, TrueCoach pricing is as follows:

• Starter Plan – $19 monthly
• Standard Plan – $$49 monthly
• Pro Plan – $99 monthly

When paid monthly, TrueCoach pricing is as follows:

• Starter Plan – $25 monthly
• Standard Plan – $59 monthly
• Pro Plan – $119 monthly

Trainerize

Best for fitness coaches

Trainerize is a fitness coaching platform that’s done better presently and perches above the rest in its niche. The platform works with all fitness coaches and businesses globally with personalized or group online training.

Moreover, it helps coaches leverage nutrition programs for their clients to make the best out of gym hours.

Whether you’re a beginner or a well-versed coach, this coaching platform is a match made in heaven for you.

 Key Features

• Digitize and centralize your personal training system with Trainerize.
• Properly and efficiently engage with your clients and community via the personal training (PT) coaching app and keep their motivation and spirits high.
• Keep your clients, trainers, and programming in a single space using one-click automation, integrated payments, and automation.
• Efficiently market and sell your services and PT packages with ease using one-click automation.

Trainerize offers a single free pricing plan, but you can only use it with a single client. However, it would help if you opted into other paid plans to unlock more exceptional features. The Trainerize pricing plans are as follows when billed annually:

• Free Plan – $0 (One client)
• Grow Plan- $4.50 monthly – up to 2 clients 
• Pro Plan – $18 Monthly – up to 5 clients 
•  Studio Plan – $225 monthly – up to 50 clients 

When billed monthly, Trainerize pricing plans are as follows:

• Free Plan – $0 (One client)
• Grow Plan- $5 monthly – up to 2 clients 
• Pro Plan – $20 Monthly – up to 5 clients 
•  Studio Plan – $250 monthly – up to 50 clients 

My PT Hub

Best for tracking training progress

My PT Hub is one of the best coaching platforms with a more personalized approach. I like it better because it makes it relatively easy to customize programs and easily track progress anywhere you are.

You can also create a custom app that makes it easy to access through handheld iOS and Android devices, reaching your clients quickly.

These platforms give the Trainerize coaching platform a run for the money with its breathtaking enrolment and activity stats, with over 100,000 fitness professionals and 1.5 million fitness users.

Key Features

•  Nutrition App – Set calorie counts, macro targets, or fully detailed nutrition plans with the world’s largest verified nutrition database of over 650,000 food items.
• Workout Builder – Design and build workouts for all your personal training clients
• To grow your business, you can use the platform’s many tools, including online payments, easy-to-use chat, wearing tech integrations, and customizable branding.
•  Custom branding allows you to create a custom application and logo that suits your business.
• You can also add more clients without a limit, meaning you don’t have to look elsewhere at total capacity.
•  Thousands of plans can make creating a program and managing your clients relatively seamless.

My PT Hub offers a 30-day free trial, but two paid pricing plans are available. Annual billings are discounted, and you access the features at a cut price. My PT Hub Pricing plans are as follows:

•  Monthly – $49 monthly
• Annually – $ 42 monthly

Satori

Best for customized coaching packages 

Satori is proficient at inside coaching and is one of the best if you’d like to land high-paying clients easily. The software has a well-executed marketing strategy and, inarguably, the best features you can use. You can easily set up signature coaching packages and create personalized coaching proposals and customized group sessions for your coaching business.

With over 81,000 clients served and many admin hours saved, this platform is just what you need.

Key Features

• Signature coaching packages offer multiple session packages with intake forms, packages, progress tracking, and check-ins.
• Tailor your coaching practices using personalized proposals to individual clients in a few clicks. 
• Book coaching sessions, classes, and workshops and reach a wider audience through group sessions.
• Quickly and efficiently enroll your clients in a single click that they can also use to buy packages, sign agreements and make payments easily.
• Custom-brand and personalize your brand to create a more professional interface.
• Automatically remind your clients to enable them to schedule sessions with ease using the automatic follow-u feature.

Satori offers two paid and one free Plan. However, it also adds free trials as a perk, and you can choose to pay monthly or annually. Annual payments give you two free months to enjoy coaching and acquaint yourself better. When paid annually, Satori’s plans include:

• Explorer – $0
• Trailblazer – $32 monthly
• Pioneer – $15 monthly

When paid annually, Satori’s plans include:

• Explorer – $0
• Trailblazer – $39 monthly
• Pioneer – $19 monthly

Victa

Victa is a personal training and lifestyle coaching platform with all the kicks of appeal with its curated programs. It mainly focuses on individual and personalized training but also organizes small groups.

The key service categories include personal training, small group training, and lifestyle coaching, offering various tasty perks.

Key Features

•  Gain and retain clients through intriguing experiences through online document management, an intuitive CRM, lead capturing, and two-way texting.
• Get paid on time through online and mobile payments, credit card processing, signable estimates, and invoicing.
• Save time and improve your productivity while working with clients through online scheduling, team and business calendars, and creating automated reminders.
• Effortlessly market your business and achieve results through automated campaigns, lead capturing, nurturing, and marketing campaigns and promotions.

Victa offers three premium plans that include the following:

• Essentials – $19 monthly
• Business – $46 monthly
• Platinum $75 monthly

Coach Accountable

CoachAccountable makes your work easy and gives you more optimized and time-saving features. It’s built for coaches who want to use less time worrying about planning their sessions but focus more on the deliverables.

The platform is the gift that keeps on giving with numerous coaching tools your clients will find much use in.

 Key Features

• Get a single place to capture notes, sessions, and actions.
• Proper support with one-on-one free onboarding support,
• In-App live chat help and an exhaustive help center.
• Built-in zoom, Outlook, and Google integrations.
• Digital goal setting and progress tracking.
• Get a free website and an appointment booking page, all in one.

CoachAccountable pricings are as follows:

• Starter – $20 monthly (2 clients)
• Level 1 – $40 monthly (5 clients)
• Level 2 – $70 monthly (10 clients)
• Level 3 – $120 monthly (20 clients)
• Level 3.5 – $200 monthly (35 clients)

How Do You Choose a Great Coaching Platform?

As I’ve mentioned, nothing hits hard like hosting your coaching resources on a coaching platform that does not give you the best specs. However, that’s not to suggest that finding a proficient coaching platform is rocket science. You must adequately understand your niche and choose the best app you can get if you want to ace it in this business.

Here’s how to select an incredible coaching platform for your business

Courses Available

A coaching platform that lets you build more professional courses is always the best. Remember that the goal is to help your clients most possibly, and classes offer the best avenue to make that possible. Whether coaching on personal development or career, you have no bargains when choosing a platform that lets you record and upload educative media. You could mix these courses with more active sessions, including live chats and one-on-one video conferencing.

Sales Options

As a coaching business, you need every resource that makes it quite a breeze to rack in revenues. However, that should seamlessly ease in and be effortless to give you the time and freedom to focus on rendering your coaching services. An ideal coaching platform will guarantee discounts, free trials, and other bundles that appeal to your client and go easy on your earnings.

Marketing Options 

Unless your services are free and deliberate where clients find you, you need to find an excellent way to grab the most attention and find new clients. Moreover, your platform’s long-term marketing strategy should be tailored, making it easy to retain your existing customers. Most coaches market themselves using word of mouth, advertising their services through social media, or paying for sponsored ads. But if none of these strategies seems feasible, your coaching platform should measure up with more alternative marketing techniques.

Groups and Community

As you yearn for one-on-one sessions, preparing with group sessions is always best since they save time and facilitate coaching. Group sessions usually coach several individuals in a single go, saving you the time and energy to repeat similar sessions. Your coaching platform should offer a group conferencing option and the best ways to manage the space.

Moreover, it would help if you built a community around your coaching business, which is possible in a secure and confidential setting. Building a lasting community becomes a five-finger exercise if your platform’s security and privacy meet your client’s expectations.

Apps and Access

Most above-par coaching platforms have apps that enable communication through mobile. A phone application improves access and makes it relatively easy for your clients to log in and access your resources. That’s because handheld devices, including phones and tablets, are readily available and more portable to access live sessions and one-on-one coaching without shuffling around for a personal computer.

Appointment Scheduling Tools

As a coach, you want to give your clients the liberty of being able to book appointments with you when you are available. You need a coaching platform that helps you schedule group and personal sessions based on the training packages you offer in your business.

White Labeling 

White labeling features in coaching platforms help you brand your coaching interface to fit your brand. 

With this feature, your branding will distinguish you from other coaches even if your students/clients attend other courses on the same platform. This is an important feature to look out for in any coaching platform you choose to use 

Client Engagement and Analytics 

One of the loveliest parts of being a coach is the advantage of seeing the backend of your students’ engagement. You can track the statistics of your student or client engagement. You know which they find difficult and which one is a breeze. You can know which of your hosted resources they find more interesting or boring – all from your backend dashboard. You need a coaching platform that offers this amazing feature.

Conclusion

The coaching industry is booming and growing exponentially. That makes it an important business to invest in, but a better coaching platform can make it easier. 

Hopefully, these coaching apps will be handy as you venture into the coaching business.

The above features are just a few factors you should consider before choosing a coaching platform. 

To wrap up my review, let me reiterate. My top 3 recommendations are 

• Thinkific – Overall Best 
• Mighty Networks and – Most User friendly 
• Acuity scheduling – Best for scheduling coaching sessions anytime

You can’t go wrong with either of these top 3 picks 

In conclusion, the best coaching platform is one that meets your taste as a coach. This may include the interface, user-friendliness, support, price, features, etc. 

One thing I will discourage you from doing is settling for a coaching platform based on unfounded sentiments. 

I encourage you to do your research properly before settling for any coaching platform. 

Talking about research, that’s exactly why I have done this in-depth review for you. 

Have you used any other coaching platform you think is missing from this list? Hit me up in the comment section. I respond to every comment. 

Do well to check out other helpful articles here. I have a lot of them. Enjoy!