9 Best Online Coaching Platforms in 2023 (Tried & Tested)

If you’re a coach, picking the right online coaching platform is a critical step for the success of your business. However, choosing the right platform can get tricky with so many choices available.

This is why we tried and tested nine of the best online coaching platforms available and put together this guide to help you pick the right one.

We’ll also talk about the key features to look for in an online coaching software platform and share some helpful tips on choosing the best one.

If you’re ready, let’s get started.

What to Look For in the Best Online Coaching Platform?

To pick the best platform for your coaching business, you first need to understand what a coaching platform is and what features it should offer.

An online coaching platform is a software application that allows coaches to connect with their clients and deliver their coaching programs online. It’s a complete solution that provides everything you need to run your coaching programs, from creating and selling to delivering and managing your clients.

The key features include:

Create a Coaching Package

An essential feature that all solid coaching platforms should have is the ability to create your coaching package. As a coach, you should be able to sell single or multiple coaching sessions through the platform. Moreover, you should be able to create a coaching program, add agendas, helpful resources, and downloadable files to your coaching sessions.

Smooth Enrollment Process

A good online coaching platform will take care of the entire client enrollment process. Your clients should be able to make payments and book sessions with you through the platform. The platform should also give your clients immediate access to their private portal and also automate the onboarding process.

Coaching Sessions Delivery

The ability to hold live video sessions is another essential feature you should look for when picking the perfect platform. While some platforms support it natively, others integrate with tools like Zoom. Additionally, you should have the tools to share post-meeting feedback with your clients and take private and shared notes.

Client Management Tools

Regarding client management, your platform should have Customer Relationship Management (CRM) capabilities to find the details of your current and past clients. You should be able to track your client’s progress and keep the data organized. Moreover, you’ll need a way to communicate with your customers through the platform.

Platform Scalability

Lastly, your ideal online coaching platform should be able to support your business as it grows. It should be able to handle an increasing number of clients, sessions, and features without any issues. Additionally, it should have features for selling other types of products, such as group coaching or online courses, making branching out down the line easier.

These were some essential online coaching tools to look out for when researching the perfect platform. Now, let’s get into the detailed overviews of the nine best online coaching platforms.

1. upcoach

upcoach is a specialized coaching platform that supports advanced features for creating coaching products. The platform supports one-on-one, group, and cohort coaching programs.

When it comes to client enrollment, users can make a payment that will give them access to a client portal, and the program they signed up for will be automatically assigned to them.

upcoach lets your customers schedule sessions with its built-in scheduling tool. For added convenience, you can connect your upcoach agendas with your Google Calendar and have your schedule synced across platforms.

While upcoach doesn’t have a native feature for live sessions, you can use the Zoom integration to connect with your students in real-time.

One of the standout aspects of upcoach is the set of engagement tools that it offers.

These include a habit tracker, to-dos, interactive worksheets, smart documents, and accountability groups. You can also create a forum for your clients, where you can create posts, answer client questions, share announcements, and do one-on-one or group chats.

Additionally, upcoach offers some solid tools for client management. It has a CRM tool where you’ll see all your client information in one place. You also get a visual kanban board, where you can see their progress and engagement levels.

Finally, upcoach also hits the mark on scalability, as it allows you to create both group coaching and online courses.

Upcoach pricing starts from $39/month and allows you to have up to 30 clients. Their most popular plan costs $99/month, but it doesn’t place any limits on the number of clients.

Overall, upcoach is the best coaching platform, as it lets you create one-on-one and group coaching programs along with online courses. Additionally, it has advanced client engagement and management features, making it the top choice for online coaches.

2. Kajabi

Kajabi is an all-in-one platform for knowledge businesses, and it also supports creating and selling coaching programs.

You can create one-on-one coaching and offer single or multiple-session programs. You’ll have room to add a session agenda, helpful resources, and private and shared notes in each session.

For session scheduling, you can use the native Kajabi scheduler or a specialized booking solution like Calendly. Using the native scheduling tool, you can also hold the live meeting inside the platform, thanks to its native live video feature. Alternatively, you can use Zoom or Google Meet.

As a coach, you’ll get access to the list of your current and past clients, track their progress, send them an email and manage their profiles.

Kajabi is also a very scalable choice. In addition to coaching products, it also supports online courses, podcasts, memberships, and communities, so you can easily sell different knowledge products.

However, the most standout thing about Kajabi is that it is truly an all-in-one platform so that you can run your entire business from one place. The platform lets you build your brand website, run a blog, set up funnels, do email marketing, run your affiliate program, etc.

Regarding Kajabi pricing, it offers three plans:  Basic ($149/month), Growth ($199/month), and Pro ($399). Each plan supports all the platform features, including Coaching.

So, if you’re looking for more than just a platform to run your coaching programs, and want to manage all aspects of your business while offering a variety of products, then Kajabi will be the best choice for you.

3. Satori

Satori is a popular coaching software platform that lets you create one-on-one and group coaching products. However, the platform’s focus is primarily on offering coaching management tools.

Unlike upcoach and Kajabi, it doesn’t have much to offer for coaching delivery and engaging your clients.

When it comes to coaching packages, you can create single-session, multiple sessions, and even group coaching programs.

Satori will help you manage the entire enrollment process, right from intake applications and discovery sessions to coaching agreements and client payments.

A unique Satori feature is automatic reminders for scheduling appointments, progress check-ins, and reviewing their coaching experience.

Each client gets access to a private portal to access the coaching programs and schedule sessions. In addition, Satori integrates with the Google, Apple, and Outlook calendars and lets you create advanced availability schedules for your clients.

Meanwhile, you and your clients can use session notes to keep track of the coaching journey. You can also engage in one-on-one conversations with your clients.

Besides coaching, you can’t offer any other digital products. For example, you can’t sell online courses or build a community for your clients.

Satori’s pricing is unbeatable. Their most expensive plan costs $39 per month and offers all the platform features, and allows you to have unlimited clients. They even have a free plan and a more basic paid plan which costs $19/month.

Therefore, if you’re a coach looking primarily for an affordable coaching management platform, Satori will be the best choice for you.

4. Paperbell

Paperbell is another coaching software that is just focused on offering the core coaching management tools. The platform is super easy to use, and you can make your program live quickly.

The platform includes a powerful scheduling software that lets you set your availability, create A/B week schedules, create buffers between appointments, limit how far in advance clients can schedule, sync your calendar, etc.

When selling your coaching, you can create landing pages, price your program in different ways, offer group coaching programs, process payments through Stripe/PayPal, and create a beautiful checkout page.

Moreover, Paperbell allows you to add contract signing to the client enrollment process. It includes HelloSign, an e-signature software in your subscription so that you can send a contract, and your clients will need to e-sign it before starting.

Paperbell has a powerful client management dashboard, where you’ll find all your client information, including their purchase history, signed contracts, client notes, etc.

Paperbell pricing is straightforward. It offers just one pricing plan, which costs $50/month and offers unlimited everything.

So, if you’re looking for an easy-to-use, all-in-one coaching management tool, you should definitely consider using Paperbell.

5. CoachAccountable

CoachAccountable prides itself on taking care of the day-to-day admin work of running an online coaching business. It handles everything from invoicing and agreements to scheduling and client management.

For example, it has a scheduling feature that syncs with everyone’s calendar and sends reminders to you and your clients regarding upcoming sessions and assignments.

Moreover, the platform lets you support your clients with action plans, metrics, forms, session notes, worksheets, and online courses.

However, where CoachAccountable really shines is group coaching. It offers a feature called Groups, which you can use to form groups of multiple clients to deliver your coaching program.

On top of this, many powerful one-on-one coaching features are also available for group coaching:

• Group Action Projects – You can create a project for a group and assign individual tasks to different group members, so they can work on it together.
• Group Courses – You can create a course and make a group go through it together. The group members can also see each other’s progress, leading to more accountability.
• Group Metrics – All members in a group can report on a particular metric (e.g., daily steps), and their metrics can be used to track the group’s performance. The coach and the clients can see the group’s overall and individual performance.

CoachAccountable also has a team edition, which lets multi-member coaching teams run their programs collaboratively with ease.

When it comes to pricing, CoachAccountable charges you based on the number of clients you have, with the minimum price being $20/month for two clients. For ten clients, it costs $70/month, and for 50 clients, the cost is $250/month.

No other platform offers this much for group coaching, making CoachAccountable our top pick for running group coaching programs.

6. Nudge Coach

Nudge Coach is next on our list of best coaching platforms. The platform is unique because it delivers your coaching exclusively through a mobile app.

By default, your clients will access your programs through the Nudge iOS/Android app, but you also have the option to get branded mobile apps for your coaching practice.

Nudge Coach has a powerful program builder where you can share videos, guides and links, create assessments and check-ins, make announcements, etc.

You also get powerful accountability features like tracking cards and client goals. Tracking cards ensure that your clients track their progress, ensuring accountability. The goals feature, instead, lets you set daily and weekly targets for your clients.

Moreover, Nudge Coach allows you to create communities and accountability groups for facilitating discussions. And you can also send direct messages to your clients.

Finally, NudgeCoach has three plans: Free ($0/month) for five clients, Grow ($60/month) for 50 clients, and Scale ($100) for up to 100 clients. You’ll need to pay $600/month if you want branded mobile apps.

If you’re a health and fitness coach looking to create a coaching app, then Nudge Coach will be an excellent option for you.

7. CoachVantage

Another popular platform for online coaching services is CoachVantage. This coaching software accommodates both individual coaches and coaching teams.

CoachVantage offers tools for managing your coaching team. For example, you can add members to your team, manage their privileges and permissions, assign coaching engagements to them, and track the progress of their engagements.

Your members will get access to a private dashboard, where they can publish their availability, track their coaching sessions, engage with the client, and log in their hours.

CoachVantage also provides tools to manage your contacts and client information, engagement stats, session notes, invoices, and contracts. Additionally, you can easily import and export client data to and from the platform.

CoachVantage has separate plans for solo coaches and teams. Regarding solo plans, the Clarity or Aha! plans are priced at $29 and $49 per month. Instead, the Team Plan costs $245/month for up to five coaches and an added $19/month/coach.

Consequently, based on the selection of team management tools it offers, CoachVantage will be the best choice if you’re a coaching team.

8. TrueCoach

TrueCoach is a specialized coaching platform for personal trainers that lets you run your coaching business alone or with a team of coaches.

The platform has a workout builder for designing personalized workout programs using exercises and videos. You can use a video from their exercise video library or upload your own.

Your clients can watch the workout videos inside the TrueCoach app and comment, ask questions, or share feedback on specific workouts.

TrueCoach’s client management tools let you view client workout metrics, details, and comments. Plus, the platform automatically lets you notify your clients about upcoming workouts via email.

When it comes to pricing, TrueCoach offers three plans: the Starter plan ($25/month) with up to 5 active clients, the Standard plan ($59/month) with up to 20 clients, and the Pro plan ($119/month) with up to 50 clients.

If you are a personal trainer or a gym owner looking to offer an online coaching program, TrueCoach is the best choice.

9. BetterUp

BetterUp is the last platform on our list because it’s different from all the ones we’ve covered. It is the largest coaching marketplace with an estimated valuation of $4.7 billion.

The platform allows businesses and individuals to sign up as coaches and offer their services to clients. In this case, people are not buying your coaching products directly from you but through BetterUp.

BetterUp supports one-on-one and group coaching and has a dedicated app designed uniquely for coaches with simplified management tools, which include integrated assessments, automated reminders, and recurring feedback.  

When it comes to pricing, there’s no upfront cost for using the platform. Instead, the platform works on a revenue-sharing model.

So, if you’re looking for a coaching marketplace instead of a “typical” coaching platform, BetterUp should be your choice.

These are the best online coaching platforms on the market. However, we’d like to mention one more platform here—Noomii.

Noomii isn’t a coaching platform but a network for professional coaches. So, if your goal is to find a new audience, connect with other coaches, or create a coaching team, you may want to check it out.

Now, let’s share our final verdict.

Best Online Coaching Platforms – The Final Verdict

In this article, we’ve discussed the top online coaching platforms and highlighted their unique features. We believe that the best one for you will depend on your specific needs as a coach.

However, we’ll make some recommendations to make it easy for you to decide.

We hope this guide helped you pick a coaching platform that will best serve your coaching style and products, but if you still have questions, please leave them in the comments below.

Frequently Asked Questions