Want to burn your academy? Hand it over to Udemy

Udemy charges huge fees and gives you little control over your pricing, often capping your courses at $200.

If you're an aspiring course creator looking to build and scale your content, you've likely come across Udemy, the well-known course marketplace. While Udemy might seem like a go-to platform for instructors to sell their courses, the fine print reveals significant downsides—less control, higher fees, and heavy restrictions. On the other hand, Sherpo offers an alternative with more flexibility, lower fees, and advanced AI tools.

In this post, we'll break down the key differences between Sherpo and Udemy, and why choosing Udemy could be a serious setback for your business.

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Revenue Share: The Real Costs of Udemy

Here’s a breakdown of how Udemy’s revenue model works:

Now, compare this with Sherpo's pricing:

With Sherpo Flex, you only pay a 5% transaction fee—no marketplace cuts or mobile platform fees. You keep 95% of your revenue before the standard Stripe processing fee (2.9% + $0.30 per transaction). As your business grows, Sherpo's other plans offer even lower fees, making it far more profitable than Udemy, even when offering coupons or discounts.

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Control and Pricing: Your Content, Your Rules

One of the biggest pain points with Udemy is the lack of control over your pricing. Udemy enforces strict limits: you cannot price your course above $200 or below $10. This one-size-fits-all pricing model makes it difficult for creators to price premium content appropriately.

For example, with Sherpo, if you sell a course for $300, you keep $190 after the 5% fee. In contrast, Udemy caps the price at $200, and after their cut, you’re left with only $74. Is Udemy really helping you sell enough additional courses to make up for that massive difference? Unlike Amazon, Udemy isn’t handling logistics or fulfillment, so it's baffling how they justify such high fees.

Even worse, Udemy frequently runs deep discounts. Imagine setting your course at $100, only to see Udemy sell it for $10 during a promotion. While this may drive volume, it severely undervalues your hard work and turns your course into just another commodity in the marketplace. How will you explain to your loyal customers that waiting a day could have saved them 90%?

On Sherpo, you maintain full control over your pricing. Whether you want to charge $5, $500, or even $5,000, you decide the value of your content. This freedom lets you cater to different audience segments and offer premium products without being boxed in by marketplace rules.

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Customization: White-Label vs. Marketplace

Udemy’s status as a marketplace means you’re just another course on the shelf. You can’t white-label your content, you don’t own your student data, and you’re forced to operate under Udemy’s branding. There’s no room for customization, no personal branding, and no flexibility to build a unique learning experience.

Sherpo takes the opposite approach. It’s a white-label platform, meaning your brand takes center stage—not Sherpo’s. You can customize everything from landing pages to a custom video player, creating an experience that aligns with your brand’s unique identity. Plus, Sherpo enables you to offer more than just courses: you can sell webinars, coaching, digital downloads, memberships, and more, opening up multiple revenue streams.

And with Sherpo, you own your student data and audience—no more losing access if you ever decide to switch platforms.

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AI Tools: Future-Proofing Your Content Creation

Another area where Udemy falls short is innovation. As a course marketplace, it lacks any serious tools to streamline or enhance your content creation process.

Sherpo, on the other hand, offers AI-powered tools designed to accelerate content creation and simplify management. Some standout features include:

• AI-generated captions, transcripts, summaries, translations, and voiceovers for videos, improving accessibility and content reach.
• AI-powered web page builder to help you organize your content faster, even generating AI-enhanced images.
• AI analytics that help you make data-driven decisions, with insights into customer engagement and sales trends.
• Pay-as-you-go AI pricing, where you only pay for the AI features you use.

With Sherpo’s AI tools, you’re not just building content—you’re doing it faster and smarter, making you more productive while maintaining complete creative control.

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Ownership and Data: Your Business, Your Rules

A critical difference between Udemy and Sherpo is the issue of ownership. On Udemy, you don’t fully own your audience or student data—Udemy does. If you ever leave the platform, your audience stays behind, effectively locking you out of the relationships you worked so hard to build.

Sherpo puts control back in your hands. On Sherpo, you own your data. Whether you want to export your contacts, move to a different platform, or use your student data for marketing, it’s yours to keep. This level of autonomy is crucial for creators looking to build a long-term, sustainable business.

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Udemy vs. Sherpo: Side-by-Side Comparison

Let’s break down the major differences between Udemy and Sherpo:

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The Verdict: Don’t Burn Your Academy—Build It on Sherpo

If you’re serious about building a profitable, scalable content business, Sherpo is the clear winner. With lower fees, full control over your pricing and branding, and AI tools to help you create and manage your content efficiently, Sherpo is designed to help creators like you succeed—without losing revenue to platforms like Udemy.

Ready to take control of your academy? Get started with Sherpo Flex for free and begin selling on your own terms. Need help moving your courses over? Contact us at migrations@sherpo.io—we’ll handle the transition for you.

Stop letting Udemy dictate your success. With Sherpo, it’s your business, your rules.