Imagine this: You’re sitting at home, scrolling through your phone, and you come across yet another story of someone making six figures by teaching what they already know—be it cooking, graphic design, fitness, or even personal finance. You pause and think, “I could do this too.” The truth is, you can.

Creating online courses has become one of the smartest and most effective ways to make money online today. Why? Because people are constantly looking to learn new skills or improve on old ones, and they’re willing to pay for quality knowledge. Whether you’re an expert in something technical like coding or you’ve mastered a unique skill like bead-making or storytelling, there’s an audience out there for you.

This is a golden opportunity for Nigerians especially, where the digital economy is growing rapidly. The best part? You don’t need a huge budget to get started. While some tools can be expensive, plenty of free online course creation tools can help you build, market, and sell your course without spending a kobo. 

In this guide, I’ll walk you through 10 free online course creation tools that will help you turn your knowledge into a profitable course in 2025—without breaking the bank.

Now, why should you choose course creation?

Online course creation is a booming scene and for many good reasons. 

1. There’s been a massive demand for online learning

People are constantly looking to upskill, and online courses have become the go-to solution for learning new skills, hobbies, or professional knowledge. There’s a market for almost everything, from tech skills like coding to personal development topics like productivity.

2. Online course creation is a flexible and scalable income stream

Unlike traditional jobs, online course creation allows you to earn passive income. You create your course once, and it keeps generating revenue as people enroll. Plus, you can reach learners across Nigeria and even globally.

3. There are little to no entry barriers with online course creation 

Gone are the days when course creation was complicated or expensive. With the right tools—like Selar—you can easily create and sell online courses, even if you’re not tech-savvy.

4. You get to empower others while earning

Teaching a skill you’re good at is not just about the money—it’s also about impact. You get a good kick when someone uses a skill they learned to do something bigger. Creating online courses allows you to share your knowledge and help others achieve their goals.

8 free tools you need to create courses online in 2025

1. Selar (Your all-in-one course creation and selling platform)

If you’re serious about creating and selling courses online, Selar should be your first stop. Selar is an all-in-one platform designed to help creators like you sell digital products, including online courses, ebooks, and more.

Here’s why you need Selar to get started: 

• Simple to use: You don’t need to be a tech expert to use Selar. The platform is beginner-friendly, with clear guides to set up your course in minutes.
• Feature-packed for success – Selar gives you the tools you need to deliver an outstanding learning experience, including:
  
  Course certificates for students after completion
  Multi-course uploads (up to 15 courses)
  Flexible pricing options to maximize earnings

• Built for just for you: With Selar, you can receive funds in over 15 currencies, including naira, Ghanaian cedi, Kenyan shilling, South African rand, and even CFA for francophone countries as well as dollars, pounds, and euros. No missed sales, no payment struggles—just smooth transactions and more money in your pocket.
• Affordable: You don’t need to break the bank. With our free plan, you can host and sell your courses within minutes but with the pro plan selling at just ₦12,000, you’d take managing skyrocketing sales to a whole new level. It’s perfect for beginners and seasoned creators alike.

Once you’ve created your course, you can upload it to Selar, set your price, and start selling. The platform even helps you market your course to reach more people.

But before you get into sales, you need to first create the course. 

2. ChatGPT (for concept ideas and brainstorming)

ChatGPT can be a game-changer when you’re struggling with a creative block. This tool acts as a writing assistant, helping you brainstorm ideas, create course outlines, and even generate scripts for your lessons. Instead of spending hours figuring out how to explain a concept, you can simply ask ChatGPT to break it down in simple terms.

Whether you need help writing course descriptions, lesson summaries, or even quiz questions, ChatGPT makes the process faster and easier. It can also assist with promotional content ideas, generating email sequences, social media captions, and ad copy to market your course effectively. Without spending a dime, you can use ChatGPT to streamline your course creation process and save valuable time.

3. Canva (for beautiful content design) 

Your course content isn’t just about what you teach—it’s also about how it looks. A well-designed course makes learning easier and more engaging, and Canva is the perfect tool to help with that. It’s a free, beginner-friendly design platform that allows you to create everything from course slides and PDF workbooks to social media graphics and video thumbnails. Even if you have no design experience, Canva’s drag-and-drop interface and thousands of free templates make it easy to create professional-looking materials.

With Canva, you can design course slides that look polished, create downloadable resources like workbooks and cheat sheets, and brand your course with custom fonts and colours. If you plan to promote your course on social media, which you should, Canva also makes it easy to design promotional graphics that grab attention. The free version is powerful enough to get you started, but if you need access to premium templates, background removal, or custom branding, Canva Pro offers even more features.

4. Pexels – (for  free, high-quality visuals for your course)

When creating online courses, visuals are key to keeping students engaged and making your content more impactful. Pexels is an invaluable resource for free, high-quality photos and videos that can enhance your course materials without breaking the bank.

Whether you need professional images for your course slides, website, or promotional materials, Pexels offers a wide range of royalty-free images and videos that you can use in your projects. From vibrant cityscapes to cosy home-office setups, the platform provides visuals that fit almost any topic, making it easy to create visually appealing content for your course.

Pexels also has a video library, which is perfect for adding short clips to your lessons or creating intro and outro videos for your course. The best part is, that everything on Pexels is completely free to use, even for commercial purposes, so you don’t need to worry about licensing or attribution.

With Pexels, you can elevate your course’s appearance and create a more immersive learning experience, all while saving time and money on sourcing high-quality visuals.

5. Audacity (for quality audio)

If your course includes audio lessons, podcasts, or voiceovers, Audacity is the perfect tool to ensure your sound quality is professional. This free, open-source software allows you to record and edit audio with ease, even if you don’t have any prior audio editing experience.

With Audacity, you can record high-quality audio directly through your computer’s microphone or an external mic. It also offers a range of features to make your audio better, such as noise reduction, volume adjustments, and the ability to cut and trim recordings. This makes it easy to eliminate background noise, improve clarity, and ensure your audio is crisp and clear for your students.

Whether you’re creating a podcast series, narrating a video, or simply adding a voiceover to your course materials, Audacity provides all the tools you need to produce polished audio content. It’s user-friendly, highly customisable, and completely free, making it an ideal choice for course creators on a budget who still want to produce professional-quality sound.

6. Camtasia – (for creating high-quality course videos) 

Video is one of the most effective ways to deliver online courses, and if you want your lessons to look professional, Camtasia is the tool for the job. It’s an easy-to-use screen recording and video editing software that allows you to create engaging tutorial videos, walkthroughs, and presentations without needing advanced editing skills.

With Camtasia, you can record your screen while explaining concepts, making it perfect for software tutorials, presentations, or any lesson that requires visual demonstrations. You can also add voiceovers, animations, and on-screen text to make your videos more engaging. If you make a mistake while recording, the built-in editor lets you cut, trim, and refine your videos effortlessly.

Unlike complex editing software, Camtasia is designed for beginners, so you don’t need to spend weeks learning how to use it. Whether you’re recording a lecture, a step-by-step tutorial, or a slideshow presentation, Camtasia helps you produce polished, high-quality videos that keep your students engaged. 

7. Google forms – (for collecting feedback and assessments for your course)

As an online course creator, understanding your student’s needs and progress is key to improving your course and delivering value. This is where Google forms comes in handy. It’s a simple and free tool that allows you to create surveys, quizzes, and feedback forms to gather insights from your students.

Google forms can be used to collect important data, such as course feedback, and student evaluations, or even to test your students’ knowledge through quizzes. You can customize your forms to ask specific questions about the course content, teaching methods, and what could be improved. This feedback can help you refine your course and better cater to your audience’s preferences.

Additionally, Google Forms makes it easy to create assessments to track student progress and engagement. You can include multiple-choice questions, and open-ended answers, and even grade the quizzes automatically, saving you time and effort. All responses are neatly organized in a Google Sheets document, which allows you to easily analyze the data.

With its ease of use and seamless integration with other Google tools, Google Forms is an essential tool for any course creator looking to maintain a connection with their students and continuously improve their course offerings.

Now your course is tight, you want to share it with the world. 

8. Mailchimp (for email marketing)

Creating a great course is just the first step—getting people to buy it is where the real challenge begins. This is where Mailchimp comes in. It’s one of the best tools for email marketing, helping you build an audience, nurture leads, and keep your students engaged. With Mailchimp, you can collect email addresses, send automated welcome emails, and create targeted campaigns to promote your course.

If you’re just starting out, Mailchimp’s free plan allows you to build an email list and send newsletters to potential students. You can set up automated email sequences to guide them from interest to enrollment, send reminders about upcoming lessons, and even share exclusive content to keep them engaged. The platform also provides analytics, so you can track how well your emails are performing and refine your strategy.

Email marketing is one of the most powerful ways to sell online courses because it allows you to connect directly with your audience. Whether you’re announcing a new course, offering discounts, or sharing valuable tips, Mailchimp makes it easy to stay in touch with your students and grow your course business.

Launching an online course doesn’t have to be an expensive or overwhelming venture. Thanks to these 8 free tools, you can easily create, market, and sell your course without breaking the bank. 

And the best part? Once your course is ready, Selar makes it easy to sell, collect payments in multiple currencies, and even grow your course business. With our super intuitive platform, you don’t need to worry about complicated tech—just focus on creating great content, and let us handle the rest.

Turn your knowledge into a profitable online course today.