Choosing an Online Teaching Platform: 15 Questions to Ask
Before you commit to a platform for your institute, ask these fifteen questions about content security, payments, apps, support, data and price.
Choosing a platform for your institute is a decision you live with for years. Your courses, students and payment history end up inside it. These fifteen questions help you compare options honestly, including us.
Content and security
1. Are videos encrypted, and do they play only inside the app? Public or downloadable links will leak.
2. Can you limit each student to a set number of devices? This stops shared accounts.
3. Is there a watermark with the student's details? It deters screen recording and identifies leaks.
4. Can students download for offline viewing safely? Students on mobile data need it; downloads should stay encrypted.
Students' experience
5. Is there an app with your institute's name on Google Play and the App Store? Students and parents trust your brand more than a platform's.
6. Does it work on slow connections? Test it on mobile data outside the city.
7. Are live classes and tests inside the same app? Every extra app or link loses students.
Payments and business
8. Can students pay with the wallets they use, such as eSewa and Khalti? And does access open automatically?
9. Can you track instalments and dues?
10. What does it really cost? Ask for the monthly price, setup fees, any share of your sales, storage and bandwidth limits, and what happens when you grow.
Running the institute
11. How easy is it to build a course? Ask for a demo where you build one chapter yourself.
12. Can several staff work with different roles? And can you see who changed what?
13. Can AI help with the admin work? Bulk imports and reports are where time goes.
Data and support
14. Who owns the data, and can you export it? You should be able to export students, payments and results at any time.
15. Who answers when something breaks? Ask about support hours, language and response time, and talk to an existing customer.
Do a real trial
Pick your most popular course and set up one chapter, one test and one payment on each platform you are considering. An afternoon of hands-on testing tells you more than any feature list.
We built Lariyo to answer yes to these questions. Book a demo and ask us all fifteen, or read our comparisons with Moodle and Google Classroom.
Questions people ask
What is the most important thing when choosing a teaching platform?
Whether it protects your paid content and makes it easy for students to pay and learn in one place. Test both in a real trial.
Should I pay a share of my course sales to a platform?
Ask every provider about it upfront and compare the total cost at your expected number of students, not just the monthly price.
