Selling online courses to companies: licences and pricing
How to sell a video course to companies: team licences, per-seat pricing, who signs off, what goes on the invoice and how Udemy Business pays instructors.
A company buying a course for ten employees is worth ten individual customers, in one deal. For creators who teach professional skills (software, marketing, communication, technical procedures) it's an often-overlooked channel.
This guide covers what companies look for, how to build a team offer, how to price it and when going through a marketplace like Udemy Business makes more sense.
What do companies buy?
A result for the team, not a video course as such: fewer errors in a procedure, a new tool adopted quickly, a missing skill filled. Your course is interesting if you can describe it in those terms.
Compared with an individual, a company asks for three extra things: managing several logins, an invoice and a way to see who completed the course. If your platform can't assign seats or show team progress, look at alternatives in the best platforms to sell online courses.
How do you build a team offer?
With three parts: the course, an optional live element and a way to track progress.
| Essential | Can be charged separately | |
|---|---|---|
| Course access for each team member | Yes | No |
| Invoice addressed to the company | Yes | No |
| Completion report or certificates | Depends | Depends |
| Live Q&A session for the team | No | Yes |
| Examples adapted to the company's cases | No | Yes |
Our editorial framework. Custom work costs time: charge for it separately.
Certificates are often requested by whoever manages internal training; we cover them in online course certificates.
How do you set prices?
The clearest approach is tiered pricing: the per-seat price falls as seats increase. The company sees the total at once, and you reward bigger orders without negotiating each time.
Our example, not a market price list. Excluding sales tax or VAT.
See the data as a table
| Number of seats | Price per seat |
|---|---|
| 1-4 seats | 149 $ |
| 5-19 seats | 120 $ |
| 20-49 seats | 95 $ |
| 50+ seats | 80 $ |
Price live team sessions separately, starting from your time, as we explain in high-ticket coaching for creators.
A deal example
A creator who teaches Excel for finance teams gets a request from a company with 14 people in accounts. With tiered pricing, 14 seats at $120 come to $1,680, before tax. The company also wants a two-hour live session on its own files: she prices it separately at $400, based on her preparation and delivery time. The total is $2,080, against $2,086 if she sold 14 individual courses at $149; however, here there's one sale, one invoice, and the live session makes the team more likely to complete the course. Also, if new people join the team in six months, the company already has a supplier. In practice, the advantage of selling to companies isn't the price per seat but the number of seats per deal and the chance of repeat orders. The numbers are our example.
Who decides and how do you reach them?
The people to reach are team leads who have the problem: they propose the purchase. LinkedIn is the natural channel for many trainers, as we explain in LinkedIn for creators and course creators. A dedicated "for teams" page, with the price tiers and a quote request form, makes the request easy.
Prepare a one-page proposal with the problem you solve, the curriculum, number of seats, access period, total price and what the company gets on the invoice. Whoever approves the spend will only read that page.
What about marketplaces like Udemy Business?
They're an alternative: instead of selling yourself, your course joins a catalogue companies buy by subscription. Udemy explains that each month it allocates 15% of Udemy Business subscription revenue to an instructor revenue pool; each instructor's share equals their share of minutes consumed across all courses in the catalogue. To take part, included content must be hosted exclusively on Udemy.
That said, the upside is distribution; the downside is that you don't control price, customer relationship or student data. The full comparison is in Udemy vs your own course platform.
Which mistakes should you avoid?
- Talking about the course instead of the team's result. Companies buy results.
- The same per-seat price as individuals. Big orders expect a clear discount.
- Free customisation. Custom work is paid separately.
- No way to manage logins. Sending ten links by hand doesn't scale.
- Forgetting the invoice. For a company it's a requirement, not a detail.
Key terms. A team licence grants course access to a set number of people at a company. Tiered pricing is a per-seat price that falls as seats increase. A marketplace is a catalogue of many instructors' courses sold by a platform.
How we checked. We found no independent data on how often companies buy creator courses, so we don't quote figures. We read Udemy's help page on how instructors earn from Udemy Business and subscription plans. The price tiers and the example are ours. Contact: hi@heytea.app. Editorial note: we check every figure against the sources listed below and correct mistakes openly.
Frequently asked questions
Can you sell a video course to companies?
Yes, if the course solves a work problem: a skill a team needs, a procedure, a tool. Companies usually buy licences for several people, want an invoice and want to know who completed the course. The total deal is bigger than a single sale, but the process takes longer.
How do you price for a company?
With a per-seat price that drops as the number of seats rises, or a flat price for a whole team up to a set size. Example: $149 for individuals, $120 per seat for 5-19 people, $95 from 20 up. Price any live team sessions separately.
Who decides the purchase inside a company?
Rarely one person. Usually there's whoever has the problem (the team lead), whoever approves spending (management or procurement) and sometimes L&D or HR. Your proposal has to answer all of them: result for the team, total cost and what's on the invoice.
Should I go through Udemy Business instead?
It's another route with different rules. Udemy says it allocates 15% of monthly Udemy Business subscription revenue to instructors, split by share of minutes watched. You reach many companies without selling yourself, but you don't control price or the customer relationship, and included content must be hosted exclusively on Udemy.
What do you need to sell to a company?
A written proposal with curriculum, number of seats, access period and price; the ability to issue an invoice; a way to assign access to team members; and often a completion report or certificate. Many companies also ask for a quote before ordering.
Sources
- Udemy, "How do I earn revenue from Udemy Business and subscription plans?". Accessed 19 October 2026. success.udemy.com