Kohortly vs Arlo
Arlo runs the back office of training. Kohortly runs the back office and the learning.
Arlo is training management software for training providers: course scheduling, online registration and checkout, invoicing, reminders, a CRM and reporting, with customer portals and an instructor app on higher plans. It's priced per administrator, from $118 a month billed yearly, plus a charge for every registration ($2.15 paid, $1.07 free), with e-learning sold as an add-on. Kohortly includes the registration and fee side and the learning itself: courses, live rooms, community, attendance and certificates.
The short answer
Choose Arlo if
- You run many scheduled public courses and sell seats by card.
- You need accounting integrations such as Xero, or Salesforce.
- You already have an LMS and only need the admin side.
Choose Kohortly if
- You want registrations, learning and community in one place.
- You don't want a charge on every registration.
- Learners pay by bank transfer, mobile money or through an employer.
- Reminders need to reach people on WhatsApp or SMS.
Arlo and Kohortly at a glance
- Price
- Arlo: Per administrator: $118, $204 or $271/month billed yearly ($132, $227, $302 monthly)
- Kohortly: From $49 a month ($41 billed yearly). Every feature on every plan, 0% on what learners pay.
- Per registration
- Arlo: $2.15 per paid, $1.07 per free registration
- Kohortly: None
- E-learning
- Arlo: Add-on, $99–$149/month
- Kohortly: Included
- Setup
- Arlo: Implementation required on every plan
- Kohortly: Set up for you
Feature by feature
| Feature | Kohortly | Arlo |
|---|---|---|
| Community feed, categories and polls | ||
| Courses, lessons and progress | E-learning add-on | |
| Points, levels and leaderboards | ||
| Live sessions | Live rooms in the browser, with breakout groups and recording | Scheduled sessions; video links |
| Admissions | Application forms with a review queue | Registration forms and rules |
| Cohorts | Intakes with seats, dates and class times | Scheduled courses and sessions |
| Attendance | Online and in person, with QR check-in | Instructor app, from Professional |
| Certificates | Issued on completion, with a public check page | Automated on Enterprise |
| Small groups | Squads inside each cohort | |
| Impact reporting | Impact reports and follow-up surveys | Reporting and dashboards |
| Payments made outside a card checkout | Bank transfer, M-Pesa, UPI, Pix, card and cash recorded, with receipts and balances | Invoices and gateway checkout |
| One payer for many learners | An employer or sponsor pays for several learners | Organisation portals, from Professional |
| WhatsApp and SMS | WhatsApp and SMS reminders and announcements | |
| Email broadcasts and automatic sequences | Email automation | |
| Phone app | Installable web app under your own name and logo, plus the Kohortly phone app | Instructor app |
| Web address | kohortly.com/yourname, or your own domain | Arlo website or your own site |
| Developer access | Public API, MCP server and CLI | |
| Fee on what learners pay | 0% | $2.15 per paid registration |
Arlo details as of November 2026, from Arlo pricing, Capterra: Arlo and published reviews. Prices and fees change, so check Arlo's site before you decide.
What the per-registration charge adds up to
Arlo charges for each administrator and for each registration: $2.15 for a paid one and $1.07 for a free one. An organisation with two administrators on Professional and 2,000 paid registrations a year pays about $408 a month in licences plus about $4,300 a year in registrations, before the e-learning add-on and implementation.
Kohortly starts at $49 a month, with no charge per registration, and the learning side (courses, live rooms, community, certificates) is included.
Admin software versus a place to learn
Arlo is strong at the business of training: schedules, venues, registrations, invoices and reports. Learners mostly see a booking page and emails.
Kohortly gives learners somewhere to go after they register: their intake's space with lessons, live sessions, a feed, squads, chats and their fee balance, and alumni stay in the community after they graduate.
Reaching people where they already are
Arlo sends automated emails. Kohortly sends class reminders on WhatsApp with "I'll be there" and "Can't make it" buttons, and the answers appear on the attendance list. Announcements can go by email, WhatsApp, SMS and the in-app bell at once.
Learners can also add your community to their home screen as an app under your own name and logo, so they open your programme, not someone else's brand. The Kohortly phone app keeps all their communities under one sign-in.
Where Arlo is the better choice
No platform suits everyone. Arlo does these things better than Kohortly:
- Deep scheduling, venues and session management for public courses.
- Accounting (Xero) and Salesforce integrations.
- Mature invoicing, credit notes and multi-region tax.
Moving from Arlo to Kohortly
- Request a community. We set it up with your name, logo and colours, at kohortly.com/yourname or on your own domain.
- Import your members from a CSV export, with their names, emails and phone numbers.
- Recreate your programmes and courses. Lesson videos can be uploaded or embedded, and we can help with the move when we agree your plan.
- Invite members to sign in. Their history starts in Kohortly from the next intake.
Questions
How much does Arlo cost?+
Arlo is priced per administrator: Simple $118, Professional $204 and Enterprise $271 a month billed yearly ($132, $227 and $302 monthly), plus $2.15 per paid and $1.07 per free registration. E-learning is a $99–$149 a month add-on and implementation is required. Check arlo.co for current prices.
Does Arlo include an LMS?+
E-learning is an add-on: authoring for $99 a month, SCORM for $99 a month plus 50¢ per enrolment, or both for $149. Kohortly includes courses, live rooms and community in its plan.
Arlo or Kohortly: which should I choose?+
Choose Arlo if you schedule many public courses and need accounting integrations. Choose Kohortly if you run cohorts and want admissions, learning, community, fees and attendance in one place, without a charge per registration.
Other comparisons
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