Kohortly vs edX
edX hosts university programmes. Kohortly hosts yours.
edX, run by 2U, offers over 5,300 programmes from more than 250 universities and companies to a network of over 100 million learners: free courses, paid certificates, bootcamps and degrees. Like Coursera, it publishes through partnerships, not for any organisation. Kohortly gives every academy, NGO and training business its own space to run programmes with admissions, cohorts, attendance, fees and certificates.
The short answer
Choose edX if
- You're a university or company partner of 2U.
- You want your programme in a global university catalogue.
- You offer degrees or credit-bearing certificates.
Choose Kohortly if
- You're an independent academy, NGO or training business.
- You run cohorts with live and in-person sessions.
- Learners pay you directly, in instalments or through an employer.
- You want your own brand, community and alumni network.
edX and Kohortly at a glance
- Who can teach
- edX: Universities and company partners
- Kohortly: Any training organisation
- Price to you
- edX: Partnership agreement with 2U
- Kohortly: From $49 a month ($41 billed yearly). Every feature on every plan, 0% on what learners pay.
- Reach
- edX: Over 100 million learners
- Kohortly: Your own audience, plus the Kohortly directory
- Whose brand
- edX: edX alongside the partner's
- Kohortly: Yours
Feature by feature
| Feature | Kohortly | edX |
|---|---|---|
| Community feed, categories and polls | Course forums | |
| Courses, lessons and progress | Courses, certificates, bootcamps and degrees | |
| Points, levels and leaderboards | ||
| Live sessions | Live rooms in the browser, with breakout groups and recording | Bootcamps and degrees |
| Admissions | Application forms with a review queue | Degree and bootcamp admissions |
| Cohorts | Intakes with seats, dates and class times | Bootcamp and degree cohorts |
| Attendance | Online and in person, with QR check-in | |
| Certificates | Issued on completion, with a public check page | Verified certificates |
| Small groups | Squads inside each cohort | |
| Impact reporting | Impact reports and follow-up surveys | Partner reports |
| Payments made outside a card checkout | Bank transfer, M-Pesa, UPI, Pix, card and cash recorded, with receipts and balances | edX's checkout only |
| One payer for many learners | An employer or sponsor pays for several learners | edX for Business, sold by edX |
| WhatsApp and SMS | WhatsApp and SMS reminders and announcements | |
| Email broadcasts and automatic sequences | Course emails | |
| Phone app | Installable web app under your own name and logo, plus the Kohortly phone app | edX's app |
| Web address | kohortly.com/yourname, or your own domain | A page on edx.org |
| Developer access | Public API, MCP server and CLI | |
| Fee on what learners pay | 0% | Partnership revenue share |
edX details as of November 2026, from edX: 100 million learner network, 2U: what we built in 2025 and published reviews. Prices and fees change, so check edX's site before you decide.
A university catalogue, by partnership
edX's strength is its partners: universities such as Oxford and companies such as Google publish programmes there, and its certificates carry their names. Publishing is through a partnership with 2U, so an independent academy can't simply sign up and launch a cohort.
Kohortly is open to any organisation that trains people. You request a community, we set it up with your brand, and you run programmes with your own admissions, fees, sessions and certificates.
Getting paid the way your learners pay
edX takes payment for certificates, bootcamps and degrees through its own checkout. Many of the organisations we work with are paid by bank transfer, mobile money such as M-Pesa, UPI or Pix, a company cheque, a card on their own machine (Visa, Mastercard, American Express) or cash at the first session, often in instalments.
Kohortly records each payment against the learner's fee account, issues a receipt, shows the balance and reminds people before an instalment is due, by email, WhatsApp or SMS. Nothing is taken from what your learners pay: Kohortly charges 0%.
When an employer pays for ten staff, one payer covers all ten seats and gets one invoice, while each learner still has their own place in the cohort.
Reaching people where they already are
edX sends course emails and app notifications. 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 edX is the better choice
No platform suits everyone. edX does these things better than Kohortly:
- University and company brands behind every certificate.
- A very large global learner network.
- Degrees and credit-bearing programmes.
Moving from edX 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
Who runs edX?+
edX is run by 2U. It reaches over 100 million learners with more than 5,300 programmes from over 250 university and company partners.
Can my academy publish on edX?+
edX publishes through partnerships, mostly with universities and large companies. Independent academies usually can't publish there; Kohortly is built for them.
edX or Kohortly: which should I choose?+
Learners looking for university courses should use edX. Organisations running their own programmes with admissions, cohorts, attendance and fees should use Kohortly.
Other comparisons
Bring your next cohort to Kohortly
Request a community today. We review every request by hand.