If you’re a pet professional thinking about creating an online course, membership, or learning community you’ve probably already realised the hardest part isn’t the content… It’s choosing the right platform.
Kajabi? Thinkific? Skool? New Zenler? Something else entirely?
There are so many options, and most comparison articles are written by tech companies or affiliate marketers, not by people who actually work with pet professionals every day.
So instead of generic feature lists, this guide shares real platforms used by real pet pros, along with their honest feedback on what’s working (and what’s not).
Whether you’re a dog trainer, behaviourist, groomer, walker, or pet business owner looking to diversify your income, this 2026 guide will show you other pet professional’s platforms to explore.
Please note, some of the people below are WUF clients and some aren’t. None of the links are WUF websites, they are all the content platforms that people have chosen. Some have made their platform look like a website, some just pop a couple of courses up and then link to that from their main website. That’s the joy, you get to choose how to do things!
What to look for in an online course or membership platform
The key thing to do is to establish what YOU want to offer. All the software offer slightly different things and it’s easy to get awayed by their shiny marketing websites.
Important differentiations and things to think about:
- What is the monthly fee?
- Is video hosting included?
- What is the transaction fee?
- Is a membership area included?
- Is there an app?
- Is email marketing included?
- Does it connect easily with your existing email marketing platform if you prefer to keep using that?
On a personal note, I am and have been a member of several memberships built on Circle.so and LOVE it as a user.
New Zenler users
Visit the New Zenler website 👉
Martina Miradoli is the border collie expert at https://thatlldoacademy.newzenler.com/
Helen specialises in labradors at https://www.labralife.com/
Sue has her dog grooming courses at https://takingthegrrr.newzenler.com/
Sue says she moved from Thinkific, which was more expensive for fewer features. She says, “So easy to use, integrated Mailing System and Zoom (saved me a fortune), options to include blogs. Regular webinars to help create products, etc., a good, helpful community and guides. One of the presenters always uses dog training examples, which makes it really relevant.”
Victoria Cooper has her course at https://www.victoria-cooper.co.uk/courses/from-reactive-to-relaxed
She says “Easy to load courses and edit the website as and when. User-friendly. Easy to add coupons. Sales funnels etc
What I don’t like about it is I have 2 sites and you can’t duplicate course content from one to the other even under the same platform. You have to load content separately, which is nuts and frustrating”
Ness has her separation anxiety content at https://www.nessjones.com/
She is a big fan and gave me a list of everything that she loves about New Zenler:
“1. It’s an all-in-one platform meaning I save on buying additional software such as eg email list provides (such as MailChimp)
2. I can house my email list there, send out bulk emails and create lead magnets easily on it
3. The plan I am on provides me with the ability to link THREE domains (one of them is the one I run my summits on – Decoding Your Canine – and I have my website on the other one)
4. It has funnels (both written and video format)
5. I can set summits/courses, bundle my courses, run webinars through it and hold classes via it (it links to Zoom)
6. There is a community feature, much like Facebook
7. It integrates with plenty of other software eg Stripe/PayPal/email list providers (although I use the one already built it and it’s perfect for my needs)
8. There’s a mobile app for users so they don’t have to go through a web browser (eg students dong a course with me). There is Gamification for students (I haven’t used this yet) and you can brand your content with your own colors/fonts etc
9. New Zenler is constantly updating and adding new cool features, there’s a vibrant Facebook group where you can get questions answered and support is excellent when you need tech help
10. It’s cheaper than a lot of other systems/platforms eg Kajabi”
Skool users
Visit the Skool website 👉
Stephanie has moved the whole Holistic Grooming Academy to https://www.skool.com/theholisticgroomingacademy/about
She has saved money on the monthly plan cost and says, “Everything comes off Facebook, which means no fighting algorithms either! People in your community receive all updates and you can even set an email alert as well for important posts.”
Angela has her community on Skool https://www.skool.com/dogs/about
Angela says, “As a small business, I felt I was shouting into the wind on Facebook. Small businesses are getting lost. I tried Memberpress but it it was too transactional. I missed connecting with real people. I wanted community, a community full of my people who love dogs as I do.
Skool changed everything – community first, courses second. Every post members make is seen, it’s so much fun. It’s gamified, so everyone is rewarded for just showing up and engaging. I’m now building a community of amazing people instead of running a website or talking to the wind.”
Thinkific users
Visit the Thinkific website 👉
Daniel houses his courses, memberships and webinars at https://www.brainandbehaviouracademy.co.uk/
Fliss hosts all her content at https://svps-education.thinkific.com/
Fliss says “It’s easy to navigate to build a funnel for your course.”
Kajabi users
Visit the Kajabi website 👉
Niki French has everything Pup Talk at https://pup-talk.mykajabi.com/the-pack
Niki says “Love the App that comes with it!”
Caroline Wilkinson is one of the OG course providers and has Barket Place at https://www.barketplace.uk/
Caroline says “My community were reluctant to move off FB initially but now find it really easy in the community area in the app.” and “I now use it for my emails too (with for some reason better deliverability than Mailchimp)”
Teachable users
Sharon has her academy at https://dobercademy-dog-training-school-behavioural-ce.teachable.com/
Sharon says “I use Teachable because it was the most well-known when I started. I wish I’d used New Zenler or Kajabi now as I’m also paying for a client management platform, which Teachable doesn’t really provide.
I’d like to have everything under one roof, as it would be more cost-effective but as I have so many courses on teachable it would be too time consuming/costly to transfer.
Teachable also hold back a small percentage of takings for a few months for reasons which I don’t really understand 
It’s easy to build on & use though!”
Membervault users
Mandy houses her Scentwork content at https://scentworkacademy.mvsite.app/
She says, “I use Membervault, great value. I didn’t find it as complex as Kajabi , Brilliant customer service but wish they had an app.”
Learn Worlds users
Deb has her Uniquely Paws-able courses on https://yourinnerdog.learnworlds.com/
Deb says, “I switched from Teachable, which was getting more and more expensive, and people in my membership had a hard time finding information. I didn’t feel it let me organise content in a user-friendly way.
I’m enjoying Learn Worlds but I’m very new to it still. My members are loving the new format, it’s much easier and user-friendly as far as organising content. A bit of work to get everything moved over, but worth it.”
Systeme users
Visit the Systeme website 👉
Rachel has her courses at https://woollvenrachel.systeme.io/school?tab=explore_courses
Other options
I hear good things about https://www.heartbeat.chat/
Build on WordPress
If you decide you’d prefer to build your courses and community into WordPress I’d check out:
Caroline uses Learn Dash to house her extensive content at https://www.petcourses.co.uk/
She says, ” I use Learndash for pet courses, which has given me the flexibility to develop my own learning platform, tailored for a wider range of student groups. I imagine it’s prohibitive unless you had the knowledge or knew someone who had the skill set to do that. Fortunately, I have a developer who works closely with me, otherwise I’d be lost!”
