Market Map · as of 2026-10-13

Online Education & Course Market Map

233 online education, course and AI learning players across the US, Europe, Korea, Japan and China (+ India and others) in one table (US 46 · Europe 40 · Korea 58 · Japan 40 · China 42 · Other 7). Filter and sort by country, origin type, field, usage, revenue, revenue model, instructor payout, price band, face exposure and AI integration. Every figure carries the source check mark from our primary research (✔ filing or primary source / △ press report or estimate / ✘ shut down or refuted).

Research as of 2026-10-13Last updated 2026-10-16Marks: ✔ primary source or filing / △ press report or estimate / ✘ not the caseReport an error

The industry in six numbers

$203.8BGlobal online education market (Statista 2025 △) · definitions vary 3–5x across research firms under the same label

$394.5BGlobal corporate training (Training Industry 2025 △) · $102.8B in the US alone (firms with 100+ staff · Training magazine)

20% → 15%Instructor share of Udemy subscription revenue (2024 → 2026-01 △) · marketplace instructor payouts shrink year by year

−39%Chegg 2025 revenue (△) · 10-K cites Google AI Overviews as the cause — AI replaces “answer-selling” products first

$20.8B → $2.4BGlobal EdTech VC funding from the 2021 peak to 2025 (HolonIQ ✔) · though a broader European “AI × work” definition doubled in 2025 (Brighteye △)

$10M · 89%Justin Welsh cumulative revenue & profit margin (2025-06 self-report ✔) · solo · 0 employees · direct sales on Kajabi — emblem of the solo creator tier

How the players are grouped

Each player is classified by its primary “origin (where it started)” and secondary “side lines (what it has added since).” Megastudy now ships AI tutors and Ryo-gakucho runs offline hubs, so single-bucket labels fail. Turn on “Include secondary types” to catch legacy academies that have bolted on AI. Because AI is the biggest variable in education, companies built around AI from day one sit in type ⑥, while existing players that added AI are filtered via the “AI integrated” flag.

① Academy · publishing legacyBorn in offline cram schools, textbooks, correspondence courses or school publishing. Money = all-access passes · textbooks · offline centers · school procurement (Megastudy · Toshin · Benesse · New Oriental · Pearson)

② Online course platformDedicated MOOCs, marketplaces, subscriptions and online academies. Money = marketplace cut · subscriptions · enterprise seats (Coursera+Udemy · Inflearn · Class101 · Schoo · Dedao · Babbel)

③ Creator · solo instructorA person’s (or character’s) name is the brand. Money = direct VOD · cohorts · paid communities · books · talks · sponsorships (Kim Mi-kyung · Ryo-gakucho · Justin Welsh · Li Yizhou)

④ Sales tools · infrastructureSaaS, checkout and community tools that let others sell courses. Money = monthly SaaS subscriptions · transaction fees (Kajabi · Skool · Xiaoetong · note · UTAGE)

⑤ Social · content platformVideo or audio platforms whose learning distribution is massive. Money = ads · paid memberships · live commerce (YouTube · TikTok · Bilibili · Douyin · Ximalaya)

⑥ AI-nativeAI (tutors, conversation, adaptive learning, video generation) is the product from day one. Money = subscriptions · school & enterprise contracts (Speak · Khanmigo · atama+ · Squirrel AI · Elice · Synthesia)

Filter design and why· Five always-visible rows (Country · Origin type · Field · Scale tier · Flags): the five axes readers slice first stay on top; the other seven sit inside “More filters” so twelve rows of chips don’t push the table off screen.· Field (8): even under one word “courses,” K-12 test prep, civil-service exams, languages, IT/AI skills, and finance/self-improvement have completely different buyers and price points. Solo instructors and practical AI courses cluster in “Career · IT · AI” and “Business · Finance · Self-improvement.”· Scale tier · Metric type: raw numbers can’t be compared directly when one company reports cumulative signups and another reports MAU or paid subscribers. We group the headline metric into S (100M+) · A (10M+) · B (1M+) · C (100K+) · D (<100K) and pair it with a Metric type filter.· Revenue sort (est. USD): in education, “most users” and “most revenue” often run in opposite directions (Megastudy’s official YouTube has 236K subscribers vs. KRW 884.9B revenue; Syuka World has 3.73M subscribers and zero course revenue). Social platforms’ corporate revenues are excluded from the revenue sort.· Customers (B2C · B2B · B2G): corporate training (B2B) and public procurement (B2G) are far more resilient in the AI era than consumer homework apps (e.g. UK DfE AI tutor procurement · Korea KDT · Japan GIGA).· Revenue model (16): tracks money moving from single-course VOD to subscriptions, cohorts, communities and B2B training. Selecting multiple tags filters for players that combine all of them.· Instructor payout: the most important axis for creators — split into Exclusive contract (star cram-school lecturers) · Instructor 50%+ (Inflearn · Dedao 50:50) · Instructor under 50% (Udemy subscription 15%) · Direct sales (own courses).· Price band: Free · Low (≤$75 one-off or ≤$15/mo) · Mid · High ($400+ one-off, coaching, bootcamps, degrees). Useful for spotting “low-ticket front door → high-ticket upsell” funnels like Li Yizhou.· Face exposure: added to track faceless creators and AI tutors separately — Real name & face · Character · avatar · Faceless (text, voice or AI) · N/A (platforms). Ryo-gakucho, Duolingo, Malhaeboca and Khan Academy sit here.· Ownership: Listed · Family/wealthy individual · Founder-independent · Corporate affiliate · Public/nonprofit · PE/creditors. Many 2021 peak buyouts ended up with PE or creditors (Pluralsight · Kahoot! · Benesse).· Flags (AI integrated · Tools only · Distressed/closed): isolate players with AI at the core, pure SaaS/checkout tools, or those that went bankrupt, sold for parts or shut down.

Players

Country

Origin type Include secondary types

Field

Scale tier

Flags

More filters — Customers · Metric type · Revenue model · Instructor payout · Price band · Face exposure · Ownership

Customers

Metric type

Revenue model

Payout

Price band

Face exposure

Ownership

Sort

#	Name	Country	Origin · Field	Headline metric · Tier · Check	Revenue (est.)	Revenue model

The table adapts to screen width (narrow screens hide revenue model, revenue and origin columns; click any row to see all fields). Click a row to expand operator, founding year, raw usage figures, pricing, revenue & valuation, instructor payout, AI notes, recent developments and source links. “Revenue (est.)” is converted to USD millions at approximate rates (1 USD = 1,400 KRW = 150 JPY = 7.2 CNY = 0.92 EUR = 0.78 GBP). Scale tiers are assigned from a single headline metric, so do not compare across different metric types without filtering.

Market size — read each definition on its own

Scope	Value	Definition · timing	Check
Global online education	$203.8B → 2029 $279.3B	Statista 2025 (via secondary PDF) · CAGR 8.2%	△
Global corporate training	$394.5B (North America $186.4B)	Training Industry 2025 · US firms with 100+ staff: $102.8B (Training magazine)	△
Total global education	2030 ~ $10T	HolonIQ 2025 outlook · includes public education	△
Global AI in Education	$2.2B–$11.1B (5x gap by firm)	2024–25 · narrow definition MarketsandMarkets $2.21B vs. broader definitions by Mordor & Precedence	△
Global EdTech VC funding	$20.8B (2021) → $2.4B (2025)	HolonIQ · H1 2026 ~ $1.0B	✔ / △
Creator-led courses only	No standalone survey	Inferred from platform disclosures — Kajabi cumulative creatorGMV $10B+ · Patreon annual payout $2B+ · Whop cumulative $845M · Stan ARR $35M	△
European EdTech VC	$1.2B (2023) → $0.8B (2024) · broad definition €0.71B → €1.6B (2024 → 2025)	Brighteye (secondary citation) · capital shifted from K-12 apps to AI workforce reskilling	△
Europe’s largest listed educator	Pearson £3.577B	FY2025 full year · underlying +4%	✔
Korea e-learning supply revenue	KRW 5.852T	MOTIE · NIPA · SPRi 2024 · excludes offline cram schools	△
Korea K-12 private tutoring spend	KRW 27.5T (−5.7%)	MOE · Statistics Korea 2025 · first drop in 5 years, but record KRW 604K/month per student	△
Japan e-learning	JPY 392.35B (+2.7%) · B2B 129.35B · B2C 263.0B	Yano Research Institute FY2025 forecast	✔
Japan total education industry	JPY 2,855.57B (+0.7%)	Yano sum of 15 major segments FY2024 · cram & prep schools ~ JPY 985B	✔ / △
China paid knowledge (知识付费)	CNY 112.65B (2022) · 280.88B (2025 forecast)	iiMedia · actuals not published	△
China vocational education (职业教育)	CNY 871.9B (2022) → 2027 1,268.1B forecast	Frost & Sullivan (via Jiemian) · distinct from paid knowledge definition	△
China MOOCs	483M registrations · 97K courses	Ministry of Education 2024-12 · combined across 30+ platforms	△

Business models — 16 ways the money comes in

Revenue model	Examples · typical pricing	Trend

Depending on where the exact same course is sold, the instructor keeps anywhere from 7% to 100%. Marketplaces and subscription pools have trimmed creator shares year after year, pushing solo instructors toward flat-fee SaaS tools for direct sales. Figures reflect official disclosures and press reports.

Channel	Country	Instructor payout · fee	Changes	Check

Where AI disrupts and where it helps — by tier

Cross-checked across 81 AI education players. Products that sell “answers and explanations” are being replaced by LLMs, whereas products teaching “process, judgment and execution” and B2B “how to use AI” training are growing fast.

Segment	AI impact	Evidence

Timeline of M&A, buyouts and collapses

Date	Deal · event	Amount	Note

People moving the industry

Person	Country	Role · brand	Core business model	Defining move · numbers

13 industry trends (2024–2026)

Five standouts to watch, one per region

Alongside each region’s flagship platforms and academies, we picked one solo creator or emerging player with a distinct monetization model.

Changes

2026-10-16 First public edition (research as of 2026-10-13).