Create an Online Course

Curriculum design, materials, AI-presented video lessons and polished slides — a sellable course.

This workflow takes you from a course idea to a sellable online course with video lessons, polished slides, and structured curriculum. The combination works because each tool handles a distinct phase: ChatGPT for content creation, Notion AI for organization, Synthesia for video generation, Descript for editing, and Canva AI for visual design. You end up with a complete course package that looks professional and saves hours of production time. It's ideal for instructors, creators, and small teams who want to produce a course without hiring a video editor or designer.

The workflow, step by step

1
Design curriculum and draft scripts
ChatGPT
Use ChatGPT to brainstorm course outline, learning objectives, and write first-draft scripts for each lesson. Its conversational ability lets you refine ideas quickly, and it can adjust tone and complexity for your audience.
Hand-off → Curriculum outline and draft scripts in text.
2
Organize and polish course materials
Notion AI
Import your ChatGPT output into Notion to structure it as a course database. Use Notion AI to expand sections, fix grammar, and add summaries. This keeps all your content centralized and collaborative.
Hand-off → Structured course content with polished scripts and notes.
3
Generate AI presenter videos
Synthesia
Turn your scripts into video lessons using AI avatars and voiceovers in over 140 languages. No need to film yourself—Synthesia creates professional-looking presentations that scale with your course length.
Hand-off → Raw video files for each lesson.
4
Edit video by editing transcript
Descript
Import Synthesia videos and edit them by correcting the transcript—deleting, reordering, or adding text automatically updates the video. Add captions, fix timing, and polish audio for a clean final cut.
Hand-off → Edited, captioned video files.
5
Design presentation slides
Canva AI
Use Canva Magic Studio to generate slide decks that complement your video lessons. AI creates layouts, images, and brand-consistent designs based on your content. Finalize downloadable slides for students.

What this stack costs per month

Running on free tiers$0every tool here has a permanently free plan

All entry paid plans$18/mosum of 1 published starting prices, one seat each, plus 4 tools without published pricing

ChatGPTfreemium, pricing not published
Notion AIfreemium, pricing not published
Synthesiafrom $18/mo · free tier
Descriptfreemium, pricing not published
Canva AIfreemium, pricing not published

Computed from each vendor's published monthly prices as we last verified them — tap a tool for its full pricing breakdown and price history.

All tools in this stack

ChatGPT

freemium

General-purpose AI assistant for writing, research, coding, images, voice, agent...

Rating

4.6

Category

通用助手与模型平台

Pricing

ChatGPT uses a freemium plan ladder. Individual plans include Free, Go, Plus, and Pro. Official pricing pages list Free at $0, Go at $8/month, Plus at $20/month, and Pro from $100/month. OpenAI Help says Pro has two usage tiers: the $100 Pro tier has lower allowances than the $200 Pro tier. Business is a self-serve team workspace with standard ChatGPT seats at $25/user/month when billed monthly or $20/user/month when billed annually, with a 2-seat minimum. Enterprise and Edu are managed organization plans with sales-led pricing and optional flexible credit pricing for products such as Codex, ChatGPT for Excel/Sheets, ChatGPT for PowerPoint, and Workspace Agents. ChatGPT for Teachers is free through June 2027 for verified U.S. K-12 educators.

Notion AI

freemium

Workspace-native AI that writes, searches, summarizes meetings, and automates re...

Rating

4.3

Category

生产力办公与文档

Pricing

Notion AI is no longer presented as a general standalone add-on on the public pricing table. The current official help copy says Notion AI is available on Business and Enterprise plans, while Free and Plus workspaces receive a limited number of complimentary AI responses. The public pricing table shows Free at $0, Plus at $10 per seat/month, Business at $20 per seat/month, and Enterprise as contact-sales pricing. The pricing page also states that Custom Agents are free to try and then cost $10 per 1,000 monthly Notion credits. Official page payload captured during this crawl exposes monthly USD SKUs for Plus at $12 and Business at $24, and annual USD SKUs at $120 and $240 respectively. The same payload still exposes a legacy-looking `ai` add-on SKU at $10 monthly or $96 yearly, but because the visible pricing table and help center now say full Notion AI requires Business or Enterprise, that hidden SKU is not treated as a current public plan.

Synthesia

freemium

Enterprise AI video platform for creating avatar-led, multilingual training and ...

Rating

4.5

Category

视频生成与剪辑

Pricing

Synthesia's official pricing page currently lists Basic, Starter, Creator, and Enterprise. Basic is free and includes 1,200 credits per month, usable for up to 10 minutes of video per month or 25 AI-generated video assets. Starter is $29/month when paid monthly, or $18/month when billed yearly, and includes 14,500 credits per year, usable for up to 120 minutes of video or AI Dubbing per year or 300 AI-generated video assets. Creator is $89/month when paid monthly, or $64/month when billed yearly, and includes 44,000 credits per year, usable for up to 360 minutes of video or AI Dubbing per year or 900 AI-generated video assets. Enterprise uses custom pricing and adds unlimited video minutes, 1-click translation into 80+ languages, 240+ stock avatars, unlimited personal avatars, SAML/SSO, live collaboration, brand kits, SCORM export, AI Dubbing, onboarding, implementation services, a dedicated CSM, training access, and custom credits. Synthesia Help Center states each second of generated video uses 2 credits; for Enterprise usage, AI Dubbing with lip sync is 240 credits/minute, AI Dubbing without lip sync is 120 credits/minute, Bulk Personalization is 90 credits/minute, and API usage is 75 credits/minute.

Descript

freemium

Transcript-first AI editor for recording, editing, polishing, translating, and p...

Rating

4.4

Category

视频生成与剪辑

Pricing

Descript's official pricing page lists Free, Hobbyist, Creator, Business, and Enterprise. The paid self-serve tiers are priced per person/month: Hobbyist is $24 monthly or $16 with annual billing; Creator is $35 monthly or $24 with annual billing; Business is $65 monthly or $50 with annual billing. The Free plan is $0 and includes 60 media minutes per month, a one-time 100 AI-credit grant, 720p watermark-free export, limited Underlord and AI tools, 1 GB file upload size, and 5 GB cloud storage. Hobbyist includes 600 media minutes / 10 hours per month, 400 AI credits per month, 1080p watermark-free export, Underlord, Studio Sound, Remove Filler Words, Create Clips, AI Speech, 10 GB file upload size, and 100 GB cloud storage. Creator includes 1,800 media minutes / 30 hours per month, 800 AI credits per month, 4K export, full Underlord access, 20+ AI tools, generated video, unlimited royalty-free stock media, top ups, up to 3 seats, 20 GB file upload size, and 1 TB cloud storage. Business includes 2,400 media minutes / 40 hours per month, 1,500 AI credits per month, team-wide Brand Studio, translation and dubbing proofread, custom avatar generation, priority support with SLA, top ups, up to 5 seats, 50 GB upload size, and 2 TB cloud storage. Enterprise is custom and adds SSO/SCIM, granular brand controls, custom AI credits, custom media minutes, custom legal terms, custom AI controls, flexible licensing, and flexible billing.

Canva AI

freemium

AI-assisted Canva workspace for generating editable designs, images, videos, cop...

Rating

4.5

Category

图像生成与设计

Pricing

Canva AI is included inside Canva's plan stack. Canva Free includes a limited shared monthly AI allowance. Canva Pro, Business, Enterprise, Education and Nonprofit expand access to Premium and Ultra AI tools according to plan limits. AI Pass is an optional add-on for Canva Pro or Canva Business that increases AI allowance, but Canva's public AI Pass page did not expose a standalone dollar price during this collection run.

Frequently asked questions

How much does the full stack cost?

The total cost varies: ChatGPT Plus ($20/mo), Notion AI ($10/mo), Synthesia (starts at $29/mo), Descript (free tier available, Pro at $24/mo), Canva Pro ($12.99/mo). You can start with free tiers, but serious course creation likely needs paid plans for Synthesia and Descript to remove watermarks and access full features.

Are there free alternatives for any of these tools?

Yes: Use Claude or Google Gemini instead of ChatGPT, LibreOffice or Google Docs for organization instead of Notion AI. For video, you can record yourself with OBS and edit with DaVinci Resolve (free) instead of Synthesia/Descript. For slides, Google Slides with free templates works, but Canva AI's generation features are unique.

Where should I start if I'm new?

Start with ChatGPT to outline your course—it's free and low risk. Once you have a solid script, move to Synthesia for a sample video to see if the workflow fits. You can always upgrade tools later; don't pay for everything upfront.

What's a common mistake when using AI for courses?

Assuming the AI video will be perfect without editing. Always run Synthesia output through Descript to fix pacing, filler words, and add captions. Also, don't skip the curriculum design step—a clear outline prevents scattered content.

Can I use these tools for a team?

Yes. Notion AI supports team workspaces, Descript has collaboration features, and Canva Teams works for shared branding. ChatGPT and Synthesia are single-user by default but allow sharing outputs. Consider enterprise plans for larger teams.