Done-for-you course creation at Dreampro starts at $8,500, and what you pay anywhere depends on how much of the work the team takes off your plate. A team that designs your framework, writes your curriculum, builds your slides and workbooks, edits your videos, and uploads everything will cost more than one that only formats what you hand them, and it should.

I’ve been an instructional designer for 15+ years, and Dreampro has been in business since 2019. We’ve built 250+ courses for coaches, consultants, Fortune 50 companies, and everyone in between. Below is how I’d think about the price if I were the one hiring, including what drives a quote up, what a cheap quote usually leaves out, and how to budget without guessing.

What does done-for-you course creation include?

A true done-for-you build covers the thinking and the production, so the only thing left for you is recording. At Dreampro, a Full Build includes:

• Strategy (who the course is for, what result it promises, and where it fits in your business)
• A signature framework, so your method has a name and a shape
• The curriculum, built on that framework
• Branded slides and workbooks
• Video editing
• Platform setup
• Uploading your content into the course

You show up and record. Tara, one of our clients, described it exactly that way. She said she just showed up and recorded, and everything else was handled. She’d had years of ideas on sticky notes and old content, and we turned it into a cohesive program.

If a quote calls itself “done for you” but leaves out the framework or the curriculum, you’re buying production, and you’ll still be doing the hardest part yourself.

What drives the cost of building a course?

Scope drives cost more than anything else. Here are the biggest factors I see change a quote:

Cost driver	Why it moves the price
Who does the instructional design	Designing a framework and curriculum is skilled work. A team that does it costs more than a team that only formats your outline.
How much content already exists	Turning a pile of old trainings, blog posts, and voice memos into a program is a different job than starting from a clean outline.
Done for you vs done with you	The more the team writes and builds, the higher the price. The more you lead, the lower it is.
Video editing	Editing takes real hours per lesson, so a long course with many videos costs more to finish.
Platform setup and upload	Setting up Kajabi, Thinkific, or any platform is one job. Uploading every video, workbook, and lesson description is another.
Funnel and marketing	A course with no way to sell it is a very nice file. Some builds include funnel help, many don’t.

When you compare two quotes, line them up against this table. A lot of the time, the cheaper one is cheaper because a row is missing.

What’s the difference between done for you, done with you, and DIY?

The difference is who leads the content and who does the production. Done for you means the team leads both and you record. Done with you means you lead the content using the team’s structure and tools, and the team handles the setup. DIY means you do all of it.

At Dreampro, those map to our services like this:

	Full Build	Co-Build	DIY with Dreampro Course Camp
Strategy, framework, and curriculum	Dreampro builds it with you, and you record	You lead the content with Dreampro’s structure and tools	You, with the DCC method
Branded slides, workbooks, and video editing	Dreampro	Available as an add-on	You
Platform setup	Dreampro	Dreampro sets up the platform and the course with a placeholder for each lesson	You
Content upload	Dreampro	Not included	You
Timeline	We aim for 4 to 6 months	About 12 weeks	Your pace
Investment	Services start at $8,500		$497

We quote one package price after a call, because the right scope depends on what you already have and what you want the course to do.

What does building a course yourself really cost?

DIY costs less money and more time, and the time is the part people underestimate. Tools and a platform subscription are the visible expense. The invisible one is every evening you spend staring at an outline, every recorded lesson you redo because the order changed, and every month the course isn’t selling.

I say this a lot: waiting is just deferred revenue. A course that takes you two years to finish on your own isn’t free. It’s two years of sales you didn’t make. Dalia, one of our clients, sat on her course idea for ten years. Her expertise was never the problem. Turning it into a learning experience was.

DIY can absolutely be the right call. If you have time, a clear method, and a structure to follow, you can build a good course yourself. That’s why Dreampro Course Camp exists. It teaches you how to create a course like an instructional designer without becoming one, and we’ve been selling it since 2020.

Is a freelancer cheaper than a course agency?

A freelancer is often cheaper per hour, and for a defined task that can be the smart choice. Upwork lists median hourly rates of $20 to $45 for instructional designers on its platform. That’s a real option, and there are excellent freelancers out there.

The catch is coordination. A full course usually needs strategy, instructional design, graphic design, video editing, and platform tech. If you hire those separately, you become the project manager. You’re the one making sure the slides match the curriculum, the editor has the right files, and the person uploading knows what goes where. Some people love that. Most of the experts I talk to would rather spend those hours with clients.

An agency costs more because it bundles those roles and manages the handoffs. The fair comparison is the total cost of getting a finished, sellable course, including your time, rather than one hourly rate against another.

What are the red flags in a cheap course creation quote?

The biggest red flag is a quote that doesn’t say who designs the curriculum. Here’s what I’d look for before signing anything:

• No framework. If nobody is building your method into a named, step-by-step framework, your course will be a list of videos.
• “You send us the content.” That means you’re doing the instructional design and they’re doing the formatting.
• Upload isn’t mentioned. Uploading a full course takes real time. Ask directly whether it’s included.
• Templates with your logo dropped in. Branded should mean your colors, your voice, and your way of teaching. The agencies that didn’t ask who you are, what you believe, and how you talk are the reason we always ask.
• No questions about results. A team that never asks what your student should be able to do by the end is building content, not a course people finish.
• No conversation about selling it. A course with no plan to reach buyers tends to sit in your platform doing nothing.

How should I budget for course creation?

Budget for the result you want, then match the service to it. Here’s how I’d work through it:

1. Write down what the course needs to do for your business. Book clients, sell every day on its own, serve corporate buyers, or replace some one-on-one work. The job shapes the scope.
2. Take stock of what you already have. Old trainings, slides, workbooks, client notes. More existing material can mean less building, though it often means more sorting.
3. Decide how much you want to lead. If you want to be hands-on with the content, a done-with-you option like Co-Build fits. If you want to show up and record, look at a Full Build.
4. Price your own time honestly. If DIY takes you six extra months, that’s six months of course revenue you’re pushing out.
5. Leave room for selling it. A small budget for a funnel or ads after launch matters as much as the build.
6. Get one clear package price. Avoid open-ended hourly arrangements for the whole project unless you’re comfortable managing them.

Is done-for-you course creation worth the money?

It’s worth it when the course gets used and sells. Completion is the best early signal. Most courses see 5 to 15% completion. Katie averages 64% across 260+ students. She’s a bookkeeper who coaches bookkeepers, she’s worked with Dreampro about 5 times, and she had her biggest launch yet in the middle of a revamp, organic, with no ads. Her business has surpassed $4M. I wrote more about why most students don’t finish online courses and what changes that.

The other way to look at it: your course can be a real part of your revenue. About 25% of our 2025 revenue came from our own courses and digital products. A course that works keeps earning long after the build invoice is paid.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to have someone build an online course for you?

It depends on scope. At Dreampro, services start at $8,500, and we quote one package price after a call. Freelancers may cost less per hour, but you’ll usually manage several of them yourself.

Do I still have to record the videos?

Yes. In a Full Build, you record and we handle the strategy, framework, curriculum, slides, workbooks, editing, platform setup, and upload. You bring the expertise and your face.

How long does a done-for-you course take to build?

A Dreampro Full Build aims for 4 to 6 months. A Co-Build takes about 12 weeks.

What’s the cheapest way to build a good course?

Learn the method and build it yourself. Dreampro Course Camp is $497 and walks you through building a course framework first, the way I do it with clients.

Can I start with Co-Build and upgrade later?

Yes. A Co-Build can be upgraded to a Full Build if you decide you’d rather hand off more of the work. We’ll talk through what you have and what you want to lead on a call.

Get a real number for your course

If you want a team to build your course with you or for you, take a look at our done-for-you course services. Services start at $8,500, and the fastest way to get your real number is to book a call so we can talk about what you have and what you want it to do. If you’d rather build it yourself with an instructional designer’s method, Dreampro Course Camp is $497.

A heads up: the Kajabi links in this post are affiliate links. If you sign up through one, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Dreampro’s own courses run on Kajabi.

Ariel Schiffer is the founder of Dreampro and an instructional designer with 15+ years of experience designing learning programs for Fortune 50 companies and nonprofits. She holds an M.A. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology.