Prerequisites
- A subject you can teach in depth
- Basic screen recording and audio equipment
Udemy does not pay instructors a rate. It pays two rates, and which one you get depends entirely on who brought the student through the door.
97% or 37%
Udemy's published revenue share:
| How the student bought | Instructor keeps |
|---|---|
| Using your coupon or referral link | 97% |
| Any Udemy sale with no instructor coupon or referral link | 37% |
Udemy describes the second case as sales that "might occur after a user clicks on a Udemy advertisement, or browses the Udemy marketplace for courses."
The logic is straightforward once stated: if you brought the customer, you keep almost everything. If Udemy's marketing brought them, Udemy keeps the majority.
⚠️ Warning
That's a 2.6x difference on identical work. An instructor who sends their own audience to their course earns nearly three times per sale what one relying on marketplace discovery does. This single fact should shape how you think about course marketing before you record a single lesson.
Publishing Itself Is Free
Worth saying plainly: Udemy states there is "no fee to create and host a course on Udemy, and you can publish as many free and paid courses as you like."
No listing fee, no hosting cost, no monthly subscription. Udemy earns only when you do. For a first course that removes the main financial risk — your cost is time, not money.
The Deduction Almost Nobody Mentions
Both percentages apply to the Net Amount, not the sticker price.
Udemy defines Net Amount as what the student paid, less applicable taxes or fees — and explicitly names "the 30% fee imposed by Apple or Google for sales on iOS and Android."
So a mobile purchase is taxed twice: the app store takes 30% first, then your share is calculated on what remains.
| $100 course sale | Net Amount | Your share | You receive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Web, your coupon | $100 | 97% | $97.00 |
| Web, marketplace | $100 | 37% | $37.00 |
| iOS/Android, your coupon | $70 | 97% | $67.90 |
| iOS/Android, marketplace | $70 | 37% | $25.90 |
The same course, at the same price, pays anywhere from $25.90 to $97.00 depending on two things you partly control.
ℹ️ Good to Know
That spread — nearly four to one — is larger than almost any pricing decision you could make. Instructors obsess over what to charge while ignoring that channel and device determine far more of the outcome.
What This Means Practically
Build an audience you can send. The 97% rate is the entire economic argument for having a newsletter, a YouTube channel, or a site of your own. Udemy will happily sell your course for you and keep 63% for the service.
Use your referral link everywhere you legitimately can. Any student who would have found you anyway should arrive through your link rather than a marketplace search.
Understand what the 37% buys. It is not a bad deal in isolation — Udemy has an enormous audience actively searching for courses, and 37% of a sale you'd never have made is infinitely better than 100% of nothing. The mistake is treating marketplace sales as your plan rather than your floor.
Don't count on mobile. You cannot control which device a student buys on, but knowing that mobile sales pay 30% less should temper revenue projections built from web-only figures.
💡 Pro Tip
A realistic model: treat Udemy's marketplace as discovery and your own channels as the business. Marketplace sales at 37% introduce you to students; your coupon links at 97% are where the money is. Instructors who earn well on Udemy almost always have an audience elsewhere.
Beyond Transactional Sales
Udemy also runs Udemy Business and subscription plans, where instructors earn from a pool rather than per transaction. Those work differently again and the rates aren't a simple percentage, so check Udemy's own documentation on that programme rather than assuming the 97/37 split applies.
Also note the shares above are before any split with co-instructors, which Udemy handles separately.
Don't Forget Tax
Course income is self-employment income. In the US, self-employment tax alone is 15.3% of net earnings before income tax applies. A 37% marketplace sale is meaningfully less than 37% by the time it reaches you.
✅ Action Step
Before launching, work out how you'll get students to your course without Udemy. If the honest answer is "Udemy's search", plan around 37% and treat anything above it as upside. If you have even a small audience, every sale you route through your own referral link nearly triples what you keep.
Where to Verify Any of This
Both percentages and the Net Amount definition come from Udemy's own support documentation, linked below. Revenue share terms change, and Udemy's Instructor Terms are the binding version — find them from your instructor dashboard rather than relying on any summary, including this one.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do Udemy instructors get paid?
It depends entirely on who brought the student. Udemy states instructors receive 97% of revenue when a student buys using the instructor's own coupon or referral link, and 37% for sales where no instructor coupon or referral link was used — for example after a Udemy advertisement or a marketplace browse.
Does it cost anything to publish a Udemy course?
No. Udemy states there is no fee to create and host a course, and you can publish as many free and paid courses as you like. Udemy earns only through its share of sales.
Why did I earn less than 37% on a Udemy sale?
Revenue shares apply to the Net Amount, which is what the student paid less applicable taxes or fees — including the 30% fee Apple or Google charge on iOS and Android purchases. On a mobile sale that 30% comes out before your share is calculated.
How do you get the 97% Udemy revenue share?
By bringing the student yourself. The 97% rate applies only when the purchase uses your own coupon code or course referral link, which means driving traffic from your own audience, site, or social channels rather than relying on Udemy's marketplace.
Sources & Further Reading
Every factual claim in this guide is drawn from primary, authoritative sources. Figures reflect the referenced pages at the time of our last review and can change — always confirm current terms on the official site.
- 1Instructor revenue share — Udemy Support
- 2PayPal Merchant Fees (US) — PayPal
- 3Self-Employment Tax (Social Security and Medicare Taxes) — Internal Revenue Service
EarnRoutes Editorial
Researched and fact-checked against primary sources
Compiled from Udemy's published instructor revenue share documentation. Every percentage quoted here is stated by Udemy in its own support pages, linked in the source list below.
Last reviewed on September 3, 2026