Udemy pays you 37% — unless you bring the student. Then it's 97%.
Most instructors never see their real payout until it lands. This free, offline calculator shows it before you publish — and what the January 2026 subscription squeeze really costs you.
100% offline · no account · no subscription · one-time download
One course, two completely different paychecks
Udemy's instructor revenue share isn't a single number. When a student finds you through Udemy's search, recommendations, or ads, you keep 37%. When they buy through your own coupon or referral link, you keep 97%. Affiliate sales pay about 25%. And as of January 2026, the instructor share of the Udemy Business subscription pool was cut to 15% — so knowing your real traffic mix matters more than ever.
Your share on a typical organic Udemy marketplace sale — not the 97% many instructors assume.
Instructor share of the Udemy Business subscription pool as of January 2026, down from 25%.
What you keep when you bring the student yourself with a coupon or referral link.
Model your real Udemy income in seconds
The Udemy Traffic Source Mixer
Three sum-locked sliders — instructor coupon (97%), Udemy organic (37%), and affiliate (25%). Match how your students actually arrive and watch your blended payout update live. A "Revenue Shock" panel shows the dollars your mix is worth versus an all-coupon mix — so you can see exactly what Udemy's marketplace is costing you.
Should I leave Udemy?
See your annual income gap versus the best alternative platform with the same sales — and how fast you'd recover any migration cost.
Compare all 4 platforms
Put Udemy's blended rate head to head with Teachable, Kajabi, and Gumroad for the same course, net of fees.
Udemy Business estimator
Estimate royalty-pool earnings as an honest range at the 2026 share — never a single inflated number.
Three steps. No login. No internet needed.
Download once
Get the single HTML file — no installer, no account, no setup.
Open the file
Double-click to open in any browser. It runs fully offline.
Mix your traffic
Drag the sliders to match how students find you, and read your real payout.
Course Creator Take-Home Calculator
See your real Udemy take-home — the blended 97% / 37% / 25% revenue share applied to your own traffic mix — and how it stacks up against Teachable, Kajabi and Gumroad per sale and per month. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is sent anywhere.
Udemy traffic mix (advanced) — must total 100%
Assumes Teachable Builder & Kajabi Starter, Gumroad direct sales. The full tool lets you compare every plan & payment method.
This free version compares take-home across 4 platforms. The full Course Creator Calculator adds US tax (self-employment + brackets), multi-course portfolio, annual planner, every plan & break-even, Udemy Business royalties, and charts. One-time payment, 100% offline.
Get the full Course Creator CalculatorUdemy payout questions, answered
It depends on how the student found your course. Through your own coupon or referral link, you keep 97% (Udemy takes 3%). Through Udemy's organic marketplace, search, or ads, you keep 37% (Udemy keeps 63%). Affiliate-driven sales pay the instructor about 25%.
Because most marketplace sales pay 37%, not 97%. On $10,000 of gross sales, an all-organic mix pays roughly $3,700 while an all-coupon mix pays roughly $9,700. Your real payout depends on your traffic blend.
97% is for sales you drive yourself (coupon or referral link). 37% is for sales Udemy drives through its marketplace, search, or ads. The Traffic Source Mixer blends both to show your true rate.
Yes — the instructor share of the Udemy Business subscription pool dropped to 15% in January 2026 (from 25%). Marketplace rates (97% coupon / 37% organic) are unchanged, which makes your traffic mix even more important.
It can be if Udemy sends you students you couldn't reach alone — even at 37%. If most sales come from your own audience, you may keep far more elsewhere. The migration tool shows the financial difference with real numbers.
From a royalty pool based on minutes watched, with the instructor share at 15% as of January 2026. The estimator shows a range, since the pool rate shifts month to month.
Yes — a one-time download, no subscription, no account, 100% offline. Your numbers never leave your device.
At the default 60/30/10 traffic mix the blend works out to about 71.8%, so a $97 sale leaves roughly $69.65. That's well under the 97% you'd keep if every sale came from your own coupon, because Udemy organic and ads only pay 37%.
A lot. Shift sales from Udemy organic (37%) toward your own coupon or referral links (97%) and both the blended rate and your net per sale rise immediately. Open the 'Udemy traffic mix' box, change the three shares, and the Udemy card recalculates live.
This mini calculator places Udemy's blended net next to Teachable, Kajabi and Gumroad for the same price and monthly sales. At $97 and the default mix Udemy keeps about $69.65 per sale, while Gumroad direct keeps about $83.69 and Teachable Builder and Kajabi Starter about $93.89 before their monthly fees — so driving your own buyers to another platform can leave more.
Check where your enrolments come from in your Udemy instructor dashboard: sales from your own coupons or referral links pay about 97%, Udemy organic, search, and ads pay about 37%, and affiliate-driven sales pay about 25%. Enter those three shares in the traffic-mix box and the blended rate will match your real account.
More privacy-first tools from Smart Local Tools
Start with the full calculator, or explore the rest of the offline, no-subscription toolkit.
See what Udemy really pays you — before you publish
Model your 37%-to-97% traffic mix, estimate Udemy Business at the 2026 rate, and compare every platform. All offline, all private.