Your Instructor Account

We're happy you're interested in becoming a Udemy instructor. At Udemy you can teach what you know, or teach what you love, on a platform that millions of students use to learn.

Below are answers to the most frequently asked questions we receive regarding the teaching experience on Udemy, and becoming a Udemy instructor.

• How do I register as a Udemy instructor?
• Can I teach a course on any topic?
• Can you tell me more about the existing demand for my course topic on Udemy?
• Do I have to pay any fees in order to become an instructor?
• What approval do I need to get started as an instructor?
• Are there any requirements that my course must meet?
• How will I get paid?
• What’s the general structure of a Udemy course? What is the primary teaching method?
• How do I create a Udemy course?
• How do I get my course materials on your site?
• Does Udemy retain exclusive rights to my course if I sell it on your platform?
• Will Udemy promote my course?
• What languages can courses be taught in?

How do I register as a Udemy instructor?

Learn how to set up your instructor account.

Can I teach a course on any topic?

You are free to choose the topic you wish to teach on Udemy and by using our Marketplace Insights tool, you can learn more about demand for that topic (see below).

Please refer to our restricted topics list, however, for details on the topics that we do not accept.

Can you tell me more about the existing demand for my course topic on Udemy?

With our Marketplace Insights tool, we offer robust reporting on student demand, search volume, and revenue for a particular topic to help you decide what course to teach. If no data exists for a topic you’re searching, it likely means that there’s an opportunity to fill this gap in the Udemy marketplace and you should get started right away.

While success as an instructor on Udemy is not guaranteed, this tool offers some powerful data to help you make your decision.

Note: currently the Marketplace Insights tool can only search for course topics that are entered in English. Please enter English words in the search box.

Do I have to pay any fees in order to become an instructor?

There is no fee to be an instructor on Udemy. Instructors are paid according to a revenue share model. 

Learn more about Udemy’s instructor revenue share.

What approval do I need to get started as an instructor?

No approval is needed to get started. Before an instructor can publish a course on the Udemy marketplace, however, they need to complete the instructor identity verification process.

In order to create paid courses, instructors will need to set up a payment method for their account (see "How will I get Paid" below).

Are there any requirements that my course must meet?

Yes. Courses must have at least 30 minutes of video content and at least 5 lectures or learning modules.

In order to ensure that students have great learning experiences, we also have a Quality Review Process that every course goes through. 

Learn more about our course quality checklist and our quality review process.

How will I get paid?

Instructors can use PayPal, Payoneer or direct deposit (U.S. only) to receive their payments. You are paid on a monthly basis (more details on our payment schedule for instructors can be read here).

What’s the general structure of a Udemy course? What is the primary teaching method?

A standard Udemy course is video-based. Additional teaching tools (like assignments, quizzes, and coding exercises, etc) can be added to create a rich learning experience for students.

For courses regarding certification preparation, we also offer instructors the ability to create a Practice Test course. 

How do I create a Udemy course?

This section includes extensive resources on how you can create a Udemy course and get started. In addition, our free, How to Create an Online Course: The Official Udemy Course outlines best practices to plan, produce, and publish a well-designed, high quality course.

How do I get my course materials on your site?

Since we function primarily as an on-demand, video-based platform, you’ll need to upload your video files directly to Udemy. In other words, students must be able to view your course lectures on the Udemy platform.

In addition to our standard lecture uploader, we offer the ability to upload materials in bulk. Learn more about our bulk file uploader.

Does Udemy retain exclusive rights to my course if I sell it on your platform?

No. Our marketplace model means that when you publish a course on our platform, you retain all the rights to your content.  You simply grant us a license to host the course and make it available to our users, and to advertise your course on our platform and on third party services.  

These license terms are outlined in detail in Udemy’s instructor terms. You can also offer your course on other services, but we ask that your course is never offered for a lower price than on Udemy. Note that if your course is included in the Udemy Business content collection, per the Promotions Policy, there may be additional distribution restrictions.

Will Udemy promote my course?

As an instructor, you have the option to enroll in the Udemy Deals Program. Every year, millions of students enroll in courses that are selected for promotion and discounted through the Udemy Deals Program.

Learn more about the Udemy Deals Program.

In addition, we provide instructors with extensive articles, resources and features at Udemy to help you effectively market your course(s). Review resources on how to market your course.

What languages can courses be taught in?

Most world languages are selectable as the home language for a Udemy course you teach, and you are welcome to create a course in any available one you wish. Learn how to select a language for your course.

Review troubleshooting steps instructors can take to resolve common issues they may encounter regarding Udemy’s multi-factor authentication (MFA) feature.

• Learn more about multi-factor authentication for Udemy accounts.
• Learn more about keeping your instructor account secure.

Instructors can further enhance the security of their account, and help prevent unauthorized access, by enabling Udemy’s multi-factor authentication feature (MFA). 

• Learn how to enable MFA for your Udemy account.

Troubleshooting

Review troubleshooting steps you can take to resolve common issues regarding Udemy’s multi-factor authentication (MFA) feature.

Learn more about keeping your instructor account secure.

This article explains how you can set up your instructor account and take your first step to publishing a course on Udemy! There is no fee to open or to maintain an instructor account.

More information on the benefits of becoming a Udemy instructor, and why you should teach online with Udemy is available in this article.

What you need to create an instructor account

• An email address where you can receive emails.
• If you plan to create a paid course and receive payments for your course, you will need a PayPal or Payoneer account to set up your Udemy payment method.
  • Note: instructors who reside in the United States and have a U.S. bank account, can also use direct deposit to receive Udemy payments.

Steps to create an instructor account

1. Go to Udemy.com on your browser.
2. If you have a student account, click Log in in the upper right corner of the screen; if you do not have a Udemy account, click on Sign Up to create an account.
3. Click Teach on Udemy.
4. Next, click Become an Instructor.
5. You will be asked to answer some questions about your teaching experience. Please follow the instructions on the screen.
6. Once you have completed the questionnaire, you will be redirected to the instructor dashboard, a dedicated screen for instructors to create and manage their courses.

Setting up your instructor profile

Click on the circular icon in the upper right corner of the screen to enter your instructor profile.

Udemy profile

The information you enter in this tab will be visible to the public as your instructor profile once the course is published. You can edit the information at any point in time.

Instructor name: Enter the name you wish to use as the instructor name. You may use a pseudonym if you wish. 

Since Udemy is a global platform, registered names are displayed in the order of "First Name + Last Name". If you would like your name to appear in the order of "Last Name + First Name", please enter your last name in the First Name field and your first name in the Last Name field. 

Headline: Your occupation, specialization, and qualification

Biography: Your professional and personal profile

Language: Your primary language

Links: Your website and your social networking services. For your social networking services, please make sure to only enter the "account name" of the URL

Click Save at the bottom right.

Profile picture

In the Profile Picture tab, click on Upload image to upload a high-quality image of yourself. Include a high-quality, non-pixelated, non-animated image of yourself to establish more trust with your students. If you are publishing as a company you can upload your corporate logo.

1. Click "Upload Image" and select the image you wish to use.
2. Adjust the position and size of the image, and then click Crop Image. The image will appear round on your profile page, so make sure your face is centered.
3. Click Save.

When your profile photo is successfully registered, it will be reflected in the circular icon in the upper right corner of the page.

Learn more about our quality standards for instructor profiles. 

Privacy Settings

In this tab, you can make changes to the privacy setting of your profile page.

Show your profile to logged-in users

Check this box if you want your profile to be visible only to logged-in users.

Show your courses you’re taking on your profile page

Check this box if you wish to show the courses you are enrolled in on your profile.

Please note, once you become a published instructor your privacy settings will default to make your profile visible to the public, your profile will be searchable in search engines, and your profile will only include the courses you are teaching (excluding any private courses).

Register as a Premium Instructor

If you plan on selling your course on Udemy’s marketplace, in order to set a price for your course, you need to register as a Premium Instructor. For more information on how to do this, please see Learn how to become a Premium Instructor. 

How to collaboratively create a course

If you are collaborating with multiple people to create or manage a course, each person should create their own account. Learn more about registering different types of instructor accounts with varying permissions.

Keep in mind that any accounts which are to receive a share of the revenue must become registered as a Premium instructor. For additional information, please see our Co-Instructructor Rules and Guidelines. 

How to create an instructor account as a business

You can also open a Udemy instructor account as a company or organization. The process for opening an account is the same as above. Please note, however, that we may need to reach out to the representative of your company during the instructor verification process to confirm the association. 

Next steps

Once you have opened an account and filled out your profile, it is time to proceed to creating a course. From the instructor dashboard, you can click on New Course to begin. 

Additional resources

• Teaching on Udemy: FAQ
• Instructor Bio: Quality Standards
• Navigating the Course Management Dashboard
• Getting started: 4 steps to create a course on Udemy

This article outlines the steps you can take to become a premium instructor and enter your applicable information, before selecting a payment method. 

Review frequently asked questions and answers on how to become a Udemy instructor.

What is a premium instructor?

Anyone can create a free course on Udemy. If you want to charge students a fee for your courses, however, you will need to become a premium instructor. There is no charge to become a premium instructor and the process is usually completed within 2 business days.

How to begin your premium instructor application

1. Start building a course.
2. From the course management page click on Pricing.
3. Next, click on here (see below) to begin your premium instructor application.

Completing the Premium Instructor application

After you click on the premium instructor application link on the Pricing page, you can complete your application, by following these steps:

1. ​​​Enter your name or company name.
2. Include a 60 character headline, or quick description of your expertise.
3. Write a short bio.
4. Enter your billing address and phone number.
5. Upload a profile picture.
6. Accept Udemy Terms of Service and choose which promotional programs you would like to participate in.
7. Select your payout method: PayPal, Payoneer or direct deposit (U.S. only)
8. After your payment method has been approved, be sure to return to your course and select a price for it.

Fees

There is no fee to become a premium instructor, and Udemy does not charge any transactional fees when delivering payment to instructors. Udemy does, however, keep a percentage of each sale depending on the transaction. Learn more about Udemy's instructor revenue share.

If you are applying to become a premium instructor, this article outlines how you can set up PayPal or Payoneer as your payment method, or make changes to your PayPal and Payoneer payment settings.

• Learn how instructors can set up direct deposit as their payment method (U.S. only). 
• Learn how to begin a premium instructor application.

How set to up Payoneer or PayPal as your payment method

Once you have entered the applicable information for your premium instructor application, you will be prompted to select your payment method. 

To activate PayPal or Payoneer as the payment method for your Udemy account, please follow the steps below:

1. Move your cursor to your profile avatar at the top right and click on Payout settings from the dropdown menu. 
2. On the Payout settings page, select the payout method you wish to use by clicking on Log In for PayPal and Connect for Payoneer.
3. You will be directed to the payment processor’s website, where you will authenticate and create a link to your Udemy profile. If you do not have a PayPal or Payoneer account yet, you can also create a new account during this process.

After you’ve submitted your request, it may take up to three days to receive final approval from the payment processor.

When your request is approved, the payment method status will change from Pending to Active, which indicates that you will now receive payment through that vendor. No further action is required on your behalf. 

PayPal or Payoneer fees

You can review any fees PayPal or Payoneer charge on their respective sites. Payoneer’s fees can also be reviewed during the payment application process.

Payments

Payments from PayPal are delivered directly to your PayPal account, which can in turn, be transferred to your bank account. Payoneer payments can be delivered to your local bank account or to your prepaid MasterCard®.

Please review the respective sites for PayPal or Payoneer regarding any minimum withdrawal amounts that may apply.

Changing your payment method preference

If you wish to change your payment method in the future, you can do so, by following these steps:

1. Return to the Payout settings page.
2. If you currently only have one payment method active, click on Log In for PayPal and Connect for Payoneer, beside the payment method you wish to add.
3. Once the request has been approved the payment method will be listed as Active.

Once you have established connections with each payment method, you can select which payment processor you would like to deliver your payouts at any time by clicking on the “Set Active” link.  Active indicates that you will now receive payment through that vendor.

Changing the PayPal or Payoneer account 

PayPal

If you need to change the PayPal account you have registered for your payment method, you can do so by following these steps:

1. Return to the Payout settings page.
2. Click on Log In beside the PayPal icon.
3. After clicking Log In, you will be directed to PayPal’s website, where you will authenticate a different account, and generate a link to your Udemy profile.

Payoneer

If you wish to change your credentials for your Payoneer account, however, you will need to contact Payoneer directly. You can contact Payoneer support by clicking here.

Contacting PayPal and Payoneer

If you encounter any issues while authenticating your account on PayPal or Payoneer, please contact their respective support teams for assistance. You can 

• PayPal Support 
• Payoneer Support 

Instructors receive several kinds of email notifications related to Udemy, their courses and messages they're sent by students. In addition, some notifications can be accessed in your account’s notification bell at the top of the page. This article outlines how you can edit your notification settings, and the different types of notifications you may receive.

Please note: direct messaging and the Q&A are not available in free courses.

Editing the Notification Settings for Your Instructor Account 

You can edit the notification settings for your Udemy account by following the steps below:

1. Move your cursor to the the top right-hand corner of the page

2. Click on Account from the drop-down menu and then Notification Settings

3. Select the notifications you wish to receive. Please note: if you want to receive instructor email notifications like the Daily Q&A Digest, or the New Student & Review Daily Digest, make sure to check the box next to Helpful resources and important updates related to being an instructor on Udemy.

4. If you don't wish to receive any emails from Udemy, then click on the box beside Don't send me any promotional emails.

Please note: if you check this box, you will not receive any instructor email notifications like the Daily Q&A Digest, the New Student & Review Daily Digest and lecture ready confirmations. In addition, you will not receive preview emails you request for your educational announcements or promotional emails.

Transactional emails, notifications for Q&A replies (not to be confused with the Daily Q&A Digest), and notifications for new direct messages you've been sent cannot be disabled.

5. After you have edited your notification settings, click Save

Editing the Notification Settings for a Specific Course

Instructors can also edit the notification settings for each of their courses, and select whether they wish to receive Lecture Ready Emails and the Daily Q&A Digest for a specific course.  

First, make sure that the box is checked next to Helpful resources and important updates related to being an instructor on Udemy. Then to edit the notification settings for a specific course, please follow the steps below: 

1. Navigate to the course management page and click the Settings gear icon on the right
2. Next, click Manage Email Notifications 
3. Select the notifications you wish to receive for that course and click save

For steps on how to edit the notification settings for a specific course you’re enrolled in as a student, please refer to this article. 

Notifications: Email vs. Onsite

Depending on an instructor’s notification settings, they will receive a variety of email notifications regarding Udemy, their courses and student activity. These email notifications will be sent to the email address that you have registered for your Udemy account.

Some of the notifications that instructors will receive emails for include:

• new direct messages
• confirmation that your promotional email or educational announcement is on its way
• promotional email and educational announcement previews
• lecture ready confirmations
• Q&A replies
• The Daily Q&A Digest
• the New Student and Review Digest
• course invitations to students (for private courses).

In addition, instructors are delivered various on-site notifications, which can be accessed in your account’s notification bell at the top of the page. Some of the on-site notifications that are posted include:

• new questions and responses in the Q&A
• comments on course announcements
• feedback and responses for assignments
• confirmation that your course has received auto-generated captions

Onsite notifications are indicated by a red number that appears in the notification bell located at the top right of the page. By clicking on the bell, you will able to scroll through and click on the notification you wish to read.

Udemy has security protocols in place to help keep instructor accounts secure, and there are steps instructors can take to help protect their account, their courses, and their earnings.

Create a strong password for your instructor account

Creating a strong and unique password is an extremely effective way to protect your instructor account and prevent unauthorized access. As a result, passwords for instructor accounts must be at least 10 characters long and meet our system requirements for a strong password. A strong password contains a mix of letters, numbers, symbols (e.g. #, !, &), uppercase and lowercase letters.

If your password includes any of the following, it may not meet our system’s requirements:

• Sequential letters or numbers (e.g. abcdefgh, 12345678)
• Repeating letters or numbers (e.g. dddddddd, 88888888)
• Words that are commonly used in the dictionary or across the internet
• Words related to our site (e.g. “udemy”)
• Predictable substitutions like ‘@’ instead of ‘a’

Additional guidelines instructors can follow to create a strong password

• Avoid using your own name or email address, or words you might use on your social media accounts like your location or favorite team. 
• Don’t use obvious numbers (for example, don’t use numbers that are in your birthday or phone number).
• Create a unique password for each account and service you have, rather than using the same password for each site, especially if there have been security breaches with those passwords. This way if one of your accounts is compromised, then that password cannot be used to gain access into your other accounts.
• Rather than creating your own complex password, use a browser plug-in, system keychain, or third-party password manager to create and store complex passwords.

Change your password periodically

We also recommend instructors change their password periodically, as this is another effective way to keep your account secure. When you do change your password, we recommend creating a new one, rather than using a password you’ve already used.

Review steps on how to change your account’s password.

Additional steps you can take to protect your account

• Enable MFA for your Udemy account.
• Review more tips and guidelines you can take to keep your account secure.

We're sorry to hear you'd like to close your Udemy account. If you're having trouble with the site, or if there's anything we can help you with before you close your account, please contact Udemy Support. ​

If you’ve created a course on Udemy, or you have been added as a co-instructor to a course, the steps you need to take to close your account will vary depending on a few factors.

First, you will need to take the required steps as either a course instructor or course co-instructor outlined below, before following the steps in the Closing your account section

Course instructor

Instructor of courses with no student enrollments

If you’ve created draft courses on Udemy, you must delete each of the courses you created before closing your account. 

If you have published any of your courses, but don’t yet have any enrolled students, unpublish the courses first, then delete them in order to close your account. 

• Learn how to delete a draft or published course.

After deleting all of your courses, you can navigate to the Close account page to permanently close your account with Udemy. 

Instructor of courses with students enrolled

If you have created any courses that are published or have been published in the past, and a student has enrolled in them, please contact support for further instructions on how to close your account. Note that, per our student lifetime access feature, students who have enrolled in your courses will continue to have access to them after you close your account.

Instructor of courses in Udemy Business content collection

If any of your courses have been selected for inclusion in the Udemy Business content collection, please contact our Udemy Business Content team at ubcontent@udemy.com for further assistance. Note that, per our Promotions Policy, your course will continue to be available for enrollment in the Udemy Business catalog for a period of up to 12 months. 

Course co-instructors

Co-instructor with course manage permissions

If you are listed as a co-instructor of a course, you can remove yourself from the course by following the instructions in this support article.

After removing yourself as a co-instructor from all courses, navigate to the Close Account section to permanently close your Udemy account.

Note: If there are any payments due to be paid to you in your Udemy Revenue Report, you won’t be able to close your account until your last scheduled payout is sent by Udemy.

Co-instructor without course manage permissions

If you are listed as a co-instructor of a course and you do not have the “Manage” permission for the course, you will need to contact the original course creator to remove you from the course (directions here).

After you’ve been removed from all courses you teach as a co-instructor, you can close your account following the steps below.

Note: If there are any payments due to be paid to you in your Udemy Revenue Report, you won’t be able to remove your account until your last scheduled payout is sent by Udemy.

Closing your account

Once you’ve taken the necessary steps above, you can proceed to close your account by following these steps:

1. Sign into your account.

2. Move your cursor to your avatar at the top right-hand corner of the page.

3. Click on Account in the drop-down menu

4. Next, click Close account on the right-hand side

5. Enter your password and click Close Account again.

If you have any additional questions regarding how to close your instructor account, please contact our support team.