Should I have a teaching platform built, or subscribe to a ready one?

How to choose in 5 steps

1. 1

   Write down exactly what you need

   Your students now and in a year, hours of video, whether you have a centre or teach online only, whether students pay per course, per month or per session, and whether an app in the stores is a must.

2. 2

   Separate the essentials from the nice-to-haves

   Mark what you cannot work without, such as Fawry and wallet payments and video protection. Treat the rest as extras. That decides whether a ready platform is enough.

3. 3

   Ask the developer the key questions and get a written quote

   Ask how video is protected, who hosts the platform, who maintains it and at what cost, how payments are integrated, and who owns the code. Have all of it written into the quote and the contract.

4. 4

   Try a ready platform with a real course

   Start a trial on a ready platform, upload a real lesson, build an exam and open the checkout on a student's phone. Within days you will know whether it is enough.

5. 5

   Compare the cost over a full year, then decide

   Add the build fee to hosting, video and maintenance over 12 months and compare it with a year's subscription. Use the calculator in the cost guide to compare with your own figures.

When is a custom build the right choice?

A custom build is not a mistake, and in some cases it really is the better option. If one or more of these apply to you, a developer or an agency suits you better:

• You work in a way no ready platform supports, and it is central to your business, not a detail.
• You need a mobile app under your name on Google Play and the App Store, and it is a requirement, not a luxury.
• You want to own the code and the server and change anything whenever you like.
• You run an academy with many teachers, each with their own split of the earnings on one platform.
• You have budget for the up-front sum and also for hosting and maintenance every year.
• You have a developer or an agency you trust who will stay with you after delivery.

When is a ready platform the better fit?

A ready platform suits most teachers who are starting out, or who want to focus on teaching rather than technology. These are the cases where the difference shows:

• You want to start selling lessons this week, not after months of development.
• You do not want to pay a large sum before you know students will pay online.
• You do not want to look after a server, security updates and hosting renewals.
• You need payments in EGP by card, Fawry and wallets such as Vodafone Cash without opening a merchant account yourself.
• You need video protection that is ready and tested, not a promise in a quote.
• You run a centre and need attendance, parents and assistants in one place with your online teaching.

Ask a developer these questions before you pay

These questions separate a clear quote from one that costs you several times as much later. Get the answers written into the quote or the contract:

• Video protection: will video be encrypted, or just a hidden link? Ask to try a download extension on a test lesson yourself before you accept delivery.
• Hosting: whose server will it run on, in whose name, what does renewal cost, and how many students can watch at once?
• Maintenance: who fixes bugs after delivery, for how long for free, and at what price after that?
• Payment gateway: which payment company, whose merchant account, and can students pay with Fawry and wallets or by card only?
• If the developer disappears: will you receive the code, server access and written documentation another developer can pick up?
• Code ownership: does the contract say the code is yours, or only licensed to you?
• Backups: how often are student data and videos backed up, and who is responsible?
• Delivery: when will the platform actually be live, and what happens if it is late?

A freelancer, an agency, or a ready platform?

All three have their place. This table compares them on what matters to a teacher:

• What a teaching platform costs in Egypt

Companies that build each teacher a platform and an app

There is a middle route between a custom build and a ready platform: Egyptian companies that build each teacher a platform and an app under their name and stay on afterwards. It suits you if an app is a must and you do not want to manage a developer yourself.

EduLoad, for example, according to its site, builds a teacher a platform and an app in two weeks to a month; its price is not published and is set on a call, and there are monthly hosting and support fees after the platform is built. TGO, according to its site, builds a teacher a web platform and an app under their name, with a separate centre system called TGO Center that starts at 299 EGP according to their published prices.

There is also a third model: a licence you pay for once. Web Academy, for example, sells its platform as a licence from 25,000 EGP according to their published prices. We compare Snatr with each of them in detail on the comparison pages.

• Snatr or EduLoad
• Snatr or TGO
• Snatr or Web Academy
• All comparisons

Can I start on a ready platform and build later?

Yes, and it is a sensible route if you are unsure. Start on a ready platform and learn how your students pay, how much they watch and what they really need. If after a year you find a real need nothing covers, you go to a developer knowing exactly what you want.

Your original videos stay on your own device, and your students know you, not the platform. On Snatr you can also export the student report (progress, grades and attendance) as a CSV file.

The other direction is harder: if you pay a large sum for a build and the platform turns out not to fit, that money does not come back.

What does Snatr give you ready, with no development?

To judge whether a ready platform is enough, these work on Snatr from day one, and each would have been a line in a developer's quote:

• A site in your name, with 30 ready designs and an editor where you click to change text, colours and images.
• Recorded courses in units and lessons, and online groups sold per month or per session.
• Encrypted video with a watermark showing the student's name, and one device per student at a time.
• Online payments in EGP, printable top-up codes and cards sold for cash, and discount coupons.
• Exams graded on the server with a timer the server enforces, and completion certificates with a QR code.
• Centre management: branches, groups and QR-card attendance, a parent portal, and assistants with permissions.
• Live classes inside the platform, on Pro only.

• All features
• Pricing