Alva Courses vs Skola
Alva Courses is a Shopify app that builds, sells and delivers online courses natively through the Shopify checkout — with built-in video hosting, certificates, drip scheduling and branded email. Skola is another option for selling courses. Here's how the two compare across features, pricing, and the merchants each one fits best. As of October 2026 we could not find Skola on the Shopify App Store, so confirm its details with its developer.
Side by side at a glance.
| Feature | Alva Courses | Skola |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $9.99/mo · Pro $14.99/mo · 14-day trial | Not found on the Shopify App Store (Oct 2026); confirm with Skola |
| Primary focus | Course delivery, video hosting, certificates | Selling courses; confirm scope with Skola |
| Built-in video hosting | Alva Video Hosting: 50 GB, no per-video limit (Pro) | Confirm with Skola |
| External video sources | YouTube · Vimeo · Loom | Confirm with Skola |
| Sell Shopify products in lessons | Shopify Product block: live add-to-cart cards | Confirm with Skola |
| Completion certificates | Custom template, auto-awarded; optional email | Confirm with Skola |
| Quizzes & assessments | Built into lessons | Confirm with Skola |
| Grading & graded certificates | Grade coursework (A–F or your own scale); grade on the certificate | Confirm with Skola |
| Drip scheduling | Drip by days after enrolment + scheduled publish | Confirm with Skola |
| Per-lesson discussions | Native comments with moderation | Confirm with Skola |
| Branded email + custom domain | Customizable templates, send from your domain | Confirm with Skola |
| Native Shopify checkout delivery | Checkout · thank-you · order status · account | Unverified; not found on the Shopify App Store (Oct 2026) |
| Course player languages | 34 languages, follows the storefront language | Confirm with Skola |
| Member & enrolment management | CSV import/export, per-course & global views | Confirm with Skola |
| Access deadlines | Set per course or student; tracked on the member page | Confirm with Skola |
| Shopify Flow automation | 13 triggers, 7 actions, 6 templates · both plans | Confirm with Skola |
| Shopify Sidekick | Ask about courses & students; drafts enrolment-email edits | Confirm with Skola |
As of October 2026 we could not find Skola on the Shopify App Store, so its features and pricing could not be checked. This page documents what Alva Courses does in detail; confirm Skola's exact current capabilities and plans with its developer before deciding.
When Alva Courses is the better fit.
Skola is one of several ways to sell courses, and the right tool depends on the specifics you need. Many merchants want a focused course platform: clean delivery, video that isn't capped by Shopify's file limits, certificates students can show off, and email that comes from their own brand. Seven reasons merchants pick Alva Courses:
Alva Video Hosting on the Pro plan gives you 50 GB of dedicated storage with no per-video limits, so you're not boxed in by Shopify's 1 GB / 10-minute cap. You can also pull in YouTube, Vimeo or Loom on any plan.
Alva keeps the workflow lean: build sections and lessons, add quizzes and certificates, drip the content, and ship. Discussions live per-lesson with moderation. The whole app is built around getting a course live and getting students through it, with little to configure.
Award a custom-designed certificate automatically on completion — students can download it, and you can switch on an email that sends it as a PDF. Drip lessons a set number of days after enrolment, or schedule them to publish on a date — built in, not bolted on.
Enrolment emails are fully customizable — from-name, subject, message, footer and a "Start Learning Now" CTA — and certificate emails have their own subject, message and issuer name. You can also verify your own sending domain so students hear from your brand, not a third party.
Courses are delivered the moment an order is paid — on the thank-you page, the order status page, and in the customer account. Students watch lessons in a branded storefront player with no second login and no separate platform.
Switch on manual evaluation for a course and each student's work waits for your review before it counts as complete: award a grade on the A–F scale or your own bands, add feedback, or send it back to revise and resubmit. The grade from a passed evaluation can print on the completion certificate. Turn on course evaluation.
Alva Courses runs inside your Shopify admin, so course events such as an enrolment, a completed lesson or a graded quiz can start Shopify Flow workflows — 13 triggers, 7 actions and 6 ready-made templates on both plans. Shopify Sidekick can answer questions about your courses and students, too. See how Alva works with Shopify Flow.
Choose Alva Courses if you…
- Want a lean, course-first builder that runs inside your Shopify admin
- Need video hosting that bypasses Shopify's 1 GB / 10-min cap
- Award completion certificates and run quizzes
- Drip content and track access deadlines per student
- Send branded enrolment email from your own domain
- Prefer two simple flat plans at $9.99 and $14.99/mo
Skola may suit you if…
- Its plan structure or pricing fits your budget better
- It offers a specific feature you need that Alva does not
- You're already set up on it and migration isn't worth it yet
- Its workflow matches yours — confirm the details with its developer
Three differences, in detail.
Video hosting: dedicated storage vs Shopify's file cap
Shopify's native files have a 1 GB and 10-minute limit per file. For a course with long-form lessons, that ceiling is the first thing merchants hit. How Skola handles large video isn't documented here — confirm its current video and storage limits with its developer before you commit.
Alva Courses solves this directly. Alva Video Hosting on the Unlimited Pro plan ($14.99/mo) gives you 50 GB of dedicated storage with no per-video limits, so multi-hour lessons upload and stream without workarounds. On the Unlimited plan ($9.99/mo) you can still host through Shopify within the file cap, and every plan supports YouTube, Vimeo and Loom for hybrid setups.
- Alva video
- 50 GB hosting on Pro, no per-video limit
- External sources
- YouTube · Vimeo · Loom
- Skola
- Confirm video handling with Skola
A focused, course-first workflow
Course tools differ in how much they ask you to set up. Skola's exact workflow and feature depth aren't covered here, so confirm with its developer how building and selling a course maps to your day-to-day. What follows is how Alva Courses approaches the same job.
Alva Courses takes the leaner route. The core loop is build, sell, deliver: a drag-and-drop builder, a rich lesson editor with text, video, PDF, audio, ePub, MS Office, quiz, Zoom and button blocks, plus sequential gating and drip. Discussion is native but lesson-scoped — students comment on a lesson, you moderate, and optional email notifications keep you in the loop. Less to set up, fewer moving parts, and a clearer focus on completion.
- Alva model
- Course-first, per-lesson discussion
- Skola model
- Confirm scope with Skola
- Best for
- Alva: focused course delivery with video hosting
Native delivery and a branded learner experience
Alva Courses runs inside Shopify, which already beats sending students to a separate platform. What matters day to day is how delivery and branding are handled.
Alva delivers a course the moment an order is paid — on the Shopify thank-you page, the order status page, and in the customer account under "My Courses." Students watch in a branded storefront player with a lesson sidebar, progress bar and completion ticks; no second login. Enrolment and certificate emails are fully customizable and can send from your own verified domain, so every touchpoint stays on-brand.
- Delivery surfaces
- Checkout · thank-you · order status · account
- Learner login
- Shopify customer account — no second login
- Branding
- Custom email domain + storefront player
Two flat plans, no surprises.
Alva Courses keeps pricing simple: two flat monthly plans, both with unlimited courses, members and comments, and a 14-day free trial. We could not find Skola on the Shopify App Store as of October 2026, so confirm its current pricing with its developer rather than relying on a number here.
| plan | Unlimited $9.99/mo Everything to sell courses | Recommended Unlimited Pro $14.99/mo Adds Alva Video Hosting |
|---|---|---|
| Courses, members & comments | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Quizzes, certificates & drip | ||
| Branded email + custom domain | ||
| Access deadlines | ||
| Alva Video Hosting (50 GB, no per-video limit) | — | |
| 14-day free trial |
Full details on Alva's pricing are on the Alva Courses pricing page.
Moving from Skola to Alva.
- Install Alva Courses from the Shopify App Store and start the 14-day free trial — no separate platform to set up.
- Rebuild your structure in the builder. Create courses, sections and lessons by dragging; use "Create Multiple" for bulk lessons and reorder freely.
- Bring your videos across. Upload to Alva Video Hosting (Pro), or link from YouTube, Vimeo or Loom. Add quizzes, PDFs, audio and certificates per lesson.
- Import your students via CSV. On the Members page, use Bulk Import CSV: one row per student with their email and up to ten exact course titles (course_1 to course_10). The import date becomes the enrolment date, so drip and access deadlines count from it.
- Run a test enrolment, then switch. Place a test order and confirm delivery on the thank-you page, order status page and customer account. Keep Skola available to existing students until they're moved across.
Alva Courses fits a wide range of teachers on Shopify — see how it works for coaches & consultants and online educators. Comparing the whole category? Read the guide to the best Shopify course apps in 2026.
Answers before you switch.
Build it, sell it, and deliver it — all inside Shopify.
Install Alva Courses from the Shopify App Store. Build a course in the drag-and-drop editor, add a video lesson, place a test order, and watch it delivered on the thank-you page and in the customer account. You don't have to move every student at once, and the 14-day trial means no commitment to start.