You don't need to spend money on software to build and sell an online course. Five free tools — Google Suite for planning, OBS Studio for recording, Canva Free for design, Mailchimp Free for email, and Ruzuku Free for hosting — give you everything you need to go from idea to enrolled students. I've walked dozens of creators through this exact setup, and most finish it in a single afternoon.
What you'll have when you're done:
- A Google Drive folder structure organized for course files
- OBS Studio configured to record lessons at 1080p with webcam overlay
- Canva templates for worksheets, thumbnails, and social graphics
- A Mailchimp audience with a signup form collecting emails
- A Ruzuku course shell ready for content uploads and enrollment
- A repeatable daily workflow connecting all five tools
Why these five tools
There are hundreds of free tools you could use. I recommend this combination because each tool handles a distinct phase of course creation with minimal overlap, and none of them require you to learn a second tool to get value from the first. Google Suite handles writing and file storage. OBS handles video recording. Canva handles visual design. Mailchimp handles email marketing. Ruzuku handles course delivery. They connect through simple file exports — no integrations to configure, no API tokens to manage, no Zapier automations to maintain.
The other reason this stack works is that every tool here has a usable free tier, not a stripped-down trial designed to pressure you into upgrading. OBS is fully open-source with no paid version at all. Canva Free includes thousands of templates, a drag-and-drop editor, and export to PDF and PNG. Mailchimp Free supports 500 contacts and 1,000 sends per month — enough to launch a course and build momentum before you need to spend anything.
Set up Google Suite as your course planning hub
If you already have a Gmail account, you already have Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive. If not, create a free Google account at accounts.google.com. You don't need Google Workspace (the paid version). The free consumer account gives you 15 GB of storage and full access to every app you need.
Start by creating a folder structure in Google Drive. Open Drive, click "New," and create a folder called something like "My Course" or the working title of your course. Inside it, create four subfolders: Planning (for your outline and research notes), Lesson Scripts (one doc per lesson), Recordings (where you'll store your finished video files), and Assets (for images, logos, and worksheets you create in Canva).
Open Google Docs and create your course outline. Write one heading per module and bullet points for each lesson underneath it. This doesn't need to be polished — it's a working document you'll revise as you build. The point is to have a single place where you can see the full structure of your course before you start recording. If you want a more structured approach to outlining, our Google Docs outlining guide walks through the process in detail.
Install and configure OBS Studio for recording
Download OBS Studio from obsproject.com. It runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Run the installer and grant the permissions it requests — on macOS, that means screen recording and camera access.
When OBS opens for the first time, it offers an auto-configuration wizard. Accept it and choose "Optimize just for recording" (not streaming). The wizard tests your system and picks reasonable defaults. After it finishes, go to Settings > Video and confirm both Base Resolution and Output Resolution are set to 1920x1080 with the frame rate at 30 FPS. Then go to Settings > Output, set Recording Format to MKV (more crash-resistant than MP4), and set Recording Quality to "High Quality, Medium File Size."
Now create your first Scene. In the Scenes panel at the bottom left, click the + button and name it "Screen + Webcam." Add two Sources: Display Capture (your screen) and Video Capture Device (your webcam). Drag and resize the webcam feed to a small rectangle in the bottom-right corner. Do a two-minute test recording — talk, move your mouse around, and then play back the file to confirm the audio is clear and the layout looks right. Set your recording output path to the Recordings folder you created in Google Drive so your finished files land in the right place automatically.
For a more detailed walkthrough, our full OBS setup guide covers scenes, sources, Studio Mode, and hotkeys.
Set up Canva Free for course design
Go to canva.com and create a free account. You can sign up with your Google account to keep things simple. Once you're in, search the template library for "worksheet" or "workbook" to find a starting point for your course materials.
Choose one template and customize it with your course name, your brand colors, and your font choices. Save this as your base template — you'll duplicate it for each worksheet or handout you create so everything in your course looks consistent. Canva Free includes enough fonts, stock photos, and design elements to build professional-looking materials. You don't need the Pro tier for course worksheets.
Create three things before you move on: a course title graphic (you can use this as your course thumbnail in Ruzuku), a worksheet template for student exercises, and a social media graphic you can use to announce your course. Export each as a PDF (for worksheets) or PNG (for graphics) and save them to the Assets folder in your Google Drive.
Configure Mailchimp Free for your email list
Go to mailchimp.com and create a free account. Mailchimp will walk you through a setup wizard that asks for your business name, address (required by email regulations), and website URL. If you don't have a website yet, you can enter your Ruzuku course URL once you set that up in the next step.
After the wizard finishes, go to Audience > Signup forms > Embedded forms. Mailchimp generates an HTML form you can embed on any webpage, or you can use Mailchimp's hosted signup page URL to share directly on social media and in your email signature. Copy that URL and save it somewhere you can find it — you'll use it to collect email addresses from people interested in your course before it launches.
Create your first email campaign by going to Campaigns > Create. Choose "Regular email" and set up a simple welcome message — something like "Thanks for signing up. Here's what the course covers and when it launches." Save it as a draft and send it once your course is ready. On the free plan, you get 1,000 email sends per month across up to 500 contacts. That's enough to build early momentum, send a launch announcement, and follow up with your first cohort of students.
Create your course in Ruzuku Free
Go to Ruzuku's free plan signup and create your account. The free tier gives you one active course with unlimited students and zero transaction fees — you keep everything your students pay.
Once you're in the dashboard, click "Create a Course" and enter your course title. Ruzuku organizes courses into steps within sections. Map your Google Docs outline to this structure: each module becomes a section, each lesson becomes a step. You don't need to fill in all the content yet — create the skeleton first so you can see the full shape of your course.
Upload the course title graphic you made in Canva as your course image. Then start adding content to your first lesson: upload the video file you test-recorded in OBS, add a text description, and attach the PDF worksheet from Canva as a downloadable resource. Work through one complete lesson to see the full flow from recording to published content. Once you've got one lesson done, you know the exact process for every lesson that follows.
Connecting the workflow
At this point, you've got five tools set up. Here's how they fit together as a daily workflow when you sit down to build your course:
- Plan in Google Docs. Open your course outline, pick the next lesson to build, and write a brief script or talking-point list for that lesson.
- Record in OBS Studio. Open your slides or demo, switch to OBS, hit record, teach the lesson, and stop recording. The file saves directly to your Google Drive Recordings folder.
- Design in Canva. Duplicate your worksheet template, customize it for the lesson, export the PDF, and save it to your Assets folder.
- Publish in Ruzuku. Go to the corresponding step in your course, upload the video from Drive, attach the worksheet PDF, add a discussion prompt or activity if the lesson calls for one.
- Promote with Mailchimp. Once you have a few lessons ready, send an update to your email list announcing that the course is available. Link directly to your Ruzuku course page.
The manual connection is an advantage at this stage
The connection between these tools is manual — you export files from one and upload them to the next. That's actually a feature, not a bug. There are no automations to break, no API tokens to expire, no sync issues to debug. You control every step, and you understand exactly where each piece of your course lives. When you eventually outgrow this, you'll know precisely which integration would save you the most time.
What this stack doesn't cover
No paid advertising or SEO tools
This is a creation and delivery stack, not a growth engine. It handles everything you need to build a course, publish it, and get your first students enrolled. Paid advertising, advanced analytics, and sophisticated marketing automations can come later, after your course exists and you have real students giving you feedback.
No video editing
OBS records your lessons, but if you need to trim mistakes, cut sections, or add titles, you'll need a separate editor. Free options include DaVinci Resolve, iMovie (Mac), or CapCut. That said, many successful courses are built from single-take recordings with minimal editing. Don't let the editing step become a reason to delay launching.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to set up this entire free tool stack?
Most people can create all five accounts, configure the essential settings, and connect them into a working workflow in a single afternoon — roughly two to three hours. The longest step is usually OBS Studio, because you need to test your recording setup with your specific microphone and camera. If you already have a Google account, that cuts about 15 minutes off the total.
Do I need to upgrade any of these tools before launching my first course?
No. Every tool in this stack has a free tier that supports creating, marketing, and delivering a complete course. Mailchimp Free handles up to 500 contacts and 1,000 emails per month. Canva Free includes thousands of templates. OBS Studio is fully open-source with no paid tier at all. Ruzuku Free lets you run one active course with unlimited students and zero transaction fees. You can launch and sell without spending anything on software.
What happens when I outgrow the free tiers?
You'll likely hit Mailchimp's 500-contact limit first, since that's the tightest constraint in this stack. When that happens, upgrade Mailchimp alone — the rest of the stack still works fine at free tier. The next upgrade is usually Ruzuku, when you want to run a second course simultaneously. Upgrade one tool at a time, based on whichever limit you actually hit, rather than upgrading everything preemptively.
Related guides
- The $0 Course Creation Stack — conceptual overview of the free stack approach with tool comparisons and tradeoffs
- How to Record Course Videos Using OBS Studio — deeper dive into OBS scenes, sources, and recording settings
- How to Create Course Workbooks Using Canva — detailed guide for building multi-page student workbooks
- How to Build an Email List Using Mailchimp — full email list setup with signup forms and segmentation
- How to Create Course Images Using DALL-E — generate free course visuals using AI inside ChatGPT
From setup to first student
You now have a complete course creation system that costs nothing to run. The gap between "I have the tools" and "I have enrolled students" is smaller than most people think. Record three to five lessons using the workflow above, upload them to your Ruzuku course, send your Mailchimp list a launch email with the enrollment link, and you're live. The tools are ready. The next step is yours.