Online course platforms
Heartbeat vs sensei compared on 12 fields
- Heartbeat score
- 74/100 (7 of 7 criteria)
- sensei score
- 100/100 (5 of 7 criteria)
- Fields won by Heartbeat
- 1 of 6
- Fields won by sensei
- 3 of 6
Heartbeat
senseiNo screenshot of sensei's homepage yet
Data checked Oct 14, 2026 against the vendors' own pages. How we verify
Heartbeat and sensei are both online course platforms. We compared them on 12 fields read from each vendor's own pages.
On the online course platforms scorecard Heartbeat scores 74/100 (7 of 7 criteria) and sensei 100/100 (5 of 7 criteria) (ranks 10 and 1 in the category).
Of the 6 fields with a clear rule (lower price, higher count, yes over no), Heartbeat wins 1, sensei wins 3 and 2 are ties.
sensei scores clearly higher on entry price and free plan or trial.
Side by side
| Field | Heartbeat | sensei | Winner and basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid plan (billed monthly) | $49/month | ✓ $5/month | sensei |
| Same plan, per month billed annually | $40/month | ✓ $5/month | sensei |
| Free plan | No | ✓ Yes | sensei |
| Free trial | ✓ Yes | No | Heartbeat |
| Trial length (days) | 14 | – | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Platforms supported | – | 1 | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Public API | Yes | – | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Data export | – | Course content can be exported and imported | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Analytics | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| Team access | – | Yes | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Templates | – | Yes | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| AI assistant | Yes | Yes | Tie |
– = not published by the vendor, or not verified yet.
Sources: Heartbeat pricing page, checked Oct 14, 2026; sensei pricing page, checked Oct 14, 2026. Each feature value links its own source on the tool's page.
Scorecard, criterion by criterion
| Criterion | Weight | Heartbeat | sensei |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | 25% | 56$49/month billed monthly on Build; $40/month billed annually on Build (scored on the monthly price) | 100$5/month billed annually on Interactive Blocks; no monthly-billed price published (scored against annual-billed prices) |
| Free plan or trial | 15% | 60Free trial (14 days), no free plan | 100Free plan (Sensei Free) |
| Pricing transparency | 10% | 1003 of 3 plans have a public price | 1004 of 4 plans have a public price |
| Verified features | 15% | 1002 of 4 tracked features verified: analytics, ai assistant | 1004 of 4 tracked features verified: analytics, team access, templates, ai assistant |
| API, integrations and export | 10% | 100public API | 100documented data export |
| Fee on sales | 15% | 505% fee on sales on Build ($49/month) | – |
| Students per plan | 10% | 85350 students or members on Build ($49/month) | – |
| Total score | 100% | 74/100 (7 of 7 criteria) | 100/100 (5 of 7 criteria) |
Heartbeat plans
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly | Charged per | Published limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Build | $49 | $40 | per workspace |
|
| Grow | $149 | $124 | per workspace |
|
| Scale | $849 | $766 | per workspace |
|
Prices in USD per month, before tax. Read from the vendor's pricing page on Oct 14, 2026. "Not stated" means the page does not publish it.
sensei plans
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly | Charged per | Published limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sensei Free | Free | Free | per workspace | None stated |
| Interactive Blocks | Not offered | $5 | per workspace | None stated |
| Sensei Pro | Not offered | $15 | per workspace | None stated |
| Sensei Agency | Not offered | $30 | per workspace | None stated |
Prices in USD per month, before tax. Read from the vendor's pricing page on Oct 14, 2026. "Not stated" means the page does not publish it.
How we picked
Every one of these online course platforms is scored by the same 7 criteria (scorecard v1). Each criterion gives 0 to 100 from the vendor's published data; the total is the weighted average. A criterion without verified data is left out and the other weights are re-normalised. A tool with under 60% of the weight covered is listed as not ranked, and so is a tool with no verified price and fewer than 2 verified features (“needs a verified price”); each score shows how many criteria it is based on. The core criteria are the same in every category; the category criteria are specific to online course platforms. Nobody gets custom weights, including our own products.
| Criterion | Weight | Type | What we measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | 25% | Core | Price per month of the cheapest paid plan, against the prices of other online course platforms on the same billing basis (monthly-billed prices against monthly, annual-billed against annual).Log scale. Billed monthly: $26.52/month or less = 100, $106 or more = 0. Only billed annually: $15.58/month or less = 100, $399 or more = 0. Only free plans = 100. Usage-priced and one-time plans are not scored. |
| Free plan or trial | 15% | Core | Whether you can use the tool before paying: a free plan, or failing that a free trial, as shown on the vendor's pricing page.Free plan = 100. No free plan but a free trial = 60. The pricing page lists plans but shows neither = 0. No plans read = not scored. |
| Pricing transparency | 10% | Core | How much of the pricing is public: the share of plans with a published price ("contact sales" counts against), and whether there are at least 3 published tiers.80 x (plans with a public price / plans listed) + 20 x (public plans, up to 3) / 3. No plans read = not scored. |
| Verified features | 15% | Core | How many of the 4 features we track for this category the vendor's own pages verifiably show (analytics, team access, templates, ai assistant). This counts verified features only: a tool that documents less scores lower here, and only here.Linear: verified features / 2 (half the tracked list) x 100, capped at 100. No tracked feature verified = not scored. |
| API, integrations and export | 10% | Core | Whether a public API exists, how many integrations the vendor states, and whether the vendor documents a way to export your data.Average of the parts with data: public API yes = 100, no = 0; integrations on a log scale (100 or more = 100); a documented data export = 100. None verified = not scored. |
| Fee on sales | 15% | Category | The percentage of each sale the platform keeps, as the vendor states it (the cheapest paid plan that states a fee).Linear, lower is better: 0% = 100, 10% or more = 0. No stated fee = not scored. |
| Students per plan | 10% | Category | Students or members included on the cheapest paid plan that states a limit.Log scale: 1,000 or more (or unlimited) = 100. No stated limit = not scored. |
Sources are vendor pricing pages, docs and changelogs, each with the date we checked it. We did not test these tools hands-on unless a listing says so. Full formulas: methodology.
Questions, answered from the data
Is Heartbeat cheaper than sensei?
sensei starts lower: $5 per month billed yearly on the Interactive Blocks plan, against $49 per month billed monthly ($40 billed yearly) on the Build plan for Heartbeat. Check the unit: per-user and per-account prices scale differently.
Do Heartbeat and sensei have free plans?
sensei has a free plan; Heartbeat does not.
Which is better, Heartbeat or sensei?
On our scorecard sensei scores higher (100/100 (5 of 7 criteria) vs 74/100 (7 of 7 criteria)). The score weighs every criterion the same way for every tool; check the rows above for the ones that matter to you.