More and more trainers are now relying on online offerings. But what price is appropriate for your online training or webinar? The new international fee recommendation gives you a clear and simple answer. This way, you can sell your online trainings appropriately:
The question of the price for online training is probably as old as online training itself among trainers, coaches, and consultants. However, the question does not only arise for trainers who had to switch to online training due to the current crisis. Even if you have been offering online formats for a long time, pricing is often challenging:
On one hand, clients wish for an affordable product. After all, particularly companies expect to save time for in-person training through online training, and thus also save money. According to the 2019 fee study, the strongest financial burden for trainers is the increasing shortening of training duration. But be careful:
What costs nothing is also worth nothing!
On the other hand, the quality must also be right. And combining both in a pricing model is a challenge for you as a trainer. After all, a product that is too cheap may seem inferior from a buyer's perspective; a price that is too high for online training can make client acquisition difficult for you.
With every compromise, you also have to adequately calculate your own working time, your expertise, and additional expenses. Your working time for preparation and for providing the tools/software is, after all, also part of your online training.
Regardless of client wishes, various factors influence the price of your online training: for example, whether you want to offer a pure online training or blended learning, how much content your online trainings or courses encompass, and what your own standing in the market is (beginner, professional, or experienced senior).
Align yourself with the new fee recommendation
For simpler pricing of online trainings, the BDVT (Professional Association for Training, Consulting, and Coaching from Germany) and the VBT (Association for Business Trainers in Austria) published a fee recommendation specifically for online formats on June 16, 2020.
Based on the general fee recommendations of the BDVT, the associations recommend the following basic formula for the price of online training:
3 online sessions of 90 minutes = 1 daily rate!
In the following overview, you can see the price recommendations for live online trainings at all experience levels from starter to senior professional:
Area | Starter | Professionals | Senior Prof. |
Online training with standard content per 90 min. | from €400 | from €460 | from €860 |
Online training with specially developed content per 90 min. | from €500 | from €660 | from €1,100 |
Online coaching per session. | from €200 | from €275 | from €440 |
Source: Pricing for Online Formats - BDVT / VBT // Own representation
Additionally, you will find in the official fee recommendation price recommendations for web talks and recordings of online trainings for repeated use. You can view the complete fee recommendation for online formats here: Pricing for Online Formats / Website BDVT.
If you offer a virtual blended learning (i.e., the combination of live online training and online course), you should of course still adjust the prices: By adding an online course with additional content such as materials or exercises, you increase the added value for your clients. And ultimately, ‘added value’ is what your clients pay for!
Conclusion
A fee recommendation provides orientation, but a sustainable course price arises only through an individual, strategic calculation.
The formula “3 sessions = 1 daily rate” can give you a good guideline for your online trainings. It creates security and a certain market transparency. However, it does not replace the individual consideration of your offering.
Your target group, your level of experience, your additional efforts, and the concrete added value for your clients play just as important a role as association recommendations. Especially with blended learning or extended online offerings, the perceived value increases significantly – and should also be reflected in the price.
Those who calculate their prices consciously instead of just taking over recommendations position themselves more clearly in the market, argue more confidently in sales conversations, and build a stable business model in the long term.
Updated on February 26, 2026
