The Scholarly Alternative for Making Course Videos
Scholarly helps learners study their sources. DistilBook helps you produce lessons for other people.
Scholarly is a study workspace: it turns PDFs, notes or a topic into AI video lectures, podcasts, flashcards and quizzes, with narration in 27+ languages and lectures of 10 to 25 minutes. It is built around a learner studying their own material. DistilBook is built for the person producing the lesson for others: course creators, trainers and e-learning teams. You review and edit the script before anything is drawn, put your logo and colours on every scene, choose from 19 styles, and download an MP4 in 16:9 or 9:16 for your course or LMS.
Scholarly vs DistilBook at a glance
| Scholarly | DistilBook | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Learners studying their own sources: lectures, flashcards, quizzes, podcasts | Producing lessons, training and explainers for an audience |
| Video styles | Teaching modes: Standard, Illustrated (hand-drawn), Short, Manim math and Freestyle | 19 styles: a set of whiteboard styles plus motion graphics |
| Script control | The AI builds the lecture from your sources | You review and edit every line of the script before anything is drawn |
| Your logo and colours | Not listed on its video lectures page | On every paid plan |
| Narration languages | 27+ | 20 |
| Free plan | Lectures fixed at 2 minutes | 10 free credits, the first slide, no card |
| Paid from | $12 a month billed yearly, $30 monthly | $20 a month, $14 billed yearly |
Prices checked on each vendor's own pricing page, 5 October 2026.
Why course creators look for a Scholarly alternative
Producing for others, not studying
When the video is for your learners or your clients, the script has to be under your control and checked line by line before it is narrated.
Brand and client work
Courses and agency projects need the right logo and colours on every scene, not a study app's look.
Course-ready files
An MP4 in 16:9 for courses and slides, or 9:16 for short-form, that drops straight into an LMS or authoring tool.
What DistilBook does differently
Script review before anything is drawn
The AI writes the narration and stops, so you fix terms, numbers and tone first. That is where instructional accuracy lives.
Your brand on every scene
Every paid plan applies your logo and brand colours, so each course or client project looks like its owner.
Whiteboard drawn stroke by stroke
Original artwork for each idea, revealed as the narration reaches it, in different whiteboard styles or motion graphics.
Fast, in any format
A short whiteboard video in about 5 minutes, a 10 slide module in about 15 to 25, exported as MP4 up to 1440p in 16:9 or 9:16.
Other Scholarly alternatives
The other tools people compare, and what each one is for:
- Synthesia:AI avatar presenter videos, with SCORM export on higher plans.
- Colossyan:AI avatar training videos with SCORM export.
- NotebookLM (Gemini Notebook):video overviews for studying your own sources.
- Pictory:script-to-video with stock footage.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Scholarly alternative for making course videos?
DistilBook, if you are producing lessons for other people: you approve the script before it is drawn, your logo and colours go on every scene, and you download an MP4 in 16:9 or 9:16 for your course. Scholarly is the better fit if you are a learner studying your own material.
Is DistilBook cheaper than Scholarly?
Not on yearly billing: Scholarly's paid plan is $12 a month billed yearly and DistilBook is $14 a month billed yearly. Monthly, DistilBook is $20 and Scholarly $30. DistilBook includes your logo and brand colours on every paid plan.
Does Scholarly support more languages?
Yes. Scholarly lists 27+ narration languages; DistilBook narrates in 20, including Hungarian, Polish, German, French and Spanish.
What does Scholarly do better?
Studying: flashcards, quizzes, question cards inside the video and chat with your sources. If your goal is to learn your own material, Scholarly is built for that.
More alternatives
The AI Alternative to Powtoon
Stop filling in templates. Start from the document you already have.
The AI Alternative to Pictory
Original animated scenes instead of stock clips matched to your words.
The AI Alternative to Animaker
Skip the character library and the template. Start from your document.
The Alternative to NoteGPT
Both turn a PDF into a video. One of them lets you fix the script first.
The Alternative to StudyFetch
StudyFetch is built for studying. This is built for video other people watch.
The Alternative to Colossyan
Colossyan puts a presenter in front of your document. This illustrates the document instead.
Judge it on your own content
Upload a document and preview the video free before deciding anything.