01 / The client
Project overview: Samanya Gyan
Samanya Gyan gives UPSC learners a mobile-first platform for courses, current affairs, mock tests and mentorship.
Learners need to move between preparation material and practice without losing their place in the platform.
- Industry: education technology, competitive exam preparation.
- Business model: online learning platform with free and paid tiers.
- Audience: civil services aspirants across India, including students in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
- Industry
- Education
- Services / expertise
- EdTech Platform Development · UPSC Learning Platform · LMS Development
- Business model
- Online learning platform with freemium subscriptions
- Platforms
- Public website, student learning portal, AMP pages, Progressive Web App
- Team size
- 22 professionals
- Duration
- 7 months (14 two-week sprints)
- Client website
- Visit Samanya Gyan ↗
Planning a similar project? Explore our website design and development and custom software development services.
02 / The project
What Samanya Gyan needed from the platform
Course discovery, study content and preparation tools are organised around the learner’s next useful action.
Comprehensive learning platform
- Courses for General Studies papers 1 to 4, CSAT, optional subjects, essay writing and interview preparation.
- Video lectures, PDF notes, current affairs, quizzes, mock tests and practice questions.
- Daily current affairs linked to the static syllabus.
- Live classes and doubt sessions with mentors.
- Personalized study paths based on available time, target exam date and preparation level.
Student engagement and assessment
- Full-length Prelims and Mains mock tests with performance analysis.
- Answer-writing practice with mentor feedback.
- Progress dashboards showing completion, strengths, weak areas and trends.
- Subject-wise analytics, topic mastery and time management insights.
- Study streaks, achievement badges and milestones.
Mentorship and support
- Access to experienced UPSC trainers and civil servants as mentors.
- Scheduled live Q&A sessions for doubt resolution.
- One-on-one mentorship for premium subscribers covering strategy, optional subject selection and interview preparation.
- Discussion forums for peer learning.
Mobile accessibility and performance
- Mobile-first design and fast load times.
- Downloadable content for offline study.
- AMP pages for blog and current affairs content.
- A Progressive Web App that works without an app store download.
Monetization, SEO and content strategy
- Freemium access with monthly, quarterly and annual plans.
- Subject-wise packages for individual optional subjects.
- Google AdSense on free content and affiliate recommendations for books and course material.
- Ranking for UPSC preparation keywords through daily publishing and post-exam analysis.
03 / The project
Challenges in building a UPSC learning platform
Content management
- Publishing and linking fresh current affairs every day without losing quality or exam relevance.
- Updating the content library quickly when UPSC changes the syllabus or exam pattern.
- Unifying text notes, videos, PDFs, quizzes and mock tests into one learning experience.
Student engagement
- Reducing dropout across months of preparation.
- Delivering personalized attention and adaptive paths to thousands of concurrent students.
- Running live doubt sessions for large audiences without technical issues.
Competitive landscape
- Differentiating through quality and structure rather than volume of free content.
- Balancing affordable pricing for price-sensitive aspirants with business sustainability.
Technical and performance
- Smooth lecture playback from metro cities to villages.
- Fast page loads across varied internet infrastructure.
- Traffic spikes around exam results and answer key publications.
- Offline access for students with intermittent connectivity.
Monetization
- Converting free users into subscribers through demonstrated value.
- Retaining subscribers across a multi-month preparation journey.
04 / The project
Public website and content hub
- Next.js 16 with Turbopack for fast builds and page transitions.
- AMP pages for blog and current affairs content, documented to load in under one second even on 2G and 3G networks.
- Radix UI, shadcn/ui and Tailwind CSS for an accessible, responsive design system.
- Framer Motion micro-interactions that keep performance in check.
- Automated daily current affairs workflow, categorized by UPSC syllabus topic.
- Searchable resource library of study materials, previous year papers and free downloads.
05 / The project
How does the Samanya Gyan student portal support learning and assessment?
Dashboard and progress tracking
- Progress indicators per subject and topic with completion percentages.
- Study streaks with badges for consecutive study days.
- Graphs of mock test scores and improvement trends.
- Upcoming live class schedule with calendar integration and reminders.
Course and content structure
- Sequential learning paths with prerequisites.
- Video player with playback speed control, note-taking and bookmarks.
- Downloadable PDF notes for each topic.
- Chapter-wise quizzes with instant feedback.
- A revision scheduler using spaced repetition.
Live interactive features
- Scheduled live classes with screen sharing, chat and Q&A.
- Live doubt-solving sessions with real-time mentor responses.
- Recordings available within hours for students who miss a session.
- Attendance tracking, participation metrics, and in-session polls and quizzes.
Assessment and practice
- Full-length Prelims mock tests with 100 questions over 2 hours.
- Mains mock tests covering essay, GS papers and optional subjects.
- Topic-wise practice tests and previous year papers with detailed solutions and video explanations.
- Answer-writing submission portal with mentor evaluation.
- Analytics for subject-wise strengths, weak areas, accuracy and time management.
Personalization and mentorship
- AI-driven study plan generator based on study hours, target exam date and current level.
- Recommendation engine that suggests topics for revision based on quiz and test performance.
- One-on-one mentorship for premium subscribers.
- Ask a Mentor for written questions, with expert responses within 24 hours.
- Peer study groups and discussion forums.
06 / The project
Mobile experience with AMP and a Progressive Web App
- AMP pages for current affairs, blog and static content.
- Add to home screen, offline content access and push notifications through the PWA.
- Offline video downloads for study without an internet connection.
- Data saver mode with reduced video quality and image compression.
- Touch-optimized UI with swipe gestures and thumb-friendly navigation.
- Push notifications for study reminders, new content, test deadlines and live classes.
07 / The project
How did Bizzeonline integrate payments, subscriptions, SEO and analytics?
Subscription plans
- Free: limited sample lectures, daily current affairs and basic quizzes.
- Basic: video lectures and notes for selected subjects.
- Premium: complete course access, mock tests, answer-writing evaluation and live classes.
- Elite: Premium plus one-on-one mentorship, unlimited doubt sessions and exclusive content.
Razorpay payment integration
- UPI, credit and debit cards, net banking and wallets.
- Monthly, quarterly and annual billing with discounts for longer commitments.
- A 7-day free trial of premium features.
- Referral discounts and family or group plans.
AdSense integration
- Ad placement on free blog, current affairs and lecture pages.
- Ad-free experience for premium subscribers.
- Contextual, education-relevant ads and A/B tested ad positions.
SEO and content marketing
- Automated daily current affairs publishing workflow.
- Targeting of UPSC keywords such as "UPSC preparation" and "IAS study material".
- Long-form guides and post-exam analysis with answer keys published within hours of an exam.
- Internal links from current affairs to static syllabus topics.
- Course, review and FAQ schema for rich results.
Analytics and optimization
- Google Analytics 4 for acquisition, behavior flow, course completion and conversion funnels.
- Google Tag Manager events for video completion, quiz attempts and purchases.
- A custom admin dashboard for engagement, popular content and churn indicators.
- A/B testing of landing pages, pricing pages and calls to action.
08 / The project
Team, timeline and methodology
- Phases: discovery and content strategy; UX research and student personas; UI/UX design for website, portal and mobile; content management system development; student portal development; video integration and streaming; mock test engine; Razorpay payment integration; AMP implementation; beta testing with students; launch and stabilization.
- SEO optimization ran as an ongoing workstream.
- Methodology: Agile Scrum, weekly content reviews with UPSC experts, bi-weekly student user testing, A/B testing for conversion and a continuous deployment pipeline.
| Role | Count | Responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| Business Analyst | 1 | Requirements gathering, content strategy, student journey mapping |
| Project Manager | 1 | Sprint planning, timeline management, stakeholder coordination |
| UI/UX Designer | 2 | Website design, student portal UX, mobile optimization, AMP templates |
| Frontend Developer | 4 | Next.js 16 development, Radix UI/shadcn implementation, AMP pages, PWA |
| Backend Developer | 3 | API development, video streaming, subscription logic, content management |
| Mobile Developer | 2 | PWA optimization, offline functionality, push notifications |
| DevOps Engineer | 1 | Cloud infrastructure, CDN setup, deployment automation |
| QA Engineer | 2 | Functional testing, mobile testing, payment flow verification |
| Content Manager / UPSC Expert | 3 | Daily current affairs, course content curation, exam analysis |
| SEO Specialist | 1 | Keyword research, on-page optimization, content strategy |
| Video Production Specialist | 2 | Lecture recording, video editing, subtitle creation |
09 / The project
Technology stack behind Samanya Gyan
| Layer | Technologies |
|---|---|
| Frontend framework | React.js, Next.js 16.0.7 |
| Build tool | Turbopack |
| Mobile optimization | AMP for content pages, Progressive Web App |
| Rendering strategy | SSR (student dashboards), SSG (blog, current affairs), ISR (course pages) |
| UI and styling | Tailwind CSS, Radix UI, shadcn/ui, Framer Motion, Lucide icons, Google Fonts API |
| Web server | Nginx |
| Backend | Node.js, Express.js |
| Database | MongoDB (courses, content, user data), PostgreSQL (subscriptions, payments) |
| Video and file storage | AWS S3 + CloudFront with adaptive bitrate streaming |
| Cloud platform | AWS (EC2, S3, CloudFront, SES) |
| Authentication | JWT, OAuth 2.0, OTP verification |
| Payment gateway | Razorpay (UPI, cards, wallets, net banking) |
| Analytics and tags | Google Analytics 4, Microsoft Clarity, Google Tag Manager |
| Advertising | Google AdSense |
| Email and notifications | AWS SES, SendGrid, Firebase Cloud Messaging |
| Security | SSL/TLS, security headers, data encryption |
| Performance and SEO | Priority Hints, lazy loading, code splitting, Open Graph, XML sitemaps, structured data |
| CMS | Custom headless CMS |
10 / The project
Outcomes reported for the Samanya Gyan platform
Adoption and reach
- Students in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities as well as metros.
- Verified UPSC mentors and civil servants onboarded as faculty.
- An active daily user community.
Learning and content delivery
- Daily current affairs publishing and a video lecture library covering the syllabus.
- Study materials across GS papers and optional subjects, plus a mock test question bank.
- Mock test participation, answer-writing submissions and live class attendance.
- Positive student feedback on course quality and mentor support.
Performance and mobile use
- AMP pages with sub-one-second mobile load times.
- Strong Lighthouse and Core Web Vitals results and smooth video streaming.
- High mobile traffic, PWA adoption, offline video downloads and data saver usage.
Revenue and organic growth
- A launched freemium subscription model with growing monthly recurring revenue and renewals.
- High Razorpay transaction success rates and supplementary AdSense revenue.
- Organic traffic growth, first-page rankings for UPSC keywords and featured snippets.
- Community building through forums, social media, a YouTube channel, newsletters and referrals.
11 / The project
Why the Samanya Gyan platform matters
- Mentor-led, exam-oriented preparation with live doubt resolution.
- Free content that lets students judge value before subscribing.
- Mobile and offline access for students outside major cities.
Technology used
ReactNext.jsTailwind CSSRadix UINode.jsMongoDBPostgreSQLAWSRazorpayPWA
Questions about this project
What was the Samanya Gyan project about?
A mobile-first UPSC learning platform that brings courses, current affairs, mock tests and mentorship into one learning experience.
What did the Samanya Gyan experience need to support?
Learners need to move between preparation material and practice without losing their place in the platform. Course discovery, study content and preparation tools are organised around the learner’s next useful action.
Bizzeonline is a brand of Ackrolix. Project scope and visuals come from the shared delivery portfolio; this account has been edited for Bizzeonline. About the team.
