The purpose of this study is to investigate the characteristics influencing students' satisfaction with online learning and their efficacy in online courses during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Furthermore, it examined whether there was a moderating of academic self-efficacy on perceived satisfaction and effectiveness of online education. The data for the study were obtained using an online survey from 319 respondents who were studying at any education level. The results indicate that instructor quality, course design, quick feedback, and students' expectations strongly relate to perceived satisfaction. In addition, quick feedback and students' expectations strongly relate to the effectiveness of online education, while course design and instructor's prompt feedback are factors that have no relationship to students' effectiveness in online education. Academic self-efficacy moderates the relationship between perceived satisfaction and effectiveness of online education paths. This paper builds a model to find the relationship between instructor quality, course design, prompt feedback, and student expectations, perceived satisfaction, effectiveness of online education. Furthermore, the moderate effect of academic self-efficacy in regulating the link between perceived satisfaction and online learning efficacy is proposed in this study. These results are most consistent with the earlier studies that investigated such variables throughout the background of social comparison.