13 LearnDash Alternatives: LMS Plugins & Platforms with Similar Features

LearnDash is the most popular LMS platform for WordPress, by far. And one of the more popular LMS options in general.

However, others are gaining in popularity. This article will explore LearnDash alternatives in the WordPress space, as well as hosted/SaaS LMS platforms outside of WordPress.

Since LearnDash is a WordPress LMS plugin, we’ll first look at the other LMS plugins you can use with WordPress. If you’re already using WordPress and/or committed to the platform, you’ll want to choose a LearnDash alternative WordPress plugin.

There are some free WordPress LMS plugins, but none of them offer the features that LearnDash provides. You’ll want to go with a premium solution.

However, if you’re open to non-WordPress LMS solutions, jump down to the section on other SaaS/hosted LMS platforms.

Our Top Picks
Here are our suggestions for specific types of LearnDash alternatives:

• Best WordPress plugin alternative: LifterLMS, Tutor LMS, or AccessAlly
• Best FREE LearnDash alternative: LifterLMS or Tutor LMS
• Most affordable alternative: Thinkific, MasterStudy, or Tutor LMS
• Best SaaS/hosted alternative: Explore all options
• Best for membership-based learning sites: AccessAlly, MemberPress, MoodleCloud, Kajabi, or Thinkific
• Best for social learning: MoodleCloud or Thinkific
• Best overall value: Kajabi
• Best for quizzes only: H5P

Alternative	Type	Free Version?	Est. Cost*
Compare w/ LearnDash	WordPress plugin	❌	$1,900/yr.
AccessAlly	WordPress plugin	❌	$1,900/yr.
LifterLMS	WordPress plugin	✅	$2,100/yr.
Tutor LMS	WordPress plugin	✅	$1,300/yr.
MasterStudy	WordPress plugin	✅	$1,200/yr.
Sensei	WordPress plugin	✅	$1,300/yr.
LearnPress	WordPress plugin	✅	$1,400/yr.
Thinkific	Hosted/SaaS	❌	$900/yr.
Kajabi	Hosted/SaaS	❌	$1,900/yr.
Teachable	Hosted/SaaS	✅	$1,400/yr.
MoodleCloud	Hosted/SaaS	❌	$900-1,700/yr.

WordPress Plugins vs. Hosted/SaaS Alternatives

Before you decide on a LearnDash alternative, you first need to determine if you want to stick with a WordPress plugin, or switch to a hosted/SaaS platform.

Staying with WordPress means you keep everything under one roof, and manage your website, LMS, membership, etc. all in one place. If WordPress is your jam, this is the way to go. You’ll still need to pay for your own WordPress hosting, video hosting, and potentially additional plugins to add features to your LMS.

A hosted/SaaS solution will require you to learn a completely different platform and interface. If you want to switch your entire website over from WordPress, this could take significant time & money, depending on the size of your site. Smaller sites and those just starting out will have a much easier time choosing this option from the beginning.

You can also do both—maintain your existing website with WordPress, and host your LMS/membership site on a hosted/SaaS platform. This can have its benefits, but keep in mind the design & branding options available on the hosted platform. You might not be able to match the design of your WordPress site exactly. WordPress is inherently more flexible than any of the SaaS options.

Evaluating the options below on their features and ease of use might help you make this decision. Once you’ve made it, now it’s time to decide on your LearnDash alternative.

LearnDash Alternative WordPress Plugins

The following 7 LearnDash alternatives are all WordPress LMS plugins. They function in much the same way that LearnDash does, but they have a unique set of features, layout, design, and student experience.

AccessAlly

AccessAlly is a lesser-known WordPress LMS solution, but honestly, it’s one of the most powerful. They have their own dedicated page to how AccessAlly compares with LearnDash. Keep in mind this will obviously be biased, but I can tell you that it’s absolutely worth considering as an alternative.

Features

AccessAlly actually has a great feature comparison on their site. Again, this is going to be biased, but it does highlight the fundamental truth that LearnDash requires a lot of third-party add-ons to accomplish things that most people expect with an LMS. AccessAlly provides them out-of-the-box, although a Pro or Community plan is required (Essentials plan is limited).

Consideration

AccessAlly is an excellent choice for those with membership sites who like to keep everything inside of WordPress. They provide you with excellent membership features and integrate with many of the popular email marketing platforms.

Their LMS capabilities are a bit behind those of Tutor LMS, LifterLMS, MasterStudy, and LearnPress. If you’re looking for the most robust LMS WordPress plugin, choose one of those instead.

But for membership & CRM within WordPress, AccessAlly is a top choice.

User Reviews

Here what real users of AccessAlly have to say about the platform. Keep in mind, these users were specifically asked to provide feedback by the founder, so of course they are only highlighting the positive reviews.

Pricing

Unlike many of the other WordPress-based LearnDash alternatives, AccessAlly does not have a free version. They were also just acquired by Caseproof (April 30, 2024), increased their prices, and reduced their money back guarantee from 60 days to 14 days.

For full LMS capabilities, you’ll need the Pro or Community plan.

• Essentials: $990/yr. – Basic features, no LMS
• Pro: $1,290/yr. – Full LMS, no discussions & groups
• Community: $1,490/yr. – Groups, discussions, web & email notifications

AccessAlly is also one of the few WordPress options that also offers monthly pricing, but you get a discount for paying yearly.

LifterLMS

LifterLMS has been around almost as long as LearnDash. It’s built up a solid ecosystem of loyal users, and has an extensive add-on bundle that includes just about every features under the sun.

Features

LifterLMS has everything LearnDash has and then some. It’s extensive features list covers every aspect of an LMS, but it is a bit more expensive than the other WordPress plugins on this list. You’ll need to buy their Infinity Bundle if you want access to everything.

Unlike LearnDash, who relies on third-parties to add functionality, LifterLMS builds its own add-ons in-house. I prefer Lifter’s approach here, as there’s more control over the code and better compatibility with the core plugin. Plus, you only have one place to go for support.

Pricing

The free version of LifterLMS is very limited, but it does allow you to explore the admin, play around with the course builder, and get a feel for whether or not you like the basics of how it’s built.

Fully-featured demo site: They offer a fully-featured demo site for 30 days at the price of $1. After that, you can get your money back if you don’t choose it, or decide on which plan you’d like to buy.

All of their plans are discounted 50% for the first year. They renew at the original place, listed below.

• Free: limited
• Earth Bundle: $299/yr. – Ecommerce add-ons
• Universe Bundle: $499/yr. – 5 sites, theme, email marketing, CRM, form add-ons
• Infinity Bundle: $1,499/yr. – 10 more advanced add-ons

Most users will get the most value from the Universe Bundle. The 10 additional add-ons that the Infinity Bundle provides are valuable on a case-by-case basis. Take a look at them and evaluate whether or not your LMS has the need. If not, stick with Universe and save yourself $1,000/yr.

Tutor LMS

Tutor LMS is one of the fastest growing WordPress LMS plugins, and I’ve heard quite a few people switching over from LearnDash. Alongside LifterLMS, Tutor LMS’ features are most akin to what LearnDash offers.

One of the biggest upsides to using Tutor LMS over LearnDash is the design. Tutor has a much more polished design & layout, whereas LearnDash just looks outdated.

This video gives you a better idea of what Tutor LMS is all about.

Consider Tutor LMS if…

• you’re sure you want to stay on WordPress
• you’re looking for the closest match in feature set
• beautiful design is important to you

Honestly, Tutor LMS is a solid choice for replacing LearnDash.

Pricing

Of all the options on this page, Tutor LMS probably has the most feature-rich free version. And they offer a 30-day money back guarantee.

• Free: limited
• Pro Version: $199/yr.

MasterStudy

MasterStudy is a free LearnDash alternative (with premium upgrades) created by StylemixThemes.

MasterStudy is a great choice if…

• you’re looking for an inexpensive WordPress plugin alternative to LearnDash
• you don’t mind going with one of the smaller players in the space
• you appreciate beautiful design (MasterStudy & Tutor LMS probably have the two nicest designs)

Here are the basic specs:

• Cost: Free. Premium upgrade is $89/yr. or $299 lifetime (all pricing options)
• Free version available w/ limited features
• 14-day money-back guarantee
• Author: StylemixThemes
• Integrations: WooCommerce, Elementor, Divi, Presto Player, H5P, GamiPress, Uncanny Automator, Mailchimp, and several others.
• ✅ Corresponding theme included

Sensei

Sensei is a WordPress-based LMS plugin created by Automattic, the owners of WordPress.com & WooCommerce. It is less feature-rich than LearnDash, but has had more active development recently. It’s fully integrated with WordPress and the block editor.

Features

Sensei’s features are a bit unique, but they also contain the traditional basics of every other WordPress LMS plugin.

• Unlimited courses & students
• Quizzes & certificates
• Show/Hide content based on enrollment
• Glossary of terms
• Video-specific lesson layouts
• Distraction free learning mode
• Drip content
• Reports & analytics
• Groups & cohorts
• Scheduled access
• Co-authors

Sensei also has an interactive WordPress blocks add-on you can use to make your content more interactive. They can be inserted anywhere, on any page.

• Interactive videos
• Flashcards
• Image hotspots
• Task lists
• Accordions
• Quiz questions

Consideration

Honestly, at this time, it’s hard for me to recommend Sensei. It’s feature set is far behind many of the other options, and you’ll experience a lot of add-ons and upsells to get all the features you want.

But since there is a free version, it might be worth 15 minutes to set it up on a testing site just to see if it checks your boxes.

Pricing

Sensei has a free & pro version, as well as a hosted version that takes care of hosting for you on the WordPress.com platform.

The free version is pretty limited in features. For instance, you can’t sell any courses without upgrading to Pro.

• Free (limited)
• Sensei Pro: $179/yr.
• Sensei Hosted Bundle: $399/yr. (Sensei Pro + hosting included)

The Interactive Blocks add-on is a separate $60/yr. fee and can be used with or without the Sensei plugin.

LearnPress

LearnPress is a free LearnDash alternative that comes with 25+ premium add-ons. They have also created a free WordPress LMS theme that works with LearnPress, as well as several premium themes if you want to take LearnPress further.

Features

If you buy the LearnPress premium add-on bundle ($299), you’ll have about every possible feature you can think of in a WordPress LMS plugin. They also offer their free EduPress theme that integrates seamlessly with LearnPress, as well as a premium theme called Eduma for creating an elearning marketplace.

They even offer a custom mobile app built with React, and publish it to the App Store & Google Play for you.

Pricing

The core LearnPress plugin is free.

• 25+ premium add-on bundle: $299 one-time fee
• Additional yearly support: $209/yr.
• Mobile app: $54 one-time fee

I have to say I’m skeptical of that price for a mobile app, but 300 people have purchased it via Envato Market and you can read the reviews.

WP Courseware

WP Courseware is a premium-only LearnDash alternative created by Fly Plugins.

• Cost: $159/yr.
• No free version
• 30-day money-back guarantee
• Author: Fly Plugins
• Integrations: WooCommerce, MemberPress, GamiPress, Uncanny Automator, and several others.
• Created: 2010

Pros

✅ One of the older LearnDash alternatives (created before LearnDash)
✅ Good integration options, especially for membership plugins
✅ Great built-in payment options, coupons, & subscriptions
✅ Tons of email notifications, and an easy way to customize each one
✅ Quick & easy course builder that keeps you on one page

Cons

❌ No screenshots or examples of their website
❌ No free version
❌ Poor page builder support (only supports Visual Composer)
❌ Very basic quiz questions
❌ Lack of advanced features or third-party integrations
❌ Outdated design, and no easy way to customize the look & feel

There are no screenshots or examples of the WP Courseware interface anywhere on their website. They do offer a free demo (must provide email) which you can explore, but they don’t do a great job of showing off the plugin on their own website. It would be nice to see some examples of what courses, lessons, quizzes, etc. look like, and how some of their integrations work. You actually have to login to your account in order to view the integrations list. 🫤

Other Weird Things I Found With WP Courseware

They have blocking & non-blocking quizzes. Blocking quizzes require a certain grade, while non-blocking quizzes allow you to continue without answering any questions correctly.

I got 2/2 questions correct (100%) on a non-blocking quiz and got this message, that made absolutely no sense:

“The recommended grade for this quiz is 50% (and your grade is 100%). The course instructor has allowed you to retake this quiz if you wish to improve your grade.”

Why would I retake the quiz to improve my grade when I already got a 100%?

They also have surveys, which are different from quizzes. You can have people give the course or instructor a rating from 1-10… but they use checkboxes instead of radio buttons. So they allow you to select as multiple choices in a numbered scale, which makes no sense.

A few other things I noticed include:

• When I completed a course, I got a message that confirmed the course was complete, but the progress bar still said 85%
• There’s no easy way to navigate back to the course from any of the course’s lesson pages
• The entire design feels very old & outdated
• 2 of the 3 links in their student account section were broken in their demo. There was no way to edit my information, view achievements, certificates, etc.

Bottom Line: I don’t see any situation where I would recommend WP Courseware as a true LearnDash alternative. It doesn’t include enough of the features, integrations, and customizations as LearnDash. However, for a very simple LMS, and beginner who appreciates an easy course builder, simple quiz questions, and not needing to install 20+ additional plugins, it could be a decent LMS plugin to try.

LearnDash Alternative Hosted SaaS Platforms

The next 4 LearnDash alternatives are all hosted SaaS platforms. They differ from WordPress LMS plugins in that they do not run on WordPress. They have their own proprietary platform, course editor, features, etc.

👍 All-In-One Solution / One Price
One of the biggest upsides to using a hosted LMS is that you pay one price for everything. Hosting, payments, all features, marketing add-ons, email… everything is managed by the same company, and you pay one monthly or yearly price for it all.

👍 Easy to Use
Another upside is hosted LMS platforms are typically easier to use and require less of a learning curve. WordPress has a fairly steep learning curve, whereas many of these platforms make it easier to get started building your online course.

👎 Flexibility
The biggest downside is flexibility. Because one company is in full control of the features, you can’t add custom functionality or hire a developer to code you whatever you want. Since WordPress is open source, and has a large community of experienced developers, you can customize WordPress LMS plugins to your hearts content.

With that being said, you can still get many of the same features in a hosted LMS as you can with LearnDash. In the case of some hosted platforms, you’ll get even more functionality than LearnDash.

The specifics of what each platform offers will differ, but you can certainly find a LearnDash alternative in one of these hosted options.

Teachable

Teachable built its platform around selling online courses, digital downloads, and online coaching. They are currently working on a feature to add community discussions, but it’s still in beta.

Teachable’s feature set is heavily focused on the online course experience. It doesn’t try to be the do-it-all platform that other hosted LMS’ are becoming, although it does still provide memberships, affiliate marketing, and email marketing on some of its higher plans.

This can be a good thing for two main reasons—a less cluttered and easier to use interface, and quality features that focus on the student’s experience in your courses.

Features

Teachable contains most of the same LMS features that LearnDash provides…

• easily create courses & manage your website
• create & administer quizzes
• multiple admin/instructor users

…in addition to a few additional ones that you’d pay extra for with LearnDash.

• email marketing
• affiliate marketing
• lead magnets
• membership tiers

One of the biggest differences between Teachable & LearnDash is Teachable puts hard limits on the number of products (course, digital download, coaching) that you can produce with each plan. If you have a lot of courses but are still in the early stages with a low number of students, you’ll end up paying a lot more for Teachable.

Consider Teachable…

…if you want to use a completely managed platform, and are okay with the feature set it provides. Teachable has a few integrations, but you can’t write any custom code or add your own features. This makes it one of the quickest platforms to get started on.

It’s pricing is very fair compared to LearnDash, but keep in mind the limitations on number of courses you can sell.

You probably don’t want to launch your LMS on their free plan, but it’s a great way to test it out and see if it will work for your business. You have your very own, complete working demo at your fingertips.

For a more in-depth comparison, read our article directly comparing LearnDash vs. Teachable.

Pricing

Use this link to automatically receive 10% off any Teachable plan.

• Free: 1 course, $1 + 10% transaction fee, teachable.com domain
• Basic: 5 courses, 5% transaction fee – $468/yr.
• Pro: 50 courses, no fees – $1,428/yr.
• Pro+: 200 courses, no fees – $2,388/yr.
• Business: Unlimited courses, no fees, theme customization – $5,998/yr.

Thinkific

Thinkific is another LMS platform that offers more features than LearnDash alone. You can build memberships, charge recurring subscriptions, create community spaces for specific topics, and sell digital downloads. It provides built-in student profiles, user tagging, live workshops, 1:1 email communication, on-site notifications, affiliate marketing, order bumps, coupons, and even bookkeeping.

Features

Thinkific contains most (if not all) of the same features as LearnDash, plus some features that you’d have to pay over $1,000/yr. for in third-party add-ons with LearnDash.

• Unlimited courses (free, paid, time-restricted)
• Unlimited students (on all plans)
• Quizzes
• Certificates
• Email communication
• Coupons, order bumps, affiliate marketing, full ecommerce built-in
• Drip content
• Video hosting
• Memberships & community spaces for specific discussions
• Group purchases
• Advanced HTML/CSS editing (on Start plan or higher)
• Zapier integration
• Reporting & analytics (more detailed with higher plans)

Consider Thinkific if…

• you want a hosted platform that works out of the box,
• but you can also customize with HTML & CSS,
• and is scalable to provide enterprise LMS capabilities,
• with unlimited courses, students, memberships, etc.,
• and starts at a reasonable price

It’s great for those who know they are in this for the long haul, but still want to launch quickly. You won’t have the same freedom as you do with LearnDash, but that also means far less headaches, and no surprise costs.

Pricing

Thinkific doesn’t have a free plan, but they do offer a 14-day free trial, along with a 30-day money back guarantee.

All plans come with:

• unlimited courses
• unlimited students
• 0% transaction fees (besides what Stripe/PayPal charge you)

A branded mobile app can be purchased as an add-on to any plan for $199/mo.

• Basic: $432/yr. – 5 digital downloads, 1 admin, 1 community
• Start: $888/yr. – Assignments, memberships, subscriptions, live classes
• Grow: $1,788/yr. – Remove Thinkific branding & phone support
• Expand: $4,488/yr. – More admin accounts
• Plus: Custom pricing – Unlimited products, 1:1 support, branded mobile app & more

Kajabi

Kajabi was founded in 2010 and has steadily grown into a do-it-all digital marketing platform. I almost didn’t include it on this list because it’s feature set is so far beyond what LearnDash offers. But one of those features is online courses, and the rest of its feature set provides immense value for the price.

Features

Kajabi provides the following features on all of its plans:

• sell digital products, courses, and subscriptions
• monetize podcasts or coaching services
• monetize a community with memberships
• a complete website builder
• email marketing platform
• funnel builder and landing page creation
• fully featured CRM for managing contacts
• a Kajabi-branded mobile app
• integrations with a dozen other platforms, as well as Zapier

They even have an AI-powered Creator Studio that makes it easy to repurpose your content in multiple ways to more easily share across many social platforms. Take one video and product multiple images, written content, short form video for Instagram or YouTube Shorts, etc.

Considerations

I would recommend using Kajabi instead of LearnDash if…

• you’re an experienced marketer who is familiar with feature-rich marketing software, CRMs, etc.
• you have a decent budget and guaranteed revenue early on in your journey
• you have an existing email list of followers/members/students you can market to from the get-go
• you have concrete plans for email marketing & future sales
• you don’t already have a well-performing website with tons of content (it could be time-consuming to switch to a Kajabi website)

You definitely lose some flexibility by having everything (courses, CRM, email marketing) all in one platform, but for many small businesses, too much flexibility acts as a crutch.

If you are looking to get started quickly with a reliable, feature-rich platform, Kajabi certainly makes it easier than most.

Watch the 30-minute Kajabi demo before making any decisions, then give the 14-day free trial a spin.

Pricing

In Kajabi, a “product” is any digital product, including courses, digital downloads, PDFs, a service subscription, etc. “Customers” represents your active students.

They don’t offer a free plan but do have a 14-day free trial.

All of Kajabi’s main features are included with every plan. *

• Basic: 3 products, 1,000 customers: $1,428/yr.
• Growth: 15 products, 10,000 customers: $1,908/yr.
• Pro: 100 products, 20,000 customers: $3,828/yr.

* Advanced automations, affiliate program, and custom branding are only available on Growth & Pro plans.

MoodleCloud

With hundreds of millions of users and over 2 billion course enrollments, Moodle is arguably the largest online learning platform on this list. It’s also one of the oldest, born in 2001 in a remote town in Western Australia.

Moodle itself is open-source software, meaning it can be freely downloaded and modified by anyone. However, when comparing it to LearnDash, we’re going to talk about one of its premium offerings, MoodleCloud.

Features

MoodleCloud offers most of the same features you’ll find in LearnDash, like creating and selling online courses, tracking learner progress, and creating quizzes and assessments.

In addition, it offers some features that LearnDash doesn’t provide out of the box (but can be added via third-party plugins):

• social learning & learner collaboration
• learning pathways & programs with multiple courses
• integrated video conferencing
• integrations with Dropbox & Google Drive

Check out some of the course page improvements recently made in Moodle 4.4:

Considerations

Smaller MoodleCloud plans start with a very limited number of users, so expect to upgrade often if you plan to grow quickly. However, the pricing is still very competitive with what you’d pay for LearnDash, once you consider hosting and additional plugins.

The MoodleCloud platform offers great piece of mind in terms of uptime, performance, and security since everything is hosted for you by Moodle and managed by certified Moodle partners.

If you are seriously considering MoodleCloud, I recommend you download the free version of Moodle and install it on your own server first. Take it for a spin to make sure it meets your requirements. They also have a free demo site you can take for a spin.

Pricing

MoodleCloud starts at $120/yr. for up to 50 students, and offers higher plans as you grow.

• 50 users, $120/yr.
• 100 users, $210/yr.
• 200 users, $380/yr.
• 500 users, $880/yr.
• 1,000 users, $1,670/yr.

They also offer premium solutions via certified partners to scale beyond 1,000 users.

Small Niche LearnDash Alternatives

The following options aren’t direct alternatives for the LearnDash plugin, but depending on your specific needs, they might be worth looking into. They each focus on their own unique aspect of online learning.

WPComplete

WPComplete is a super simple course tracking plugin for WordPress. It has a small fraction of the features of a full-blown LMS, but for users who want something simple, and want to launch quickly, WPComplete is a potential solution.

• Cost: $99/yr. + hosting + additional plugins
• Built by StellarWP, the same team that builds LearnDash

MemberPress

MemberPress started out as a membership plugin, but has since added the capability to create & sell online courses. You can also manage discussion forums, memberships, content access, unlimited membership levels, and more.

It still lacks some of the more powerful LMS features of LearnDash, but is a solid alternative if your courses are simple and/or you plan to run a membership site.

• Cost: $359/yr. + hosting + additional plugins

MemberDash

MemberDash is LearnDash’s own membership solution. While not a direct alternative for LearnDash, it can be used in conjunction with LearnDash to add membership capabilities to an existing LMS site.

• Cost: $199/yr. + hosting + additional plugins

* See all of LearnDash’s pricing & add-ons options here →

H5P

H5P is far from a complete LearnDash alternative, but if you mainly need quiz functionality, it’s worth considering. H5P is a platform for creating rich, interactive content that can be easily embedded on a WordPress site.

Many course creators use H5P for adding quizzes to their existing courses, and some even use it alongside LearnDash.

There is no online course functionality with H5P, but if you’re looking to do more than what the default LearnDash quiz features allow, H5P is the first place I’d look.

• Cost: Free
• Premium version available for ~$1,000/yr. offers LTI integration with Blackboard, Moodle, Canvas, and other popular LMS platforms

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FAQ

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There are many more LMS platforms out there, but I truly believe these are the best LearnDash alternatives on the market right now.

If you’re evaluating an option not on this list, please let us know in the comments.

Have you made the switch from LearnDash? If so, which alternative did you choose and why?