Creating and selling online courses can be a valuable business model. An LMS (Learning Management System) plugin can turn your WordPress website into a learning platform. All you must do is create the courses. Fortunately, there are several good LMS plugins to choose from. In this article, we’ll look at the best WordPress LMS plugins to help you decide which is best for your needs.
What is an LMS Plugin?
An LMS plugin provides the tools to create, manage, and deliver course content to students. They create post types for courses, lessons, quizzes, students, instructors, and more. You create the course content and set up the LMS. The plugin handles the rest.
The LMS plugin restricts access to the content based on the rules you set up. You can sell the courses, require prerequisites, monitor progress, create certificates, receive payments, view statistics, and more. You have complete control over your learning platform.
There are lots of LMS plugins available. Here’s a look at what I consider to be the eight best WordPress LMS plugins available. They’re in no particular order.
1. MemberPress
MemberPress is a powerful learning platform designed to be the easiest to set up and start. It can create courses and membership sites and includes powerful access rules, coupons, forums, drip content, pricing pages, reports, and more. It also integrates with Divi, payment gateways, Zapier, and many other platforms.
Divi integration allows you to build the pages with the Divi Builder and then select to control their access under Access Conditions. This example from their website shows it restricting access to a page called Divi Membership, which was created with the Divi Builder.
A new tab is added to the builder called MemberPress. It has a set of tools to choose the membership rule and authorization.
Features
- Unlimited courses
- Unlimited memberships
- Divi addon
- Integrates with payment gateways
- Drip content
- Coupon codes
- Forums
- Email automation
- Content protection
- Gutenberg blocks
Price: $279 and up | More Information
2. LifterLMS
LifterLMS is one of the best WordPress LMS plugins available. It makes it easy to create and sell courses and memberships through your WordPress website. It’s integrated with lots of popular plugins, and it can connect your website to other apps. eCommerce is built-in, so you don’t have to rely on other plugins. Even though it has a lot of features, it’s easy to set up and use.
LifterLMS includes a detailed settings dashboard with settings for courses, memberships, accounts, checkout, engagements, notifications, and lots more.
You can add any Divi modules to the page in the classic editor; alternatively, The Gutenberg editor includes several blocks to build the pages for your courses, lessons, and memberships.
The course builder includes tools and an outline to get you started.
It adds two widget areas, one for courses and one for lessons. It also adds two widgets, one for the course syllabus and one for the course progress.
Features
- Create courses
- Create membership sites
- eCommerce built-in
- integrates with Divi
- Create badges and achievements
- Integrates with popular plugins
- Integrates with other apps
- Easy to set up and use
- Gutenberg blocks
- The pro versions add extensions, marketing, forms, advanced quizzes, groups, eCommerce, and lots more.
Price: Free, pro version starts at $120 | More Information
3. LearnDash
LearnDash is a comprehensive online learning platform considered one of the most popular and best WordPress LMS plugins available. Create unlimited courses with the drag-and-drop builder, advanced quizzing, flexible prerequisites, and drip content.
It comes with five templates to help you get started on your website design.
The course pages follow a simple structure that looks clean.
Learndash’s documentation includes information about using Learndash with page builders such as Divi. The example above is from the Learndash website, showing the Divi Builder as an option on the course pages.
Features
- Unlimited courses
- Unlimited users
- Content protection
- Course forums
- Drip lessons
- Advanced quizzing
- Certifications and badges
- Five templates
- Integrates with Divi
- Gutenberg blocks
- Free and premium add-ons
Price: $199 and up | More Information
4. Tutor LMS
Tutor LMS is a complete LMS with quizzes, lessons, reports, and more. It has some of the most features for a free LMS. It can be expanded with premium add-ons.
A vast number of settings give you full control over the courses, lessons, students, quizzes, instructors, earnings, and lots more. Several of these elements have management areas on the dashboard.
The course editor works like the classic editor. It’s intuitive and adds settings for the course, course builder, additional data, and video source options.
Features
- Unlimited courses
- Frontend student dashboard
- Lesson management
- Commission allocation
- Course marketplace
- Content security
- Quizzes with timers and attempts
- Monetization settings
- Widget
- Divi Integration
- Gutenberg blocks for student and instruction registration
- Integrates with WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads
- Pro version adds all addons including certificates, email notifications, shopping carts, and more.
Price: Free, pro version starts at $149 | More Information
5. Sensei LMS
Sensei LMS is from the makers of WordPress. This is another of the best WordPress LMS plugins available. It includes integration with WooCommerce to sell your courses. It also has editors for courses, lessons, and questions. Learning management tools include analysis, grading, learner management, messages, and tools. You can expand it through free and premium extensions.
It includes editors for courses, lessons, and questions. The classic version of the courses editor includes access to the Divi Builder, allowing you to add any Divi layout to the course pages.
Sensei LMS has everything you need to create an engaging curriculum for your users. When combined with Divi, it’s a powerful tool for anyone who is interested in getting started with creating courses.
Features
- Courses
- Lessons
- Questions
- Learner management
- WooCommerce integration
- Divi integration in the classic editor
- 4 widgets
- Gutenberg blocks
- Free and premium extensions.
Price: Free, premium extensions start at $29 | More Information
6. LearnPress
LearnPress was designed to work like a learning platform called Moodle. Create unlimited courses with lessons and quizzes. It allows for unlimited students and instructors. Manage everything from the backend. You can expand the free plugin with free and premium add-ons.
The settings dashboard makes it easy to set up your pages, currency, adjust the courses, profiles, payments, emails, and more.
Build the courses with a classic editor. Each includes settings and an area to create lessons. The editor includes tabs for the courses, categories, and tags. The editors for lessons, quizzes, and questions work the same way but include specialized settings.
Statistics show an interactive graph with general stats, users, courses, and orders. You can filter it by a date range that you set.
Features
- Unlimited courses
- Unlimited lessons
- Backend course builder
- PayPal and offline payments
- Unlimited instructors
- Three quiz types
- Automatic email
- Multisite
- Statistics
- Coupons
- Lots of free and premium add-ons
Price: Free, premium version starts at $49 | More Informationmas
7. Namaste! LMS
Namaste! LMS lets you create unlimited courses, lessons, assignments, etc., and you can have unlimited students. You can create extensive rules for the course and lesson access. Base the rules on assignment completion, test results, or the administrator’s approval. It also includes extensive settings for role management. Mark the students’ performance with a grade and point system. Students can earn certificates. It integrates with several other plugins.
The settings screen provides lots of options to set up roles, administration, modules, URLs, archive pages, grades, assignments, payment methods (shopping cart requires pro version), and exams.
The course editor provides settings for enrollment, access and prerequisites, role restrictions, and course completeness. It also provides shortcodes that you can display prerequisites, status, and more. Lessons work the same but have different settings.
Certificates are created with a classic editor.
Features
- Unlimited courses and lessons
- Rules management
- Roles management
- Grade points system
- To-Do items list
- Certificates
- Premium extensions available
- The pro version adds a shopping cart, class assignments, teacher assignments, delayed access, shortcodes, badges, coupons, WooCommerce, a progress bar, and more.
Price: Free, pro version starts at $67 | More Information
8. MasterStudy LMS
MasterStudy LMS is a powerful and user-friendly learning management system for WordPress. It enables you to create and sell online courses, quizzes, and lessons with ease. With a range of features and customization options, you can design your learning platform to match the look and feel of your website.
MasterStudy LMS comes with a range of features to make it easy to create and sell online courses. It’s a complete e-learning solution that allows you to create, sell, and manage online courses with ease.
With its course builder, you can quickly add lessons, quizzes, and more. The in-built order system makes it easy to sell courses and accept payments, while customization options ensure that your platform matches the look and feel of your website.
Features:
- Drag-and-drop course builder
- Quiz builder with support for true/false, single-choice, and multiple-choice questions
- Progress bar to show students their progress
- Question and Answer system for interaction between students and instructors
- In-built order system to sell courses and accept payments
- Customization options to match the vibe of your site
- Responsive design to look great on all devices
- Dedicated support team
Pricing: Free, pro version starts at $59 | More Information
Ending Thoughts
That’s our look at the eight best WordPress LMS plugins to turn your website into a learning platform. The LMSs we’ve listed here range in features and price points, so there’s something here for every need. Our top choices are MemberPress or LifterLMS; with these, you simply can’t go wrong!
We want to hear from you. Have you tried any of the eight best WordPress LMS plugins? Let us know what you think about them in the comments.
Featured Image Illustration via ivector / shutterstock.com
The post 8 Best WordPress LMS Plugins in 2023 appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.
