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.
The Best LMS Plugins For WordPress
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There are lots of LMS plugins available. Here’s a look at what I consider to be the eight best WordPress LMS plugins available.
The Best WordPress LMS Plugins Listed In 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. In addition to it being on the top of our LMS recommendations, it also tops the best purely Membership plugins for WordPress.
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: $179.50 per year.
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 $149 per year.
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 per year.
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; the pro version starts at $199 per year.
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 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 $149 per year.
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, and 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, pro bundle starts at $299 per year.
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 per year.
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 per year.
Comparing the Best WordPress LMS Plugins
LMS plugins bring a whole lot of new features into WordPress for course creators, educators, and solopreneurs. In this last section, we take a look at some comparisons of these plugins, starting with price.
LMS Plugin Price Comparison
Price is a big consideration when choosing an LMS. Here’s how all of our featured LMSs compare.
| Plugin | Price | Free Option | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 | MemberPress | $179.50 per year | ❌ | Visit |
| 🥈 | LifterLMS | $149 per year | ✔️ | Visit |
| 🥉 | LearnDash | $199 per year | ❌ | Visit |
| 4 | TutorLMS | $199 per year | ✔️ | Visit |
| 5 | SenseiLMS | $149 per year | ✔️ | Visit |
| 6 | LearnPress | $299 per year | ✔️ | Visit |
| 7 | Namaste! LMS | $67 per year | ✔️ | Visit |
| 8 | MasterStudy LMS | $59 per year | ✔️ | Visit |
LMS Plugin Feature Comparison
There are lots of things an LMS is expected to do. Most of these plugins handle the basics. But what about special features that could really amp up your online learning website? Let’s take a closer look at the top 3 LMS plugins.
| 🥇 MemberPress | 🥈 LifterLMS | 🥉 LearnDash | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $179.50/yr | $149/yr | $199/yr |
| Course Builder | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Drip Content | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Quizzes | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Course Progress Tracking | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Group Memberships | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ |
| Multimedia Lessons | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Affiliate Program | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Recurring Subscriptions | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Focus Mode | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ |
| Student Dashboard | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Active Installations | 26,000+ | 10,000+ | 77,000+ |
| Community Rating | 4.8/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Read Reviews | 4.8/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Read Reviews | 4.6/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Read Reviews |
| Get MemberPress | Get LifterLMS | Get LearnDash |
Which WordPress LMS Plugin Is The Best?
As you can see, our top choices are MemberPress or LifterLMS; with these, you simply can’t go wrong!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Before we wrap up, let’s answer some of your most common questions regarding the best WordPress LMS plugins. Did we miss one? Leave a question below, and we will respond!
What is the best LMS plugin for WordPress?
What is the best free LMS plugin for WordPress?
How do you create courses with WordPress?
What is an LMS?
Is WordPress good for LMS websites?
What are the benefits of using a WordPress LMS plugin?
What is the difference between a membership and LMS plugin?
Which WordPress LMS plugin provides drip content?
Which WordPress LMS plugin has a drag-and-drop course builder?
Which WordPress LMS plugin offers a group purchasing option?
Looking for more great plugins? Check out this list of the best WordPress plugins, which includes a top recommendation for each plugin type!
Featured Image Illustration via ivector / Shutterstock.com
MemberPress
LifterLMS
LearnDash
Fantastic list of LMS plugins! To take your e-learning platform a step further and create a vibrant community atmosphere reminiscent of Facebook, consider pairing these plugins with a BuddyPress theme. This combo can provide a social and interactive learning experience that keeps students engaged and connected.
Hi guys,
just for the record and as it is not in the list: We use DigiMember, which works perfectly with Divi as well and is also connected to some payment providers. We are very happy with the solution having several online self learning courses in one instance.
Hello,
Thank you for your LMS test.
Personally I use Tutor LMS.
I tested several, some of which are in your list and I must say that the free version of Tutor LMS is really perfect.
It’s easy to edit courses and lessons with the Divi Builder.
Lifterlms is also excellent, but complicated to translate.
The free version of Tutor LMS has quite some features, unfortunately there’s no Divi plugin to style the pages, but they’re working on it and it should be available end of 2021. Meanwhile the theme builder can be used altogether with some shortcodes to style the pages a bit. I have one customer who’s very happy with it. The courses are connected to WooCommerce which is used to arrange the payment. All for free.
Digital Access Pass has just released an LMS application which I’m excited to use with WP/Divi because of how well it integrates with membership, shopping cart, gamification, and more. It’s free with DAP and the customer service is excellent (a huge plus).
Does it allow you to use Divi when creating new courses?
I’ve been using the Wishlist Member plugin for years with Divi and it works great. I was disappointed it was not on the list.
I am with Leo here.
Which one is working best with Divi?
What was your experience?
This was a helpful post for me. One bit of feedback: the ability to compare plans and features would have been really great – even if it was a table. Especially for the paid plugins. I downloaded all the freebies to test. I will probably do a trial purchase on a couple. Thanks for this! Well done.
I’ve used WP-Courseware quite a bit. Like the others but WPC is my absolute favourite.
I bought WP-Courseware today, and I’m amazed at how terrible it is! How can Elegant Themes promote this? It may integrate with WordPress, but it doesn’t integrate with Divi at all! I want my courses and modules to have the same look and feel of my entire website. But, you have to edit HTML code for each and every page as if it was 1998!
@ Jef Keep
Does WP Courseware (WPC) integrate well with Divi?
Have you tried it with some other themes & theme builders (e.g. Elementor)?
Does WPC work well with BuddyPress (not BuddyBoss)?
Any other quick points about WPC?
The best free plugin is Tutor LMS which is integrated with woo commerce.
Paid version will be useful once paid students are enrolled in the free version.
What I’m missing is how these LMS plugins work together with Divi. I was hoping to find an answer which one to choose since not every plugin works nice together with Divi. Thanks.
Go to Dashboard > Divi Page builder > Theme Options > Builder, check the mark on the Post Types you want to edit, and create with Divi Page builder. Make sure Courses and Lessons are toggled on
I am managing a Divi/Learnpress website, there is no integration at all. I would definitely not recommend this solution.
Same. I have no idea why Learnpress is on this list and promoted by Divi. Divi, if you have a solution for the compatibility issues, please let me know!
I agree, this article is not geared toward Divi at all. I wasted time with LearnPress and now have to find another solution that’s compatible with divi, since I already have so much other content made in Divi