Are you seeking a learning management system (LMS) plugin to Design And Sell Courses Online for your business?
Utilizing an LMS plugin helps you to easily convert your WordPress site into an online learning platform such as Udemy without penning a single line of code. These plugins aid you design, managing and sell online courses straight from your dashboard.
This article compares the finest WordPress LMS plugins present on the market.
What Is LMS?
LMS denotes a learning management system. LMS constitutes a software application that assists you to build, manage, and impart eLearning courses, also termed online courses. A WordPress LMS will aid you in easily manage the administration, tracking, documentation, reporting, and delivery of your online course directly within your WordPress dashboard.
WordPress LMS is a victory for you and your online learners. You can log in to your LMS to spread information, update the content of your online course, and handle its entire aspects. Your online learners can sign in to the LMS to take part in your online courses.
Some of the most important features that your LMS plugin should include are:
- Ease to design and manage a course.
- Can present certificates and badges as incentives.
- Capacity to monitor the progress of students.
- Inbuilt support for payment gateway and monetization options.
- Content dripping to schedule lessons.
Now that we are aware of the basic features, let’s begin with the list of the finest LMS WordPress Plugins.
1. LearnDash
LearnDash is a mighty WordPress LMS plugin utilized by the likes of WPElevation, Infusionsoft, and the University of Michigan.
This plugin is packed with features. You can design multi-tier courses, which contain lessons, advanced quizzes, topics, and categories. Content can be dripped for you to set the speed for student learning. Lessons can be timed for you to set the minimum amount of time a student must spend each lesson, ensuring it’s less probable they will just click through your content and rather use the time to digest it.
There’s a strong admin panel, ProPanel, if you elect to pay the additional fees needed to access it. But still, if you don’t, the basic admin features present are sufficiently powerful. There are a tough student and assignment management, public and private forums, email notifications, grade books for sync with quizzes, details reporting and analytics, assignments, and manual grading, besides gamification – you can award badges, course points, and certificates.
If you wish to sell your courses, LearnDash coordinates with WooCommerce for single-time course payments, memberships, subscriptions, and course bundles. You can also build a course marketplace such as Udemy. There are many payment gateways present, like Stripe, 2Checkout, and PayPal.
Moreover, LearnDash provides a lot of additional functions like the Focus mode. This aids the participants to talk through the course lessons with even more concentration and minus distractions. Additionally, LearnDash can be integrated with the forum plugin bbPress or membership plugins such as MemberPress integrate.
A drag and drop editor is also present for designing individual courses and also individual lessons. You can even build forums for individual course groups where members can share information.
The plugin allows you to build quizzes for your courses where you can select 8 separate question types including single answer, multiple-choice, and fill in the blanks. You can also set a timer regarding the questions contained in the quizzes.
LearnDash adopts the Tin Can (Experience) API to catch and store the learning activities of your users’. Tin Can API is an e-learning software specification that monitors and records all learning experiences.
2. Lifter LMS
Lifter LMS is a potent LMS plugin for WordPress that is loaded with plenty of useful features. It’s easy to set up, even on available WordPress websites, and offers you a simple way to design interactive online courses. It contains an inbuilt drag and drop course builder and possesses the ability to aid you design courses complete with image, video, audio, and text-oriented courses.
LifterLMS enables you to build homework assignments for students to finish, set timers on quizzes while examining their knowledge, and provide downloadable materials for offline learning. You can also assign different instructors to every course for students to interact with numerous experts through lesson comments, forums, timelines, and also private coaching areas.
Perhaps most noteworthy is the fact that LifterLMS combines seamlessly with Mailchimp, WooCommerce, and Affiliate WP. This implies you can conveniently establish an online shop to complement your online courses, install an affiliate program to increase your revenues online, and even work within your preferred email service provider.
You can monetize your LMS platforms in several ways with LifterLMS. For example, you can sell site-wide memberships that offer access to entire courses, build bundles to enhance revenue, and also adopt a members-solely pricing model for people to do individual course purchases.
LifterLMS also enables you to Drip-feed course content on a set schedule. LifterLMS presents tons of course management tools, along with payment processing through Stripe, PayPal, or Authorize.net.
3. LearnPress
LearnPress is among the most common free WordPress LMS plugins on the market. It is an extensive and feature-packed learning management system that can be employed to design courses, tests, lessons besides much more. The existing export and import function permit you to export personal courses and import them into different projects if needed. This plugin presents you with the entire basic tools you require to build and sell courses for free.
If the functions within the free version of LearnPress are not sufficient for you, there are many add-ons present for a fee. For instance for the development of surveys, certificates, or quizzes.
Particularly interesting is the WooCommerce add-on since it permits transactions to be conducted straight through the payment methods of your WooCommerce account. Additionally, LearnPress offers you a WordPress frontend editor which enables you to edit your course pages right in the frontend.
To facilitate earning money with your online course, Paypal is already inbuilt in the free version of LearnPress. If you wish to employ other payment methods such as credit card or Stripe, a paid add-on is required.
Do you desire the students to communicate with the course instructors? You can accomplish this with the aid of the bbPress addon. You can also employ the BuddyPress addon to configure students’ profiles and make them interact with each other.
A few other handy add-ons include content drip feed, wishlist, offline payments, and grade book.
4. Tutor LMS
Tutor LMS is developed by the awesome team at Themeum, a famous group of WordPress plugins and theme developers. The plugin asserts to be the comprehensive solution for your learning management requirements with features that are suitable for each type of user.
To design your courses, it offers you a simple drag-and-drop course builder, while the front-end interfaces appear superb straight out-of-the-box, which assures nice UX for your course-takers.
The plugin also provides Gutenberg blocks, announcements, video support (Youtube, native, and Vimeo), course ratings/reviews, and an unrestricted number of instructors. So it’s simple to present courses from various experts. There’s also a quiz creator test student’s knowledge over the course!
Moreover, Tutor contains frontend student dashboards, inbuilt styling options, teacher profiles and panels, a custom course widget, and EDD & WooCommerce compatibility. And that’s entire only in the free version! You can upgrade to a Tutor LMS Pro scheme for advanced quiz settings (ordering, image matching or answers, matching, short answer), course prerequisites, a frontend course builder, assignment submissions, reports, grading, and course certificate templates. Pro also includes a useful email notification system and content drip to pursue with students, along with backing for WooCommerce Subscriptions and Paid Membership Pro. And if you require any help, Pro also contains priority support, 1 year of update, and also an installation service.
5. Sensei
The Sensei plugin is a product of WooCommerce. You can teach your coursework all within WordPress with it. It assists you to write lessons, create courses, and insert quizzes. You can set prerequisites for courses and lessons separately. Not just it permits user registration but it even allows you to alter the course content whenever you wish. Sensei asserts to be the ultimate WordPress learning management system.
Features:
Seamless Integration With WordPress: You can build lessons just as you build WordPress posts. It possesses its individual custom Lessons post type.
Simple Content Creation: You can add lessons, create courses. You can also check your learners with quizzes. Prerequisites can be set for lessons as well as courses.
Fast User Registration: Sensei utilizes WordPress user registration. After registration, users get access to a dashboard from where they can track their progress in the course.
Charge For Courses: Since Sensei is incorporated with WooCommerce, it permits you to charge for courses similar as you do for WooCommerce Products. You can set up a product and join it for a course.
Compatibility With Themes: Sensei functions nicely with any well-coded WordPress theme. The plugin offers default styling also.
Course Analytics: Sensei presents reports that offer you an overview of your grades, content, and students registered with the site.
6. WP Courseware
WP Courseware is a reputed LMS plugin employed by the Emory University, University of Kentucky, and Miami University.
In contrast to most other LMS plugin alternatives for WordPress, this plugin allows you to design courses using drag and drop. You can build classes consisting of as many quizzes and modules as you wish, which you can conveniently re-order. There’s also the capacity to drip-feed for you to schedule content to be released by date or at definite periodic intervals.
A wonderful feature of this specific plugin is the capacity to convert available WordPress pages and posts into course units. You can even set course prerequisites so that students are needed to finish one of your courses before accessing other courses.
Quizzes are a primary feature of this LMS plugin and they’re enjoyable to set up. There’s plenty of options you can include in your quizzes, like timed quizzes, multiple question types, downloadable results, randomized questions and answers, and there’s even the capacity to set passing scores and retake limits.
WP Courseware is wholly compatible with Easy Digital Downloads, WooCommerce, and plenty of other common plugins and apps for you to conveniently sell your courses.
Other prominent features include guidebooks that describe students’ results and progress, course certificates, advanced student management, customizable email notifications, and instructor roles.
7. Good LMS
Good LMS is a common Learning Management System plugin that is present at CodeCanyon. Over 1020 sales and 4-star reviews do tell of this plugin’s quality. It arrives with regular 6 months of support with its normal license. You can employ it to build online courses, Online quizzes, Onsite courses, build instructor profiles, sell courses, issue course completion certificates, etc.
Features:
Payment Options: Users can employ Paymill, Stripe, PayPal, or Authorized.Net directly. Admin can offer separate payment methods like bank transfers.
Subsections: Subsections can be included in Quizzes
Course Curriculum: The Plugin offers you the capacity to build a section-wise course curriculum
Coupon Codes: You can generate coupon codes to offer discounts to your students. Coupon code management is contained in the plugin
Course Progress: The simple-to-track progress tracker maintains track of course progress.
Timed Quiz: Online Quizzes can be combined with a timer.
8. Namaste! LMS
After you install the free version of Namaste! LMS, you can turn your WordPress install into a functional educational website. The eLearning features consist of creating assignments and lessons, managing students and courses, student enrollment, setting prerequisites for lessons besides more.
Improve the plugin’s function with the membership plugin Konnichiwa which is free! Build exhaustive reports on students’ onsite activity. When enabled, a dashboard widget will show a certain number of days of activity on the page. Stripe and PayPal integrations aid to gather payment for the courses.
The premium version renders it simple to monetize the website – insert a shopping cart to specified courses, build and manage discount coupons and manage protected files. Not just that, you can give access to some users as class managers and hand out badges for earning points or for course completion.
9. MasterStudy LMS
MasterStudy LMS comprises a free LMS plugin designed by Stylemix Themes. MasterStudy LMS allows you to easily build, customize, and manage wonderful online lessons.
A few of the main features offered by MasterStudy LMS are:
- Variety of Lesson Types: 3 types of lessons (video, text, slideshow).
- Quiz Results: Quiz results that show right/wrong answers.
- Countdown: Real-time countdown timer in the quiz.
- Certificates: Generation of Certificate
- Messaging: Messaging and announcement system
- Course Wish List: Users can include courses they wish to undergo in their wish list.
The MasterStudy LMS plugin is free and can be utilized with any WordPress theme. MasterStudy LMS also provides MasterStudy Pro, which is a MasterStudy premium WordPress theme that carries the plugin to the next level. It provides extra premium plugins, 24/7 support, additional features, and ready-to-use demos for $69.
MasterStudy LMS is an excellent option for anyone who wishes to activate the gamification feature for their online courses. Employing this feature you can instruct your students to solve problems by implementing the characteristics of game elements.
10. AccessAlly
AccessAlly permits you to build a Course Membership site with its LMS solution. It functions as a membership site as well as a course plugin. It flaunts being an overall solution for one-time payments, recurring memberships, free classes, member directories, a built-in Learning Management System, besides much more.
Features:
Subscriptions and One-Click Upsells: You can present a free or paid trial period. You can acknowledge monthly or yearly subscriptions. The plugin permits you to grow revenue with 1-click upsells.
Payment Gateway: You can acknowledge payment via PayPal or Stripe payment gateways. AccessAlly’s inbuilt order forms enable you to take multiple currencies. You can also provide subscriptions or payment plans according to your choice.
Affiliate Plugin: AccessAlly has an inbuilt affiliate plugin that permits you to configure your individual affiliate program with different affiliate tiers. You can build affiliate links, monitor affiliates straight from the affiliate dashboard.
Cross-Selling Dashboard: You can display your entire programs and courses in the member dashboard with immediate upsells.
Homework Submission with Private Feedback: You can ask and answer questions, submit homework for review, upload files. You can provide private feedback to every one of your students.
Unrestricted Instant and Dripped Courses: You can design unrestricted courses and membership levels through one login region.
11. Edivently
Edivently arrives as a simple system that can convert your WordPress site into an online academy. It enables you to create and sell online courses. No coding knowledge is envisioned to build online courses. You can develop courses similar as you create WordPress posts. You can build multi-tier courses with assignments, topics, lessons, and quizzes. It permits you to possess diverse and exhaustive online courses.
Features:
Quizzes and Assignments: Assignments and Quizzes provide you feedback on the progress of the student. These are excellent assessment tools inbuilt with this plugin.
Drip Content: You can select a schedule for your students to drip your content. It permits you the flexibility to spread course content according to time intervals.
Certificates: You can present custom certificates to your students to honor successful course completion.
Flexible Categories: There is no limitation on categorizing the subject, levels, or language of your course.
User Profiles: Front-end user-profiles permit users to monitor and track their progress through the course.
Integrations: The plugin integrates with WooCommerce, BadgeOS, Stripe, PayPal, and WPML.
Access Control: You can secure your content and course since you have total access control.
Final Thoughts on Design and Sell Courses Online
The article covers the best WordPress LMS plugins together with their features. Some are better than the rest though that doesn’t imply that you opt for the best plugin without trying out the remainder. You must cautiously assess your requirements before ultimately selecting the LMS plugin to design and sell your courses online.
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