LMS · alternatives
Alternatives to LearnDash
22 lms tools sit alongside LearnDash in this directory. Below is what separates each from LearnDash on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 22
- With a free tier
- 6
- Cheaper to start
- 7
- LearnDash starts at
- $199/year
Why people look past LearnDash
Only what the record supports. Each point below is a figure on the LearnDash entry measured against the tools listed beside it.
It costs more than the category median
LearnDash starts at $199/year. Across the 6 lms tools listed beside it that publish a price, the median entry point is $89.5/month.
There is no free tier
The record for LearnDash carries no free tier, so evaluating it means paying first. 6 of the 22 alternatives below can be used without paying.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Create and sell online courses your way
- Starts $163 a month cheaper, at $36/month.
Create and sell courses online
- Starts $170 a month cheaper, at $29/month.
- 4 tiers to LearnDash's 3.
All-in-one platform for knowledge entrepreneurs
- Starts $56 a month cheaper, at $143/month.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than Per site per year.
Asynchronous training video with AI avatars, quizzes and a searchable knowledge library
- Can be used without paying; LearnDash cannot.
- Starts $175 a month cheaper, at $24/month.
- Sold on a Per creator per month model rather than Per site per year.
- 2 tiers to LearnDash's 3.
Open source French-language learning platform, now developed as Claroline Connect
- Can be used without paying; LearnDash cannot.
- Starts $199 a month cheaper, at Free.
- Sold on a Open source, no licence fee model rather than Per site per year.
- 2 tiers to LearnDash's 3.
Open source learning management system with no licence fee and a Latin American and francophone user base
- Can be used without paying; LearnDash cannot.
- Sold on a Open source, no licence fee model rather than Per site per year.
- 2 tiers to LearnDash's 3.
Every LearnDash alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LearnDash (this page) | $199/year | Per site per year | 3 | |
| ThinkificHosted, with the operational burden removed, at the cost of a recurring platform fee and a vendor controlled environment. | $36/month | - | 3 | vs LearnDash |
| TeachableSimilar hosted trade off, worth choosing if the creator has no WordPress competence and no developer available. | $29/month | - | 4 | vs LearnDash |
| KajabiIf marketing, email and funnels matter more than owning the stack, and the higher subscription is acceptable. | $143/month | Subscription | 3 | vs LearnDash |
| Weet | Free, then $24/month | Per creator per month | 2 | vs LearnDash |
| Claroline | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 2 | vs LearnDash |
| Chamilo | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 2 | vs LearnDash |
| Sakai | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 2 | vs LearnDash |
| Moodle | Free, then $200/year | - | 2 | vs LearnDash |
| Nearpod | Free, then $159/year | - | 3 | vs LearnDash |
| Degreed | On request | Quote | 2 | vs LearnDash |
| Skilljar | On request | Quote | 1 | vs LearnDash |
| Sana | On request | Quote | 1 | vs LearnDash |
| Echo360 | On request | Quote | 4 | vs LearnDash |
| Schoox | On request | Quote | 1 | vs LearnDash |
| Thought Industries | On request | Quote | 1 | vs LearnDash |
| Tovuti LMS | On request | Quote | 1 | vs LearnDash |
| Whatfix | On request | Quote | 1 | vs LearnDash |
| Totara | On request | Quote | 1 | vs LearnDash |
| CYPHER Learning | On request | Quote | 1 | vs LearnDash |
| LearnUpon | On request | Quote | 1 | vs LearnDash |
| LinkedIn Learning | On request | Subscription | 3 | vs LearnDash |
| Docebo | On request | Subscription | 3 | vs LearnDash |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the LearnDash badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Cheaper than LearnDash (7)
Entry price under LearnDash's $199/year. The record does not say what unit that price is charged in, so confirm per-seat versus flat rate before comparing budgets.
What you would be giving up
LearnDash is most often brought in for a creator whose course revenue has grown to the point where a percentage based platform costs more than a developer would, organisations that already run wordpress and want courses on their own domain and brand, training businesses that need learner data in a database they control rather than in a vendor account, agencies building course sites for multiple clients under one unlimited site licence. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If LearnDash is broadly right and the question is cost, the LearnDash pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the LMS category lists everything the directory holds, and best lms tools ranks them.
LearnDash runs on web, wordpress. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about LearnDash alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to LearnDash?
- 22 other lms tools are listed in this directory, led by Thinkific, Teachable, Kajabi, Weet. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to LearnDash?
- 6 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Weet, Claroline, Chamilo, Sakai, Moodle.
- Is there a cheaper alternative to LearnDash?
- Yes. 7 of the alternatives below start under LearnDash's $199/year: Thinkific at $36/month, Teachable at $29/month, Kajabi at $143/month, Weet at Free, then $24/month.
- Why do people look for an alternative to LearnDash?
- On the figures on record, 2 things stand out: it costs more than the category median; there is no free tier. Each is set out with the numbers behind it above.
- What would I give up by switching from LearnDash?
- LearnDash is most often brought in for a creator whose course revenue has grown to the point where a percentage based platform costs more than a developer would, organisations that already run wordpress and want courses on their own domain and brand, training businesses that need learner data in a database they control rather than in a vendor account, agencies building course sites for multiple clients under one unlimited site licence. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to LearnDash?
- None of the lms tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these LearnDash alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, LMS, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare LearnDash against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against LearnDash covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every lms tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the LMS category, 22 tools beside LearnDash. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.