WordPress is getting popular everyday for creating amazing online course website with the help of LMS (Learning Management Systems) plugins. It’s a great business model, considering the low startup costs, profits, ability to share your knowledge, and flexibility.
If you’ve been considering launching online courses, you’re not alone. They’re growing in popularity and it doesn’t look like they’re going away any time soon. The online course market is massive (we’re talking billions).
Here are three of the most popular LMS plugins out there:
LearnDash is, according to their website, The Most Trusted WordPress LMS. It’s also the most popular LMS platform out there.
It’s an LMS plugin that works with most WordPress themes. It has some neat features, such as a simple drag and drop course builder. It also has goodies, like subscriptions, one-time purchases, shopping carts, and membership for your online courses. In terms of payment, it can be made with PayPal, Stripe, and 2Checkout. Integration with WordPress membership plugins, such as MemberPress, also works well.
The annual price points on it range from $199 to $369, depending on how many specific features you need. The cheapest option is for one site license, the mid-level price is for 10 site licenses and the highest-priced version is for 25 site licenses. The mid-level and highest-priced versions also come with ProPanel, which is a dashboard and live activity add-on.
The vision of this company states: “LifterLMS will empower 1 billion experts, teachers, mentors, leaders, and entrepreneurs to create results-based learning programs that positively serve the learning wants and needs of all people.”
There’s a multitude of course creation; everything from an extremely small course or an impressive degree program. All of the courses can include numerous multimedia options, including audio, video, text, and images.
You can also create automated emails, badges, and certificates for when a course is completed. LifterLMS works on any WordPress powered website. It also works with any well-coded theme.
The options for purchase vary. You can purchase the basic package for $99+ per year, and then all add-ons would be for individual purchase. Next up is the Universe Bundle for $299 per year, and includes up to 5 active sites, priority support and more.
For $999 per year, you can get the Infinity Bundle that includes a wide range of goodies, such as unlimited active sites, advanced quizzes & assignments, private coaching features, and beyond.
There is also an option of a 30-day demo for a dollar, so you can get a feel for it and see what you think.
Thimpress is the parent website for LearnPress. LearnPress has overall good reviews and is available for no cost, with upgrade options. This is, by far, the most basic and cheapest.
There are some specific themes created for LearnPress. You can choose between the LearnPress Free, LearnPress Theme Bundle or the LearnPress Pro Bundle. It can be used with any theme and you can have unlimited students, courses, and instructors.
The LearnPress Theme Bundle starts at $49 — $69. It comes with a theme of your choice and you get access to almost all LearnPress add-ons at no cost.
At $249, the LearnPress Pro Bundle gets you access to all LearnPress premium and advanced features to build an online school you want.
Here are some example websites:
