Teaching your audience to what you know may be an important task you do for your audience.
All the bloggers and entrepreneurs or freelancers are adding online courses to their blogs.
This is a very good way to help others and set yourself up as an expert in your field. If you are going to launch a course, the first thing you’ll have is to find the software that will help you to create an online course.
Online courses are not like simple blogs. If you are teaching someone, whether it is a paid course or you are providing a free course, you will need a profile of your students to check their progress.
If you are running a paid course then your website should have a payment method so that your users can enroll for your course.
There are so many ways to get online payment, such as Paypal, Stripe or 2Checkout, which you can use to receive payments from your students.
Today, many plugins are available in WordPress for producing e-learning courses. Some of them are very user-friendly, which means that you can create your e-learning website without hiring a developer.
If you want, you can use your existing WordPress website to host your course.
These plugins of e-learning are like the regular plugins of WordPress, which you can install and access from your WordPress control panel dashboard.
In some cases, you may need to install the add-ons in your e-learning plugins to add some more functions.
Now I am going to tell you which are the best plugins that can help you to create and edit e-learning courses:
WP Courseware
The minimum amount required to use this plugin is $99. With this plugin, you can create a competition, Drag and drop builder, and provide drip content and also it can provide certificates.
The WP Courseware is very important for WordPress users who prefer their website building using drag and drop interface.
Any course can be added in the same way as if you are putting a new post.
It’s also very easy to add media content such as audio and video.
As soon as you add all of your content, you can organize them all by the easy-to-use course builder plugins.
The WP Courseware also offers you the convenience of giving your modules as per the date you selected. So that you can already decide which content will be posted at what interval of time.
The advantage of using the WP Courseware is that it is available in less cost than the other plugins and it is also very easy to use.
One drawback to using the WP Courseware is that there is no built-in payment system in it.
Learn Dash
The minimum amount you will have to pay to use this plugin is $159.
With this plugin you will get an inbuilt payment system, can create a quiz, multiple instructors, and provide drip content also it provides pre-requisite courses.
The Learn Dash is a feature-packed plugin that is focused on providing the best learning experience for traditional learning locations such as schools and universities.
It is very good to work primarily on large projects in which a lot of courses can be run at one go.
In this, you will not need to put plugins from any different source. The Learn Dash has its own functionality for the membership which can be done on the WordPress site through a native user registration system.
The advantage of using Learn Dash is that it is the best in all the plugins and there are many features available in it.
There is only disadvantage of using Learn Dash is that it can take a lot of time to learn its interface.
Best For: Educators and businesses that need a full‑featured learning management system (LMS) with advanced testing and community features.
Key Features:
- Course Creation: Easily design courses, lessons, and topics using a simple drag‑and‑drop interface.
- Quizzes and Assignments: Add quizzes with various question types and automated grading.
- Progress Tracking: Monitor student progress and award certificates upon completion.
- Integrations: Seamlessly integrates with payment processors and popular membership plugins.
Why Choose LearnDash?
LearnDash is highly customizable and scalable. It’s perfect for complex educational platforms and works well for universities, online schools, and professional training programs.
Lifter LMS
The Lifter LMS is one of the WordPress plugins that you can use for free.
With this plugin item you will get an inbuilt payment system, can create a quiz, multiple and membership functionality, and drip contents also it provides features of students’ profiles and coupons.
Lifter LMS is a free plugin that is suitable for small learning projects where the budget is low.
You will not believe in hearing that it is so much easier to work with it and you have all the functions of Paid Plugins.
One important thing to notice is that for the payment integration function, there is a paid add-on.
To add a payment gateway, you need to add an add-on that costs around $99 per add-on, such as PayPal, Stripe or Woo Commerce, etc.
There is a WordPress theme named “Launch Pad” that you can buy to customize your course design very well.
The advantage of using Lifter LMS is that it is very good to create basic e-learning courses.
The disadvantage of Lifter LMS is that there are so many paid add-ons in it, for other integrations and for free users no customer support is available. If you just want to explore the possibility you can try this free plugin.
Best For: Course creators, fitness experts, and trainers looking to sell e-learning courses with membership features.
Key Features:
- Multiple Pricing Models: Supports one-time payments, subscriptions, or memberships.
- Course Reviews & Quiz Timers: Engage students with interactive quizzes and allow reviews for feedback.
- Certificates and Badges: Reward students with customizable, royalty‑free certificate templates.
- Affiliate Marketing Support: Built‑in tools help you earn more by letting others promote your courses.
Why Choose LifterLMS?
LifterLMS offers excellent flexibility and scalability. Its freemium model lets you try out the basic features, and you can add premium features as your business grows.
Sensei LMS
Sensei costs you around $129 to add this to your WordPress website.
It comes with the features of pre-installed Woocommerce integration and various features such as a quiz stylus, question bank, certificates, etc.
Sensei plugin was designed by the same developer of WooCommerce.
It is designed in such a way that its payment gateways can be linked to Woocommerce and you can sell your courses in the same way as anyone sells their products on an e-commerce website.
If you create your e-learning website with a sensei, then you will not have to pay for a payment gateway for paid courses.
The courses that are prepared using sensei are separated into different lessons, which is like standard WordPress posts and pages.
As the sensei has been created to work with all the popular themes, plug-in creators have released a guide such as to remove the design problem that comes in the use of the sensei plugin.
There may be some tiredness in configuring the sensei as it depends on Woocommerce for the payment gateway.
But this may be a great option for those, who are familiar with Woocommerce.
The advantage of using sensei is that its coding is very clean it Woocommerce integrated and it provides a lot of free extensions or additional quality to its users.
The biggest disadvantage to use sensor is that it can be hard to set up for non-technical users
Best For: WooCommerce store owners and bloggers who want a simple yet powerful course creation tool.
Key Features:
- Seamless Course Creation: Build courses within the WordPress editor, just like creating posts and pages.
- Quizzes and Assignments: Easily add quizzes, assignments, and badges to track student performance.
- WooCommerce Integration: Sell your courses directly through WooCommerce, leveraging your existing e-commerce setup.
- User Management: Use the built‑in WordPress user system for managing students.
Why Choose Sensei LMS?
Sensei LMS is designed by the makers of WooCommerce, so it integrates perfectly if you already use WooCommerce. It is simple to set up and works well for smaller course projects.
Learn Press
Learn Press is a free plug-in created by ThimPress which is available with many free and premium add-ons for additional functionality.
The plugin adds a LearnPress tab in the WordPress Dashboard where you can start creating an online course and quiz.
Some drag-and-drop features are available to the visual editors, but this is not as advanced as what is in the WP courseware
LearnPress is integrated with many basic functions such as creating quizzes, Limiting the Number of Students, and Payment Gateway. In addition to this, you will need to install add-ons.
At the time of writing, there are 23 add-ons available in Learnpress, out of which eight are free plugins, with offline payment and Buddypress integration also exists in a free pack. There are 15 add-ons available as paid add-ons such as content drip and stripe payment.
The advantage of using LearnPress is that it enables you to create an interactive course as free plug-ins.
There is also a loss of using the LearnPress that there are very few features in it.
Best For: Users on a budget who need a flexible, free LMS with the option to add premium features.
Key Features:
- Free Core Plugin: Get started without any upfront cost.
- Advanced Add‑Ons: Purchase premium add‑ons for features like content dripping, quiz enhancements, and more.
- Drag‑and‑Drop Course Builder: Easily create and organize your courses.
- Content Reuse & Export: Export your courses and reuse content with ease.
Why Choose LearnPress?
LearnPress offers a similar experience to more advanced LMS systems like Moodle. It is ideal for beginners who want to test the waters without a high initial investment. Its flexibility and ease of use make it a popular choice for small course creators.
Conclusion
Choosing the right WordPress plugin for your online courses depends on your needs, budget, and level of technical expertise. Whether you’re an educator looking for a robust, feature‑rich platform or a beginner on a tight budget, there’s an option for you.
- LearnDash is perfect for complex, scalable courses.
- LifterLMS offers flexible pricing and membership features.
- WP Courseware is ideal for creating secure, subscription‑based content.
- Sensei LMS works seamlessly with WooCommerce.
- LearnPress gives you a great starting point for free with room to grow.
Start by evaluating your requirements and test a plugin that fits your vision. As you build and expand your online courses, these tools will help you deliver high‑quality education and grow your audience.
