LearnDash vs LifterLMS – Which Is Best For You?

Having a robust learning management system (LMS) has become increasingly crucial in recent years. In this landscape, LifterLMS, LearnDash, Accessally, and LearnPress have dominated as third-party premium add-ons to build and create online courses for your WordPress site.

LifterLms, LearnDash, and LearnPress have set the standard. But, whatever the merits of LearnPress, this debate has become more about LearnDash vs LifterLms.

So, LearnDash vs LifterLMS—which website plugin should you choose?

User experience is key to learning on any website. It matters little how good your course is: If your course builder isn’t robust, learners are unlikely to stick with your website.

It will be good news for any school or organization looking for a course builder that there are two excellent learning management systems out there already: LearnDash and LifterLMS. These systems enable course creators to build an online course using their WordPress LMS, WordPress LMS plugins, and other basic features.

So, who comes out top in LearnDash vs LifterLMS? You have come to the right website. With our handy breakdown and comparison review of each website service, LifterLMS, and LearnDash, you are about to find out which is the best LMS system for WordPress.

LearnDash vs LifterLMS

Whatever the benefits of LearnPress, LifterLms vs LearnDash have long overtaken LearnPress as the most robust plugin.

Like LearnDash, LifterLms offers an intuitive front end among other great features such as drip-feed content and features for a membership site. The LifterLms is a free version – unlike LearnDash and LearnPress – yet LifterLms offers mostly the same quality features as LearnDash.

But, as you’ll find out, LearnDash can more than compete with the LifterLms plugin.

Here is our comparison review of each and what it can offer your site:

LearnDash 3.0: Site Overview

LearnDash regularly ranks as one of the best Learning Management Systems for a WordPress website. It has become the go-to plugin for anyone that needs to build courses.

And what’s more, its recent updates seem to have taken it to the next level. Its new course builder, Focus Mode, and other features help it stand out for use on WordPress. It’s a fantastic tool for buying and selling courses.

You can build anything from a few extra resources to a whole course using the LearnDash LMS. Once installed, you can use it to create lessons, video lessons, courses, and quizzes for your learners. 

LearnDash LMS is a flexible system that is easy to use across the board with many add-ons and plugins. Despite the array of plugins and options available, it remains accessible with an intuitive front end, and it works with the best WordPress plugins and themes. It also offers several ways to process payments from users.

Let’s dive in to learn more about this LMS and its features. 

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LearnDash Features

Building Courses

The recently updated drag-and-drop course builder enables you to create courses easily. Anyone can start with this tool.

It is easy to add section headings and new titles and rearrange them by – you guessed it – dragging and dropping.

For one quiz or lesson, you can add as much content as you like, something the drag-and-drop interface makes enjoyable. You can add as much to your courses as you wish and create an unlimited number of courses. 

Once you’ve created your free courses, editing your website could not be easier. You just have to hover your mouse over the lesson and click Edit. You can submit anything you like here to your classes.

Overall, the LearnDash course builder gives an overview of everything in your courses. The user experience is highly intuitive so that you can move about from one section to another quickly. We recommend trying the LearnDash demo to see for yourself.

Reusable Content

While building courses and lessons, you may find the course content has some overlap. LearnDash makes it easy to reuse all of this without recreating, reformating, or starting another page with it. This re-publishing feature saves you time and helps maintain consistency on your site.

Quiz Builder

Quizzes help course creators monitor the progress of their learners. One of the ways the LearnDash LMS helps you build great courses is with its enhanced quiz builder.

You can implement any question format and filter settings according to your needs. It is easy to add and tweak quizzes at any stage for your courses.

Payment

For those who aren’t building ‘in-house courses,’ easy payment options are crucial.

The LMS integrates PayPal to collect money through your site, supporting both one-time payments and recurring payments on the system.

There are additional plugins, too, such as Stripe, WooCommerce, and Easy Digital Downloads. These other popular WordPress LMS plugins allow you to add coupons through your site. 

You can also integrate membership plugins to create different levels of user accessibility. 

Wide Range of Settings

As mentioned, it is easy to create a course structure, but one advantage of LearnDash is the extra features. It gives you control over who accesses courses and course requirements and gives students additional options, too. 

Focus Mode

One such option is Focus Mode.

The quality of most LMS plugins often limits the user experience. Students might struggle to navigate your site. 

The LearnDash Focus Mode means with a change in settings, it completely revamps how your course looks. It removes clutter and distractions from the interface, significantly improving the experience for students.  

Administration 

Administrative functions are critical in successful online courses. You need to understand your users’ experiences, which is why LearnDash integrates some handy features. It makes administrating much easier. 

User profiles detail students’ progress. Reporting tools allow monitoring of how users are doing, and LearnDash also automates specific tasks. It sends notifications to their email address about course expiry, new content, and reminders if somebody hasn’t engaged for a while. 

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LifterLMS

Just like LearnDash, LifterLMS has soared to the top for WordPress LMS plugins. But – again, just like LearnDash – whether LifterLMS is the right plugin for you to sell courses depends on your unique needs. 

LifterLMS will help you create quizzes, courses, and assignments for your online learning. It comes as a free plugin from WordPress, with fully integrated course management functions. 

Its basic free core plugin includes a drag-and-drop builder for building and editing courses. You can create as many lessons as you need and add other content.

Let’s dive in and find out a little more about LifterLMS features. 

Building Courses

LifterLMS uses WordPress’s native editor on the course site for most of its tasks, so it is easy to start course building. You’re using the same interface that you work on for everything else.

Indeed, most elements of the LifterLMS course builder are straightforward with LifterLMS. Its course builder lets you build courses within one dashboard, making it straightforward to build your course options.

Integration 

Because it works with the page builder you use already, you can create certificates of your courses along the same lines as your existing design. You can bring the page builder plugin into your current theme or create a new one around it. 

Drag and Drop Course Builder

This interface works well on LifterLMS. It lets you build course pages with a live editor, dragging and dropping elements into place. Or, you can add them in the order you wish.

The same goes for other course content, such as tests and assignments. This tool enables you to build any and everything.

Automation 

There’s a lot to manage as a course creator, so it helps that you can automate your duties.

Engagements are a handy feature that can trigger actions and activity in specific circumstances. For instance, it alerts students when they enroll, complete a course or assignment, and get their grades. It also lets you automate emails, such as welcome messages. 

Notifications

Throughout your course, students will receive notifications – which they can also access through a specific tab. These messages are an excellent way to interact with students, keep them engaged, and show them their standing in the course. 

WooCommerce 

LifterLMS lets you sell courses to future students. For existing users, the extension in LifterLMS links to existing eCommerce stores, so you can sell alongside other products.

A particular benefit is that this plugin handles VAT, whereas the LifterLMS doesn’t.

Memberships

If you sell courses through your site, one effective way to offer your courses is with a membership plugin and staggering access to individual courses.

Accessibly is a strong option for providing access to courses, but Accessally doesn’t build courses as well as these two website plugins (or even LearnPress).

LifterLMS enables you to create a membership site. With its premium add-ons, you can give people access to multiple courses or grant access based on their membership level.

Membership is also easy to set up. You can set it through your dashboard and choose which course students have access to based on their memberships.

You may be interested in the Best WordPress theme for membership sites.

LearnDash vs LifterLMS

In the great battle of the learning management system – LearnDash vs LifterLMS – how do these course builders compare with each other?

They could both be the best WordPress LMS plugin, but which you choose depends on your needs and budget.

Pricing Plans

Neither of the two pricing plans is better or worse than the other. But, LearnDash may be more affordable if you want loads of LifterLMS’ extra features. If not, LifterLMS – its free version – is likely to work out cheaper than LearnDash.

LearnDash does not offer a free LMS plugin, while LifterLMS is a core LMS plugin. But, the costs stack up when you want extra features.

LearnDash starts at $159. Add-ons through the payment gateway from LifterLMS start at $99, and an individual bundle costs nearly $300.

Choosing the right course platform and LMS plugin depends on you – but there isn’t an easy comparison between LearnDash and LifterLMS pricing.

Ease of Use

Both LifterLMS and LearnDash could argue they triumph on ease of use. They are both logical and intuitive, but LearnDash just edges out the core LifterLMS plugin.

Course Builder

Separating the course builders is difficult. Both are fun and easy to use, and they make it easy to create courses, assignments, and other course content, edit courses, course creation and add new content.

Again, neither is better than the other, as the interface, tags, categories, and more are great for both. When comparing them, you’ll find more similarities between the LifterLMS course builder and LearnDash.

Payment Gateway

LearnDash comes with an in-built payment gateway already, so you can guess where this point is heading. It is much better for accepting payments.

For LifterLMS, you have to purchase an add-on, which is another way the prices start to stack up with LifterLMS.

Overall Performance

LifterLMS vs LearnDash finds another point that is challenging to compare. LearnDash and LifterLMS can both say they are WordPress LMS that is fast and compatible with almost any WordPress plugin. The user experience is excellent on both platforms to sell online courses.

We could say that LearnDash edges LifterLMS because any extra add-ons to enhance your online course are expensive.

Further Reading: LearnPress Vs LearnDash

Final Thoughts

For anyone looking for a WordPress LMS plugin, LearnDash and LifterLMS are your best shots. If you are building an e-learning website, there’s plenty of WordPress plugin competition with Tutor LMS, LearnPress, and other third-party options. For creating an online course through WordPress, using WordPress LMS is easy and intuitive, and both have great features. LearnDash vs LifterLMS is difficult to call, but if you are going to build an online course, then call us must.

LearnDash edges LifterLMS slightly. Each one is a robust LMS, and personal needs will weigh more heavily in your decision-making than any equivocal call about which is the best for building online courses.

LifterLMS is excellent because it is a core plugin, whereas using LearnDash sets you back more than $150 right from the start. But, as you include more add-ons using LifterLMS, the costs will rise quickly.

With the LifterLMS vs LearnDash comparison, you might also consider the payment options. The LearnDash default payment gateway allows a one-time payment or recurring payment. You need to pay for add-ons to enable payment in LifterLMS.

Ultimately, both plugins are excellent for building a course through WordPress. If you are unlikely to want many extra add-ons, then LifterLMS is likely the best for you. Otherwise, it may be best to go for LearnDash.

Either way, you will have fantastic time building courses through WordPress!