WordPress plugins are tools that can enrich the functionality of your website. They give extra features that every business, even e-learning platforms, can benefit from.
If you want to know how WordPress plugins (WP plugins) can help your online courses, keep reading. This article compares building a learning management system (LMS) from scratch and with plugins.
Also, we will explain what to consider when choosing the right WP plugin for your online course. And there will be reviews of the five most recommended WordPress plugins for online course creators on the web.
Content Outline
- WordPress Plugins for Online Courses: What You Can Do with Them
- Building LMS from Scratch VS with WordPress Plugins: Pros and Cons
- How to Choose the Right WordPress Plugin for Your Courses
- Let’s Review Top Recommended WordPress Plugins for Online Course Creators
- Conclusion
WordPress Plugins for Online Courses: What You Can Do with Them
WordPress plugins are extensions that integrate with websites. They add new features and expand the functionality of any platform. With WP plugins, cleaning services give quotations to their clients on their websites.
Online course creators can also get benefits from WordPress Plugins. Let’s dive into how online WP plugins can level up online courses:
- WordPress plugins have intuitive interfaces and course creation tools. So you can organize your content, modules and lessons. With drag-and-drop functionality and customizable templates, building your online courses on WordPress becomes a breeze.
- Create a multimedia-rich course with WordPress plugins. Upload videos, audio, presentations, and quizzes into your materials. This will provide your learners with captivating and immersive learning experiences.
- WordPress plugins help you to create interactive quizzes and assignments for courses. They have different question types and grading options. Check how well your students understand materials and improve your teaching.
- You can design personalized learning paths and set prerequisites. You will offer adaptive content based on learners’ progress. This approach maximizes learning outcomes.
- Watch your learners’ progress and performance with tracking and analytics features. You will completion rates, engagement levels, and student achievements. So you can measure success and identify areas to improve.
- Integrate your WordPress LMS with third-party tools and services. Whether it is a payment system, a learning management system, or a learning platform. With WP plugins, you get flexible integration options to streamline your course workflow.
We have listed some of the functions a WordPress plugin can do for online course creators. WP plugins have endless possibilities for online courses. They even can automate some administrative tasks such as paying instructors.
Certainly, you can create your LMS with online courses on WordPress from scratch. Yet WordPress plugins can save your time and effort on course creation and focus on other aspects of your business. Now, we will look at the pros and cons of building LMS with online courses from scratch and with WP plugins.
Building LMS from Scratch VS with WordPress Plugins: Pros and Cons
Each method has its benefits and considerations. We will help you make an informed decision between building online courses yourself or with WP Plugins.
Benefits of Building from Scratch:
- Customization. You control every aspect of the LMS system. This allows you to tailor it to your specific needs and requirements.
- Unique features. Your LMS can have unique features designed for your target audience. Your students will have a super personalized learning experience.
- Scalability. You can build the system to fit increasing user demands. You can easily add new features as your platform expands.
Disadvantages of Building from Scratch:
- More time and higher Costs. An LMS from scratch requires a lot of coding, testing, and ongoing maintenance. As a result, it will take more time and money to launch your LMS.
- You will need technical experts. You should find someone who is good at programming languages and LMS architecture. You need to either have an in-house development team or external experts.
- Extra maintenance and updates. Only you will be responsible for updates, bug fixes, and ongoing maintenance. This takes time and requires more resources for the smooth operation of the LMS.
- Reliable hosting service. The hosting service should be able to maintain all the functions of your LMS.So you will need to find the one that fits your needs and your budget.
Benefits of Building with WordPress Plugins:
- Save your time and money. WordPress plugins for course creation in LMS cut down development time and costs. Plus, there are lots of WP LMS plugins available for course creators. So you can use them and avoid the need for extensive custom development.
- WordPress plugins are simple to use for online course creation. They are designed with user-friendliness in mind. WP plugins offer intuitive interfaces and straightforward installation for online course creators. So an instructor with non-technical skills can set up and manage their online WordPress courses.
- Rich ecosystem with plugins and themes for customization. As WordPress gives access to tons of LMS-specific plugins, themes and templates for online courses. There are plugins and themes for content, quizzes, gamification, and more to enhance your LMS.
Disadvantages of Building with WordPress Plugins:
- You depend on plugin developers. As they will be responsible for updates, bug fixes, and integration with the latest WP versions for your online courses. You should choose WP plugins with premium support for long-term compatibility and functionality for your online courses.
- You may have problems with adaptability between different plugins. Thus, you need to select trusty plugins with regular updates.
While you need more time, resources, and technical expertise to build an LMS from scratch. But, WordPress plugins for online courses can save you time and effort. So you can focus on other aspects of your business.
How to Choose the Right WordPress Plugin for Your Courses
The right WP plugin for your online courses ensures a successful learning experience. Here is what you should do if you want to choose the best WP plugin for your courses:
- You need to check the management features of the plugin for your WordPress site. It should have creation, organization, quizzes, assignments, and student progress tracking options. That way, you will have the tools you need to deliver engaging and interactive courses on your WordPress site.
- Look if it integrates with your existing WordPress theme and other essential plugins for your online courses. Check if you can incorporate it with the payment gateways you use. The integration problems lead to technical challenges. You can not use the functionality of your LMS at its full.
- Look for a plugin with an intuitive dashboard. The best WP plugin for online courses should have navigation. This makes managing, creating content, and tracking student progress easy. You should consider if it is easy to use for students as well. Thus the WordPress plugin needs a clean interface for seamless learning for courses.
- The right WP plugin has features for branding your courses to match your brand identity. You should be able to customize the appearance of your pages as well. See if you can add your own branding elements, colors, logos, and styling. It improves the user experience and creates easy-to-understand learning.
- Find a WordPress plugin with clear documentation, tutorials, and active support for your online courses. Fast support service is important when facing technical issues. Or when you need help with setting up and managing your online courses for your WordPress LMS.
- Keep in your mind that your offerings and student base grow. So the WordPress plugin should handle more courses, students, and content without sacrificing performance. Look for plugins that are optimized for speed and provide a smooth learning experience, even with large enrollments.
- Read reviews and ratings of the WordPress plugin from other course creators who have used it. You will know the plugin’s strengths, weaknesses, and user satisfaction. Reviews should mention the plugin’s reliability and support responsiveness.
- Look at the pricing and licensing options of the WordPress plugin for your online courses. They may offer a one-time purchase, a subscription-based model, or a combination of both. Compare the features and the value for money and choose the one that meets your needs
Let’s Review Top Recommended WordPress Plugins for Online Course Creators
MasterStudy
MasterStudy is a powerful WordPress LMS tool to create and manage courses for e-learning businesses. It provides everything needed for a quick start.
MasterStudy allows creators to use a simple drag-and-drop course builder on WordPress LMS. It makes creation easy and accessible to users with no coding skills. You can create lessons, quizzes, and assignments for the complete learning experience.
One of the key features of MasterStudy is its user management capabilities. Instructors can control and manage students’ activities by tracking their progress.
MasterStudy has a point-based system to motivate learners and award them for activities. Users can sell their courses as one-time purchases, pricing plans, memberships, and bundles on the WordPress site. The platform integrates with popular payment systems like PayPal, Stripe, and WooCommerce.
Masterstudy can integrate popular plugins and tools. Whether it is Elementor, Divi Builder, WooCommerce, Google Meet, Zoom, Mailchimp, and more. It customizes and extends the functionality of its e-learning platform.
The platform also has a free WordPress LMS theme to present e-learning-related pages and elements for your courses in an intuitive way. Plus, MasterStudy supports many languages to make them available to a global audience.
It offers a user-friendly interface for instructors, students, and administrators. This helps them to navigate and complete tasks with efficiency.
Features:
- Easy setup and intuitive interface.
- Course builder with drag-and-drop functionality for WordPress LMS.
- User management for assigning students and tracking their progress.
- Co-instructors feature for collaboration.
- Many pricing models: one-time purchases, pricing plans, memberships, and bundles.
- Clear documentation and video tutorials on Youtube
- Integration with popular payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, WooCommerce, and more.
- Compatibility with popular plugins and tools such as Elementor, Divi Builder, Google Meet, Zoom, Mailchimp, etc.
- Free WordPress LMS theme for a clean course curriculum and customization.
- Interactive live lessons with streaming options like YouTube, Vimeo, Zoom, Google Meet, and Google Classroom.
- SCORM compliance for integration with other learning systems.
Reviews from WordPress.org
“I’ve logged a number of tickets with Stylemix and have to say the experience has been consistently good. Responses are timely and constructive. Thank you.” – Michael Hallett
“Powerful LMS theme and plugin with excellent quick support. Thank you very much for your prompt support services. “- Muhamet Tarakci
“Excellent product and incredible support. Amazing Theme and plugin, very customizable and easy to use. And the support is really incredible! Very fast response and effective. Thank you very much!“- Maxrose.
Cost
It has 4 tariffs to choose from: Starter(Free), Single Site( 79 USD/ per year), Four Sites(199 USD/per year), and Unlimited (399 USD/per year). All pricing plans come with two types of purchase: Annual Subscriptions and Lifetime.
LearnPress
LearnPress is a WordPress LMS Plugin to create, manage, and sell online courses. Whether a user is an educator, a coach, or running an e-learning marketplace. LearnPress helps creators to give a great e-learning experience on their WordPress site.
With LearnPress, online course creators can build a curriculum with lessons and quizzes on their WordPress site. It has an intuitive and user-friendly interface. With no coding, they can create WordPress education websites, online schools, or e-learning platforms.
Whether it is one-on-one coaching, learning in schools, or corporate training. LearnPress has a simple four-step process to publish courses on the WordPress site.
Install the WordPress plugin, and create your content with the front-end course builder. Add features like quizzes and assignments, and then release your WordPress course. LearnPress has continuous updates for smooth operation and responsiveness.
You can put pricing options, offer free courses, or put in place membership plans on WordPress LMS. LearnPress can also integrate with popular WordPress plugins and systems. They are WPML, PayPal, Elementor, BuddyPress, Stripe, and many more. This extends the functionality of the e-learning platform.
LearnPress also has a community of users that is supportive. When having questions or facing issues, they can rely on the community. LearnPress offers LearnPress Themes such as Eduma, Coaching, CorpTrain, and StarKid.
Features:
- Easy-to-use interface for creating a curriculum with lessons and quizzes.
- Compatible with popular WordPress plugins and payment systems like WPML, PayPal, Elementor, BuddyPress, Stripe, and more.
- Quick setup process with four simple steps to publish courses on the WordPress site.
- Documentation and tutorial videos for easy understanding.
- Dedicated support forum with a large community of users.
- LearnPress Themes available for different educational purposes.
- Continuous updates and improvements for smooth functionality.
- Features like quizzes, certificates, reviews, and more enhance the learning experience.
Reviews from WordPress.org
“With the Customer it makes things easier for me. Best Customer Service.” – Horlysoft
“It’s very useful and easy to start working with 🙂” – Luiseduardov
“I had an issue with my LMS, it was determined to be an issue with Learnpress and not my site. It worked perfectly fine for almost a year after it was created and suddenly nothing on the site would work after an update to the LMS. I submitted a ticket and was told I had too many plugins and to disable them. I disabled them, Learnpress still does not work after this. They didn’t even bother to make an attempt to determine what the issue was.
I can’t deal with companies that force you to post in a forum, provide login information to your site to determine the issue in their addon, then don’t even make an attempt to see what the issue is before just blanket saying, it’s your fault, do this stuff.
I immediately left the LMS, purchased a replacement, switched to the new provider and never looked back. I cannot be held ransom by a third party developer who won’t take the time to look into an issue when they force you to provide login information to your site to address it.” – Visad.
Cost
Users can get a free subscription to use Learnpress. But to use premium themes and addons they need to buy each of them from 20 USD. Also, Learnpress offers a yearly subscription PRO Bundle of 300 USD with premium addons.
Tutor LMS
Tutor LMS is designed for creating, managing, and selling eLearning courses on WordPress sites. It has a responsive platform for teachers and learners in online education.
Tutor LMS has a course builder with a drag-and-drop system for WordPress. It has features such as lessons, quizzes, and assignments. Instructors can do live classes with platforms like Zoom, Google Classroom, and YouTube.
The plugin has detailed and listing designs for creating appealing WordPress catalogs. Both teachers and students see personalized dashboards for managing the eLearning platform. Tutor LMS has analytics and reporting features for instructors to track student progress.
An event calendar feature helps students stay organized with assignment schedules and deadlines. The plugin offers customization, integration with popular page builders, and easy migration from other LMS plugins.
Tutor LMS does class size management, prerequisites, and revenue sharing in multi-instructor marketplaces. It has a certificate builder with customizable templates for learners’ achievements. integrations.
Features:
- Frontend drag-and-drop course builder for easy creation on WordPress LMS
- Lessons, quizzes, and assignments to create eLearning courses
- Integration with Zoom, Google Classroom, and YouTube for live classes
- Detailed and listing designs with many layouts
- Assignments feature to assess learners’ progress and engagement
- Event calendar for managing assignment schedules and deadlines
- Analytics and reporting for tracking student progress and effectiveness
- Email templates with easy editing options for personalized communication
- Easy management of eLearning activities and learner queries
- Integration with popular page builders like Elementor and Divi
- Smooth migration from other LMS plugins
- Integration with payment gateways for convenient checkout
- Certificate builder with customizable templates
Reviews from WordPress.org
“Tutor LMS is an outstanding learning management system (LMS) that delivers a user-friendly interface, comprehensive course creation tools, powerful assessment features, flexible monetization options, and excellent customer support. Whether you’re an instructor or an organization, Tutor LMS offers a seamless and engaging online learning experience. Highly recommended!” – Amir Hossin
“When updating a lesson I have to re-apply the shortcode for the video. It’s OK if you have a couple of lessons but in my case I have 10s of lessons in every course. This means pasting the shortcode for each and every lesson I update. I’m welling to give up on the whole LMS just for this quirk. There’s no point in repeating a step just to add content drip for example or updating a text. Why the lesson can’t pull current shortcode or url from database? this is defying logic. I will not renew subscription until this issue is solved.” –Aldoseri
“This is a tremendous plugin for building and running a crowdfunding website, and the support team has been very responsive to questions!” – Andy Rachmiel.
Cost
Tutor LMS offers four packages: Basic(Free), Individual (199 USD/ a year), Business(399 USD/ a year), Agency (799 USD/ a year).
LearnDash
LearnDash is a WordPress LMS that gives control over course creation and management. Educators designed it for educators, with advanced features to engage learners.
LearnDash allows easy management of assignments, submissions, commenting, and gamification of the content. Online course creators can select WordPress themes, use their favorite page builders, and create a library.
Features like Focus Mode ensures learners stay focused by getting rid of distractions. Badges, certificates, and points will motivate students to learn courses on WordPress LMS. While they will be more responsible with automated assignment reminders.
Various e-commerce tools like PayPal, Stripe, WooCommerce, RazorPay, and 2Checkout ease payment processing. Ongoing subscriptions and limited coupons will attract and keep customers.
LearnDash can integrate with a wide range of WordPress themes. and there are an unlimited number of courses or students. Creators renew their annual pricing with a cancellation option at any time. LearnDash has the card creation, note-taking, analytics, and selling bulk to organizations features.
Features:
- Course creation tools designed by educators on WordPress
- Assignment management with easy approval, commenting, and gamification
- Collaborative learning through student grouping
- Customization options for themes and page builders
- Focus Mode to keep learners focused and cut distractions
- Badges, certificates, and points to motivate students
- Automated assignment reminders and protection against spam and plagiarism
- Seamless integration with popular payment gateways
- Recurring subscriptions and limited coupons for flexible monetization
- No limitations on the number of courses or students on WordPress
Reviews from g2.com
“A bit clunky but some things like couponing work well. Lots of ways to do common things like couponing. Some things like course bundling and shopping carts are unnecessarily complex; and when integrated into CMSs, it is hard to track class enrollments with an external tool like GTM because everything is hidden in LD classes and course codes. We are using it to manage a clients enrollment.” – Don M
“Amazing Product with tons of features. LearnDash is a power-packed LMS plugin that caters to all types of LMS requirements. It is a very user-friendly, lightweight and robust system that provides a seamless end-user experience in online learning.” – Nikhil S
“I like everything about LearnDash. I would say that I like the drag-and-drop builder functionality the most, as it is by far the most useful feature. It allows my team to see how their course will look as they construct it, so that everything is perfect when it is released. This allows you to see how your courses will look before they go online, and it also allows you to connect everything in real-time.” – Akshay D.
Cost
LearnDash can be added to one site at 199 USD/ per year, and four sites at 399 USD/ per year, and unlimited sites at 799 USD/ per year.
Sensei LMS
Sensei LMS is also a WordPress plugin designed to create and sell online courses. It gives a user-friendly experience for both WordPress course creators and students.
It can integrate with WooCommerce for effortless course sales through various options. Students can get courses with one-time payments, subscriptions, or memberships on WordPress site.
Sensei keeps students engaged through interactive elements. They are videos, flashcards, image hotspots, and automated quiz feedback. So that students remain captivated and motivated throughout the course on the WordPress site.
Teachers create courses on WordPress with Sensei with ease, as no coding or design skills are required. The plugin has customizable WP themes and templates to design the perfect courses.
The Sensei Pro plugin has advanced features such as scheduled and drip lessons. Instructors can use interactive videos, advanced quiz capabilities, and more. For support, it has a dedicated team of experts ready to assist users every step of the way. Whether through forums, email, or live chat.
Features:
- Seamless integration with WooCommerce for easy sales
- Interactive elements like videos, flashcards and automated quiz feedback to engage students
- Customizable WordPress themes and templates for course design
- Selling through one-time payments, subscriptions, or memberships
- Groups & Cohorts functionality to manage and organize students
- Easy course creation with the familiar WordPress editor
- Freedom to choose hosting options and data storage
- Community of developers and creators for support and collaboration
Reviews from WordPress.org
“I tried few weeks ago, Sensei and Learn Dash (premium version of both) and finally choose Sensei. Both are very similar but Sensei has interactive blocks that make the difference. Sensei sell the interactive blocks alone. So I installed interactive blocks in LearnDash and works very well. But I ask myself why I should pay more for Learn Dash ($199 plus $49 of interactive blocks) if Sensei is the same ($149), cheaper and has the interactive blocks. I give to Sensei only 4 stars because don’t allow integration with forums of BBpress. Sensei has an intermediate solution with native comments but is not the same as a forum system.” – Avillunaeva
“You should make this plugin compatible with Elementor and other builders asap. The included theme is ugly and not customizable, and if you should pay for a theme to use this, then you are in the themes business not in the LMS field.” – ai4k Web Design
“Excellent plugin, good support and rave reviews. Also, it’s great that we can sell courses through WooCommerce (as we should since they are both part of Automattic). But… The free version should work first, and be useful, and include support. THEN is a good time to ask for an upgrade to the paid version. If the free version doesn’t work or needs extra support, there is little incentive to upgrade. Happy users make happy customers. Asking to upgrade before any courses are made is premature.” – TapSuccess.
Cost
Sensei LMS has three packages: Sensei Free, Sensei Pro(179 USD/yearly), and Sensei Bundle(399 USD/ yearly).
Conclusion
The right WordPress plugin for your online courses is crucial for successful learning. With our tips, you can find the plugin that best meets your needs for your creation process.
WordPress plugins have intuitive interfaces and multimedia-rich course content. Your LMS will have interactive quizzes and assignments, detailed tracking and analytics. The WP plugins for online courses also integrate with third-party tools and services in a seamless way.
If you can not decide whether to build an LMS from scratch or with WordPress plugins. Weigh the pros and cons. While building from scratch offers customization and unique features. It takes more time, technical expertise, and ongoing maintenance. But with WordPress plugins, you save time, money, and effort. As they provide user-friendly interfaces and a wide range of features.
In this article, we reviewed five top-rated WP plugins for online course creators. They are MasterStudy, LearnPress, Tutor LMS, LearnDash, and Sensei LMS. Each plugin has unique features, customization options, and integration capabilities. You can understand that the reviews from users prove how reliable they are.
Among these plugins, MasterStudy LMS stands out as it is really easy to use and has lots of cool features. It has simple tools to control what students do and keep track of their progress. Creators can sell their courses in different ways and connect with other useful tools on their WP LMS. And if you need help, the support team is always there for you.
Whether you choose MasterStudy or any other WP plugin for your online courses. The key is to select the one that best matches your needs, budget, and long-term goals.
Stay tuned to our blog at Stylemix for more updates on WordPress plugins and themes to make your life easier.