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9 Best LearnDash Free Alternative Plugins for LMS Sites (2022)

Last Updated: 11 mins By: WPEverest Author

Searching for LearnDash free alternative plugins for your LMS site? We’ve got you covered as we present you with a list of the best LearnDash competitors that are free.  

Well, LearnDash is one of the best tools to help you set up an LMS site. Despite being an exceptional LMS, it lacks some functionalities, design customization, and more. Plus, the fact that it’s not free makes everything more complex.  

But here’s the good news. There are plenty of awesome alternative plugins that are free of cost.

That’s why we’ve listed only the best LearnDash free alternative plugins with incredible functionality. So, let’s get started!  

Things to Consider While Choosing a Plugin for LMS Sites  

Before jumping into the list, let’s explore some things that need to be considered while picking an LMS plugin.  

  • Course progress analysis: The plugin must include the course progress feature. This way, you can showcase how your students are doing to keep them motivated.
  • Exams and quizzes: With exams and quizzes, you can evaluate students’ progress and make sure they understand the course material.
  • Email Automation: With a plugin that enables email automation, you can easily send email notifications for students, instructors, and admin.  
  • Student enrollment tracking and managing: This feature lets you gather information on the total number of students enrolled in a course. You can also manage all the enrolled students in your online school.
  • Good course builder: An LMS plugin must have a good course builder so that you can create, edit, and publish courses without any hassle.

Thus, choose an LMS plugin that has all or most of these features.

With that said, let’s jump right into our list of the best LearnDash free alternative plugins without further wait!  


9 Best LearnDash Free Alternative Plugins 

1. Masteriyo LMS  

Masteriyo LMS

The first one on our list is the powerful LMS plugin Masteriyo LMS. It’s the best user-friendly WordPress plugin that lets you build courses without requiring coding. You can set up courses in the smoothest manner as it offers a separate and top-notch course builder interface. 

With this revolutionary LMS plugin, you don’t have to rely on the WordPress post system to build and manage courses. You can create courses, sections, lessons, quizzes all under the same roof. So, you don’t have to waste your time grouping lessons and courses together.

Best of all, Masteriyo offers a distraction-free learning page. Therefore, your students can focus on the lessons and quizzes while going through a course.

Why Masteriyo Makes a Good LearnDash Alternative?

  • Masteriyo has a super-easy to-use quiz builder compared to LearnDash.
  • It has a free version to get started with your LMS site but LearnDash only has a premium version.
  • It’s compatible with any WordPress theme you wish to use to build your LMS site.
  • The setup wizard is super handy to get started with Masteriyo.
  • Dedicated Q&A section is available for each course.

Price: Free or $199 for a Single Site License( Offers 75% off in this Price)


2. LearnPress  

LearnPress WordPress Plugin

LearnPress is one of the best LearnDash free alternative plugins to create and sell online courses. With this incredible plugin, you can create quizzes and tests for each course curriculum. Also, it has a beginner-friendly user interface with which you can manage courses easily.

A great plus point with LearnPress is that you won’t need to code at all. The plugin also offers other add-ons like LearnPress bbPress integration, wish list, and more. Plus, you can swiftly use LearnPress to run certificates, stripe payments, etc., comfortably. Hence, you’re able to equip your online school with advanced LMS features.  

Why LearnPress Makes a Good LearnDash Alternative?

  • It’s easier to communicate with students/instructors with BuddyPress in LearnPress compared to LearnDash.
  • LearnPress supports WordPress multisite.
  • It offers offline payment for courses.
  • It also supports Google Checkout, WePay, etc. 
  • You can send private texts from admin to teacher with LearnPress.  

3. MasterStudy LMS  

Masterstudy LMS

MasterStudy LMS is a feature-rich LMS plugin that can transform any WordPress site into a great online platform for e-learning. It has all the necessary tools for setting up complete courses. You can add lessons and quizzes to your course and break them into sections. And to encourage progress, you can also grade the quizzes and display the results to students

Using MasterStudy LMS, you can also set up a messaging system without any hassle. Moreover, the plugin enables you to handle premium subscriptions and online payments effortlessly. 

Why MasterStudy LMS Makes a Good LearnDash Alternative?

  • LearnDash only supports SaaS whereas MasterStudy LMS supports Android, iPhone, and SaaS.
  • MasterStudy offers 24/7 customer support but LeardDash offers support only during business hours.
  • It has a great user-friendly interface for both beginners and experts.
  • MasterStudy has a comment system to discuss courses.
  • Its private message system is very useful to discuss queries with one another.

4. Sensei LMS  

Sensei LMS LearnDash Free Alternative

Sensei LMS is integrated smoothly with the WordPress site as the plugin is built by the same company behind WordPress. With Sensei LMS, your courses will look good with all kinds of themes. You can even add blocks to add information about courses and students on any page and post.  

Also, you don’t need to indulge yourself in coding with this plugin. It’ll do most of your work for you, and you can set up the online learning system as per you wish. To add more, it’s fully customizable, so you can customize it to match the feel of your site.  

Why Sensei LMS Makes a Good LearnDash Alternative?

  • With Sensei LMS, you get modularization of courses whereas LearnDash offers a grouping of courses.
  • Sensei LMS has better user-friendliness in terms of maintaining content hierarchy.
  • It’s fully WooCommerce integrated.
  • The plugin includes Sensei LMS content drip extension.
  • You can convert your blog posts into a course lesson with MasterStudy LMS.

5. Tutor LMS

Tutor LMS WordPress Plugin

The next plugin on our list is Tutor LMS, a complete and feature-rich plugin. It lets you create everything you require for your online school, from fun quizzes to detailed reports without the need to compose any code. Plus, it allows you to build as many courses as you wish with its unlimited course builder option.  

The plugin is super lightweight so you don’t have to worry about slow loading courses, lessons, and quizzes. Additionally, it offers withdrawal options and displays purchase history. You can even set up your course’s level of difficulty with Tutor LMS.  

Why Tutor LMS Makes a Good LearnDash Alternative?

  • Tutor LMS has a more advanced quiz system that lets you create unique quizzes with image-based answers.
  • LearnDash is much more expensive whereas Tutor LMS wins on affordability criteria.
  • You can display the duration of courses with it.
  • It also offers teacher registration forms.
  • Tutor LMS allows tracking class progress.

6. Namaste! LMS  

Namaste LMS

Another LearnDash free alternative plugin to make it to our list is Namaste! LMS. It’s a great simple plugin for beginners because of its simplicity. It lets you quickly create an unlimited number of courses, assignments, and more.

Besides that, the plugins allow you to set up different user roles in your LMS website. This way, you can clearly separate what privileges and responsibilities each user has. Further, you can set up different rules for your courses as well. You can also create rules based on your student’s results, assignments, etc.  

Why Namaste! LMS Makes a Good LearnDash Alternative? 

  • Namaste! LMS is more effective for individual courses rather than a multi-course site.
  • It allows providing certificates upon finishing courses.
  • The plugin’s integrated with Chained Quiz and Watu Quiz to sort quizzes.  
  • You can also calculate students’ results through grades and points.
  • It’s fully WooCommerce integrated if you want to run an online store.

7. LifterLMS  

LifterLMS LMS Alternative

LifterLMS is among the most powerful plugin that works smoothly with any WordPress theme. Similarly, it works well with all of the renowned page builder plugins of WordPress, including Gutenberg, Elementor, and more. Also, you won’t require an eCommerce or membership plugin from other companies. LifterLMS already comes equipped with the necessary plugins .  

Moreover, it offers sitewide membership, traditional membership, members-only forums, and much more. Apart from that, you can engage with your students with personalized emails and private coaching. It also allows you to provide achievement badges and certificates to students on your LMS site.  

Why LifterLMS Makes a Good LearnDash Alternative?

  • LifterLMS allows you to manage more settings with a single unified interface as compared to LearnDash.
  • With LifterLMS, you can create quizzes even without leaving your course builder.
  • The plugin allows to add member-only content.  
  • You can offer a dashboard fully for students.
  • It also drip feature to help you drip content to your students in a systematic way.

8. WP Courses LMS  

WP Courses LMS Plugin

WP Courses LMS is another full-fledged LearnDash free alternative plugin to create courses. One of the best qualities of this plugin is it integrates seamlessly with all types of themes. On top of that, the plugin has a user-friendly interface with a drag and drop builder. So, building and managing courses is super easy and quick, even for beginners.

Besides, the plugin offers tons of designs so that you can choose one that’s best suited for your online school. Further, it supports video lessons if you want to include them in your course. You can simply embed the videos that are hosted through YouTube, Vimeo, etc.  

Why WPCourses LMS Makes a Good LearnDash Alternative?

  • WP Courses LMS is more ideal for beginners with its simple features compared to LearnDash. 
  • It allows you to track students’ progress.
  • WP Courses LMS supports the creation of unlimited courses.  
  • You can also restrict your content to certain users.
  • It’s a translation-ready plugin, so you can run your site in multiple languages.  

9. Cluevo LMS

Cluevo LMS

With Cluevo LMS, you can include SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) e-learning modules, videos, etc., to your LMS site. You can also use PDF files as an education module. The plugin stores information on a student’s location in the PDF for you to view.

Cluevo LMS fully supports various kinds of file formats, including mp3, mp4, and more. Plus, if offers the oEmbed extension to help you add videos from Youtube, Vimeo, and other streaming platforms.

In a nutshell, Cluevo LMS is a powerful LearnDash free alternative plugin to get started with your LMS site.  

Why Cluevo LMS Makes a Good LearnDash Alternative?  

  • Cluevo LMS is compatible with various authoring tools like Adobe Captivate, LIVRESQ, etc.
  • It allows you to manage content into chapters and modules.
  • You can also sort user roles for each user and group.
  • It provides a reports page to show progress of the enrolled students. 
  • Three access levels for user management are available.  

Conclusion  

Now that we’ve completed our list of best LearnDash free alternative plugins, you probably get the idea of what each offers to your LMS site.

Although their common purpose is to help you create online courses, each plugin offers various unique features as well. Regardless, they’ve proven to be good LearnDash competitors with the necessary features required for an LMS site.

However, if you’re having a tough time choosing, we recommend Masteriyo LMS. But of course, don’t forget to try the free plugins yourself and choose one that’s best suited for your LMS site.  

You might find our articles on the best WordPress LMS themes and WordPress form builder plugins helpful in creating an LMS website. For more informational articles like this, please check out our blog

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WPEverest Author

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