Learndash vs LifterLMS is an unavoidable comparison to making a choice for an LMS plugin. As both of these are the most popular LMS plugins, both have basic functionality similar. Whatever plugin you choose, won’t be the worst decision for your website.
However, there are some prominent differences in pricing, design features, user interface, etc. So, let’s explore their differences to make a better decision.
Learndash:
Learndash is a premium WordPress plugin that is used by many well-known companies and universities for their learning systems. It does not offer a free version and comes with tons of features to create outstanding online courses.
Lifter LMS:
Lifter LMS is also a quite popular name in the LMS plugins industry. They offer a free core plugin and many add-ons to increase functionality. It also provides many features to build and run an efficient LMS website.
Learndash vs LifterLMS:
Let’s compare both of these powerful plugins on the basis of our checklist which includes,
- Features
- Ease of use
- Integrations and add-ons
- Support and documentation
- Price
Features:
| LearnDash | LifterLMS |
| Drip feed course lessons | Drag and drop Course Builder |
| Advanced quizzes and excellent gamification features like badges, certifications, leaderboards, etc. | Quizzes and assignments can be added and graded |
| Sell one-time courses, subscriptions, or bundles | Content drip feeding |
| Drip feed course lessons | Private areas available for students |
| Integration with CRM and marketing plugins | Multi-instructor platform where you can assign multiple instructors to one course |
| Lessons can be reused in other courses | Dynamic content including audio, videos, text, image-based lessons, etc. |
| Dynamic content delivery | Discussion areas and social learning available |
| Automated notifications | CRM and marketing add-ons |
| Forum Capabilities | Offers both one-time and recurring payments options |
| Modern Learner experience with focus mode | Beaver Builder and Divi theme Integration available |
You can notice both plugins offer many unique features to build a beautiful and functional LMS website. They have smaller differences like the type of quizzes you can offer. However, there is not a huge difference regarding high-end features.
You can choose either depending upon your requirement. So, there is a tie between them regarding features.
Ease of Use:
| LearnDash | LifterLMS |
| It is easy to use with a drag and drop builder and allows to build courses without any coding knowledge. | It also comes with a drag and drop builder |
| It comes with a user-friendly dashboard with every option displayed clearly | You can build courses with a single unified interface, without much need to switch between multiple tabs. |
| It gives you the option to add 3 hierarchies to your course content including sections, lessons, and topics. | It does not offer the option of a topic, but usually, course creators do not need it much. |
| It works as a WordPress block editor. | It also works as a WordPress block editor. |
Both the plugins have user-friendly interfaces and drag and drop builder makes it very convenient to build different layouts of a course.
Learndash has a focus mode which makes it very easy to set up a course whereas, LifterLMS lets you do most of the work on a single unified interface and you do not have to often open up another tab to do a function. So, we think again both the plugins are pretty much similar in ease of use.
Integrations and add-ons:
| Learndash | LifterLMS |
Some popular integrations are:
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Some popular add-ons are:
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Support and Documentation:
| Learndash | LifterLMS |
| Learndash has comprehensive documentation which helps to do the complete set-up hassle-free. | Lifter LMS also comes with complete documentation which covers all the aspects of building up your courses. |
| You can get help from email support from their fully-staffed ticket desk. Timings for email support are 7 am to 4 pm EST. | You can purchase LifterLMS powerpack and Lifter LMS office hours mastermind add-ons to get premium support and gain access to their weekly “Ask Us Anything” sessions. |
| Due to its huge market, it has broad community support and many tutorials available for every issue. | LifterLMS also has many tutorials which can help you solve on-site issues. |
Learndash is a bit ahead of LifterLMS regarding their free support. LifterLMS also provides good customer support but it either lacks a personal touch or its premium support add-ons need to be purchased. So, Learndash is a winner here.
Price:
| LearnDash | LifterLMS |
| LearnDash does not offer a free plan but its price is quite comprehensive and straightforward. | Its free version is quite compelling if you are offering free courses. But, if you are selling courses it can become quickly expensive. |
| Learndash offers 3 plans. Its basic plan costs $159 billed annually with a one-site license. The second plan costs $189/annually with 10 site licenses and the third plan costs $329 with 25 site licenses. | Its add-on price is as low as $120/year. You can also buy bundles of these add-ons. The Universal bundle costs about $360/year for 5 active sites and the infinity bundle costs $1200/year for unlimited sites. |
| All of its plans include basic features like drip feeding, payment options, and third-party integrations. | Its free version has basic features to build a simple course. However, you will have to buy at least 1 payment gateway add-on to sell your course, which can cost you as low as $120/year. |
Here you can see why we said that Learndash pricing is quite straightforward. In the case of LifterLMS, you can build simple free courses with their free version but to sell a course, you will have to buy a payment integration add-on for as low as $120/year.
If you want premium add-ons like advanced quizzes, discussion forums, woo-commerce integration, etc. the price quickly jumps up. So, LifterLMS is a good option for simple, free courses but for more advanced courses, LearnDash pricing is more appealing.
Final Verdict: LearnDash vs LifterLMS
Both of these plugins are quite good options and offer unique as well as similar features to build an attractive course. However, if you are still confused about choosing among them and want to save some bucks, we will suggest using free version of LifterLMS.
You can easily build basic courses with it. Even if you want to sell online courses, you can purchase a single payment add-on for $120/year which is still cheaper than LearnDash.
However, if you are looking for advanced features then LearnDash is a must to go. Its prices relative to the functions and features are unbeatable. LearnDash is also one of the top LMS plugins and its useless to spend more money on LifterLMS if you can do the same functions in less price on LearnDash.
We hope you enjoyed this article. If you want to read more comparisons among LMS plugins read our articles here.
