Are you looking to create a learning experience for your target audience?
Using LMS plugins or a dedicated LMS platform is one of the best ways to start monetizing lessons and earning revenue from selling online courses. With LMS systems, you can create lessons, assignments, and quizzes, offer memberships or online courses, and develop a sense of community around your brand. The two most popular options for LMS systems are LearnDash and Teachable.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at both LearnDash and Teachable so you have an easier time choosing one for your business.
LearnDash vs Teachable: Overview
LearnDash is a WordPress plugin that lets you create and sell online courses using your own website.
Out of the box, LearnDash comes pre-built with LMS features that not only help you create professional-looking online courses but make it very easy to do so, even if you’re not very tech-savvy. You can integrate it with other popular WordPress plugins and themes to add more functionality to your online learning site and enhance the learning experience for your students.
Teachable offers an all-in-one solution for creating, hosting, and selling your online courses from a single place.
The robust platform not only lets you create and host online courses but comes pre-built with a lot of native features for doing things like accepting payments from students, offering discounts, and email marketing. Unlike LearnDash, it hosts your online learning site on a dedicated LMS platform so you don’t have to worry about purchasing hosting, setting up your WordPress site, and installing plugins to start selling online courses.
LearnDash vs Teachable: Comparing features
Here, we’ll dive deeper into the features of both platforms and see how they compare against each other.
LMS features
Both platforms offer extensive LMS features that let brands offer an enhanced learning experience for their target audiences.
LearnDash packs an intuitive drag-and-drop course builder that lets you create and structure your lessons and online courses the way you want.
You can add lessons, assignments, and quizzes to your online courses using multiple course sections. The best part is that you can use multiple types of content, including text, video, and audio, to create topics and lessons for your online courses. Creating quizzes is also pretty straightforward with LearnDash’s drag-and-drop online course builder. After choosing the type of question, you can specify the minimum passing grade, a time limit, and even the number of times a student can retry the quiz to get better results. This helps you deliver an enhanced learning experience.
On the other hand, with Teachable, you have access to a “School” feature that lets you create and manage all of your online courses from a single place. Similar to what can be achieved with LearnDash, Teachable also lets you organize your topics and content into multiple lectures so it’s easier for your students to digest content. While you can also create quizzes and assignments with Teachable, it requires you to purchase the more premium plans if you want to add graded quizzes to your online courses.
User engagement tools
User engagement is an important factor for any learning website since you want your students to stay engaged with your content throughout the online course. Both LearnDash and Teachable offer drip content functionality to ensure your members or students complete the online course.
A COMPLETE STEP-BY-STEP CHEATSHEET
TO CREATING, LAUNCHING & GROWING A SUCCESSFUL MEMBERSHIP WEBSITE
LearnDash lets you set up course prerequisites so you can have some control over your student’s progression when they first purchase a new online course. For example, you can let users access the “English level 2” online course or lesson only if they have completed the “English level 1” lesson first. This not only encourages your students to purchase more online courses or lessons but is a great way to navigate your student’s progression through an online course while keeping them engaged.
LearnDash also comes pre-built with multiple gamification features that also boost user engagement on your online learning platform. You can award users course certificates so they can showcase them on their portfolios or personal profiles. This also encourages other members to complete online courses to earn their own certificate.
Teachable, on the other hand, offers limited user engagement tools out of the box, especially with their most basic pricing plans. While you have access to drip content features for creating an optimized learning experience for your students, you don’t have many gamification features with the basic plan. However, you can use third-party tools to add these features to your site. Keep in mind that this will increase costs for your business.
Design and interface
While having solid LMS features lets you create an enhanced learning experience, the overall design and interface of your online course also play a crucial role in determining the quality of the learning experience on your site.
If you’re using LearnDash, you have complete control over the design of your online course site. This is because you can use any WordPress theme that best suits your brand’s unique requirements and aesthetics. In addition to the huge selection of WordPress themes to choose from, you also have the option to add custom pages using page builders like Elementor. This means you can create custom-looking online course pages that not only look great but are also fully optimized for performance.
In contrast, Teachable offers limited control over the overall look and feel of your online course “School”. You configure colors and upload a logo, but there’s no way to change the look or layout using third-party themes or page builders. This can be a huge problem for businesses that want to stand out from competitors by leveraging a custom-designed learning site.
Membership features
If you’re looking to create a sense of community around your brand, you will need some type of membership features and user role options.
With LearnDash, you can create “Groups” and assign group leaders. This way, students who enroll in your online courses can interact with other members and discuss the learning material. While there’s no native functionality for creating forums and member user roles, LearnDash seamlessly integrates with some of the most popular membership and forum creation plugins like bbPress and Paid Memberships Pro.
Teachers are also fairly limited when it comes to setting up communities and member-user roles. You can integrate it with Circle.so to create discussion forums for your students to interact with their peers and discuss the learning material there. However, this also ends up costing your business more money than if you were to use free WordPress plugins with LearnDash.
Marketing Functionality
Having solid features to create professional-looking online courses is a must when it comes to any LMS platform. However, you also need to find a way to start promoting and selling your online courses. Both platforms seamlessly integrate with some of the most popular payment gateways like PayPal and Stripe so receiving payments from your students is not an issue.
Teachable takes the win on this one as it makes it easy to start selling online courses. The platform not only helps configure and set up payment options but also offers a wide range of tools to promote them to your students. You can offer coupons, affiliate discounts, and integrate other marketing services to boost sales of your online courses as soon as you launch them.
With LearnDash, you will have to come up with a solid marketing strategy to start making sales on your WordPress-powered learning site. While you can also harness the power of eCommerce using WooCommerce, there’s a lot you have to figure out on your own when it comes to setting up and promoting your online courses.
LearnDash vs Teachable: Pricing
LearnDash pricing starts at $199 per year for a single-site license. You don’t have to pay extra to unlock more features of the plugin, only if you want multiple site licenses.
Teachable is free to get started with, but you are required to pay a $1 + 10% transaction fee for each online course sold through them. While this is great for brands that are just starting out, it can ramp up costs quite quickly once your online course business starts to pick up momentum.
You also don’t get access to most advanced features like email marketing, coupons, or the ability to set up an online community with the free or the Basic plan. To unlock the full potential of Teachable, you will have to get the Pro + plan that starts at $199 per month, billed annually.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the difference between Teachable and LearnDash?
A: Teachable is a standalone platform for creating and selling online courses, while LearnDash is a learning management system (LMS) plugin for WordPress. Teachable is more focused on course creation and sales, while LearnDash is designed to manage and deliver online courses within a WordPress site.
Q: Can I integrate Teachable with WordPress?
A: Yes, Teachable provides integration with WordPress through an official plugin, allowing you to seamlessly connect your Teachable courses with your WordPress site.
Q: Does LearnDash offer quiz features?
A: Yes, LearnDash includes robust quiz and assessment features, allowing course creators to easily create interactive quizzes for their students.
Q: What are the key differences when comparing Teachable vs LearnDash?
A: The main difference lies in their focus and functionality. Teachable is primarily a course creation and selling platform, while LearnDash is a comprehensive LMS plugin for managing online courses within a WordPress site.
Q: How do Teachable and LearnDash differ in terms of email marketing integration?
A: Teachable offers built-in email marketing features, while LearnDash requires third-party email marketing integrations such as MailChimp or ConvertKit for email communications with students.
Q: Is LearnDash a WordPress LMS plugin?
A: Yes, LearnDash is specifically designed as a learning management system plugin for WordPress, providing a seamless integration for managing online courses within a WordPress site.
Q: What is the true cost of using LearnDash?
A: The true cost of LearnDash includes the initial plugin purchase, potential add-ons for additional features, and any costs associated with maintaining a WordPress site. Pricing may vary based on specific needs and integrations.
Q: Which LMS is considered the best, Teachable or LearnDash?
A: The choice between Teachable and LearnDash depends on individual needs and preferences. Teachable is ideal for standalone course creation and sales, while LearnDash offers in-depth functionality for managing courses within a WordPress environment.
Q: Can Teachable and LearnDash be compared in terms of features and functionality?
A: Yes, Teachable and LearnDash can be compared in terms of features and functionality, particularly with regard to course creation, content delivery, and student management within their respective platforms.
Q: What are the key differences when comparing Teachable vs LearnDash in 2024?
A: As of 2024, Teachable may have evolved in terms of features and offerings, while LearnDash continues to enhance its functionality as a leading WordPress LMS plugin. Comparing the two at that time would require an updated assessment of their current capabilities and advancements.
Conclusion
LMS systems present an effective way to start generating income by selling learning material to your target audience.
To recap:
- If you’re looking to start with low costs, Teachable is a great option for you as it offers a free plan for creators who want to start creating and selling online courses as quickly as possible and without breaking the bank. The downsides are the high transaction commission fee and that it’s fairly limited with its free plan. It’s also more suitable for brands that want to start selling online courses without having to worry about creating a learning site themselves but are satisfied with limited design and LMS features.
- For businesses that want more control over their online course website, LearnDash is the way to go. It not only gives you full control over major aspects of your site but also makes it possible to add more functionality and design elements using WordPress plugins and themes.
What are some of the features you look for in an LMS platform? Let us know in the comments box below.
