Top 8 LMS Tools for Online Course Producers
While prepping your course for its launch into the internet, one question should be at the forefront of your mind: where do you host your classes?
The internet holds a plethora of options for most anything you seek. The same is true for LMS, Learning Management Systems, and the various websites, benefits, and options available.
Here are our recommendations for the top 8 best LMS tools if you’re looking to create classes.
1. Thinkific
As soon as you click on Thinkific’s site – you’ll realize they have most everything you need to get started. With over 50,000 educators and freelancers using this platform, they’re collectively creating courses, live streams, and even webinars to promote and share across social platforms.
What we like:
Thinkific offers a user-friendly interface, simple instructions, and easy navigation which makes creating your courses and launching them easier than you think! This site is especially good to use if you have little to no experience running courses online. You’re able to create the perfect course with just a few clicks.
Their pricing ranges from the Basic Plan (free) to their Premier Plan ($399/month).
Interested in trying a month for free? Click here to try it out for yourself >>
2. Kajabi
Launched in 2010, Kajabi has served over 60 million students, given a platform to over 50,000 entrepreneurs, and has made over $3.5 billion in sales! They believe in making an inclusive all-in-one platform for their users to create, market, and grow their business without having to go anywhere else online.
What we like:
Kajabi puts a large emphasis on two portions of their business model: they heavily focus on growing a business and they believe in people. We know their customer service as top-notch, and they emphasize the power of growing every customer on their platform. Easily created websites through templates, they offer a full suite of marketing tools, including funnels, and they allow for management with fully built CRMs and integrations.
Their pricing ranges from Basic ($119/month) to Pro ($319)
3. Memberpress
If you’re needing an option that connects easily to WordPress, MemberPress is the one! Working as a WordPress paywall, membership, and LMS plugin, MemberPress gives you all the ease of use you’d expect with a powerful LMS feature designed to make building and promoting courses simple. It quickly becomes a click-and-go process by having the courses built-in.
What we like:
The user interface of MemberPress is simple and doesn’t require you to know all the ins and outs of computers to operate it. Just install the plugin, enter payment information, set up your products, and you’re done! You’re also able to build a viable community when you install MemberPress through a WordPress-based forum. Enjoy their drip content and customizable pricing pages.
Their pricing ranges from Basic ($179/month) to Pro ($399/month)
4. LearnWorlds
With LearnWorlds, you really have all you need at your fingertips. This easy to use online course platform allows you to create, sell, and simply promote your online courses. You’ll be able to monetize your skills, use your experience, and transform your knowledge into money.
What we like:
LearnWorlds is a beautifully put together platform. They push how their online bundles, memberships, and courses are easily customizable and allow you to upsell and cross-sell with your promos, coupons, and various payment plans for your students. It’s also an impressive site for integration such as CovertKit, Zoom, HubSpot, and a lot more. You’re able to offer graded or ungraded formats, close or open type questionnaires, and more to push your students toward success.
Their pricing ranges from Starter ($29/month) to Learning Center ($299/month).
5. TalentLMS
Built in order to democratize training, TalentLMS offers a premium learning experience which is accessible, affordable, and enjoyable! Their focus is to equip companies with a platform that will train employees without the confusing or stressful points that often come with LMS. They believe in helping through empathy, to be learning consistently, and to be real with their users.
What we like:
This platform is wildly easy. You’re able to build courses by drag and drop to add media while adding tests and quizzes after each one. There’s freedom to set up detailed learning paths based on each learner’s growth pace. Add your company’s branding, including log and colors, and if coding is your thing, you can further customize with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Their pricing ranges from Free ($0/month) to Premium ($459/month).
6. Learn Dash
With groundbreaking eLearning methods, LearnDash powers the learning programs for universities, small to medium-sized companies, startups, entrepreneurs, and more worldwide. They believe in not just selling courses but selling MORE courses. With advanced quizzing, dynamic content delivery, and LearnDash Focus Mode (that’s right, you have your own branded learning portal for learners), LearnDash really has it all.
What we like:
LearnDash can integrate with multiple popular apps for running business, including PayPal, Stripe, Slack, ConvertKit, Memberium, and Zapier. There’s more control over your learners and the courses you offer than many LMS. They include group management, detailed reporting, assignment of materials, and a gradebook. There are also lot more ways to engage with your learners.
Their pricing ranges from Basic ($159/month billed annually) to Pro ($329/month billed annually).
7. Teachable
With a staff who believes in the power of knowledge, Teachable is home to 100,000 instructors as of 2020. They believe in monetizing your knowledge with best-in-class features which allow you to build, grow, and manage a thriving and beautiful online coaching business. They’re extremely user-friendly in their layouts, bundles, and much more.
What we like:
Teachable’s interface is gorgeous, and they pride themselves on helping their community grow and thrive. You’re able to create your courses easily with a drag-and-drop builder and once it’s launched, start selling your classes immediately. From there, you’ll be able to get paid via Apple Pay, Google Pay, Paypal, and more. Boost yourself through memberships, upsells, and coupons. And finally, they offer an industry-leading fraud protection program, so your money stays with you.
Their pricing ranges from Free ($0/month) to Business ($249/month billed annually).
8. Udemy
With a global community of 52M+ learners and 68K+ instructors, Udemy helps organizations of all shapes and sizes prepare for their next steps. They believe in sharing knowledge with the masses and can do so through their platform. They boast of 185,000 online video courses with new ones published each month!
What we like:
There are multiple types of classes and courses offered on Udemy, including finance and accounting, all the way to music. Their courses are insanely easy to navigate through and if you’re ready to be an instructor, they offer plenty of resources on how to create your first course. If you’re unsure what you’d like to teach, you can take a glance through the Marketplace Insights of Udemy to see reports on student demand, search volume, etc.
Their pricing is surprising – there are no fees to be an instructor on Udemy. They pay all instructors according to a revenue share model.
While it may feel daunting to pick which LMS platform you’ll use, we hope this breaks it down into bite-size pieces! Most of these websites offer free trials, so test the waters and see which you prefer. At Southeast Professional Education Group, we’re here to make dreams a reality and to move your goals from “ideas” to “reality.”
