I spend a lot (no really, A LOT) of time answering the question,
“I want to make an online course/membership site. Which plugin should I use?”
And while there is no easy answer, and your choice will depend on a whole heap of variables, I do have some favorites.
Today we are talking all about LearnDash (You can read more about my other faves, MemberVault, AccessAlly or Wishlist Member.)
What is LearnDash?
LearnDash is a premium WordPress plugin that works with most WordPress themes.
It isn’t a theme in itself but integrates with your current branding, layout, and theme.
What does LearnDash do?
LearnDash allows you to easily create & sell courses, deliver quizzes, award certificates,
manage users, and download usage reports.
But… it also
Allows you to Build Unlimited Courses
Once you have purchased and installed LearnDash there is no limit to
the number of courses you can create on your site.
Want one course? Great. Want 100? Also great.
(Note, you will have to pay extra to put courses onto different domain names,
but as long as they are all on the same domain name, go for gold)
Have Unlimited Users
There is no limit to the number of students who can purchase and use your course.
This is great if you are building a big community,
but also helpful if you are selling courses to large companies or groups.
Drip Feeds Lessons
Drip feeding simply means releasing content over time.
With LearnDash you can create drip-fed modules, which control when a student can access information,
so as not to overwhelm them all at once.
Reward your Learners
With LearnDash you can deliver certificates to students based on the successful completion of courses.
You can even reward them with badges along the way.
And a lot more… (see all of the features and functionality here)
What does LearnDash NOT do?
LearnDash does not make things pretty.
It will integrate with your existing theme as much as possible, but while it is very functional,
it won’t automatically make your content pretty.
It will provide you with a very structured look at feel for your modules, and lessons.
(LearnDash has some demos and examples on their site to help you get a feel for their structure.)
LearnDash doesn’t take money, and you will need to integrate it with your Paypal, Stripe or 2Checkout.
LearnDash won’t naturally integrate with your email marketing either.
The platform is set up to send it’s own emails to your students, which should fill most of,
if not all of your needs. It will integrate it with Zapier as well.
But if you want to integrate it with your email marketing (like Convertkit) then you will need to add paid expansions.
How much is it?
(Prices in $US – At time of publishing)
$199 for basic level ( 1 site license )
$229 for plus package (10 licenses)
$369 a month for pro package (25 licenses)
Prices are in US Dollars and were current at the time of publishing this post.
Make sure you check out current pricing and deals here
My personal opinion:
I’ve set up and created courses on LearnDash for several clients and I love it’s power and range of functionality when it comes to building online courses,
It also has a range of add-ons which allow you to do some fun stuff, like allow students to earn Experience Points for completing parts of your course, and then allowing them to spend these points on bonus content.
It’s not the prettiest of plugins.
While it integrates with your theme, some of the structure is very formal and square, for want of a better word.
But what it lacks in beauty, it makes up for in practicality, functionality and ability.
Disclaimer
This is my personal opinion and review.
This post DOESN’T contain any affiliate links and isn’t sponsored in any way, it’s just my personal experience of working with the plugin and creating courses for clients.
Please make sure you do your own research before investing in a plug-in, to make sure it has the functionality that you need for your course.
