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LearnDash Review – Is It The Best WordPress LMS Plugin?

LearnDash is a WordPress LMS plugin used to create and launch online courses. It’s a flexible learning management system perfect for private tutors, small to medium businesses, and large organizations. Check out our hands-on LearnDash review to learn about LearnDash and how it works, its features, functionalities, the pros & cons of using it, and a few industry examples!

This article was written by our experts using our in-depth analysis methodology.

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LearnDash is a popular WordPress LMS plugin used to create and launch online courses. In this LearnDash review, we’re taking a look at this flexible learning management system that is perfect for private tutors, small to medium businesses, and large organizations.

If you’re wondering whether LearnDash is the right choice for you or who else uses LearnDash as the LMS plugin for their WordPress site, this LearnDash review will cover it all.

Read along for an in-depth analysis of one of the most widely used LMS plugins to turn your WordPress website into a learning or training management system. 

By the end of this article, you will have learned all about the LearnDash features, how it works, its functionalities, its pros & cons, and a few industry examples from the real world.

And, most importantly, you’ll be able to decide whether it’s still your best choice in 2022.

B we dive deep into the review, let’s learn a bit about this nifty LMS plugin.

LearnDash Review: What Is It and How Does It Work?

LearnDash WordPress LMS plugin.

For anyone looking to create custom online courses and provide an immersive learning experience to users, we really think that LearnDash is the best option.

LearnDash is one of the most popular WordPress LMS plugins that comes with loads of powerful learning tools to create and sell online courses. Its deep functionality allows you to create a competitive and sustainable eLearning website specific to your needs.

To use LearnDash, all you need is a running WordPress website. You just need to install the plugin, activate it, and configure the settings. 

Once that is done, you can start building courses easily with the most intuitive course builder on the market. You can add sections, lessons, topics, quizzes, etc, and make it interesting by using different types of media. 

You can also integrate video lectures and host webinars. In the case of multiple courses, you can reuse the modules created previously and modify them depending on the course topic.

It also allows you to customize the way your course content will look to your learners. You can play with the typography as well as the colors of the course content!

Using LearnDash, you can create your education and training website. Besides, you can manage your courses and user by creating different user profiles. It also allows you to place your users into groups to make management easy. You can add multiple instructors to your LearnDash website.

Additionally, LearnDash comes with ProPanel, for reporting and analysis to see how the users and courses are performing. For more insightful reporting, you can check out the Wisdm Reports for LearnDash 3rd-party extension and track various learners and course-related activities.

While creating an eLearning website, you also have to pay attention to common elements that an eLearning website must have such as breadcrumb navigation, page preloader, mobile navigation, and so on to keep your users hooked.

Key Features In LearnDash

 LearnDash features

The reason LearnDash is so popular in the e-learning space is that it’s easy to use, highly customizable, and offers tons of features to create and launch courses on the go. 

The most impressive feature that stood out to us is its drag-and-drop builder, but here’s a quick look at all the latest and most important LearnDash features in 2022:

  • A Welcome Wizard for smooth onboarding and a personalized setup.
  • Intuitive drag-and-drop course builder to create courses easily.
  • Advanced quizzing and question banks to check learned skills.
  • Challenge Exams to check the knowledge of the learners on a particular subject and fast-track course completion.
  • LearnDash Focus Mode to create a distraction-free learning environment.
  • Dynamic content delivery with open and linear progression.
    (Including video progression to watch the entire video before students can mark content as complete.)
  • LearnDash LMS blocks in the Gutenberg editor to add course list, lesson list, topic list, etc.
  • Reusability of course content to save time
  • LearnDash Groups, and User Profiles to manage users
  • Solid communication channels with triggers for automated notifications 
  • Built-in reporting tool to track progress
  • Compatibility with all types of media and course authoring tools
  • Integration with the most popular 3rd party software, apps, and WordPress themes (LearnDash now comes with starter site themes)*
  • Customization with colors, logos, course display, etc. 
  • Various subscriptions, membership, and bulk purchase options to sell courses
  • Built-in Stripe Integration to sell courses on the go (No need to install any extra addons for stripe)

Note: Since LearnDash is an open-source platform, it’s possible to create a custom feature or functionality by customizing the code or hiring a developer to help you do it.

Who Uses LearnDash?

LearnDash can essentially be used by anyone who wants to turn their WordPress site into a learning management system. It’s suitable for both casual as well as power users who have the technical know-how!

Currently, major universities are using LearnDash, Fortune 500 companies, employee training organizations, and educational institutions. It’s also perfect for developers and designers whose clients want dynamic online courses, as they can modify the style or functionality using hooks, filters, and REST API.

You may also like to read: How to Use Gamification for Your Online Course Platform Using LearnDash

LearnDash Pricing and Purchase

LearnDash comes with 3 types of packages. All plans are affordable and come with a 15-day money-back guarantee along with a year of support and updates. 

The three annual pricing plans are as follows:

  • LearnDash Basic plan – $159 per year
  • LearnDash Plus plan – $189 per year
  • LearnDash Pro plan – $329 per year
LearnDash Pricing Plan

You can buy any of the LearnDash plans using a credit card or Paypal. All the licenses get renewed automatically. The only thing different with the plans is the number of site licenses and whether you get ProPanel.

So whether you’re a private tutor with a single website or a training organization with multiple educational websites, you can choose the LearnDash package as per your needs and start your e-learning venture right away!

Note: The actual cost of using LearnDash will vary depending on your needs. For example, you may require premium addons to get the most out of your learning management system. 

Pros and Cons of LearnDash

ProsCons
User-friendly DashboardNo free trials
Dynamic content creation and deliveryLimited built-in payment options
Advance quizzing and gamification optionsNeed to integrate with 3rd party plugins for deeper functionality
Focused learning experience for learnersContent created with LearnDash is not SCORM compliant, you need addons to insert the SCORM content
Large add-ons libraryLacks advance reporting
Open-sourceReporting is only available in the Plus and Pro Packages
Smart integration with all latest technologiesAdding more and more features with plugins will require more maintenance
Supports various eCommerce and marketing optionsDocumentation needs improvement
Works across a WordPress multi-site network

Built with LearnDash – Top Industry Examples to Get Inspired!

University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan Center for Socially Engaged Design used LearnDash to provide a robust eLearning program for their students. With the help of a design firm, they were able to create custom add-ons tailored to their needs.

Infusionsoft (now Keap)

Keap

Infusionsoft is a Fortune 500 company that sells marketing automation software for small and mid-market businesses. They used LearnDash to systemically position training courses and provide standardized training for internal employees as well as new customers.

Yoast Academy 

Yoast Academy

Yoast, the biggest name in the SEO industry, uses LearnDash to offer their SEO training courses. Using LearnDash they ensured a reliable and impressive learning experience with their SEO-related courses to thousands of people all over the world.

Bionic Turtle 

Bionic Turtle

Bionic Turtle provides Financial Risk Management (FRM) exam prep courses and study materials. They used LearnDash as their primary learning management system to create a custom study plan for their subscribers.

Using LearnDash, they were able to create an interactive learning experience with less than their previous LMS licensing fee.

Learn here how to set up your course website using LearnDash & Elementor.

LearnDash Review Conclusion (2022)

To remain competitive in the eLearning industry, you need a platform that’s not only reliable but also one that aligns with your vision and grows with your business, organization, or project.

The development team at LearnDash understands that and hence launched the latest update – LearnDash 4.0 with more advanced features for a quick and hassle-free LMS setup, easy course creation, and purchase process!  

Not only does it provide tons of features, deep functionality, and easy access to free and premium plugins, but also the flexibility to custom create an LMS from scratch!

It’s no secret that there will be a learning curve before you can get the most out of this self-hosted platform. But if you have some knowledge about WordPress, want full control over your website, and are serious about your eLearning venture, then LearnDash is the best LMS plugin to go with.

So, that’s it from our side! 

If you find this article helpful, let us know in the comments below!

Nitansha is a Content Marketer at WisdmLabs. She’s a LearnDash enthusiast and is determined to help readers navigate through the WordPress ecosystem.

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