The online education industry is booming. A recent study by Oxford University found that online learning is the fastest-growing market in the education industry, experiencing a remarkable 900% growth globally since 2000.
While virtual learning is increasingly popular for colleges and universities, entrepreneurs and private businesses can also benefit by offering online courses on everything from niche hobbies to career training, learning AI, and more.
A learning management system (LMS) allows non-technical users to easily set up and manage online courses. The growing demand for online learning has contributed to an explosion of options for course creators and businesses wanting to offer online courses. WordPress users can opt for an LMS plugin to manage courses from a content management system they already know, rather than adding a separate LMS platform exclusively for courses and education.
Sensei is a popular LMS plugin developed by Automattic, the company behind WordPress and WooCommerce. Choosing the right LMS is an important decision. While it’s certainly possible to move from one system to another, the transition impacts every course on your platform, your users and their access, any recurring payments already set up, and affiliates that promote your courses. With that in mind, it’s best to make the right choice from the start. So let’s dive in and look at the details of Sensei so you can decide if it’s right for you.
The LMS Platform for WordPress Users
There’s no shortage of options for managing and selling access to online courses. Platforms like Teachable, Thinkific, and Kajabi are made specifically for this purpose. While all those platforms are perfectly capable, they add complexity and cost for entrepreneurs or businesses using WordPress as a CMS.
Most industry-leading LMSs allow you to power an entire website (not just courses), but they lack WordPress’s features and flexibility. In most cases, those LMSs are used as an addition to an existing website. If you already use WordPress for your site, using a separate LMS means you’ll have two different platforms to manage. Opting for an LMS WordPress plugin like Sensei is often easier and cheaper because you can get all the same functionality without adding a second platform.
Sensei Review: How the Plugin Works
Sensei comes in three variations: Free, Interactive Blocks, and Pro. We’ll cover the pricing details later, but understanding the differences between these options is important as you consider Sensei and how it meets your needs.
The Free version supports unlimited courses but doesn’t include the ability to sell those courses. The Interactive Blocks plan integrates with WordPress’s block editor so you can add interactive videos and other content to any page or post, but also does not allow you to sell courses. Sensei Pro includes all the features for a complete online education business, including integration with WooCommerce to sell your courses.
Course Theme
You can use Sensei with your existing theme, but they also offer the Course theme for free. Course is a block theme built with Sensei features and functionality in mind. You can choose from four different styles.
Learning Mode
Sensei’s Learning Mode allows you to create a distraction-free learning environment within your courses. When viewing course lessons and quizzes, students will see only relevant details and elements of your site.
Learning Mode works with your existing theme and does not impact other pages and posts outside your courses. It is enabled by default, but can be turned off if you prefer.
While Learning Mode is included with the Free version, Sensei Pro offers additional templates for added flexibility and customization.
Quizzes
Quizzes can help your students assess their understanding of the information covered in your courses. Sensei’s Free version allows you to set up quizzes with basic question types, including:
- Multiple choice
- True/false
- Gap fill
- Single line
- Long answer
- File uploads
Multiple choice, true/false, and gap fill questions can be auto-graded. You can also add answer feedback on these question types to provide responses based on whether the student answered the question correctly or incorrectly.
Additional quiz features include:
- Question Bank: Questions are available for use in multiple quizzes.
- Allow Retakes: Students can take a quiz multiple times.
- Pass Required: Students must pass the quiz based on a required grade that you set.
- Random Question Order: Display questions in a random order.
- Pagination: Multi-page quizzes.
- AI-Powered Quiz Generation (requires Sensei Pro): Auto-generate multiple-choice questions using AI.
- Ordering Question Type (requires Sensei Pro): Students arrange answer choices in the correct order.
- Quiz Timer (requires Sensei Pro): Quiz must be completed within a set amount of time.
Interactive Blocks
Sensei’s interactive blocks allow you to add engaging content in any WordPress page, post, or course lesson. This functionality is included in Sensei Pro and is also available through the standalone Interactive Blocks plugin. You can add:
- Interactive Videos: Require viewers to interact with videos and pause points before completing a lesson. Compatible with YouTube, Vimeo, and VideoPress.
- Flashcard: Create a flipable card with text, videos, images, or embeds, on both sides of the flashcard.
- Image Hotspot: Add text, videos, lists, headings, audio, and images to image hotspots (perfect for sales pages).
- Questions: Add multiple-choice, ordering, and fill-in-the-blank questions.
- Tutor AI: Add an intelligent AI-powered assistant that will chat with students in real time to provide guidance.
Content Drip
With Sensei Pro, you control when your students can access specific course lessons. In some cases, you may not want to provide immediate access to all of the course’s content. Alternatively, you can drip the content based on the schedule you choose.
Content can be dripped so it is available at a specific date, or you can set it to drip at certain intervals after the course start date. For example, a course lesson might become available one week after the student starts the course.
Groups and Cohorts
Cohort-based courses have increased in popularity, and the group learning experience is ideal for certain types of content. Sensei Pro includes functionality to organize students into unlimited groups. Cohorts enable groups to progress through a course together. You have full control over who sees the content and when.
Certificate Builder
Sensei LMS Certificates is a free add-on that automatically creates customized certificates for your students when they complete a course.
Sensei LMS Pricing and Plans
As mentioned earlier, Sensei offers three plans for use on a single website, with details shown in the tables below.
| Course Features | Sensei Free $0 | Interactive Blocks $60/year | Sensei Pro $179/year |
| Unlimited courses and students | Yes | No | Yes |
| Course & marketing block patterns | Yes | No | Yes |
| Certificate creator | Yes | No | Yes |
| Import courses | Yes | No | Yes |
| Distraction-free learning mode | Yes | No | Yes |
| Sell courses with WooCommerce | No | No | Yes |
| Video course templates | No | No | Yes |
| Drip lessons | No | No | Yes |
| Schedule courses | No | No | Yes |
| Conditional content | No | No | Yes |
| Required content | No | No | Yes |
| Glossary | No | No | Yes |
| Block Features | Sensei Free$0 | Interactive Blocks$60/year | Sensei Pro$179/year |
| Course list | Yes | No | Yes |
| Interactive videos | No | Yes | Yes |
| Tutor AI | No | Yes | Yes |
| Flashcards | No | Yes | Yes |
| Image hotspots | No | Yes | Yes |
| Quiz questions | No | Yes | Yes |
| Accordions | No | Yes | Yes |
| Task lists | No | Yes | Yes |
| Quiz Features | Sensei Free$0 | Interactive Blocks$60/year | Sensei Pro$179/year |
| Basic quiz question types | Yes | No | Yes |
| Auto-graded quizzes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Auto-generate with AI | No | No | Yes |
| Ordering quiz question type | No | Yes | Yes |
| Quiz timer | No | No | Yes |
| Student Management Features | Sensei Free$0 | Interactive Blocks$60/year | Sensei Pro$179/year |
| Reports & analytics | Yes | No | Yes |
| Guest users | Yes | No | Yes |
| Group management | No | No | Yes |
| Cohorts and scheduled access | No | No | Yes |
| Co-teachers | No | No | Yes |
| Help & Support | Sensei Free$0 | Interactive Blocks$60/year | Sensei Pro$179/year |
| Forums | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Email support | No | Yes | Yes |
An Agency plan is also available ($360/year). It includes everything in Sensei Pro for up to 20 websites or 1 multisite network.
If you want to try Sensei, they offer a free demo. Set up a demo site to play with Sensei Pro and see how it works before buying.
Support and Documentation
Sensei provides excellent documentation, with articles and guides covering virtually every feature and function. You can find answers to most questions by searching the documentation. If you can’t find an answer, additional support is available. Free users are limited to the support forum, while Sensei Pro and Interactive Blocks customers can get support via an email ticket system.
Final Verdict: Is Sensei Worth It?
Sensei LMS is an excellent option for WordPress users who want an LMS without adding a second platform like Teachable, Thinkific, or Kajabi. The free version is very limited since you can’t sell courses, but Sensei Pro includes the features and functionality most entrepreneurs and online education businesses will need at an affordable price. If you’re looking for an LMS that allows you to create and sell courses directly from your WordPress-powered website, Sensei Pro is a solid choice.
28 Responses
They just released drip content feature add-on…
How do you insert video which is hosted on the local site rather then uploaded to youtube. I can get it to run in the body of the lesson but not the designated video section
I’m not sure that Sensei can work with nested videos. I think Learn-Dash can although to be honest I host from Vimeo as it is a better platform all round. Learn-Dash will easily run videos from Vimeo too and works brilliantly across many WordPress themes – whereas my experience with Woo has always been somewhat disappointing with regards to compatibility.
When you say it is “the best” can you explain this? Did you do a comparison with other learning management plugins that came out before Sensei and had or have more features? Did you try to integrate it with “any” theme? Did you see what it looks like when you use it with a non-Woo theme?
Thought I would chime in as I recently just launched a site recently with Sensei. I’m sure there are some other plugins that have more features I could have explored, but with my positive history with any Woo products, I jumped at the chance to purchase it and consider it for my new site. Also, it easily transitioned in using a WooTheme and WooCommerce. Although there are a few features I would like to have seen, in the end it has turned out to be a great decision on my part.
Jean, hope you don’t mind a link here… but I did a case study over on Woo about my experience with a bit more details 🙂
Hi, I was waiting for sensei but found learndash and if you need a straight forward lms that works I can recommend learndash. With learndash plus due out soon it just gets better
Hi Jean,
Very positive review of Sensei. I’ve been looking for a plugin like this for a while. Unfortunately my previous experience of Woo support always causes me to hang back (that plus having spent out on premium Woo themes that I’ve never ended up using).
Thanks to the posters above I heard about LearnDash and thought I’d have a look at that.
I am so glad I did. Justin Ferriman was more than happy to discuss with me any concerns I had and whether LearnDash was going to be what I needed or not. In fact, his fast and personal response to my initial email went a long way in making my mind up.
LearnDash includes more features that Woo are currently only ‘contemplating’ and it already has an inbuilt payment gateway whereas Woo requires ‘woo-commerce’ to charge for online courses.
If you are looking for a great product with fantastic support then I highly recommend LearnDash.
Thanks again for the informative blog Jean.
Glad you found LearnDash useful Joel, and thanks for your comments about the blog.
Hi all, it seems like nobody has cracked e-learning for WordPress 100% just yet. Perhaps check out the new kid on the block: .
I have to admit, jumped from Sensei to Train-Up! for my LMS project and it works a beauty. It’s still a beta, so there’s some stuff that needs to be ironed out, but apart from that it’s brilliant. 🙂
TrainUp! > Sensei anyday.
Thanks for the feedback Josh, seems like Train-Up is a strong contender for best LMS plugin now.
Thanks for your input Justin, it’s great to have a variety of options that users can choose from.
Hello Jean-
I enjoyed your article and believe you give a good overview of Sensei. My name is Justin Ferriman, and I am the founder of LearnDash. Whereas both Sensei and LearnDash do share some features, there are some differences. From a support perspective, we are deeply experienced in the learning industry – consulting Fortune 500 organizations and the U.S. government with their learning systems.
We also just recently were added to early adopters list of Tin-Can API (the protocol that is replacing the SCORM specification). We are happy to join the likes of BlackBoard and Litmos on this list.
In the end, the more choices available for people the better. LearnDash isn’t right for everyone, and the same can be said for Sensei, Courseware, and others.
Kindly,
Justin Ferriman
Hi Boril,
I’ve tested the plugin at a basic level, I haven’t used it in a production environment, which probably explains why I haven’t come across these teething issues. On the plus side, I am sure that Woo will release frequent updates to this plugin and fix any reported bugs. I’m getting someone from Woothemes to reply to your issues here too.
Thanks Jean
Yeah we will be released regular fixes (when we find bugs) and are already working on a 1.1.0 release with additional features.
Thanks for the review!
Hi Jean,
I have tested Sensei for few days and I can agree kandrews424 that the plugin doesn’t work as promised. I am using the latest WordPress + WooThemes Canvas (latest version) + WooCommerce (latest version)… everything on my site is from WooThemes, but…
Sensei courses and lessons cannot visualize the standard wordpress formatting correctly (I mean paragraphs, for example). It cannot parse shortcodes – for JW Playes – I can see the text of the shortcode, but not the video itself.
The design is messed up. Also I cannot even see which uses to which course / lesson has joined. There is no way to add trainees manually to courses…
Actually, I was very excited when the plugin was announced. That’s exectly what I need for my new elearning website. So, I have bought it immediately. But now, after some tests, I am totally and completely dissapointed.
Have you tested the plugin? Did you met some of the problems I have described above? Can you help me with handling these issues?
Thank you very much and have a great day!
Boril
Hi Boril
Thanks for the feedback, are you trying to add the JW player into your content area or the embed code area? Did you get in touch with us via our support forum to assist with the styling issues?
I’m sorry you are disappointed, but I hope you will keep the feedback coming so we can keep adding awesome new features to the plugin!
Hi Jean,
I’ve just asked for a refund on Sensei after working two days flat out trying to get it set up using 2012 – a theme they say it’s compatible with. It’s not. At no point did the front end of my site look like what’s show in any of the online documentation. The product/course text is under the “add to cart” radio buttons, the images are unclear, the front end user menus are confusing – I need something I can pay for, install and begin setting up the courses and classes right away, not spend 23 hours messing with formatting.
What a bummer…
Sorry to hear that, maybe try out WP Courseware as an alternative.
Hi there
Sorry to hear your experience wasn’t great, did you get in touch with our support staff to assist you?
Hi Jean,
Thanks for the great review of Sensei. I just discovered the LearnDash plugin for WP and wondered if you’ve heard of it ). It was just released in January, and has a few more features that Sensei doesn’t, such as forum and feedback setup, and scheduling lessons on a calendar.
Would love to here your opinion.
Hi Ian,
I hadn’t heard of LearnDash, but it does seem to be very similar to Sensei and possibly have some extra features. Personally, I am 100% sure that Sensei will soon have those features and more. It will also always have a great interface and good support, plus you can get a theme that has been specifically made with Sensei in mind. If I had to choose, I would go for Sensei.
Learndash seems amazing and has more features then sensei. Sensei makes you pay more for these features as additional addons.
The add-ons might be free now but this review was first written in January 2013 and at that time LearnDash was way ahead of the woo themes plugin. In my opinion LearnDash has continuously updated and improved their products and their service is unquestionably more user friendly (personal) and constructive than Woo.
Hey Joel, I’d love to get your specific feedback on why you feel it is a more user friendly system. We’re always open to improving the product! Just as a sidenote, the add-ons have always been free – and @twistedpixel only commented 2 days ago 🙂 Feel free to ping me on twitter at @jeffikus and I get get more directly in touch with you.
Hi there. That’s actually incorrect – all 6 of Sensei’s addon plugins are free 🙂 If you click through to any of the extensions here -> you will see they are free.
It looks like they cost money to me :/
Hi Andrew, this post was published originally back in January 2013, exactly 8 years ago, so a lot must have changed since then 🙂