9 Best WordPress LMS Plugins in 2026 (Free & Paid)

Are you looking for the best WordPress LMS plugin to create and sell online courses?

A Learning Management System (LMS) plugin turns your WordPress site into an online school. You can build courses, enroll students, run quizzes, award certificates, and collect payments, all from your own website.

But not all LMS plugins are equal. Some are packed with features, some are free and simple, and a few have not kept up. The wrong choice can cost you money and force a painful move later.

In this guide, I compare the 9 best WordPress LMS plugins in 2026. Every price and rating below was checked against the official pricing pages and WordPress.org listings.

Let’s get started.

Best WordPress LMS Plugins Compared

Prices change often, so confirm on the vendor’s page before you buy.

What to Look For in a WordPress LMS Plugin

Before picking a plugin, check that it covers the features below. Your needs may grow later, and switching LMS plugins after you have students is hard work.

• Course builder: A drag-and-drop builder that supports video, audio, text, and downloadable files.
• Quizzes and assignments: Multiple question types, timers, attempt limits, and passing grades.
• Payments: Built-in checkout (or a clean WooCommerce integration) with one-time payments, subscriptions, and memberships.
• Payment gateways: Stripe and PayPal at minimum. If you sell worldwide, look for more regional gateways.
• Student management: Enrollment controls, student dashboards, and progress tracking.
• Reports and analytics: Insights into enrollments, completion rates, and revenue.
• Certificates: Automatic certificates when students finish a course.
• Drip content: Release lessons on a schedule to keep students engaged.
• Active development: Check the “Last updated” date and recent security fixes. An abandoned LMS plugin is a security risk.

1. Tutor LMS

Best for: Most course creators. It is our pick for the best overall WordPress LMS plugin, whether you start free or go Pro.

Tutor LMS by Themeum is the most widely used free LMS on this list, with over 100,000 active installations on WordPress.org. The free version alone is enough to build and sell courses, and the Pro version adds advanced tools for growing schools and marketplaces.

The course builder lets you create unlimited courses with lessons, quizzes, assignments, and video from YouTube, Vimeo, Bunny Stream, or your own server. The quiz builder includes standard question types plus interactive ones like matching, image pins, puzzles, and graphs. Version 4.0 (July 2026) added a redesigned learning area, a kids mode, and light/dark mode.

Tutor LMS comes with native eCommerce, so you can sell courses without WooCommerce. It supports Stripe, PayPal, Paddle, Mollie, Razorpay, and more, along with subscriptions, course bundles, coupons, and gift courses. An AI Studio can generate course outlines, lessons, and quizzes for you.

Features:

• Drag-and-drop course builder
• Advanced quiz builder with interactive question types
• Native eCommerce with guest checkout
• Built-in subscriptions and memberships
• Course bundles and gift courses
• AI Studio for course generation (Pro)
• Drag-and-drop certificate builder
• Multi-instructor marketplace with commissions
• Content drip, prerequisites, and gradebook
• Zoom and Google Meet live lessons
• Migration tool from LearnDash, LearnPress, and LifterLMS

PROS:

• Generous free version with native checkout
• Modern, polished interface
• Great for multi-instructor marketplaces
• Lifetime licenses available

CONS:

• Many advanced features need Pro
• Some users report the design is hard to customize to match a custom theme

Pricing: Tutor LMS is free on WordPress.org. Tutor LMS Pro costs $199/year for 1 site, $399/year for up to 10 sites, and $799/year for unlimited sites. Lifetime licenses start at $499.

2. LearnDash

Best for: Large course businesses, companies, and universities that want a premium-only LMS with a big add-on ecosystem.

LearnDash is one of the most popular and trusted LMS plugins for WordPress. It is used by universities, training companies, and Fortune 500 businesses. In 2026, LearnDash is sold by Liquid Web (Nexcess), and its plans were rebuilt around features instead of site counts.

The drag-and-drop course builder lets you organize courses into sections, lessons, topics, and quizzes. You can drip-feed content, set prerequisites, and award certificates and badges when students finish a course or pass a quiz. The quiz builder supports single choice, multiple choice, essay, fill in the blank, and more, with timers and custom result messages.

Selling courses is simple. Every plan includes Stripe and PayPal payments, one-time payments, subscriptions, and memberships (through MemberDash, which is now bundled). The Pro and Elite plans add ProPanel, a reporting dashboard that shows live student activity.

Features:

• Drag-and-drop course builder
• Advanced quizzes with multiple question types
• Drip-feed content and prerequisites
• Certificates and badges
• One-time payments, subscriptions, and memberships
• Stripe and PayPal built in
• Groups and group leaders
• Assignments and gradebook
• Email notifications
• ProPanel reporting (Pro and Elite)
• Works with any WordPress theme

PROS:

• One of the most complete feature sets on this list
• Memberships and payments included in every plan
• No transaction fees on your course sales
• Large ecosystem of add-ons, themes, and integrations

CONS:

• No free version
• Advanced reporting (ProPanel) is not in the entry plan
• More expensive than most alternatives

Pricing: LearnDash has three annual plans: Essentials at $259/year, Pro at $399/year, and Elite at $599/year. There is no free version, and you buy it through Liquid Web rather than LearnDash.com.

3. LearnPress

Best for: Beginners and budget-conscious creators who want a free LMS and only pay for the add-ons they need.

LearnPress by ThimPress is one of the oldest free LMS plugins for WordPress, with over 70,000 active installations. The core plugin is free and lets you create and sell unlimited courses with lessons and quizzes, with no coding needed.

The course builder lets you build your curriculum in one place, and teachers can manage courses from the front end without accessing WP Admin. LearnPress also supports offline (in-person) courses, so you can sell workshops and classes with a location, schedule, and start date. Newer releases added AI tools for generating course outlines, quizzes, and course images.

The free version accepts PayPal payments, and you can add WooCommerce, Stripe, memberships, certificates, assignments, content drip, and more through premium add-ons. LearnPress works with both Gutenberg and Elementor, and is recommended by WPML for multilingual course sites.

Features:

• Unlimited courses, lessons, and quizzes
• Course builder for teachers (no WP Admin needed)
• Online and offline (in-person) courses
• AI course and quiz generation
• PayPal built in, more gateways via add-ons
• Gutenberg blocks and Elementor support
• Multisite support
• Course import and export
• 30+ free and premium add-ons

PROS:

• Free core plugin with a large user base
• Pay only for the add-ons you need
• Supports in-person courses as well as online ones

CONS:

• Key features (certificates, Stripe, memberships, content drip) are paid add-ons
• Costs add up if you need many add-ons

Pricing: LearnPress is free. Premium add-ons are sold individually, or you can get the Semi-Pro Bundle (5 popular add-ons) or the Pro Bundle with all premium add-ons, listed at $249.99/year.

4. LifterLMS

Best for: Course creators who want a free core plugin with excellent support and room to scale.

LifterLMS has a free, open-source core plugin with no limits on courses, memberships, students, or earnings. It holds the highest WordPress.org rating of the major LMS plugins on this list, at 4.8 out of 5.

The course builder lets you create courses with sections, multimedia lessons, quizzes with question banks, and assignments. You can drip content, set prerequisites, award certificates and achievement badges, and use course cohorts and course tracks. Students get a dashboard and can take notes as they learn.

LifterLMS includes Stripe and PayPal checkout, with one-time payments, subscriptions, payment plans, coupons, and course bundles. Memberships are built in, so you can protect content outside your courses too. Paid bundles add more e-commerce, email marketing, form integrations, and advanced add-ons.

Features:

• Drag-and-drop course builder
• Quizzes, question banks, and timers
• Drip content and prerequisites
• Certificates and achievement badges
• Built-in memberships
• One-time payments, subscriptions, and payment plans
• Coupons and course bundles
• Student dashboard and notes
• Detailed reporting and gradebook
• Group enrollments

PROS:

• Free core plugin with no limits
• Highest WordPress.org rating on this list (4.8/5)
• Strong support, including weekly live sessions on paid bundles
• Try every add-on on a demo site for $1

CONS:

• Bundles are expensive at full price
• Many advanced features are paid add-ons

Pricing: The core plugin is free. Paid bundles are the Earth Bundle at $398/year (1 site), Universe Bundle at $598/year (5 sites), and Infinity Bundle at $1,598/year (unlimited sites). New customers currently get 50% off the first year, and renewals are at full price.

5. MasterStudy LMS

Best for: Tutors, schools, and small course marketplaces on a tight budget.

MasterStudy LMS by Stylemix is a free LMS plugin with over 10,000 active installations and a 4.5 out of 5 rating on WordPress.org. Its free version is far more capable than it used to be, and its Pro plans are among the cheapest on this list.

The course builder lets you add lessons, quizzes, and assignments, set course levels and durations, and add FAQs. You can create text and video lessons, with video from YouTube, Vimeo, Presto Player, or your own server. Audio, PDF, and live stream lessons are available in Pro Plus. The quiz builder supports 8 question types, including image matching, keywords, and fill in the gap.

Students learn in a distraction-free course player with dark mode. The free version also includes a drag-and-drop certificate builder, a teacher marketplace with commissions, and Gutenberg blocks. Pro Plus adds subscriptions, memberships, coupons, drip content, AI course generation, Zoom and Google Meet lessons, SCORM, group courses, and more.

Features:

• Course builder with text and video lessons
• 8 quiz question types
• Distraction-free course player with dark mode
• Drag-and-drop certificate builder
• Instructor marketplace with commissions
• Student and teacher dashboards
• Gutenberg blocks and Elementor widgets
• Subscriptions, memberships, and coupons (Pro Plus)
• AI Lab for course generation (Pro Plus)
• Zoom, Google Meet, and SCORM (Pro Plus)

PROS:

• Capable free version
• Affordable Pro Plus plans, with lifetime options
• Good fit for multi-instructor marketplaces

CONS:

• Many features are locked behind Pro Plus
• Some users report quiz grading quirks

Pricing: MasterStudy LMS is free. Pro Plus costs $99/year for 1 site, $199/year for 10 sites, and $399/year for unlimited sites. Lifetime licenses cost $249, $499, and $999. Discounts are often available.

6. Sensei LMS

Best for: WordPress and WooCommerce users who want a simple, block-based LMS from the makers of WordPress.com.

Sensei LMS is made by Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com and WooCommerce. It is built around the WordPress block editor, so creating courses feels like writing a normal post. The free version is open source and lets you publish unlimited free courses.

The free plugin includes a certificate builder, basic quizzes, and a distraction-free “learning mode” that works with any theme. Sensei also offers a free Course theme designed to work with it out of the box.

To sell courses, you need Sensei Pro, which connects to WooCommerce. Pro also adds advanced quizzes with timers and AI-generated questions, interactive videos, flashcards, drip lessons, groups and cohorts, co-teachers, and reports.

Features:

• Block-based course and lesson editor
• Unlimited free courses and students
• Certificate builder
• Distraction-free learning mode
• Sell courses with WooCommerce (Pro)
• Advanced quizzes with timers and AI questions (Pro)
• Interactive videos, flashcards, and image hotspots
• Drip lessons and scheduled courses (Pro)
• Groups, cohorts, and co-teachers (Pro)
• Reports and analytics (Pro)

PROS:

• Backed by Automattic
• Feels native to the WordPress block editor
• Works with any theme, plus a free Course theme

CONS:

• You cannot sell courses with the free version
• Selling requires WooCommerce
• Lower WordPress.org rating (3.5/5) than most plugins on this list

Pricing: Sensei LMS is free. Sensei Pro costs $179/year for 1 site. Interactive Blocks is $60/year on its own, and the Sensei Agency plan is $360/year for up to 20 sites.

7. Creator LMS

Best for: Coaches and creators who want cohorts, community, and sales funnels in one plugin.

Creator LMS by WPFunnels is a newer LMS, launched in 2025, built for coaches, trainers, and course creators. It is still small (90+ active installations on WordPress.org), but it has a perfect 5 out of 5 rating and is updated almost weekly.

The free version is surprisingly complete. It includes unlimited courses, lessons, and students, a drag-and-drop course builder, a quiz builder with 6+ question types, a certificate builder with verification, and native checkout with Stripe and Mollie, with no WooCommerce needed. Lessons can be video, audio, text, or downloads, and a custom video player hides YouTube and Vimeo branding.

The paid plans add an AI course builder, gamification (badges, points, leaderboards), memberships and subscriptions, PayPal and more gateways, and email automation through Mail Mint. Higher plans add cohort-based courses, live Zoom classes, and one-click upsells (Business), plus a built-in community (Agency). It also includes free one-click migration from LearnDash, Tutor LMS, LearnPress, and MasterStudy.

Features:

• Drag-and-drop course builder
• Video, audio, text, and downloadable lessons
• Quiz builder with 6+ question types
• Certificate builder with verification
• Native checkout with Stripe and Mollie (free)
• PayPal, Authorize.net, and Razorpay (paid plans)
• AI course builder and gamification (paid plans)
• Memberships and subscriptions (paid plans)
• Cohort courses, live classes, and one-click upsells (Business and Agency)
• Built-in community (Agency)
• One-click migration from other LMS plugins

PROS:

• Very complete free version with native checkout
• Cohorts and community built in, with no extra plugins
• Free migration from four popular LMS plugins

CONS:

• New, with a small user base
• Cohorts and community are only in the higher plans
• The free version shows a small “Powered by Creator LMS” credit

Pricing: Creator LMS is free. Paid plans are Starter at $139.99/year (1 site), Pro at $199.99/year (5 sites), Business at $399.99/year (10 sites), and Agency at $599.99/year (50 sites). At the time of writing, all plans are 50% off.

8. WP Courseware

Best for: Course creators who want a straightforward paid LMS with payments and memberships built in.

WP Courseware by Fly Plugins is one of the longest-running WordPress LMS plugins. It is a premium-only plugin that aims to replace an LMS, a payment plugin, and a membership plugin with a single license.

The drag-and-drop course builder makes it easy to arrange modules, units, and quizzes. You can drip content by date or by time since enrollment, and require students to complete units before moving on. Quizzes support 7 question types, including file upload and matrix sorting, and are managed in a built-in gradebook.

You can take one-time payments, subscriptions, and installments through PayPal or Stripe, with no extra plugins. Enrollment also works like a membership, so you can protect pages and posts. It adds certificates, student notes, points and badges with a leaderboard, and integrates with WooCommerce and popular membership plugins.

Features:

• Drag-and-drop course builder
• Drip content by date or interval
• Quizzes and surveys with 7 question types
• Gradebook
• PDF certificates
• PayPal and Stripe built in
• One-time payments, subscriptions, and installments
• Membership-style content protection
• Points, badges, and leaderboards
• Instructor role
• WooCommerce integration

PROS:

• Payments and memberships included
• Even the cheapest license covers 2 sites (live and staging)
• 30-day money-back guarantee

CONS:

• No free version (only a free demo)
• Interface feels dated next to newer plugins

Pricing: WP Courseware costs $159/year for 2 sites, $199/year for 10 sites, and $279/year for 25 sites.

9. ARMember

Best for: Membership sites that also want to sell online courses.

ARMember is a powerful membership plugin for WordPress. This complete membership system is perfect for bloggers, course creators, online coaches, businesses, associations, and anyone looking to create a membership website. It has a clean, user-friendly interface that makes it easy to create and manage membership websites.

ARMember lets you create unlimited membership plans with different pricing, duration, and access permissions. You can offer free, paid, recurring, lifetime, or finite membership plans. Its advanced content restriction lets you control who can access posts, pages, categories, URLs, files, and other content, with different access rules for each membership level. A content dripping feature lets you schedule when content becomes available, which is useful for online courses and membership programs.

ARMember also supports online courses, so you can create structured lessons, sell courses through membership plans, and manage access by membership level. You can build custom registration, login, and password reset forms without code, and manage member profiles, directories, membership cards, and subscriptions from one place. Reports help you track payments, logins, coupons, and other membership activity. 

Features:

• Unlimited membership plans
• 62+ built-in add-ons
• Recurring membership plans
• Advanced content restriction
• Content dripping
• Online courses with structured audio, video, and text lessons (Enterprise)
• Custom registration and login forms
• Member profiles, directories, and cards
• Certificates for course completion
• Quizzes and assessments
• Group memberships 
• 22+ payment gateways
• Social login
• Coupon management
• Email notifications
• Analytics and reports
• Import/export members
• Membership proration
• Digital downloads
• Social community 
• Multilingual support
• In-built security features

PROS:

• Strongest membership features on this list
• 22+ payment gateways, great for selling worldwide
• Affordable plans with the same renewal price
• Free version available

CONS:

• It is a membership plugin first, not a dedicated LMS
• Online courses require the Enterprise plan

Pricing: The free version includes unlimited membership plans, 20+ built-in add-ons, and 2 payment gateways. The Standard plan costs $89/year for 1 site including 62+ premium addons and 22+ payment gateways, Professional costs $139/year for 2 sites, and Enterprise costs $299/year for 10 sites. Lifetime licenses start at $229 for the single-site Standard license. If you want to sell courses, choose Enterprise.

Which WordPress LMS Plugin Should You Choose?

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

That’s our list of the best WordPress LMS plugins in 2026. Our top pick is Tutor LMS: it is free to start, packed with features, and grows with you through Pro. LearnDash is a strong premium alternative for large course businesses. Coaches who run group programs should look at Creator LMS, and membership site owners should consider ARMember.

Which LMS plugin are you using, and what do you plan to teach? Let us know in the comments.

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