AccessAlly is an excellent WordPress plugin for e-learning management, memberships, communities, and other aspects of online learning. However, it’s only available as a plugin, requiring you to build your course from an existing WordPress website.
To that end, I’ve tested and chosen the best AccessAlly alternatives that offer pre-built websites for your LMS needs. They also offer mobile apps, and other course-hosting options so you won’t need to worry about a website to sell your online courses.
I also made sure that the tools in my list outperform AccessAlly in specific areas, including:
- Affordability,
- Ease of Use,
- Value for Money,
- Learning Experience.
So, let’s examine the best AccessAlly alternatives.
Best AccessAlly Alternatives: Executive Summary
You’ll save the most money if you go with Tutor LMS.
You’ll get a simpler gamification alternative if you choose Skool.
You’ll get the best general-purpose solution and the most value for money if you choose Kajabi.
| Best Overall | Runner-up | Cheaper Alternative | ||
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| Kajabi | Skool | Tutor LMS | ||
| Best all-in-one alternative for entrepreneurs managing large communities | Best AccessAlly alternative offering gamification features in a simpler interface | Best money-saving alternative to AccessAlly | ||
| Visit Kajabi | Visit Skool | Visit Tutor LMS | ||
Need help? Read our detailed comparisons of AccessAlly vs. Kajabi or Skool vs. Kajabi to find out how they compare feature-by-feature.
Buying Guide & How We Rate The Tools
All AccessAlly Alternatives
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Best all-in-one tool for entrepreneurs, large teams, and coaching experts. Great value for money if managing large communities of more than 10,000 members. |
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| Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
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Best alternative for creators that need courses, communities, and live sessions in a single package. Great for gamification and increasing retention rates. |
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| Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
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Best alternative if you like AccessAlly’s tools but want increased capabilities and quality-of-life features. Essentially, a more affordable but better version of AccessAlly. |
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| Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
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For course creators that want to use course creation and learning management tools on a WordPress website. |
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| Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
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Best alternative for course creators that need a simple and intuitive course building interface. |
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| Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
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For companies and organizations that want to provide in-house online training to employees and departmental teams. |
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| Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
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For tutors that want to build virtual schools and truly connect with their students. |
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| Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
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1. Kajabi — Best all-in-one online learning platform
| Ease of Use | Features | Affordability | Learning Experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Kajabi was founded in 2010 after its founder Kenny Rueter faced the grueling algorithm and monetization issues of YouTube. He wanted to create an independent platform where infopreneurs, coaches, and professionals can monetize their knowledge on their own terms and rules.
Kajabi’s top features:
- Course creation tool,
- Website builder with one-click templates,
- Marketing automation,
- Communities,
- CRM,
- Coaching and podcasts.
Kajabi is the best alternative for entrepreneurs that need an award-winning all-in-one platform to serve as a central hub for their business activities. It brings the most value for large teams that manage large communities.
| Kajabi Pros | Kajabi Cons |
|---|---|
| ✅ Fully-featured tools | ❌ Lacks gamification tools |
| ✅ Built-in marketing automation (upsells, downsells, order bumps…) | ❌ Fewer integrations |
| ✅ Lots of templates | ❌ Limited number of products per plan |
| ✅ Live rooms | |
| ✅ Variety of products (courses, coaching, podcasts, memberships, digital downloads…) |
Kajabi vs. AccessAlly
Kajabi’s main advantage over AccessAlly is the variety of products you can sell on the platform. Unlike AccessAlly which only sells courses and memberships, Kajabi sells live coaching, podcasts, courses, and communities.
Moreover, Kajabi provides better automation and marketing tools, allowing you to create email campaigns, sales pipelines, and automated sequences. It also offers fully-featured white-label websites and mobile apps for truly unique branding.
Pricing: Kajabi’s plans start at $149/month/user for 3 products, 1000 customers, and limited functionality. To use advanced tools like the custom code editor, automation, and custom branding, you must upgrade to the $199/month Growth plan or higher.
Asides from advanced tools, Kajabi’s pricing model has you upgrade to higher plans to remove maximum limits on courses, students, and admin accounts. However, this model still falls short of AccessAlly’s unlimited courses, groups, and members.
Use Kajabi if:
- You need a flexible platform to sell podcasts, communities, and coaching sessions.
- You want better community features and marketing tools.
2. Skool — Best for gamifying content and increasing retention rates
| Ease of Use | Features | Affordability | Learning Experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Skool was created by a team of geeks and gamers who realized that the best way to retain students is to treat courses like a game. As such, it provides a user-friendly platform for building solid communities and engaging them with gamified content.
Skool’s top features:
- Gamification tools,
- Course builder,
- Community,
- Group funnels.
Skool is the best for creators that need a simple tool for creating, managing, and selling courses and communities in one place. Its leaderboards, rewards, and badges help to keep members engaged and active in a thriving community.
| Skool Pros | Skool Cons |
|---|---|
| ✅ Integrations with video streaming sites | ❌ Doesn’t have templates |
| ✅ Beginner Friendly | ❌ Limited product options |
| ✅ Affordable subscription model | ❌ Limited integration options |
| ✅ Affiliate program |
Skool vs. AccessAlly
AccessAlly allows you to mix and match its product options into unique offerings with custom monetization. In contrast, Skool’s policy is “less is more”, meaning that it only offers communities as products and allows you to host courses on the community portal.
As a result, Skool is more accessible to beginners that don’t have time to create complex monetizations on their products.
Pricing: Skool offers a single subscription plan that unlocks all features and allows you to create unlimited courses for unlimited members. However, it only offers one community so you have to buy separate subscriptions if you need more. This plan costs $99/month, but you can get started with a 14-day free trial.
Use Skool if:
- You want a beginner-friendly alternative to AccessAlly.
- You want to gamify your content and increase course retention rates.
3. Tutor LMS — Best alternative for AccessAlly’s tools but with advanced functionalities
| Ease of Use | Features | Affordability | Learning Experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Themeum initially developed themes for WordPress websites but they wanted to help customers create meaningful digital experiences. So, they upscaled with different plugins, including Tutor LMS, one of the best e-learning platforms for creating and selling online courses.
Tutor LMS’ top features:
- Drag-and-drop course builder,
- Stylish course details and listing,
- Personalized dashboard for tutors and students,
- Unlimited quizzes and assignments,
- Mobile learning,
- Advanced reporting and analytics.
Tutor LMS is great for beginners that need a simple but powerful learning management system platform to create and sell courses. Its free plan allows tutors to test their online course ideas before choosing a pricing plan.
| Tutor LMS Pros | Tutor LMS Cons |
|---|---|
| ✅ Simple and intuitive course builder | ❌ Only available as a WordPress plugin |
| ✅ Mobile learning app | ❌ Limited student progress tracking |
| ✅ Personalized dashboard for tutors and students | |
| ✅ Advanced earning performance reports |
Tutor LMS vs. AccessAlly
Of all software discussed in this list, Tutor LMS is the closest in features and capabilities to AccessAlly. As such, it offers a course builder, assignments & quizzes, advanced reporting & analytics, and other core online learning tools.
However, it offers a mobile learning app, personalized dashboards for students, a built-in event calendar, and a built-in certificate builder. It is also more affordable than AccessAlly, and the course builder is much easier to use.
Pricing: Tutor LMS offers a free lifetime plan that allows you to test its basic features. However, this plan lacks a course builder, reporting & analytics, quizzes, memberships, and certificate builder. It’s also missing some vital add-ons and integrations.
The paid subscriptions start at $199/year and unlock the full range of Tutor LMS features. These plans offer the same features and only differ in the number of licensed sites and free installation services. You can also opt-in for a lifetime purchase starting with a $499 one-time payment.
Use Tutor LMS if:
- You want powerful analytics tools to monitor earning performance.
- You want to dive right into infobusiness with little experience.
4. LearnDash — Best for learning management on a WordPress site
| Ease of Use | Features | Affordability | Learning Experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
LearnDash began in 2012 as an e-learning blog by Justin and Khloe Ferriman. Today, it has become a top online learning platform that offers several products—from WordPress plugins for learning management, analytics, and progress tracking, to a full website combining all the tools.
LearnDash’s top features:
- Progress tracking and communication with report cards,
- ProPanel learning analytics tool,
- WordPress integration,
- Group management and note-taking,
- Detailed quiz builder.
LearnDash is the best option for course creators that want a learning management platform for a WordPress-hosted website.
| LearnDash Pros | LearnDash Cons |
|---|---|
| ✅ Lots of customizations | ❌ Only works on WordPress |
| ✅ Flexible and comprehensive quiz builder | ❌ Steep learning curve |
| ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee | ❌ Limited built-in payment options (PayPal, Stripe, Razorpay) |
| ✅ Compatible with WordPress plugins and themes | |
| ✅ Integrates with Infusionsoft for sales and marketing automation |
LearnDash vs. AccessAlly
Unlike AccessAlly which only offers plugins that you can add to an existing website, LearnDash offers a pre-built website that contains all the tools you need for learning management. This website is highly customizable, fully cloud-hosted, and secure.
Nevertheless, if you already have your own website, you can use LearnDash’s WordPress LMS plugin without paying for additional tools and changing your workflow.
Pricing: Starting at $199/year for one site, the LearnDash LMS Plugin offers learning management and content creation tools to your existing WordPress website. Additional plugins include ProPanel for analytics, Groups Plus as a membership plugin, Gradebook for progress tracking and communication with students, and Notes for note-taking, costing $49/year per plugin. There’s a free demo available to test everything out before you fully commit.
LearnDash Cloud is a fully-featured, pre-built website that costs $24/month. It provides course creation tools, the ProPanel analytics plugin, iThemes Security Pro, and cloud hosting at no additional cost.
Use LearnDash if:
- You want a website that’s built on the WordPress platform.
- You want a pre-built website with learning management tools.
5. Thinkific — Best alternative for free course building and e-commerce
| Ease of Use | Features | Affordability | Learning Experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Greg and Matt Smith created Thinkific as an in-house tool to reach a wider audience with their online LSAT course. They recognized its potential and made it available to any course creator that wants to focus on course building and improving the student experience.
Thinkific’s top features:
- Advanced course builder,
- Integrated app store,
- Thinkific mobile app,
- Built-in analytics,
- Live coaching.
Thinkific is best for inexperienced educators that don’t have time to learn complex course-building tools.
| Thinkific Pros | Thinkific Cons |
|---|---|
| ✅ Free lifetime plan and affordable subscriptions | ❌ Limited templates |
| ✅ Unlimited students and courses | ❌ Limited website builder |
| ✅ Excellent course creation | ❌ No built-in marketing tools |
| ✅ Lots of integrations |
Thinkific vs. AccessAlly
Thinkific is a self-contained, all-in-one version of AccessAlly. It offers online learning features and includes the tools to build professional websites to market your digital products. What’s more, it provides a mobile learning app, an app store for add-ons, and built-in marketing & e-commerce tools.
Pricing: Thinkific offers a free lifetime plan that provides one course, community, and administrator along with an unlimited number of students. It also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on its paid plans.
Paid subscriptions start at $49/month for unlimited courses, coupons, discounts, and affiliate selling.
Use Thinkific if:
- You need a simple but powerful course creation tool.
- You want to create courses with the best learning quality and student experience.
6. TalentLMS— Best training platform for teams within an organization
| Ease of Use | Features | Affordability | Learning Experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
TalentLMS was created in 2012 to provide an affordable, accessible, and enjoyable online course platform for organizations to train their employees. Their SaaS-based LMS is designed for speed, offering a training library and drag-and-drop builder to get you started without creating a course from scratch.
TalentLMS’ top features:
- Talent library of 700+ pre-made courses and training programs,
- Customizable course website,
- Simple and intuitive course builder,
- Assignments, quizzes, and surveys,
- Automated tasks and course management,
- Live session hosting.
TalentLMS is best for companies and organizations that want to provide in-house training for employees and departmental teams. It offers several curated ready-made courses to give your teams a head start.
| TalentLMS Pros | TalentLMS Cons |
|---|---|
| ✅ Very easy to use | ❌ Limited templates |
| ✅ Lots of integrations (WooCommerce, Mailchimp, Salesforce…) | ❌ Doesn’t offer communities or memberships |
| ✅ Talent library of pre-built courses | ❌ Lacks gamification tools |
| ✅ White-labeled mobile learning app | |
| ✅ Unlimited file-hosting |
TalentLMS vs. AccessAlly
TalentLMS is designed for employee training within companies and organizations. As such, it emphasizes accessibility, ease of use, and rapid deployment of courses.
Unlike AccessAlly, TalentLMS doesn’t offer memberships or gamification but it makes up for it with a sophisticated assessments engine, unlimited file-hosting, videoconferencing, learning paths, and many more.
Pricing: Pricing starts at $89/month for unlimited courses, a custom homepage, and up to 40 users. Higher subscription tiers increase limits on the number of users and provide advanced features like automation and SSL support. They also allow you to create training branches that are tailored to specific teams, departments, or audiences.
TalentLMS offers a free lifetime plan that allows a maximum of 5 account users to create up to 10 courses. Also, you can include the Talent Library in the paid plans for an additional cost.
Use TalentLMS if:
- You want to create in-house training courses for your employees.
- You want to quickly create and deploy courses.
7. Zenler — Best for multi-instructor virtual schools with live sessions
| Ease of Use | Features | Affordability | Learning Experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Zenler was created in 2011 by Rakesh Vallil as a training tool for businesses and corporate organizations, but has since become a favorite of independent course creators. Unlike other platforms that are business-oriented, this tool focuses on interpersonal relations between students and tutors.
Zenler’s top features:
- Course creator,
- Interactive assignments,
- Multiple payment gateways,
- Course completion certificates,
- Live video and email integrations.
Zenler is best for tutors that want to develop deep connections with their students. Its live sessions and multiple instructors make it the best platform for building a virtual school.
| Zenler Pros | Zenler Cons |
|---|---|
| ✅ Very easy to use | ❌ Limited templates |
| ✅ Lots of integrations | ❌ Doesn’t offer vital community features |
| ✅ Most features unlocked in the free plan | ❌ Pricing doesn’t scale well |
| ✅ Great website builder |
Zenler vs. AccessAlly
Zenler’s course builder is more powerful and easier to use than AccessAlly’s course wizard. It includes built-in automations & drip feature, marketing, and sales funnels. What’s more, the drag-and-drop page builder offers over 1000 design blocks for creating high-converting sales pages.
As a fully virtual school, Zenler offers online communities that are very similar to social networks. These communities have many more student engagement and interaction features than AccessAlly.
Pricing: Zenler’s pricing model is such that all plans offer the same features but increase the limits on the number of instructors, site admins, monthly emails, websites, custom domains, and many more. For example, the $67/month Pro plan offers 3 sites while the $197/month Premium plan offers 10 sites.
All plans offer unlimited courses and students, live classes, streams, bulk enrollments, and automation.
Use Zenler if:
- You want more control over courses and page design.
- You want to work with multiple instructors in a virtual school setting.
Final Verdict
There are hundreds of options to choose from when building a platform for your online learning business. Some of them are all-in-one tools, while others give you the flexibility to mix and match the exact features you need.
At the end of the day, each tool excels in certain areas but falls short in others. So, the key to choosing a platform is to carefully consider your specific needs and requirements.
With that out of the way, here’s my recommendation based on testing and personal experience:
- Kajabi for enterprises and industry professionals that need an all-in-one online learning platform.
- Skool for educators that want to gamify their content to increase engagement and retention rates.
- Tutor LMS for small businesses or solopreneurs that want to use an improved and more affordable version of AccessAlly.
- LearnDash for educators that want to convert their WordPress website to a learning management system platform.
- Thinkific for beginner course creators that are inexperienced with course-building tech.
- TalentLMS for companies that want to provide in-house training to employees and department teams.
- New Zenler for tutors that want to build a virtual school with multiple instructors.
