9 LearnWorlds Alternatives [NOV 2023]: All Use Cases & Budgets

WRITER:
Mihael Cacic
EDITOR I:
Matija Laznik
EDITOR II:
Anja Jazbinsek
Updated date: November 17th, 2023

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LearnWorlds is an intuitive learning platform designed for entrepreneurs, trainers, and educators to create, promote, and sell courses on WordPress sites. But we noticed some notable shortcomings while testing it:

  • Its community features only include basic chat options.
  • It focuses on courses and does not support unique content types like webinars or podcasts.
  • It only offers translations in 10 preloaded languages.
  • It doesn’t have advanced finance planning features.

We tested tools in the course creation space to find LearnWorlds alternatives that address these pain points and focused on key areas like:

  • Community features.
  • Supported products & content types.
  • Multilingual course creation.
  • Advanced finance planning options.

Let’s jump right into our list of LearnWorlds Alternatives and see how they compare.

Best LearnWorlds Alternative: Executive Summary

You’ll save the most money if you choose Thinkific.

You’ll get a simpler, less complicated alternative if you choose Skool.

You’ll get the best general-purpose solution and most value for money if you choose Kajabi.

Best Overall Runner-up Cheaper Alternative
Kajabi Skool Thinkific
Best general-purpose alternative for entrepreneurs managing large communities Best LearnWorlds alternative with similar tools and a better community Best money-saving alternative to LearnWorlds
Visit Kajabi Visit Skool Visit Thinkific

Need some more info? Check out our detailed comparisons of Skool vs. Kajabi and Kajabi vs Thinkific to find out how they compare feature-by-feature.

Buying Guide & How We Rate The Tools

When considering an online course platform, it’s best to consider 4 important factors:

Ease of Use: How easy and fast is it to create courses, websites, and other content with the tool? Does it have a steep learning curve? Does the tool offer online training, tutorials, and customer support to help you with the difficult aspects?

Features: What tools does the app give you for creating, selling, and marketing courses? How many additional features does it have? Does it help you reach wider audiences and make more sales with built-in marketing tools? What are the limits on the number of courses and customers?

Affordability: What’s the monthly subscription cost of this tool? How much is the annual discount? How quickly do you start getting full value out of the price you’re paying? Does it have a free lifetime plan? What’s the limit on the number of products, students, and admins for each plan? Does the pricing scale rapidly on higher pricing plans?

Learning Experience: What are the student engagement and retention rates? What is the e-learning experience like for teachers and students? How interactive are the lessons? How rewarding are the courses for learners?

Note: low scores aren’t always bad.

For example, a tool we rated low on Features may have fewer features because it was designed to be highly specialized for a certain user type. Rather than functioning as a general-purpose platform, it may focus on learning experience, marketing, or any other aspect of online learning. This isn’t necessarily bad, given that different users have varied needs and requirements.

Having said that, let’s look at a brief review of each alternative.

All LearnWorlds Alternatives

Kajabi

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.

Read More

Ease of use:
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Features:
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Affordability:
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Learning Experience:
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Skool

Best alternative for creators that need courses, communities, and live sessions in a single solution. Great for gamification and increasing student retention rates.

Read More

Ease of use:
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Features:
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Affordability:
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Learning Experience:
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Teachable

Affordable, low-risk alternative for beginners testing their ideas. Great for course creators that already use third-party marketing tools.

Read More

Ease of use:
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Features:
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Affordability:
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Learning Experience:
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LearnDash

For course creators that want to build courses on a WordPress platform or simply add learning management tools to their WordPress website.

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Ease of use:
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Features:
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Affordability:
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Learning Experience:
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Thinkific

Most affordable alternative for tutors that aim to sell courses to large audiences. Great for course creators that need a simple and intuitive course builder.

Read More

Ease of use:
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Features:
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Affordability:
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Learning Experience:
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Podia

For individuals and small teams that want to prototype their infobusiness ideas before committing to a subscription plan.

Read More

Ease of use:
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Features:
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Affordability:
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Learning Experience:
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Mighty Networks

Best alternative for creating a community that learns through interaction and social experience.

Read More

Ease of use:
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Features:
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Affordability:
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Learning Experience:
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Ruzuku

For building creative and detailed courses that share your knowledge and expertise with a large audience.

Read More

Ease of use:
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Features:
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Affordability
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Learning Experience:
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Teachery

Best alternative for beginners hosting their content on other platforms. Great for course creators that need a highly customizable course-building interface.

Read More

Ease of use:
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Features:
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Affordability:
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Learning Experience:
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1. Kajabi – Best all-in-one platform for online courses

Ease of Use Features Affordability Learning Experience
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Kajabi was founded in 2010 to help coaches, infopreneurs, and other content creators sell their knowledge. Its founder Kenny Rueter, after struggling with YouTube monetization and finding a solution for it, helped over 50,000 creators achieve success online.

Kajabi’s top features:

  • Community,
  • Drag-and-drop website builder,
  • Course creation tool,
  • Marketing automation,
  • Coaching & podcasts.

It’s a great alternative for entrepreneurs that need an all-in-one platform to create, sell, and promote courses and other digital content.

Kajabi Pros Kajabi Cons
✅ All-in-one business hub ❌ Lacks gamification tools
✅ Built-in automation ❌ Fewer integrations
✅ Lots of templates ❌ Limited number of products per plan
✅ Live Room for virtual meetings  
✅ Supports a variety of digital products  

Kajabi vs. LearnWorlds

Kajabi is more flexible than LearnWorlds: it’s better for coaches and professionals selling expertise in several fields while LearnWorlds focuses more on educational material.

Furthermore, Kajabi has more product types and monetizes them separately. Products have independent themes, unlike LearnWorlds which uses a unified online school theme. In addition, Kajabi makes it easier to create professional websites and track events with built-in analytics.

Pricing: Kajabi starts at $149/month/user for 3 products, 1000 customers, and limited functionality. For example, you can’t use advanced automation or remove Kajabi branding from your products until you upgrade to the $199/month Growth plan. You can test it all out for free for whole 30 days, instead of only 14 with our referral 🙂

All-in-all, Kajabi is more affordable if you want built-in marketing tools and standalone websites. LearnWorlds is cheaper if you want unlimited courses and customers.

Use Kajabi if:

  • You need a flexible platform to sell multiple digital products like podcasts, communities, and coaching sessions.
  • You want to build multiple standalone websites.

2. Skool – Best for gamifying learning

Ease of Use Features Affordability Learning Experience
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Skool was created by a team of gamers and geeks to give content creators an easy-to-use platform to grow their communities. Accordingly, every aspect of Skool is gamified to increase engagement and retention rates.

Skool top features:

  • Gamification tools,
  • Course builder,
  • Community,
  • Group funnels.

Skool is great for beginners that don’t have time to learn complex tools. It’s also one of the most affordable online-course platforms.

Skool Pros Skool Cons
✅ Integrations with video streaming sites ❌ Doesn’t have templates
✅ Beginner-friendly ❌ Limited product options
✅ Affordable subscription model ❌ Limited integration options
✅ Built-in affiliate program  

Skool vs. LearnWorlds

Skool is a lightweight, easy-to-use alternative to LearnWorlds. It boasts the highest retention rates of any online course platform and that’s largely due to its gamification features.

Skool is minimalist by design, offering courses and communities as a single product. Overall, it feels like a beginner-friendly version of LearnWorlds. Instead of using web pages as a base, Skool provides a more classroom-like platform to host your communities and courses.

Pricing: Skool uses a single-tier pricing model, unlocking all features and removing limits on the number of courses and members for $99/month. However, you can only create one group and need another subscription if you want more.

To sum up, Skool is much more affordable than LearnWorlds but has simpler tools, accordingly.

Use Skool if:

  • You want a beginner-friendly alternative to LearnWorlds.
  • You want to gamify your content and increase course retention rates.

3. Teachable – Best for tutors with existing martech stack

Ease of Use Features Affordability Learning Experience
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Formerly known as Fedora, Teachable was created in 2014 by Ankur Nagpal to give more autonomy to tutors themselves. It has since grown to serve more than 100,000 instructors, earning them an estimated combined revenue of $900 million.

Teachable’s top features:

  • Native payment gateways with tax handling instead of third-party gateways like Stripe and PayPal,
  • Digital downloads monetization,
  • Affiliate marketing tools,
  • Course creation tool,
  • Live coaching.

Teachable’s free lifetime plan makes it a great option for beginners testing out their ideas and tutors that already use third-party marketing tools and won’t depend on the platform for those.

Teachable Pros Teachable Cons
✅ Free lifetime plan ❌ Complicated payment processing
✅ Unlimited students for all plans ❌ Limited built-in marketing tools
✅ Tax and chargeback handling ❌ Transaction fees on product sales
✅ Affiliate marketing and student referrals ❌ Limited features on lower plans

Teachable vs. LearnWorlds

Like LearnWorlds, Teachable focuses on instructors and educational materials. However, it provides excellent features for coaching, offering multiple options for sign-ups, packaging and pricing, and customer engagement.

Unlike LearnWorlds, where you must embed downloadables within lessons, Teachable allows you to sell them directly as individual products.

Pricing: Teachable offers a free lifetime plan but with limited features. Its paid plans start at $59/month/user for 2 admin users, 5 courses, and 5% transaction fees on product sales. The Pro and Business plans remove all transaction fees and provide unlimited courses, coaching, and students.

Use Teachable if:

  • You need a low-risk alternative to test out your business ideas.
  • You prefer third-party integrations for your marketing tools.

4. LearnDash – Best for learning management on WordPress

Ease of Use Features Affordability Learning Experience
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LearnDash was developed by Kloe and Justin Ferriman in 2012 as a learning management system plugin for WordPress websites. Today, it sells fully-featured WordPress websites including course authoring tools.

LearnDash’s top features:

  • Progress tracking and communication with report cards,
  • ProPanel learning analytics tool,
  • WordPress integration,
  • Detailed quiz builder.

LearnDash is the best option for course creators that already use a WordPress website and want to build their courses from there on forward.

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
✅ Compatible with WordPress plugins and themes  

LearnDash vs. LearnWorlds

LearnWorlds offers an affordable option to users that already have a WordPress website and plan to build a course without having to switch to another platform.

Rather than maintaining both separately, you can simply add the LearnDash plugin to your website and lead a course without drastically changing your workflow. Of course, there’s an option to build your course from the ground up, website included.

Pricing: LearnDash Cloud is a fully-featured, cloud-based website valued at $24/month. It includes course creation tools and the ProPanel analytics plugin that has a standalone cost of $49/year.

The LearnDash LMS Plugin lets you keep your existing website and add learning management functionalities to it. It costs $199/year for one site and $799/year for an unlimited number of sites.

Use LearnDash if:

  • You want a website that’s built on the WordPress platform.
  • You want complete control over the user experience.

5. Thinkific – Best for student learning experience

Ease of Use Features Affordability Learning Experience
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Thinkific was created by Greg Smith to sell his online LSAT course to more students. Thinkific specializes in course creation, maximizing every educator’s potential, and improving the student experience.

Thinkific’s top features:

  • Advanced course builder,
  • Thinkific mobile app,
  • Built-in analytics,
  • Live coaching,
  • Extensive app store for integrations.

Thinkific is best for beginner course creators that are inexperienced with course-building tools.

Thinkific Pros Thinkific Cons
✅ Free lifetime plan and affordable subscriptions ❌ Limited website templates and features
✅ Unlimited students and courses ❌ Limited support for lower pricing tiers
✅ User-friendly course creation ❌ No built-in marketing tools or funnels
✅ Lots of integrations (for eCommerce, conversions, and other marketing apps)  

Thinkific vs. LearnWorlds

Thinkific’s course builder is more powerful than LearnWorlds’. Yet, it’s easier to use and has a flat learning curve. It also offers a better student experience due to the mobile learning app.

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 interface.
  • You aim to create courses with the best learning quality and student experience.

6. Podia – The best tool for testing infobusiness ideas

Ease of Use Features Affordability Learning Experience
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Spencer Fry founded Podia in 2014 to give entrepreneurs user-friendly tools to create and sell online courses, digital downloads, memberships, and other digital products. It is a creator-first platform that allows users to sell as much as they can with little effort.

Podia’s top features:

  • User-friendly course & website builder,
  • Free community tools,
  • Sophisticated chat service,
  • Webinars via YouTube live streaming,
  • Email marketing & affiliate marketing.

Podia is best for individuals and small businesses that need an affordable, easy-to-use platform for testing their business ideas to see if they have merit.

Podia Pros Podia Cons
✅ Beginner-friendly ❌ Limited templates
✅ Lots of integrations ❌ Lacks vital community features
✅ Most features unlocked in the free plan ❌ Pricing doesn’t scale well
✅ Great website builder  

Podia vs. LearnWorlds

Podia is a simpler, less sophisticated alternative to LearnWorlds. It is extremely easy to use and works best for beginners venturing into knowledge-based businesses.

Podia’s course creation tools are nearly as sophisticated as LearnWorlds but the best feature overall is the community with advanced chat service.

Pricing: Podia offers a free plan that unlocks most features but prevents you from publishing courses until you upgrade to a paid plan. Also, this plan charges 8% transaction fees on all sales.

Paid subscriptions start at $39/month for a full website, unlimited courses, and no transaction fees. However, you must pay an extra $20 on all plans for additional admin members. As such, individuals and small teams would get the most value for money.

Use Podia if:

  • You want a sophisticated community chat service.
  • You want to quickly prototype and test if your infobusiness ideas can be profitable.

7. Mighty Networks – Best for building a branded community

Ease of Use Features Affordability Learning Experience
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Mighty Networks was co-founded by Gina Bianchini, who wanted to leverage the power of communities and social networking in improving productivity. What it lacks in course content and marketing tools, Mighty Networks makes up for in community features.

Mighty Networks’ top features:

  • Interactive post types,
  • Advanced community platform,
  • Mighty Insights for community interaction,
  • Direct messaging between community members.

Mighty Networks is best for creators that want to build a community on an independent platform and use it to share knowledge in the form of courses and other digital products.

Mighty Networks Pros Mighty Networks Cons
✅ Interactive community feed ❌ Limited course design tools
✅ White-label apps ❌ Limited marketing tools
✅ Unlimited community spaces, members, and admins ❌ Transaction fees
✅ Premium customer support for all, 1:1 sessions for Pro hosts  

Mighty Networks vs. LearnWorlds

Mighty Networks is a community-first platform with barebones course creation and marketing tools. It is not as powerful as LearnWorlds and relies on third-party tools for assessments.

However, it is a master community builder and features the best engagement tools of any platform on this list. Members are encouraged to share personal experiences through a user-friendly interface that allows them to post photos, videos, questions, and polls.

Pricing: Subscription plans start at $39/month for a community with built-in video and live streaming, messaging, paid memberships, events, and Zoom integration. To create online courses, you must upgrade to the Business plan which costs $119/month.

Mighty Pro unlocks white-label iOS and Android apps, available on the Apple Store and Google Play.

Use Mighty Networks if:

  • You’re a content creator with an active following.
  • You value learning through social experience and community interaction.

8. Ruzuku – Best for many multi-instructor courses

Ease of Use Features Affordability Learning Experience
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Ruzuku was created by Abe Crystal to give educators a streamlined platform to create courses and share their knowledge with the world. It boasts some of the best course-building and organization tools of any learning platform and provides integrations to improve online business performance.

Ruzuku’s top features:

  • Advanced course builder,
  • Sales page builder,
  • Student engagement analytics,
  • Course organization tools.

Ruzuku is best for instructors that aren’t concerned too much about the business aspects of online learning but want to create an excellent learning experience.

Ruzuku Pros Ruzuku Cons
✅ Impressive interactive tools ❌ No website building tools
✅ Easy learning curve ❌ Few integrations
✅ Free plan for beginners ❌ Poor marketing structure
✅ Excellent course builder  

Ruzuku vs. LearnWorlds

Ruzuku only allows you to create sales pages rather than full websites to sell your courses. But it takes the cake, since it supports multi-instructor courses and allows you to add unlimited participants to your courses. It also has a better course builder with excellent organization tools and student-friendly modules.

Pricing: Ruzuku offers a free lifetime plan that unlocks all its core features, including unlimited courses, unlimited video hosting, online community, and live meetings. The paid subscriptions give you unlimited students, custom domains, and premium branding.

The Core plan costs $99/month while the Pro plan costs $199/month. Moreover, all paid plans offer a 100% money-back guarantee.

Use Ruzuku if:

  • You want to collaborate with multiple instructors.
  • You’re passionate about teaching but not overly concerned with marketing your courses.

9. Teachery – Best for beginners looking for a highly customizable platform

Ease of Use Features Affordability Learning Experience
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Created by Jason Zook, Teachery is a simple and intuitive online learning platform designed to help beginners break into the infobusiness industry. One of its key strengths is the sheer amount of customization that allows it to easily match any brand.

Teachery’s top features:

  • Audio, video, and presentation multimedia embeds,
  • Unlimited courses and students,
  • Live course editor,
  • Course upsells,
  • Course hubs.

Teachery is best for beginner course creators that need an easy-to-use platform for creating personalized online courses.

Teachery Pros Teachery Cons
✅ Unlimited students and courses ❌ Limited course templates
✅ Unlimited landing pages ❌ No website or app
✅ Customization options ❌ No built-in marketing tools
✅ Easy setup for beginners ❌ Course content not hosted on platform

Teachery vs. LearnWorlds

Teachery has limited tools, but its simplicity and appealing interface are what beginners need to tap into the creator economy and start building courses. It features a live editor that is so easy to customize that it’s like writing an email.

However, this “simplicity” means that Teachery doesn’t offer any advanced features. There is no website or app, built-in marketing or community tools. Moreover, course content is not hosted on the platform.

Pricing: Teachery offers two fully-featured subscription plans with a two-week free trial. The monthly plan costs $49/month for unlimited courses, students, landing pages, affiliate program, upsells, and zero transaction fees.

The yearly plan offers the same features at $470/year, saving 20% off the monthly plan.

Use Teachery if:

  • You need a beginner-friendly interface to create and sell your first courses.
  • You have or prefer to use an existing media hosting platform.

Final Verdict

There are hundreds of LearnWorlds alternatives on the market today. So, choosing among all the e-learning solutions to help you create, sell, and promote your digital content should depend on your specific needs and requirements.

Each tool excels in some areas and falters in others, making it better suited for different uses. That’s why it’s best to make the most out of free trials and thoroughly test each tool before investing in any.

But here’s my final verdict based on my testing and personal experience:

  • Kajabi for enterprises and industry professionals that need an all-in-one platform for creating content and marketing it to customers.
  • Skool for educators that want to gamify their learning content to increase engagement and retention rates.
  • Teachable for tutors that prefer to use third-party marketing tools to grow their audience.
  • LearnDash for educators that want to add course creation functionalities to an existing WordPress website.
  • Thinkific for beginner course creators that are inexperienced with course-building tech.
  • Podia for entrepreneurs that want to prototype and test out their infobusiness ideas.
  • Mighty Networks for content creators and social media personalities that want an independent community platform.
  • Ruzuku for educators that want to share their knowledge and expertise with a wide audience.
  • Teachery for beginners that need a simple interface and integrations with essential tools.

Author:

Mihael Cacic
Miha is a writer and an expert in comparative content. After graduating from Physics, Mihael left his job as a software engineer developing SaaS products and began writing about them instead. He gets a kick from writing in-depth, objective, and though through software reviews, knowing his readers will find the best software for their needs.
Author:
Mihael Cacic
Miha is a writer and an expert in comparative content. After graduating from Physics, Mihael left his job as a software engineer developing SaaS products and began writing about them instead. He gets a kick from writing in-depth, objective, and though through software reviews, knowing his readers will find the best software for their needs.