Have Teachable’s limitations started to hold you back, whether it’s the lack of customization, rising costs, or missing features? You’re not alone. As your business grows, it’s natural to want a platform that grows with you.
The good news is that several powerful alternatives offer greater flexibility, deeper integrations, and business-friendly pricing. Whether you want more control, better learner engagement tools, or a platform that supports multiple income streams, there’s an option for you.
In this post, we’ll explore the top Teachable alternatives in 2025, both self-hosted and cloud-based, to help you make an informed decision. Stay with us until the end to discover which platform aligns best with your course goals, content style, and future vision.
1. LearnDash
LearnDash is a powerful WordPress LMS plugin that gives you complete control of your online learning experience. It’s trusted by top universities, professional training organizations, and ambitious entrepreneurs who want advanced course-building features and full website ownership.
LearnDash allows you to build flexible course structures, set prerequisites, design quizzes, award certificates, and handle payments via the built-in PayPal payment option and WooCommerce. It’s the ideal platform for those who need more functionality than typical hosted LMS solutions provide.
LearnDash follows a robust hierarchy: Courses > Lessons > Topics. Assignments & Quizzes can be included in the Lessons & Topics. This structure supports structured learning, drip content, certification workflows, assignments, and group-based enrollments. It is built for scalability, making it suitable for universities, corporate training, and compliance programs.
Other Key Features
1. Group Management
LearnDash includes a built-in Groups feature, allowing administrators to enroll users in batches and assign Group Leaders. Group Leaders have a special dashboard where they can view student progress, manage assignments, and generate reports. This is particularly useful for academic institutions with classroom-style cohorts.
2. Assignment Management
With LearnDash, Admins and Group Leaders can add assignments to any lesson or topic. Students can submit files like PDFs, and reviewers can easily grade them, give feedback, and either approve or reject the work. This makes it easy to support hands-on, project-driven learning.
3. Certificate Generation
Certificates in LearnDash can be automatically awarded when a student completes a course or passes a quiz. Administrators can design certificates using dynamic placeholder tags to include details like the student’s name, course title, and completion date. This functionality supports custom branding and provides learners with professional recognition of their achievements.
4. Advanced Quizzing
The quiz engine in LearnDash supports eight question types, including multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, essay, and matching. Quizzes can be timed, randomized, and pulled from question banks. Admins can define passing grades, enable retries, and even enable quiz resume functionality. This robust assessment system supports both formative and summative evaluation strategies.
5. Focus Mode
Focus Mode provides learners with a distraction-free environment by hiding unnecessary WordPress elements like sidebars, headers, and navigation menus. The course content is displayed in a clean, full-width layout, allowing students to concentrate entirely on the learning material.
6. Drip Content
This feature lets you control when lessons become available to learners. You can release content based on a specific schedule, after a number of days from enrollment, or on a specific date.
7. E-Commerce Integration
LearnDash integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce, Stripe, and PayPal, enabling flexible monetization options. You can sell courses as one-time purchases, subscriptions, or bundles. This makes it easy to align your educational content with business goals, whether you’re offering corporate training or running a full online academy.
8. Gamification
LearnDash supports gamification through integrations with plugins like BadgeOS, which allows administrators to award digital badges and achievements based on course activity. These badges can be linked to specific actions such as course completion, quiz scores, or lesson progression. BadgeOS integrates directly with LearnDash, enabling learners to earn and showcase badges on their profiles, adding a layer of engagement and motivation across the learning experience.
9. Design customization:
LearnDash works with nearly any WordPress theme, including custom ones. Whether you prefer to use popular LearnDash-compatible themes from ThemeForest or develop your own layout, you can match your branding exactly. One of the most widely used themes for LearnDash is the Astra Theme, known for its lightweight performance and dedicated LearnDash starter templates that make course site setup faster and more visually appealing.
By pairing LearnDash with the BuddyBoss Theme, you get a powerful combo to launch both your courses and an active community space.
10. Visual layout control:
You can design pages using drag-and-drop builders like Elementor or Divi. Use built-in LearnDash blocks and shortcodes to embed lesson progress, course outlines, and call-to-action buttons anywhere on your site.
Powerful add-ons:
- LearnDash Quiz Import Export: With LearnDash Quiz Import Export, you can quickly export and import your quizzes in XLS, XLSX, or JSON formats. After exporting, simply edit the file as needed and re-import it into LearnDash LMS whenever you want.
- LearnDash Propanel: This add-on replaces the default admin view with real-time reporting widgets. It allows admins and group leaders to track student progress, quiz activity, and assignment submissions. It also includes bulk email functionality for streamlined learner communication.
- LearnDash Certificate Verify & Share: This add-on enables students to validate the authenticity of their course certificates by generating unique certificate IDs and verification URLs. Students can share their certificates on social platforms, boosting credibility and showcasing achievements.
- LearnDash Course Import Export: Designed for bulk course creation, this add-on allows admins to import/export course structures (including lessons and topics) using Excel spreadsheets. It streamlines the management of large-scale content.
- LearnDash Progress Reset: This add-on allows admins to reset course progress for individual students, user roles, or groups. It supports manual or scheduled resets, which is ideal for repeated training cycles.
- LearnDash Advanced Quizzes: Enhances the built-in quiz system with question-specific timers, resume-later functionality, negative marking, and additional question formats. It creates a more challenging and flexible testing environment.
Check out the full list of our LearnDash add-ons here: https://wooninjas.com/learndash/add-ons/
Custom development options:
LearnDash is built with flexibility in mind. For course creators with unique requirements, it offers robust custom development capabilities through hooks, filters, and the REST API. Whether you’re planning to build a custom leaderboard, integrate with a CRM, or develop entirely new learning workflows, the possibilities are virtually endless.
At WooNinjas, we specialize in custom LearnDash development tailored to your exact needs. From complex integrations to unique feature builds, our expert team can help you create a powerful, scalable learning platform. Contact us today to discuss your project.
Why LearnDash Stands Out:
With LearnDash, you host everything on your own WordPress site, giving you complete ownership over your platform, content, and student data. Unlike hosted solutions, there are no storage caps, external restrictions, or transaction fees on your course sales. This level of control makes LearnDash ideal for educators and course creators who need maximum flexibility, scalability, and integration power.
However, it does require hosting, some WordPress knowledge, and ongoing maintenance, making it better suited for those comfortable managing their own site or working with a development partner.
2. LifterLMS
LifterLMS offers complete control over your learning experience on WordPress, allowing you to create complex course structures, memberships, and learning paths with detailed customization.
It is helpful for those who want to build a branded LMS from scratch using a free core plugin, modular pricing, and a flexible plugin architecture.
LifterLMS follows a structured course format: Courses > Sections > Lessons > Assignments & Quizzes. Each course is divided into multiple sections, which contain lessons and are accompanied by assignments and quizzes. This structured approach supports progressive learning and helps instructors organize content in a modular and easy-to-follow format.
Key Features
1. Membership Access Control
LifterLMS supports native membership functionality, allowing you to bundle courses into memberships. Access can be controlled through one-time payments or recurring subscriptions. Each membership can offer different course combinations, creating tiered access and monetization opportunities.
2. Private Coaching Areas
The Private Areas feature allows instructors to set up one-on-one coaching spaces for students. Each learner gets a private dashboard for communication, file sharing, and personalized feedback. This is especially beneficial for mentoring programs or executive coaching.
3. Gamification
LifterLMS includes a built-in system for awarding badges and certificates based on course, lesson, or quiz completions. These achievements are displayed in student dashboards and can be customized with your own designs. This incentivizes course progress and increases engagement.
4. Quiz Builder with Manual & Auto Grading
Quizzes can include multiple types of questions and support both auto and manual grading. Instructors can assign points, give detailed feedback, and offer retake options. Combined with engagement triggers, quizzes become powerful tools for both testing and motivation.
5. Engagement Triggers
LifterLMS allows you to set up “engagements” such as automatic emails, certificate delivery, or badge awards based on learner actions like completing a lesson, passing a quiz, or enrolling in a course. These personalized messages can keep learners motivated and active.
6. Built-in eCommerce
LifterLMS includes its own checkout system. You can create products, manage payment gateways (Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net), and track transactions, all within the LMS. This makes the setup faster and more streamlined.
7. Group Enrollment & Reporting
With the Groups add-on, administrators can bulk-enroll teams or departments into courses and assign Group Leaders. Group Leaders have access to team-specific reports, progress tracking, and engagement data, perfect for corporate training or school administrators.
8. Design customization:
LifterLMS works with nearly all major WordPress themes, providing flexibility in how you present your course content. For complete design control, it supports leading page builders like Elementor and Beaver Builder, as well as custom CSS. You can match the site’s layout, colors, and branding to reflect your organization’s identity.
9. Visual layout control:
Course pages, lesson layouts, and student dashboards are highly customizable through a combination of Gutenberg blocks, shortcodes, and theme templates. This allows site owners to fine-tune the user interface and deliver a visually cohesive learning experience.
Powerful add-ons:
- LifterLMS Quiz Import Export: Enables export and import of quizzes using spreadsheets, streamlining quiz management across multiple courses or sites.
- LifterLMS Progress Reset: The LifterLMS Progress Reset add-on allows administrators to reset LifterLMS progress for courses, users, and memberships.
- LifterLMS Save Quiz as PDF: This add-on allows students to download a PDF copy of their completed quizzes for record-keeping, audits, or personal study.
- LifterLMS Groups: This add-on enhances the native group functionality by allowing administrators to manage bulk enrollments into courses through groups. Each group can be assigned a Group Leader who has access to performance reports, progress tracking, and management tools for their enrolled users.
- LifterLMS Quizzes Pro: Add more variety and engagement to your quizzes with new question types from the LifterLMS Quizzes Pro add-on.
- LifterLMS Quiz List: This add-on adds a central, searchable index of all quizzes in the LMS, improving accessibility for administrators and content managers.
Discover all the LifterLMS add-ons we offer here: https://wooninjas.com/downloads/category/lifterlms/
Custom development options:
LifterLMS offers a developer-friendly architecture, complete with hooks, filters, and a REST API, making it easy to build custom features, extend existing functionality, or integrate with third-party platforms. Whether you’re creating custom workflows, advanced reporting tools, or unique student experiences, the platform is built to support deep customization.
Our expert team at WooNinjas can help you develop tailored solutions to match your exact needs. From integrations to feature extensions, we’ve got you covered.
Why LifterLMS Appeals to Power Users
LifterLMS delivers enterprise-grade LMS functionality within a self-hosted WordPress environment, giving users full control over their platform. Its modular pricing model lets you purchase only the features you need, making it a flexible choice for growing businesses.
Ideal for WordPress-savvy users who require advanced capabilities and scalability, LifterLMS does come with a steeper learning curve. As your feature needs expand, the cost can rise with additional add-ons, but it is a highly customizable and powerful learning platform.
3. TutorLMS
TutorLMS is one of the fastest-growing LMS plugins for WordPress. Its free version comes loaded with great features, and it’s easy to use too.
The plugin offers a frontend course builder, an interactive quiz system, a drag-and-drop content editor, and email notifications. The pro version unlocks additional functionality such as certificates, assignments, content drip, and multi-instructor support.
Tutor LMS follows a flexible content structure: Courses > Topics > Lessons, where each Topic can contain multiple Lessons, Assignments, and Quizzes. This nested setup allows course creators to organize content into manageable sections, supporting modular and progressive learning. It is highly suitable for online academies and course marketplaces.
Other Key Features
1. Frontend Course Builder
Instructors can build and manage courses directly from the website’s front end. The drag-and-drop builder is user-friendly and eliminates the need to access the WordPress dashboard. This is especially useful for marketplaces or collaborative sites where non-technical users are publishing content.
2. Assignments with File Submission
Each lesson can include an assignment that requires file uploads. Students can submit their work as documents, images, or any supported file type. Instructors can then review the submissions, provide comments, and assign grades, all from a centralized interface. This facilitates personalized learning and instructor feedback.
3. Certificate Builder
The plugin includes a visual certificate designer that allows administrators and instructors to create custom certificates. You can add logos, student names, dates, course titles, and signatures without any coding. Certificates are awarded automatically based on course completion.
4. Quiz System with multiple Question Types
Tutor LMS provides an advanced quiz builder that supports 8 question types, including image matching, ordering, short answers, and fill-in-the-blanks. Instructors can set time limits, number of attempts, and randomized question orders, making assessments both flexible and challenging.
5. Zoom and Google Meet Integration
With official integrations for Zoom and Google Meet, instructors can schedule and host live classes directly within courses. These sessions are synced with course progress and can be tracked for attendance or participation grading, which is particularly helpful in hybrid or virtual classroom settings.
6. Content Drip & Course Prerequisites
Tutor LMS allows you to unlock lessons based on specific schedules, time intervals, or learning milestones. You can also restrict course access unless certain prerequisite courses are completed, helping guide learners through structured learning paths.
7. Student & Instructor Dashboards
Both students and instructors have dedicated dashboards. Students can view their enrolled courses, track progress, and access certificates. Instructors can view enrollments and monitor student activity, all from a user-friendly frontend interface.
8. eCommerce Integration
Tutor LMS integrates with WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads, allowing you to sell courses individually or through bundles. You can enable subscription billing, apply discount codes, and accept payments via multiple gateways. These options make Tutor LMS adaptable for monetized course platforms of all sizes.
9. Gamification
Tutor LMS supports gamification features through badge and certificate awards tied to course milestones. With third-party plugins like BadgeOS, you can extend this functionality to issue digital badges based on detailed learner activity. This allows learners to collect, display, and share their achievements, adding a motivational and competitive layer to the learning experience.
10. Design customization:
The platform is compatible with most WordPress themes and offers a drag-and-drop course builder, enabling users to design their courses to match their brand identity seamlessly. It also supports the TutorStarter, a lightweight and officially recommended option that provides pre-designed templates optimized specifically for Tutor LMS.
Powerful add-ons:
- TutorLMS Course Import Export: The TutorLMS Course Import Export add-on allows you to quickly create new courses, update course content, migrate content between sites, and back up your courses with ease.
- TutorLMS Quiz Import Export: The TutorLMS Quiz Import/Export add-on makes creating, updating, migrating, and backing up quizzes easier than ever! With just one click, you can export your quizzes to a .xls or .xlsx file. You can also build new quizzes or edit existing ones using a simple template for quick and hassle-free import.
- TutorLMS Parent & Student Access: Designed for younger learner environments, this feature allows parents to link and manage student profiles, monitor course progress, and handle enrollments from a unified dashboard.
- TutorLMS Certificate Builder: This add-on provides a drag-and-drop interface to visually design and issue custom certificates. Instructors can include dynamic fields such as student name, course title, completion date, and more, with no coding required.
- TutorLMS Multiple Certificates: This add-on enables instructors to assign different certificates to students based on their performance or grade levels, allowing a more personalized reward system.
- TutorLMS Attendance: Introduces attendance tracking with options for manual marking by instructors or self-check-in by students. Attendance records can also be exported and analyzed.
You can explore all our TutorLMS add-ons here: https://wooninjas.com/downloads/category/tutorlms/
Custom development options:
Tutor LMS supports custom development through a range of hooks and filters, enabling developers to extend or modify core functionality as needed. Its seamless compatibility with popular page builders like Elementor offers greater control over course layouts and design, making it easy to match your site’s branding and user experience.
Need advanced customization or feature development? Our team at WooNinjas can help you tailor Tutor LMS to your exact requirements.
Why Tutor LMS is a Smart Choice:
Tutor LMS offers a full-featured learning management system that’s accessible even with its free version, making it an excellent entry point for educators, freelancers, startups, and small businesses. Its user-friendly interface and powerful features allow you to build and manage engaging online courses without requiring deep technical expertise.
It’s a flexible solution that keeps upfront costs low, though scaling your platform with premium features may require additional investment over time.
4. Other Platforms:
A. Moodle
Moodle is a powerful, open-source LMS built for large-scale institutions. Its course structure is organized into sections filled with diverse activities like assignments, forums, and quizzes. It supports SCORM and H5P content, allowing for interactive and multimedia-rich learning experiences.
Key strengths include customizable roles and permissions, multilingual support, and accessibility compliance. Moodle also supports competency-based learning, letting educators map skills to course outcomes. Its plugin marketplace offers over 1,500 add-ons for features like gamification, plagiarism detection, and analytics. The official mobile app allows offline access, making it a flexible solution for global learners.
B. Thinkific
Thinkific is a fully hosted, user-friendly platform ideal for educators who want to avoid technical complexity. It offers a drag-and-drop builder for creating multimedia courses, quizzes, and certificates, and supports subscriptions and memberships. Thinkific’s app store and API access allow some customization, though it lacks the flexibility of open-source LMSs.
C. Podia
Podia is an all-in-one platform for selling courses, digital products, memberships, and webinars. It includes built-in email marketing and sales tools, and its drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to create responsive pages without coding. While simple and effective for entrepreneurs, it lacks advanced assessment tools and grading systems.
D. Kajabi
Kajabi is an all-in-one business platform that combines LMS features with tools for websites, funnels, CRMs, and email automation. It’s ideal for coaches and high-ticket program sellers. With built-in analytics, automation, and affiliate tools, Kajabi supports full-scale business growth. However, it has limited backend customization and is best for non-technical users seeking a streamlined experience.
Final Thoughts
If Teachable no longer meets your needs or you’re seeking greater flexibility, it’s the perfect time to switch to a powerful WordPress-based LMS. Platforms like LearnDash, LifterLMS, and TutorLMS give you full control, endless customization, and the scalability to grow, whether you’re running a single course or a complete learning platform.
At WooNinjas, we specialize in migrating online courses to WordPress and tailoring LMS setups to match your unique requirements. No matter what platform you’re switching from, our team ensures a smooth and hassle-free transition. Reach out today and let’s build your ideal learning environment together.
