While choosing a WordPress-friendly LMS, online educators have to consider and reconsider a lot of options.
Whether they should go with a self-hosted platform like LearnDash or an all-purpose hosted solution like Teachable.
They simply can’t afford to make the wrong choice.
A self-hosted platform like LearnDash or any other WordPress LMS will give them the edge in a lot of aspects.
When hosting their own site, LMS owners will own all the content. They can track the performance of their course, improvise and customize whenever they want, and most importantly there’s no percentage on the sales. So, they keep everything they make.
This is not possible when you’re launching your online courses on a hosted platform
Also, with hosted LMSs, you’re bound by the features that come with the plan that you choose and you often have to wait around for the next update!
That’s why, if you’re planning to launch an e-Learning website where you have the freedom to publish your courses however you want, you’re better off with LearnDash.
To understand more about the pros and cons of using LearnDash, read on.
What is LearnDash?
LearnDash is one of the best Learning Management System (LMS) plugins built for WordPress users. It is used to create and sell online courses.
It’s trusted by fortune 500s, the most prestigious universities like John Hopkins and the University of Michigan with companies, and training organizations worldwide.
With LearnDash, you can create unlimited free and paid courses. The LMS itself has a solid core feature set to build online courses based on advanced e-Learning principles. For deeper functionality, you can integrate LearnDash with free and premium add-ons.
LearnDash is perfect for creating a flexible e-Learning website with course programs focused on the learner’s needs.
It has modified the e-Learning space by offering a simple yet powerful way to build an online course website without much expertise in web development.
Pros of Using LearnDash
- It’s an open-source platform. Hence, it offers immense customization capabilities as the source code is available to tweak
- It’s constantly evolving and improving
- Easy-to-use built-in tools to create and sell online courses
- Consistent course delivery and learning environment
- Gamification to motivate and engage learners
- Allows you to set triggers to automate the workflow
- Instant access to learner metrics and insights
- Compatible with an array of course authoring tools, media, page builders, and themes
- Unique course purchase set up all business models
- Integration with 3rd party extensions to extend the functionality
- You can use it across multiple WordPress sites
- A massive community of active users
- Excellent customer support and post-purchase experience
- Documentation, webinars, and support guides are readily available
Cons of Using LearnDash
- Since it runs only on WordPress, you need to know how WordPress works
- It takes a while to get used to the rich feature set of LearnDash
- For superior functionality, you will need additional add-ons
- There’s no built-in marketing strategy to promote your courses
- The default payment options are also limited
- LearnDash doesn’t offer any free trials
