LearnDash vs. LearnPress: Which is the better WordPress LMS?

LearnDash and LearnPress are two popular choices for WordPress LMS plugins. Together, they power over 170,000+ eLearning websites.

But which one is the better for you?

Let’s find out as we compare LearnDash and LearnPress in more detail, exploring their strengths, weaknesses, and best use cases.

LearnDash vs. LearnPress At a Glance

 Before we begin, let’s quickly introduce the two WordPress LMS plugins. 

LearnDash is the brainchild of Justin and Kloé Ferriman. It debuted in 2013 and has been under the StellarWP umbrella since 2021.

LearnPress was launched as a complete WordPress learning solution in 2015 by Thimpress.

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Plans and Pricing

LearnDash

LearnDash’s pricing is pretty rigid. It has no free tier and no lifetime license, either. You will have to sign up for one of the three yearly subscriptions, which start at $199 per year.  

LearnDash doesn’t have many add-ons since most of the features are included in the plugin itself. However, you’ll have to pay an additional $49/year for each premium add-on you use. 

LearnDash Plans	Pricing	Benefits
Basic	$199/year  No Lifetime Package	1-site license  Core LMS Features  Free integrations and add-ons  1 year of updates and support
Plus	$399/year  No Lifetime Package	10-site license Core LMS Features  Free integrations and add-ons  1 year of updates and support
Pro	$799/year  No Lifetime Package	Unlimited site licenses Core LMS Features Free integrations and add-ons 1 year of updates and support

LearnPress 

On the other hand, you can test LearnPress for free. The basic plan supports unlimited courses and users. However, you’ll have to upgrade to premium plans for advanced features.  

The Semi-Pro bundle costs as much as the annual subscription, but the feature set is less convincing. To unlock LearnPress’s full potential, you must sign up for the Pro bundle, which costs $299/year. 

Unfortunately, LearnPress doesn’t have agency plans with multi-site licenses. 

LearnPress Plans	Pricing	Benefits
Basic	FREE	Free License Free Version Updates 9 Free Add-ons
Semi-Pro Bundle	$199/year	1 Site License 1 Year Updates 9 Free Add-ons 5 Premium Add-ons 1 Year Support
LearnPress Pro Bundle	$299/year	1 Site License 1 Year Updates 9 Free Add-ons 25 Premium Add-ons 1 Year Support

To put it into perspective, LearnDash has a more flexible pricing structure. It also has plans for agency owners which LearnPress lacks 

That said, none of the two LMS plugins offer a lifetime license. So, if you don’t want to pay a subscription fee, you should look into other options. Masteriyo is one such plugin with a lifetime license for both individuals and agencies.  

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Features

Initial Setup 

With the new 4.0 update, LearnDash has added a setup wizard to ease users with the onboarding process. Once you install the plugin, it prompts you to select the type of courses and the payment methods you’ll use.  

On the other hand, you can create a course archive, user registration, and more with LearnPress’ Quick Setup. Thimpress even has free and premium themes with integrated LearPress. 

If you are already tied to an LMS platform, you can migrate to LearnDash but not LearnPress. 

	LearnDash	LearnPress
Setup Wizard	✅	✅
Bundled Theme	❌	✅ (EduPress)
Demo Content Import	❌	✅
Migration	✅ (Tutor LMS, LearnPress, Sensei)	❌

LearnDash and LearnPress have taken different approaches for their respective setup wizards. LearnPress is better for first-time users whereas LearnDash offers migration to existing LMS users.

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Course Builder 

You can simply drag and drop different sections to create courses on both LearnDash and LearnPress. The two LMS plugins let you create courses with lessons, quizzes, attachments, and downloadable course materials. 

However, LearnDash does offer more advanced-level features. It can create courses from YouTube playlists’ links. You can also add course sneak peeks for students. 

There is also a premium add-on that lets you create courses from the front end on both plugins. 

	LearnDash	LearnPress
Drag and Drop Builder	✅	✅
Front-end Builder	✅ (Premium Add-on)	✅
Unlimited Courses and Lessons	✅	✅
Course Dashboard	✅	✅
Course Attachments	✅	✅
Download Materials	✅	✅
Course Preview	✅ (Available as Sample Lessons)	❌

LearnDash takes the lead on this one as it more offers more advanced course building features

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Quiz Builder 

The mechanism behind the quiz builder is the same — you create questions, add answers, and arrange the position through drag and drop. 

LearnDash has more options when it comes to question types. It has 10 advanced questions, such as matrix sorting, surveys, and free and open answers. 

In comparison, the LearnPress option is quite limited. It only covers the basic quiz question types, and there is no student leaderboard.

	LearnDash	LearnPress
Unlimited Quizzes	✅	✅
Drop and Drag Builder	✅	✅
Multiple Question Types	✅ (8, Includes Survey)	✅ (Basic Question Types)
Quizzes Import and Export	✅	✅
Randomize Questions	✅	✅
Quiz Duration	✅	✅
Limit Quiz Attempts	✅	✅
Quiz Hints	✅	✅
Answer Explanation	✅	✅
Quiz Leaderboard	✅	❌
Email Notification	✅	❌

Here, we’ll have to give the win to LearnDash as it offers more features that you can incorporate to make quizzes more engaging.

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Built-in Order & Payment Support 

LearnPress supports PayPal and offline payment out of the way. On the other hand, LearnDash has Stripe payment built-in. 

On either platform, you can choose between a one-time fee and course subscriptions. Both platforms also support commission-based revenue splitting among instructors and admins. 

	LearnDash	LearnPress
Built-in Order System	✅ (Stripe)	✅ (PayPal, Offline Payment)
Course Subscription	✅	✅
Revenue Sharing	✅	✅

It’s a tie since you can receive payments without additional integrations on both LearnDash and LearnPress.

Just a heads up — Masteriyo offers even more options with its default order system. You can utilize PayPal, Stripe, and offline payment without enabling any add-on and integration.

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Sales and Ecommerce 

Integrating third-party ecommerce support into LearnDash and LearnPress is easy. Each LMS plugin works seamlessly with WooCommerce. 

Moreover, you can integrate other payment gateways and subscription models easily with in-house addons as well as third-party plugins

	LearnDash	LearnPress
Stripe	✅	✅
PayPal	✅	✅
Razorpay Integration	✅	✅
WooCommerce	✅	✅
WooCommerce Subscription	✅	❌
Easy Digital Downloads	✅	✅ (via Uncanny Automator)
Paid Membership Pro	✅	✅
Restrict Content Pro	✅	✅

LearnDash and LearnPress are compatible with all major ecommerce solutions. So, it’s a two-way tie.

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Certificate Builder

Both LearnDash and LearnPress offer a drag-and-drop certificate builder as add-ons. You can pick an image of your choice, design a certificate using the available blocks, and assign it to courses. 

LearnPress also offers QR verification to validate certificates issued using its LMS. 

	LearnDash	LearnPress
Certificate Blocks	✅ (4 Custom Blocks)	✅ (5 Custom Blocks)
Pre-built Certificate Templates	❌	❌
Unlimited Certificates	✅	✅
Certificate Dashboard	✅	✅
Auto Attach Certificate to Email	❌	❌
QR Verification for Certificate	❌	✅

The QR verification gives LearnPress a slight edge over LearnDash when it comes to certirficate builder.

That said, there are WordPress LMS plugins that offer more advanced certificate builders.

Take Masteriyo, for instance. It offers several pre-made certificates and the ability to send emails with certificates upon completion of a course. 

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Gradebook and Analytics 

LearnDash has separate add-ons to grade students’ performance and access the course’s overall statistics. The latter is a premium option with an additional $49/year subscription. 

LearnPress combines the two under the Gradebook add-on, which is available on all premium plans. Alternatively, you can add it to the free tier by paying an annual fee of $39. 

	LearnDash	LearnPress
Gradebook	✅	✅
Course Analytics	✅ (Available as ProPanel)	✅

Although both LMS plugins offer gradebook and analytics features, LearnPress makes it more convenient by including them in a single add-on.

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Live Sessions 

 Both LearnDash and LearnPress allow you to host live sessions within courses with Zoom and Google Meet. That said, LearnDash goes the extra mile by offering support for the Event Calendar. 

	LearnDash	LearnPress
Event Calendar	✅	❌
Live Interaction	✅ (Zoom, Google Meet, GoToWebinar)	✅ (Zoom, Google Meet)

You can host live sessions using either LMS plugin. However, event calendar integration makes it easy to track scheduled sessions on LearnDash.

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Course Protection and Security 

LearnDash and LearnPress protect course content against hotlinking and stealing. However, LearnDash has a more secure user registration mechanism.  

To start, its password checker has stricter criteria. Likewise, users must go through reCAPTCHA and email verification to complete registration. 

	LearnDash	LearnPress
Course Content/Video Protection	✅	✅
Password Strength Checker	✅	✅
Google reCAPTCHA	✅	❌
Email Verification	✅	❌

LearnDash has a more comprehensive security mechanism to protect course material and user data.

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Student Engagement 

LearnDash and LearnPress lack a dedicated Q&A section on the learner page. That said, you can create course-wise forums using the bbPress integration. Likewise, students can review courses after they have completed them on either platform.  

There is a dedicated add-on that allows LearnPress admins to make course-wide announcements and push notifications via the mobile app.  

	LearnDash	LearnPress
Q&A Section	❌	❌
Review System	✅	✅
Course-wide Announcement	❌	✅
Notification System	✅	✅ (Push Notification on Mobile)

Thus, LearnPress has better options for engaging students in the course. 

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Course Control and Access 

Course control features like content drop and prerequisites are integral to a learning management system. You can even bundle relevant courses and sell them as a group. 

With LearnDash, you can set up sample lessons that students can access before they make a purchase. You can even set up challenging exams that let students skip courses if they are already familiar with the course material

	LearnDash	LearnPress
Course Preview	✅ (Available as Sample Lessons)	❌
Course Content Access for Instructor/Admin	✅	✅
Course Prerequisites	✅	✅
Content Drip	✅	✅
Course Retake	✅	✅
Challenging Exams	✅	❌
Course Bundle	✅ (Available as Course Groups)	✅ (Available as Collections)
Course Expiration Date	✅	✅

LearnDash does offer a slight advantage over LearnPress in this regard. Otherwise, both LMS plugins support all course access and control features you need. 

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User Roles and Membership 

You can have unlimited instructors and students on LearnDash and LearnPress. They also support multi-instructor collaboration and creation of membership sites.  

With LearnDash, you can import and export user data from an existing installation. You can also enroll students in bulk using CSV files. 

	LearnDash	LearnPress
Unlimited Instructors and Students	✅	✅
User Import and Export	✅	❌
Course Content Access for Instructor/Admin	✅	✅
Bulk Course Enrollment	✅	❌
User Profile	✅ (Only for Students)	✅ (with BuddyPress)
Social Login	❌	❌
Multiple Instructor	✅	✅
Membership Site	✅ (with Paid Membership Pro)	✅ (with Paid Membership Pro)

Here, too, there LearDash has a slight advantage over LearnPress.

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Design and Customization 

Thimpress has a number of LMS themes, both free and premium, with built-in support for LearnDash.  

There is no native theme for LearnDash, but is fully compatible with Kadence and other mainstream WordPress themes. It also works with more drop and drag page builders. 

You can use shortcodes, webhooks, and email notifications on both platforms. 

	LearnDash	LearnPress
Bundled Theme	❌	✅ (EduPress, Eduma, OneLMS)
Page Builder	✅ (Elementor, Divi, Beaver)	✅ (Elementor)
White Label	❌	❌
Webhooks	✅ (Zapier)	✅ (WP Fusion, Uncanny Automator)
Advanced Email Automation	✅ (18 Email Triggers for students)	✅
Shortcodes	✅ (25 Shortcodes)	✅ (11 Shortcodes)

LearnDash wins here too with it brings more customization options and is compatible with more WordPress plugins.

One big omission of both these LMS plugins is white labeling. Despite all customization options, you can add your logo and branding to the platform, which is essential for corporations. 

In this case, we recommend Masteriyo, which offers white labeling in addition to all the customization options of LearnDash and LearnPress. 

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Support and Documentation 

LearnDash and LearnPress both have documentation, YouTube tutorials, and an online community to help users. LearnPress even has a live chat feature in addition to a ticket and forum. 

The LearnDash documentation and video tutorials are more detailed and user-friendly. They are also easily accessible. 

	LearnDash	LearnPress
Live Chat	❌	✅
Documentation	✅	✅
Video Tutorials	✅ (YouTube, Academy)	✅ (YouTube)
Live Walkthrough	✅	❌
Facebook Community	✅	✅

LearnDash takes the crown for this one too as its documentation is easy to navigate and grasp. 

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LearnDash vs. LearnPress: Which should you choose? 

Here’s a summary of everything discussed so far. To give you a broader sense of the competition, we’ve also included Masteriyo in the comparison chart. 

Feature	LearnDash	LearnPress	Masteriyo
Pricing	4 ⭐	3.5  ⭐	5  ⭐
Initial Setup	4.5  ⭐	4.5 ⭐	5  ⭐
Course Builder	5 ⭐	4.5⭐	5⭐
Quiz Builder	5 ⭐	4.5 ⭐	4.5 ⭐
Certificate Builder	4⭐	4.5⭐	5⭐
Live Sessions	5⭐	5⭐	5⭐
Course Protection and Security	5⭐	4.5⭐	5⭐
Teacher-Student Engagement	4⭐	4.5⭐	5⭐
Built-in Order and Payment	4 ⭐	4	5⭐
Sales and Ecommerce	5⭐	5⭐	5⭐
Gradebook and Analytics	4.5⭐	5⭐	5⭐
Course Control and Access	5⭐	4.5⭐	4.5⭐
User Roles and Membership	5⭐	4.5⭐	5⭐
Design and Customization	4.5 ⭐	4 ⭐	5⭐ (White Labeling)
Support and Documentation	5⭐	4.5⭐	5⭐

LearnDash offers a more robust solution than LearnPress. It has wider functionality and offers better compatibility with third-party add-ons and plugins. . 

Before you make the ultimate decision, we suggest looking into other alternatives, as newcomers are making a mark in the WordPress LMS segment. One such plugin is Masteriyo, which has all LMS features and even more flexible pricing.