LearnDash vs. Teachable | Podcastbricks

LearnDash is a WordPress-based LMS plugin launched in 2013 by Justin and Kloé Ferrima. Designed for flexibility, it integrates seamlessly with WordPress websites, making it ideal for those already familiar with the platform. LearnDash focuses on course creation, offering advanced features like drip-feed content, quizzes, and gamification. Its self-hosted nature gives creators full control over their content, design, and data, appealing to those who prioritize customization and scalability. It’s used by major institutions like the University of Michigan and companies like Yoast SEO Academy.

Teachable, founded by Ankur Nagpal in 2013 (initially as Fedora), is a cloud-based, all-in-one LMS platform. It simplifies course creation, hosting, and sales with a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, requiring no coding or web hosting setup. Teachable emphasizes ease of use, integrated payment processing, and marketing tools, making it a go-to for beginners and entrepreneurs looking to launch courses quickly. It powers courses for creators like Ankur himself and brands like HubSpot Academy.

Both platforms excel in delivering online courses, but their approaches differ significantly. LearnDash is a plugin for WordPress, offering deep customization at the cost of a steeper learning curve, while Teachable is a standalone platform prioritizing simplicity and speed.

Key Features Comparison

Course Creation and Content Delivery

LearnDash: LearnDash shines in course creation with its intuitive drag-and-drop course builder. It supports multimedia content, including videos, audio, and PDFs, and offers advanced features like drip-feed lessons (releasing content over time) and prerequisites (requiring completion of prior lessons). Its standout feature is the ability to create dynamic quizzes with eight question types (e.g., multiple choice, essays), timed exams, and media inputs. LearnDash also supports assignments, grade books, and certificates, making it ideal for academic or professional courses. Video progression ensures students watch videos before advancing, enhancing engagement.

Teachable: Teachable’s course builder is user-friendly, allowing creators to upload videos, text, images, and quizzes with ease. It supports drip-feed content and basic quizzes, but its quiz functionality is limited to multiple-choice questions, lacking the depth of LearnDash. Teachable offers templates (blank, mini-course, or standard) to streamline setup and includes a coaching product option, which LearnDash lacks natively. Its built-in video hosting provides analytics like watch time and engagement heatmaps, a clear advantage over LearnDash, which relies on third-party video providers like Vimeo or Wistia.

Verdict: LearnDash wins for advanced course creation, especially for complex, assessment-heavy courses. Teachable is better for quick setup and creators prioritizing video analytics without external hosting.

Customization and Design

LearnDash: As a WordPress plugin, LearnDash’s design flexibility is unmatched. It integrates with any WordPress theme or page builder (e.g., Elementor, Divi), allowing near-complete control over course appearance. However, out-of-the-box design options are limited, requiring customization through themes or coding for a polished look. LearnDash’s Focus Mode provides a distraction-free learning environment, and its templates can be tweaked for branding consistency. Gamification features, like badges and leaderboards via add-ons (e.g., BadgeOS), enhance engagement.

Teachable: Teachable offers decent customization but is more restrictive. Users can adjust colors, fonts, logos, and navigation links, but options are limited, especially on lower-tier plans where Teachable branding remains. Higher-tier plans (Pro and Business) include page builders for sales pages and advanced customization via Liquid coding, but it’s less flexible than WordPress. Teachable’s themes are modern but uniform, with many courses sharing a similar aesthetic (e.g., centered text over splash images).

Verdict: LearnDash excels for creators wanting unique, brand-specific designs, while Teachable suits those comfortable with streamlined, less customizable templates.

Monetization and Sales Tools

LearnDash: LearnDash supports multiple monetization models, including one-time payments, subscriptions, memberships, and bundles. It integrates with payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, and WooCommerce, with no transaction fees beyond standard processing costs. Its open-source nature allows integration with e-commerce plugins for advanced sales funnels. However, marketing features like affiliate programs or email automation require third-party tools (e.g., Zapier, ConvertKit), adding complexity and cost.

Teachable: Teachable is built for selling courses, offering integrated payment processing (via Stripe or PayPal) and tools like coupons, upsells, and affiliate marketing. Its lower-tier plans charge transaction fees (e.g., 5% on Basic), which can eat into profits, but higher tiers eliminate these. Teachable’s built-in email automation allows targeted communication based on user actions, a feature LearnDash lacks natively. It also handles EU VAT, simplifying compliance for European creators.

Verdict: Teachable edges out for integrated monetization and marketing tools, ideal for beginners. LearnDash is better for those with existing WordPress setups who don’t mind adding plugins for sales features.

Reporting and Analytics

LearnDash: LearnDash’s ProPanel (included in Plus/Pro plans, $30/year otherwise) provides robust reporting, tracking student progress, quiz results, and course completion. Widgets display real-time data on enrollments, assignments, and essays, with front-end reporting options for transparency. Video progression tracking requires third-party hosting, limiting native analytics compared to Teachable.

Teachable: Teachable’s reporting is user-friendly, offering insights into lesson completion, quiz scores, and video engagement (e.g., heatmaps showing replayed sections). Available on Pro plans and up, these tools help creators optimize content. Sales analytics track revenue and conversions, making it easy to monitor business growth without external tools.

Verdict: Teachable has a slight edge for integrated video and sales analytics, while LearnDash’s reporting is more comprehensive for student progress but requires add-ons for full functionality.

Integrations

LearnDash: Built on WordPress, LearnDash integrates with countless plugins, including WooCommerce, Gravity Forms, and email marketing tools like ActiveCampaign. Its marketplace offers proprietary add-ons (e.g., LearnDash Notes) and community-created extensions, ensuring flexibility. However, managing multiple plugins can be cumbersome and costly.

Teachable: Teachable has fewer integrations, focusing on essentials like Zapier, ConvertKit, and Google Analytics. Its closed ecosystem limits custom integrations, but native tools reduce the need for external apps. Higher-tier plans unlock more options, like live chat via Intercom.

Verdict: LearnDash is superior for integration flexibility, while Teachable prioritizes simplicity with fewer but sufficient options.

Hosting and Security

LearnDash: As a self-hosted plugin, LearnDash requires users to secure their own hosting and domain, adding setup complexity but granting full control. Security depends on the WordPress setup, with plugins like Solid Security Pro (included in LearnDash Cloud) enhancing protection. Video hosting relies on third-party providers, increasing costs.

Teachable: Teachable is fully hosted, eliminating setup hassles. It provides SSL certificates, monitoring, and automatic updates, ensuring security and performance. Video hosting is included, but free plans use shared servers, potentially slowing load times. Paid plans offer faster, dedicated hosting.

Verdict: Teachable wins for hassle-free hosting and security, while LearnDash appeals to those prioritizing control over their infrastructure.

Pricing Breakdown

LearnDash

LearnDash offers three plans (prices as of 2025):

Basic: $159/year (1 site, unlimited courses/users, all core features).
Plus: $189/year (10 sites, includes ProPanel).
Pro: $329/year (25 sites, additional features like Object Cache Pro).
Cloud (hosted option): Starts at $25/month, includes hosting and add-ons.

No transaction fees apply, but hosting and add-ons (e.g., $49/year each) add costs. Discounts are often available (e.g., $159 vs. $199 for Basic).

Teachable

Teachable’s plans (annual billing, as of 2025):

Free: $1 + 10% transaction fee per sale, 1 course, limited features.
Basic: $39/month ($468/year), 5% transaction fee, 5 courses.
Pro: $119/month ($1,428/year), no transaction fees, 50 products.
Business: $199/month ($2,388/year), 200 products, custom roles.

Teachable’s free plan is appealing for testing, but transaction fees and limits make paid plans necessary for scaling.

Verdict: LearnDash is more cost-effective for unlimited courses and no transaction fees, especially for WordPress users. Teachable’s pricing suits beginners but becomes expensive with transaction fees and higher tiers.

Ease of Use and Setup

LearnDash: Setup requires a WordPress site, hosting, and domain, which can intimidate beginners. Its wizard guides course structure and payment setup, but customization demands WordPress knowledge. The drag-and-drop builder simplifies content creation, but managing plugins adds complexity.

Teachable: Teachable’s browser-based platform requires no technical setup. Its wizard streamlines course creation, payment gateways, and branding, making it accessible to non-tech-savvy users. The interface is clean, with minimal learning curve, though customization is limited.

Verdict: Teachable is far easier for beginners, while LearnDash suits those comfortable with WordPress.

Customer Support

LearnDash: Support is email-based, available Monday–Friday, 7 AM–4 PM EST. Response times are reliable, especially for complex issues, but there’s no live chat or phone support. The knowledge base and community forums are extensive, and LearnDash Cloud includes priority support.

Teachable: Teachable offers email support for all plans, with live chat (Monday–Friday, 10 AM–5 PM EST) for Pro/Business plans. Its KnowledgeBase, TeachableU courses, and onboarding webinars provide robust resources. Higher-tier plans unlock 24/7 chat support.

Verdict: Teachable has a slight edge with live chat and broader resources, but LearnDash’s email support is effective for WordPress-specific queries.

Scalability and Long-Term Fit

LearnDash: Its WordPress foundation makes LearnDash highly scalable. Unlimited courses/users, extensive integrations, and self-hosting ensure it grows with your business. However, scaling requires technical upkeep (e.g., hosting upgrades, plugin management).

Teachable: Teachable scales well for small to medium businesses, with unlimited students on paid plans. However, course/product limits (e.g., 50 on Pro) and transaction fees on lower plans hinder large-scale growth. Its hosted model simplifies maintenance but restricts custom features.

Verdict: LearnDash is better for long-term scalability, while Teachable suits smaller operations or rapid launches.

Pros and Cons

LearnDash

Pros:

Unlimited courses/users, no transaction fees.
Advanced quizzes, gamification, and assignments.
Highly customizable via WordPress ecosystem.
Full control over hosting and data.

Cons:

Requires WordPress knowledge and setup.
Relies on third-party tools for video hosting and marketing.
Limited out-of-the-box design options.

Teachable

Pros:

Easy setup, no hosting required.
Built-in video hosting and analytics.
Integrated payment and marketing tools.
Beginner-friendly interface.

Cons:

Transaction fees on lower plans.
Limited quiz types and customization.
Course/product caps on most plans.
Less scalable for complex needs.

Who Should Choose Each Platform?

Choose LearnDash if:

You’re comfortable with WordPress or already have a site.
You need advanced quizzes, assignments, or gamification.
You want full control over design, data, and hosting.
You prioritize cost-effectiveness and scalability.

Choose Teachable if:

You’re a beginner or lack technical skills.
You want a quick, all-in-one solution with hosting.
You need built-in video analytics and marketing tools.
You’re testing the market or starting small.

Final Verdict

Both LearnDash and Teachable are powerful LMS platforms, but their strengths cater to different audiences. LearnDash is the better choice for creators seeking flexibility, advanced features, and long-term scalability, particularly if you’re comfortable with WordPress. Its unlimited courses, lack of transaction fees, and robust quiz system make it ideal for academic or professional courses. Teachable, however, excels for beginners and those prioritizing speed and simplicity. Its hosted model, integrated tools, and video analytics suit entrepreneurs launching their first course without technical hassle.

Ultimately, your choice depends on your technical expertise, budget, and course goals. If you value control and customization, LearnDash is your platform. If ease of use and quick setup are key, Teachable is the way to go.