Picking a WordPress LMS plugin is one of those decisions you only want to make once. Your courses, quizzes, student records, and revenue all end up living inside it, and switching later means migrating all of that.
The good news: the WordPress LMS space in 2026 is genuinely strong. The hard part is that every plugin looks similar on its feature page. “Course builder, quizzes, certificates, sell courses” appears on all of them. The differences only show up when you ask sharper questions:
- Can it sell courses without installing WooCommerce?
- Are its certificates actually verifiable, or just PDFs?
- Can its quizzes run a serious exam, with timers, attempt limits, and cheating deterrents?
- What happens to instructors, commissions, and refunds when real money flows?
We build and maintain LMS-powered community sites every week, so this comparison focuses on those sharper questions. One disclosure up front: Learnomy is built by our team at Wbcom Designs. We obviously think it makes the strongest case, and we explain exactly why below, but we have kept every claim about other plugins factual and easy to check.
The short version
| Plugin | Best for | Sells without WooCommerce | Free version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Learnomy | A complete LMS out of the box, including native checkout | Yes (built-in Stripe and PayPal) | Yes, full LMS including selling |
| LearnDash | Enterprise course structures, large add-on ecosystem | Partly (Stripe integration; many stacks still use WooCommerce) | No |
| Tutor LMS | Beginner-friendly building, marketplace sites | Yes (native ecommerce in v3) | Yes |
| LifterLMS | Membership-style learning sites | Yes (via paid Stripe add-on) | Yes |
| LearnPress | Small budgets, simple courses | Via paid add-ons | Yes |
| Masteriyo | Lightweight modern UI | Yes (built-in orders) | Yes |
| Sensei LMS | Sites already committed to WooCommerce | No (WooCommerce for selling) | Yes (limited) |
Now the details, one plugin at a time.
1. Learnomy
Learnomy is a standalone LMS engine for WordPress: courses, quizzes, certificates, students, instructors, and payments in one plugin. It is not built on BuddyPress or on WooCommerce; it ships its own clean database tables, its own checkout, and its own REST API.
What stands out when you actually build with it:
- Course Builder. A drag-and-drop curriculum tree of Sections, Lessons, and Topics, with eight lesson content types (text, video, audio, PDF, embeds, live sessions, downloads, and protected files).
- Serious quizzes. Six question types, a reusable Question Bank with CSV import and export, three quiz modes (graded, practice, survey), five player layouts, attempt limits and cooldowns, resume-with-timer, and tab-switch tracking for exams. We cover this in depth in our guide to running serious exams in WordPress.
- Verifiable certificates. A drag-and-drop Certificate Designer, automatic issuing, and a public verification page with a QR code and a cryptographic signature on every certificate. More on that in Certificates That Actually Verify.
- Selling built in. Native Stripe and PayPal checkout, membership plans, coupons, refunds (including partial), instructor commissions and withdrawals, PDF receipts, and support for 163 currencies. No WooCommerce required, though a WooCommerce adapter exists if you prefer your existing cart. Full walkthrough: How to sell courses without WooCommerce.
- A real migration path. A built-in wizard imports courses, lessons, quizzes, and questions from LearnDash, Tutor LMS, and LifterLMS, optionally with enrollments and student progress. See our migration guide.
- Modular by design. Every feature is a switch on a Modules page, and a Labels screen lets you rename Course, Lesson, Student, or Instructor site-wide without code.
The free plugin covers the full teaching and selling loop. Learnomy Pro adds a frontend course builder, content drip, learning paths, cohorts, assignments with rubric grading, a weighted gradebook, SCORM and LTI support, B2B seat licensing, and deeper analytics.
Where it may not fit: Learnomy requires WordPress 6.9+ and PHP 8.2+, and its add-on ecosystem is younger than LearnDash’s decade-old marketplace.
2. LearnDash
LearnDash is the long-standing name in WordPress LMS, popular with universities and enterprise training teams. Its course structures go deep (courses, lessons, topics, quizzes with many question types), and its third-party add-on ecosystem is the largest in this list.
Strengths: mature, battle-tested, huge ecosystem, strong drip and prerequisite controls.
Trade-offs: there is no free version, and several capabilities that matter in practice, like certificate verification pages or QR codes, come from third-party add-ons rather than the core plugin. Many LearnDash stacks also lean on WooCommerce plus several extensions, which is exactly the multi-plugin overhead a standalone LMS avoids. If you are weighing this trade-off, our detailed Learnomy vs LifterLMS vs LearnDash guide walks through it feature by feature.
3. Tutor LMS
Tutor LMS earned its user base with a friendly frontend course builder and a strong free tier. Version 3 added native ecommerce, so you can sell without WooCommerce, and it offers migration tools from other LMS plugins.
Strengths: approachable for beginners, good multi-instructor support, native selling in recent versions.
Trade-offs: the most useful capabilities (advanced quiz types, certificates customization, content drip) sit in the Pro tier, and exam-hardening features remain thin compared to a dedicated serious-exam setup.
4. LifterLMS
LifterLMS is built around the idea of a learning membership site: engagement emails, access plans, and community-flavored features. Its free core is generous with unlimited courses and students.
Strengths: membership-style access plans, engagement triggers, solid free core.
Trade-offs: payment gateways are paid add-ons (Stripe is a separate purchase), so real selling costs more than the sticker suggests. We compare it directly with Learnomy and LearnDash in this three-way guide.
5. LearnPress
LearnPress is the volume player: a free core with a large install base and a long list of small paid add-ons for everything from certificates to Stripe.
Strengths: low entry cost, familiar to many WordPress users.
Trade-offs: the add-on-for-everything model adds up in both cost and maintenance, and course building feels dated next to newer builders.
6. Masteriyo
Masteriyo is a newer LMS with a fast, app-like builder and its own order system, including free gateway add-ons.
Strengths: modern UI, quick setup, built-in selling.
Trade-offs: it is still catching up on depth: reporting, exam controls, and B2B features are limited compared to the mature options here.
7. Sensei LMS
Sensei comes from Automattic and integrates tightly with WooCommerce, which is also its main constraint: selling courses means running WooCommerce.
Strengths: clean lesson experience, first-party WordPress pedigree, interactive blocks.
Trade-offs: the free version is limited, and most serious features (selling, drip, certificates, cohorts) require Sensei Pro plus WooCommerce.
How to actually choose
Ignore the feature-count arms race and answer four questions:
- How will you sell? If you do not want WooCommerce, shortlist Learnomy, Tutor LMS, or Masteriyo. If you already run a WooCommerce store, Sensei or a WooCommerce-connected stack is reasonable.
- How serious are your assessments? Casual knowledge checks are fine everywhere. Timed, proctored, resumable exams with question banks narrow the list quickly; see our exam-features breakdown.
- Do certificates need to be trusted? If employers will verify them, you want built-in public verification, not a PDF generator. Here is what verifiable actually means.
- Who does the work later? Multi-instructor marketplaces, commissions, B2B seats, and analytics are where “cheap now” becomes “expensive at scale.”
If you are starting fresh in 2026 and want the complete loop (build, assess, certify, sell, pay instructors) in one plugin you own, Learnomy is the option we would put money on, and not only because we built it: it is the only one in this list where verification pages, native checkout, migration tooling, and exam controls are all core features rather than add-ons.
Try it on a throwaway site in minutes at learnomy.app, or start with the 5-minute setup guide.
FAQ
What is the best free WordPress LMS plugin?
For a complete free experience including selling, Learnomy and Tutor LMS are the strongest options in 2026. LifterLMS has a generous free core for course building, but selling requires paid gateway add-ons.
Which WordPress LMS plugin works without WooCommerce?
Learnomy (built-in Stripe and PayPal), Tutor LMS v3 (native ecommerce), and Masteriyo (built-in orders) all sell courses without WooCommerce. Sensei LMS requires WooCommerce for selling.
Can I switch LMS plugins without losing my courses?
Often, yes. Learnomy and Tutor LMS both ship migration tools that import courses, lessons, and quizzes from LearnDash, LifterLMS, and others. Student progress transfer is the hard part; Learnomy’s wizard can optionally carry enrollments and progress over.
Do I need an LMS plugin or a course platform like Teachable?
A hosted platform charges monthly fees and often a cut of sales, and you build on rented land. A WordPress LMS costs more effort up front but you own the data and pay no per-sale platform fees. We break down the trade-off in what course creators give up on Teachable.