LearnDash vs Tutor LMS: Course Building, Commerce & Pricing (2026)

LearnDash and Tutor LMS both target serious WordPress course sites, but they start from different commercial models. LearnDash is premium-only and puts core teaching, assessment, drip, assignment, payment, and subscription features into the paid LMS. Tutor LMS gives you a permanent free version, then moves its advanced instructor, certificate, drip, assignment, analytics, and marketplace workflows into Pro.

This comparison was checked against current vendor pricing and feature documentation on September 25, 2026. The useful decision is not which product has the longer feature list; it is whether you prefer a premium-first LMS with mature course controls or a freemium platform with native commerce, lifetime licensing, and a stronger front-end instructor path.

LearnDash vs Tutor LMS at a glance

Compare	LearnDash$199/year Remove	Tutor LMSFree; Pro Individual $199/year Remove
Pricing model	Premium	Freemium
Starting price	$199/year	Free; Pro Individual $199/year
Free version	No	Yes
Sites included	1 site ($199/year); 10 sites ($399/year); unlimited sites ($799/year)	1 site (Individual); 10 sites (Business); unlimited sites annual (Agency)
Lifetime option	No	Yes
Refund policy	15-day money-back guarantee	30-day money-back guarantee
Setup level	Intermediate	Beginner-friendly
WordPress.org rating	Not available	4.4/5 (589)
Active installs	Not available	100K+
Best for	Professional course creators, training companies, schools, certification programs, and organizations that want a mature premium LMS with deep course controls and extensibility inside WordPress.	Course businesses and multi-instructor learning sites wanting a modern WordPress LMS with native commerce
Not ideal for	Creators who require a permanent free version or want multi-instructor, gradebook, and advanced reporting features bundled into the base license.	Very small protected-content courses that do not need LMS dashboards, commerce, or instructor operations
Tested version	5.0	4.0.9
Last reviewed	2026-09-25	2026-09-25
Features
Course builder	Yes Drag-and-drop course builder is included in the LearnDash LMS plugin.	Yes Tutor LMS Free includes course creation; Pro adds the front-end drag-and-drop course builder and deeper instructor workflows.
Quizzes	Yes Quiz Builder and advanced assessment workflows are included in the core LMS.	Yes Core quiz functionality is available in Free; Pro expands assessment capabilities and reports.
Assignments	Yes Assignments are built into LearnDash and support uploads, review, comments, and points.	Paid plan Assignments are a Pro feature/add-on.
Content drip	Yes Drip-feed scheduling and progression rules are built into LearnDash.	Paid plan Content Drip is included with Tutor LMS Pro.
Certificates	Yes Certificates are part of the LearnDash learning workflow.	Paid plan Certificate Builder and branded certificates are Pro features.
Built-in payments	Yes LearnDash supports built-in Stripe and integrations including PayPal, RazorPay, 2Checkout, and WooCommerce.	Yes Tutor LMS now has native eCommerce for selling courses; advanced subscriptions, memberships, and broader monetization workflows are positioned in Pro.
Subscriptions / memberships	Yes Recurring course subscriptions are supported in LearnDash.	Paid plan Course subscriptions and site-wide membership are Pro monetization features.
Multiple instructors	Paid plan Multi-instructor/front-end instructor management requires the paid Instructor Role add-on or a bundle that includes it.	Paid plan Multi-instructor marketplace functionality is a Pro feature.
Gradebook / reporting	Paid plan The dedicated Gradebook is a paid LearnDash add-on or bundle component.	Paid plan Gradebook is included with Pro.
Free core	No LearnDash is a premium-only WordPress LMS; there is a demo but no permanent free core plugin.	Yes Tutor LMS has a permanent free WordPress.org version.
AI course tools	Yes AI course outline/course creation and quiz-building tools are included in the current LearnDash product.	Paid plan AI Studio is included in paid plans and requires the user’s OpenAI API key.
Migration tools	Yes LearnDash provides an official migration tool with documented mappings for LMS platforms including Tutor LMS, Sensei LMS, and LifterLMS; migrated course structures should still be reviewed after import.	Yes Tutor LMS provides a free migration tool for moving data from LMS products including LearnDash, LearnPress, and LifterLMS.

The starting point is fundamentally different

LearnDash does not have a permanent free plugin. Its current WordPress LMS pricing is $199/year for one site, $399/year for ten sites, and $799/year for unlimited sites. That base plugin already includes substantial course-delivery functionality, so the purchase is less about unlocking basic LMS capability and more about deciding whether you also need optional products such as Instructor Role, Gradebook, ProPanel, Groups Management, Notes, or other extensions.

Tutor LMS lets you build with a free core first. Its paid plans are $199/year for one site, $399/year for up to ten sites, and $799/year for unlimited sites. Unlike LearnDash, Tutor also sells lifetime plans: $499 for one site, $999 for ten sites, and $1,999 for up to fifty sites.

Course creation and assessments

LearnDash includes its drag-and-drop builder, quizzes, assignments, drip scheduling, certificates, video progression, prerequisites, challenge exams, course start/end dates, focus mode, and flexible course access rules in the LMS itself. Assignments can accept uploads, be reviewed by instructors, receive comments, and award points.

Tutor LMS Free handles core course and quiz creation. Pro expands that environment with its front-end drag-and-drop builder, assignments, content drip, prerequisites, certificate builder, gradebook, detailed reports, live classes, course bundles, and instructor-facing workflows. That makes the Pro upgrade especially relevant when instructors should manage courses from the front end rather than the WordPress admin area.

Selling courses and recurring access

LearnDash supports one-time purchases, recurring subscriptions, memberships through Groups, course bundles, Stripe, PayPal, RazorPay, 2Checkout, and WooCommerce integration. LearnDash itself does not take a percentage of course revenue.

Tutor LMS 4 has its own native eCommerce engine for checkout, payments, taxes, coupons, order management, refunds, memberships, and subscriptions. That reduces the need to make WooCommerce the center of the selling workflow, although WooCommerce remains available as an integration. For creators who want course commerce to live directly inside the LMS dashboard, this architectural difference matters more than a simple payment-gateway count.

Multi-instructor and marketplace workflows

Tutor LMS Pro is designed around front-end instructor dashboards and multi-instructor course businesses. Instructors can manage courses and learning operations without needing broad WordPress administrator access, and the marketplace-oriented tooling is part of the Pro ecosystem.

LearnDash can also support multiple instructors, commissions, restricted instructor dashboards, learner reporting, and shared course collaboration, but those workflows rely on the separate Instructor Role add-on or bundles that include it. If your project is primarily a single organization publishing its own training, that extra separation may not matter. If you are building a marketplace, it changes the license stack you need to budget for.

AI tools

LearnDash currently includes AI-assisted course outline/course creation and quiz-building tools in its product workflow. Tutor LMS positions AI Studio as a Pro feature and requires your own OpenAI API key. In both cases, AI is an authoring aid rather than a replacement for reviewing curriculum accuracy, assessment quality, and instructional sequencing.

Reporting and gradebooks

Tutor LMS Pro includes reports, analytics, gradebook functionality, earnings analytics, and detailed student/course reporting within the paid feature set.

LearnDash includes learner progress and assignment management in the LMS, but its dedicated Gradebook and ProPanel analytics products are separate paid add-ons or bundle components. Organizations that need weighted report cards, deeper enrollment analysis, or instructor-specific reporting should price the complete LearnDash stack rather than only the base plugin.

Licensing and long-term cost

The two products have almost identical annual entry pricing at $199/year for one site, but their long-term models differ. LearnDash remains subscription licensed and offers 10-site and unlimited tiers. Tutor sells the same Pro feature set across annual site-count tiers and also offers lifetime licensing.

LearnDash currently provides a 15-day money-back period on its LMS product pages. Tutor LMS advertises a 30-day refund period, subject to its published refund-policy conditions. These policies are worth rechecking at checkout because refund terms can change independently of plugin features.

Which workflow fits each product?

LearnDash fits organizations that want a premium-first LMS with mature progression rules, assignments, assessments, course access controls, and a large extension ecosystem, especially when the site is run by a central training team.

Tutor LMS fits projects that want to start free, move instructors to the front end, use native LMS commerce, or secure lifetime licensing. Its Pro packaging is also simpler when you know you need assignments, certificates, content drip, gradebook, analytics, marketplace tools, and AI together.

Frequently Asked Questions