As of 2021, 98% of large companies in the U.S. are estimated to currently use a learning management system. As online learning rapidly grows across all industries, it becomes even more critical to identify the best learning management system (LMS) for your business. LMSs help organizations create, publish, and manage informational content, from public education systems to employee training.
LMSs can be an excellent tool for your business, regardless of your business size. Learning management systems give business owners the ability to monetize their knowledge or expertise and create products like online courses or coaching programs that they can then offer to people interested in learning from them.
In this article, we’ve curated ten of the best learning management systems specifically for online course creators. But first, let’s dig deeper into what an LMS is.
Skip ahead:
- What is a learning management system?
- How to choose the best LMS system
- The 10 best LMS systems
- Next steps
What is a learning management system?
An LMS is a software-based service that allows a business to create, publish, and manage digital content. Different organizations will have different goals for their programs, which means the best learning management system will vary from business to business.
For example, one business may use an LMS to help new customers navigate a new system or platform. In this instance, the goal is for the program to decrease time-to-value.
In another instance, a business may use an LMS to conduct training for new employees. In this scenario, the company is looking to educate its workforce.
LMSs typically offer a wide range of tools to help creators customize courses and programs to their specific needs. Users may be able to utilize built-in testing features, synchronous or asynchronous video conferencing, gamification features, and more.
Read More: What Is A Learning Management System? Features, Examples, Best Practices
How to choose the best LMS system
Determining which platform is the best learning management system for your business goals can be challenging. So to help, we’ve curated a list of top learning management systems for course creators, but you should start with some brainstorming before diving into the research. Here are some questions to ask yourself:
- How many courses do you plan to launch?
- What marketing features are important to your strategy?
- Will you need the ability to host live video presentations?
- Are gamification features like tests and quizzes important to you?
- What LMS metrics and data would you like to track?
This is not an exhaustive list, but it’s a good start. Understanding these things will help you determine which LMS features you need most and will make choosing an LMS just a little bit easier.
Now, let’s look at our top picks for LMSs. As we identify the best learning management systems on the market, we’ll cover a brief introduction for each platform, break down pricing, and highlight key features.
The 10 best LMS systems
| LMS system | Key features | Free trial/plan | Pricing |
| Free two-week trial |
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| Free trial, duration not disclosed | Not disclosed | |
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| Free for teachers | Not disclosed | |
| 30-day free trial |
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| 30-day free trial |
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| No free trial | Not disclosed | |
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| iSpring Suite:
iSpring Learn:
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| 14-day free trial |
| |
| Limited free plan | Standard pricing:
Active pricing:
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Thinkific is a robust platform for sharing knowledge through online courses and membership sites. It offers users the tools they need for every step of their journey, from drag-and-drop course builders to bulk student emailers. Thinkific also offers popular third-party integrations like G Suite, HubSpot, MailChimp, Paypal, Zapier, and Zoom.
Designed to be quick, easy, and efficient, Thinkific offers customizable course sites and allows users to access gamification tools on all plans. The platform also boasts AI-driven content support and a mobile app for on-the-go learning. Should creators need help throughout their experience, Thinkific offers various support options tailored to your specific plan.
Key Thinkific features:
- Customizable courses with included website themes
- Integrated payment processing, memberships, and payment plans
- Unlimited students on all plans and a generous free plan
Thinkific pricing:
- Basic ($49/month)
- Start ($99/month)
- Grow ($199/month)
- Thinkific +
Subscribing to the annual plan can save you a significant 25%. For those with enterprise-level needs, the Hootsuite and Stanford University-trusted solution Thinkific + can provide an even more robust lineup of features, more comprehensive customer support, and enhanced customization.
Absorb LMS
Absorb LMS is a platform marketed toward businesses looking to train their employees, but it’s also an excellent resource for online course creators. The platform is known for its highly intuitive user interface, which makes it easy for course creators and students to navigate and access the content or features they need.
It also gives creators the ability to customize how they want their students to engage with the courses; social learning, certifications, and badges are tools that Absorb LMS can use to do this. Creators can also configure and customize analytics reports measuring things like learner activity, progress, and certifications.
Key Absorb LMS features:
- Great access to third-party integrations
- Offers an Absorb LMS mobile app allowing students to learn from multiple devices easily
- Comprehensive reporting analytics and statistics
Absorb LMS pricing:
Unfortunately, Absorb LMS pricing is not publicly available. To receive a quote, potential customers must complete a survey and wait for follow-up from an Absorb LMS sales representative. However, PC Mag reports that licensing fees begin around $800 with an added $16/per-user fee for small to mid-market businesses.
Moodle 4.0 is an open-source platform for educators to host free online courses. The platform offers many customizations, third-party integrations, and features. However, the platform’s open-source nature means users will find setting up courses more challenging than with non-open-source learning management systems. If that doesn’t sound like the right choice for you, MoodleCloud is a comparable service that is more expensive but isn’t open-source, making it easier to use.
However you choose to build a course on Moodle, the platform is known for its accessibility, support for learning from various devices, and security and privacy. Moodle also offers on-the-go learning with a mobile app. This allows creators to reach a broader audience and students to access courses from almost anywhere. Moodle will also allow you to incorporate gamification and certifications into your courses.
Moodle key features:
- Open-source software gives creators the ability to access Moodle for free
- A wide range of integrations and customizations are available
- An updated interface makes navigation easier for users
Moodle pricing:
Because Moodle is open-source for general public use, you can create a course using Moodle for free as long as it’s self-hosted. But because only some people can or want to self-host an online course, Moodle has recently expanded to offer Moodle Cloud. This option allows users to host their courses on Moodle servers at a cost.
Standard plans are priced as follows:
- Starter ($120/year)
- Mini ($210/year)
- Small ($390/year)
- Medium ($890/year)
- Standard ($1,690/year)
Canvas is a learning management system used by top universities. It boasts mobile learning and accessibility, open-source customizations and integrations, and gamification integrations like quizzes, rewards, badges, and levels.
Course creators can also use Canvas to engage with their students in various ways, including LIVE chat, learner uploading, discussions, video conferences, and more. With a refreshed user interface, creators will find this LMS easy to use and navigate.
Key Canvas features:
- Open API access
- An extensive list of integrations available to course creators
- Robust content management (menus, navigation, files, etc.)
Canvas pricing:
Canvas’ pricing plan is not transparent. Canvas is free and open-source, which means anyone may create a course for free (similar to Moodle). However, community forums suggest larger groups or institutions may become customers if they wish to build integrations into their courses. Unfortunately, this means there is no clear answer on how much this LMS costs.
Kajabi allows creators to manage a website, products, sales, marketing, and students, all within the same learning management system. Businesses can create digital products like online courses, mini-courses, membership programs, coaching, and drip courses. New creators can easily launch their online course business with free templates for all available products, not just templates for courses. The platform also allows creators to offer coupons, sales, and affiliate programs.
Kajabi’s marketing features include email campaigns, pipelines, automation, events, and forms. Like other LMSs, Kajabi also offers a mobile app, allowing educators to give students on-the-go access.
Key Kajabi features:
- Unlimited bandwidth and storage space for video, image, text, audio, and other files
- Easy-to-use payment features, including coupons, upsells, free trials, and subscriptions
- Email and marketing integrations
Kajabi pricing:
- Kickstarter ($69/month)
- Basic ($149/month)
- Growth ($199/month)
- Pro ($399/month)
- Enterprise
LearnWorlds is a cloud-based learning management system designed for online educators, coaches, trainers, subject matter experts, and businesses in need of customer education platforms. LMS systems like LearnWorlds provide essential tools for digital learning; this platform boasts a strong feature list that includes an AI assistant, marketing integrations, product bundling, subscription-based payment plans, a pop-up builder, and more.
It’s worth noting that LearnWorlds is yet another platform with a steep learning curve. In a LearnWorlds alternatives blog post, the platform even lists Thinkific as its “closest feature competitor,” a platform known for its ease of use. Still, we think LearnWorlds gives creators tons of features and tools, helping them create and distribute online courses.
Key LearnWorlds features:
- SCORM compliance makes activation and uploading a breeze
- Create custom digital experiences with a white-labeled website and a mobile app
- Create quality learning content quickly with the LearnWorlds AI assistant
LearnWorlds pricing:
- Starter ($29/month)
- Pro Trainer ($99/month)
- Learning Center ($299/month)
- Enterprise
Trusted by brands like McDonald’s and Cengage, CYPHER Learning LMS is a powerful LMS tool. While AI features are becoming the standard, this platform is the first we’ve seen to leverage AI for more than just course content creation; users can also use AI to create voice-over or translate content.
The CYPHER Learning interface is complex, but it allows for an extraordinary level of customization. This flexibility is one of the reasons it’s considered among the best learning management systems. Even with such a robust platform, it’s still recognized for its easy-to-use interface, both by customers and by the platform itself. For those in search of the best learning management system, CYPHER is worth your consideration.
Key CYPHER Learning features:
- Industry-leading AI integrations
- Easy-to-use user interface
- Comprehensive reporting
CYPHER Learning pricing:
Unfortunately, CYPHER Learning is not transparent about its pricing. However, multiple sites report that pricing begins at around $0.05/user for up to an estimated 400 students. You can expect costs to increase as your academy grows.
iSpring consists of two distinct tools: iSpring Suite and iSpring Learn. The former is the tool you use to create online courses. The ladder is where the course lives (the LMS). Because courses built using iSpring Suite are SCORM compliant, creators can upload their courses to almost any platform, including Thinkific, Blackboard, Litmos, and more.
iSpring Learn is a great platform for compliance training, on-the-job training, product training, and customer onboarding. Now common among LMS systems like this one, a mobile app grants users the ability to access learning content while on the move.
Key iSpring features:
- Create SCORM courses in PowerPoint using iSpring Suite
- Unlimited storage for hosted files with iSpring Learn
- Modern and easy-to-use interface
iSpring pricing:
iSpring pricing is complex. Like we discussed, there are two parts to the platform: Suite and the Learn LMS. iSpring Suite offers pricing for academic institutions, freelancers, and businesses. Here’s the business pricing:
- iSpring Suite ($770/year)
- iSpring Suite Max ($970/year)
- iSpring Suite Premium ($ 970)
iSpring Learn is quite different. Here’s the LMS’ pricing:
- 100 users – $5.27/per user per month (billed annually)
- 300 users – $4.11/per user per month (billed annually)
- 500 users – $3.72/per user per month (billed annually)
- Enterprise
While iSpring Suite’s pricing is standard, the LMS is priced similarly to the CYPHER platform. There’s nothing wrong with a per-user pricing model, but it may not be the best fit for creators with smaller audiences. As you consider which platform is the best learning management system for you, be sure to factor in estimated costs.
Docebo is an AI-powered learning management system with a user-friendly interface and a robust lineup of features. Its top use cases include employee and customer onboarding, talent development, compliance training, and more.
Docebo boasts an impressive lineup of customers, including the United Nations, Zillow, Fannie Mae, Lego, and Zoom. With a client base of A-listers like these, it’s no surprise that Docebo is aimed at mid to large enterprise clients and has a price tag to match.
Key Docebo features:
- Easy-to-use platform
- Helpful customer support
- AI-powered content creation
Docebo pricing:
- Engage ($25,000/year for 3 years)
- Elevate ($40,000/year for 3 years)
- Enterprise
Of all the best learning management systems on this list, Docebo is the most expensive. Unfortunately, even with such a high price tag, the lowest tier only offers “Light Migration Support” and “Pooled Customer Success.” The Elevate plan offers full migration support and a dedicated customer success manager.
Still, Docebo is widely recognized as a strong competitor in the enterprise LMS systems market and has rightfully earned its place on this list.
TalentLMS is a comprehensive learning management system that helps businesses manage their courses, track learner progress, and gather detailed information on student performance. The platform offers a range of built-in features, which include AI-powered course creation, an easy-to-use interface, and a highly customizable student-facing platform.
Key TalentLMS features:
- Scale with automated tasks and integrations
- On-the-go learning access with a mobile app
- AI-strengthened content creation
TalentLMS pricing:
TalentLMS pricing offers two pathways: standard and active. Each pathway features five pricing plans. Standard plans have user limits that apply to all enrolled users. However, Active plans only limit users to the number of active users each month. This means you could have 1,000 users enrolled, but you are only charged for the 98 that were active this month.
Active plans are more expensive, but they may be worth it for businesses that need to enroll learners in bulk for training that occurs once a quarter or even just annually. For example, an employer using LMS systems for training may opt for the Standard plans, while a business building a thriving and engaged community should opt for the Active plans.
Standard pricing:
- Starter ($89/month)
- Basic ($189/month)
- Plus ($369/month)
- Premium ($569/month)
- Enterprise
Active pricing:
- Starter ($179/month)
- Basic ($339/month)
- Plus ($489/month)
- Premium ($649/month)
- Enterprise
Next Steps
Any of these top learning management systems will help you build and grow a successful online course business, but the best one is dependent on what you need from a learning management system. Your next step is to pick the one that’s best for you and start building your course!
Ready to launch your online course and community with confidence? Start your free trial today!
This blog was originally published in August 2022, it’s since been updated in July 2024 to include the most relevant and up to date information.
