If you’re looking to create your first online course, there’s a whole lot to think about.
One main decision you’ll have to make is what course platform to use. There’s no one right answer either (sorry!). However, you’ll be able to find the right tool with a bit of research.
Hopefully, this article will make your search a little easier! Today, we’ll look at Teachable vs Learndash and see which is the best for course creation.
Don’t Want to Read the Article? Here’s The Verdict.
Teachable is the winner in this battle. I’m always in favor of using a course-specific platform, even if you’ve already got a site.
Trust me, chucking a bulky learning hub into your WordPress site will slow it down and limit what you can do in the future. Also, if you decide to move your course later down the line, having it as a part of your website means you’ll have a massive job turning your site back to normal.
Plenty of Teachable educators have their main site as a WordPress blog while they run their courses through Teachable.
And that’s if you already know WordPress…. if you don’t you’ll have a steep learning curve ahead of you.
Visit Teachable for more information
Which is Best For Course Building?
Teachable
If you are new to the game, Teachable is always going to be a great option for you. It offers a very intuitive course builder that you can customize with drag and drop features. Essentially, you are going to have all sorts of materials at your disposal to create a unique course, and you can fully use all of your own creativity to do this.
When you use Teachable, you can move forward without having to initially deal with coding or other aspects, which can be difficult for folks who are not really into website design and things of that nature. So, in other words, Teachable is perfect for people who don’t have a lot of tech skills. You can create a course in a relatively short amount of time, literally from scratch, and it’s much easier than you might think.
Learndash
Learndash is essentially great for folks who are well versed in WordPress and web design because the course builder can be easily integrated into the WordPress editor.
This is going to allow you to create and customize your course in the same way that you could potentially edit a regular blog post.
The drawback to that is that if you are not familiar with this system, it can be hard for you to even get to the part where you are going to be creating a course.
Total beginners without web design experience could struggle with this platform, too, of course, as you really do need some experience with web design and WordPress to create your course here.
Winner: Teachable
Customization
Teachable
If there is one thing that we could point to that we don’t love, customization is the weak spot for Teachable. In most of these platforms that rely heavily on their own templates, it can be hard to really distance yourself from those templates.
Actually, you have to buy the Pro plan to be able to get advanced theme customization. For a lot of folks, that is essentially a problem. This part is not exactly a strong point for Teachable, and it is something that you might want to consider before moving forward.
Learndash
With the WordPress integration, you are essentially going to have a lot more control over the whole look and feel of the course.
This is going to translate to landing pages and other features that you don’t get with other platforms. These are essential, not only going to help you promote the course, but also contributes to the overall user experience.
That doesn’t mean that you can’t find a theme in Teachable, for example, that you like, and it just works perfectly for what you are looking for.
In Learndash though, you are not as limited to particular themes. It is going to be easier to customize your course, creating a truly unique user experience in the process.
Winner: Learndash
Pricing
Teachable
Are you on a very tight budget for this particular project? If that is the case, then Teachable is just the right platform to start out on.
The price on its basic package is just ridiculously under what most other platforms are offering. You can get a year of the basic package for $360.
Even the middle-tier option for the site is going to be right around $99 a month. That is lower than what most platforms sell their basic packages for! This makes it great for people who are looking to get their feet wet in this industry.
It gives you a lot of room to invest more if you need more from the platform as you move forward without having to fully commit over $1,000 to something that you may not be entirely sure about.
If you want to know more about Teachable, read our article on the different pricing structures.
Learndash
On paper, it is going to seem like Learndash is actually less expensive than Teachable, with Learndash offering a yearly membership for its basic plan at $159. If we were comparing apples to apples, that would be $159 for the basic plan of Learndash to $360 from Teachable. So Learndash wins right? Not quite. Learndash is offering those prices for a plugin, not an actual platform like Teachable. You would need to buy and configure a website to be able to use your Learndash membership.
When you add things up the costs for a cheap website and domain, you could be looking at around $300+. You may need to include other add-ons to your site, too, especially if you want to sell the course. That is why we are going to have to go with Teachable as the winner. Pricing is just clearer.
Winner: Teachable
Final Recount
Teachable 2/3
Learndash 1/3
Pros and Cons of Each
Teachable
Pros:
- Easy to use
- Pricing just right
- Decent customization features
Cons:
- No internal marketing possibilities
Learndash
Pros:
- Great for people with a WordPress website
- The price is right if you want something to integrate to your site
Cons:
- Not actually a stand-alone platform
- Better suited for more experienced users
- No marketing possibilities
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