Best Course Creation Software 2021

LearnWorlds Competitors & Alternatives

Are you considering purchasing LearnWorlds to manage your course creation process? Before making the purchase, it’s best to learn about LearnWorlds' top competitors. The six best alternatives are listed below, along with details on their features and pricing.

LearnWorlds is an advanced, design-friendly course creation tool with over a thousand instructors. However, LearnWorlds competes with many other alternatives in the market. Before purchasing, we recommend comparing it against its top competitors.

Overall, there are seven course creation tools worth considering. They primarily differentiate based upon the richness of their features, the level of control they provide over your course and website designs, and the marketing tools offered. As you can see below, LearnWorlds is one of the more advanced and expensive solutions.

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In our guide, we examine LearnWorlds’ features and pricing, and compare these factors against competitors. To gain a better understanding of LearnWorlds as a solution, you can read our in-depth LearnWorlds review. You can also read more of our course creation software comparisons.

All of the information in this article is based upon research, discussions with course creators, and dozens of hours spent hand-testing the leading course creation software platforms. The details of our research process can be found on our article covering the best online course platforms.

Table of Contents

LearnWorlds Features

Before we compare LearnWorlds’ against its competitors, it’s important to understand the features LearnWorlds offers. As an advanced platform, some of LearnWorlds’ features are more robust than those found in solutions like Teachable and Podia.

The 10 most important features that LearnWorlds does offer are described in the table below.

FeatureDescription
Course BuilderLearnWorlds’ course builder lets you upload a wider range of multimedia – including videos, images, PDFs, ebooks, SoundCloud, and YouTube. However, unlike other tools, LearnWorlds does not let you shift the positioning of course elements on screen. Lessons will take up the entire screen and most of the customizations available involve making course titles or buttons visible or not.
Website BuilderLearnWorlds website builder offers the greatest design flexibility out of all of its competitors. LearnWorlds includes templates for webpages and lets you customize them by changing the fonts, colors, positioning on screen, and adding animations. LearnWorlds also lets you drag and drop elements, which is a feature not found in most course creation tools.
Sales TrackerLearnWorlds offers a sales tracker that lets you view performance data by instructor, order, and product. It also offers reports that include useful metrics like cancelled sales.
Affiliate ManagementIn LearnWorlds, an affiliate can only be a student that has registered for your courses and site. Affiliates can also only earn a percentage of the sales they generate, rather than a fixed dollar amount. However, LearnWorlds also lets you capture the contact information of the prospective students your affiliates bring in.
GamificationIn LearnWorlds, gamification comes in the form of badges. Students can earn these by completing certain achievements, including being a new member, making comments, and answering polls.
Drip SchedulingLearnWorlds lets you drip your content based on either the number of days or weeks after student enrollment or on a specific date regardless of student enrollment. LearnWorlds also lets you customize the drip times and methods for individual students.
Live ClassesLearnWorlds lets you host live classes through Zoom, which does not require any code. Some of the settings you can customize include adding a duration, password, auto recording, a Q&A function, and downloadable files.
CouponsIn LearnWorlds, you can create coupons that can be applied to courses and course bundles. Some of the settings you can customize include setting an expiration date, setting the discount as a dollar amount or as a percentage off, and bulk producing coupons with unique codes.
QuizzesIn LearnWorlds, quizzes are shorter and not graded. They are great for receiving feedback while your students are completing your lessons. LearnWorlds also offers many types of quizzes – including multiple choice, true or false, poll, short answer, and text with feedback.
ExamsIn LearnWorlds, exams are longer, graded, and are used to measure your students’ progress with your content. Some settings you can customize include setting a timer, setting a max number of exam attempts, revealing the mistakes your students made, and offering a downloadable file.

LearnWorlds Competitor Overview: Features

Below, we’ve made a chart that compares each platform’s features. They differ primarily based on how advanced each platform is and the customer types each is best suited for. For example, LearnWorlds is best for experienced creators who prioritize website design, whereas Podia is best for beginner course creators.

We also recommend examining the marketing tools offered by each solution. This is because the quality ranges widely. For example, LearnWorlds does not offer an in-platform email marketing tool. In contrast, Kajabi offers advanced marketing features – including automated campaigns and pipelines.

LearnWorlds feature comparison chart vs. competitors

LearnWorlds Competitor Overview: Pricing

LearnWorlds’s pricing begins at $29 per month. It’s most popular plan is $299 per month. You can also save up to 36% if you pay for the annual subscription upfront. LearnWorlds is now offering a 15% discount for those who purchase the Pro Trainer and Learning Center plan for 6 months. LearnWorlds also charges 0% transaction fees.

Overall, LearnWorlds’ most popular plan is one of the most expensive among its competitors. However, LearnWorlds offers differently priced plans that can support a wide range of course creators.

Here are the plan-by-plan prices of LearnWorlds and its top competitors:

Online Course PlatformPricing
LearnWorlds
  • Starter: $29 per month
  • Pro Trainer: $99 per month
  • Learning Center $299 per month
Kajabi
  • Basic: $149 per month
  • Growth: $199 per month
  • Pro: $399 per month
Thinkific
  • Free: $0 per month
  • Basic: $49 per month
  • Pro: $99 per month
  • Premier: $499 per month
Teachable
  • Basic: $39 per month
  • Pro: $119 per month
  • Business: $299 per month
Podia
  • Mover: $39 per month
  • Shaker: $79 per month

Top LearnWorlds Competitors

The course creation market is filled with many solutions that are built for different types of course creators. As we discussed above, LearnWorlds is best for design-focused, established course creators. We’ve ranked LearnWorlds’ top six competitors based on their features, pricing, and usability.

1: Kajabi

Kajabi is an all-in-one platform that offers advanced marketing tools – including automated campaigns and pipelines. LearnWorlds is not as feature-rich as Kajabi. However, the LearnWorlds platform is developing rapidly, and can be purchased at a much cheaper price than Kajabi. LearnWorlds also offers greater design flexibility and capabilities.

For a direct comparison, check out our Kajabi vs. LearnWorlds article.

You'll prefer LearnWorlds if:

  • You want the best website design capabilities
  • You want a wider range of multimedia uploads – including ebooks, SoundCloud, and YouTube videos
  • You want to include gamification elements in your courses – i.e. badges
You'll prefer Kajabi if:

  • You want a single platform to manage your building, marketing, and selling
  • You want advanced marketing tools – including automated campaigns, pipelines, and email marketing
  • You want a mobile app for your students


2: Thinkific

Thinkific is a popular, intermediate course creation solution with over 50,000 instructors. Overall, LearnWorlds is more advanced and feature-rich as a platform. This includes superior website design features. However, Thinkific is more user-friendly and better for beginner course creators.

You'll prefer LearnWorlds if:

  • You want the best website design capabilities
  • You want a wider range of multimedia uploads – including ebooks, SoundCloud, and YouTube videos
  • You want to include gamification elements in your courses – i.e. badges
You'll prefer Thinkific if:

  • You want a basic, free plan simply to host your content online
  • You want an in platform student feedback feature
  • You want course templates that make it easier and faster to make courses


3: Teachable

Teachable is currently the most popular course creation solution in the market with over 120,000 instructors. LearnWorlds is a more advanced platform that offers the best design features, and lets you build a more professional looking website. While Teachable is not as robust in features, it is a well-rounded, effective platform that works well for beginning course creators.

For a direct comparison, check out our LearnWorlds vs. Teachable article.

You'll prefer LearnWorlds if:

  • You want the best website design capabilities
  • You want a wider range of multimedia uploads – including ebooks, SoundCloud, and YouTube videos
  • You want to include gamification elements in your courses – i.e. badges
You'll prefer Teachable if:

  • You want a simpler tool that is more affordable and better for beginners
  • You want a mobile app that your students can use
  • You want to create in-platform certificates to give to students who complete your courses


4: Podia

Podia is a basic course creation platform with over a thousand instructors. LearnWorlds’ platform is more advanced and feature-rich compared to Podia. However, Podia is more affordable, intuitive as a platform, and offers better in platform email marketing tools.

You'll prefer LearnWorlds if:

  • You want the best website design capabilities
  • You want a wider range of multimedia uploads – including ebooks, SoundCloud, and YouTube videos
  • You want to include gamification elements in your courses – i.e. badges
You'll prefer Podia if:

  • You want a more affordable and user-friendly platform
  • You want an in platform student messaging feature
  • You want email marketing tools – including lead capture forms, an email text editor, and email analytics


5: Heights Platform

Heights Platform is a basic online course creation solution that allows creators to build courses and sell digital products. LearnWorlds is superior in terms of features and design capabilities. However, Heights Platform customers have more influence over the product’s roadmap and are given more attentive customer support.

You'll prefer LearnWorlds if:

  • You want the best design capabilities
  • You want an affiliate marketing feature
  • You want interactive videos
You'll prefer Heights Platform if:

  • You want high quality student discussion tools – including message boards and student messaging
  • You want above average customer support
  • You want an email feature that comes with email templates


6: Mighty Networks

Mighty Networks is a course creation tool that emphasizes you building a community around your content. LearnWorlds is overall more feature-rich at a similar price. However, Mighty Networks offers better student discussion features.

You'll prefer LearnWorlds if:

  • You want no transaction fees
  • You want the best design capabilities
  • You want an affiliate management feature
You'll prefer Mighty Networks if:

  • You want an advanced, in-platform student discussion tool
  • You want to customize the language used in your online school – for example, you can refer to yourself as a professor, or teacher
  • You want a mobile app for your students

Bottom Line

LearnWorlds is one of the most advanced online course platforms available in the market. It offers the greatest design flexibility and is the best solution for designing a professional looking website. It competes most directly with Kajabi, which is slightly more advanced and expensive than LearnWorlds.

Before you make your purchase though, we suggest comparing LearnWorlds to other highly ranked platforms:

  • Kajabi is best for experienced course creators who need advanced marketing tools and high-level design capabilities
  • Thinkific is best for those who want a powerful mid-tier platform that’s also user-friendly
  • Teachable is ideal for beginner and intermediate course creators who want to build effective courses and do not need any of the extras offered by more advanced platforms
  • Podia is best for course creators who are beginning their course creation journey

You can also use our course creation quiz to figure out which solution works best for you.

Amy Yang

Amy Yang is a Junior Research Analyst at SoftwarePundit, where she conducts in-depth analyses on software markets and products. Amy has expertise in content production and managing digital and social platforms. She has a Bachelor of Science in Communication & Media, and a Minor in Web Programming and Applications from NYU. You can connect with Amy on LinkedIn.

Amy is an expert in several software categories including:

  • Course creation software
  • Electronic signature software
  • Social media software
  • Website builder software

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