Did you know you can turn a regular WordPress website into a world-class e-learning platform? Using the best WordPress LMS plugins, you can sell online courses and offer membership programs without relying on third-party platforms.
LifterLMS is among the top WordPress LMS plugins that can help you create a fully functional online learning website and turn your expertise into profitable digital products.
In this detailed review, we’ll take a closer look at LifterLMS, break down its core features, discuss its pricing plans, and help you determine if it’s the right e-learning solution for your business.
Let’s dive in.
What Is LifterLMS?
LifterLMS is a WordPress learning management system plugin that allows you to turn your expertise and skills into profitable online courses, membership programs, and digital products.
It adds LMS features to your WordPress website allowing you to host audio, video, and text lessons and modular courses. This makes it ideal for WordPress users looking to sell e-learning products without relying on third-party platforms.
LifterLMS stands out for its ease of use, robust features, and flexible customization options. You can use it with any WordPress theme, match your brand identity, and provide a tailored experience to your students.
Here’s a quick overview of what LifterLMS offers:
- An intuitive multi-tier drag & drop course builder.
- Multiple dynamic quizzes for student evaluation.
- Supports video, audio, text, PDF, and other content formats.
- Offers direct integration with all the leading email marketing tools.
- Provides multiple payment options with the core plan and additional gateways via add-ons.
- Achievement badges, completion certificates, and email notifications.
- Supports upsells, private coaching, bundles, memberships, and digital downloads.
- Offers discount coupons and bulk sales.
- Comes with an affiliate management system.
LifterLMS’s core plugin is freeand anyone offering free courses on their site can download it from the WordPress Plugin Directory. But you must purchase one of its paid plans to integrate a payment processor and sell premium courses. (We’ll discuss this in more detail in the pricing section.)
Overall, LifterLMS is a top WordPress LMS plugin with countless features and an intuitive user interface designed to help professionals, trainers, educational institutes, coaches, and digital product creators sell online courses at scale.
Let’s dive deeper into its features and pricing to see if it’s the right choice for your business.
Quick Verdict | Is LifterLMS The Best WordPress LMS Plugin For You?
Don’t have the time to read the full review? Here’s my quick verdict.
LifterLMS is rightly considered one of the best WordPress LMS plugins on the market. It has a robust course builder, advanced student engagement features, extensive admin options, and an intuitive user interface. This makes it an ideal choice forcreating, managing, and selling online courses, membership programs, and digital downloads.
However, it is expensive compared to other LMS solutions. So, if the price is a deciding factor, you might want to explore other e-learning platforms and LMS solutions.
But if the price isn’t your primary concern and you plan to fully utilize LifterLMS’s features, it’s an outstanding product that can likely solve most of your e-learning problems.
LifterLMS Features | What e-Learning Tools Does It Offer?
LifterLMS has e-learning features comparable to any leading third-party online course platform.
Let’s discuss the core features one by one.
Online Courses
With LifterLMS, you can create multimedia online courses with multiple modules and lessons from your WordPress editor.
It comes with a drag & drop course builder that allows you to easily create your course modules, add new lessons, and upload audio, video, or text content.
Once you install LifterLMS on your WordPress site, you can start building your course from LifterLMS → Courses → Add Course in your WordPress admin area.
The course creation page uses the default WordPress template but has a few predefined sections. To start building your course, you must launch the course builder from the settings panel on the right of your screen.
The course builder has a drag & drop interface where you can easily create new course sections (modules) and lessons.
Use sections/modules to divide your course into multiple broad topics. For example, a course about SEO can have the following sections/modules.
- SEO Fundamentals
- How Search Engines Work
- Keyword Research
- On-Page SEO
- Off-Page SEO
- Technical SEO
Then each module can contain multiple bite-sized lessons to help your students understand the topic. For example, the lessons for the On-Page SEO module could be:
- Overview
- Optimizing titles
- Optimizing URLs
- Optimizing meta description
- Optimizing body content
- Keyword ratio
- Optimizing images
- Using LSI keywords
LifterLMS lessons can contain audio, video, PDFs, presentations, or downloadable files covering a specific topic.
You get complete control over how your course lessons are served. For example, you can unlock specific lessons of your premium course for prospects giving them a preview of your content quality.
Similarly, you can mark a lesson as a prerequisite that students must complete before unlocking the next lesson. You can even import course lessons from another site using LifterLMS to migrate your content.
In addition, LifterLMS allows you to create drip courses where your content becomes accessible over time, helping your students remain focused. Or you can sell conventional all-access courses where the students can view all the modules and lessons once they sign up.
In short, you’re in total control of your course content and how it appears to your students with LifterLMS.
Memberships
You can use LifterLMS to create membership websites from scratch, offering multiple subscription plans. It also allows you to turn specific sections of your existing website or online course into gated content.
LifterLMS contains a separate membership section you can access from your WordPress admin area. Here you can create new memberships, modify existing plans, or add membership categories.
On the new membership page, you can add your membership plan’s description, set a featured image, and configure your membership settings.
For example, you can choose what appears on your sales page by adding custom content or setting a redirection to a page on your site.
Similarly, you can configure multiple subscription plans to offer on your site. For example, you can give your plan a title, price (or offer it for free), and set a monthly, weekly, or annual payment frequency. In addition, you can provide a free trial for specific plans or set a sale price for a particular period.
You can add specific courses that the subscribers to each membership plan can access. Alternatively, you can dedicate particular course categories to a membership plan so that new courses are automatically added.
LifterLMS also allows you to determine what non-members see when they try to access your premium content sections.
And finally, you can configure auto course enrollment for different subscription plans. For example, if a customer subscribes to a specific membership plan, you can auto-enroll them to all new courses in a predefined category.
To make your members feel special, LifterLMS has the option to offer members-only pricing for your courses.
In short, LifterLMS gives you total control over your site’s membership plans, allowing you to set up new membership tiers in just a few clicks.
Teacher Features
As an instructor or trainer, you get numerous features in LifterLMS to evaluate and manage your students.
For example, you can manually add/remove students from your courses or use bulk enrollment to save time. LifterLMS gives you an instructor dashboard where you can see exactly how many students are enrolled in each class, their progress, engagement levels, and other metrics helping you evaluate their performance.
Similarly, it allows you to create the following quiz types to gauge your student’s understanding of a topic.
- Multiple choice, multiple correct answers
- Multiple choice single correct answer
- Picture Multiple Choice
- True / False
- Fill in the blank
- Reorder items
- Reorder pictures
- Short answer
- Long answer
- Upload
- Code
- Scale
You can make these quizzes optional or set a minimum passing score to access the next lesson in your course. Quiz timers are another useful feature to create a sense of urgency in your students and ask them to complete a quiz within a specific time limit.
LifterLMS also allows you to create assignment lessons and link them with your student’s progress. In addition, you get a dashboard view of your student’s quiz performance and can ask specific students to retake a quiz. And check out these tips to create engaging quizzes.
If you see a student lagging, you can invite them to 1:1 coaching sessions or provide personalized support within your LMS.
As your e-learning business grows, you can invite multiple instructors and team members to handle specific courses or membership programs on your site. For example, you can have seven courses in a membership program taught by different instructors.
These are just some ways LifterLMS empowers you as a course instructor to ensure your students consume your content and gain actual knowledge from your courses.
Student Engagement
If you want to make an impact with your courses, create success stories, generate word of mouth referrals, and grow your e-learning business, you must find ways to increase your students’ course completion rates.
LifterLMS offers several student engagement features to motivate your students and help them gain actionable insights from your content.
For example, instead of offering isolated courses, you can organize them in learning tracks to help your students acquire specific skills. So, if you have three separate courses on SEO, you can make them a part of a learning track that leads to an SEO certification. This adds more context to your courses and encourages students to complete them.
Similarly, you can create and award completion certificates to successful students. LifterLMS has several certificate templates you can tailor to your brand identity.
In addition, you can award achievement badges to your students as they progress through your course. These badges appear with their name publicly and motivate them to work harder.
LifterLMS also gives you the option to enable comments under lessons and discussion forums in your courses to increase student engagement. Using these platforms, your students can ask questions and seek guidance on specific topics.
Other engagement tools like text messages and emails help you reach out to your students and ensure they’re fully benefiting from your course.
Course Marketing
LifterLMS offers several features to help you market your courses and make them more attractive to your target audience.
For example, you can create discount coupons for specific marketing campaigns or courses on your website. You also have the option to set up upsells and one-time offers for new customers.
Course bundles and bulk sales to educational or corporate institutions are other excellent features that help you drive more sales with less effort.
You can set attractive bundle prices or onboard hundreds of students from an institution by offering them unique benefits unavailable to your regular customers.
LifterLMS also includes a native landing page builder that allows you to quickly set up sales pages for your courses and memberships without needing a third-party page tool. However, it does integrate with Elementor, Beaver Builder, and several other WordPress page builders.
It also allows you to leverage affiliate marketing through its built-in affiliate management system that will enable you to recruit an army of affiliates to promote your products. In addition, it helps you track affiliate sales, create campaign-specific discounts and offers, and serve helpful marketing material your affiliates can use to market your business.
Payment Gateways
LifterLMS integrates with Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net, and WooCommerce via their respective add-ons. But these payment gateways are not included in the core LifterLMS plugin.
So, if you want to enable one or more of these gateways, you must purchase the relevant LifterLMS add-on. For example, to enable PayPal payment, you need the LifterLMS PayPal add-on. Using these payment gateways, LifterLMS allows you to accept payments via credit/debit cards and PayPal.
Once you configure your payment gateways, you can receive one-time or recurring payments from your students. In addition, you can offer payment plans and installments to make your courses and memberships more affordable for your customers.
LifterLMS Website Examples & Use Cases
We discussed the core features of LifterLMS in detail in the previous section. Now, let’s view some examples of live websites and courses powered by it to see it in action.
LifterLMS Example #1: Holy Grail WP
Holy Grail WP is powered by LifterLMS and offers multiple WordPress speed optimization, SEO, and content marketing courses designed for marketers and WordPress enthusiasts. It also provides a free course and member community built with LifterLMS.
LifterLMS Example #2: David Molnar
David Molnar, a professional photographer, offers multiple photography courses, a membership program, and one-on-one mentorship on his website. He uses LifterLMS to create his courses, lead magnets, and member community.
LifterLMS Example #3: Tizzit
Tizzit is a membership site offering multiple subscription plans teaching handmade shop owners and craftsmen how to take their business online. It offers various free and premium memberships with multiple courses covering different aspects of setting up an online handmade items shop.
Try LifterLMS Now
LifterLMS Pricing And Free Trial
LifterLMS’s core plugin is free to download and use from the WordPress plugin directory. However, you must choose from one of its annual pricing plans to enable its advanced features and add-ons.
Here are its three main subscription plans:
- Earth Bundle – $12.40/month charged annually ($149/year)
- Universe Bundle – $30/month charged annually ($360/year)
- Infinity Bundle – $100/month charged annually ($1200/year)
What’s the difference between these plans?
Earth Bundle is designed for entry-level sellers looking for core LMS features along with payment integration. It supports one active website and has everything you need to get started. However, it lacks vital student engagement features such as quizzes, assignments, and groups.
Universe Bundle integrates Mailchimp and ConvertKit to power your email marketing features. In addition, it offers customizable forms, quizzes, and all the core student engagement features. You can use it for two active sites.
Infinity Bundle offers advanced quizzes, assignments, private groups, and the LifterLMS Powerpack and LaunchPad Theme. It unleashes the full range of LifterLMS features and can be used on unlimited sites.
For most users, the Universe Bundle is the best fit since it offers everything you need to manage your courses and membership program, along with the core student engagement features. LifterLMS allows you to purchase add-ons separately if you want to add specific features to your plan.
However, if you compare LifterLMS’s pricing with LearnDash and other LMS tools, it is pretty expensive and might not be an ideal choice if you’re on a tight budget. (Read the full LearnDash review here.)
But if you want to try its features for a limited time, you can start your $1 trial for any plan.
LifterLMS Pros And Cons
Before reaching a final verdict, let’s quickly sum up the main strengths and weaknesses of LifterLMS.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| LifterLMS has every feature you need to build a successful online course business. | LifterLMS is quite expensive compared to other similar tools. |
| It stands out for its ease of use and user-friendly interface | It offers many critical e-learning features as paid add-ons. |
| LifterLMS has an in-depth knowledge base and an active community of thousands of developers and users worldwide. | Doesn’t have native website-building features. So, you must use a third-party builder to create your course website. |
| Offers basic and advanced quizzes ideal for engaging your students. | Natively integrates with Mailchimp and ConvertKit only. |
| The core LifterLMS plugin is free, allowing you to offer lead magnets and free courses. | LifterLMS’s reporting and analytics features are pretty limited. |
| LifterLMS comes with a native sales page builder. | |
| Allows you to sell in any country and any currency |
Should You Invest In LifterLMS?
As you’ve seen in this detailed review, LifterLMS offers an extensive range of e-learning features and an intuitive user interface. It has a robust course builder and advanced student management features. In addition, its eCommerce features and payment gateway integration make it the perfect LMS for most WordPress users.
However, its only potential drawback is its annual pricing plans.
So, if you’re an established course seller or someone who plans to use all the advanced LifterLMS features, it’s an excellent choice as a WordPress LMS.
But if you’re a beginner looking for limited features or have a limited budget, consider other LMS solutions with similar features but lower prices.
Jeff Cobb, Founder of Learning Revolution
Jeff Cobb is an expert in online education and the business of adult lifelong learning. Over the past 20+ years he has built a thriving career based on that expertise – as an entrepreneur, a consultant, an author, and a speaker. Learning Revolution is a place where Jeff curates tips, insights, and resources to help you build a thriving expertise-based business. Learn more about Jeff Cobb here.
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