Teachable or a DIY ecourse builder – Which should I choose?

Today we’re covering 7 things to consider before deciding whether you should choose to host your online course on Teachable or with a DIY ecourse builder, such as Learndash, on your own website.

In this article we’ll cover:

1. The ideal user for each ecourse builder
2. Cost of Teachable and Learndash
3. Ease of marketing and finding customers
4. Revenue projections
5. Integrations with other tools
6. Technical knowledge requirements
7. Support and user experience

If you want the TLDR version of this article instead, here it is:

But first, what is Teachable? And what is Learndash?

Teachable and Learndash are both LMS (learning management system) platforms you can use to build, host, and sell your online courses. Both have their strengths and weaknesses but both are great options if you consider yourself an “edupreneur” or authority in your domain and want to sell ecourses for passive recurring revenue.

Furthermore, predictions are saying the elearning market to hit $325B by the year 2025, it’s no wonder people are looking for ways to create and sell their own online courses.

However, the real struggle comes with picking out the right LMS solution for you and your business. For that reason, things you might already be considering right now are:

• What functionalities do I need?
• Are there any fees?
• How quickly can I get my online course launched?
• How will people find my course?

To help distinguish the two, Teachable.com is an all-in-one platform that provides you with all the tools you need to build, launch, and host your course as well as market your course to students. Learndash is a premium WordPress plugin that you install on your website where you have more flexibility of the look and functionality of your courses.

Therefore, Let’s dive into 7 factors you should consider to help decide which LMS is right for you.

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1. The ideal user for each ecourse builder

Course creators come in a variety of forms. Comparatively, some are domain experts who are looking to free up more of their time. Others are solo-preneurs looking to make a little side income.

Nevertheless, the main divide between of Teachable and Learndash users those who value speed and simplicity or control and customization.

The ideal user for Teachable is some one who isn’t looking for fluff but a simple tool to get their ecourse out on the market (and are willing to pay the extra cost to do so). If you are looking to quickly set up an online course to test if it’s a viable product, Teachable is the way to go.

On the other hand, the ideal Learndash user is someone who has a specific vision for their online course and has the technical know-how to pull it off (and are willing to spend the extra time doing so). Thus, if you have an existing (and moderately successful) WordPress website, integrating Learndash to host and sell online courses isn’t a bad move.

In the end, Teachable and Learndash basically do the same job, but each has their own strengths and limitations.

2. Cost of Teachable and Learndash

Teachable Pricing

Teachable comes in three tiers depending on your needs:

If you are just getting started, you’ll probably need Teachable’s Basic plan which is $29/mo billed annually (if you don’t want to do the math that’s $348/yr). If you need some of the more advanced features such as custom themes and graded quizzes then the Professional plan is right for you at $79/mo billed annually (or $948).

The Teachable pricing model does offer a monthly billing plan but the costs jump to $39/mo for Basic, $99/mo for Professional, and $499/mo for business. Also, you can learn more about which plan is the right fit for your budget and needs here.

Learndash Pricing

Learndash on the other hand is a premium plugin for WordPress which means it needs a license to function correctly. Similar to Teachable, Learndash comes in three tiers with the major difference being the number of site licenses come with each plan:

The advantage Learndash has over Teachable is that it comes with all of the features of Teachable such as drip content, custom coupons, and course certificates for only a fraction of the cost.

And if you hurry, Learndash is offering Course Creator Hub readers a $40 discount on all their plans.

3. Ease of marketing and finding customers

Teachable and Learndash are very similar when it comes to finding customers for your courses.

Both come with the ability to integrate with third-party marketing tools such as MailChimp, AWeber, Infusionsoft, Mixpanel, and ConvertKit. Both offer the ability to create coupons and promotions for your customers and both come with flexible pricing options (Learndash ins’t natively set up for this but integrates with Woocommerce).

Where Teachable slightly edges out Learndash is their customizable sales page templates and built in affiliate program where your students can earn commissions for promoting your course.

One thing to consider though is if you have a WordPress website that’s already receiving a lot of traffic, it might be worth hosting your online course in house to generate more sales.

4. Revenue projections

Because Learndash is a plugin, the only fee you pay is to whatever payment gateway you use for your checkout process (Stripe and PayPal are most popular and are typically about 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction).

Therefore, when it comes to revenue projections with a Learndash built course you can estimate with the following equation:

Revenue = (Traffic) * (Conversion Rate) * (Price of course) * (0.97)

Another thing to note, all the revenue is available to you right away, helping your cash flow situation.

If you choose to use Teachable’s Monthly Payment Gateway, you are paid on the first of the month of purchases made at least 30 days ago. Teachable also takes an additional 5% cut (on top of the 2.9% + $0.30 fee) of each transaction if you are using the Basic plan. Therefore you can project your revenue to be:

Revenue = (Traffic) * (Conversion Rate) * (Price of course) * (0.92)

5. Integrations with other tools

Integrations with other tools is neck and neck but Learndash wins out since WordPress can integrate with virtually endless tools if you are technically savvy enough.

Here is a list of some of the popular third-party tools both LMS platforms integrate with:

If you need help integrating tools into Learndash, our in-depth how-to guide provides some pointers.

6. Technical knowledge requirements

Here’s the big divide: Teachable requires no technical skills to set up. Learndash does (if you want it to behave more than it’s out-of-the-box version).

Teachable has a simple user interface in which you can set up your school in minutes. The most technically challenging thing you might face is adding a custom domain for your course, but even then they have a helpful tutorial to pull this off.

The minimal technical know-how helps you to focus on building a fantastic course for your community rather than tinkering with fonts and CSS.

Unless you are quite familiar with WordPress websites, the Learndash interface is clunky and confusing. And with WordPress releasing their new Gutenberg WYSIWYG block editor, Learndash hasn’t adapted quickly enough to make the course creation process as simple as possible (hopefully they will fix this soon).

If you don’t want to pay the monthly Teachable fee and do things on the cheap, it is entirely possible to build your own custom course and platform on WordPress using Learndash.

If you still want more control over your course, Learndash is still the way to go. And if you still have room in your budget, you can always hire a specialist to integrate Learndash into your website for you.

7. Support and user experience

Although we couldn’t find any hard numbers, Learndash is small in comparison to Teachable’s 68-thousand active instructors and 18-million students – which comes in handy for course creators looking for new ideas and support.

Thus, when it comes to finding support and community, Teachable wins out in this arena. As a course builder, having clear documentation and past examples is key to building a successful course.

Even more, Teachable is currently running a Creator Challenge to help creators launch their own profitable online course in the next 3 months.

To be fair, Learndash does offer a decent on-boarding portal with essential documentation after signing up. However, they do lack in helping course creators find creative solutions to common LMS needs. If you are looking for basic set up examples and neat features to implement, Learndash’s YouTube channel is a great place to start.

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Conclusion

As a result, your needs as a course creator will vary so it’s hard for us to make a proper recommendation without us knowing your current situation. However, if you value speed and simplicity over control and customization, Teachable is our official Hub Recommendation over Learndash.