7 Top Budget-Friendly Learning Management Systems in 2024
Table of Contents
Training budget is a concern for many businesses, but it shouldn’t put a stop to your employee training and development efforts. There are many training platforms that can support your employee education initiatives without you having to break the bank or sacrifice quality.
For this reason, we have compiled a list of value-for-money Learning Management Systems that can address diverse training needs: employee training, customer education, or extended enterprise – nothing is too hard for these feature-packed platforms!
We have picked LMSs that offer rich functionality, transparent pricing, and are praised by customers for their ability to deliver effective online training.
9000+ brands trust LearnWorlds to train their people, partners & customers.
Start a FREE TrialThe 7 Best Learning Management Systems for Training on a Budget
Low cost does not mean low quality. It means finding the Learning Management System that is right for your needs Without further ado, let’s see the most affordable LMS solutions for training on a budget:
1. LearnWorlds
LearnWorlds is among the most high-ranked LMS platforms in the market that meets all your corporate training needs, whether you want to train new hires, upskill your employees, or educate your customers and business partners.
Our platform supports live sessions to allow real-time interaction and communication, self-paced online courses, and blended learning experiences. It’s also the perfect solution for mobile learning, with native, white-label mobile apps for iOS and Android.
LearnWorlds stands out for being a highly versatile platform as it offers rich functionalities that meet both corporate training needs and course selling requirements: it’s fully eCommerce-ready and white-labeled and supports multi-tenancy, customer user roles, numerous integrations, and automations.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Multimedia & interactive training content
- Webinars and live sessions (through Zoom and WebEx integrations)
- Advanced AI content creator with 200+ prebuilt prompts
- Bulk actions and automations for less admin work
- Advanced assessment builder & custom certificates
- Fully white-labeled website & mobile app
- Multiple integrations (including Zapier), Webhooks, and API
- Built-in surveys
- SCORM compliant
- Advanced community with activity feed, online discussions, groups, and more
- eCommerce-ready
- In-depth reports: learner analytics, course insights, academy performance
- Multi-tenancy & custom user roles
- Stellar customer support & customer success agents
Cons
- Learning curve
- Limited gamification
Pricing
LearnWorlds offers a 30-day free trial, during which most features are available, and the following pricing plans:
💁 For more information about feature availability per plan, visit our website.
9000+ brands trust LearnWorlds to train their people, partners & customers.
Start a FREE Trial2. Moodle LMS
Moodle is one of the longest-standing SaaS LMS tools. Moodle Workplace helps organizations streamline and stay on top of employee training, new hire onboarding, and compliance. The platform features custom automations (like automated recertification) to save you time and effort from admin tasks. It also generates custom reports with insights into learner progress.
This LMS system features a quiz builder and badges to incentivize employees. It enables you to set completion rules and build tailored learning paths. With more than +2000 open source plugins and integrations with video conferencing, HR tools, content libraries, eCommerce tools, AI tools, and more, Moodle is a highly customizable and scalable tool.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Highly customizable
- Good reporting feature
- Robust assessments
- Branded mobile app
- Content library integration
Cons
- Occasionally slow
- Customizations and setup are tricky
- UI is a bit complex
- Limited gamification
- Learning curve
Pricing
Moodle has 1 pricing edition that costs $130. A free trial of Moodle is also available.
3. LearnDash
LearnDash is a WordPress plugin that enables you to build and launch your training programs within your company website. As a WordPress plugin, it’s highly customizable with multiple add-ons, but it does require some tech savviness to get started with. A standout feature is its Focus Mode, which creates a distraction-free environment for your learners.
The platform features a drag-and-drop course builder and allows you to drip-feed training content to control the learning pace. It’s also eCommerce-ready and supports diverse content formats and integrations with collaboration and learning tools. To boost engagement, LearnDash features progress bars, check-in quizzes after each lesson, comments, gamification features, and more.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Customizable learning paths
- Focus mode
- Intuitive course creation
- Highly customizable and scalable
- Integration with OpenAI
Cons
- Hidden costs
- Key features, like SCORM, available only as add-ons
- Requires technical knowledge to set up
- Reporting for larger learner groups is limited
- Limited design customization
Pricing
LearnDash comes with three basic subscription plans. The only difference between them is the number of site licenses that come with each one:
4. iSpring Learn
iSpring Learn is an intuitive cloud-based LMS software with a built-in authoring tool, iSpring Suite, for easier and faster course creation, which is further enhanced by AI. With its versatile features, it can address the training needs of small businesses and large enterprises alike. It offers unlimited storage and is SCORM-compliant. The platform helps you build social learning experiences with forums, newsfeeds, and a user portal where learners can see all their assigned courses. Its gamification features include points, badges, and leaderboards.
On the admin side, there’s a supervisor dashboard and an in-depth, if somewhat complex, reporting tool. iSpring supports localization and custom branding both for the web-based and the mobile app environment. It also supports several automations, like auto-assignment, auto-enrollments, and event calendar, and features a 360-degree feedback mechanism to help you assess employee skills.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Built-in authoring tool
- AI-powered
- White label mobile app
- Gamification & social learning
- Efficient user management
Cons
- Occasional slow loading times
- Complex reporting tool
- Limited design customization
- Limitations in the admin portal
- No eCommerce
Pricing
iSpring Learn offers a 30-day free trial. All plans are billed annually and are based on the number of users.
Indicatively, the prices in the START plan are:
The BUSINESS plan comes with more functionalities and at a higher price:
💡 Looking for efficient training strategies to cut costs without sacrificing quality? Then our free webinar How to trim your Training Budget is the right one for you!
5. TalentLMS
TalentLMS is a user-friendly and affordable LMS for several use cases. The platform stands out for its advanced gamification features and its in-house content library, but its limited community feature can be problematic for learner engagement. It’s SCORM-compliant and supports interactive content. You can set up completion rules to build customizable learning paths, create learner assessments, and issue certificates.
The platform supports several automated tasks, like course removal and email communications, user roles, and the creation of different training environments. It has a robust reporting system with customizable reports that can be delivered automatically.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- User-friendly
- AI content creation
- Gamified
- White-label mobile app
- Content library
Cons
- Limited eCommerce
- Limited community feature
- Limited design customization
- Difficulties setting up integrations & APIs
- No gradebook
Pricing
TalentLMS offers different plans for active users and registered users.
Standard plans (based on the number of registered users) include:
Active plans (based on the number of active users) include:
6. Tutor LMS
Tutor LMS is another WordPress LMS solution that enables you to build eLearning courses and course content easily with its drag-and-drop builder and offer them via your company website. It offers several add-ons and nice LMS features with the paid version, like advanced quiz & assignment builder, certificate builder, gamification, interactive Q&A sections, and reporting on learner performance and sales.
The tool supports drip-feeding your learning modules and integrations with video conferencing and community platforms Tutor LMS has dashboards for learners and instructors, is optimized for mobile devices and smartphones, and supports desktop notifications.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Drag-and-drop course builder
- eCommerce features
- Advanced quiz builder
- System notifications
- Customizable
Cons
- Poor customer support
- Doesn’t support SCORM files
- No mobile app
- Technical glitches with the plugins
- Changes are not always saved
Pricing
Tutor LMS has one free plan and 3 paid pricing plans:
7. Acadle
Acadle is an affordable learning platform to build online training courses and store in one place all your learning materials. It has system notifications to inform learners about course updates, supports unlimited courses, and offers customization capabilities with integrations, API, and webhooks. It also features course discussion boards, user profiles, and announcements.
Acadle has an intuitive course builder with pre-built templates and clone features, built-in Loom integration, certificates, gamification, private note-taking, and bookmarking. The platform also offers multi-tenancy and white labeling to support your scaling efforts.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Responsive customer support
- Easy to use
- Modern & intuitive User Interface
- White labeling
- Built-in Loom integration for live sessions
Cons
- Limited interactivity and collaboration features
- Not SCORM compliant
- No mobile app
- Lacks in-depth reports
- Lacks integrations
Pricing
Acadle offers a free trial and three pricing options:
Choosing Value For Money
Online learning is demanding, so we’ve made sure not to skim on quality. When your training budget is a concern, you need to choose the best LMS at the best price without overlooking your key requirements.
Before you go, let us invite you to try LearnWorlds for free for 30 days. Discover how you can transform your business training with the top value-for-money LMS!
9000+ brands trust LearnWorlds to train their people, partners & customers.
Start a FREE TrialFurther reading
Androniki Koumadoraki
Androniki is a Content Writer at LearnWorlds sharing Instructional Design and marketing tips. With solid experience in B2B writing and technical translation, she is passionate about learning and spreading knowledge. She is also an aspiring yogi, a book nerd, and a talented transponster.