Mighty Networks Alternatives [for Growing Courses]

If you’re reading this, it might be because you’ve tried Mighty Networks and feel like you’re outgrowing its capabilities. You’re not alone.

🪴 Many course creators quickly outgrow course platforms like Mighty Networks, because they realize that these platforms don’t offer advanced marketing and customization options.

These creators aren’t able to take their courses to the next level and they run into the same issues with other “hosted course platforms” such as Kajabi, Podia, and Teachable.

One solution to consider is going for the self-hosted option by having your own WordPress website with an LMS plugin that also offers community features.

The downside of this solution is that migrating from one course platform to another can be complicated and costly. Plus, when you leave Mighty Networks behind, you’ll leave all of your content and community engagement behind.

That’s why we recommend that you think carefully before choosing Mighty Networks. Knowing the exact capabilities of the platform, as well as your plans for growing your course business will help you make the right decision.

If you plan on scaling your course company, then you’re better off choosing a self-hosted WordPress solution from the start. On the other hand, if courses are a side project and will continue to be, then a hosted platform like Mighty Networks would be a good option.

Here’s a helpful way to visualize the different course hosting options:

Why should I consider alternatives to Mighty Networks?

If you want to grow your business as a course creator, Mighty Networks likely isn’t meeting your needs or you may have outgrown it.

💡 Note: several factors might make you leave Mighty Networks, but the biggest one is there are things you’re trying to do that you just can’t do. Things like gamification, selling group or team memberships, and fully customizing the design.

Here are the reasons that make people leave Mighty Networks:

• It’s not open source: Since MightyNetworks is a closed platform-as-a-service, it means its code is not open source. That means if you cancel your account, your content will be lost, along with any community engagement and student information.
  
  On the contrary, if you are hosting your online courses using a WordPress plugin on your own managed web servers, you have more control over your content. You’ll also have access to the source code, your course materials, and member information if you ever want to move or make changes later. Leaving Mighty Networks for an LMS plugin means you have full control over your business.
  
• It doesn’t integrate with other systems: Since Mighty Networks runs on an all-in-one system mentality, it means that they aren’t building as many integrations with other tools. It also means that you’re depending on a single tech system, which could be a business risk if there is downtime.
  
• It offers zero customization: A closed platform like Mighty Networks restricts users to doing things one way, or waiting for features to be developed. These types of limitations affect revenue generation, course management, and design customization. If you want your courses, memberships, or communities to reflect your unique brand identity and run your way, you’ll be disappointed. 

Alternatives to Mighty Networks for Growing Online Courses

At this point, you know that Mighty Networks might be a great option for course creators who don’t plan to grow their businesses, but those who do want to scale find it limiting.

That’s usually at the point where people leave Mighty Networks: when they outgrow it and start feeling the need to customize their courses. They might also decide to leave when they want to combine courses, memberships, and communities in a different way.

None of the standalone platforms can offer this level of customization and growth, so creators end up switching to a WordPress LMS plugin hosted on their own website.

🚀 The biggest benefit of a WordPress LMS plugin is that it gives course creators full control over the course experience, along with bringing everything together in one place. 

The WordPress ecosystem offers a lot of options when it comes to plugins, themes, and designs. Now we’ll look at the 6 most popular LMS plugins that make excellent alternatives to Mighty Networks, especially if courses are your primary focus.

1. AccessAlly

What is AccessAlly?

AccessAlly is a comprehensive LMS plugin because it includes everything a course creator might need to run courses, memberships, and communities. 

It is the most modern LMS plugin on the market because it provides all of the necessary tools without the need for costly add-ons to achieve complete platform functionality.

Why are add-ons an issue with other LMS plugins? Having too many add-ons, built by different companies, can open your site up to compatibility problems and even cause site crashes. 

AccessAlly doesn’t have that issue, and it offers excellent customer support in case users need help along the way. Since there are no third-party add-ons, AccessAlly’s support team can resolve issues faster.

AccessAlly is a modern platform with advanced features, so it provides a smooth and seamless experience for both course creators and their students.

Who Should Use It 

AccessAlly is recommended for those who want a straightforward solution that is designed to scale with their business, without worrying about different add-ons playing well together.

Pros & cons

Price

AccessAlly offers three straightforward subscription-based plans with a 60-day no-risk money-back guarantee. The Essentials plan starts at $82 per month if billed annually. 

Reviews

Capterra Rating: 4.5/5
G2 Rating: 4.8/5

2. LearnDash

What Is LearnDash?

LearnDash is often the first name that comes to mind when people think of WordPress LMS plugins, and that’s because it has been around for many years. 

It’s a popular option for course creators who want to self-host their courses on their WordPress site. However, it’s not as user-friendly or modern as it could be. 

That’s because LearnDash requires its users to install additional add-ons and plugins to achieve the full functionality that is required for running full-fledged online courses.

Stacking many different add-ons, especially those created and maintained by different companies, can lead to compatibility issues. It might cause site crashes, and lead to a poor learning experience for students.

Who Should Use It

Although it’s a popular option, we recommend you skip over LearnDash in general and opt for a better alternative that is more well-rounded.

Pros & Cons 

Price

LearnDash offers subscription plans starting at $199 USD per year for one site. 

Reviews

Capterra Rating: 4.6/5
G2 Rating: 4.3/5

3. Lifter LMS

What Is LifterLMS?

LifterLMS is a robust WordPress plugin for course creators and is a better choice than LearnDash because it requires fewer add-ons. 

However, it’s not a complete solution for course creators because it still depends on third-party add-ons for some functionality like taking payments or connecting with a CRM.

This means LifterLMS won’t offer as much of a smooth end-user experience, because of the need to duct tape different solutions together. 

LifterLMS has come a long way and continues to be developed with new features, but course creators will still depend on other third-party tools to make it a full-fledged platform.

Who Should Use It

LifterLMS might be a decent choice for course creators who are looking to scale and grow their online course business, but it’s not the best option.

Pros & Cons

Price

LifterLMS plans start at $199 USD per year, but there’s a freemium plan. 

Reviews

Capterra Rating: 4.8/5
G2 Rating: 4.9/5

4. LearnPress

What Is LearnPress?

LearnPress is a well-known LMS plugin because the core plugin is completely free. However, even with the paid upgrade of LearnPress, most course creators find that it isn’t the best option for them.

That’s because LearnPress lacks a lot of the essential features that most LMS platforms need, and that means it requires the installation of a lot of add-ons. 

LearnPress also suffers from an outdated user interface, which makes it harder to use. It’s also unfortunate that LearnPress isn’t able to offer great customer service because they have to support their free customer base.

Who Should Use It

Because of all the reasons above, we don’t recommend LearnPress to anyone looking for a course solution.

Pros & Cons

Price

LearnPress bundle with 28 add-ons costs $299 as a one-time payment. It also has a completely free starter theme. 

Reviews

Capterra Rating: Not available
G2 Rating: Not available

5. WP Courseware

What Is WP Courseware? 

WP Courseware is a basic WordPress plugin that focuses on doing only one thing: delivering online courses.

That means you’ll need to pair WP Courseware with another plugin like MemberPress, for example, to handle course access and permissions. This is an additional cost, and it comes with another point of vulnerability where plugins might stop being compatible and cause site issues.

WP Course does not have a well-designed backend, and the interface is dated. This leads to poor user experience for course participants. 

Who Should Use It

We recommend you steer clear of WP Courseware unless you’re comfortable debugging technical issues on your website.

Pros & Cons

Price

WP Courseware subscription plans start at $159 per year for a two-site license. 

Reviews

Capterra Rating: 4.4/5
G2 Rating: 3.3/5

6. Tutor LMS

What Is Tutor LMS?

Tutor LMS is a WordPress plugin that focuses on delivering e-learning courses, and the core plugin is free. That means you can try it out to see if it will meet your needs.

However, as with many of the other popular free WordPress plugins out there, you will need to purchase add-ons to make it handle a full-fledged course business.

Tutor LMS has a bit of a dated user interface when it comes to creating and managing your courses, quizzes, and so on. It will also require additional plugins to incorporate community and things like gamification.

Who Should Use It

At the end of the day, we don’t recommend using Tutor LMS because it requires multiple add-ons, has limited customization, and offers a primitive interface.

Pros & Cons

Price

Tutor LMS’s subscription plans start at $199 per year for a one-site license. The core LMS plugin is free. 

Reviews

Capterra Rating: 3.8/5
G2 Rating: 4.5/5