20240224 – Which LMS Platform is Best for You
Should you use LearnDash WooCommerce together or the built-in LearnDash e-commerce feature to take payments?
Great question.
Let me go over the facts so you can make an educated decision for your specific needs.
If you're using LearnDash for your online course, you are likely going to want to take payments. Unless you are giving your courses away, you need e-commerce in your technology stack.
LearnDash comes with it's own built-in e-commerce. The other choice to consider is using LearnDash WooCommerce together.
LearnDash e-commerce allows you to take payments using Stripe, PayPal, or Razorpay. It allows you to sell individual courses or a group of courses making use of LearnDash groups. What I have found is that LearnDash e-commerce fall short for most course creators. LearnDash is my preferred learning management system (LMS). It's our LMS of choice for all the online course sites we built. It's e-commerce features are another story.
Let’s break it down for you.
LearnDash’s Built-In E-Commerce
LearnDash added e-commerce as a feature because there is a demand for it. There were and still are a lot of first time course builders that want a simple, easy to configure e-commerce option. They want something that doesn't require installing anything else in order for LearnDash to sell courses.
I can see why that added that as a feature. They wanted to meet a customer demand. Sure. Why not? The customer is always right.
The big drawback is that LearnDash’s e-commerce only supports selling courses or groups of courses. If you want to package your courses with other WordPress-based content, you’re out of luck.
Here are some other shortcomings:
- Offering free trials requires a clunky registration process.
- The user experience for granting free access to a course is rocky at best.
- Selling physical products—like books, branded merchandise, or other learning materials—is simply not an option.
- Including access to other Wordpress content is not supported.
Because of these restrictions, most course creators quickly find themselves needing something better.
What Does the LearnDash WooCommerce Combination Get Me
WooCommerce is a full blow e-commerce solution. It integrates really well with LearnDash. You can sell courses using subscriptions with recurring payment, memberships, free trials, etc. If you want to do it, you can find a way to use WooCommerce to do it.
WooCommerce has the benefit of a strong and very healthy ecosystem of add-ons. These come both free and paid, allowing you to do things like the following:
- Offer subscriptions for recurring payments (WooCommerce is free, but you need WooCommerce Subscriptions. a paid products, to support recurring payments).
- Create customized checkout experiences.
- Sell complementary products alongside your courses.
- Integrate with a vast number of payment gateways and marketing tools.
Since WooCommerce, like LearnDash, has a thriving third-party marketplace, finding additional features to support even the most remove requirements is typically possible. In most cases, you can locate a plugin or an integration that meets your needs without requiring custom development. If you ever do run into a unique requirement, WooCommerce also allows for custom coding to get the exact functionality you need.
Making a Transition Smooth
If you’re considering upgrading from LearnDash’s built-in e-commerce to WooCommerce, I recommend checking out our free Profitable Online Course Builders LearnDash Starter Guide. This LearnDash mini-course walks you through key enhancements to get the LearnDash WooCommerce integration would smoothly giving your customers a really elegant experience. This is the case for both the purchasing experience and the overall customer journey.
At the end of the day, your course site should be more than just functional—it should offer a seamless experience for both you and your learners. If LearnDash’s built-in e-commerce isn’t cutting it, WooCommerce is a powerful alternative that can help you scale and succeed.