LearnDash Hosting with Official Cloud Hosting – Start a stress-free online course

LearnDash is one of the most popular self-hosted LMS solutions. Now, LMS is embarking on a new journey with its cloud-hosting solution and joining the league of other cloud-only learning management systems.

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What is LearnDash:

LearnDash is a WordPress plugin (only) that turns your website into a learning management system. This way, you can sell online courses on your WordPress website. It offers integration with all leading payment gateways and is the #1 LMS solution for WordPress.

What is LearnDash Cloud:

Learndash Cloud is a brand new solution managed by the Learndash team where you don’t need to host Learndash on your server. Everything is hosted on the Learndash cloud server, and you can choose from available templates and plugins to customize the website.

It’s a good alternative to self-hosted LearnDash for instructors and coaches who want to focus on creating and marketing content rather than managing the website’s technology.

Check out: Best WordPress LMS Plugins for Creating Online Courses

Difference Between LearnDash Cloud Vs. Learndash WordPress Plugin:

LearnDash Cloud:

When you use Learndash Cloud, you don’t have to worry about web hosting and WordPress management. Think of LearnDash Cloud as a cloud-hosted solution from Kajabi, Thinkific, and others that doesn’t require you to manage complex open-source software like WordPress. Learndash Cloud is running on WordPress, but it’s managed by Learndash hosting. This means you don’t have to worry about the day-to-day maintenance, security, and other aspects of your WordPress hosting.

All you have to do is get a $29 per month subscription of LearnDash Cloud and start your online course with their easy onboarding process.

Note: Learndash Cloud comes with a 15-day full money-back guarantee.

Learndash WordPress Plugin:

Learndash WordPress plugin requires you to purchase their plugin for $199/year and use it on a self-hosted WordPress website. You need to buy hosting for Learndash and some popular Learndash hostings are:

These are mostly managed WordPress hosting, costing more than $25 per month.

To run a Learndash WordPress plugin online course, you pay:

$199 (WordPress Plugin) + $300 (LearnDash Hosting) = $499 (This is the minimum price as you are paying for customization + more plugins).

I currently use the Learndash WordPress plugin to manage my online course hosted on Kinsta hosting.

Which is better? – Learndash Cloud Hosting or Learndash WordPress Plugin:

If you have never used WordPress and are a solopreneur (working alone), you are better off using LearnDash Cloud. It gives you almost everything with less headache to manage.

There’s a significant price-wise difference, as you’ll pay $149 more per year LearnDash Cloud. This can be a deal breaker for the price-sensitive creator. However, when you factor in the cost of hosting (as mentioned above), you save some time.

However, if you are already paying for a hosting account, this cost will increase as you may not be paying extra for hosting the Learndash website.

However, if you like advanced customization and love control of your website, you should use Learndash WordPress plugin. For now, I will continue to grow my current online course on the Learndash WordPress plugin, and when the time is right, I will consider moving to the Learndash Cloud.

Now, it’s your turn to let me know: what would you choose as your learning management system and why?