8 Best Academy LMS Alternatives in 2026
Updated October 23, 2026 · Ranked by how closely each plugin matches, from WordPress.org data · How this works
Academy LMS has 2,000+ active installs on WordPress.org. These 8 plugins share its category or its tags on WordPress.org, are actively maintained, and each has at least 100 active installs. They are ordered by how closely they match, not by our opinion.
The 8 closest alternatives to Academy LMS
- 1
Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates
4.8 (183) 6,000+ active installsComplete WordPress LMS plugin. Build & sell online courses with quizzes, certificates, and built-in payments. The all-in-one LMS for course creators.
Shares the course builder, elearning, learning management system tags on WordPress.org. About 3 times the installs, rated 4.8 against 4.9, last updated 10 days ago.
- 2
5.0 (53) 7,000+ active installsInstantly improve LearnDash's design -- focus mode, course content, profile page, course navigation & course grid -- to more closely match yo …
Shares the learning management system, lms, online courses tags on WordPress.org. About 3.5 times the installs, rated 5.0 against 4.9, no update since August 9, 2022.
- 3
WP Courses LMS – Online Courses Builder, eLearning Courses, Courses Solution, Education Courses
4.9 (22) 500+ active installsWP Courses LMS - Create Courses, Lessons, Quizzes, Profiles and more. Online Courses Builder, eLearning Courses, Courses Solution, Education Courses.
Shares the elearning, lms, online courses tags on WordPress.org. About a quarter of the installs, last updated August 22, 2026.
- 4
LifterLMS
Paid version availableLifterLMS – WP LMS for eLearning, Online Courses, & Quizzes
4.8 (393) 10,000+ active installsComplete e-learning platform to sell online courses, protect lessons, offer memberships, and quiz students. WP Learning Management System.
Shares the elearning, learning management system, lms tags on WordPress.org. About 5 times the installs, rated 4.8 against 4.9, last updated 13 days ago.
- 5
MasterStudy LMS WordPress Plugin – for Online Courses and Education
4.5 (486) 10,000+ active installsLearning Management System and eLearning plugin for WordPress. Create easily LMS WordPress website, add and sell Courses, Lessons, Quizzes online.
Shares the elearning, learning management system, lms tags on WordPress.org. About 5 times the installs, rated 4.5 against 4.9, last updated 3 days ago.
- 6
LearnPress – WordPress LMS Plugin for Create and Sell Online Courses
4.3 (597) 70,000+ active installsA WordPress LMS Plugin to create WordPress Learning Management System. Turn your WordPress to LMS WordPress Website with Courses, Lessons, Quizzes &am …
Shares the elearning, learning management system, lms tags on WordPress.org. About 35 times the installs, rated 4.3 against 4.9, last updated 6 days ago.
- 7
Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution
4.4 (589) 100,000+ active installsA complete WordPress LMS plugin to create any eLearning website easily.
Shares the elearning, learning management system, lms tags on WordPress.org. About 50 times the installs, rated 4.4 against 4.9, last updated 7 days ago.
- 8
4.8 (105) 20,000+ active installsExtend LearnDash with a variety of useful modules that make it even easier to build great learner experiences with LearnDash.
Shares the elearning, lms tags on WordPress.org. About 10 times the installs, rated 4.8 against 4.9, last updated 6 days ago.
Academy LMS against each of them
Head to head on installs, ratings, reviews and updates. Each measure names its own leader; there is no overall winner.
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Academy LMS vs Masteriyo LMS2,000+ vs 6,000+ installs · 4.9 vs 4.8
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Academy LMS vs LifterLMS2,000+ vs 10,000+ installs · 4.9 vs 4.8
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Academy LMS vs MasterStudy LMS WordPress2,000+ vs 10,000+ installs · 4.9 vs 4.5
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Academy LMS vs LearnPress2,000+ vs 70,000+ installs · 4.9 vs 4.3
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Academy LMS vs Tutor LMS2,000+ vs 100,000+ installs · 4.9 vs 4.4
Switching from Academy LMS: common questions
What is the best alternative to Academy LMS?
Masteriyo LMS is the closest match: it shares the same WordPress.org tags and has 6,000+ active installs with a 4.8 out of 5 rating.
Which Academy LMS alternative has the most users?
Tutor LMS, with 100,000+ active installs reported by WordPress.org.
Which Academy LMS alternative is rated highest?
Design Upgrade for LearnDash, rated 5.0 out of 5 by 53 reviewers. Only plugins with at least 50 reviews are counted.
Are these Academy LMS alternatives free?
Every plugin listed here is free to install from WordPress.org. Where WordPress.org marks a plugin as commercial, the developer also sells a paid version or add-ons, and that is shown on each plugin.
How are alternatives chosen?
Automatically, from WordPress.org data: plugins that share a category top 10 with Academy LMS score highest, then plugins that appear in the same WordPress.org rankings, then plugins with the same tags, weighted so rare tags count more than common ones. Plugins by the same author and plugins rated under 4.0 are left out.
How we choose these alternatives
Nothing on this page is picked by hand. Every day we walk the whole WordPress.org directory, then score every plugin against Academy LMS on three signals: sharing a category top 10 counts most, then appearing in the same WordPress.org rankings, then carrying the same tags, with rare tags counting for more than common ones like "wordpress". Plugins by the same author are excluded, so an author's own add-ons cannot fill the list, and so is anything rated below 4.0 or with fewer than 100 active installs. The ten highest scores are what you see, in that order. Full methodology.
The bottom line
Masteriyo LMS is the closest match to Academy LMS by the data we track, and Tutor LMS has the widest reach with 100,000+ active installs. MasterStudy LMS WordPress shipped the most recent release, on October 19, 2026. The list is rebuilt every day from WordPress.org, so a plugin that stops being maintained drops out on its own.
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What moved this week
One email a week, built from the same daily snapshots these rankings come from: the plugins that climbed, what launched, and one ranking worth a look.