This topic is widely discussed in educational circles. Like many developers, we’ve a number of clients using the industry-standard LMS, Learndash. It certainly the leader with the largest number of add-on and features we’ve all come to love. However the multitude of add-ons does become problematic over time, both in terms of time needed to configure and overall costs… Yes, setting up a site for someone trying to sell their own single or multiple courses online is where Learndash excels. Like most, their initial set up wizard is good. But, re-configuring it for say, a normal school environment with the needed features for multiple teachers and classrooms isn’t as easy or particularly cheap. Related groups management in this area, although possible, can be painful with a lot of additional third party plugins needed.
Enter Tutor LMS, the most affordable e-Learning Package for Schools
With any product or software, the trick to success is often not to make the software or online product fit into every environment, but at some point target the needs of a particular niche. In this regard, the Tutor LMS Pro (just US$149/yr) I think, meets the specific needs of primary schools, high schools, even Universities…. And compared with Learndash, is quicker and easier to set up too, which is a major issue with new users…
How does it compare with Industry Offerings?
There’s almost a thousand LMS solutions out there. How any school is supposed to decide which suits becomes a nightmare and mistakes can be costly. These start at $10-30/year per student, which seems great, but it often comes with conditions, minimum student numbers, plus may exclude related set up and IT support aspects. Fees are based around number of courses, managers, users and feature options. But Tutor LMS is not based upon these factors. The only additional fees are around hosting and integration with third party systems.
After the US$149/yr software license plus some initial work around the host, security and integration to other systems (our specialty), the only other variable is the monthly VPS (Virtual private server) hosting fee, which typically ranges from US$25-100/mth. This is largely determined by number of students and load on the host, which is easy to monitor and adjust. It’s a system one has total control over, which is vital to any school, Uni or training business. Using open source WordPress + Tutor LMS + Cloudflare hosting, you have perhaps 80% of the ‘high end’ features, for 20% of the annual cost, at near zero risk. The old 80/20 rule seems to apply to so many things in life, especially software….