Online course platforms · 2026
Free online course platforms 5 tools ranked by verified data
Data checked Oct 14, 2026 against the vendors' own pages. How we verify
We scored 5 tools with a free plan among online course platforms with the same 7-criterion scorecard; 5 have enough verified data to be ranked.
Every listed tool has a free plan; the table shows exactly what each free plan allows, as the vendor states it.
sensei ranks first with 100/100, followed by Tutor LMS (99) and LifterLMS (89).
The lowest starting price among ranked tools (the least you can pay for a paid plan, for one user or account) is sensei's: $5 per month billed yearly on the Interactive Blocks plan.
Free plans compared
| # | Tool | Score | Coverage | Free plan allows | From, billed monthly | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  sensei | 100/100 | 75%5 of 7 criteria | No limits stated | Not offered | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 2 |  Tutor LMS | 99/100 | 85%6 of 7 criteria | unlimited members | Not offered | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 3 |  LifterLMS | 89/100 | 75%5 of 7 criteria | unlimited members | Not offered | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 4 |  classroomio | 89/100 | 75%5 of 7 criteria | 20 members | $35/mo | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 5 |  paidtier | 79/100 | 80%5 of 7 criteria | 10 transaction fee percent | $49/mo | Oct 14, 2026 |
Each value links the vendor page it was read from (hover for the check date). Coverage is the share of the scorecard's weight with verified data, and "N of M criteria" how many criteria the score is based on; a tool is ranked at 60% or more.
Why each one ranks where it does
- 1. sensei 100/100
WordPress plugin for creating and selling online courses with quizzes, certificates, interactive lessons and cohort management.
- Entry price (100/100): $5/month billed annually on Interactive Blocks; no monthly-billed price published (scored against annual-billed prices)
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Sensei Free)
From $5 per month billed yearly on the Interactive Blocks plan.
- 2. Tutor LMS 99/100
WordPress LMS plugin for creating, managing and selling online courses with quizzes, assignments, certificates, memberships and an AI course generator.
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Free)
- Verified features (100/100): 4 of 4 tracked features verified: analytics, team access, templates, ai assistant
From $16.58 per month billed yearly on the Individual plan.
- 3. LifterLMS 89/100
WordPress LMS plugin with paid add-on bundles for building and selling online courses and memberships, with quizzes, certificates and e-commerce add-ons.
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Core Plugin)
- Pricing transparency (100/100): 4 of 4 plans have a public price
From $16.58 per month billed yearly on the Earth Bundle plan.
- 4. classroomio 89/100
Open-source learning management system for running customer, employee and partner training academies with AI authoring, certificates and custom domains.
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Basic)
- Verified features (100/100): 3 of 4 tracked features verified: team access, templates, ai assistant
From $35 per month billed monthly on the Early Adopters plan.
- 5. paidtier 79/100
No-code platform for creators to build, sell and deliver courses and subscriptions to members through Telegram, Discord and a web dashboard.
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Free)
- Verified features (100/100): 3 of 4 tracked features verified: analytics, team access, ai assistant
From $49 per month billed monthly on the Pro plan.
How we picked
Every one of these online course platforms is scored by the same 7 criteria (scorecard v1). Each criterion gives 0 to 100 from the vendor's published data; the total is the weighted average. A criterion without verified data is left out and the other weights are re-normalised. A tool with under 60% of the weight covered is listed as not ranked, and so is a tool with no verified price and fewer than 2 verified features (“needs a verified price”); each score shows how many criteria it is based on. The core criteria are the same in every category; the category criteria are specific to online course platforms. Nobody gets custom weights, including our own products.
| Criterion | Weight | Type | What we measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | 25% | Core | Price per month of the cheapest paid plan, against the prices of other online course platforms on the same billing basis (monthly-billed prices against monthly, annual-billed against annual).Log scale. Billed monthly: $26.52/month or less = 100, $106 or more = 0. Only billed annually: $15.58/month or less = 100, $399 or more = 0. Only free plans = 100. Usage-priced and one-time plans are not scored. |
| Free plan or trial | 15% | Core | Whether you can use the tool before paying: a free plan, or failing that a free trial, as shown on the vendor's pricing page.Free plan = 100. No free plan but a free trial = 60. The pricing page lists plans but shows neither = 0. No plans read = not scored. |
| Pricing transparency | 10% | Core | How much of the pricing is public: the share of plans with a published price ("contact sales" counts against), and whether there are at least 3 published tiers.80 x (plans with a public price / plans listed) + 20 x (public plans, up to 3) / 3. No plans read = not scored. |
| Verified features | 15% | Core | How many of the 4 features we track for this category the vendor's own pages verifiably show (analytics, team access, templates, ai assistant). This counts verified features only: a tool that documents less scores lower here, and only here.Linear: verified features / 2 (half the tracked list) x 100, capped at 100. No tracked feature verified = not scored. |
| API, integrations and export | 10% | Core | Whether a public API exists, how many integrations the vendor states, and whether the vendor documents a way to export your data.Average of the parts with data: public API yes = 100, no = 0; integrations on a log scale (100 or more = 100); a documented data export = 100. None verified = not scored. |
| Fee on sales | 15% | Category | The percentage of each sale the platform keeps, as the vendor states it (the cheapest paid plan that states a fee).Linear, lower is better: 0% = 100, 10% or more = 0. No stated fee = not scored. |
| Students per plan | 10% | Category | Students or members included on the cheapest paid plan that states a limit.Log scale: 1,000 or more (or unlimited) = 100. No stated limit = not scored. |
Sources are vendor pricing pages, docs and changelogs, each with the date we checked it. We did not test these tools hands-on unless a listing says so. Full formulas: methodology.
Questions, answered from the data
What is the best free online course platform?
sensei, with 100/100 on our scorecard; Tutor LMS is second with 99/100.
What is the cheapest free online course platform?
By entry price among ranked tools, sensei: $5 per month billed yearly on the Interactive Blocks plan.
How did you rank these online course platforms?
Each tool gets 0 to 100 per criterion from its published pricing, limits and features; the total is the weighted average over the criteria with verified data. Tools with under 60% of the weight covered are not ranked.