Positioned as a “lightweight learning management system” (LMS), LearnWorlds has some excellent perks that make it stand out from similar platforms.
However, its setup won’t work for everyone. The platform also has some significant downsides that must be carefully considered.
Key Takeaways:
- LearnWorlds has the most feature-rich course builder on the market
- Its assessment and analytical tools are suitable for structured or formal learning
- Better for established businesses—beginners might struggle with cost and features
LearnWorlds Pros and Cons at a Glance
LearnWorlds Pros
- Create interactive learning experiences
- In-depth assessment and exam tools
- Suitable for B2B sales
- Includes an ebook builder
- Great quality templates (and testing site)
- Comprehensive analytical reports
- Easy mobile app builder
- SCORM Compliant
LearnWorlds Cons
- The platform is not intuitive or beginner-friendly
- Basic marketing tools (no external emailing)
- Transaction fees on the entry-level plan
- To get access to all the features, you have to pay for the higher-tier plans (expensive)
- Hard to diversify your business
- You’ll likely need to use integrations
My Top 8 LearnWorlds Pros
1. Create Proper Interactive Learning Activities
In my opinion, LearnWorlds has one of the most in-depth course builders on the market.
What’s most impressive is that it takes the learning experience from a passive exercise to something far more interactive.
And we all know that interactivity is key for engagement and high course completion rates.
Let’s take the video tool, for example.
Most platforms will have you upload your video lesson and add a bit of text underneath, and that’s about it.
LearnWorlds has turned this on its head by providing interactivity features. You can insert clickable buttons, images, and gamification through quiz questions and assessments.
Ultimately, this transforms a video lesson into something of real value.
Allowing learners to engage directly with the content makes it much more likely that they will retain the knowledge after the lesson.
Another aspect that increases interactivity is the social features you can add to your courses.
For instance, learners can ask questions, discuss specific topics, and even share exam preparation tips and knowledge.
Essentially, it’s a community tool, but rather than keeping it separate from the course content, you can embed discussions directly into the lessons.
I find this very cool because it allows learners to engage without clicking out of the course and getting distracted.
2. The Best Option for Course Exams and Assessments
Actually, I’m telling a small lie here. The best option for creating course exams and assessments is to use specialized software or a full-blown LMS.
However…
Those platforms don’t tend to come with the ability to sell your products.
LearnWorlds gives you the best of both worlds. It has comprehensive features for building proper exams and assessments while enabling you to sell them.
Since you can create pretty much any type of assessment or test, it makes it suitable for graded or certified courses.
In comparison, most similar platforms (Kajabi, Kartra, etc.) only have basic assessment tools. These are good for testing knowledge but not so good for more formal learning experiences.
In contrast, LearnWorlds is set up for this environment, which makes it a perfect tool for creating learning products for other businesses.
3. Suitable for B2B Sales
Speaking of selling business to business (B2B)…
I feel that most course-building platforms are missing a trick, here, because they are really only suitable for selling directly to consumers.
Why?
They lack the tools most businesses require to keep track of their employees’ progression and learning needs. As I already mentioned, the simplistic assessment tools make these platforms unsuitable for formal learning.
Let’s be very clear that LearnWorlds differentiates itself from the rest by calling itself a “lightweight LMS.”
What this means is that it contains more features that businesses need to facilitate their learning and development initiatives.
So, you can include all these features (learner tracking, skills matrices, grade books, etc.) in your offer to make it a more attractive product for your business clients.
4. Includes an E-Book Builder
Rather than creating your ebook elsewhere and then uploading it onto LearnWorlds, you can just use the platform’s ebook-building tool.
Okay, so LearnWorlds is definitely not Canva, but if you want to build a basic e-book, it’s capable of doing a good job.
I like this because I don’t have to click from one platform to another. The fewer separate tools I have to use, the better, in my opinion.
It’s simple to use, with prebuilt sections that you can add and customize. You can also jazz it up with images, clickable links, etc.
After opening the tool for the first time, I got the hang of it within about five minutes. So, it’s ideal for beginners or those lacking graphic design skills.
5. Great Templates
You rarely get quality and quantity.
LearnWorlds gives you many great website themes to choose from, and they all look sleek and professional.
However, the biggest perk is the ability to use something called “site flavors.”
Despite the odd name, it’s actually a super-useful tool for testing new designs and themes before applying them to your live site.
This allows you to switch up your branding without the very valid fear of screwing up your actual website.
If you don’t like the new design, you can simply delete it, and no harm is done. If you do, you can apply the design in one click. It’s simple—I like simple!
6. Meaningful Student Analytics
With over 50 reporting capabilities, LearnWorlds gives you proper, meaningful insights into learner preferences, performance, and behaviors.
This is so important when trying to understand how much value or interaction they got out of your course content.
I’ve touched on this already, but these deep insights are something that businesses want to know about because they need to grasp how worthwhile the investment has been.
From a seller’s perspective, you can use analytical tools to improve your products and make your offers even more irresistible than before.
7. Easy App Builder
What’s a learning experience if it can’t be accessed via an app?
Yes, most course-building platforms provide a student app. Some allow branded, customized apps, but they’re almost always complicated to set up and launch.
The LearnWorlds app builder is a refreshing change and pretty much lets you create an app the same way you would a web page.
Pick from a good selection of prebuilt sections, add your branding, customize each element, and you’re done.
Then, the LearnWorlds development team will test it out and let you know if you’re good to go.
Yes, this does come at an additional cost to your usual plan subscription, but this isn’t anything out of the norm.
8. SCORM Compliant
To reinforce LearnWorlds’ suitability for B2B sales, I want to highlight that it’s a SCORM-compliant platform.
If you don’t know what that is, it basically means that LearnWorlds is compatible with other LMS platforms.
So, if you sell a LearnWorlds course to a business that already uses an LMS system, it can seamlessly integrate the course with its existing software.
The 6 Main Cons of LearnWorlds
1. It’s Not That Intuitive
Admittedly, LearnWorlds isn’t the worst platform I’ve used to create learning products, but it definitely isn’t the best either.
I find it a bit “wordy.” As a visual person, I need lots of icons and graphics to guide me toward what I need to do next.
LearnWorlds tends to rely on text-based information and instructions, which doesn’t always make it clear what you need to do or where you can find things.
Speaking of finding things, I also find that the platform isn’t laid out in an intuitive manner. I often have to refer to the user guides to figure out where a feature is hiding.
Once you have been using a platform for a while, this does become less of a problem. Still, usability is key, and I think LearnWorlds could improve here.
2. Marketing Tools Are Super-Basic
It’s painfully clear that LearnWorlds does not focus strongly on marketing. As such, it’s the least developed area of the platform.
For instance, it has a few basic funnel templates but no automated workflow feature.
Really, they’re just glorified web pages that happen to run in a specific sequence. You can’t add anything else in, like emails.
Oh, and emails. Or lack thereof.
You can send emails to your existing users. But if you want to create email campaigns for external marketing, forget it. It’s not possible.
With this in mind, think very carefully about whether you want proper marketing features included with your platform of choice.
If you do, you’ll have to use LearnWorlds alongside third-party marketing tools (added complication and expense), or it may be better to choose an actual all-in-one platform like Kajabi.
3. Transaction Fees
I make it no secret that I cannot stand transaction fees.
Oh, so you want me to pay a monthly subscription fee and an additional fee every time I make a sale?
Yeah, no thanks.
At first glance, LearnWorld’s Starter plan seems affordable at $29 per month. That is, until you realize you’ll be paying a hefty $5 fee on each and every course enrollment.
Your options are to either suck it up or upgrade to the much pricier Pro Trainer plan. Either way, expect life to get more expensive the moment you start making sales.
4. It’s Not Cheap (If You Want All the Features)
I’m also not a great fan of platforms that place their best or most desirable features on the higher-paid plans.
LearnWorlds does this. A lot.
For example, if you want interactive video tools, you have to pay a whopping $299 per month for the Learning Center plan.
Want to charge a subscription for your courses? You can’t do that on the Starter plan.
You get the idea.
While this isn’t a massive problem for established businesses with an existing customer base (because they can generally afford the higher plans), it’s restrictive for new businesses.
5. Hard to Diversify
Wanna make courses and ebooks? Great! LearnWorlds is a brilliant platform.
Want to diversify your product range to include other digital products? Or sell physical products alongside your digital ones? You’ll find LearnWorlds limited.
Branching will be difficult without using other platforms and tools.
6. You’ll Probably Need to Use Integrations
Once you get your business going, it’ll likely become necessary to use integrations at some point.
In any case, you have to integrate with a payment gateway to make sales.
But there are other things, too.
If you want to run live video sessions, you need to use an external app like Zoom.
For email marketing, it’ll be necessary to use ActiveCampaign or similar.
Just look at the sheer number of native integrations LearnWorlds offers. While this is useful, it also clearly indicates that a platform doesn’t fulfill all its customers’ needs.
Using additional tools can pose technical challenges, especially if you’re not the techiest person. You’ll also pay more—these platforms aren’t typically free.
Verdict: Do LearnWorlds’ Pros Outweigh the Cons?
I firmly believe that LearnWorlds’ pros outweigh the cons if you primarily want a platform for course building and little more. It’s a brilliant B2B solution that allows you to create structured and formal learning experiences without using a “full” LMS platform.
On the other hand, for creating diverse product ranges and marketing campaigns, the platform falls short.
Ultimately, I suggest trying out the platform for free before you commit. You can get a 30-day free trial without providing your credit card details, so it’s completely risk-free.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the Biggest Pro of Using LearnWorlds?
The biggest pro of using LearnWorlds is its course builder and assessment tools. They’re the most feature-rich among similar platforms and suitable for formal learning experiences. Additionally, the analytical tools allow for deep insights into learner behavior and preferences.
What’s the Biggest Con of Using LearnWorlds?
The biggest con of LearnWorlds is that it’s not beginner-friendly and can get expensive quickly. It’s hard to find the features you need, and if you want access to the better tools, you have to pay for a higher-tier plan.
