Teachable vs LearnWorlds 

Teachable and LearnWorlds are often listed as some of the top online course platforms.

They both have in the 10,000’s of active users and have been around for the better part of a decade.

They have a lot in common but today we’re going to put to rest which one is better for you to host and sell your online programs.

As we alluded to, the two platforms have a lot more in common than they have differences.

And that’s why only a seasoned user would be able to break down what sets them apart. That’s what we’re going to do today to help you decide without having to spend all that time!

They’re both course-only platforms, meaning that they do help with setting up a basic website, taking payment and building your program.

But they’re not all-in-one platforms and most creators will need external tools to complete their tech stacks.

At the very least, you’ll need an email marketing software to integrate.

The main difference between Teachable and LearnWorlds will therefore be in the details for each of their major features, so let’s get into it.

First let’s quickly go over their main pros and cons:

We’re going to break down the main features Teachable and LearnWorlds offer, which fall into 3 categories:

• Website and Funnel building
• Checkout and affiliate system
• Online course building

We’re also including an “Other” category for features that one of the two platforms have the other doesn’t.

Website & Funnel Building

Teachable’s website and page builder is relatively limited.

It’s a front-end block builder with pre-made sections where the layout can’t be easily changed.

There are no page templates that you can use natively or import from 3rd party shops.

Which makes it very difficult to build a high converting page, most Teachable users use an external funnel builder instead of Teachable pages.

LearnWorlds on the other hand offers a flexible page builder with lots of bells and whistles:

You can choose from a range of page templates and make them yours. You can also use premade sections with great design.

Each block is then highly customizable.

You can also create global elements with the header and footer to be applied and updated across your site.

But also easily copy a section from one page to another. You can create popups, access the code editor for the page,...

And here is one other big difference with Teachable: LearnWorlds makes it easy to build a solid funnel, capture email addresses, apply tags,etc.

Overall as you may have understood, LearnWorlds is miles ahead of Teachable in this area, in fact many Teachable users have to use an external platform for their funnel builder.

Checkout & Affiliate System

One of the upsides of using an online course platform is the integrated checkout system to take payments and automatically give access to the relevant program.

Teachable and LearnWorlds both have secured cart systems.

You’ll have to connect a payment gateway to process payment.

Teachable allows for integration with:

• Stripe
• PayPal

LearnWorlds offers:

• Stripe
• PayPal
• PagSeguro

You’ll then set up your payment structure for each course: one-time fee, recurring payment, free trial,etc.

Both platforms are relatively similar here, in terms of functionality and design of the checkout - which is a bit limited.

One difference is that Teachable will natively help you collect sales tax by detecting where your customers are.

LearnWorlds will require an integration with Quaderno to do that.

Another important thing that comes with a checkout is the affiliate program features.

This is what would allow you to recruit partners to promote your courses through their exclusive link.

Both Teachable and LearnWorlds are relatively similar here:

That being said, Teachable does offer automatic payout for the affiliate program while LearnWorlds payouts are manual.

Overall, Teachable is doing a little better on this feature, but nothing that would be a deal maker for most users.

Online Course Building

This might be the most important feature for online course creators!

Creating an amazing learning experience ensures that you’ll get glowing reviews, and also: happy customers buy again.

Both platforms come with a course builder and support video hosting, so you won’t need any extra tool.

Both course builders are relatively similar in terms of how you’ll build each module.

You can add as much content as you’d like. Teachable looks a bit more visual, with a simple section by section builder.

But LearnWorlds offer a lot more options and learning tools here.

You can embed SCORM/HTML 5 documents, setup exams and quizzes, certificates of completions, self assessment…

Teachable only offers a basic Quiz feature for instance.

But beyond the course content, LearnWorlds also offers, on higher plans, to set up interactive videos where students will be prompted with actions during the lessons!

This is a very unique feature and can be a great way to make your courses engaging.

You can also embed live sessions if you’re running that kind of program, add watermarks to protect your videos or even get an automated transcript.

I also particularly like the Library of videos, images and assets LearnWorlds offer to easily and neatly organize your documents:

All in all, this is another homerun for LearnWorlds and Teachable is way behind when it comes to providing an exceptional online course experience.

Again, if you’re just wanting to offer very simple and basic courses, this may not be a dealbreaker.

Other Tools & Features

Now that we’ve reviewed the main features for both platforms…

Let’s review and highlight a few tools that each offers that could nudge you in a direction or another!

Teachable:

• Coaching: Teachable has a nifty Coaching features that allow you to intake new clients and give them assignments. It’s also an easy way to manage these types of clients independently from people in your self paced programs.
• Mobile app: both platforms offer a mobile app for your student to access on the go, you’ll find the Teachable app for both Android and iOS.

LearnWorlds:

• Mobile app: LearnWorlds mobile app is very customizable and can even be white-labeled. You can set up in-app purchases and test directly on the platform.
• Gamification: You can turn on Gamification for your courses and give students badges based on their actions to increase engagement:

• Profile directory: your students can create a public profile and explore and connect with other students.

Throughout this comparison, we’ve reviewed both platforms and their full features.

Of course, you would only unlock all features on the highest plan.

So it’s a good idea to realistically compare Teachable and LearnWorlds and their pricing together as well as which features you can get for each tier.

As you can see, Teachable has a basic free tier that would allow you to take your time and explore the platform on your own.

The basic plan will still have a sales fee attached to it and you’ll need to upgrade to the Pro plan to get features such as the affiliate marketing program, upsells and unlimited courses.

LearnWorlds offers more on its Starter plan, along with a 30 days trial.

That being said, a lot of features we have reviewed here are only available on the Learning Center plan which goes for $249/mo.

Overall, we’ve seen that LearnWorlds tends to have more and better features to offer, but it does come with an extra price.