Sensei LMS vs LearnDash LMS
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| Feature | Sensei LMS v4.26.4 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 3.5/5 Visit Details | LearnDash LMS v4.23.2.1 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Paid Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 9,000+ | — |
| Last updated | September 29, 2026 | — |
| Editions | Sensei LMS · Sensei Pro ($) | LearnDash LMS ($) |
| Pros | Courses, lessons and quizzes registered as their own content types; Learner progress and quiz results stored in plugin tables; Video embeds from YouTube and Vimeo | Course, lesson, topic and quiz structure; Groups, certificates and progress reports; Large set of shortcodes and widgets; REST API endpoints for integrations |
| Cons | Selling courses and groups needs the separate Sensei Pro plugin; Paid courses rely on WooCommerce | Commercial licence key needed for updates; Payment and AI features need vendor or third-party accounts; Very large codebase, around 3,000 files |
| Mentioned in our posts | 1 | — |
| More features | ||
| Other features | Course post type, Lesson and quiz post types, Learner progress reports from plugin tables, Quiz submissions, answers and grades stored in tables, YouTube and Vimeo video embeds, Sensei widgets, Sell-course prompt that points to Sensei Pro, Groups feature upsell to Sensei Pro, Usage tracking that asks first | Course, lesson and topic content types ($), Quizzes ($), Course groups and group emails ($), PDF certificates ($), Course creation wizard ($), ProPanel reporting ($), REST API endpoints ($), Course widgets ($), AI virtual instructor (needs an OpenAI key) ($) |
| Integrations | ||
| Payment | — | Stripe ($) |
| MailPoet | — | |
| Marketing | Mailchimp | — |
| Social | Vimeo | — |
| E-commerce | WooCommerce ($) | — |
| Plugins | WPML, Divi | — |
| Other | — | OpenAI ($), TrustedLogin support access, LearnDash licensing server ($) |
| Requires WordPress | 6.9 | 6.6 |
| Requires PHP | 7.4 | 7.4 |
| Tested up to | 7.1 | 6.8.2 |
| Phones home | Only if you agree | Only if you agree |
| External services | player.vimeo.com, vimeo.com, public-api.wordpress.com, senseilms.us19.list-manage.com | translations.learndash.com, api.openai.com, licensing.learndash.com, connect.learndash.com, api.razorpay.com, auth.razorpay.com, app.trustedlogin.com, www.trustedlogin.com, status.trustedlogin.com, api.stripe.com |
| Blocks | 44 | — |
| Shortcodes | — | 39 |
| Custom tables | 4 | — |