LearnDash vs Podia Comparison 2026
Both cover courses & coaching. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
Turn a WordPress site into a course platform
Courses, downloads and email in one place
At a glance
- Podia starts cheaper, at $42.
- Neither has a free tier.
- LearnDash bills annually only, so there is no month to try it for.
Side by side
LearnDash | Podia | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $259 | From $42 |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Paid subscription | Free trial, then paid |
| Free tier | No | No |
| Billing (they differ) | Annual only | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | Not stated | 30 days |
| API | Not stated | Not stated |
LearnDash
Turn a WordPress site into a course platform
LearnDash is the answer for somebody who already has a WordPress site and does not want their course living on somebody else's domain. Lessons, quizzes, drip schedules and certificates all become part of the site you own, and the payment plugin is your choice rather than theirs. Hosting, backups and the security of that site stay your problem. That is the whole trade against a hosted platform.
Our note
Add hosting and a payment plugin to the licence before comparing this against a hosted platform, because $259 is the floor rather than the total. The reason to choose it is ownership: the course sits on your domain, feeds your own SEO, and does not disappear if a vendor changes its plans.
Only on this side
- Covers website builders
Podia
Courses, downloads and email in one place
Podia sells courses, digital downloads, coaching and memberships from one storefront, with an email tool attached so the list and the products live together. Nothing in it is the best version of itself, and that is the trade being offered: one subscription instead of four. The entry plan charges 5 percent of sales, which the two plans above it drop.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.