LearnWorlds Pricing: Complete Breakdown of Plans, Costs & Hidden Fees
LearnWorlds is one of the more capable online course platforms out there, but their pricing structure has some gotchas you need to know about before committing. Let me break down exactly what you'll pay, what you'll get, and where the platform falls short.
The short version: LearnWorlds has four pricing tiers ranging from $24/month to custom enterprise pricing. The Starter plan is cheap but comes with a $5 transaction fee per course sale. Most serious course creators will need the Pro Trainer plan at $79/month (annual) to avoid getting nickel-and-dimed.
LearnWorlds Pricing Plans at a Glance
Here's what you're looking at for monthly costs:
| Plan | Monthly Billing | Annual Billing | Transaction Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $29/month | $24/month | $5 per sale |
| Pro Trainer | $99/month | $79/month | None |
| Learning Center | $299/month | $249/month | None |
| High Volume & Corporate | Custom | Custom | None |
Annual billing saves you roughly 20% across all plans. LearnWorlds offers a 30-day free trial without requiring a credit card, which is pretty generous compared to most competitors.
Starter Plan ($24-$29/month): Good for Testing, Bad for Selling
The Starter plan is where most people begin, and LearnWorlds prices it competitively at $24/month when billed annually or $29/month for monthly billing.
What you get:
- Unlimited paid courses
- Custom domain
- Basic website builder (limited to 3 pages: homepage, course catalog, and after-login page)
- Quizzes and basic assessments
- Four payment gateway options (Stripe, PayPal, etc.)
- Basic integrations (Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, AWeber, etc.)
The catches:
- $5 transaction fee on every course sale — this is the killer. Sell a $50 course and you're losing 10% right off the top
- Cannot offer free courses
- Cannot sell memberships or subscriptions
- Only 1 admin/instructor account
- Limited to 3 website pages
- No live classes or webinars
Honestly, the $5 transaction fee makes this plan a poor choice if you're actually selling courses. It's better suited as an extended trial to learn the platform. If you're selling even 20 courses a month at $100 each, you're paying $100 in transaction fees alone — that's more than the Pro Trainer plan costs.
Pro Trainer Plan ($79-$99/month): The Sweet Spot for Most Creators
Pro Trainer is where LearnWorlds starts making sense for serious course creators. At $79/month (annual) or $99/month (monthly), you eliminate the transaction fees and unlock features that actually let you build a real business.
Key additions over Starter:
- Zero transaction fees — you keep 100% of your sales
- Offer free courses (useful for lead magnets)
- Sell subscriptions and memberships
- Up to 5 admin/instructor accounts
- Unlimited website pages with full page builder
- Blog functionality
- Live classes and webinars
- Advanced assessments and certificates
- 24/7 email support
- File assignments
This is the plan I'd recommend for most independent course creators and small training businesses. The jump from $24 to $79/month is significant, but you're getting a lot more functionality and eliminating that annoying transaction fee.
Learning Center Plan ($249-$299/month): For Scaling Operations
The Learning Center plan is marketed as LearnWorlds' "most popular" option, though I suspect that's more aspirational than accurate. At $249/month (annual) or $299/month (monthly), this is a serious investment.
What makes it worth considering:
- Interactive videos — embed quizzes, buttons, tables of contents, and branching paths directly in videos
- White-label mobile apps (available as an add-on)
- Advanced analytics and student progress reports
- Bulk user actions and mass email functionality
- 20 admin/instructor accounts
- API and webhooks access
- Priority 24/7 support
- Premium onboarding
- SCORM compliance
- Content synchronization across courses
The interactive video feature is genuinely impressive and hard to find elsewhere. If you're running an academy with multiple instructors or need detailed learner analytics, this tier makes sense. For solo creators, it's probably overkill.
High Volume & Corporate Plan: Enterprise Pricing
LearnWorlds doesn't publish pricing for their enterprise tier — you'll need to contact their sales team. This plan includes unlimited admins and instructors, dedicated success manager, 99.95% uptime guarantee, premium cloud servers, custom SLAs, and enhanced security features.
If you're training hundreds of employees or running a large-scale academy, this is where you'll end up. Expect to negotiate based on your specific needs.
Hidden Costs and Add-Ons to Watch For
LearnWorlds' base pricing is relatively transparent, but there are some additional costs that can add up:
Mobile App Add-On: If you want your own branded iOS/Android app for students, you'll pay an additional $149-$169/month (annual billing). This is only available on Learning Center and higher plans. Building both iOS and Android apps costs $249-$299/month. That's a substantial add-on that many competitors include in their higher tiers.
Email Marketing: LearnWorlds integrates with email tools like Mailchimp, AWeber, and ConvertKit, but doesn't have robust built-in email marketing. You'll likely need a separate email platform, adding $20-$100+/month depending on your list size.
VAT for EU Customers: Prices exclude VAT, which will be added for EU customers unless you provide a valid VAT number.
LearnWorlds Free Trial: What You Actually Get
LearnWorlds offers a 30-day free trial without requiring credit card information. During the trial, you get access to most core features, but some limitations apply: you can't use a custom domain, white-labeling is disabled, bulk actions aren't available, and you can't connect payment gateways.
The trial is genuinely useful for exploring the platform's course builder and page editor. If the trial expires without upgrading, your school gets scheduled for deletion — you won't be charged automatically.
Is LearnWorlds Worth the Price?
LearnWorlds is worth it if:
- You prioritize interactive learning experiences (their video tools are best-in-class)
- You're building a branded academy with multiple courses
- You need robust assessment and certification features
- SCORM compliance matters for your training
LearnWorlds probably isn't worth it if:
- You're just starting out and budget-conscious (the Starter plan's transaction fees hurt)
- You want all-in-one marketing tools built-in
- You're primarily building community, not courses
- You only need to sell one or two simple courses
Compared to competitors like Thinkific (which offers a free plan) or Teachable, LearnWorlds is positioned as a more premium option. You're paying for better interactive features and a more polished course player, but you're also dealing with a steeper learning curve and less integrated marketing tools.
Which LearnWorlds Plan Should You Choose?
Here's my honest take:
- Testing the platform? Use the 30-day free trial, not the Starter plan
- Selling courses regularly? Go straight to Pro Trainer ($79/month annual). The transaction fee savings alone justify the upgrade within a few sales
- Running a training business or academy? Learning Center ($249/month annual) if you need interactive videos, analytics, and team features
- Enterprise/corporate training? Contact sales for custom pricing
The price jump between tiers is substantial, so be realistic about which features you actually need. Don't pay for Learning Center just because it's "popular" — Pro Trainer handles most use cases perfectly well.
Try LearnWorlds free for 30 days and see if the platform fits your workflow before committing to a paid plan.