What is the best WordPress theme for online courses? Which themes are even worth considering?
If you’re thinking about building an online course website, you’ll need a WordPress theme that’s easy to work with and full of features to give you the functionality you need to sell online courses efficiently.
By the end of this post, you should have a better idea of which WordPress theme could take your online education business to the next level.
Here are some WordPress themes that are great for selling online courses.
The 15 Best WordPress Themes to Use for Your Online Course
Astra
Astra is one of the most popular WordPress themes among people who want to sell online courses. And considering everything it comes with, it’s no surprise that many online course developers prefer using it.
Features
This is the best WordPress theme on this list. If you can only afford to try one, you better make it Astra.
This online course WordPress theme is packed with features. It has everything you’ll need to launch your online course website. And best of all, you can design a website even if you don’t know how to code. There are plenty of customisation options to help you develop an educational website that’s uniquely yours.
You can also integrate third-party website builders like Elementor and Beaver Builder.
Astra comes with starter templates that they designed specifically for selling online courses. And you can use the LifterLMS plugin to create a distraction-free online course website.
This WordPress theme is WooCommerce-ready. That means you can transform a simple website into a robust e-commerce store seamlessly. WooCommerce has handy features like a dropdown menu that shows users the products they’ve added to their cart.
You also have the option to use sales bubbles on your online courses to encourage faster purchases.
Pricing
Astra does not have a monthly payment option. But you can pay annually or a one-time fee — which might be better for you in the long run.
The Astra Pro plan is currently priced at $44/year. The Essential Bundle is $127/per year, while the Growth Bundle is $174/per year. The one-time fee is $209, $552, and $749, respectively.
Avada
Avada is one of the best-selling WordPress themes in the marketplace. But is it worth the price?
Features
Avada is the best option for people that only need to build one website. It comes with features most expect from a modern WordPress website builder.
An Avada subscription will give you access to 6 months of customer support, eight premium plugins, 91 pre-built websites, and over 120 design and layout elements. Given these tools, you can create any type of website. That’s why it’s one of the best online course WordPress themes.
Avada works with WooCommerce. This allows you to create an online store and sell courses. All sites can be fully customised. And Avada provides lifetime updates for all of their prebuilt sites. So you never have to worry about WordPress site maintenance.
If you need to, use the Avada Form Builder to capture leads for your online education platform.
Pricing
Avada costs a one-time fee of $69. However, do note that this price is only for one website. This means you’ll have to pay $69 for every online course website you want to launch.
There is an option to buy the support extension after the initial 6-month support expires, but this is optional.
BuddyBoss for LearnDash
Do you want an online course website and app? Look no further than BuddyBoss Web.
Features
BuddyBoss is the best online course plugin for LearnDash users, considered one of the best online course platforms.
Integrating LearnDash with BuddyBoss gives you a WordPress learning management system that’s being used by different schools and universities. For an additional fee, you can use LifterLMS, which is a plugin used by independent course creators.
Course-specific buddyBoss features include the Student Dashboard, where students can enter and access their profile, points, rewards, badges, and course progression. You can also create virtual classrooms with the platform’s Zoom integration.
You can create a private social network for your students where you can post updates and send direct messages. Some tools let you gamify the learning experience. There are different ways to release lessons. For example, you can upload them in bulk or chunks. You can even create a time delay so that everybody learns simultaneously.
Pricing
Before discussing pricing, it should be mentioned that the website and app packages are separate. The website plans start at $228/year, while the app costs $179/month.
One website will cost $228/per year. Five websites cost $228/per year, while ten sites cost $388/per year.
CorpTrain
Are you a business owner simply needing a platform for distributing online training courses for employees? CorpTrain might be the solution you’re looking for.
Features
CorpTrain is the best platform for businesses that plan to release their employees’ online courses. It’s a learning management system for corporate training.
As you might expect, CorpTrain templates are all geared toward professionals. All online course themes are optimised for mobile devices so users can access them anywhere with an internet connection.
CorpTrain uses LearnPress, allowing you access to features like Event Manager and Office Payment. You can also enable Prerequisite Courses, so employees don’t access courses they’re not ready for. The Course Review feature will allow users to rate and review courses they take on all your online course websites.
You can use Elementor, a popular website builder, to customise your website as you see fit. Or you can use CorpTrain’s built-in customisation features. This theme will also work with WooCommerce.
If you plan on selling your courses to the general public, you can. There are four available payment portals: PayPal, Stripe, 2Checkout, and Authorize.net
Pricing
A regular CorpTrain license costs a one-time fee of $49, while an extended license costs $2,800.
Educavo
Educavo targets individuals and organisations in the education sector. Below are just a couple of reasons why you should consider using it.
Features
Educavo is the best online course WordPress theme for the education sector. It’s the best education WordPress theme in the market. And it’s also suitable for selling training courses, workshops, and other educational content.
The theme is responsive, meaning it will work on mobile devices. And no coding skills are required to make changes to landing pages. And you can create sliders with animation effects. Users can change their logo, headers, footers, site colours, etc.
It uses Elementor Page Builder, so customising pages should be a breeze. And it’s compatible with WooCommerce as well.
Educavo lets you create pages specifically for teachers. It even allows you to create blog posts for additional content.
And should you have questions, you can contact customer support. This should help you with setting up your educational website for online courses.
Pricing
You can buy Educavo for just $49 as of this writing. It comes with lifetime updates and customer support for six months.
Eduma
Eduma is another WordPress theme that’s designed for the education sector. But what’s nice about this theme is its demos for online schools and universities.
Features
Eduma is the best WordPress theme for anyone looking to start online school. There are plenty of demos to take inspiration from. And it uses LearnPress, which is, again, one of the best learning management systems around.
With Premium LearnPress, you can add more functionality to your site. For example, you can add Stripe as a payment option. You can also connect your site with WooCommerce. Customising your site is easy with the Thim Elementor Kit.
It also comes with a drag-and-drop certificate builder for students. Content drip is available, meaning students learn at the same pace. There is an option to add multiple instructors to edit content and manage students.
Create subscriptions using the Paid Membership Pro add-on. Use the Random Quiz feature to give students different quizzes from one another or shuffle the questions around to prevent cheating.
There are multiple header layouts to choose from. And you can pick from 4-course archive layout options.
Pricing
Eduma can be yours for a one-time fee of $69, which includes 6-month support from ThimPress. For an additional $21.38, you can extend the support to a full year.
eLumine
eLumine is a WordPress theme that suits those familiar with and using LearnDash. See what this platform has to offer you.
Features
eLumine is the best WordPress theme for those already familiar with LearnDash. This WordPress theme comes with templates for just about any niche. You can start with a basic website or create one for healthcare, digital marketing, culinary, corporate training, music, and more.
Advanced eLumine plans come with a 1-hour expert consultation, so there’s someone that can help you plan and build your elearning WordPress themes for online courses.
The top-tier plan lets you add multiple instructors. It’ll also let you use the instructor-student messaging system. Users will also gain access to ratings, reviews, and feedback. You’ll be able to do bulk enrollment. Not only will you be able to make student groups, but you will also add or remove anyone from the list. You can also download group reports.
You can produce reports for all of your courses in a summary review. And you’ll get a course completion report on top of that. eLumine will show you the pass rate for all of your courses. You get access to course enrollment and course revenue graphs.
Pricing
A lifetime fee for eLumine costs $300. The eLumine LearnDash Advisor is $423, while the eLumine + LearnDash Essential Add-on Pack is $444.
You can also pay annually. eLumine is $100/year, while eLumine LearnDash Advisor is $141/year. The eLumine + LearnDash Essential Add-on Pack is $148/year.
Guru
Guru is a simple-to-use WordPress theme that should help you get up and running as quickly as possible. Here’s everything you need to know about it.
Features
Guru is best for those that need event calendar support. It helps users build online courses for different types of audiences. And it has built-in features like Courses Assessment, Instructor Profiles, Candidate Profiles, Course Details, Related Courses, Duration, Events, and Course News.
Basically, it has most of the features you’ll need to start teaching online. Guru supports WooCommerce, which means you can use widgets like Cart, Products, Product Categories, and Price Filter. You’ll also use WooCommerce to charge for courses.
Guru is WPML-ready. That means you can create a site in multiple languages. You can use Pro Event Cal to share events with your followers.
The Sensei plugin will let you create courses and quizzes. It enables you to set course prerequisites and register users to your website. Guru comes with a quiz grading system that can check tests and grade results automatically if you want to.
Guru monitors your analytics, meaning it provides an overview of your content, grades, and registered students.
Pricing
Guru is available for a one-time fee of $69. It comes with six months of support from the theme developers.
LaunchPad for LifterLMS
LaunchPad is another WordPress theme that’s worth looking into. See what this powerful theme can do for you.
Features
LaunchPad is the best theme for users using the Lifter LMS plugin. It’s great for releasing training materials, but the theme can also be used to sell courses for just about any niche.
There are a variety of theme options to choose from. LaunchPad makes changing the logo, colours, header, and footer easy. And because it works with Google Fonts, you have more than 600 fonts to play with.
Higher-tier plans will allow you to add e-commerce features like accepting one-time or recurring credit card payments directly to your website. You can also accept payments through PayPal. These plans will also enable achievement badges for gamification and certificate backgrounds.
You can also connect your account to marketing and CRM providers to make communication with customers even more manageable. And if you want more business leads, you can extract data from potential customers using forms.
Pricing
There are three bundles to choose from. The Earth Bundle is $149/year. The Universe Bundle is $360/year. And the Infinity Bundle is $1,200/year.
There is a 30-day no-risk guarantee.
LeadEngine
LeadEngine is one of the most accessible WordPress themes to use. Here’s what you can expect when you use this theme.
Features
LeadEngine is the best theme for those that want to keep things simple. How simple? You can install it with just one click. More than 200 template blocks are waiting for you so you can start building your website right away.
And best of all, you get lifetime updates and extensive documentation with your purchase.
You can add loading animations. There is smooth scrolling navigation. Parallax scrolling is also there if you need it. And you can add forms using Contact Form 7.
Play with different layouts to see which will help make your online courses stand out. And because the theme is responsive, it’ll work on any device. The theme is compatible with WooCommerce.
Pricing
LeadEngine can be yours for a one-time purchase fee of $59.
Masterstudy Education
Do you want to see what the “most progressive WordPress theme offers? Let’s check out Masterstudy Education.
Features
Masterstudy Education is a suitable theme for you if you’re targeting the higher education market. That’s because of just how flexible it is.
Aside from selling regular courses, you can make group courses too. You can come up with different lesson types. You can adjust quiz settings. There’s an interface that lets you manage the students you have on your platform. Drip content is also available.
You can use Elementor to customise your site. And thanks to the robust LMS backend system, organising your courses and content is accessible. Integrating videos can be done through HTML, YouTube, Vimeo, external links, Presto, or by embedding them to the site.
Masterstudy supports the use of Zoom. And yes, you can live stream your lectures using Masterstudy Education.
Teachers on the platform have control over their profiles. Students can also create profiles.
Pricing
A regular Masterstudy license will cost $69.
Neve
Neve promises to let its users launch an online course website quickly. But is it any good?
Features
Neve is an excellent option for people that prioritise speed above everything else. It claims to have a Google Speed Grade of 100% and can load pages in 1 second.
It’s fast and lightweight, meaning it won’t cause too much strain on the backend. It’s being updated constantly, and new features are being added. The default WordPress install is just 28KB.
You get a ton of e-commerce functionality thanks to the WooCommerce integration. There’s an option to add a floating cart and cart notices and do catalogue layouts. There are other features like Wishlists and Sticky Cart.
The clean template makes it perfect for those who want a minimalistic online course site. You can customise by utilising drag-and-drop components. It is a flexible theme.
Pricing
There are three plans available. Personal is $69/year. Business is $149/year, and Agency is $259/year.
If you want unlimited sites, you’ll have to go for the Business or Agency plan.
Skilled
Skilled is built for course developers who want to establish a world-class online school. Let’s see what this WordPress theme is all about.
Features
Skilled is a great theme for people that want something fresh and modern. Like other online course WordPress themes, it does not require users to use code to customise their site design. And it can work regardless of your online course niche.
This is a WordPress elearning theme compatible with Sensei. However, this premium WordPress plugin has to be purchased separately.
You can use Skilled to offer paid courses though it also lets you offer free courses. Skilled works with WooCommerce.
Pricing
You can buy the Skilled online course theme for $60.
Sydney
What does the Sydney theme offer its users? Is it any different from the other themes on this list? Let’s find out.
Features
Sydney is the theme for users who want a site optimised for search engines. And it’s not just for online courses. You can create any website using this theme. You can even do blogs if you’d like, with its many archive and post layouts.
Because it’s so lightweight and fast, sites built using Sydney can rank higher on search engine result pages.
If you want e-commerce functionality, you can rely on the theme’s integration with WooCommerce. There’s also support for Elementor.
Pricing
With Sydney, you’re buying licenses. A single license will cost $69 per year. If you want five licenses, you’ll pay $99 per year. Unlimited licenses cost $199/year.
It’s worth pointing out that white labelling is only available in the highest-tiered plan.
WPLMS
WPLMS is the last entry on this list. But it certainly isn’t the least when it comes to features.
Features
WPLMS is the best theme for you if you aim to launch a web and mobile app to sell courses simultaneously.
This theme lets users collaborate with other instructors and build a strong community. It enables you to have unlimited members, create unlimited courses, handle server crashes well, and even work offline.
It uses the same framework for websites and apps. That means you can launch an app without entering a line of code. You don’t even need a separate app for students and instructors. Everyone can use the same app.
You can use gamification to encourage students, assign multiple course start dates, and upload content directly from Vimeo and YouTube. Drip content is available.
There is a built-in solution for web payments. WPLMS works with third-party solutions like WooCommerce, Firebase, Twilio, Mailchimp, Zapier, and more.
Pricing
The WPLMS LMS only costs $75. It comes with 6-month support from VibeThemes.
Conclusion
There is plenty of online course WordPress themes available. As for which one you should choose, it all depends on your budget and needs. Hopefully, this list helps you narrow down your selection to a few.
Which among the featured themes you’ve tried and liked the best? Or do you know other themes readers should use for their online courses? Comment your answers below!
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