CourseGlade Comparison
CourseGlade and Tutor LMS both have a free version. They are not the same size.
Tutor LMS is one of the most widely installed WordPress LMS plugins, and it is a capable product. But the free-versus-Pro line falls in a very different place than it does with CourseGlade, and payments are where you notice it first.
The addon architecture is the whole story
Everything else on this page follows from one design decision.
Tutor LMS delivers most of its capability through addons. The free plugin includes the addon management screen and lists roughly thirty addons on it — certificates, assignments, gradebook, content drip, Zoom, Google Meet, course bundles, subscriptions, social login and the rest. Every one of them is locked to Pro.
That is not a criticism of the model; plenty of good products work that way. It just means the free version is best understood as a course builder with PayPal, rather than a complete LMS. Deciding between the two really comes down to whether you are comparing free-to-free or paid-to-paid.
Paid-to-paid, the products are much closer. Tutor LMS Pro is a deep, well-built product and every paid tier includes the full feature set — their tiers differ only by site count and licence length, the same approach CourseGlade takes. The gap is in what you get before paying anything.
What you can charge with, before paying anything
| Gateway | Tutor LMS | CourseGlade |
|---|---|---|
| PayPal | Free | Free |
| Manual / bank transfer | Free | Free |
| Stripe | Pro — from $199/yr | Free |
| WooCommerce | Free | Free |
| Authorize.net, Paddle, Mollie, Klarna, Razorpay, Paystack, Alipay | Pro | Not supported |
Tutor LMS supports far more gateways than CourseGlade does overall — Klarna, Mollie, Paystack and Alipay have no CourseGlade equivalent. If you need one of those specifically, that is a genuine reason to choose Tutor LMS Pro. The difference is that Stripe, the gateway most course sellers reach for first, sits behind Pro there and is free here.
Feature by feature, before you pay
| Feature | Tutor LMS free | CourseGlade |
|---|---|---|
| Certificates on completion | Pro only | Pro addon |
| Assignments with grading | Pro only | Pro addon |
| Gradebook | Pro only | Pro addon |
| Content drip | Pro only | Pro addon |
| Live classes (Zoom / Google Meet) | Pro only | Pro addon |
| Course bundles | Pro only | Pro addon |
| Multi-instructor courses | Contested — see note | Free |
| Stripe checkout | Pro only | Free |
| Coupons and discounts | Included | Free |
| Quiz builder | Basic only | Free, 7 question types |
| Course Q&A, reviews, wishlist | Partly | Free |
A note on multi-instructor, because we could not settle it. Tutor LMS publishes two feature tables that disagree with each other on whether multi-instructor support and revenue sharing are free or Pro, and the free plugin source contains a working commission setting. We are not going to claim their free version lacks something when their own code suggests otherwise. Check it against your own install before it drives your decision.
What both cost
Tutor LMS Pro
- Annual — $199 (1 site) · $399 (10) · $799 (unlimited)
- Lifetime — $499 (1) · $999 (10) · $1,999 (50)
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- All paid tiers include every feature
CourseGlade Pro
- Annual — $99 (1 site) · $199 (5) · $399 (25)
- No lifetime option
- 14-day money-back guarantee
- All paid tiers include every addon
Tutor LMS offers a lifetime licence and a longer refund window; CourseGlade does not. If a one-time payment matters more to you than the annual figure, that is a real advantage on their side — with the caveat that lifetime Agency covers fewer sites than the cheaper annual Agency.
Where Tutor LMS is the better choice
You want a lifetime licence
CourseGlade does not sell one. If you are certain about the platform and want to stop paying, that settles it.
You need a gateway we do not support
Klarna, Mollie, Paystack, Alipay, Authorize.net and Paddle are all Tutor LMS Pro features with no CourseGlade equivalent.
Install base is your risk signal
100,000+ active installs and 585 WordPress.org ratings is a track record CourseGlade does not have yet. That is a legitimate reason to pick them.
Before you decide
What does "zero functional addons in free" actually mean?
Tutor LMS is built on an addon architecture. The free plugin ships a file listing thirty addons — certificates, assignments, gradebook, content drip, multi-instructor, Zoom, Google Meet, course bundles, subscriptions and more — and every one of them renders as Pro-locked. You can see the addon screen, but nothing on it activates without a Pro licence. This is a structural difference from CourseGlade, where the free plugin includes working payments, instructors and commissions.
Can I take card payments on free Tutor LMS?
Not natively. The free version ships PayPal and manual bank transfer only, and Tutor LMS documentation states plainly that Stripe requires an active Pro subscription. There is a workaround: WooCommerce integration is available on free, so you can install WooCommerce and use its Stripe gateway. That is a real option, just a heavier one than a built-in gateway.
Is the lifetime licence worth it?
It depends how long you expect to run the site, and it is worth reading the site counts carefully. Annual Agency at $799 covers unlimited sites; lifetime Agency at $1,999 covers up to 50. The more expensive lifetime tier is the more restricted one on site count. For a single site, lifetime Individual at $499 pays for itself against annual at $199 after two and a half years.
Does Tutor LMS Pro stop working if I do not renew?
No. Their terms state that the installed product remains usable after the subscription lapses — what stops is updates and support. CourseGlade behaves the same way. Your courses and students are not held hostage by either product.
Which one is more established?
Tutor LMS, comfortably. It has 100,000+ active installs and 585 ratings on WordPress.org averaging 4.4 out of 5. CourseGlade is a newer plugin with a smaller install base. If install count is your primary risk signal, that is a fair point in their favour.
Competitor pricing and feature details on this page were verified on 6 August 2026 against the sources below. Vendors change pricing without notice — check the source links for the current figures. CourseGlade is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any product named on this page. All trademarks belong to their respective owners.
Sell a course before you spend anything
Stripe, WooCommerce, coupons, instructors and commissions are all in the free CourseGlade plugin. Pro adds the twelve addons for $99 a year.