25 Free Learning Management Systems (2024 updated)

Having a free online LMS can seriously level up your organization’s learning game. It's a secret weapon to fine-tune your training programs and make them perfectly aligned with your objectives. In this article, we're diving deep into all the free learning management systems that are rocking the scene. We'll uncover all their key features, so you'll know exactly which ones are worth checking out.

What are free learning management systems?

Learning management systems (LMS) are elearning tools that simplify every step of the training process. From content creation to course delivery, these software make it easy to make the training experience meaningful and impactful. Even after delivery, most LMS have reporting and analytics that will give teams and managers insights to improve training and the learning experience overall.

Among many learning management systems, there are free tools that aim to make training accessible and therefore improve the way we all learn at work. These systems will also help your company achieve organizational goals overall by impacting every employee.

Benefits of using free learning management systems

Now, that we understand what LMS is, let's see the direct benefits of using free learning management systems in your current workflow.

• Cut costs and save time: You can get your time back and save on costs that could have been spent on expensive coursework or resource speakers. With free learning management systems, you can build your training programs from scratch without even having to worry about delivery.
• Engage your teams: Most LMS design training is fun and effective so that learners are encouraged to finish the coursework. With an LMS, you can ensure that learning overall is interesting, meaningful, and impactful. You can use insights from the reporting and analytics features to understand what your learners want and need from learning content. This way you can customize accordingly.
• Improve training overall: An LMS just makes sure that every step of the learning process is streamlined. With efficient systems, you and your teams can focus on more important tasks.

1. SC Training (formerly EdApp)

To kick off this list of free learning management systems, here’s a comprehensive breakdown of the top LMS software, SC Training. This mobile-first training solution is trusted by some of the biggest names out there. Organizations like the United Nations, Mizuno, Shell, and Marley Spoon all use the platform to train teams, whether they're big or small, all around the globe.

Now, here's the cool part. SC Training's elearning ecosystem consists of four core products: the Editable Course Library, Creator Tool, Admin Experience, and Learner Experience. 

Let's talk about the Editable Course Library first. It's integrated right into the platform and lets you check out pre-made courses from industry leaders that you can simply drag and drop into your account.

Plus, the library is constantly growing, so you'll have valuable resources to train your audience. And since SC Training is all about being mobile-first, your learners can complete the courseware right from their smartphones.

In addition to the existing content, you have the power to create your own with SC Training's built-in authoring feature called the Creator Tool. This tool is amazing because you can design engaging microlessons without any coding knowledge. It's an all-in-one solution that offers endless possibilities. Aside from its template approach, you can easily include multimedia elements like videos, images, audio files, and external URLs in your microlessons.

If you lack the time, resources, or inspiration to get started with your course creation, you can also use SC Training's Create with AI tool. With the help of AI, it can help bring your courses to life at the push of a button – significantly reducing the time needed for brainstorming or research.

Now let's talk about SC Training's Admin Experience. This feature gives you ultimate control and flexibility over how you deliver and manage your team’s learning content. You can easily monitor the performance of your courses, identify any skill gaps, and track behavioral trends using the analytics and reporting suite.

The Learner Experience, on the other hand, is designed to enhance your team’s learning experience and deliver better training results. One of SC Training’s cutting-edge learner features is gamification, which includes smartphone-like games and fun quiz templates. It's a fun and motivating way to incentivize your team!

Cost: Free (up to 10 users)

Features:

• Microlearning
• Authoring tool
• Training library
• Reporting and Analytics
• Gamification

Start using the best free learning management system on the market! Sign up with SC Training today.

2. Blackboard Lean

Blackboard Learn is an online LMS platform for teachers that allows instructors to engage with their students anywhere, anytime with an interactive eLearning platform that fits the needs of your students. This free LMS allows you to post and update course materials, interact with students, promote collaboration, and assess and improve performance, all from one place.

It allows teachers and instructors from all levels, from kindergarten to university-level courses to add web-based content to their curriculum, or even build a whole class from the ground up and host it online. With the help of AI-powered tools, it’s easy for students to find your class and follow along.

3. ATutor

ATutor is a free and open-source LMS for education, used to develop and manage online courses and to create and distribute interoperable eLearning content. It’s a cost-effective learning management tool that allows teachers to develop online courses and create lms based eLearning content.

The learning management system LMS software provides several development tools for administrators, instructors and learners, and is designed with adaptability and accessibility in mind. The free LMS software is inclusive and features assistive technology for those with disabilities. It also allows for social networking, messaging, file storage, lms tracking, and communication tools.

4. MyiCourse

Just like CourseSites, MyiCourse is a free learning management system for teachers catered to those who wish to teach online. The difference is, MyiCourse allows you to establish a virtual institution where you can publish or even sell educational content. You can either host a “public” college with your courses available to everyone on the Internet or put up a “private” college with content available to a selected group of people.

In this regard, it is a little more sophisticated and allows you to create customized, interactive courses to train and engage your employees or students. Other features include branding options, test question creation, customizable certificates, custom registration, and the ability to monetize coursework.

5. Coggno

Whereas some of the options in this list offer LMS for elearning that are very technical and highly customizable, Coggno (again, more of a tool in the education space) is a free learning management system that encourages simplicity. Compared to an open-source learner management system, this LMS offers training and LMS administrator certificate globally and delivers a single LMS on cloud to connect stakeholders together. The downside is that Coggno charges for their courses, which are not built-in to the platform, but rather offered as add ons.

Coggno courses that are available for purchase are priced at around 4.95 per course. On top of being costly, these courses aren’t editable like SC Training (formerly EdApp)’s, which limits your authoring experience even further without customization capabilities.

6. GoSkills

GoSkills was created as an LMS platform adequate for businesses of all sizes. Unfortunately, this platform is not completely free but, rather, offers a free trial. The corporate LMS incorporates elements of gamification to encourage friendly competition among your participants and supports all kinds of content and files to ensure the content remains engaging.

This cloud-based, free eLearning platform is a mobile-ready software that has a host of tools that give insight into the progress your participants are making. The downside is that courses are not editable within their library and their priced options are quite expensive.

7. Chamilo

Chamilo is a free online learning content management system that allows you to create individual classes. It allows you to create a virtual campus for your learning management system training. It is designed for ease of use and speed and includes basic features such as course catalog, skills management, certificate generation, and SCORM support.

Chamilo offers ease of creation regarding training content, as well as a host of education management solutions to track participants’ results. It can accommodate over 3,000 simultaneous connected learners through its cloud compatibility and therefore is a good solution for large companies that train many people at the same time. One drawback with Chamilo is its limited integration options. It also has only a small number of templates to use, meaning more time and effort is needed to create content.

8. Sakai

Sakai is a product of the joint resources of colleges, universities, and some commercial firms that help design, build, test, and refine the software on an ongoing, voluntary basis. It is a platform built by the community, for the community. This free LMS offers a responsive design and some basic features like banner alerts, notifications, lesson tool enhancements, and intelligent feedback.

This platform environment promotes training, learning, research and other pursuits of acquiring knowledge. It’s a constantly changing platform that continually improves to meet the needs of the community that created it, and which it was created for. All in all, it gives teams of Sakai learners an edge that you won't find in other LMSs.

9. Schoology

Unlike some of the other top LMS systems in this list, PowerSchool's Schoology is an LMS that particularly focuses on the needs of students. This elearning LMS allows you to track progress while also monitoring attendance, share instructional materials, and undertake grade recording.  It is a flexible interface with a real focus on improving the student experience and meeting their most immediate needs.

10. Appsembler

Appsembler’s sophisticated cloud-based training platform makes it easy to create and instantly deliver hands-on, immersive learning experiences that stick. They believe in learning by doing, and so their courses and training is very hands-on, giving participants a real-world scenario and environment in which to practice their skills and develop their training. Their LMS is similar to other platforms listed, but the downside is that it requires you to integrate with their platform.

11. Employment Hero

If you’re looking for an LMS eLearning that will help manage your HR, payroll, performance, learning, recognition, and employee benefits in one integrated platform, then Employment Hero is the perfect solution.

This LMS is self-serving and performs transactional tasks like submitting leave requests and viewing payslips. While it’s not completely free, users have a 14-day free trial to experience their features like applicant tracking, paperless onboarding, accelerated collaboration, HR compliance, electronic visa checks, and more. 

12. NextThought

NextThought LMS is dedicated to driving next-generation learning for corporate workspaces. It has done a good job of incorporating the digitally enabled social aspects of the learning experience, like gamification, online communities, and collaborative features (e.g., contextual conversations). For various services, monthly and annual tiered subscriptions are available. There is also a free trial, but the price then increases after it expires (tiered).

13. Acorn

Acorn is a cloud-based LMS software application that is popular among small to midsize businesses, as well as non-profit organizations. It is SCORM-compliant, customizable, and great for administrative tasks.

If you want to sell your courseware, you can also benefit from their monetary option. ACORN can be quite expensive, with a monthly subscription starting at 00 for less than 100 users and .50 per user for 101-500 users. It provides a 60-day free trial for those interested in trying out its features.

14. Donesafe

Donesafe is also a cloud-based eLearning LMS that can host scalable training ranging from five to 100,000+ learners. It specializes in the Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) function, and it offers mobile learning features with limited social features such as gamification, leader boards, and video conferencing.

What’s great about this LMS software is that it allows L&D leaders to deploy their blended learning content and training resources in a few easy steps. Donesafe offers customized pricing plans with a free trial. 

15. Knowmax

As one of the best learning management systems, Knowmax does more than just deliver an eLearning LMS – it provides a better customer experience by creating and distributing consistent knowledge flow across all or targeted customer touchpoints. It includes all employees in contact centers, as well as those across the field and digital channels such as chatbots and websites.

This LMS flexibly integrates with third-party platforms like Zendesk and Salesforce learning management system. You can choose a plan with Knowmax, and the best part is that each one comes with a free trial.

16. Trainual

Trainual is also an excellent free LMS tool that you can use to provide quicker and easier employee training and onboarding without location restrictions. Building learning materials, like sales handbooks, hiring checklists, and orientation outlines, is easy and hassle-free, thanks to its 150+ free pre-built templates.

While it does not support SCORM or other eLearning formats, there is the option of embedding images, videos, and multiple-choice questions. If you want to document your organization’s policies and procedures, this platform also offers around 30+ free Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) templates that you can use, so you no longer have to start from scratch. Starting with Trainual is free, but after that, you’ll have to pay at least 9 USD per month.

17. CYPHER Learning

If you’re looking for a great learning management system platform with a nice and user-friendly dashboard, CYPHER Learning is a good option. Its highly functional dashboard functions in a drag-and-drop format, allowing course creators to create and manage all activities related to learning with ease.

This includes building online classes, financing collaborations, assessing students, checking achievement, and many more. Unfortunately, this LMS is best used for school learning, so you probably won’t be able to maximize some of its features, like waitlists and time-limited classes.

18. Forma LMS

Forma LMS is well-known in the corporate world for its vast range of excellent features and services. For starters, it has a modern and responsive layout, designed for an easy and engaging user experience—no learning curve! Plus, you can use this LMS to create engaging courses in different formats: SCORM multimedia, HTML pages, videos, and powerful assessments.

This platform also has a range of certificates, competent leadership support, and a wide range of virtual classroom management tools, including a variety of calendars and event managers. Forma LMS is free, although you can also upgrade your subscription to make the most of its features.

19. ProProfs

This free learning management system can take charge of the entire training cycle for you, so you can focus on more important tasks. ProProfs works as a cloud-based LCMS and SaaS, where you can create courses and quizzes, track the progress of each employee, and organize virtual classes.

This learning management platform also provides a premium library with pre-made courses on topics, such as compliance and customer service, which you can easily deploy to your teams. You don’t have to worry about accessibility since all learning materials made via ProProfs are easily accessible through desktop and mobile devices.

20. 360learning

360learning is another top-notch LMS solution that you can use to manage your workforce. There are diverse tools that make it possible to train new and existing employees, like its authoring tool, content integration system, and analytics dashboard. With 360Learning, workers also have access to collaborative learning features like discussion boards and group pages, which allow them to participate in meetings with both managers and their fellow employees.

All the best online LMS tools require no technical skills to use, which is ideal if your company is only starting to shift to online training. 360Learning has a free trial for 14 days and should you want to subscribe, there are three plans to choose from: team, business, and enterprise.

21. Looop

Designed for enterprises, Looop is a highly ranked learning management system to deliver your online learning activities. With a focus on automation, the platform includes campaigns, user insights, dashboards, and resource builders. Looop’s UX design means you can create engaging learning materials.

This platform is ideal if your organization juggles multiple platforms since Looop automates the delivery of training content through channels like Microsoft Teams and Slack. On top of that, they also offer SCIM integration to synchronize data between different applications. Beyond integrations, the learning software also has some built-in features to measure completion rates and identify learning gaps to create great workplace training.

22. Auzmor Learn

Compared to some of the best open-source LMS, this cloud learning management system enables organizations and businesses to deliver, manage, and track training materials for employees and their other stakeholders. With Auzmor Learn, you can author courses and store them along with other data in one place.

If you decide to go with this LMS, you will get a dashboard that shows the progress of your learners, and the learners will also have a similar dashboard to keep track of their learning activities. One great feature of Auzmor Learn is its open enrollment feature. With this feature, your workers will be able to enroll themselves in any course and continuously upgrade their knowledge. We would love to see this platform get an international deployment function for teams that speak multiple languages.

23. Studocu

Studocu is a platform that allows you to significantly improve academic performance. There is a huge amount of educational materials and notes created by more than 15 million students from different parts of the world. The tool is perfect for preparing for exams and tests. On Studocu you can find answers to exam tickets from fellow students and course experts.

The ability to save lists for training and groups, notifications about the arrival of new materials for courses of interest, the sharing function with friends, and much more, make the learning and research process as convenient and efficient as possible.

24. Coconut Learning

Coconut Learning offers an unrivaled learning experience for every type of organization, whether you’re LMS testing, onboarding, reskilling, or simply updating your learners’ expertise. Their customized cloud-based learning management system includes a variety of learning approaches that go beyond textbooks.

Here, you can deliver your training information in the form of videos and live demos, as well as arrange feedback sessions for a more engaging learning experience. It also has a user-friendly course administration system that allows you to submit all relevant information in one place while keeping track of your learners’ progress and outcomes. With this fantastic LMS, you can save a significant amount of time and money by not having to leap from one tool to another.

25. Sibme

Sibme‘s specialty is in creating engaging, blended, and tailored professional learning solutions that can help your team excel while also sustaining long-term growth. You can use this free learning management system to collect and distribute training information in various forms, foster team collaboration, and meet live and online with your staff at any time and on any device. You may even define specific goals for each team member and track their real-time progress using its training monitoring tools.