10 Best free and affordable LMS for small businesses

Employee development is the foundation of every successful business. So the quality of training should never be compromised, even if you’re on a budget. Luckily, many value-for-money platforms don’t skimp on functionality and reliability.

To help you get the best bang for your buck, we’ve curated a list of the best free and affordable LMS for small businesses in 2024. 

What are the benefits of using an affordable LMS?

An affordable learning management system (LMS) is cost-efficient. It has everything that a normal LMS can offer at a cheaper price. Essentially, affordable LMS systems offer personalized and centralized learning, in-built reporting and analytics, better training engagement, and more.

Apart from these benefits, a budget LMS is also more scalable. It can grow as rapidly as your company grows without you having to shell out a huge amount of money. The cost-effectiveness of these LMSs leaves more space in your budget to invest in other aspects of company growth and development.

Check out this list to see the best LMS software that offers you all these benefits and more.

Affordable LMS #1 - SC Training (formerly EdApp)

Landing on top of this is SC Training, a trusty affordable LMS that can be used every step of the training journey on just one platform. It gives you limitless options for course creation with its three fast authoring tools. Firstly, its Create with AI feature lets you cut brainstorming time and head straight to power through building lessons on your team with a click of a button.

On top of that, its course library houses 1,000+ free courses that you can make your own as it's completely editable. Lastly, its course creation services (add-on) are perfect for launching expertly designed courses for you with SC Training’s team of instructional designers.

Let your teams earn their badge of honor without putting a strain on your budget. SC Training also has custom certificates to match your brand and meet your compliance needs. Plus, if you’re ever worried about keeping your teams engaged in training, use its built-in gamification feature to crush your team’s mental barrier.

This platform is the perfect avenue to mix digital and physical training. Keep in-person records with digital ones using blended learning. You can also assess your team’s skills at the workplace to verify online training. 

It’s hard to believe, but all these powerhouse features come at no cost for up to 10 users with SC Training! This makes it the best LMS for small businesses while still being affordable for bigger and expanding organizations.

Cost: Free (up to 10 users)

Key features:

• AI-powered course creation
• 1,000+ ready-made and editable courses 
• In-house instructional designers
• Custom certificates
• Gamified training
• Blended learning
• In-person assessment for digital training

Cut training costs without compromising on excellence. Join SC Training today!

Affordable LMS #2 - Coassemble

Up next, we have Coassemble, an LMS platform that can help you create customizable microlearning courses. It offers interactive features, including quizzes and SCORM compatibility. It also has analytics and reporting tools so you can see whether your course is effective or not.

Coassemble offers a free plan for a single creator, which includes access to the full course builder. However, to unlock advanced analytics and additional deployment methods, a paid subscription is required as the free option only lets you access the basic ones.

Cost: Free for one user; Starts at 7.50 USD/creator/month

Key features:

• Microlearning
• SCORM capability
• Built-in reporting and analytics

Affordable LMS #3 - Chamilo

Chamilo is an open-source eLearning platform built with the mission to “reduce the digital divide” between wealthy and poor countries. It offers an intuitive interface with a useful administration dashboard that lets you manage users, courses, and settings.

As a free learning management system, Chamilo is primarily created for education, so it may be less applicable in the business setting. Plus, it’s important to keep in mind that since it is an open-source project, it may take a bit more effort to achieve the refined look of some paid systems.

Cost: Free

Key features:

• Easy-to-use interface
• Useful dashboard
• Open-source

Affordable LMS #4 - GoSkills

GoSkills is another low-cost LMS that comes with an in-built course library or you can also choose to upload your own courses. It offers personalized learning experiences, gamification, and analytics and reporting.

While you can upload your existing courses in GoSkills, there is a limit on how much you can customize some elements within their course offerings. But it’s still an easy-to-use platform that has a free option with its paid plans that can get cheaper the larger your teams get.

Cost: Free; paid plans start at 9.25 USD/user/month

Key features:

• Built-in course library
• Personalized learning
• Gamification

Affordable LMS #5 - eLeaP

Next on this list is eLeaP. It houses an easy-to-use, SCORM-compliant course builder. Plus, it offers a whole lot of other features, including gamification, observation checklists, social learning, and more. You also have the option to create different types of learning paths for more personalized learning.

eLeaP’s paid plans start at 5 USD for every user per month, but it can go as low as 0.50 USD if you have a team of more than 6,000 people. The package includes features such as tracking and reporting tools, 24/7 technical support, unlimited server space, and more.

Cost: Starts at 5 USD/user/month 

Key features:

• SCORM-compliant course builder
• Social learning
• Unlimited server space

Affordable LMS #6 - Alison

Alison can help your teams with upskilling through its over 5,000 courses, custom learning paths, and comprehensive reporting. It also boasts a targeted learning feature that uses micro-courses and a real-time tracking of performance analytics.

Take note that its free option may include some advertisements, but if you avail of their paid plans, you can get all the free LMS features, plus ad-free access to courses, co-branded certificates, access to a support consultant, and more.

Cost: Free; paid plans start at 75 USD/month

Key features:

• 5,000+ courses
• Targeted learning through micro courses
• Co-branded certificates

Affordable LMS #7 - Open eLMS

Open eLMS’ free version can host unlimited users for up to 200 eLearning content credits, three external courses, and 3 smart classroom events. They can also add any media type, such as video and file uploads and they can tweak courses to suit their branding.

The paid version will give you unlimited access to both external courses and smart classroom events, access to the report builder and management information system, and a unique domain. Other features are included in the paid plans but they’ll vary depending on the option you choose.

Cost: Free; paid plans start at 8 GBP/month

Key features:

• Unlimited users
• Smart classroom events
• Integration of diverse media types

Affordable LMS #8 - Tutor LMS

For its free option, Tutor LMS offers unlimited courses, video support, and unlimited students and instructors. Plus, you get access to an advanced quiz builder and some monetization features, like the single course selling option.

If you choose to pay for its pro plans, you can get access to live classes, frontend course builder, multi-instructor support, and automated student grading. From the platform’s name, you can see that it’s initially created for education, but many of its features can also be used in workplace training.

Cost: Free; paid plans start at 199 USD/year

Key features:

• Unlimited users
• Smart classroom events
• Integration of diverse media types

Affordable LMS #9 - 360Learning

From AI-powered assessment technology to automated compliance training, 360Learning houses many helpful LMS features. You can also monitor your team’s learning needs using a dashboard that tracks engagement and delivery of courses that they requested.

Keep in mind that this is one of the few courses on this list that only offers a free trial with no unpaid plans. But if you choose to buy its team or business plan, you get a comprehensive platform with abundant LMS, LXP, and integration features.

Cost: Free trial for 30 days; paid plans start at 8 USD/user/month

Key features:

• AI-powered assessment
• Automated compliance training
• Learning needs dashboard

Affordable LMS #10 - Litmos

Last but not least, Litmos is an intuitive LMS platform that offers a bunch of AI-driven features, including AI video assessments, an AI assistant, and AI playlists of training content. It also has manager insights that can help you from onboarding new employees to nudging non-compliant team members.

It has three kinds of paid plans: foundation, premier, and platinum. The most basic is the foundation plan, which includes access to all AI tools, comprehensive reporting capabilities, foundation training content, implementation support, and customizable roles.

Cost: Contact for pricing

Key features:

• AI-based features
• Manager insights
• Foundation training content

Train for success with an affordable LMS. Sign up for SC Training today!