What is an LMS? A plain-English guide to learning management systems
What a learning management system does, who uses one, the main types, the features that matter and what one costs, explained without jargon.
What is an LMS?
An LMS (learning management system) is software for creating, delivering, tracking and managing learning online. It stores courses, enrols learners, delivers lessons and tests on the web or in an app, and records each learner's progress and results.
Put simply, an LMS is to a training programme what an online store is to a shop. It holds the material, lets people in, shows them what to do next and keeps a record of everything that happened.
What an LMS does
- Hosts content: videos, documents, slides, audio and interactive lessons, organised into courses and modules.
- Manages learners: sign-ups, enrolments, groups or batches, and roles for admins and instructors.
- Delivers learning: self-paced lessons, live classes, assignments and discussions.
- Assesses: quizzes, tests and exams, often graded automatically.
- Tracks and reports: progress, completion, scores and attendance, by learner and by group.
- Certifies: issues certificates when learners complete a course.
- Handles payments when courses are sold, in LMSs built for selling.
- LMS and course platform comparisons
Who uses an LMS
| Who | What they use it for |
|---|---|
| Businesses | Employee onboarding, compliance, skills and product training |
| Training companies | Delivering and selling programmes to companies and individuals |
| Coaching institutes and academies | Batches, live classes, tests and fee collection |
| Schools, colleges and universities | Course material, assignments and online or hybrid classes |
| Trainers and course creators | Selling courses and cohorts under their own brand |
| Software companies | Training customers and partners on their product |
Types of LMS
By hosting
Cloud (SaaS) LMS: the vendor hosts and updates it, and you subscribe. Self-hosted LMS: you install it on your own server and maintain it. Most organisations now choose cloud. See cloud based LMS.
By audience
Corporate LMS for employee training, academic LMS for schools and universities, and commercial LMS for selling courses. Some platforms, including AcadifyLab, cover selling and teaching together.
By branding
A white label LMS runs under your brand, domain and apps, with no vendor branding. See white label LMS.
By licence
Open-source LMSs are free to download but cost time and money to host and maintain. Commercial LMSs charge a subscription but include hosting, support and updates.
LMS vs other learning tools
- LMS vs LXP: an LMS manages and tracks learning; a learning experience platform (LXP) focuses on recommending content. See LMS vs LXP.
- LMS vs course marketplace: a marketplace lists many instructors' courses and owns the customer; an LMS is your own platform.
- LMS vs video-call tool: Zoom or Google Meet run a live session; an LMS schedules it, tracks attendance and connects it to the rest of the course. See virtual classroom software.
Features that matter most
- A mobile experience learners actually use, ideally an app
- Support for the way you teach: self-paced, live or both
- Assessments and reporting you can act on
- Roles, groups and permissions that match your organisation
- Integrations with the tools you already use
- Payments, if you sell courses
- Your own branding, if learners should see your name
See every AcadifyLab capability on the features page.
How much does an LMS cost?
LMS pricing follows a few common models: a flat monthly or yearly plan, a price per user or per active user, a price per learner band, or a percentage of course sales. The right model depends on how many learners you have and whether you sell courses. Our guide to LMS pricing models compares them, and our pricing guides break down what popular platforms charge. AcadifyLab uses flat plans with no share of course revenue; see the pricing page.
Do you need an LMS?
You probably do if you train more than a handful of people regularly, need to prove who completed what, sell courses, or run classes and tests for groups. You may not yet if you run one informal workshop a year. When you are ready, our guide on how to choose an LMS walks through the decision step by step.
LMS questions
What does LMS stand for?
LMS stands for learning management system: software for creating, delivering, tracking and managing learning online.
What is an example of an LMS?
Examples include cloud platforms used by businesses and academies, such as AcadifyLab, TalentLMS and Docebo, and open-source systems such as Moodle.
What is the difference between an LMS and an LXP?
An LMS manages, delivers and tracks structured learning. An LXP focuses on recommending and curating content for learners to explore. Many organisations use an LMS alone, and larger ones sometimes add an LXP on top.
Is an LMS only for companies?
No. Schools, coaching institutes, trainers and course creators all use LMSs to deliver courses, run classes and tests, and track progress.
Can an LMS run live classes?
Many can. AcadifyLab schedules live classes on Zoom or Google Meet, marks attendance automatically and connects each class to its course and batch.
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