Free alternatives to Teachable

Courses, coaching-style communities, downloads and sales pages in one stack; you run the stack.

Versus paying: CourseLit has less mature coaching, reporting, marketing automation and creator-commerce polish, while the owner runs the infrastructure.

Setup: Docker Compose, with SUPER_ADMIN_EMAIL set before first start

Watch for: Docker starts the app, but a production setup also needs SMTP for email login and MediaLit/S3-compatible storage for uploads

1,200 GitHub stars (checked Aug 6, 2026)

Courses, cohorts, assignments, quizzes, certificates and payments in a modern UI; coaching workflows are lighter.

Versus paying: Frappe Learning is less creator-commerce and coaching focused than Teachable, and self-hosting means learning the Frappe stack.

Setup: Run Frappe's easy-install script or the official Docker Compose deployment

Watch for: Self-hosting still needs Docker or a Frappe server, DNS/SSL and email; payments require separate gateway configuration

3,100 GitHub stars (checked Aug 6, 2026)

The most complete free LMS here, with the least creator-friendly first impression.

Versus paying: Moodle's administration and learner interface are far less creator-friendly, and selling/coaching requires configuration or plugins.

Setup: Upload the PHP release to a web server, create a database and moodledata directory, then complete the browser installer

Watch for: PHP and database requirements, protected writable storage, cron, SMTP, backups and upgrades are all the operator's responsibility

7,300 GitHub stars (checked Aug 6, 2026)

A website, course catalog, forums and payments inside an ERP; subtle it is not.

Versus paying: Odoo's course experience is secondary to its ERP and lacks Teachable's creator-friendly coaching, authoring, marketing and student polish.

Setup: Use Odoo's packaged installer, source install or Docker image, backed by PostgreSQL

Watch for: A production deployment needs PostgreSQL, workers/reverse proxy configuration, backups and ongoing administration of a very large suite

53,527 GitHub stars (checked Aug 6, 2026)

One hosted course, bookings, digital products and payments free; useful until your catalog becomes plural.

Versus paying: The free plan's one-course ceiling and lighter assessment/creator-school tooling become the first major limit.

Setup: Hosted signup

Watch for: Selling requires connecting a payment gateway; the free plan is capped at 2,000 contacts, three funnels, one course, one community and one custom domain

A full course shop inside WordPress; low GitHub stars, but current releases and more than 100,000 active installs.

Versus paying: Tutor LMS depends on WordPress and key creator features such as subscriptions, certificates, assignments and drip content may require paid add-ons.

Setup: Install from WordPress Plugins → Add New, then run Tutor LMS's setup wizard

Watch for: It first requires a maintained WordPress site, and subscriptions, certificates, assignments, drip content and several integrations sit outside the free core

124 GitHub stars (checked Aug 6, 2026)