AccessNow LMS turns WordPress into a small, practical learning platform. You build a course from units and lessons, add a quiz where you need one, and students work through it at their own pace while the plugin keeps track of where they’re up to. There’s no page builder, no outside service to sign up for, and everything stays in your own WordPress database.
I first wrote it to help train referees for the 2026 Soke Cup, after a major rewrite of the tournament rules, so it taught in English and Japanese from the very first version. It was called Simple LMS until 2026, and still runs that course. The pictures below are its actual screens.
Try it
“A beginner’s guide to learning guitar” is a free 12-week course built with AccessNow LMS: video lessons, quizzes with explanations, a certificate at the end, and interactive tools such as a tuner and a metronome. Register on the demo site and take it as a student, or download the course and import it into your own site with AccessNow LMS → Export / Import.
The tuner, metronome and other tools come from a separate demo plugin that isn’t part of the download. Without it, an imported course shows a short text description in their place.
Features
- Courses made of units, lessons and quizzes, with tidy addresses such as /courses/your-course/unit/lesson/
- Text or YouTube video lessons, file downloads, and private notes for each student
- Multiple-choice, true/false and fill-in-the-blank quizzes, with pass marks, retries, time limits kept by the server, and explanations you choose when to show
- Lessons in a set order or any order, with progress bars
- Asks students to redo a lesson when you change it, so a finished course always means they’ve seen the current version
- Students enrol themselves, or you find them by name and enrol several at once; sign-up on the course page has spam protection with no CAPTCHA
- Certificates with a shareable link, points and badges, and a student dashboard
- Course Catalogue, My Courses and Student Dashboard blocks, plus shortcodes
- Reports for every course and student, with CSV export
- English or Japanese per course, with a language filter on the catalogue
- Built for screen readers and keyboards, and hooks for developers
How it compares
Most LMS plugins are big, and charge for the parts a small course needs: certificates, gamification and reports. AccessNow LMS keeps those free and small, and it is the only one of these that asks students to redo a lesson when you edit it. It doesn’t take payments or release lessons over time yet. Choose a plugin to compare it with.
LearnDash
| Feature | AccessNow LMS | LearnDash (no free edition) |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | US$259 a yearEssentials plan; no free edition |
| Asks students to redo edited lessons | Yes, automaticwhen you edit a lesson or quiz | No |
| Quiz question types | 3multiple choice, true/false, fill in the blank | 8including sorting, matrix and essay |
| Answer explanations | Yesexplanations; you choose when answers show | Yes |
| Quiz time limit | Yeskept by the server, not the browser | Yes |
| Certificates | Yes | Yes, with a builder |
| Points and badges | Yes, both | Yesbadges through its Achievements add-on |
| Blocks | 3catalogue, my courses, dashboard | Yes |
| CSV export | Yes | Yes |
| Taking payment | Noplanned, as an add-on | YesStripe and PayPal built in |
| Drip content and prerequisites | No, not yet | Yes, both |
Tutor LMS
| Feature | AccessNow LMS | Tutor LMS free | Tutor LMS Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free | US$199 a year1 site |
| Asks students to redo edited lessons | Yes, automaticwhen you edit a lesson or quiz | No | No |
| Quiz question types | 3multiple choice, true/false, fill in the blank | 3 or more | 8 or more |
| Answer explanations | Yesexplanations; you choose when answers show | Not confirmed | Yes |
| Quiz time limit | Yeskept by the server, not the browser | Yes | Yes |
| Certificates | Yes | No (Pro) | Yes |
| Points and badges | Yes, both | Nothrough GamiPress | Nothrough GamiPress |
| Blocks | 3catalogue, my courses, dashboard | 2registration forms | 2registration forms |
| CSV export | Yes | Not confirmed | YesReports add-on |
| Taking payment | Noplanned, as an add-on | YesWooCommerce or its own checkout | Yes |
| Drip content and prerequisites | No, not yet | No (Pro) | Yes, both |
LearnPress
| Feature | AccessNow LMS | LearnPress free | LearnPress Pro Bundle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free | US$249.99 a yearPro Bundle, 3 sites |
| Asks students to redo edited lessons | Yes, automaticwhen you edit a lesson or quiz | No | No |
| Quiz question types | 3multiple choice, true/false, fill in the blank | 5including sorting | 5including sorting |
| Answer explanations | Yesexplanations; you choose when answers show | Yes | Yes |
| Quiz time limit | Yeskept by the server, not the browser | Yes | Yes |
| Certificates | Yes | Paid add-on | Yes |
| Points and badges | Yes, both | Paid add-on | Yes |
| Blocks | 3catalogue, my courses, dashboard | Yes | Yes |
| CSV export | Yes | Paid add-on | Yes |
| Taking payment | Noplanned, as an add-on | YesPayPal and offline | Yes |
| Drip content and prerequisites | No, not yet | Prerequisites onlydrip is a paid add-on | Yes, both |
LifterLMS
| Feature | AccessNow LMS | LifterLMS free | LifterLMS Earth Bundle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free | US$199 a yearEarth Bundle, 1 site |
| Asks students to redo edited lessons | Yes, automaticwhen you edit a lesson or quiz | No | No |
| Quiz question types | 3multiple choice, true/false, fill in the blank | 4no fill in the blank | 10 or moreAdvanced Quizzes add-on |
| Answer explanations | Yesexplanations; you choose when answers show | Yes | Yes |
| Quiz time limit | Yeskept by the server, not the browser | Yes | Yes |
| Certificates | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Points and badges | Yes, both | Badgespoints not confirmed | Badgespoints not confirmed |
| Blocks | 3catalogue, my courses, dashboard | About 18 | About 18 |
| CSV export | Yes | Some reports | Some reports |
| Taking payment | Noplanned, as an add-on | Manual onlycard payments are paid add-ons | YesStripe, PayPal, WooCommerce |
| Drip content and prerequisites | No, not yet | Yes, both | Yes, both |
Last checked 9 October 2026, from each plugin’s own site and documentation. “Not confirmed” means we couldn’t find it stated either way. Prices are in US dollars and change; check the plugin’s own site.
Where they’re ahead: all four can take payment, LearnDash and LifterLMS release lessons over time and set prerequisites, LearnDash has more question types and groups, and every one of them has a much bigger catalogue of add-ons.
Requirements
- WordPress 6.3 or later
- PHP 7.4 or later
Updating from Simple LMS
Simple LMS was renamed AccessNow LMS and now lives in a new folder. Your courses, students and progress carry over, but never delete the old plugin from the Plugins screen: its uninstaller erases everything. Deactivate it, activate AccessNow LMS, then remove the old folder by hand. The step-by-step guide has the details.
