Low cost LMS for SMEs

“Low cost” usually means a low starting price attached to per-seat billing that grows with your headcount. OpenSkills is $9.99/month flat for up to 15 employees — one price for the whole team, 192 courses already in the catalog, and no minimum licence count.

Start free trial →
14 days · Full access · No credit card

The starting price is not the price

Most low-cost LMS pricing is quoted per licence per month, and the number looks small. It stops looking small the moment you multiply it by your team.

At $13.91 per licence, a 15-person SME pays $208.65 a month. At 25 people it’s $347.75. Nothing about the platform changed — you just hired.

Then there’s the minimum. A 5-licence floor means an 8-person company pays for 8 and a 3-person company pays for 5. The advertised rate was never the rate.

Flat pricing removes the multiplication. You pay one price for the whole team, and your 12th hire costs the same as your 11th: nothing.

Same 15-person team, three price sheets

List prices as published on each vendor’s own pricing page, verified 2026-07-24. Annual-billing rates where the vendor lists them. All figures USD.

OpenSkills Growth TalentLMS Core GoSkills Courses
Price $9.99/mo flat $119/mo $13.91 per licence/mo
Cost for 15 people $9.99/mo $119/mo $208.65/mo
Per person $0.67 $7.93 $13.91
Billing model Flat, whole team Flat up to 40 users Per licence, 5 minimum
Minimum spend None $119/mo 5 licences
Courses included 192 across 6 industries Build your own Curated library
Free trial 14 days, full access, no card Free plan: 5 users, 10 courses Free plan: 5 licences, 10 lessons/course

At 25 people

OpenSkills Scale TalentLMS Core GoSkills Courses
Price $29.99/mo flat $119/mo $13.91 per licence/mo
Cost for 25 people $29.99/mo $119/mo $347.75/mo
Per person $1.20 $4.76 $13.91

At 8 people — where minimums bite

An 8-person SME is the size where per-licence minimums and flat enterprise floors both hurt. GoSkills’ 5-licence minimum is met, so it’s $111.28/month. TalentLMS Core is still $119/month, because the floor doesn’t move. We’re $9.99/month, because 8 is under 15.

Start free trial →

When one of the others is the better buy

We’d rather you pick the right tool than churn in month two.

  • You need SCORM or xAPI imports. GoSkills supports both. We don’t.
  • You need SSO, an API, or multi-branch separation for franchises or clients. TalentLMS Core includes all three. We don’t.
  • Your team is over 25 people. Our flat tiers stop at 25. TalentLMS Core covers up to 40 users for $119/mo and is genuinely the cheaper option there.
  • You want a white-labelled portal. GoSkills Platinum ($15.28 per licence/mo) does that. We don’t.
  • You need EU data residency or a signed DPA before you can buy. Ask us first — don’t assume. If it’s a hard procurement requirement, check before you trial.

If none of those are dealbreakers, keep reading.

The catalog ships full

192 courses across 6 industries — tech, retail, finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and e-commerce. The expensive part of running an LMS is usually filling it. That part is done.

An AI coach is included, not an add-on

750 coaching interactions a month on Growth, 2,000 on Scale. On most platforms the AI features sit in the tier above the one you were looking at.

Role-based paths, not a course list

Pick a role, assign the path. The sequencing is already built, so setting up a new starter is one action rather than an afternoon.

A record you can produce on request

Every assignment, completion, and certificate is logged. Scale adds audit-trail CSV export for when a client or auditor asks for evidence.

Start free trial →
14 days · Full access · No credit card

What you get for $9.99

  • 192 ready-to-assign courses across 6 industries
  • AI coaching — 750 interactions/month on Growth, 2,000 on Scale
  • Role-based learning paths and skill assessments
  • Interactive AI scenario cards
  • Certificates for completed modules
  • Analytics and compliance tracking
  • Up to 10 internal courses you build yourself (unlimited on Scale)
  • Audit-trail CSV export (Scale)

FAQ

What's the lowest cost LMS for an SME?
For teams under 25, flat pricing almost always beats per-licence. OpenSkills is $9.99/month for up to 15 employees and $29.99/month for up to 25 — that's the whole bill, not a per-user rate. GoSkills starts at $9.71 per licence per month with a 5-licence minimum, and TalentLMS starts at $119/month for its cheapest paid plan.
Is there a free LMS for SMEs?
There are free tiers and they're all capped. TalentLMS's free plan covers 5 users and 10 courses. GoSkills' Basic plan is free for 5 licences with 10 lessons per course. We don't have a permanent free tier — we have a 14-day trial with full access and no credit card, because a capped free tier usually can't tell you whether the platform works for your team.
Why is per-seat pricing worse for a small team?
Because the cost of training grows every time you hire, which is exactly when you most need to train someone. A 15-person team on a $13.91 licence pays $208.65/month; the same team on a flat $9.99 plan pays $9.99. The gap widens as you grow, until you cross 25 people and flat plans stop being available at all.
Do we need someone to run it?
No. The catalog ships with 192 courses and role-based paths. Setup is generating an invite link and assigning a path.
Are prices in USD?
Yes. All pricing on this page, ours and our competitors', is USD.
We use 'SMB' rather than 'SME' — same thing?
Broadly, yes — they're regional registers for the same buyer. If you're comparing on the SMB side, we've published the equivalent breakdown at affordable LMS for SMBs.
What happens when we grow past 25 employees?
Talk to us before you hit the limit. If flat pricing no longer fits, we'll say so — see the section above on where TalentLMS is the better buy.

Try it with your actual team

Assign one course to three people this week and see whether they finish it. That’s the only benchmark that matters.

Start free trial →
14 days · Full access · No credit card