SHSelfHostIndex

CourseLit vs Edwiser

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted learning & courses options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
CO CourseLit Open-source platform to build and sell online courses VS ED Edwiser WordPress-based LMS for course creation and selling
FeatureCourseLitEdwiser
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupRead-the-docs project
Health score83 · Excellent49 · Fair
CategoryLearning & CoursesLearning & Courses
LicenseMITGPL-3.0
LanguageTypeScriptPHP
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM1,024 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, sourcebare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 1,267★ 27
First released20202016
ReplacesTeachable, PodiaTeachable

What are CourseLit and Edwiser?

CourseLit

CourseLit is an open-source learning management system for creating, hosting, and selling online courses. It includes a course builder, payment integration, and a student dashboard.

  • Course builder
  • Payment integration
  • Student dashboard
  • Email marketing

Edwiser

Edwiser RemUI and Edwiser Bridge connect WordPress with Moodle to create a unified course-selling and learning experience. The open components let site owners run courses and manage enrollments from WordPress.

  • WordPress to Moodle bridge
  • Course selling
  • Enrollment sync
  • Single sign-on

CourseLit vs Edwiser: key differences

CourseLit is written in TypeScript, while Edwiser is built with PHP. Licensing differs — MIT for CourseLit versus GPL-3.0 for Edwiser. Edwiser is the more established project (first released 2016), while CourseLit arrived in 2020. CourseLit has the considerably larger community, at 1,267 GitHub stars versus 27. CourseLit lists first-class Docker deployment; Edwiser does not.

Why pick each one

Choose CourseLit if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (1.3k GitHub stars)
  • Written in TypeScript
CourseLit details

Choose Edwiser if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Written in PHP
Edwiser details

Frequently asked questions

Is CourseLit or Edwiser better?

Neither is universally better. CourseLit has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are CourseLit and Edwiser free and open-source?

Yes. CourseLit is licensed under MIT and Edwiser under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run CourseLit and Edwiser with Docker?

CourseLit: yes. Edwiser: check the project docs for container support.

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