Off-the-shelf solutions might fail to meet the needs of some or most institutions. At this stage, LMS helps to meet the demands of such organizations. Therefore, building a custom LMS focuses on fixing dissatisfaction in skill management, design, user experience, user interface design, and integration options, among many others. Most clients aspire to implement customizations such as roadmap visualizations and prerequisites.

Making an informed decision for appropriate LMS development cost

In developing an LMS, it is essential to make informed decisions so that the whole development process is properly costed. Understanding the cost and pricing models in depth is necessary to establish a better one and develop at the correct costs. Comparing in-house and outsourcing is essential to understanding the affordable and quality options. Doing so helps the developer reduce the development costs to a greater extent.

Thus, the LMS must ensure it meets all the client’s needs, including gamification, enrollment logic, access management, and mobile app functionalities.

Therefore, the best consideration is a custom LMS, especially if there is enough funding to cater to building the LMS. It is essential to quickly develop a properly customized learning management system that meets all your demands at affordable and reasonable prices. Therefore, this piece focused on the cost of building a learning management system, especially a customized one. But first, before diving into the cost estimation for the development process, let us focus on the typical profiles that are exceptional in helping break down the costs of developing a learning management system. Some of the critical business profile dimensions to consider in this context include partnerships, userbase, which entails the number of learners the organization anticipates to serve in a couple of months, user profile, which breaks down to the learners involved in the process, the content which zeros down on the type of content an organization anticipates to share on the learning platform. This schedule focuses on the level of complexity in critical issues such as course enrollment, pacing, and completion approaches. Integration, monetization, and security also add to some key profiles to consider in establishing the approximate costs of building a learning management system.

Therefore, it is essential to establish that the need for a customized learning management system solely depends on the profile you are focusing on. Now, let’s dive deeper and examine the pricing mechanisms associated with the cost of building a learning management system.

Key Learning Management System Pricing Models

• Pay Per Active User

The pay-per-active user model is another vital pricing model associated with the

Custom LMS cost

. This model works on the principle that charges depend on the number of active users on the system over a given period, providing its users with flexibility.

• Pay Per Learner

It is a standard LMS pricing model that focuses on a straightforward type of pricing. In this model, the cost of the learning management system is established by defining the number of students the system serves. It is also essential to understand that various packages are served under this model depending on the number of students. All of these allow the more straightforward prediction of monthly costs.

• Free to Use

Another critical pricing model is open-source learning management system platforms. However, they might require customizations to suit a given usage. This is a perfect option for those who need to enjoy the utmost flexibility of a learning platform. Most configurations are costless, making it a better choice for many.

• Pay as You Go

Pay as You Go has extra flexibility, like pay per active user. The costs depend on the extent of the learning management system’s use. Therefore, with this pricing model, pricing will likely fluctuate depending on workload. Higher costs are incurred in peak times, and lower costs are incurred during low-activity seasons.

• License Fee or Subscription

Some learning platforms offer fixed pricing plans with specific features. Therefore, this model is primarily based on a subscription or license fee approach to billing.

Let’s dive into the ins and outs of the cost of developing a Custom Learning Management System.

Custom LMS cost

Regardless of the type of business or enterprise you’re running, you will, at some point, need an LMS. There are different approaches to creating an LMS, each accompanying specific costs. Therefore, let’s have a breakdown of how to build an LMS and the associated costs at each stage. Some of the key ways and approaches to building LMS include:

Approaches to building a custom LMS

• Proprietary approaches 

Proprietary approaches can be used in the development of an LMS. The proprietary approach involves using a packaged solution proposed in a SaaS. With such software, built-in tools are mainly used to customize and implement it.

• Developing LMS from scratch 

You can always opt to develop an LMS from scratch. You can also opt for a team of developers to help you develop the system from scratch. Such a team will offer extra services when creating the LMS.

• Open source development 

Another approach to developing an LMS is to use open-source development. With open-source development, you will leverage some free basic and advanced features, which in turn help you create a powerful and extended-functionality system. You can also customize entities within the system limitlessly.

LMS Development Costs

• Proprietary development approach (Costs)

The proprietary development approach comes with its costs. However, with this approach, you don’t need to pay for hosting and development of the LMS as all the features are available in most Software as a Service. With this approach, you only need to pay a license for each registered user. The cost per registered user is approximately $2 per month. Therefore, the price here dramatically depends on the number of users. The package combines both hosting and support fees.

• Developing LMS from scratch (Costs)

Developing an LMS from scratch is also essential as it helps build up the custom LMS cost for other levels. The price of creating the LMS software from scratch ranges from $25,000 to $90,000. The average cost is thus around $57,000. However, additional mobile applications may be needed for the same, which may cost around $25,000. Hosting expenses are also incorporated, which are around $100 per month. Support costs might accumulate to $1,000 per month.

• Open-source LMS development (Costs)

Open-source development comes with extra functionality. Developing an LMS using open-source software costs about $15,000. However, this cost includes implementing features like reporting and gamification tools and developing a corresponding mobile application.

• LMS costs for a Growing Business

When developing an LMS for a growing business, you will need to make many modifications and customizations. All these require rethinking a proper user interface to fit the needs of the growing business. It also includes adding more features time after time. Frequent integration of such features increases the cost of building the LMS. The average development cost is around $175/hour for customizations and other related extra costs.

• LMS Costs for a Grown Business Enterprise

Relatively grown and massive enterprises and companies have varied costs when it comes to the development of LMS. Various enterprises have their options depending on their budget. The costs for average or simple enterprise development options are in the range of $300-400K. However, companies and enterprises that need a powerful LMS incur millions of dollars since super features, automation workflows, and better interfaces are implemented, among others.

Conclusion

It is essential always to choose the best LMS. Therefore, entrepreneurs must stay strategic in making smart money-saving decisions to develop LMS at the proper cost. Going for sophisticated solutions that are already available is advantageous and appropriate in achieving the correct cost. The process of creating the LMS is also essential in helping you understand the cost associated with each development stage. It is, therefore, important that you go for a development approach that suits your budget. The choice of developers and approach to development is an excellent determinant in matters related to LMS costs. In this piece, we have highlighted approximated costs associated with each mode of LMS development. Depending on various factors, the cost may be higher or sometimes lesser than the approximated ones.

Want to develop custom LMS? Contact our software development company – Aalpha information systems!