Connect WordPress to a hosted LMS
Keep WordPress for your site. Continuum Learn hosts the courses, quizzes, certificates and reporting, and a small connector plugin shows your courses on your pages, sends buyers to checkout and signs your WordPress members straight in.
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Course lists, single courses, events, buy buttons and a My Learning link, each one a shortcode you paste into a WordPress page.
- Course and event cards from live data
- Buy buttons into Continuum checkout
- Optional single sign-on from WordPress
What is a WordPress LMS?
A WordPress LMS is a learning management system that works with a WordPress site, either as a plugin that runs inside WordPress or as a separate service connected to it. Continuum Learn takes the second route: the LMS runs on our platform, and the Continuum Connect plugin links your WordPress site to it.
Plugin LMSs such as LearnDash, LifterLMS and Tutor run on your own WordPress server, so you host them, keep them updated and secure them alongside everything else on the site. With Continuum Connect, courses, quizzes, progress tracking, certificates, discussion and reporting stay on Continuum. WordPress stays your marketing site. The plugin fetches your course and event details from Continuum on the server, shows them as cards on your pages, and links each one to the course or checkout.
How a customer gets it. In Continuum, go to Manage > Settings > Integrations and press Download Continuum Connect Plugin. In WordPress, use Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin, then open the Continuum menu and either create a new Continuum team, connect an existing one, or enter the base URL and API key by hand. The plugin is not in the WordPress.org directory yet, so it is installed from the ZIP and updated by uploading a newer ZIP.
Learners do their learning on your Continuum site, on your own domain, not inside a WordPress page. If you want a guide or handbook to live in the page itself, see embed courses on your website. For taking payment for courses, see sell online courses.
The LMS is hosted and updated by us, so there is no LMS plugin to patch on your WordPress server
See it in the product
Screens from Continuum Learn. The site address shown is a placeholder.
Download and connect
Manage > Settings > Integrations holds your API key and SSO secret, lists connected WordPress sites and gives you the plugin download.
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Six shortcodes, ready to copy
The shortcode reference lists every attribute with an example you can copy straight into a WordPress page.
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Why connect WordPress instead of running a plugin LMS
WordPress does what it is good at, and the LMS runs somewhere built for it.
Nothing heavy to host or patch
Learning records live on Continuum. WordPress fetches and briefly caches catalogue details for your course and event cards, and the connector is a small plugin to keep updated alongside WordPress.
A complete LMS behind the site
Quizzes, tracking, certificates, discussion, surveys and reporting all come with the platform. See features.
Selling without WooCommerce
A buy button sends the visitor to Continuum checkout, where card payments go to your own Stripe account. See sell online courses.
Members do not log in twice
With single sign-on turned on, eligible WordPress members click through without another login. Some existing accounts need one separate Continuum sign-in first.
Who uses WordPress with Continuum
Membership sites
Keep member login on WordPress and let members click through to their training without a second sign-in. See member training LMS.
Course businesses with an existing blog
Keep your blog, landing pages and SEO in WordPress, list your courses on them and sell through Continuum checkout.
Charities and associations
Show training and live events on the main website and run them on the platform, without asking a web team to maintain an LMS plugin.
What Continuum Connect does today
Everything below is in the plugin and the platform today
Course and event lists
The courses and events shortcodes show your live catalogue as a grid or list, with a limit, optional price and image, and your own button label.
Single course or event cards
Use the course or event shortcode with an id to show one item, such as a featured course in a blog post.
Buy buttons into checkout
A buy shortcode builds a button for a course, a bundle or an event product that opens Continuum checkout, and can return the buyer to a page on your site.
Single sign-on from WordPress
The plugin signs each link when it is clicked, and the link expires after five minutes. New learners are created on first visit; existing accounts are linked only when it is safe to do so.
My Learning link
A shortcode gives logged-in members a link to their courses on Continuum, or their library for video-focused teams.
Guided connection
The setup wizard can create a new Continuum team or connect an existing one over HTTPS with a one-time code, so you do not copy keys by hand.
Server-side, scoped access
Catalogue requests run on your WordPress server. The saved API key is masked in the plugin settings and never appears in public course cards.
Cache and diagnostics
Responses are cached for about five minutes. The plugin screen has a test connection button, a clear cache button and a disconnect option.
Control from Continuum
Manage > Settings > Integrations lists connected WordPress sites with a revoke action, and lets you rotate the API key and SSO secret.
Two ways to add an LMS to WordPress
Competitor features checked on vendor pages in October 2026 and may have changed.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best LMS for WordPress?
It depends on whether you want the LMS inside WordPress or beside it. A plugin LMS keeps learning inside your theme but you host, update and secure it. A hosted LMS connected by a plugin, as with Continuum Learn, keeps the heavy work off your server, but learners learn on the LMS's own site rather than in a WordPress page.
Is Continuum Connect free, and where do I get it?
The plugin has no separate charge and you need a Continuum team to use it. It is not in the WordPress.org directory at the moment. Download the ZIP from Manage > Settings > Integrations in Continuum, then upload it through Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin in WordPress. A directory listing is planned, and we do not give a date.
Does Continuum replace LearnDash, LifterLMS or Tutor?
Yes for the learning side: courses, quizzes, certificates, tracking and reporting run on Continuum instead. No if you need lessons to render inside your WordPress theme, or WooCommerce-based selling, because learners work on Continuum's own site and checkout happens there.
Can I sell courses to my WordPress visitors?
Yes. The buy shortcode makes a button for a course, a bundle or an event product that opens Continuum checkout, and can return the buyer to your site afterwards. Payment is by card into your Stripe account, in pounds sterling with UK VAT at 20% added. There is no WooCommerce integration. See sell online courses.
Can my WordPress members sign in to Continuum automatically?
Yes, for eligible accounts, once single sign-on is turned on with your SSO secret. New learners are created on their first visit. Some existing accounts cannot be linked automatically, including staff accounts, accounts outside this team and accounts already linked to another external identity; those people sign in to Continuum once as usual.
Will the courses look like my WordPress theme?
The cards on your WordPress pages use a small stylesheet from the plugin, which you can override with your theme's CSS. The courses themselves are on your Continuum site, which you brand with your own logo, colours and domain. See white label LMS.
Can I embed a course inside a WordPress page instead?
The connector lists and links to courses; it does not embed lessons. Publications are a separate option for reader-focused content such as guides and handbooks, and SCORM exports need a compatible player or LMS. See embed courses on your website.
Does it work with Gutenberg blocks or page builders?
There are no dedicated blocks yet. The plugin uses shortcodes, which work in the block editor's shortcode block and in most page builders. Blocks are not available today, and we do not give a date.
What does the Continuum Connect plugin need?
The plugin needs WordPress 6.0 or later and PHP 8.0 or later. You also need a Continuum team and administrator access to WordPress to install and configure it.
Connect your WordPress site
Book a demo and we will connect a WordPress site to a Continuum team, list courses on a page and take a test purchase.