Plansmith

Self-hosted · One-time licence · No per-learner fees

A learning platform you own and run on your own server.

Courses, quizzes, assignments, certificates and compliance tracking in one Docker container. Your learners' records stay on your machine, and you pay once instead of per seat.

What's in it

Training your team can actually complete.

The learning features on the left run in the live demo today. The admin tools on the right come with the self-hosted version.

  • Course authoring — modules and lessons, drafted and published when ready
  • Prerequisites — a quiz stays locked until the lessons before it are done
  • Quizzes — scored automatically, with numbered attempts
  • Assignments — learners submit, instructors grade
  • Certificates — issued on completion, revocable
  • Compliance — required training per person, overdue follow-ups, CSV export
  • Groups and paths — assign a course to a whole team; sequence courses into a path
  • Live sessions — registration and attendance
  • Discussions and reminders — course threads; nudges for overdue learners
  • Reports — progress per learner and course, CSV export
  • First-run setup — name the academy and create the first admin in one screen
  • People — add one person or import a CSV; everyone gets an invitation link
  • Four roles — learner, instructor, manager, administrator — enforced on the server
  • Deactivate — access ends on the next click; history and certificates stay
  • Your mail server — invitations and password resets through your own SMTP
  • One file of data — everything in a single SQLite file you can copy to back up
Install

Two commands on any server with Docker.

Copy the example settings, put your address in APP_URL, and start it. On first visit it asks you to name your academy and create the admin account.

cp .env.example .env
docker compose up -d
Where it came from

Built from our planner, then audited.

Grok 4.5 built the core from PlanSmith's learning-management planner and scored 96 in our LMS build-off, after we drove every feature as each role. We then added what a self-hosted product needs — setup, people management, email and Docker — and tested it running in Docker on Linux.

Pricing

Pay once. Keep it.

Prices are set before launch; joining the early-access list holds the founding price.

Self-hosted licence

Run it on your server

$299

one time · founding price $199 for the first 20 customers

  • Full source code
  • One academy, unlimited learners
  • 12 months of updates; optional renewal after
  • Install guide and email support

Hosted

We run it for you

$49

per month · coming later

  • Same product, on our servers
  • Backups and updates handled
  • Your own address

Want hosted instead? Join the list and say so in your reply.

Questions

Before you ask.

Where does my data live?
On your server, in one database file inside a Docker volume. Nothing is sent to us. Back it up by copying that file.
What do I need to run it?
Any Linux server or VPS with Docker. The README walks through install, email, backups and upgrades.
Is there a per-learner fee?
No. The licence covers one academy with as many learners as your server handles.
What isn't in it yet?
Single sign-on (SAML or Google Workspace), importing SCORM packages, and a mobile app. One academy per install. The interface is in English.
How do updates work?
The licence includes a year of updates. After that the version you have keeps working; renewing is optional and only needed for new releases.