Alva Courses vs Courses Plus
Alva Courses is a Shopify app that lets you build, sell and deliver online courses natively inside your store — with quizzes, completion certificates, member management and discussions. Courses Plus is a well-regarded Shopify course app known for advanced quizzes and certificates. Both cover assessments and certificates; Alva Courses also adds Alva Video Hosting (50 GB) and a custom email domain. Here's how the two compare across features, pricing, and the merchants each one fits.
Side by side at a glance.
| Feature | Alva Courses | Courses Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Unlimited $9.99/mo · Pro $14.99/mo | See current Shopify App Store pricing |
| Quizzes & assessments | Build quizzes inside lessons | Advanced quizzes are a core feature |
| Completion certificates | Auto-award, editable template, emailed to students | Certificates supported |
| Built-in video hosting | Alva Video Hosting: 50 GB, no per-video limits (Pro) | Check current listing for video limits |
| External video sources | YouTube · Vimeo · VdoCipher · Loom | Common embeds supported |
| Custom email sender domain | Send from your own domain (DNS verified) | Check current listing |
| Lesson content blocks | Text · video · image · PDF · audio · ePub · MS Office · Zoom · button | Lesson content supported |
| Drip scheduling | Drip lessons/sections X days after enrolment | Check current listing |
| Sequential lesson gating | Require completion before next lesson | Check current listing |
| Native discussions / comments | Per-lesson comments with moderation | Check current listing |
| Member management | CSV import/export · add member · progress analytics | Member management supported |
| Delivery model | Native Shopify checkout, customer account & storefront player | Native Shopify course delivery |
| Limited-time access | Sell time-boxed access that expires after a set window | Check current listing |
Courses Plus is a capable, well-reviewed Shopify course app — quizzes and certificates are genuine strengths. Feature sets and pricing change over time, so check the Courses Plus app listing for its latest details. The differences below are the ones merchants tell us tip the decision toward Alva Courses.
When Alva Courses is the better fit.
If your decision came down to quizzes and certificates alone, both apps would serve you well — they are core features on each. But most course merchants also care about how video is hosted, how emails look in the student's inbox, and how the whole thing feels inside Shopify. Four reasons merchants pick Alva Courses:
Unlimited Pro ($14.99/mo) includes 50 GB of dedicated video storage with no 1 GB or 10-minute per-video caps — so long, high-resolution lessons play without fighting Shopify's native file limits. You can still embed YouTube, Vimeo, VdoCipher and Loom when you prefer.
Build quizzes inside lessons to test knowledge, then auto-award a custom-designed certificate on completion. The certificate template is editable and the certificate is emailed to the student — so assessments and recognition feel on-brand, not generic.
After a quick DNS verification, enrolment and certificate emails send from your own domain instead of alvaapps.com. Customizable templates — from-name, subject, title, message, footer, dark-mode preview — keep the purchase-to-learning journey fully branded and improve deliverability.
Courses live in your Shopify admin; students learn in a branded storefront player with progress ticks and a "My Courses" tab in their account. One login, one checkout, one store — no second platform — starting at $9.99/mo with a 14-day free trial.
Choose Alva Courses if you…
- Want quizzes and completion certificates, plus built-in video hosting
- Have long or high-resolution lessons that exceed Shopify's native file limits
- Want enrolment and certificate emails to send from your own domain
- Value drip scheduling, sequential gating and native discussions
- Prefer one checkout, one login and a branded storefront player
- Want a flat, predictable price from $9.99/mo
Courses Plus may suit you if you…
- Are already set up on Courses Plus and happy with it
- Need a specific Courses Plus quiz or certificate feature it offers
- Rely entirely on external video embeds and don't need hosted storage
- Have a workflow built around its particular admin experience
Three differentiators, in detail.
Assessments and certificates: parity, with editable templates
Quizzes and certificates are where Courses Plus has built its reputation, and they're genuinely good. Alva Courses matches the essentials: you build quizzes inside lessons to test knowledge, and a completion certificate is automatically awarded when a student finishes a course. So if certificates and assessments are your only criteria, both apps will do the job.
Where Alva Courses adds value is control and branding. The certificate template is fully editable, certificates are emailed to students on completion, and the certificate email itself uses the same branded template system as your enrolment emails. You decide what a passing experience looks like, end to end, rather than fitting your course into a fixed certificate layout.
- Quizzes
- Both: build assessments inside lessons
- Certificates
- Both award on completion; Alva template is editable + emailed
- Best for
- Tie on capability; Alva edges ahead on branding
Video hosting: 50 GB with no per-video limits
Video is where many course apps quietly push you onto YouTube or a paid third-party host. Shopify's native file system caps individual files at roughly 1 GB and 10 minutes, which is fine for short clips but breaks down for full-length lessons or high-resolution recordings.
Alva Courses' Unlimited Pro plan includes Alva Video Hosting: 50 GB of dedicated storage with no per-video size or length limits, so you can upload long lessons directly and bypass Shopify's file caps. You can still embed YouTube, Vimeo, VdoCipher and Loom when that suits a particular lesson. Approaches to video and storage vary between course apps, so check the Courses Plus listing for its current limits before you decide.
- Alva Video Hosting
- 50 GB, no per-video limits (Unlimited Pro)
- External sources
- YouTube · Vimeo · VdoCipher · Loom
- Shopify file cap
- ~1 GB / 10 min — Alva Video Hosting bypasses it
Branded email from your own domain
The first email a student receives sets the tone for the whole course. If it arrives from a generic app address, the experience feels third-party. If it arrives from your own domain, it feels like part of your brand — and lands more reliably in the inbox.
Alva Courses lets you verify your own sending domain via DNS, then send enrolment and certificate emails from it. The templates are fully customizable: from-name, subject, title, message, footer, login hint, a "Start Learning Now" CTA, and a dark-mode preview so you can see exactly how it renders. It's a small detail that makes the difference between a course that feels bought and one that feels yours.
- Sender domain
- Your own domain, DNS-verified
- Template control
- From-name, subject, body, footer, CTA, dark-mode preview
- Emails covered
- Enrolment + certificate notifications
Two plans, flat monthly.
Alva Courses has two flat monthly plans, each with a 14-day free trial. Unlimited covers unlimited courses, members and comments, progress tracking, custom certificates, limited-time access and a Shopify-hosted video limit of 1 GB / 10 min per video. Unlimited Pro adds Alva Video Hosting (50 GB, no per-video limits). Courses Plus pricing changes over time — check its current Shopify App Store listing for an exact, like-for-like comparison.
| plan | Unlimited $9.99/mo Everything to build & sell courses | Recommended Unlimited Pro $14.99/mo Adds Alva Video Hosting (50 GB) |
|---|---|---|
| Courses, members & comments | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Quizzes & certificates | ||
| Progress tracking & analytics | ||
| Custom email domain | ||
| Alva Video Hosting (50 GB, no per-video limit) | — | |
| 14-day free trial |
Compare Courses Plus tiers directly on its Shopify App Store listing. Full details on Alva Courses pricing are on the Alva Courses pricing page.
Moving from Courses Plus to Alva Courses.
- Install Alva Courses from the Shopify App Store and start the 14-day free trial — no separate platform, no second customer login.
- Recreate one course first. Use the drag-and-drop builder to lay out sections and lessons, then paste your existing lesson text into the rich editor and add your quizzes.
- Bring your video across. Upload long lessons to Alva Video Hosting on Unlimited Pro (50 GB, no per-video cap), or keep embedding from YouTube, Vimeo, VdoCipher or Loom.
- Set up certificates and branded email. Edit the certificate template, verify your own sending domain via DNS, and style the enrolment and certificate emails.
- Run a test enrolment, then migrate members. Place a sample order through Shopify checkout to confirm the storefront player, quizzes, certificate and emails all fire — then bulk-import your existing students via CSV.
Alva Courses fits many kinds of teacher — see how it works for online educators and business trainers who lean heavily on quizzes and certificates. For the full plan breakdown, visit the pricing page.
Answers before you switch.
Quizzes and certificates — plus hosting and your own domain.
Install Alva Courses from the Shopify App Store. Build one course, add a quiz and a completion certificate, upload a lesson to Alva Video Hosting, and send the enrolment email from your own domain — all inside your existing store. Alva Courses can run alongside Courses Plus while you evaluate. 14-day free trial on both plans.