LearnDash

What LearnDash actually is

LearnDash is the WordPress course plugin. It's been the default answer to "how do I sell a course on my own site" for over a decade, and it still is. Courses, lessons, topics, quizzes with eight question types, assignments, certificates, drip schedules, groups with group leaders, reports. All of it lives in your WordPress database, on your domain, under your control.

What it isn't is a community platform. There's no feed, no member posts, no chat. If you want members talking to each other you install bbPress (free) and link forums to courses, or you reach for BuddyBoss. LearnDash is honest about that; its docs call the bbPress integration an add-on, not a feature.

We checked LearnDash's pricing and support docs on 30 October 2026, and found a bigger story than the feature list.

The pricing page now lives on Liquid Web

First, to be clear: LearnDash the plugin is alive and shipping. Version 5.0 is out, the docs were updated days before we checked, and there's a new AI quiz builder. What's changed is the storefront.

Go to learndash.com/pricing and you land on liquidweb.com/software/learndash. The support docs redirect to docs.nexcess.com. LearnDash has been owned by Liquid Web since 2021, but the standalone website is gone now and the plugin is sold as part of a StellarWP bundle.

There's no monthly plan and no free plan. There's a 48-hour free trial with no card. Our pricing field shows $29.17 because $350 a year is the only way to buy it; divide by twelve and that's the number.

Two things to notice. First, the bundle. You're paying for an events plugin, a donations plugin and a theme whether you want them or not, and for a course creator the events calendar is actually useful (we'll come back to it). Second, this is a licence, not a service. The docs say LearnDash keeps working with an expired licence; you just stop getting updates, security patches and support. That's a very different deal from a hosted platform that locks your door the day you stop paying.

LearnDash Cloud (the hosted version) still exists in the docs, but the page we were redirected to doesn't publish a price for it. We're not guessing.

Memberships: MemberDash is now built in

This is the change that moves LearnDash from "course plugin" to something you could run a membership on. Liquid Web's page says MemberDash is built directly into LearnDash: multiple tiers (free, basic, premium), monthly and yearly subscriptions, course bundles, drip by membership level, and a member account area where people manage their own payment methods. Previously you'd have bought MemberPress or Paid Memberships Pro to do this. The integrations for those still exist in the docs, so the old setups keep working.

Payments go through Stripe Connect (the old Stripe add-on was discontinued in June 2023), PayPal, Razorpay, 2Checkout, or WooCommerce if you want a real cart. LearnDash's Stripe Connect doc doesn't mention any platform fee, only Stripe's own processing fees, so our fee field is 0%. Course access modes are one-time (Buy Now) or recurring, with billing cycles in days, weeks, months or years.

Email, gamification, events

• Email: LearnDash sends transactional emails (purchase success, registration, invoices) and the Notifications add-on sends triggered emails when someone completes a lesson, passes a quiz, goes quiet, and so on, with delays and dynamic content. It is not a newsletter tool. There's no broadcast and no list. You'll still want an email platform. Our field says "none" because what's here isn't marketing email.
• Gamification: the Achievements add-on awards badges and points and can show leaderboards; quizzes have their own leaderboard. The docs say plainly that LearnDash "does not include built-in gamification tools" beyond that and point you to GamiPress or BadgeOS.
• Events: The Events Calendar is in the bundle, with a LearnDash integration. That's a proper calendar with tickets, not a sidebar widget, and it's why our calendar field says yes.

Getting members in

LearnDash runs on WordPress users, so anything that creates WordPress users works. The Group Registration add-on (which needs WooCommerce) has a bulk enrolment tab where you upload a CSV; emails that don't match an existing user get an account created automatically. LearnDash 5.0 also added bulk enrolment through MCP, so an AI tool can enrol users from a CSV, though it can't create new accounts. Our import field says yes, with the caveat that the CSV path lives inside an add-on.

Getting your data out

Best in the directory, and it isn't close. LearnDash LMS > Settings > Advanced > Import/Export lets you export everything: courses, lessons, topics, quizzes, questions, transactions, groups, assignments, essays, certificates, coupons, users and settings, as a ZIP you can import into another LearnDash site. On top of that it's WordPress, so you own the database and can back it up or move hosts with any migration plugin. The one gap the docs admit: you can't export a single course on its own; the tool exports the lot.

There's also a Migration add-on that pulls lessons, topics, quizzes and questions in from LearnPress, Tutor LMS, Sensei and LifterLMS. Progress, media and course metadata don't come across.

The branded app

LearnDash has its own app builder with iOS and Android builds, in-app purchases synced to App Store Connect and Google Play, a private-app mode, and a publishing service where a LearnDash team member handles the store submissions. The docs for it are extensive. What we couldn't find is the price: it isn't on the page the pricing URL sends you to. Our app field says "your own branded app" because the capability is documented; budget for it separately and ask before you buy.

Where it fits

LearnDash is for the course-first creator who wants to own everything and is fine running WordPress (or paying someone to). Deep course tooling, real memberships now, a full export, no platform fee, and an annual licence cheaper than two months of most hosted platforms. The trade is that community isn't in the box, email isn't in the box, and you're the sysadmin.

Known limitation

No native community. Discussion means installing bbPress or BuddyBoss and wiring forums to courses yourself. Annual billing only ($350/year bundle), and the branded app's price isn't published.

Sources we checked

• Pricing (learndash.com/pricing redirects here): https://www.liquidweb.com/software/learndash/#pricing
• Transferring LearnDash Courses (import/export tool): https://docs.nexcess.com/software/learndash/transfer-courses/
• User Data (CSV reports): https://docs.nexcess.com/software/learndash/user-data/
• User Management and MCP bulk enrolment: https://docs.nexcess.com/software/learndash/user-management/
• Group Registration (CSV bulk enrolment): https://docs.nexcess.com/software/learndash/setting-up-group-registration/
• LearnDash Payments: https://docs.nexcess.com/software/learndash/payments/
• Stripe Connect: https://learndash.helpscoutdocs.com/article/89-stripe-connect
• Stripe Add-on Deprecation FAQ: https://docs.nexcess.com/software/learndash/stripe-add-on-deprecation/
• Emails: https://docs.nexcess.com/software/learndash/emails/
• Setting Up Notifications: https://docs.nexcess.com/software/learndash/setting-up-notifications/
• Gamification and Badges: https://docs.nexcess.com/software/learndash/gamification-badges/
• bbPress integration: https://docs.nexcess.com/software/learndash/setting-up-bbpress-integration/
• LearnDash Migration add-on: https://docs.nexcess.com/software/learndash/migrate-learndash/
• App publishing service: https://docs.nexcess.com/software/learndash/use-app-publishing-service/
• In-app purchases: https://docs.nexcess.com/software/learndash/set-up-in-app-purchases/
• Licence: https://docs.nexcess.com/software/learndash/license/
• LearnDash Cloud: https://docs.nexcess.com/software/learndash/learndash-lms-cloud/