LearnDash pricing is now annual and tiered by features, not by site count. The official pricing page lists Pro at $399 a year and Elite at $599 a year, with unlimited courses and unlimited learners on each.
Hosting, a domain and any community plugin are extra, so the real yearly cost of a course site is higher than the licence alone.
Quick Summary
- TrueCommunity is a community and LMS plugin for WordPress: the free plugin includes courses, quizzes and a full community, and Pro is $119 a year for one site, renewing at the same price.
- LearnDash pricing on its official page: Pro $399/year and Elite $599/year, one licence, no per-student fees, renewing annually and cancellable any time.
- The old $199, $399 and $799 site-based plans still appear on many pages, but they do not match the current official page.
- Our planning estimate for a LearnDash site with hosting, domain and a community plugin: roughly $754 to $1,314 a year on Pro, and $954 to $1,514 on Elite.
- LearnDash is the deeper LMS, with a certificate builder and group selling. TrueCommunity wins when you want community and courses in one plugin at a lower total cost.
Special note: LearnDash pricing changes at renewal (November 2026)
LearnDash is moving its customers to a new bundle called the Nexcess Plugin Stack. Nexcess is a Liquid Web brand. In an email to existing customers in October 2026, the company said each plan moves to the Stack at its next renewal, and the new plans and prices show in customer dashboards from November 3, 2026.
The Stack includes four plugins in one plan: Kadence Themes & Blocks, LearnDash, The Events Calendar and Give. Every plan gets the full feature set of the former top-tier Elite plans, with no separate tiers or add-ons. The only difference between plans is the number of sites.
| Sites | New yearly price |
|---|---|
| 1 site | $350 |
| Up to 10 sites | $599 |
| Up to 25 sites | $799 |
| Up to 50 sites | $899 |
| Up to 100 sites | $999 |
For a single site, that is $350 a year, compared with $259 a year for the former Essentials plan. You get three more plugins, but you pay for them whether you use them or not.
If you run LearnDash today, check your renewal date and the new price in your dashboard before it renews. If you only need courses and a community, compare that with TrueCommunity Pro at $119 a year for one site, which renews at the same price.
Ready to own your course+community?
LearnDash pricing in 2026: the current plans
LearnDash has moved away from selling licences by number of sites. The official pricing page now shows two paid plans, Pro and Elite, and describes them as simple annual pricing: one licence, unlimited courses, unlimited learners, no per-student fees. It also says the licence renews annually and can be cancelled at any time.
That change matters if you read older comparison articles. Many still quote $199, $399 and $799 for one, ten and unlimited sites. Those figures describe the retired structure and will not match what you see at checkout today.
| Plan | Price (official page) | Billing | Aimed at |
|---|---|---|---|
| LearnDash Pro | $399 per year | Annual, renews, cancel any time | Growing programs, team selling, cohorts, advanced reporting |
| LearnDash Elite | $599 per year | Annual, renews, cancel any time | Institutions, high-volume selling, multiple instructors |
Prices checked on October 19, 2026 on the LearnDash pricing page. Prices change, so confirm at checkout.
Watch out: The licence price is only the first line of the budget. Hosting, a domain, email delivery and any community layer all sit on top, and they repeat every year.
What Pro and Elite include
The official page puts a long list of features in both plans. These include the drag-and-drop course builder, a quiz builder, built-in memberships, subscriptions and bundles, Stripe and PayPal payment integrations, video progression, focus mode, a certificate builder and achievements, plagiarism detection and learner notifications. Membership tools come from MemberDash, which the page says is built directly into LearnDash.
The tiers split on reporting and organisation features. The page lists these differences:
- Pro adds: an AI course outline and quiz builder, advanced reporting and analytics, enrollment tracking, weighted grading, custom report cards, student notes and group leader communications.
- Elite adds, on top of Pro: group course management, an instructor role, front-end course creation, multi-instructor course management, ratings, reviews and feedback, and seat selling.
So a solo creator selling to individuals can usually stop at Pro. If you sell seats to companies or let several instructors build courses without touching the WordPress dashboard, Elite is the plan the page points you to.
Is there a free LearnDash plan?
The official page shows paid plans only, with no free tier. You evaluate it through a live demo, so the real test of fit happens before you spend. That is a different starting point from a free plugin that you install on your own site and keep.
If your goal is to test a course and community idea cheaply, the free TrueCommunity plugin on WordPress.org includes courses, lessons and quizzes plus the whole community. See the Free vs Pro comparison for exactly what stays free.
The hidden costs of a LearnDash site
A LearnDash licence does not include hosting. You run the plugin on your own WordPress install, so you pay for a host, a domain and whatever email delivery and backups your setup needs. LearnDash does also have hosted routes through its parent company, but the self-hosted plugin is what the licence prices on the page cover.
Checkout is covered better than it used to be. The official page lists Stripe and PayPal payment integrations as core features, so you do not have to add a store plugin just to take a payment. Payment processors still charge their own fees on each sale, and those depend on your processor, not on LearnDash.
Estimated yearly budget
Assumptions: the figures below are our planning estimates, not vendor prices. Hosting is assumed at $240 to $600 a year for a site that can handle course traffic, a domain at about $15 a year, and a separate community plugin at $100 to $300 a year. Your numbers will differ with traffic and host.
| Cost line (yearly) | LearnDash Pro | LearnDash Elite |
|---|---|---|
| Licence (official page) | $399 | $599 |
| Hosting (estimate) | $240 to $600 | $240 to $600 |
| Domain (estimate) | about $15 | about $15 |
| Community plugin (estimate) | $100 to $300 | $100 to $300 |
| Estimated total | $754 to $1,314 | $954 to $1,514 |
The totals are the sums of the lines above: $399 + $240 + $15 + $100 = $754, and $399 + $600 + $15 + $300 = $1,314 for Pro. For Elite the same sums with $599 give $954 and $1,514. Payment processor fees and paid setup help are not included.
Cost check: Year two is the number to plan around. Licences renew annually, so the recurring bill is licence plus hosting plus any community plugin, every year, not just the first.
Why the community plugin line exists
LearnDash is a learning management system. Its group features are built around course delivery and seat management, not around a social space where members post, follow each other and chat. The official page lists a bbPress integration, which gives you forums, but members do not get a social network with profiles and a feed from the plugin itself.
Course businesses that want engagement therefore often add a second plugin for the community side. That means a second licence, a second update cycle and a second place where conflicts can appear. It is the cost most pricing articles leave out, and it is the main reason one-plugin stacks are worth comparing.
What TrueCommunity costs for the same job
TrueCommunity combines a private social network and a course builder in one plugin, using the WordPress accounts you already have. Data stays in your own WordPress database, and there are no per-member fees. The free plugin is a complete community with basic courses, and Pro adds the advanced LMS toolset, course selling and gamification.
| TrueCommunity plan | Sites | Yearly | Lifetime | Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Any | $0 | $0 | WordPress.org forum |
| Solo | 1 | $119 | $249 | Email, about 2 business days |
| Studio (best value) | 5 | $199 ($39.80 per site) | $399 ($79.80 per site) | Priority, about 1 business day |
| Agency | 30 | $299 ($9.97 per site) | $599 ($19.97 per site) | Priority, about 1 business day |
Prices checked on October 19, 2026 on the TrueCommunity pricing page. Every plan includes every Pro feature; plans differ only by site count and support.
Yearly plans renew at the same price, with no intro discount followed by a jump. Lifetime is one payment with updates to the core Pro plugin for life, and it excludes future paid add-ons and AI credits. Every payment, including renewals, has a 14-day money-back guarantee under the refund policy.
Same estimate, one plugin
Using the same hosting and domain assumptions, a one-site TrueCommunity setup drops the separate community plugin line, because the community is part of the plugin.
| Cost line (yearly estimate) | TrueCommunity Free | TrueCommunity Pro Solo |
|---|---|---|
| Plugin | $0 | $119 |
| Hosting (estimate) | $240 to $600 | $240 to $600 |
| Domain (estimate) | about $15 | about $15 |
| Community plugin | $0, included | $0, included |
| Estimated total | $255 to $615 | $374 to $734 |
Check the sums: $0 + $240 + $15 = $255 and $0 + $600 + $15 = $615; with Solo, $119 + $240 + $15 = $374 and $119 + $600 + $15 = $734. Selling courses with Pro goes through WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads, so store and gateway costs depend on what you choose.
Key takeaway: The licence gap between LearnDash Pro and TrueCommunity Solo is $280 a year. The bigger gap is that TrueCommunity does not need a second plugin for the community.
Try TrueCommunity free, upgrade when you need more
What you give up with TrueCommunity
LearnDash is the more mature and deeper LMS, and this comparison should not blur that. It offers a certificate builder, group and seat selling, multi-instructor course management, advanced reporting and a long list of integrations. TrueCommunity does not offer certificates, SCORM or xAPI, or enterprise-scale reporting.
A few other limits are worth knowing before you compare budgets:
- Only site administrators can create groups and courses, so there is no front-end course creation for outside instructors.
- Paid memberships and subscription billing are planned, not shipped. Course sales are one-time purchases through WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads, and only Private courses can be sold, as the sell a course doc explains.
- There is no mobile app yet. The community works in phone browsers.
- TrueCommunity is a new product with very few installs, so the ecosystem is far smaller.
What TrueCommunity covers on the course side
The free plugin covers sections and lessons, auto-graded quizzes with seven question types, enrollment, progress tracking and completion, and an instructor view of course members. Pro adds topics inside lessons, prerequisite courses, seat limits and open and close dates, access expiry and drip content.
It also adds required video, minimum lesson time, assignments with uploads and feedback, live classes with attendance, challenge exams and reset of student progress. The lesson rules doc shows how these work. Gamification with points, ranks, badges, challenges and leaderboards is part of Pro as well, so engagement tools are not a separate add-on bill.
Renewals, lapses and cancelling
LearnDash says its licence renews annually and can be cancelled at any time. Cancelling stops the next renewal. Check the current refund terms on the LearnDash checkout page before you pay, because they are set there.
For TrueCommunity, if a yearly licence ends the plugin keeps working, while updates and support stop until you renew. Refunds are available within 14 days of any payment, including automatic renewals, and payments older than 14 days are not refundable except where the law requires it.
Which plan fits which buyer
| Your situation | Better starting point |
|---|---|
| Course plus community for one brand, tight budget | TrueCommunity free, then Pro Solo at $119/year |
| Several client sites or communities | TrueCommunity Studio ($199/year, 5 sites) or Agency ($299/year, 30 sites) |
| Certificates, deep reporting or seat selling to organisations | LearnDash Pro or Elite |
| Subscription memberships with recurring billing today | LearnDash with built-in memberships |
| Testing an idea before paying anything | TrueCommunity free plugin on your own site |
When TrueCommunity fits (and when it does not)
TrueCommunity fits when members and learners are the same people and you want one plugin to handle the feed, groups, messages, courses and rewards. It also fits when you want a flat price that renews unchanged, and a free tier where real courses and quizzes already work. Switching risk is low because Pro is an add-on to the free plugin, so existing posts, groups, courses and members stay when you upgrade.
It is not the best choice if you need certificates, SCORM or xAPI, enterprise reporting, instructors creating courses on the front end, or recurring subscription billing right now. In those cases LearnDash is the stronger tool, and its higher price buys real depth. It is also not the pick if you need a native mobile app.
How to price your own setup
- List the features you cannot live without, such as certificates, seat selling or drip content.
- Check the official LearnDash page and the Free vs Pro comparison to see which plan or tier covers them.
- Add hosting, domain and payment gateway costs for a full year.
- Add a community plugin if the LMS does not include one.
- Multiply by the years you plan to run the site, using renewal prices, not first-year prices.
If the list is mostly community, cohorts, quizzes and gamification, install the free plugin and build a first course before you commit to any licence.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does LearnDash cost per year in 2026?
The official pricing page lists Pro at $399 a year and Elite at $599 a year. Both include unlimited courses and learners. Hosting, domain and any community plugin are separate, and Elite is the plan to look at if you sell seats to organisations.
Is there a free version or free trial of LearnDash?
The official page shows no free plan, only paid Pro and Elite, with a live demo for evaluation. A demo shows you the product but does not become your site. A free plugin you install yourself, like TrueCommunity from WordPress.org, lets you build and keep real content while you decide.
Why do so many sites say LearnDash costs $199?
Those pages describe the older site-based licences, which started at $199 for one site. The current official page sells feature tiers, Pro and Elite, instead. When you compare quotes, check the publication date and confirm the figure at checkout.
What is the difference between LearnDash Pro and Elite?
Pro includes the core builder, memberships, payments, certificates, and advanced reporting with weighted grading and student notes. Elite adds group course management, an instructor role, front-end course creation, multi-instructor management, ratings and reviews, and seat selling. If you are a single creator selling to individuals, you may never need the Elite extras.
What is the real total cost of a LearnDash site?
As a planning estimate, a Pro site with hosting, a domain and a separate community plugin lands around $754 to $1,314 a year, and Elite around $954 to $1,514. Those ranges rest on our stated assumptions, so replace them with your own host and plugin quotes. Payment processor fees and setup labour come on top.
Does a LearnDash site need a separate community plugin?
If you want a social feed, profiles, groups and messaging, you typically add one, because LearnDash focuses on course delivery. The official page lists a bbPress integration for forums. A community and LMS plugin like TrueCommunity includes the social side in the same plugin, though it lacks LearnDash’s certificates and SCORM-level depth.
What happens to TrueCommunity if I do not renew?
The plugin keeps working, but updates and support stop until you renew. Yearly plans renew at the price you paid, and you can cancel to stop future renewals.
A lifetime plan avoids renewals entirely, though it excludes future paid add-ons. See the pricing page for plan details.
Build your community on a site you own