# LifterLMS review (2026): is the free plan enough? > WordPress LMS plugin with a free core and paid bundles Checked Nov 12, 2026 ยท graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA. LifterLMS is a learning management plugin for WordPress. The free core plugin covers unlimited courses, memberships, students and teachers, and quizzes and certificates. Paid yearly bundles add ecommerce, email marketing, forms and advanced add-ons, priced by the number of active sites. - **Category:** Courses & Communities - **Made by:** LifterLMS - **Website:** https://lifterlms.com - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Skip it if you don't want to run WordPress yourself. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 12, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 12, 2026, LifterLMS has a free plan, and paid plans start at $398 per year for 1 site (Earth bundle), or a free core plugin. - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **Free plan:** Core plugin: unlimited courses, memberships, students and teachers, with quizzes, certificates and achievement badges. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Core Plugin | $0 | Free LMS plugin for WordPress with unlimited courses, memberships, students and teachers; you host it yourself. | | Earth Bundle | $398 per year for 1 site, renews at full price | Core plugin plus ecommerce add-ons for Stripe, PayPal and WooCommerce, cart recovery and name-your-price. | | Universe Bundle | $598 per year for 5 sites, renews at full price | Adds the Sky Pilot theme, email marketing and CRM add-ons, forms add-ons and a weekly mastermind. | | Infinity Bundle | $1598 per year for unlimited sites, renews at full price | Everything in Universe plus 15 advanced add-ons and support for 3 users. | Read from https://lifterlms.com/pricing/ on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with LifterLMS before buying. ## Ways to pay less - **First year at 50% off** (Other savings): The pricing page says first-year bundle purchases are discounted by 50%, and an upgrade to a larger bundle gets the discount again. Source: https://lifterlms.com/pricing/ - **Infinity Bundle lifetime license** (Lifetime license): The pricing page offers a lifetime Infinity Bundle license with updates, support and future products and no renewal payments. Source: https://lifterlms.com/lifetime/ ## Key features - **Courses and memberships:** The free core plugin has unlimited courses, memberships, students and teachers, plus quizzes, certificates and badges. - **Ecommerce add-ons:** Paid bundles add checkout through Stripe, PayPal or WooCommerce, cart abandonment recovery and name-your-price. - **Advanced add-ons:** Advanced Quizzes, Assignments and continuing education tracking are included only in the Infinity bundle. - **Reporting:** Every plan exports student, course and quiz reports to CSV, including enrollment and completion dates. - **Email and forms add-ons:** Universe and Infinity add email marketing, CRM and forms integration add-ons. - **Lifetime license:** A lifetime Infinity Bundle license is sold separately, with no later renewal payments. ## Good for - WordPress site owners who want a free LMS to start - Course sellers who plan to add ecommerce and email add-ons ## Worth knowing - It runs only on a WordPress site you host yourself. - Bundles renew at the full price, and the number of active sites is capped by tier. - Advanced quizzes, assignments and continuing education tracking need the Infinity bundle. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.2 out of 4**, graded Nov 12, 2026. LifterLMS is a WordPress course plugin with a free core and paid bundles from $398 a year. It only runs on a WordPress site you host, and the bundles renew at full price. - **Value for money: C.** The core plugin is free but needs your own WordPress hosting, so it counts as a middle price. Bundles run $398, $598 and $1,598 a year. - **Free plan and trial: B.** The free core gives unlimited courses, memberships, students and teachers with quizzes and certificates. You pay for hosting yourself. - **Features: C.** Courses, memberships, ecommerce and reporting add-ons. The listing's gap: advanced quizzes, assignments and continuing education tracking need the Infinity bundle. - **Ease of use: D.** It runs only on a WordPress site you host and update yourself. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web only, with Stripe, PayPal and WooCommerce connections. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from LifterLMS's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among course and community platforms - LifterLMS's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 45 of the 98 other course and community platforms we grade, and level with 20. - It stands best on free plan and trial (B, above 71 of 98) and worst on ease of use (D, above 0). - Its paid plans start at $33.17 a month when paid by the year, against a middle price of $36 for the category: 29 of the 65 others that charge start lower. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.0 out of 4. 26 tools score higher and cost less. The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/courses-communities ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** To replace LifterLMS you would be making email sent in volume that still reaches the inbox. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. It costs $398 a year. - You could make: Online courses, templates and reports: an app builder makes these well. - You could not: Email sent in volume that still reaches the inbox. - You could not: A members' space with posts, chat and events that people keep coming back to. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with Stripe, PayPal, WooCommerce **Tags:** Online courses, Community, Templates, Reports, Marketing automation ## Alternatives - [LearnDash](https://toolgpa.com/tools/learndash): WordPress plugin for building and selling online courses. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/learndash-vs-lifterlms) - [Sensei LMS](https://toolgpa.com/tools/lms-wordpress-sensei): WordPress course plugin with a free core and a paid Pro tier. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/lifterlms-vs-lms-wordpress-sensei) - [AccessAlly](https://toolgpa.com/tools/accessally): WordPress plugin for courses, memberships and communities. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/accessally-vs-lifterlms) - [MemberPress](https://toolgpa.com/tools/memberpress): WordPress plugin for paid memberships, courses and communities. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/lifterlms-vs-memberpress) - [Paid Memberships Pro](https://toolgpa.com/tools/paid-memberships-pro): Open-source WordPress membership plugin with managed hosting. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/lifterlms-vs-paid-memberships-pro) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026: - https://lifterlms.com/pricing/ - https://lifterlms.com/lifetime/ Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/lifterlms Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).