# MasterStudy LMS review (2026): is the free plan enough? > WordPress LMS plugin with a free Starter license and paid yearly tiers Checked Nov 13, 2026 ยท graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA. MasterStudy LMS is a WordPress plugin for building and selling online courses, made by StylemixThemes, which describes it as an open-source LMS. A free Starter license covers the core; paid licenses add prebuilt websites, priority ticket support and a year of updates, priced by number of sites. - **Category:** Courses & Communities - **Made by:** StylemixThemes - **Website:** https://stylemixthemes.com/wordpress-lms-plugin/ - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Skip it if you don't want to host a site, since it runs only on self-hosted WordPress. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 13, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 13, 2026, MasterStudy LMS has a free plan, and paid plans start at $149 per year for 1 site. - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **Free plan:** Starter: free license and free updates with community support and 1 free prebuilt website. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Starter | $0 | Free license and updates, community support and 1 prebuilt website. | | Single site | $149 per year for 1 site | 1 site license, updates for 1 year, priority ticket support and 20 prebuilt websites. | | 10 sites | $299 per year for up to 10 sites | Same inclusions as the single-site plan, with a license for 10 sites. | | Unlimited | $599 per year for unlimited sites | Same inclusions with an unlimited-site license, marked on the page as for developers. | Read from https://stylemixthemes.com/wordpress-lms-plugin/pricing/ on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with MasterStudy LMS before buying. ## Key features - **Course builder:** Build courses with lessons, a course details page and prerequisites, and import classes from a Google Classroom account. - **Quizzes and assignments:** Add knowledge-test quizzes to courses and set detailed assignments for students to submit. - **Live lessons:** Teach with Zoom lessons, meetings and webinars from inside the course site, with live-stream support listed on the product pages. - **Drip content and certificates:** Release lessons on a schedule and design certificates for completed courses with a template builder. - **Group courses and notifications:** Group courses let a buyer enroll several students; on-site and browser push notifications keep students and instructors informed. - **Prebuilt websites:** Starter-site templates for a ready-made course site: 1 on the free license and 20 on paid licenses. ## Good for - WordPress owners who want a free LMS plugin to begin with - Agencies that need a license covering 10 or unlimited sites - Course sites that start from a prebuilt demo layout ## Worth knowing - It runs only inside a self-hosted WordPress site, so hosting and security are your job. - Paid licenses give 1 year of updates and support from the purchase date. - The pricing page also has a Lifetime toggle, but those prices could not be read from the page text. - Refunds are offered within 14 days, under the vendor's refund policy. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.4 out of 4**, graded Nov 13, 2026. MasterStudy LMS is a WordPress plugin for courses, quizzes, Zoom lessons and certificates, with a free Starter license. It only runs on a WordPress site you host yourself, and the free license comes with just one prebuilt site and community support. - **Value for money: B.** $149 a year for one site is about $12.42 a month, inside the cheapest quarter of courses tools, which start at $20. The free Starter license costs nothing, but you still pay for your own hosting. - **Free plan and trial: B.** The Starter license is free with updates and community support. Priority ticket support and 20 prebuilt sites need a paid license. - **Features: B.** Course builder, quizzes, assignments, Zoom lessons, drip content, certificates and group courses. Nothing in the listing is missing from the core job. - **Ease of use: D.** It runs inside a self-hosted WordPress site, so hosting, updates and security are yours to set up. No store rating is on record. - **Platforms and integrations: C.** Web only, through WordPress, with Zoom and Google Classroom on the list. Nothing for phones or desktops is listed. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from StylemixThemes's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among course and community platforms - MasterStudy LMS's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 66 of the 98 other course and community platforms we grade, and level with 16. - It stands best on value for money (B, above 79 of 98) and worst on ease of use (D, above 0). - Its paid plans start at $12.42 a month when paid by the year, against a middle price of $36 for the category: 5 of the 65 others that charge start lower. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.0 out of 4. 8 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? **You could make this.** What MasterStudy LMS does at its core is online courses and templates, and that is the kind of thing an AI app builder makes well. You would give up one thing, listed below, and little else. It costs $149 a year. An AI app builder starts at about $20 a month on our listings, and you only need it while you build. MasterStudy LMS is open source, so there is a third way: take its code and run it yourself. - You could make: Online courses and templates: an app builder makes these well. - You could make: It runs in a browser, which is where something home-made would run too. - You could not: The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with Zoom, Google Classroom, WordPress **Tags:** Online courses, Open source, Templates ## Alternatives - [Tutor LMS](https://toolgpa.com/tools/tutor-lms): WordPress course plugin with a free core and paid Pro licenses. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/masterstudy-lms-vs-tutor-lms) - [LearnPress](https://toolgpa.com/tools/learnpress): Free WordPress LMS plugin with paid add-ons and a Pro Bundle. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/learnpress-vs-masterstudy-lms) - [LearnDash](https://toolgpa.com/tools/learndash): WordPress plugin for building and selling online courses. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/learndash-vs-masterstudy-lms) - [LifterLMS](https://toolgpa.com/tools/lifterlms): WordPress LMS plugin with a free core and paid bundles. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/lifterlms-vs-masterstudy-lms) - [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/lms-wordpress-sensei-vs-masterstudy-lms) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026: - https://stylemixthemes.com/wordpress-lms-plugin/pricing/ - https://stylemixthemes.com/wordpress-lms-plugin/ Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/masterstudy-lms Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).