Free for the core plugin, then $199, $299 or $799 for the first year of the Earth, Universe or Infinity bundle: that is LifterLMS pricing as its own page shows it. Every renewal costs double, at $398, $598 and $1,598 a year, and the free plugin cannot take a card payment.
The lowest-priced LifterLMS purchase that takes card payments is a single add-on: LifterLMS Stripe at $149 a year, against $398 for the Earth Bundle once the discount ends. A lifetime Infinity license is $10,000, paid once. 6 of the 7 review pages on Google’s first 2 pages still show older, retired prices.
A plugin that calls itself free forever just showed you a $199 button. That gap is why you are searching, and the pricing page answers only part of it.
The entry bundle’s price has moved 3 times in 4 years, going by LifterLMS’s own launch post and the archived copies of its pricing page.
A course site is a multi-year commitment, so the first-year number is the wrong one to budget on.
Below you get every plan in year 1 and every year after, the $149 option the plan cards leave out, when the $10,000 lifetime license pays off, and how the bill compares with LearnDash, Tutor LMS and Masteriyo.
Key Takeaways
- The core plugin is free, with no cap on courses or students. It takes manual payments only, so card payments need a paid add-on.
- Bundles cost $199, $299 and $799 for the first year. Every renewal after that is billed at the full $398, $598 and $1,598.
- A single Stripe add-on is $149 a year. From year 2, that is $249 a year less than renewing the Earth Bundle.
- Earth’s full price has climbed from $180 to $398 since 2022. The latest $99 rise came some time after March 2026.
- 6 of 7 review pages on Google’s first 2 pages show retired prices. 4 show $149 or $149.50 for Earth, and 2 show a $120 starting price.
- The $10,000 lifetime license only beats yearly Infinity billing in year 7. Against a 1-site Earth renewal, the break-even is past 25 years.
LifterLMS pricing at a glance: a free plugin and 3 bundles
LifterLMS sells 1 free plugin and 3 yearly bundles, and every bundle has 2 prices: a first-year price, and a renewal price that is exactly double.
If you are pricing a plugin because a course launch is coming, the Online Selling Mistakes Challenge is worth a look first. It is a free 5-day email series on the 5 most common selling mistakes solo creators make.
Earth costs $199 then $398 a year, Universe $299 then $598, and Infinity $799 then $1,598, while the core plugin stays at $0.
| Plan | First year | Every year after | Sites | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core plugin | $0 | $0 | No license needed | Unlimited courses, memberships, students and teachers. Manual payments only |
| Earth Bundle | $199 | $398 | 1 | Stripe, PayPal, WooCommerce and Authorize.net add-ons, cart abandonment recovery, name-your-price |
| Universe Bundle | $299 | $598 | 5 | Everything in Earth, plus email, forms and SMS add-ons, a theme, a page builder and a weekly mastermind |
| Infinity Bundle | $799 | $1,598 | Unlimited | Everything in Universe, plus 15 advanced add-ons |
The struck-through figure is the one to budget for.
LifterLMS says so in a footnote under the cards on its pricing page: “All renewals are at full price.”
The first-year price is a 50% introductory discount, applied with the coupon code FIRSTYEAR50 that sits in a banner across the page. LifterLMS’s own FAQ explains why it exists: the reduced price “helps lower your initial expenses and reduce your startup costs during the first year”.
Earth gives you 1 site and 1 support user. Universe covers 5 sites and 2 support users. Infinity covers unlimited sites and 3.
Licenses renew automatically.
The FAQ says you can cancel a scheduled renewal at any time, and the LifterLMS terms allow a refund request within 30 days of the first purchase or of a renewal charge.
What the free LifterLMS plugin does, and where it stops
The free LifterLMS core plugin builds and delivers courses with no cap on courses, memberships, students or teachers.
The limit is payments: the free plugin cannot take a card or PayPal payment.
LifterLMS’s own help doc says it in 1 line. With the free plugin “you can sell courses manually (but not accept credit card or PayPal payments)”.
Selling manually means the Manual Payment Gateway, which LifterLMS describes as “a fully-functional payment gateway included in the LifterLMS Core”. The student picks Manual at checkout and sees your payment instructions, and the order waits as pending. When the money arrives by bank transfer or any other route, you log in and record the payment, and LifterLMS enrolls the student.
That is fine for a handful of sales a month. At volume it gets tedious, because every single sale needs you at the keyboard.
The money can arrive by bank transfer or a PayPal request. If you send buyers to a separate checkout such as CartMango, which is my own product, you would still record each payment by hand, because CartMango lists no native LifterLMS connection.
Support is the other line between free and paid.
LifterLMS’s support policy sends free users to the public WordPress.org forum and keeps its help desk for paid subscriptions.
The $149 add-on the pricing cards leave out
A single LifterLMS payment add-on costs $149 a year, and buying 1 of them is the lowest-priced LifterLMS purchase that takes a card payment.
The 4 plan cards never mention it.
The add-ons sit in the LifterLMS store, each on its own product page. The Stripe add-on is $149 a year, and so are PayPal, WooCommerce and Authorize.net. Cart Abandonment Recovery and Name Your Price are $299 a year each.
The Earth card already shows its half-price first year, while the add-on pages show only the full $149. LifterLMS’s discount page says the same FIRSTYEAR50 code takes 50% off “any products you want in the LifterLMS store”, so the table applies it to all 3 routes. I did not run a purchase to confirm it on a single add-on.
If the coupon works as that page says, 3 years cost $372.50 for Stripe alone, $745 for Stripe plus PayPal and $995 for the Earth Bundle.
| Route | Year 1 | Each year after | 3 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stripe add-on only | $74.50 | $149 | $372.50 |
| Stripe + PayPal add-ons | $149 | $298 | $745 |
| Earth Bundle | $199 | $398 | $995 |
At list price, with no coupon on the add-ons, 3 years of Stripe alone cost $447, and Stripe plus PayPal $894.
So who should still buy Earth? Anyone who wants Stripe plus either $299 add-on, or any 3 of the $149 ones.
Stripe plus Cart Abandonment Recovery is $448 a year, and 3 of the $149 add-ons are $447. Both are more than Earth’s $398.
Bought one by one, all 6 of Earth’s add-ons cost $1,194 a year.
A single add-on covers 1 site. LifterLMS’s pricing FAQ says its a la carte add-ons “can be used on 1 active website”.
If you change your mind later, LifterLMS’s upgrade doc says the unused value of what you bought is credited toward a bundle.
What Universe and Infinity add for $598 and $1,598 a year
Universe adds 4 more sites, a second support user, 10 more add-ons and a weekly mastermind call for $200 a year more than Earth at renewal. Infinity adds unlimited sites, a third support user and 15 advanced add-ons for another $1,000.
The first-year gaps look smaller. Earth to Universe is $100 in year 1 and $200 after. Universe to Infinity is $500, then $1,000.
Universe’s 10 extra add-ons are the ones that connect LifterLMS to other tools or change how it looks: Mailchimp, Kit, 4 form plugins, Twilio for SMS, the Sky Pilot theme, the Aircraft page builder and a graphics pack. Each is $149 a year on its own.
The advanced add-ons are a different tier.
Advanced Quizzes, Advanced Videos, Assignments, Groups, Private Areas, Social Learning and 9 more are $299 a year each, and none of them is in Earth or Universe.
So a site that needs advanced features either pays $299 a year for each add-on, or jumps from $598 to $1,598 for Infinity.
An r/elearning thread from April 2024 shows how that lands. The poster needed 2 advanced add-ons for a staff training site and wrote: “I hate their add on pricing. It almost forced me to get the infinity package which renews at 1500 a year.”
On today’s prices, 2 advanced add-ons bought singly cost $598 a year, exactly what a Universe renewal costs, and Universe includes neither. Infinity only becomes the lower bill at 6 advanced add-ons, or at 5 if you also need the Stripe add-on.
Why the LifterLMS price on other sites is often wrong
6 of the 7 third-party review and directory pages on Google’s first 2 pages for this search show a LifterLMS price that LifterLMS no longer charges.
Capterra and SelectHub show a $120 starting price, eLearning Industry shows $149 for Earth, and Software Finder, DroidCrunch and Seahawk Media show $149.50, against a live Earth price of $199 for the first year and $398 after.
| Page | Entry price it shows | What that number matches |
|---|---|---|
| Capterra | $120 | The price of 1 add-on in 2022 |
| SelectHub | $120 | The price of 1 add-on in 2022 |
| eLearning Industry | $149 | Earth’s old first-year price, rounded |
| Software Finder | $149.50 | Earth’s first-year price from 2024 to early 2026 |
| DroidCrunch | $149.50 | Earth’s first-year price from 2024 to early 2026 |
| Seahawk Media | $149.50 | Earth’s first-year price from 2024 to early 2026 |
| PluginSuggest | $199, renewing at $398 | Earth’s current price |
Capterra’s page is titled “LifterLMS Pricing 2026”. It has no Earth card at all, still lists Universe at $360 and Infinity at $1,200, and marks the free version as not available.
DroidCrunch calls Infinity a one-time payment with no renewals. LifterLMS bills Infinity yearly, and the one-time license is a separate $10,000 product.
Several of those numbers match prices LifterLMS did charge at some point. It has changed them since.
Since 2022, Earth’s full yearly price has gone from $180 to $398, Universe’s from $360 to $598 and Infinity’s from $1,200 to $1,598.
| When | Earth | Universe | Infinity |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 2022 | $180 | $360 | $1,200 |
| May 2023 | $199 | $360 | $1,200 |
| March 2024 | $299 | $499 | $1,499 |
| Now | $398 | $598 | $1,598 |
The first row comes from LifterLMS’s own launch post for Earth, which set the retail price at $180 and priced 4 add-ons bought separately at $480. The middle rows come from Internet Archive copies of the pricing page, dated May 2023 and March 2024.
I could not find an announcement for the latest rise. The archived copy from 18 March 2026 still shows Earth at “normally $299”. A LifterLMS blog post whose page data says it was last modified on 21 May 2026 already reads “from $199 / year”.
That suggests the $99 increase on all 3 bundles landed somewhere between those 2 dates.
A page edit is thin evidence, so treat the window as a best guess.
I sold a WordPress plugin myself from 2011 to 2015, a landing page builder called Profits Theme, so a price list like this one is familiar ground.
My only advice is to plan around $398, because $199 lasts 12 months.
Is the $10,000 LifterLMS lifetime license worth it?
The LifterLMS lifetime license costs $10,000 once and covers the Infinity Bundle on unlimited sites.
At list price it only beats yearly Infinity billing in the 7th year.
LifterLMS’s lifetime page frames it more kindly: “It pays for itself around year six.” The same page gives the input: “The Infinity Bundle renews at $1,598 a year.”
Run that number. 6 renewals at $1,598 come to $9,588.
If you took the first-year discount, 6 years of Infinity cost $8,789. Either way the yearly route is still under $10,000 at the end of year 6, and it crosses the line during year 7.
For a 1-site seller the comparison is not close. $10,000 buys 25 years of Earth renewals at $398, or nearly 17 years of Universe.
2 things make the lifetime license look better than that. It has been $10,000 since at least January 2024, when an archived pricing page already listed it at that price with yearly Infinity at $1,200. Back then the break-even was a little over 8 years, so every rise in the yearly price has shortened it since.
LifterLMS also discounts it.
On the company podcast in June 2026, its CEO Chris Badgett announced “a 70% discount on the LifterLMS Infinity Bundle lifetime license” for 3 days. By my arithmetic 70% off $10,000 is $3,000. Yearly Infinity billing passes that in year 2 at full renewal prices, or in year 3 if you started on the first-year discount.
So the $10,000 list price takes 7 years to pay back, and a sale price like that one takes 2 to 3.
The lifetime license carries the same 30-day refund as the yearly plans.
What LifterLMS costs beyond the license
A LifterLMS site also needs WordPress hosting, a domain and a payment processor, and none of the 3 is part of any LifterLMS plan.
LifterLMS is open about this. Its own blog says “free” does not mean there are no other costs: “You still need WordPress hosting, a domain, and any other site tools you choose to use.”
On hosting, LifterLMS gives 2 numbers. A comparison post on its blog puts hosting at “around $5-$20 / month”. Its system requirements doc says sites “with lots of traffic, users, and concurrent logins should expect to spend at least $30 per month on hosting”.
Read the first as a starter site and the second as a busy one.
LifterLMS’s own hosting service publishes no price at all, only an application form.
Payment processing is separate from every price above.
Stripe’s standard rate for US cards is 2.9% + 30¢ per charge. LifterLMS adds nothing on top: that comparison post says “There are no transaction fees”.
That fee belongs to the processor, so it is the same whether the charge runs through the LifterLMS Stripe add-on, LearnDash or a standalone checkout such as CartMango.
Video hosting is a separate bill too.
A course plugin stores the lessons, and the video files usually live on another host. Our guide to video hosting for courses covers 21 of them.
The $1 demo
LifterLMS sells a 30-day demo site for $1, hosted on its own servers with every add-on switched on. The page promises it “WON’T automatically charge your card after the 30 days” and will refund the $1 if you ask.
That page also describes the full plan as “our big, $1,200 / year plan”, a price the pricing page left behind in 2024.
What happens if you stop renewing a LifterLMS license
Updates and support stop when a LifterLMS license lapses. Whether the add-ons may keep running is where LifterLMS’s own documents disagree.
Its license help doc says “You must maintain an active subscription to continue using your license keys”, and that the main purpose of the license “is to provide you with updates to our add-ons when we release them”. The support policy is blunt: no support “for individuals without active subscriptions”.
An older help doc adds that the add-ons “are all open source and GPL licensed”, and that a failed license check “does not affect the functionality or performance of your site”.
The Software License Agreement goes further. On expiry, the licensee “shall cease using and delete, destroy, or return all copies of the Software”.
The same agreement says “All sales are final”, while the pricing page and the terms both promise a 30-day refund. If either point matters to you, ask LifterLMS in writing before you buy, and keep the reply.
LifterLMS vs LearnDash, Tutor LMS and Masteriyo on price
Over 2 years, the LifterLMS Earth Bundle costs $597, LearnDash Essentials $518, Tutor LMS Individual $398 and Masteriyo Basic $298, and a lone LifterLMS Stripe add-on comes to $298 before any coupon.
| Plugin and plan | Year 1 | Each year after | Hosts the course |
|---|---|---|---|
| LifterLMS core + Stripe add-on | $149, or $74.50 if the first-year coupon applies | $149 | Yes |
| LifterLMS Earth Bundle | $199 | $398 | Yes |
| LearnDash Essentials | $259 | $259 | Yes |
| Tutor LMS Individual | $199 | $199 | Yes |
| Masteriyo Basic | $99 | $199 | Yes |
| CartMango | Free right now, paid plans start in November 2026 | $10 a year for checkout. Course hosting is planned for the $30 plan | Not yet, planned for October 2026 |
CartMango is mine, so keep that in mind when you read the last row. CartMango is a checkout and does not host courses yet: course hosting is planned for October 2026, on the $30 a year plan.
All 5 plugin rows are yearly licenses, read from each vendor’s pricing page.
LearnDash shows no first-year discount, so $259 is the price in both years.
Tutor LMS also sells its Individual plan as a one-time $499 license. Masteriyo follows the LifterLMS pattern: $99 first, “Normally $199/year” after.
Earth is the most expensive second year among the 5 plugin rows. Earth also includes cart abandonment recovery and pay-what-you-want pricing, so check whether the plan you compare it with does too.
For the wider field, our LearnDash pricing breakdown covers its 3 plans, and the WordPress LMS plugin comparison prices 7 plugins on the year 2 renewal. If a hosted platform is still on your list, what course platforms keep per sale is the number to check there.
Which LifterLMS plan to buy
The right LifterLMS plan comes down to 3 things LifterLMS’s own plan quiz asks about: how many sites, which payment options, and which add-ons.
- Free core. Free courses, internal training, or a few paid students you are happy to enroll by hand.
- Stripe add-on alone, $149 a year. 1 site, card payments, nothing else. The lowest paid bill.
- Earth, $398 a year after the first. 1 site where you want Stripe plus cart abandonment recovery or pay-what-you-want pricing, or 3 of the payment add-ons.
- Universe, $598 a year after the first. 2 to 5 sites, or you need the email and form add-ons and the theme.
- Infinity, $1,598 a year after the first. 6 or more advanced add-ons, or more than 5 sites.
- Lifetime, $10,000. Only if you would otherwise pay for Infinity for 7 years or more, or you catch one of the sales.
FAQ
Is LifterLMS free?
The LifterLMS core plugin is free, with unlimited courses, memberships, students and teachers. It takes manual payments only. Card and PayPal payments need a paid add-on from $149 a year, or the Earth Bundle at $199 for the first year and $398 after. Hosting and a domain are separate bills.
At LifterLMS what is free and what is paid?
Free: the course builder, lessons, quizzes, memberships, certificates, progress tracking and the Manual Payment Gateway, per LifterLMS’s own free and paid doc. Paid: the Stripe, PayPal, WooCommerce and Authorize.net add-ons at $149 a year each, the email and form add-ons at $149, and the advanced add-ons such as Assignments and Private Areas at $299 each. Bundles group them at $398, $598 or $1,598 a year after the first.
How much does a WordPress course cost to run?
On LifterLMS’s own figures, hosting runs from about $5 to $20 a month for a starter site and at least $30 a month for a busy one. The payment add-ons add $149 to $398 a year. A domain, video hosting and card processing at Stripe’s 2.9% + 30¢ come on top, and LifterLMS publishes no figure for those. Our breakdown of course creation costs covers the rest.
Does LifterLMS have a lifetime deal?
Yes. The Infinity Bundle Lifetime License is $10,000, paid once, for unlimited sites with no renewals. At that price it only beats yearly Infinity billing in year 7. LifterLMS has also run short sales on it, including a 3-day offer at 70% off in June 2026.
Does LifterLMS take a cut of course sales?
No. LifterLMS sells flat yearly licenses, and its own blog says “There are no transaction fees”. You still pay your payment processor. Stripe’s standard US rate is 2.9% + 30¢ per card charge.
Before you pay for the payment add-ons
Under LifterLMS pricing, building and delivering a course is free. Card payments, cart recovery and pay-what-you-want pricing are what you pay for. If what you sell is a set of downloadable files, with no quizzes or progress tracking, a checkout alone may cover it, and that is where CartMango fits.
CartMango takes Stripe and PayPal payments, delivers the files after purchase and includes order bumps on every plan. It does not run lessons, and CartMango lists no native LifterLMS connection. CartMango is free right now, and paid plans start in November 2026, from $10 a year.
About the Author
👋 I’m Welly, founder of CartMango (the site you’re on), a checkout platform for digital product sellers. We’ve previously processed $179M+. I also run BirdSend (email marketing tool, 3.1B+ emails sent). On the side I show other non-techie digital sellers how I use AI workflows to automate 50%+ of my operations. Find me on LinkedIn.
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