MemberPress and LearnDash stand as two leading solutions for course creation and membership management, each with distinct strengths.
This comparison of MemberPress vs LearnDash cuts through the noise to reveal their core differences, pricing structures, and ideal use cases – helping you make the right decision for your site.
While both are popular choices, User Registration emerges as an affordable alternative, providing powerful membership management features.
MemberPress vs LearnDash: Overview with Unique Strength
MemberPress is a membership-focused WordPress plugin that excels at creating a subscription website and restricting content.
While it includes an LMS add-on for course creation, its core strength lies in managing memberships and protecting premium content.
LearnDash is a dedicated WordPress LMS plugin built specifically for online education. It specializes in comprehensive course creation, student management, and advanced learning features.
While it can handle membership aspects, its primary focus is delivering and managing structured online courses. Ideal for educators and organizations serious about e-learning.
Thus, MemberPress and LearnDash are fairly different options. While the former focuses on creating a membership website where you can sell products or services, the other allows you to manage and sell courses.
MemberPress vs LearnDash: A Detailed Comparison
Let’s start our in-depth comparison of MemberPress and LearnDash!
User Interface & Ease of Use
Both LearnDash and MemberPress provide guided setup experiences but with different focuses.
The LearnDash wizard emphasizes course structure and payment configuration, while MemberPress’s setup assistant takes a broader approach, covering membership levels, access rules, and content protection.
Features | MemberPress | LearnDash |
---|---|---|
Setup Process | Quick & Easy to Setup | Requires more initial setup |
User Interface | Intuitive Dashboard & Easy Navigation | Comprehensive, Can Feel Overwhelming for New Users |
MemberPress offers a detailed setup wizard that simplifies member management, integrates payment gateways, and enhances security.
Membership Features & Access Control
Despite their distinct core purposes, they share overlapping features essential for membership-based platforms.
Features | MemberPress | LearnDash |
---|---|---|
Unlimited Members | ✅ | ✅ |
User Roles & Permissions | ✅ | ✅ |
Member Profiles | ✅ | ✅ |
Content Rules | ✅ | ✅ |
Membership Levels | ✅ | ✅ |
Social Login | ❌ | ❌ |
Although it seems to be a tie, the membership features are not robust for LearnDash compared to MemberPress.
Note: Using User Registration, you can create a custom registration form for LearnDash.
Content Creation & Management
Creating content and managing access helps creators deliver tailored products or services to their users effectively. It also empowers the admin to approve users based on the criteria set.
Features | MemberPress | LearnDash |
---|---|---|
LMS | ✅ (Add-on) | ✅ |
Access Control Levels | ✅ | ✅ |
Content Dripping | ✅ | ✅ |
Content Protection | ✅ | ✅ |
Email Verification | ✅ | ✅ |
Course Preview | ❌ | ✅ |
In terms of course creation and management, both plugins stand on equal ground, offering identical features. However, LearnDash wins due to its built-in LMS feature.
Payment Support
Payment gateway flexibility and subscription management are critical for business success when launching a membership site.
Let’s see how these two plugins handle payment processing.
Features | MemberPress | LearnDash |
---|---|---|
Supported Gateways | ✅ (Stripe, PayPal, Offline, Authorize.net) | ✅ (Stripe Connect) |
Recurring Payments | ✅ | ✅ |
Revenue Sharing | ❌ | ✅ |
MemberPress offers broader payment gateway options (Stripe, PayPal, Offline, Authorize.net), making it more versatile for different markets.
Other Integrations
Let’s explore the integration that enhances the functionality of these two plugins.
Features | MemberPress | LearnDash |
---|---|---|
Coupons | ✅ | ✅ |
WooCommerce | ✅ | ✅ |
ConverKit | ✅ | ✅ |
WooCommerce Subscriptions | ✅ | ❌ |
Slack | ✅ | ✅ |
BuddyPress | ✅ | ✅ |
Upsell Plugin | ✅ | ✅ |
Both of these plugins are compatible with thrid-party add-ons.
Support and Documentation
The quality and variety of support options are critical in ensuring a smooth user experience. LearnDash and MemberPress offer various support channels, but their approaches differ.
Features | MemberPress | LearnDash |
---|---|---|
Support Ticket | ✅ | ✅ |
Documentation | ✅ | ✅ |
Live Chat | ❌ | ✅ (DocsBot) |
Video Tutorials | ✅ | ✅ |
Facebook Community | ✅ (Unofficial) | ✅ |
LearnDash takes the lead in support options, offering a more comprehensive package, notably live chat.
Pricing & Value for Money
Both plugins offer tiered pricing plans with varying features to suit different needs. While MemberPress starts at a lower price point, LearnDash provides more extensive LMS-focused features even at its basic level.
MemberPress
MemberPress is ideal if you’re looking for a cost-effective solution to build a membership site with essential features. A 14-day money-back guarantee backs its pricing plan.
MemberPress | Pricing | Benefits |
---|---|---|
Basic | $179.50/year | 1-Site License Basic Add-Ons & Integrations Basic LMS and Membership Standard Support |
Plus | $299.50/year | 2-site License Advanced LMS and Membership Developer Tools Priority Support |
Pro | $399.50/year | 3-site License Standard LMS and Membership Developer Tools Premium Support |
Check out User Registration’s pricing plans that start at just $79/year. Also, it has a free plan to get you started.
LearnDash
LearnDash stands out for its robust LMS capabilities and scalability, making it a better option for those prioritizing eLearning functionalities. It offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on all its plans.
LearnDash | Pricing | Benefits |
---|---|---|
Basic | $199/year | 1-site license Core LMS Features Easy integration with Paid Memberships Pro & other add-ons 1 year of updates and support |
Plus | $399/year | 10-site license Core LMS Features Easy integration with Paid Memberships Pro & other add-ons 1 year of updates and support |
Pro | $799/year | Unlimited site licenses Core LMS Features Easy integration with Paid Memberships Pro & other add-ons 1 year of updates and support |
LearnDash seems to be a better deal with extensive features.
Note: If you want both the membership plugin and LMS, the ThemeGrill Agency plan is a better deal, offering a User Registration plugin, Masteriyo LMS, and other themes and plugins.
Final Word: An Alternative to MemberPress and LearnDash
After diving deep into MemberPress and LearnDash, it’s clear that MemberPress excels in building versatile subscription websites, while LearnDash specializes in creating and selling online courses.
However, integrating membership plugins like MemberPress or Paid Memberships Pro is easy with LearnDash.
But what if you could get powerful membership features without the premium price tag? This is where User Registration emerges as a compelling alternative.
Wanna see how? Here’s a brief comparison between MemberPress vs LearnDash vs User Registration:
Features | MemberPress | LearnDash | User Registration |
---|---|---|---|
Ease of Use | 5⭐ | 4.5⭐ | 5⭐ |
Membership Management | 4.5⭐ | 4.5⭐ | 4.5⭐ |
Content Restriction | 5⭐ | 5⭐ | 5⭐ |
Pricing | 3.5⭐ | 4⭐ | 5⭐ |
Email Integrations | 5⭐ | 5⭐ | 5⭐ |
Payment Gateways | 5⭐ | 4.5⭐ | 5⭐ |
Support and Documentation | 4⭐ | 4⭐ | 4.5⭐ |
Pricing | 4.5⭐ | 4.5⭐ | 5⭐ |
Sounds unbelievable? Take the demo for a spin—we’re confident you’ll have a cost-effective experience with User Registration!