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LearnDash · StellarWP · What to do in 2026

LearnDash is Now On Liquid Web!

Confused about where this leaves your LearnDash courses?

Your site still works. Your license is still valid. Let's help you understand what actually changed and what it means for your specific setup.

  • Building on LearnDash since 2010
  • Part of the StellarWP family since 2024
  • 1M Students migrated, billing & progress intact

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    Who's who →

    LearnDash

    The WordPress LMS plugin. The thing actually running on your site.

    StellarWP

    The brand that owned LearnDash until April 2026. Now shut down.

    Liquid Web

    The parent company. Hosting and software business. Now runs LearnDash directly.

    Nexcess

    Liquid Web's managed hosting brand. Absorbed into Liquid Web in October 2025.

    MemberDash

    A sister membership plugin. No longer sold standalone — folded into LearnDash.

    A 30-second briefing

    The whole picture, in 30 seconds.

    What changed, what didn’t, and what nobody can honestly answer yet.
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    April 22, 2026

    StellarWP was shut down as a brand.

    The StellarWP name and learndash.com domains are gone. Its parent company, Liquid Web, folded the WordPress portfolio into four products it now operates directly. That’s what triggered the panic.

    database-svgrepo-com

    What stayed the same

    Your plugin, your data, your license.

    Your installation still works. Your license key is valid. Courses, students, and settings all live on your own WordPress site. Current pricing and plan terms are protected until you choose to change them.

    users-people-team-svgrepo-com

    What's genuinely unclear

    Team size, roadmap, support quality.

    The team is smaller than it was 18 months ago and some senior product people have moved on. Whether update cadence and support quality hold up over the next year is something nobody can honestly answer yet.
    Want the full picture with sources and a verified timeline? Read our fact-first briefing.

    How we got here

    The timeline, end to end.

    2024

    StellarWP era begins

    LearnDash sits under the StellarWP umbrella alongside other WordPress products. Our LearnDash add-ons are acquired into the same family.

    2025

    Consolidation, quietly underway

     Nexcess loses its independent brand and is absorbed into Liquid Web (Oct). Liquid Web and StellarWP restructure internally (Nov). Leadership transitions follow.

    Apr 22, 2026

    StellarWP brand wound down

    Liquid Web folds its WordPress portfolio into four products it operates directly. LearnDash is one of them. The StellarWP name and learndash.com domain are retired.

    May 11, 2026

    LearnDash 5.1.0 ships

    First product update under the new structure. Active development continues — add-ons updated alongside the core plugin. A clear “still maintained” signal.

    Today

    Stable, with open questions

    Plugin works. Licences valid. Existing pricing protected. What remains unanswered: long-term roadmap, team capacity, support response over the next 12 months.

    Where you sit, specifically

    Before you renew, migrate, or panic, find out where you actually stand.

    Most customers don’t need to do much. But a few do. Find whether you should Hold, Watch, or Act. At your scale, each position above needs three deeper questions answered. Here they are.

    State 1 · Hold

    Hold

    Most readers land here
    If all four are true
    • Subscription active or lifetime visible in portal
    • Site works; students aren't reporting issues
    • No hard roadmap need in the next 6 months
    • No unresolved support issue hurting your business
    Then do this

    No action

    Stay informed.
    Run your business.

    State 2 · Watch

    Watch

    Some will land here
    If any one of these begins
    • Update cadence visibly slows down
    • Support response times degrade for weeks
    • Documentation stops being maintained
    • Pricing shifts hurt your renewal economics
    • Key team members continue to move on
    • A feature you depend on is quietly deprecated
    Then do this

    Prepare, don't migrate

    Get exit-ready.
    One quarter of work.

    State 3 · Act

    Act

    A small minority
    If any one is true
    • A business-critical gap won't be addressed
    • Support quality is now costing trust or revenue
    • Renewal pricing is far worse than alternatives
    • An independent platform decision is overdue anyway
    Then do this

    Scope the move

    Real project.
    Not reactive.

    A question we're hearing a lot

    What Are Your Next Steps?

    Answer these Four Questions to Know Your Exact Position.

    The three situations above cover most people, but maybe yours doesn’t fit cleanly, or maybe you’d just like a second opinion before doing anything. Either way — take two minutes and walk through the four questions below. They cover the things that actually matter: your subscription, your renewal timing, how customised your setup is, and how much your business depends on LearnDash. You’ll land on Hold, Watch, or Act, with the specific next steps that go with your position.

    LearnDash Decision Framework
    Question 1 of 4

    Is your LearnDash subscription currently active?

    Active means a paid licence that's not lapsed or expired.

    When's your next renewal?

    This determines how soon the new tier structure becomes your problem.

    How customised is your setup?

    Quizzes, certificates, drip schedules, CRM hooks, payment flows.

    What does LearnDash represent in your business?

    Be honest. This shifts your risk profile completely.

    Hold — No action today

    You're in the steady lane.

    Your subscription is active, your renewal is far enough out, and your setup doesn't have unusual exposure. The story right now is brand and corporate structure, not plugin or product. Don't migrate on a press release.

    What to do this quarter
    →Log into software.liquidweb.com once to confirm billing and licence keys display correctly
    →Bookmark the official add-ons migration FAQ — it's being updated as things progress
    →If anything visibly changes (support response time, missed update), revisit this page
    Have someone double-check this →
    Watch — Plan, don't panic

    Worth a few hours of quiet work.

    Your renewal or your setup puts you closer to the edge of the new tier structure. Nothing's broken — but the next 30–90 days are when small decisions get made well (or expensively).

    What to do before your renewal
    →Audit which LearnDash features you actually use vs. which now live in higher tiers
    →Map your customisations and add-ons — what's official, what's third-party, what's bespoke
    →Take a tested backup of your course content separate from the plugin database
    →Get a rough migration scope on paper — not to act on, just to hold
    Get a 30-min audit walk-through →
    Act — Get specific, this quarter

    You're in platform-decision territory.

    Your business has enough riding on LearnDash that the question stops being about support tickets and starts being about exposure. Acting doesn't mean migrating — it means knowing your numbers so future moves stay on your timeline rather than someone else's.

    What needs to be on a page within 30 days
    →The full migration cost — engineering hours, content rebuild, integration rewiring, revenue at risk
    →Lock-in map — course data vs. custom logic, quizzes, certificates, CRM connections
    →Roadmap dependencies — every feature you've promised customers that lives on LearnDash
    →A clean migration scope on paper, even if you never use it
    Book a platform review →
    Select an answer to continue

    A question we're hearing a lot

    What's happening to LearnDash add-ons?

    Official add-ons: ProPanel, Groups Management, Instructor Role, WooCommerce & others are moving to the Liquid Web/Nexcess licensing system.

    1

    Several were updated in the May 11, 2026 release to version 5.1.0 — they are being actively maintained.

    2

    The longer-term add-on roadmap hasn't been published yet; the Liquid Web FAQ is the most reliable place to track it.

    3

    Third-party add-ons built outside of Liquid Web are not affected at all.

    4

    Official source — bookmark this

    Liquid Web's add-on migration FAQ:

    liquidweb.com/help-docs/software/learndash/references/add-ons-migrating-learndash/

    For founders with $1M+ ARR on LearnDash

    When LearnDash is the business.

    At your scale, each position above needs three deeper questions answered. Here they are.

    What would a migration actually cost us?

    Not the license fee. The full number. Engineering hours, content rebuild, integrations, SEO & revenue at risk. Put that number somewhere. Not to act on it. Just to hold it.

    Where are we locked in vs. portable?

    Content & student data move fine. The hard part is custom logic: quiz workflows, certificate engines, drip schedules & CRM connections. Customized LearnDash builds carry more switching cost than most realise. Map those dependencies.

    What features are we counting on?

    Write down every LearnDash roadmap item you’ve committed to. A compliance requirement, a product launch, a customer promise. These become your early warning signals for the next 12 months.

    The smart position, for most

    The smart position for most founders right now is not migration. It's being ready to migrate cleanly if you ever need to. That's a quarter of quiet work. It puts future decisions on your timeline, not the vendor's.

    • Tested backups
    • Content documented outside the DB
    • Migration scope on paper

    If you landed on Act

    Where you can actually go from here.

    For the Act bucket: Most operators won’t need this section — Hold and Watch stay where they are. If your situation genuinely calls for moving, here’s the honest shortlist, split into the two real choices: stay inside WordPress, or leave the ecosystem entirely. We’ve done both — the picks below are the ones we’d recommend a friend.

    TutorLMS LearnDash importer

    Closest feature parity to LearnDash. Active, independent development. The official one-click migration tool handles courses, lessons, quizzes, assignments, users, enrolments, orders, and reviews.

    LifterLMS LearnDash importer

    Strong combo of memberships and courses. Independent ownership, well-maintained. The Transfer plugin by Honors WP moves LearnDash data — including granular quiz answers, essays, and group memberships.

    MasterStudy LMS Importer available

    Growing fast. Decent importer tooling for LearnDash content. Worth shortlisting if neither of the above fits your specific feature mix.

    Stay inside WordPress

    Lowest friction. Lowest cost.

    Same database structure as LearnDash, same hosting, same admin habits. Course data, users, orders, and quiz history can usually be moved with a one-click importer — sometimes in under ten minutes for straightforward setups.

    Thinkific

    Bulk content importer, CSV-based user uploads. Cleanest of the SaaS migration paths. Best fit if you want a familiar, creator-style platform without heavy customisation.

    Kajabi

    No automated importer — content is rebuilt. Strongest if marketing automation and funnels matter more to you than academic rigour. Highest sticker price.

    LearnWorlds

    Offers a paid done-for-you migration service. Pedagogically rich (interactive video, SCORM). A good fit when course quality and learner engagement are non-negotiable.

    Moodle / Canvas

    For academic or institutional use — universities, accredited programs, compliance-heavy environments. Different category of tool; expect a longer, more deliberate migration.

    Leave WordPress (SaaS)

    Hosted, managed, no plugins.

    Managed infrastructure, no maintenance overhead, but with real trade-offs: you lose data ownership, fixed-cost economics, and the flexibility to deeply customise. Migration is almost always more manual — there’s no one-click route here.

    One honest caveat before you pick: if your LearnDash site has significant customisation — bespoke quiz workflows, certificate engines, custom CRM hooks, integration logic — SaaS is not the path. You'll spend more rebuilding what you already have than you'll save in maintenance. WordPress-to-WordPress moves preserve the most. We've run both directions for clients across the spectrum, and we'll tell you which fits, plainly, on the consultation call.

    Why this guide comes from us

    We've been inside this ecosystem long enough to tell you what's real.

    • Building on LearnDash since 2010.
    • In 2024, StellarWP acquired our LearnDash add-ons — we weren't watching this from the outside.
    • We've helped businesses migrate onto LearnDash, customise it, and move off it when the situation called for it.
    • No reason to push you toward an exit you don't need, and no reason to pretend exits are never the right call.
    Years building on LearnDash
    9 +
    Add-ons & integrations shipped
    45 +
    eLearning businesses supported
    590 +
    Students migrated, billing & progress intact
    ~ 999995 M

    WisdmLabs was one of the first companies to offer useful add-ons for LearnDash. They understand what LearnDash users like and want. They know WordPress and e-learning, and are passionate about helping their customers succeed.

    Justin Ferriman

    Co-founder, Advisor - LearnDash | USA

    LearnDash Business Growth Support

    justin-ferriman

    Free 30-Minute LearnDash Transition Review

    Still not sure where you land? Let's look at your setup together.

    The framework tells you your state. This call tells you what to do about it.
    Let’s talk about your site
    If the honest answer is “stay put”, that’s what you’ll hear — and the call ends there.
    • Your current setup and customisations
    • Your Hold, Watch, or Act position for your business
    • What your renewal timeline means for your plan

    FAQs

    Is LearnDash being discontinued?
    No. It’s one of four products Liquid Web is keeping and continuing to invest in. The May 11, 2026 update (LMS 5.1.0) shipped active development. The brand structure changed. The product is still running.
    Not while your subscription is active. Liquid Web has confirmed existing customers keep their current plan, pricing, and features until they choose to change. When a subscription lapses, the new tier structure applies to any new purchase.
    It’s no longer sold standalone. Its features were folded into LearnDash subscriptions. Active MemberDash customers keep their current access. When subscriptions lapse, those features are part of the LearnDash tier structure.
    Official LearnDash add-ons are being migrated to the new Liquid Web/Nexcess licensing system and were updated in the May 11 release. The official migration FAQ at liquidweb.com is being updated as this progresses. Third-party add-ons built outside Liquid Web are not affected.
    For most operators, no. Use the framework on this page to find your actual position. Most active subscribers land in Hold, meaning no action today. Let evidence drive the decision, not a press release.
    Hire LearnDash Developers