BricksMembers vs Academy LMS
Honest. Table-driven. No fluff. Bricks-native all-in-one vs. Kodezen's LMS paired with their companion StoreEngine plugin.
Verified May 2026 by AI · please confirm with the vendorWhich one is right for you?
LMS bundled with StoreEngine
Choose Academy LMS if you want a free-to-start LMS (free core on wordpress.org), AI-assisted course creation (its AI Studio generates outlines, lessons, quizzes, and images from a prompt), a multi-instructor marketplace with revenue sharing and instructor withdrawals, or SCORM and Google Classroom support. Its Bricks add-on is just 7 course-listing and login elements: no dynamic data, no conditions.
- Works with Elementor, Divi, Gutenberg, vanilla WP + a free Bricks add-on
- Native StoreEngine integration for eCommerce
- Aggressive lifetime tiers (Unlimited Lifetime $839)
Membership built in. No year-2 price doubling.
Choose BricksMembers if you want complete control over how your membership and LMS site looks. Because it's built natively for Bricks, membership, courses, payments, drip and access all run on Bricks' own dynamic data and conditions, with custom elements added only where there's no native way, so every member-facing page is yours to design, with no fixed templates or locked layouts. It's a true all-in-one (membership, LMS, payments, community, automation) available on annual plans or a one-time lifetime license if you'd rather not pay every year.
- All-in-one: membership, LMS, payments, community, drip, certificates, chat, gifting, automation. No add-ons needed
- Because it's native to Bricks Builder, you design every member-facing page yourself, with full control over the layout and styling, with no fixed templates or locked layouts in the way.
- Lifetime $497 one-time for 100 sites instead of forever-recurring yearly fees (60-day money-back guarantee, no free trial)
Every feature, side by side
Grouped by category. Hover any row for detail.
3 things this comparison can't match
- Bricks dynamic data tags plus membership and course-state conditions on every element, only with BricksMembers. (Academy's free Bricks add-on is 7 course-listing/login elements: no dynamic data, no conditions.)
- Bundled chat + likes + gifting + visual automation in one plugin. Academy offers community and chat only via its separate ZenCommunity companion; gifting and visual automation remain gaps.
- $497 one-time lifetime for 100 sites bundles LMS + memberships + payments + community in one plugin, versus Academy splitting it across its StoreEngine companion (payments/memberships), separate ZenCommunity, and Bricks add-ons.
Builder & Design
Membership & Access
Payments & Checkout
LMS & Courses
Community & Engagement
Migration & Portability
How the plans line up
Approximate prices.
The Migration Center handles the heavy lifting
A guided, dry-run-first wizard at BricksMembers › Migration Center in wp-admin. It scans your site, builds an import plan, runs in safe chunks, and offers rollback if anything looks off.
What it migrates automatically
- Course, lesson, and topic structure (with hierarchy preserved)
- Post content, titles, excerpts, and status
- Custom post meta fields (carried as-is)
- Required-level assignments (creates matching access rules)
- User level assignments and progress tracking
- Generic CSV exports of users, levels, courses, and progress
What you'll rebuild manually
- Quizzes from the source plugin (rebuild in BricksMembers' quiz module)
- Certificates and certificate issuance records
- Drip schedules from the source plugin
- Email automations (use BricksMembers' automation tab)
- For Academy LMS specifically: courses, sections, lessons import as structure. StoreEngine subscription tokens, certificate issuance records, and add-on configurations don't transfer.
From Academy LMS
The Migration Center detects Academy LMS as a source, but it has no dedicated one-click content importer the way LearnDash, Tutor LMS, LifterLMS and Masteriyo do. Bring Academy course and lesson content in through the generic WordPress import (selecting the relevant post types) or the CSV path; complex hierarchies may need manual mapping.
Quiz structure imports as BRM quizzes; quiz attempts do not transfer. If you used StoreEngine for the storefront, your subscription IDs and customer records remain on the StoreEngine side until re-onboarded through one of BRM's payment bridges.
Common questions: BricksMembers vs Academy LMS
Year one, Academy Individual is $199 and BricksMembers Creator is $97: BRM is cheaper. On lifetime at the entry tier, Academy is cheaper at $399 / 1 site lifetime (Academy) vs $497 lifetime / 100 sites (BRM). For multi-site, BRM is the value pick: 497 covers 100 sites. The catch: Academy is LMS-only, so factor in a separate membership plugin and StoreEngine.
Yes. The Migration Center imports `academy_courses` and `academy_lessons` with course hierarchy preserved. Quiz structure imports; quiz attempts don't transfer. StoreEngine billing data stays on the StoreEngine side until re-onboarded through BRM's checkout. Membership state, if you had a separate membership plugin, is migrated via the relevant adapter (PMPro, MemberPress, etc.).
Yes: Academy LMS Free is on WordPress.org. The paid tiers add the add-on ecosystem, integrations, and lifetime licensing. BricksMembers has no free tier.
Academy LMS works on any builder but provides no Bricks-native conditions, dynamic tags, or first-class elements. Course pages are template-driven. BricksMembers is built around Bricks integration.
Not in the core LMS plugin. Memberships and recurring billing are handled by Kodezen's companion StoreEngine plugin or by adding a separate membership plugin. BricksMembers includes memberships in the same plugin as the LMS.
Not the right competitor? Try these.
Hosted Platforms
Kajabi / Teachable / Thinkific
LearnDash
LMS + MemberDash membership add-on
LifterLMS
LMS + native payments / memberships
Masteriyo
LMS with native memberships (paid tiers)
MemberPress
Membership plugin + bundled LMS
Paid Memberships Pro
Membership plugin (open-source core)
Restrict Content Pro
Membership / content restriction
SureMembers
Content protection / access control
Tutor LMS
LMS + native eCommerce (subscriptions)
WishList Member
Membership plugin
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Open the hubAbout this comparison
Last reviewed May 2026. This comparison reflects our own assessment based on publicly available information. Features, pricing, and availability change often. Please verify current details on each vendor's official website before purchasing.
All product names, logos, and trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are used here for identification and comparison purposes only; this does not imply affiliation with or endorsement by them.