BricksMembers vs LearnDash
Honest. Table-driven. No fluff. Membership + LMS bundled vs. the established LMS plugin.
Verified May 2026 by AI · please confirm with the vendorWhich one is right for you?
Deep LMS with ProPanel reporting
Choose LearnDash if you need a long-established LMS with serious reporting depth, you don't use Bricks Builder, you want AI-generated course outlines, or you need LearnDash's native iOS and Android mobile app with offline learning.
- ProPanel analytics with weighted gradebook (Pro+)
- MemberDash bundled into every plan, native Stripe + PayPal in Essentials
- ProPanel reporting dashboards + native iOS/Android mobile app
Membership, LMS, and payments in one plugin.
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
- Native Bricks integration with dynamic data tags for course and membership state
- Bundled community, chat, likes, and gifting (LearnDash bundles none of these even at Elite)
- $497 one-time lifetime for 100 sites vs. $259 to $599 per year forever
Builder & Design
Membership & Access
Payments & Checkout
LMS & Courses
Community & Engagement
Migration & Portability
How the plans line up
Approximate prices. LearnDash tiers differ by feature level, not site count: one license covers unlimited courses and learners.
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 LearnDash specifically: courses, lessons, topics, and quizzes import as structure. Quiz attempts, certificate issuance records, and payment data don't transfer.
From LearnDash
Moving from LearnDash to BricksMembers is realistic for content and progress, but you'll rebuild quizzes and any certificate logic. The Migration Center at BricksMembers › Migration Center imports LearnDash's `sfwd-courses`, `sfwd-lessons`, and `sfwd-topic` post types: hierarchy is preserved via LearnDash's course-builder meta.
Quiz structure (`sfwd-quiz`) imports as BRM quizzes; quiz attempts and grades do not transfer. Required-level assignments translate into BRM level requirements; user level assignments and per-user progress import. If you use LearnDash Groups for cohort-style access, you'll re-create those as BRM groups manually.
ProPanel reporting data is not migrated: BRM has its own reporting model.
Common questions: BricksMembers vs LearnDash
Yes, materially. LearnDash Essentials is $259/yr forever; BricksMembers Creator is $97/yr (1 site), Studio is $197/yr (10 sites), or Lifetime is $497 one-time (100 sites). Over five years LearnDash Essentials costs $1,295 USD in renewals; a BricksMembers lifetime is a single $497 payment. The catch: BRM is Bricks-only, while LearnDash works on any builder.
Yes. The Migration Center imports courses (sfwd-courses), lessons (sfwd-lessons), topics (sfwd-topic), and quiz structure (sfwd-quiz), preserving hierarchy. User level assignments and progress import. Quiz attempt history and ProPanel reporting data do not transfer. Certificates and drip schedules are rebuilt in BRM's modules.
No. LearnDash's lowest paid tier is $259/yr (Essentials). BricksMembers also has no free tier but offers a 60-day money-back guarantee and a $97/yr (1 site) or $497 lifetime (100 sites) entry.
Yes, natively. As of May 2026 LearnDash bundles MemberDash into every plan including Essentials. MemberDash adds membership tiers, monthly and yearly recurring subscriptions, and bundled course packages, with native Stripe and PayPal in Essentials. You no longer need MemberPress or Paid Memberships Pro to add a paywall to a LearnDash site. BricksMembers still has the edge for bundling community, chat, likes, gifting, and instructor frontend builder in the same plugin.
LearnDash's quiz module is the deeper of the two: question banks, randomization, hint penalties, and ProPanel-level reporting are mature there. BricksMembers covers standard question types, timed attempts, and quiz-as-Bricks-condition gating. If quiz depth is critical, LearnDash wins. If you want quizzes plus everything else in one plugin, BRM is the trade.
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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.