CourseGlade Comparison
LifterLMS gives a lot away free. The bill arrives at the checkout.
LifterLMS has one of the more generous free cores in the WordPress LMS space — genuinely more generous than we expected before checking. The catch is specific and it is worth understanding before you commit: taking money costs extra.
What LifterLMS gives you for nothing
We are not going to pretend otherwise, because it is the honest starting point for this comparison.
The free LifterLMS core includes certificates, achievement badges, content drip, course prerequisites, a gradebook with reporting, and multiple instructors per course. Quizzes are free too, with four auto-graded question types. Several of those are Pro features in CourseGlade and in most of the market.
If you are building a free internal training site with no payments, LifterLMS free is a strong choice and we would say so.
Payments are a paid add-on
The free core can record manual and offline payments, but taking a card requires an extension. Stripe is $149 a year. PayPal is $149 a year. They are sold separately.
So the first real cost of selling a course on LifterLMS is not the bundle price — it is $149 before a single student pays you. On CourseGlade, Stripe checkout and WooCommerce are both in the free plugin.
If you buy the pieces individually
| LifterLMS add-on | Per year |
|---|---|
| Stripe payments | $149 |
| PayPal payments | $149 |
| Advanced Quizzes (fill-in-blank, reorder, short/long answer, upload, code, scale) | $299 |
| Assignments | $299 |
| Events (live and virtual classes) | $299 |
| Groups | $299 |
| Total, bought individually | $1494 / yr |
| CourseGlade Pro — all twelve addons | $99 / yr |
This is the à la carte path, and it is the expensive one — LifterLMS clearly expects most buyers to take a bundle instead. We have shown it because the individual prices are what you meet first if you start free and add capability as you need it, which is how a lot of people actually buy.
The bundle prices, with the renewal shown
| Bundle | First year | Every year after | Sites |
|---|---|---|---|
| Earth | $199 | $398 | 1 active site |
| Universe | $299 | $598 | 5 active sites |
| Infinity | $799 | $1,598 | unlimited |
| CourseGlade Pro Single | $99 | $99 | 1 site |
The first-year prices come from a 50% promotion running at the time of writing; LifterLMS states on the same page that all renewals are at full price. Over three years, Earth costs $995 and CourseGlade Pro Single costs $297. That is the comparison that matters, and it is the one that first-year pricing hides.
Where LifterLMS is the better choice
You are not selling anything
For free internal training or a non-commercial course library, the LifterLMS free core is more capable than most paid plugins, and the payment paywall never applies to you.
You need advanced quiz question types
Their Advanced Quizzes addon covers fill-in-the-blank, reordering, code and scale questions. CourseGlade ships seven question types and does not currently match that range.
Support quality is your priority
LifterLMS is rated 4.8 on WordPress.org across 390 ratings, with a customer service score of 4.9 on Capterra. Their support reputation is a genuine strength and we are not going to argue with it.
You want a marketing and CRM ecosystem
Their Universe bundle bundles Mailchimp, ConvertKit, Twilio and four form plugins. CourseGlade has a narrower integration list.
Before you decide
Why are there two prices for every LifterLMS bundle?
LifterLMS runs a 50% first-year promotion, and their pricing page states that all renewals are at full price. So Earth is $199 in year one and $398 every year after. Neither number is wrong on its own, but quoting only the first-year price makes the plugin look half as expensive as it is over any realistic time horizon.
Can the free LifterLMS core take card payments?
Not on its own. Stripe and PayPal are sold as paid extensions at $149 a year each, and the free core handles manual or offline payments only. Their WordPress.org listing describes built-in Stripe and PayPal integration, which reads as contradicting their own store and documentation — we have gone with the store and docs. Worth checking yourself if this is the deciding factor.
Is LifterLMS free core actually generous?
In several respects, yes, and more than we expected. Certificates, achievement badges, content drip, prerequisites, the gradebook and multiple instructors per course are all in the free core. Basic quizzes with four auto-graded question types are free too. The paywall sits on payments and on the advanced versions of those features, not on the LMS fundamentals.
Does my site break if the licence lapses?
No. LifterLMS documentation states that a deactivated licence does not affect the functionality or performance of your site — you lose updates and support. This is the same as CourseGlade. Do not let anyone sell you either product on fear of a lapsed licence.
Competitor pricing and feature details on this page were verified on 6 August 2026 against the sources below. Vendors change pricing without notice — check the source links for the current figures. CourseGlade is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any product named on this page. All trademarks belong to their respective owners.
One price, every addon, no per-gateway fee
CourseGlade Pro is $99 a year and renews at $99. Stripe and WooCommerce are in the free plugin, not sold separately.