If you’ve spent any time around WordPress, you’ve probably heard of LifterLMS. It’s one of those plugins that comes up again and again when the topic is online courses, memberships, and selling education on WordPress.
LifterLMS positions itself as a way to launch a course website in minutes, and it has the reputation, community presence, and depth of features that make that claim feel realistic.
Key Takeaways
- LifterLMS is a WordPress LMS plugin for building course sites with lessons, quizzes, student management, and payments.
- It supports monetization features like checkout, recurring payments, multiple gateways, and currency settings.
- It includes student engagement tools like certificates, achievements, emails, and coaching options.
- The platform shows strong maintenance signals, including searchable docs and a dated change log.
- In a live demo, we saw reporting, student profiles, imports, a re-runnable setup wizard, logs, and scheduled actions.
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LifterLMS—First Look Video
What Makes LifterLMS a Familiar Name in WordPress
LifterLMS is a WordPress plugin built to power full course websites. That means courses, lessons, quizzes, student management, payments, and the pieces around the edges that turn “a course” into “a business.” It’s also a product that’s been around long enough to feel established. That matters for agencies, freelancers, and site owners who don’t want to bet a client project on something that might vanish.
A few things stood out right away as signals of maturity:
- A well-maintained education library: Their YouTube channel and training content stay active, and the product has a strong ecosystem around it.
- Documentation that’s actually usable: Searchable docs, step-by-step articles, and video walkthroughs reduce support load and speed up builds.
- Deep WordPress roots: LifterLMS feels like a WordPress-native solution, not a bolt-on SaaS in a plugin wrapper.
- Clear product breadth: Courses are the headline, but memberships, engagement tools, and integrations are treated as first-class parts of the platform.
For WordPress pros, this is the difference between “a plugin we can install” and “a platform we can build a business on,” even if we’re starting with a small MVP.
The LifterLMS Website Pages That Build Trust Fast
We scan product websites for trust signals. With WordPress plugins, it’s easy to find marketing hype. It’s harder to find clear proof that the company supports the product, documents it well, and updates it consistently. LifterLMS fulfills all the essential requirements.
The Features Page Shows the Full LMS Scope
The LifterLMS features page reads like a comprehensive checklist for a learning management system, but it doesn’t stop at course creation. It tries to cover the whole workflow, from content to payments to student experience.
At a high level, we see three big buckets:
- Courses and Course Content: Tools for building courses, lessons, and quizzes and using a course builder to structure content.
- Monetization: Credit card payments, recurring payments, multiple gateways, support for pre-selling, and handling different countries and currencies.
- Student Engagement: Achievement badges, certificates, personalized emails, and even private coaching options.
Then it expands into memberships and access control. LifterLMS supports membership setups that can be tied to courses or stand alone as a traditional membership site. That includes course bundles, enrollment rules, content restrictions, private groups, group discussions, and member-only forums.
Beyond that, the features’ content points to integrations (payment gateways, email marketing, themes, CRMs, and forums) and platform management (reporting, notifications, student management, branding, roles, security, layout options, page builder compatibility, Zapier connections, and app integrations). Support is treated like a feature too, with options like office hours, demo courses, feature requests, and community learning.
For agencies, this feature matters because it reduces the odds that we’ll need five other plugins just to ship a stable course site.
The About Page Puts Real People Behind the Product
The LifterLMS about page is the kind of page we want to see when we’re making a buying decision for ourselves or for a client. It builds trust by showing the team, not just the brand.
It also highlights Chris Badgett, the CEO and founder. In the WordPress community, names matter. When we can connect a product to a known, accessible founder, it removes a lot of uncertainty. Seeing faces with names and roles gives us confidence that there’s a real team behind support, development, and long-term direction.
For client work, such information is a practical trust signal. Clients often inquire about the team responsible for the software, and this page allows us to provide a clear answer without ambiguity.
The Knowledge Base Is Searchable and Deep
Under the Learn area, LifterLMS provides an extensive knowledge base. It’s not a handful of short articles; it’s a structured library. We can begin with the getting started content and then transition to feature-specific guides.
Search is built into the docs, which sounds small until we need it. When we’re working quickly, we don’t want to hunt through nested menus. In the demo, searching a term like “install” immediately returns relevant results.
A sample doc topic like “How do I create a quiz in LifterLMS?” includes video tutorials and annotated screenshots. That combination helps both DIY users and pros who want quick confirmation while building.
The bigger point is simple: LifterLMS doesn’t leave users guessing, and it doesn’t depend on third-party blog posts to explain core features.
The Change Log Shows Ongoing Work (With Dates)
We also search for a change log, as it provides a clear answer to a commonly asked question among buyers: is this product actively maintained?
LifterLMS provides a change log that includes what’s new, what’s fixed, version numbers, and release dates. Dates matter. When dates are missing, users start to wonder if development stalled, even if it is still active. Listing dates avoids that trust problem.
What We Saw Inside a Live LifterLMS Demo Site
Instead of installing the plugin from scratch, we were given access to a demo site. That meant we couldn’t walk through licensing, a fresh install, or the full “blank WordPress site to course platform” setup. Still, a demo can be better for understanding what’s possible, because we can see real menus, settings, add-ons, and working content.
One thing was obvious right away: this demo site had a lot going on. It had many plugins installed, including LifterLMS core and many add-ons. That’s realistic for production sites, but it also means we kept the review focused on navigation, core settings areas, and what a new admin would notice first.
We also noticed the theme choice. The demo used Sky Pilot, which appears to be a premium theme from the LifterLMS team. We also saw references to Kadence, which came up again later when we looked at forms. We’ll get to that, but the quick takeaway is that LifterLMS is not “theme-locked.” The demo happened to use Sky Pilot, and it also showed how other tools can show up in the editing experience.
The LifterLMS Dashboard and Settings Feel Like a Real Platform
Inside the WordPress admin, LifterLMS adds its own top-level menu, and the first stop is a dashboard with the kind of metrics most LMS site owners want to see:
- Enrollments and registrations
- Sales activity
- Lessons and course activity
We kept the dashboard review light, but it looks like a true control center, not a single settings screen.
Settings are broken into practical areas. We saw general settings, content protection, and role setup. Then there are settings tied to major features, like courses and memberships. There’s also a strong focus on the commerce side, including accounts and checkout configuration.
Checkout settings include currency setup, enabled payment gateways, and gateway priority ordering. That last piece is worth noting because it’s the kind of detail that affects conversions. You can set the order to display your preferred gateway first.
Engagement settings cover email options, certificates, and notification configuration. Integrations are also centralized, and we saw a long list of available connections, plus a quick view of what’s installed and what’s active.
We also noticed technical hooks for more advanced builds, including REST API configuration and webhooks, which are relevant for teams integrating LifterLMS with other systems.
Reporting and Student Management Go Well Beyond Basics
Reporting serves as a quick indicator of the seriousness of an LMS plugin. LifterLMS includes reporting sections for students, courses, memberships, assignments, quizzes, sales, and enrollments.
In the student view, we can see details like user ID, username, registration date, progress, grades, enrollments, completion, certificates, achievements, and memberships. That’s the admin view agencies often need when a client says, “This student can’t access lesson 3,” or “Did this user complete the course?”
We clicked into a student profile and saw a deeper breakdown with tabs for certificates, achievements, memberships, and courses. From there, we could drill into a course and see course-specific progress tied to that student. The breadcrumb navigation makes it easy to keep track of where we are as we drill down (students, user profile, course list, specific course).
This is the kind of workflow that saves time during support. We don’t need to guess what the student sees; we can trace it in the admin and confirm status quickly.
Forms, Blocks, and a Notable Kadence Appearance
LifterLMS includes a Forms area, and when we clicked Add New, we saw a block-based editing experience. That makes sense for modern WordPress builds, since it aligns with the block editor most site owners already know.
In that screen, we noticed a “Kadence design library” label. That raised an eyebrow because the demo theme was Sky Pilot, not Kadence. We also saw Kadence Blocks appear in the editor context. It wasn’t fully clear from the demo what was driving that design library UI, and the design library button didn’t appear to respond when clicked. Still, the functional takeaway is what matters for most builds: forms are block-based, and we can build and manage them inside WordPress without a separate interface.
For teams building course sites, forms show up everywhere, including registration, checkout flows, and student account experiences, so it’s good to see that LifterLMS treats forms as a configurable part of the system.
Import Tools, Setup Wizard, and Under-the-Hood Utilities
A lot of WordPress LMS frustration comes from starting with a blank course. LifterLMS addresses that with import tools, and it backs it up with admin utilities we expect from a mature plugin.
Importing Courses and Templates Helps Us Start Faster
Under the Import menu, LifterLMS offers downloadable imports for courses, templates, routines, and playbooks. We tested an import designed to teach the core parts of LifterLMS in under 30 minutes. After import, the course appeared in the admin and included a structured layout with modules and familiar editing patterns.
Inside the course editor, we saw LifterLMS-specific blocks, including things like a pricing table and a course syllabus block. We also saw per-course options that let admins configure the course in detail.
On the front end, the imported course looked like a real student experience. Lessons were clearly laid out, and we could click through modules as a learner would. One feature that stood out was a Take Notes option in the lesson view, which is a small touch that can improve student engagement.
The practical benefit is simple. We can import a working course structure, learn from it, and then edit it into a real product without building everything from scratch.
Status, System Reports, and a Setup Wizard We Can Re-Run
Under Status, LifterLMS provides a system report with the kinds of details support teams ask for, such as WordPress version and debug mode. It also includes a “copy for support” button, which makes it easy to send a clean snapshot to technical support when troubleshooting.
Tools and utilities include options like clearing user sessions, reinstalling user forms, and re-running the setup wizard. Since the demo site was already configured, the ability to rerun setup was helpful to see.
The setup wizard walked through page setup, then payment configuration, including country and currency, plus an offline payments option. We also saw a step related to improving LifterLMS through usage tracking, tied to receiving a coupon. There’s a clear opt-out option, and we can choose to allow or decline. The final stage offers quick-start imports (the same type of content we saw earlier), or we can start from scratch.
For agencies, a re-runnable setup wizard is a real time saver when we’re rebuilding, staging, or testing.
Beta Testing, Logs, and Scheduled Actions Are Where Pros Look
For teams managing larger sites, it’s helpful when a plugin exposes operational tools without hiding them. LifterLMS includes a beta testing toggle, letting us switch to beta releases for LifterLMS and the LifterLMS helper in a test environment.
We also saw logs for different areas (notifications, an updater, a WooCommerce updater, plus what looked like a server or PHP log). There’s also a Scheduled Actions screen, which matters when tasks get stuck or fail and we need to inspect what ran, what’s pending, and what failed.
We hope we never need these areas, but when we do, we want them visible and organized.
Add-Ons, Bundles, and How LifterLMS Expands
LifterLMS doesn’t hide the fact that a full LMS build often includes add-ons. In the Add-Ons and More area, we can browse bundles and featured add-ons organized by category.
We saw category tabs like “All” and “Bundles,” plus areas tied to e-commerce and email marketing. One smart detail is that bundles are shown where they apply, so we can choose between buying a specific integration or choosing a bundle that includes several related tools.
As we move through the add-ons catalog, the pattern is clear. As we install and activate more components, more capabilities unlock inside the core LifterLMS menus. That’s how we get from “basic courses” to richer features like groups, private posts, forums, and deeper engagement options.
This approach matters because it mirrors how real WordPress sites grow. We start small, then add what we need as the business model becomes clear.
Final Thoughts About LifterLMS
LifterLMS is established, well-supported, and built with the realities of WordPress in mind. The website does a strong job building trust through clear features, a human about page, searchable docs, and a dated change log. Inside the demo site, we saw a full admin experience, useful reporting, import tools, and the utilities we expect when a plugin is used on serious projects.
The best next step when building an LMS site is to select a solid foundation and proceed accordingly. With LifterLMS, we can see a foundation that’s ready for real-world use.
Frequently Asked Questions About LifterLMS for WordPress Course Websites
What Is LifterLMS Used For?
LifterLMS is a WordPress plugin used to build online course websites. It covers course and lesson creation, quizzes, student management, and payment setup, so you can sell education through a WordPress site.
Does LifterLMS Support Membership Sites?
Yes. LifterLMS supports memberships that can be tied to courses or run as a standalone membership site. It includes access control, enrollment rules, content restrictions, and course bundles.
What Payment and Checkout Options Does LifterLMS Offer?
The article highlights checkout configuration, currency settings, and enabled payment gateways, including gateway priority ordering. It also mentions support for recurring payments and handling different countries and currencies.
What Admin and Reporting Tools Do You Get Inside WordPress?
The demo showed a LifterLMS dashboard with metrics (enrollments, registrations, and sales activity) plus reporting across students, courses, memberships, quizzes, assignments, and sales. Student profiles include progress, grades, enrollments, and completion details, which helps troubleshoot access issues.
Does LifterLMS Include Import Tools or a Setup Wizard?
Yes. LifterLMS offers imports for courses and templates to help you start from a working structure. It also includes a setup wizard you can rerun, with steps for page setup and payment configuration, plus optional quick-start imports.