LearnDash

United States · www.learndash.com · 38 vendors

LearnDash is a leading WordPress Learning Management System (LMS) plugin that enables users to create and sell online courses. It provides advanced features such as quizzes, assignments, and gamification, and is utilized by universities, companies, and entrepreneurs globally. The company operates as an acquired subsidiary under Liquid Web's StellarWP brand.

Resilience scores

Technology vendors

Services catalogue

1 service in catalogue across 1 category; runs on 38 sub-vendors.

Insights

Last updated 2026-08-15 · revision 6

38 direct vendors, 306 subvendors

Direct vendors by controlling owner country (sample)

Subvendors by controlling owner country (sample)

Migration Readiness: 6/10

Assessed by AI based on technology stack characteristics (cloud-native vs legacy, containerization, microservices), regulatory environment, data residency requirements, financial stability, and vendor lock-in risks. The score ranges from 0-10, where higher scores indicate better readiness for technology migration.

LearnDash exhibits medium migration readiness, leaning towards the higher end. Key challenges for migration stem from its core WordPress/PHP/MySQL stack, often deployed with cPanel/WHM and VMware, which suggests a potentially monolithic architecture that could require substantial refactoring for a full cloud-native, containerized, or microservices-based migration. The 'Vendor Lock-in Risk' is unknown, which is a critical uncertainty that could significantly impact migration complexity and cost, especially given the 'Total Services: 38' which implies a potentially complex ecosystem of integrations. However, several factors significantly enhance its readiness: there are no specified regulatory or data residency requirements, simplifying the migration scope. LearnDash benefits from strong financial backing from Liquid Web/StellarWP, providing resources for potential migration efforts. The existing use of cloud services like Cloudflare and Cloudinary demonstrates some cloud familiarity. Crucially, LearnDash's offering of 'StellarSites Learning' (managed cloud hosting) strongly suggests internal expertise in managing and deploying applications in cloud environments, or that they are already leveraging such environments themselves, indicating a clear path or partial adoption of cloud infrastructure. The presence of a REST API also suggests some level of architectural modularity.

Compliance

8 in-scope frameworks identified; showing 3.

SOC 2 (source) — Compliant

Liquid Web (parent company of LearnDash) has obtained SOC 2 (SSAE-22) and SOC 3 certifications from an independent CPA firm, covering Security and Availability trust service criteria. The SOC 3 report is publicly available (2025), and the SOC 2 report is available to clients upon request. This represents strong evidence of compliance with cloud service provider security controls. The risk is Low because: (1) active SOC 2/SOC 3 certifications are in place and current (2025); (2) the AICPA SOC compliance badge is displayed on official Liquid Web pages; (3) the certifications cover the infrastructure on which LearnDash operates. The primary residual risk is that SOC 2 covers Liquid Web's hosting infrastructure, and LearnDash as a WordPress plugin deployed on customer-managed infrastructure may not be covered by the same SOC 2 scope.

Evidence: https://www.liquidweb.com/policies/security-and-trust/, https://www.liquidweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Liquid-Web_2025_SOC-3-Report_FINAL.pdf, https://www.liquidweb.com/data-centers/

HIPAA (source) — Partially Compliant

LearnDash is used by healthcare organizations, universities with medical programs, and corporate training teams that may include healthcare entities. Liquid Web's hosting infrastructure (which underpins LearnDash deployments) has been independently audited for HIPAA compliance. However, HIPAA applicability to LearnDash as an LMS plugin depends on whether specific customer deployments involve Protected Health Information (PHI). LearnDash itself is not a healthcare application, but its parent company Liquid Web has obtained HIPAA compliance validation for its managed dedicated and cloud dedicated hosting solutions. The risk is Medium because: (1) healthcare customers using LearnDash for medical training could inadvertently store PHI in learner records; (2) the plugin itself has no built-in HIPAA-specific controls (e.g., audit logs, access controls, BAA provisions at the plugin level); (3) Liquid Web offers HIPAA-compliant hosting as an infrastructure layer, but application-level HIPAA compliance for LearnDash deployments remains the customer's responsibility.

Evidence: https://www.liquidweb.com/policies/security-and-trust/, https://www.liquidweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Liquid-Web_2025_HIPAA-Report_FINAL.pdf, https://www.liquidweb.com/software/learndash/

COPPA — Partially Compliant

LearnDash's privacy policy explicitly states the service is not directed at children and prohibits purchase by children under 13. However, LearnDash is used by educational institutions (K-12 schools, universities) that may enroll minors. When deployed in K-12 contexts, COPPA obligations arise for the operator (the school/institution), but the LMS vendor (LearnDash/Liquid Web) may also have obligations as an 'operator' if it collects personal information from children. The risk is Medium because: (1) the platform explicitly disclaims targeting children, which is a positive compliance indicator; (2) however, K-12 educational use cases are plausible given the platform's educational positioning; (3) no COPPA-specific controls or verifiable parental consent mechanisms are documented at the platform level.

Evidence: https://www.liquidweb.com/policies/privacy-policy/, https://www.liquidweb.com/software/learndash/

Financials

Three-year financials

Financial Resilience Score: 7/10

LearnDash appears qualitatively financially healthy despite the absence of publicly disclosed financials. As a private product brand within Liquid Web's StellarWP portfolio (backed by private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners since 2018), it benefits from a well-capitalized parent, established brand presence since 2013, and a recurring annual subscription revenue model across three pricing tiers (Essentials $259/yr, Pro $399/yr, Elite $599/yr). Third-party industry estimates place historical annual recurring revenue in the US$5–10M range around 2020–2021, with current plausible ARR potentially in the low-to-mid tens of millions based on ~100,000+ active installs. The company benefits from portfolio synergies within StellarWP (bundling with The Events Calendar, GiveWP, Kadence, SolidWP, Restrict Content Pro, etc.) and cross-sell opportunities into Nexcess hosting. Low customer concentration across SMBs, creators, universities, and enterprises reduces individual customer risk. However, key risks include heavy dependency on the WordPress ecosystem (notably impacted by the 2024–25 Automattic/WP Engine dispute), intense competition from TutorLMS, LifterLMS, and SaaS platforms like Teachable, Thinkific, and Kajabi, potential leverage constraints from PE ownership, and commoditization pressure from freemium/open-source LMS alternatives.

Key strengths: Established market position with 100,000+ active installs since 2013, Recurring annual subscription revenue model across three tiers, Backed by well-capitalized PE-owned parent (Liquid Web / Madison Dearborn Partners), Portfolio synergies within StellarWP suite and Nexcess hosting cross-sell, Low customer concentration across SMB, creator, university, and enterprise segments, Broad geographic customer base

Risk factors: Heavy dependency on WordPress ecosystem health and governance, Intense competition from TutorLMS, LifterLMS, and SaaS platforms (Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, Podia), Potential leverage constraints from PE ownership structure, Limited financial transparency (no published statements), Platform commoditization risk from freemium/open-source alternatives, Single-product concentration risk

Revenue by geography

Revenue by product/service

Workforce by country

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