Everything MemberPress does for courses. At a fraction of the cost.
Masteriyo gives you everything MemberPress does, plus AI course creation, native payments, and multi-currency pricing. No add-ons to buy, no weekends lost to plugin glue. Import your MemberPress courses in a single click.
Why make the move
Three reasons creators leave MemberPress for Masteriyo.
MemberPress is a leading WordPress membership plugin with a long track record and a recently expanded LMS feature set. But it is built around memberships first, with pricing that scales from $399/year (Launch) to $999/year (Scale). Here is what a move to Masteriyo changes for course-focused creators.
Bundled, not nickel-and-dimed.
Native payments, subscriptions, multi-currency, certificates, bundles, coupons, gradebook, and reviews are built in. No WooCommerce bridge, no per-feature add-ons, no annual stack to babysit.
One plugin, not a stack.
A typical MemberPress production install carries eight to twelve plugins working together. Masteriyo lives in a single codebase, so updates land together and the pieces are designed to fit.
AI course creation, on every plan.
Turn “yoga for beginners” into a 6-module syllabus, lesson drafts, and a quiz in seconds. Available on every Masteriyo plan, including the free version on WordPress.org.
The comparison
Masteriyo vs MemberPress, feature by feature.
Each row shows the lowest plan that includes the feature on each side.
1. Pricing & access
Masteriyo prices shown above are introductory; renewal is $199 / $299 / $799, same as the strikethrough.
2. Course creation & content
3. AI features
4. Selling & payments
5. Student experience
6. Reporting & admin
7. Marketing & integrations
8. Support
Prices and feature inclusions verified April 2026 against memberpress.com and staging.masteriyo.com. MemberPress sells discount bundles (Professional Suite, Ultimate Course Creator) that lower per-add-on cost. See the math section below for total cost over 3 years either way.
Run the numbers
What a switch saves you over 3 years.
Two ways to read this. The plugin-licence-alone comparison shows the headline gap. The realistic stack comparison includes what most professional creators end up needing in MemberPress’s higher tiers.
Plugin licence alone, over 3 years
Masteriyo Basic, Masteriyo Pro, MemberPress Launch, and MemberPress Growth.
Masteriyo prices factor in year 1 introductory pricing plus 2 years at renewal.
Professional stack, over 3 years
Masteriyo Pro at $149/year intro vs MemberPress Scale at $499.50/year intro ($999 renewal).
Masteriyo Pro 3-year cost: $747 ($149 intro + $299 + $299). MemberPress Scale 3-year cost: roughly $2,498 ($499.50 intro + $999 + $999). Net savings with Masteriyo Pro: roughly $1,751 over 3 years for similar single-site course delivery coverage. years.
MemberPress pricing verified April 2026 against memberpress.com. Launch $399/year (1 site, +transaction fees, Stripe only), Growth $699/year (2 sites, 0% fees, advanced LMS), Scale $999/year (5 sites, 0% fees, all features). 50% off first year intro applies to all tiers.
Look closer
What a move to Masteriyo actually changes.
The table tells you the “what.” Here’s the “why it matters.”
A fraction of the licence cost.
Built course-first, not membership-first.
AI in every plan, not gated to Scale.
Honest comparison
MemberPress is a serious product. Here is where it still wins.
We respect MemberPress. It is one of the most established WordPress membership plugins, and there are specific cases where MemberPress is genuinely the better fit.
If memberships are your primary product.
MemberPress is built first as a membership platform — content protection, recurring billing, member tiers, and access rules are core to the product. Masteriyo handles members and groups, but the architecture is course-first. If your primary product is recurring access to a content library or community and courses are secondary, MemberPress is built for that pattern.
If you want a built-in affiliate platform.
MemberPress Scale bundles the complete Easy Affiliate platform — affiliate registration, commission tracking, payouts, and creative library. Masteriyo does not include a first-party affiliate program at this scope. If you run an affiliate-driven sales motion, Easy Affiliate inside MemberPress is genuinely a strong value.
If you want a coaching program platform built in.
MemberPress Growth and Scale include CoachKit, a complete coaching program platform with goals, milestones, and habit tracking. Masteriyo handles courses with student progress and certificates but does not include a dedicated coaching program layer. If your business runs structured coaching cohorts, CoachKit is a meaningful differentiator.
Two more things worth knowing. MemberPress Cloud is a managed-hosting option, handy if you don’t want to think about WordPress hosting at all. And MemberPress’s ProPanel analytics is more sophisticated than Masteriyo’s dashboard if you need custom multi-dashboard reports. These aren’t reasons most creators stay with MemberPress, but they’re fair points.
Creator voices
Creators made the switch and didn’t look back.
Real public reviews from WordPress.org and G2. No bought testimonials, no paid creators. 4.8★ average across 165+ reviews.
“While most people gravitate toward big names like TutorLMS, MemberPress, or LifterLMS, Masteriyo is a true dark horse — lesser known, but just as powerful, if not more so. If you’re looking for an LMS plugin that delivers quality without the bloat, Masteriyo is absolutely worth your attention.”
“As a non-techie teacher, I tried MemberPress, LifterLMS, MasterStudy, and Tutor LMS, but I faced issues with all of them and there was no support. By Masteriyo I finally did it with the help of the easy setup and the ready websites, and I’m very happy now. This LMS has almost everything necessary for online course websites.”
“The price and value for money was a great incentive. I made use of the free plan option without all sorts of conditions first. This made it possible for me and my assistant to get a proper feel for Masteriyo. I also got prompt replies to questions that I had along the way before I decided to upgrade to the first-level Pro plan. Very easy to use and easy to implement. Lots of features, and integration also super easy.”
FAQ
The questions switchers actually ask.
What do I lose by leaving MemberPress?
Is Masteriyo really feature-for-feature comparable?
How much will I actually save?
What if I want to come back to MemberPress?
Is there a free version?
Everything MemberPress gives you. Plus AI, payments, and one plugin instead of a stack.
Join 5,000+ creators who run their course business on Masteriyo.