Over the past week we’ve heard from a lot of LearnDash site owners who are upset, confused, or both. If you’re one of them, this post is for you. We’ll lay out what’s actually changing, what your realistic options are, and what Uncanny Owl is committing to so that whatever you decide, your site keeps working.
We’ve been building plugins for LearnDash for over a decade. Our business grew up alongside LearnDash, and tens of thousands of organizations run our tools on LearnDash sites today. So this isn’t an outside observer’s take. These changes affect us too, and we want to share with you how we’re responding.
What’s changing
Liquid Web, which has owned LearnDash since 2021, has rolled its remaining WordPress plugins into a single package sold under its Nexcess brand. Here’s what that means in practice, based on the Nexcess software packages page and the Liquid Web LearnDash page as of October 20, 2026:
- LearnDash is no longer sold on its own. Every plan now includes LearnDash, Kadence, The Events Calendar and Give, whether you use the other three or not.
- The cheapest plan is $350 per year for one site. The other tiers are $599 for 10 sites, $799 for 25, $899 for 50 and $999 for 100. A single-site LearnDash license was previously in the $199 to $259 range depending on when you bought, and many long-time customers were on legacy pricing lower than that.
- Existing licenses are being moved to the new plans. In Nexcess’s words, “individual plugin subscriptions are being retired as licenses renew.” Your current rate applies through your current billing term, and at your next renewal on or after November 16, 2026 you’ll be moved onto the package.
- You’ll get 30 days’ notice. Nexcess says renewal reminders go out 30 days before you’re charged, with your new plan details.
- If you don’t renew, your site keeps running. Nexcess states that support, automatic updates and security patches stop when a license lapses, but LearnDash itself doesn’t stop working.
For some customers, especially agencies managing dozens of client sites, the per-site math isn’t dramatically different from before. For a single-site course business, or anyone on legacy pricing, it’s a big jump for plugins you may never install. That’s where most of the frustration is coming from.
Your three realistic options
Every site is different. But as we see it, there are three paths, and we’re committed to supporting you on all of them.
1. Renew on the new plan
If you use Kadence, The Events Calendar or Give already, or you run a lot of sites, the bundle may be reasonable value. Nothing changes for you with our plugins. Everything keeps working exactly as it does today, and we’ll keep supporting new LearnDash releases as we always have.
2. Stay on the LearnDash version you have, and don’t renew
This is the option a lot of people are considering. LearnDash is a self-hosted plugin. If you let your license lapse, your courses, quizzes, enrollments and progress data all stay exactly where they are, and the plugin keeps running.
The trade-off: you won’t receive LearnDash updates, including security patches, and you won’t have access to LearnDash support. Over time, WordPress and PHP move on, and an unmaintained plugin can eventually run into compatibility problems. That’s a risk to weigh, and we’d encourage anyone on this path to keep WordPress core, PHP and their other plugins current, and to keep good backups.
What you shouldn’t have to worry about is whether our plugins will keep working. See our first commitment below.
3. Move to a different LMS
If the new pricing is the last straw, you’re not alone, and there are good WordPress LMS options out there. Migrating courses is real work, so don’t rush it, but if it’s the right move for you, we want to make sure you don’t lose your investment in our plugins when you make it. See our second commitment below.
Our commitment #1: our plugins will keep working with the LearnDash version you have today
If you decide to stay on your current version of LearnDash and stop renewing, we will continue to support compatibility between that version and all of our LearnDash plugins: Uncanny Toolkit for LearnDash (free), Uncanny Toolkit Pro, Uncanny Groups, Tin Canny Reporting, Uncanny Redemption Codes and Uncanny Continuing Education Credits, as well as the LearnDash integration in Uncanny Automator.
Concretely, that means:
- We’ll keep supporting the current LearnDash release (5.2.x) for as long as active customers are running it.
- Our updates won’t require you to update LearnDash. If a future LearnDash release changes something our plugins depend on, we’ll support both the old and new behavior rather than forcing you forward.
- Our support team will keep supporting you. A lapsed LearnDash license has no effect on your Uncanny Owl license or your access to our support.
We don’t have a sunset date in mind, and we’re not going to create one to nudge anyone toward a LearnDash renewal they don’t want.
Our commitment #2: more LMS support, and a free license swap when you move
For a long time, “Uncanny Owl” and “LearnDash” have been nearly synonymous. That’s changing, and recent events have moved it up our priority list.
Here’s where things stand today:
- Tin Canny xAPI/SCORM for WordPress launched in September. It delivers and tracks SCORM, xAPI and H5P content on any WordPress site, with a built-in Learning Record Store, and it works with any WordPress LMS through Uncanny Automator, or with no LMS at all.
- Uncanny Redemption Codes already works on any WordPress site. No LMS required. Through Uncanny Automator, code redemption can unlock courses, mark courses or lessons complete, and do anything else Automator can do.
- Uncanny Continuing Education Credits already works on any WordPress site, and through Uncanny Automator it can award credits for course completions in other WordPress LMS plugins.
- Uncanny Automator already integrates with every major WordPress LMS, including LifterLMS, Tutor LMS, MemberPress, LearnPress and MasterStudy, so the automations you’ve built around LearnDash have a home wherever you land.
And here’s what’s coming: native editions of Tin Canny, Redemption Codes and Continuing Education Credits for other WordPress LMS and membership platforms, starting with MemberPress, LifterLMS and Tutor LMS, with more to follow. These are built on the same engines as the LearnDash versions, with features tailored to each platform.
If you own a license for one of our LearnDash plugins and you move to another LMS, you can swap it for the edition built for that LMS at no charge, as soon as that edition is available. No repurchase, no prorating, no hoops. You already paid for the capability; we just want you to be able to keep using it. This applies today for anyone switching from Tin Canny Reporting for LearnDash to Tin Canny xAPI/SCORM for WordPress, and it will apply to each new edition as it ships. Just contact our support team.
Uncanny Groups and the Uncanny Toolkit are more deeply tied to LearnDash’s own group and course structures, so they’ll remain LearnDash plugins for now. If you rely on them and you’re weighing a move, reach out and let us know. If there’s enough demand, we may consider building out similar solutions for other LMS plugins.
What to do this week
Whichever path you take, a few practical steps:
- Find your renewal date in your Liquid Web account portal, and watch for the renewal email. The new plans apply to renewals on or after November 16, 2026.
- Decide before that date. If you don’t want to be moved to the new plan, you need to turn off auto-renewal before your renewal date. Note that Nexcess says lapsed legacy subscriptions can’t be reactivated, so this is a one-way door.
- Take a full backup of your site before any change, whether that’s a renewal, a lapse or a migration.
- Talk to us. If you’re unsure how any of this affects your Uncanny Owl plugins, open a support ticket. We’ll give you an answer right away.
We’re not going anywhere
We know many of you have built businesses, training programs and certification pathways on LearnDash, and a lot of that work runs through our plugins. None of that is at risk because of a pricing change at another company. We’ll keep our LearnDash plugins working, we’ll keep expanding where our plugins can run, and we’ll make it painless to bring your license with you if you move.
If you have questions we haven’t answered here, leave a comment or contact our support team. We’ll update this post if the situation changes.
Thank you for your support over the years. ❤️ Our team wouldn’t be here without you.