Great speedy support and greast plug ins
Great speedy support and greast plug ins
Self-hosted LMS
A self-hosted LMS.
A self-hosted LMS.
Own your academy.
A self-hosted LMS runs on your own WordPress site instead of a platform's servers, so the students, the data and the revenue stay yours. Every sale a hosted platform processes takes a percentage. Your student list lives on their servers. You customize within their constraints. When they change their pricing or shut down a feature, you find out after it affects your business.
WordPress already powers your site. Your courses should live there too.
What ownership means in practice
Four things you get back when you self-host
01
Your data stays on your server
Every course, every student, every transaction is in your own WordPress database. Your students' email addresses, their progress, their purchase history - all of it is yours. No export fees, no portability negotiations.
02
Zero platform cut on every sale
Hosted platforms take a percentage of every sale you make. Learnomy takes nothing. You pay the standard processor rate directly to Stripe or PayPal. On a $100 course at 100 sales a month, that is a meaningful difference.
03
Customize without constraints
Your WordPress theme, your CSS, your PHP, your blocks. Learnomy templates are overridable. Every lifecycle event fires a hook. Every data transform is filterable. Build exactly what your students need.
04
One platform you control
No third party can change their pricing, deprecate a feature, or shut down and take your student list with them. Your academy runs on infrastructure you manage.
Side by side
Learnomy vs hosted platforms
Hosted platforms include services like Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, and similar. Pricing and policies vary; this comparison covers typical defaults at their standard paid tiers.
| Criteria | Learnomy Self-hosted WordPress | Hosted platforms SaaS LMS |
|---|---|---|
| Platform fee per sale | None Processor fees (Stripe/PayPal) only | Yes Hosted platforms typically charge a % per sale (varies by plan) |
| Who owns your student data | You do All data in your own WordPress database on your server | The platform does Data lives on their servers; you negotiate exports |
| Who owns the student email list | You do Email addresses stored in your database, exportable any time | The platform does You can export, but the list lives on their servers |
| Monthly SaaS cost | None WordPress hosting you already pay for; Pro from $149/year | Yes Ongoing monthly or annual subscription fees |
| Customization and branding | Unlimited Full control over templates, CSS, PHP, and blocks. White-label in Pro. | Within their constraints Custom domains, some CSS, their component library |
| Payment gateways | Your choice Built-in Stripe and PayPal; WooCommerce optional; add any via the adapter interface | Platform-selected Typically 1-3 supported gateways, sometimes their own processor |
| Source of truth for course data | Your server Your WordPress database, queryable any time with no API rate limits | Platform API You access your own course data through their API, subject to rate limits and availability |
Hosted platform details reflect typical standard-tier defaults and may differ by provider and plan.
Honest assessment
When a hosted platform may be a better fit
There are two cases where a hosted platform is actually the right call.
Built-in marketplace discoverability
Hosted platforms have a browsable marketplace where students find courses from many creators. If discoverability through a third-party marketplace is central to your acquisition strategy - and you have no existing audience or website - a hosted platform gives you a running start that Learnomy does not.
Zero server responsibility
Hosted platforms handle server infrastructure, backups, uptime, and PHP/OS updates. If you are not already running WordPress and do not want to think about servers at all, a fully managed SaaS removes that operational layer. Most managed WordPress hosts handle this well, but it is still your responsibility to choose a reliable host.
You already run WordPress, you want your student data on your own server, and you don't want a platform taking a cut of every sale. That's exactly who Learnomy is for.
What you get
A complete LMS from day one, at no platform cost
Free includes everything you need to run a real academy. Pro adds what growing operations need.
Unlimited courses and students
No cap. No seat fee. No per-course charge.
Built-in Stripe and PayPal
Direct checkout with no WooCommerce required. One-time and recurring memberships.
Quizzes and auto-grading
Six question types, two player layouts, partial credit, essay grading inbox.
Certificates with verification
Auto-issue on completion. Permanent public URL, QR code, PDF download.
Full REST API
Every data type accessible over learnomy/v1 with JWT auth.
GDPR export and erase
Full compliance tools built in. Your data, your server, your responsibility.
PRO
Pro adds cohorts, learning paths, content drip, advanced analytics, Stripe Connect, and 19 more modules.
Video
What a course site you own looks like
More videos on this
Common questions
What is a self-hosted LMS?
A self-hosted LMS is course software that runs on a website you control, instead of on a platform's servers. Your courses, student records and sales data sit in your own database on your own domain. Learnomy is a self-hosted LMS for WordPress: you install it as a plugin on your site and it handles courses, quizzes, certificates and checkout there.
Is a self-hosted LMS cheaper than a hosted platform?
Usually over time, not always on day one. A self-hosted LMS has no monthly platform fee and takes no cut of your sales, so the cost stays flat as you sell more. You do pay for WordPress hosting, and for a Pro licence if you need its features. A small catalogue on a hosted platform's entry plan can cost less at the start, so run the numbers for your own sales volume.
What happens to my students if I move away from a hosted platform?
With a hosted platform, your student list, their progress, and their purchase history live on the platform's servers. If you want to leave, you negotiate a data export and hope the format is usable. With Learnomy, all of that data is in your own WordPress database from day one. You can export it, query it, or move it at any time with no negotiation.
Does Learnomy take a percentage of each sale?
No. Learnomy takes zero cut of any sale. You pay the standard payment processor fee directly to Stripe or PayPal (typically 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction) and nothing else. There is no additional platform fee on top.
Is Learnomy harder to set up than a hosted platform?
It requires a WordPress hosting account and a few minutes of plugin installation. You configure your Stripe or PayPal keys in Settings, create a course, and you are live. That is more steps than signing up for a hosted platform, but it is a one-time cost in exchange for permanent ownership of your data and zero platform fees.
What about discoverability? Hosted platforms have a marketplace.
That is a genuine advantage of hosted platforms - their marketplace surfaces your course to people already browsing for courses. Learnomy does not have a marketplace. If discoverability through a third-party marketplace is a core part of your acquisition strategy, a hosted platform may be a better starting point.
Who is responsible for server maintenance and uptime?
You are, or your hosting provider is. Most managed WordPress hosts handle backups, PHP updates, and uptime monitoring. If you need someone else to handle all server operations, a hosted platform removes that responsibility. If you are already running WordPress for other reasons, adding Learnomy is no additional operational burden.
Can I switch payment processors, or am I locked in?
You choose which gateways to use. Learnomy ships with built-in Stripe and PayPal adapters, and WooCommerce as an optional gateway. You can switch processors, use multiple at once, or add a new adapter without rebuilding your course catalog.
Run your academy on your own server, with no platform taking a cut
Download Learnomy free and have courses live today. No platform fee, no student cap, and your data stays on a server you control.