What a WordPress membership really costs.
Every plugin shows you its own price, and nobody adds them up. Here’s the whole bill.
Danica LouweUpdated 5 min readAs of 6 November 2026, a course and community site on its own server costs about $1,285 in the first year, or $107 a month. After that it’s about $1,485, or $124 a month, once BuddyBoss renews. That’s before tax and payment fees. Automation and design tools add about $46 a month, and a busier site needs a bigger server.
A course and a community, priced line by line.
This is a typical first build on your own server, checked on 6 November 2026. It’s before tax and payment fees, and euros are converted at about $1.12.
Server: about $49 a month
A Hetzner CCX13 in the US is €43.99 a month. We’d use this for roughly 200 to 300 people active at once, which is our estimate and not a guarantee. Hetzner’s page showed it as unavailable when we checked, so confirm it’s in stock first.
Server manager: $11 a month
RunCloud Essentials is $9, and $2 adds 100 GB of backup storage. This is what makes a bare server workable for WordPress.
Domain: about $12 a year
Cloudflare sells domains at cost. The price depends on the ending you choose.
Community: $199, then $399 a year
BuddyBoss Launch for one site. Budget for the renewal price, because that’s what you’ll keep paying.
Courses: $350 a year
LearnDash for one site, with a built-in option to take payments through Stripe or PayPal. Its plans also include The Events Calendar, Give and Kadence.
The total
About $1,285 in the first year, or $107 a month. From year two it’s about $1,485, or $124 a month, when BuddyBoss renews at the higher price.
Answer these before you buy anything.
These answers move the total more than any discount code will.
- How many people will be active at once at your busiest? If you already have a site, Google Analytics can tell you. Add 30 to 50%.
- Do you need a community on day one, or only courses?
- One-time payments or subscriptions? Recurring billing can add WooCommerce Subscriptions at $279 a year.
- Will ads or webinars bring a crowd at once? That can mean a much bigger server.
- Do you need your CRM connected from the start?
- Who looks after updates, backups and problems, and what does their time cost?
Build the budget from your members, not from a price list.
Start with the fewest parts that let people join, learn and pay. Everything else can wait until you know you need it.
- 1
Pick hosting from your numbers
Bigger jumps cost more: a Hetzner AX42 is €99 a month plus €49 setup, and an AX102 is €259 plus €129 setup. If you’d rather not run a server, Levamo’s managed plans start at $35 a month.
- 2
Buy only the must-haves
For a course and community, that’s hosting, a domain, BuddyBoss and LearnDash. You can launch on that without any of the extras below.
- 3
Add extras when you need them
WP Fusion Personal is $297 a year and has a free Lite version. Elementor Pro starts at $60. Crocoblock for Elementor is $199, or JetEngine alone is $75. Those three add about $46 a month, plus whatever your CRM costs.
- 4
Budget for year two
Use renewal prices, not launch offers. Several tools here charge more after the first year.
- 5
Compare the real alternative
Kajabi Basic is $179 a month, or $143 billed yearly. Skool is $9 a month plus 10% of payments, or $99 plus 2.9%. These platforms run the technical side for you, so count your own time as part of the WordPress cost.
The technical version, for your developer
Things that change the numbers once you get into the build.
- Server location. Hetzner’s dedicated AX servers are in Germany and Finland, while its CCX cloud servers are also in Oregon and Virginia. US cloud pricing is slightly higher than EU pricing.
- Prices. Hetzner’s are shown before VAT, and RunCloud may add tax by country. Payment processor fees are extra on every setup.
- Licences. BuddyBoss is one production site per licence, with extra sites at $99. BuddyBoss’s pages disagree on whether an expired licence can be renewed or needs a new purchase, so check your account before letting one lapse.
- Payments. LearnDash’s built-in Stripe connection doesn’t need an add-on. Use WooCommerce if you need other gateways or more complex billing.
Watch it done
How to work out what you need and build a budget from it. Recorded in September 2025, when the total came to about $71 a month. Several prices have gone up since, so use the method from the video and the numbers from this page.
Questions owners ask
Why is this more than your video says?
Prices moved. Since we recorded it, LearnDash has gone from $199 to $350 a year for one site, BuddyBoss’s renewal is $399, and the Hetzner server we priced has gone from about $14 to about $49 a month.
What if I don’t renew my plugins?
LearnDash says courses keep working with an expired licence, and BuddyBoss says the same for its theme. You lose updates and support, including security fixes, and BuddyBoss’s app stops working. That’s fine for a short pause but risky as a long-term plan.
Do I need WooCommerce?
Not always. LearnDash takes one-time payments through Stripe or PayPal without it, and WooCommerce itself is free. WooCommerce Subscriptions is the paid part, at $279 a year, if you want its recurring billing.
Is WordPress cheaper than Kajabi or Skool?
Sometimes. On the plan price alone, it can be close. WordPress has no platform fee on your sales, but someone has to look after updates and backups, and a hosted platform does that for you. Work it out with your own revenue and your own time.
Can I start on something smaller?
Yes. Managed hosting from $35 a month removes the server work, and you can leave out anything you don’t need on day one. Just size hosting for the people you really expect, because moving later takes effort.
