The two budgets side by side
Both budgets assume WordPress with LearnDash, Stripe for payments, a separate email platform, and lesson video on a streaming service rather than the web server. Prices are in US dollars, excluding tax, as listed on each vendor's page on 29 October 2026. The lean tier picks the cheapest listed plan that fits a small first cohort; the comfortable tier buys headroom and automation.
| Line item | Lean tier, year one | Comfortable tier, year one | Source note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hosting | $35.88 (SiteGround StartUp, $2.99/mo prepaid 12 months) | $500 (Kinsta Single 65k, billed annually) | SiteGround renews StartUp at $17.99/mo |
| Domain | Checkout price for your TLD | Checkout price for your TLD | Not priced here; see below |
| LMS licence | $350 (LearnDash, 1 site) | $350 (LearnDash, 1 site) | Listed per year; bundle includes Give, The Events Calendar and Kadence |
| Email platform | $0 (Kit free plan, up to 10,000 subscribers) | $390 (Kit Creator at 1,000 subscribers, billed yearly) | Kit's free plan excludes visual automations |
| Video hosting | $12 minimum (Bunny Stream $1 monthly minimum) | $54 (Bunny's own calculator example: 300 GB stored, 50 GB delivered, $4.50/mo) | Storage from $0.01/GB, delivery from $0.005/GB |
| Fixed subtotal | $397.88 | $1,294.00 | Before domain, tax and card fees |
| Card processing | $184.84 on 40 sales of $149 | $910.65 on 150 sales of $199 | Stripe US: 2.9% + 30 cents per domestic card charge |
Hosting: plan for the renewal, not the first invoice
SiteGround's StartUp plan is listed at $2.99 a month prepaid for 12 months and 'renews at $17.99/mo'. That makes year one $35.88 and year two $215.88. StartUp hosts one website, includes 10 GB storage, and SiteGround's FAQ estimates it supports around 10,000 visits a month; its plan table does not list staging, which appears on GrowBig ($4.99 introductory, renewing at $29.99 a month).
Kinsta's Single 65k plan is listed at $50 a month or $42 a month billed annually ($500 a year), with 65,000 visits, 10 GB storage, 250 GB of CDN bandwidth, 14 days of backups and staging. Kinsta's $35 tier advertises the first month free. Visits above the allowance cost $0.50 per 1,000, which matters in launch months.
If you expect more than a few hundred active students, run the per-student calculator before choosing the lean tier: a student who logs in on 20 days is about 20 visits a month.
LMS licence, payments and email
LearnDash is sold through Liquid Web's software page at $350 a year for one site, $599 for 10 sites and up to $999 for 100 sites, with a 48-hour free trial and no credit card required. The page did not state whether renewal pricing differs from the first year, so ask before you budget year two.
Stripe's standard US pricing is 2.9% plus 30 cents per successful domestic card transaction, plus 1.5% for international cards and 1% when currency conversion is needed, with no monthly fee. If you sell subscriptions through Stripe Billing, its pay-as-you-go rate adds 0.7% of Billing volume. On a $149 course that is $4.62 per domestic sale before Billing; on a $199 course, $6.07.
Kit's free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers but excludes visual automations and automated email sequences, which most course funnels use. Kit Creator at 1,000 subscribers is listed at $390 billed yearly (shown as $33 a month). MailerLite's free plan is an alternative for a very small list: up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month.
Domain and video
We did not verify a specific .com price for this guide, so the domain is left as an input. Cloudflare Registrar states that registration, transfer and renewal prices are always at or below what registries and ICANN charge it, with no markup; whichever registrar you use, check the renewal price, not just the first-year price.
Bunny Stream lists storage from $0.01 per GB, delivery from $0.005 per GB, free encoding and a $1 monthly minimum. Its calculator example (300 GB stored, 50 GB delivered a month) comes to $4.50 a month on the standard tier, $54 a year. Serving the same video from your web host would count against server bandwidth instead; Kinsta, for example, lists $0.50 per GB beyond the plan allowance.
Year two: what changes
The lean tier's year-two fixed cost rises by $180 from hosting renewal alone. If you will need staging or more than 10 GB, price GrowBig or a managed plan for year two now rather than migrating mid-cohort.
| Line item | Lean tier, year two | Why it changes |
|---|---|---|
| SiteGround StartUp | $215.88 | Introductory $2.99 becomes $17.99 a month |
| LearnDash | Confirm renewal price | Page did not state renewal terms |
| Kit | $0 until you need automations | Free plan excludes visual automations |
| Bunny Stream | Grows with stored and delivered GB | Usage-based pricing |
| Stripe | Grows with sales | Percentage plus fixed fee per charge |
Who should pick which tier
- Lean fits: a first course, a pre-sold pilot cohort, under a few hundred active students, and a creator who can test plugin updates without a staging copy.
- Comfortable fits: a launch with a list over 1,000, email automations from day one, a need for staging before plugin updates, or a plan to run live cohorts.
- Skip both and use a hosted course platform if you do not want to own WordPress updates, backups and plugin licences at all; that trade-off is outside this budget.
- Either way, budget card fees as a percentage of revenue rather than a fixed line.
Budget checklist before you buy
- Write down the renewal price and term for hosting and every licence.
- Confirm the LMS licence site count covers staging or development copies if you need them.
- Check whether your email plan's free tier includes the automations your funnel uses.
- Decide where video lives before the first upload.
- Add tax if the vendor lists prices excluding VAT or sales tax.
- Recheck every price on the day you purchase; these figures are as listed on 29 October 2026.
Questions before you decide
What is the single biggest cost in year one?
In the lean budget the LearnDash licence ($350) is the largest fixed line. Once you sell, Stripe fees often exceed it: 150 sales of $199 cost about $911 in standard domestic card fees.
Can I run a course site on the cheapest shared plan?
For a small first cohort, possibly. SiteGround estimates StartUp at around 10,000 visits a month, and its plan table does not list staging. Use the cost calculator with your expected login days before relying on it.
Are these prices guaranteed?
No. They are the prices listed on each vendor's page on 29 October 2026, excluding tax. Introductory pricing, promotions and renewal terms can change.
Sources & verification
Product details and prices can change. Check the linked provider before buying.
- SiteGround: Web hosting plans Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Kinsta: WordPress hosting plans and pricing Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Kinsta: WordPress hosting overages Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Liquid Web: LearnDash pricing Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Stripe: Pricing Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Kit: Pricing Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- MailerLite: Pricing Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Bunny Stream: Pricing Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Cloudflare Registrar Accessed 29 Oct 2026
Sources link directly to providers. Product buttons may use separately labeled affiliate links. Read our disclosure.