The team have started the new year by testing out LearnDash 5 and preparing our client’s sites for the upgrade.
How we prepare client sites for upgrades
For our customer’s e-learning systems where there is a lot of custom code which integrates with LearnDash (or where they use several plugins which interact with LearnDash) we are carrying out an initial round of testing now with the beta version of the plugin, to catch any major issues.
Then, for full confidence we’ll be running another round of testing, and supporting clients in their own testing when LearnDash 5 is released.
What is the LearnDash 5 update?
The blog post on the LearnDash site says the update will improve stability, performance and enable the developers to fix bugs in older legacy code. The update also paves the way for future improvements in LearnDash, including allowing better and more complex integrations with AI tools. There are also improvements in how LearnDash works with the block editor.
On the face of it, this may not sound like a very exciting update, you could be forgiven for filing it alongside the ubiquitous “bug fixes and performance improvements” updates we all see on our phones and computers. Perhaps in the short term that will still feel true for some users with very simple LearnDash sites, but for those who make heavier use of LearnDash or it is part of a wider system it’s likely to bring big improvements. Later down the line there are several big improvements planned, including a better learner management experience and better analytics.
As developers, we excited to see some of these improvements – especially improvements to the REST API and other places where we can integrate with LearnDash. Since StellaWP acquired LearnDash in 2021 there has been a steady flow of improvements and new functionality introduced to the platform; these changes lay the foundations for a new batch of new features.
FAQs about upgrading to LearnDash 5
A lot of users with simple setups won’t encounter any problems, but if you have a lot of custom code that interacts with LearnDash or have a lot of plugins what integrate with LearnDash you may need to make changes/updates to them. It is always best to test upgrade on a separate copy of the site first.
Intially expected in November 2025, we now expect that LearnDash 5 will be released in early 2026.
You can install the LearnDash 5 update just like any other, but we strongly recommend testing it on a test/staging copy of the site first and task a backup of the site before doing so.
The developers of LearnDash have said that this release will enable new functionality such as AI-assisted course building, advanced analytics, visual learning paths, and smarter student management tools.
There are new AI powered features built in, but the update will allow much better integration with external tools – especially those that are powered by AI – by introducing an MCP server. MCP (Model Context Protocol) is a standard which allows AI powered tools to interact with other software in a standardised way. In practice, this means that AI tools will have better access to data and functionality within LearnDash allowing for better and more powerful integrations.
