Migrating an LMS is mostly about one thing: not losing learner data on the way out. Courses are easy to recreate. Three years of progress records, quiz attempts, and issued certificates are not.
This is the runbook we use when we move a site off LearnDash. Work through it top to bottom. Check each box only when you have actually verified the item, not when you assume it is fine. The order matters: audit and back up before you touch anything, validate before you cut over, and preserve your SEO before you change a single URL.
Print it, copy it into a doc, or keep this tab open while you work. If you would rather hand the whole thing to someone who has done it before, there is a way to do that at the end.
1. Pre-migration audit
You cannot migrate what you have not inventoried. Spend an hour here and you will save days later. The goal is a single document that lists everything LearnDash is currently doing on your site.
Done with section 1 when: you have one document that a stranger could read and understand exactly what your LearnDash install does.
2. Back up everything
Treat the backup as the thing that lets you sleep. If a migration step goes wrong, a verified backup is the difference between a bad afternoon and a lost month.
Done with section 2 when: you have restored the backup at least once and confirmed it is complete, and your staging copy is live.
3. Export from LearnDash
This is the step with the most hidden traps. Read every item before you start, because the order and the caveats here are where most "we lost our data" stories begin.
Done with section 3 when: you have a course-structure export, a separate user/progress/certificate export, and you have written down which post-ID strategy your import will use.
4. Migrate
If you are moving to Cubite LMS, this section is the part Cubite does for you. LearnDash's WordPress export (WXR) carries course content only; learners, enrollments, progress, quiz scores and certificates live in the database, so a move to a hosted LMS needs a database export. Cubite moves the whole LearnDash site, including learners, enrollments, progress, quiz attempts and groups, with earned certificates re-issued, as a migration it runs for you from that database export. Start with the free LearnDash migration assessment.
Done with section 4 when: reconciliation shows your counts match and the rollback plan is written down and understood by everyone involved.
5. Validate
Migration success is not "the import finished without errors." It is "real learners see exactly what they saw before." Validate against actual accounts, not aggregate numbers.
Done with section 5 when: every sampled account on Cubite matches the same account on the old LearnDash site, with no resets and no missing certificates.
6. Preserve your SEO
If your courses and lessons rank in Google or get linked from elsewhere, the URLs are an asset. Change them carelessly and you lose traffic, enrolments, and authority overnight. Do this section before go-live, not after.
Done with section 6 when: every old URL resolves (via 301) to its true new counterpart, internal links point at the new URLs, and the new sitemap is submitted.
7. Cutover and go-live
This is the moment the new platform becomes the real one. Plan it so learners notice as little as possible.
Done with section 7 when: DNS has propagated, learners were told in advance, and the first hours post-switch are clean.
8. Post-launch
The migration is not over at go-live. The first couple of weeks are when slow-burning issues show up.
Done with section 8 when: Search Console is clean, the ticket queue has settled, and a fresh completion produces a correct certificate.
You do not have to run this alone
This checklist is the same process Cubite uses to migrate sites off LearnDash, including the parts DIY migrations get wrong: the serialized post-ID remapping, the enrollment-gated user export, the per-URL 301 mapping, and learner-by-learner validation.
Cubite is a fully managed LMS at a flat $290 a month or $2,900 a year: unlimited users and courses, hosting, maintenance, and support all bundled, 0% transaction fees, native SCORM and xAPI, white-label, certificates, and analytics. SSO with Google, GitHub or Facebook sign-in is included at $290; SAML SSO and SCIM are Enterprise. Cubite runs the migration in section 4 for you from your database export, and you review the record counts and sign off before launch, so you are not the one staring at a broken progress table at midnight.
If you would like a second set of eyes (or to hand off the whole project) we will walk your specific LearnDash setup, flag the risky parts, and tell you honestly what your migration involves. No pressure, no obligation.
Get a free LearnDash migration assessment
Tell us what your LearnDash site holds and we will map exactly what carries over before anything moves.
By Cubite. Built for operators who would rather keep their learner data than gamble with it.
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