🎙️ VMPro Podcast Episode #006: Van Marciano Pro Tech Stack for 2026
Fabrizio Van Marciano
WordPress Educator
PODCAST TRANSCRIPT
Hey everyone, Fabrizio Van Marciano here, and welcome to episode six of the VMPro Podcast for web designers, entrepreneurs, and small business owners. In this episode, I’m diving into my complete tech stack for Van Marciano Pro, the membership platform, for 2026.
More importantly, I’ll be breaking down why I use each tool—sharing my real-world experience, what I like, what I don’t, and whether I’d actually recommend them to others. We have a lot to cover, so grab your favorite beverage, a pen and pad, and let’s get right into it.
So guys, it’s been exactly nine months to the day since the last episode, and honestly, I feel a bit ashamed that I haven’t dedicated more time to the podcast. But if you’ve been following the Van Marciano Pro journey from the start—as a member or subscriber—you’ll know I haven’t exactly been sitting still.
Creating content across multiple platforms and formats demands a significant amount of time and energy. On top of that, I’m also managing several online businesses—spanning art, music, and, of course, producing WordPress content while offering web design services. That said, we’re back with another episode, and I’m committing to putting out a new episode every two weeks. Let’s see how that goes, shall we?
Alright so what I’m going to do is put the tools that I use in multiple categories. Keeping in mind these are not the tools that I use everywhere, just on Van Marciano Pro and also our new social community platform over at Clique! You’ll find links to all of these tools in the show notes for this episode.
So the categories will be –
Website tools
WordPress has been my go-to platform since 2012, without a doubt I’m going to continue using for a very long time. And so my website building tools haven’t changed much since 2018. Over the years, I’ve consistently relied on a page builder—typically Oxygen or Bricks—paired with a code snippet plugin. For Van Marciano Pro, I use Bricks, of course, along with WPCodeBox.
And by the way, when I first got started with WordPress back in 2010, page builders weren’t even a thing. I was deep in the weeds customising child themes — I remember working with the Genesis Framework — and honestly, it was the arrival of visual page builders that kept me interested in sticking with WordPress long term.
OK, so why this setup? Because it gives me a clean, flexible workflow without unnecessary bloat. I can’t emphasize on this enough. I’m sure there are other solutions out there for WordPress, but this is the one I prefer in most cases.
As you probably know, I’m a big fan of WPCodeBox. It’s usually the second plugin I install straight after a page builder. Managing code in a WordPress project shouldn’t be all over the place—everything should live in one place and be easy to maintain. That’s exactly what WPCodeBox does. It gives me a clean way to create and manage all kinds of code snippets across my builder projects, from custom CSS frameworks to animations, etc.
On other Bricks or Oxygen projects, I’ll also bring in Core Framework with the builder add-on when I need to build both light and dark versions of a site, and sometimes Bricks Forge.
Website tools used on Van Marciano Pro:
eCommerce tools
These days, there are plenty of options when it comes to selling through your WordPress site. WooCommerce is the OG, but we have other choices available today. When I started selling my online courses I was using an Oxygen and WooCommerce setup. That changed when I decided to merge the course platform with the membership site here on Van Marciano Pro in 2022. So now I use Bricks with SureCart, and the two integrate seamlessly.
So why the switch from WooCommerce to SureCart?
WooCommerce is a solid option and, at its core, quite cost-effective. That said, it’s not the easiest platform to customize, and you can quickly run into limitations unless you’re willing to invest in add-ons and dive into more advanced configuration. It served me well for a while, but it does lean heavily on plugins and extensions to unlock what I’d consider basic features—like tax handling and upsells—which inevitably adds complexity.
SureCart, on the other hand, includes all the essentials out of the box, so there’s no need for extra add-ons. Customizing elements like the cart and checkout is much more straightforward, and the overall experience feels noticeably more refined—at least in my experience.
That said, I am planning to switch later this year, as one of my priorities is to use and support tools and services that are closer to home—ideally EU-based.
eCommerce tools used on Van Marciano Pro
Membership tools
Alright, so let’s move over to the membership stack I’m using here on Van Marciano Pro, and now also on our new social/community platform, Clique.
For membership management, I’m using SureMembers, built by the same team behind SureCart. It’s a pretty straightforward plugin that lets me create access groups based on purchases made through the site. I used to run MemberPress, which is a pretty solid tool, but it’s a bit more involved to set up. Since I was already using SureCart, switching to SureMembers just made sense—the integration is seamless when it’s all under the same roof.
On the community side with Clique, I’m using Fluent Community alongside FluentCRM. Both are honestly some of the best WordPress tools I’ve worked with, and they probably deserve a dedicated podcast episode or full tutorial of their own. I do plan to create something later this year using these two plugins on a demo website, so watch this space.
Membership tools
LMS tools
Alright, let’s talk LMS (learning management systems), specifically the tool I’ve always used to build and host my courses here on Van Marciano Pro—LearnDash.
LearnDash has been around for a while now. Is it the absolute best LMS out there? Probably not. But when it comes to WordPress, it’s definitely up there. The biggest win for me really comes down to cost. If I were to go with a standalone platform like Teachable or LearnWorlds—both solid in their own right—I’d be paying quite a bit more each month thus this would reflect in the cost of the courses and memberships.
LearnDash, on a single-site license, works out at around $16.50 per month, whereas something like LearnWorlds is closer to $34 per month. On top of that, all of my course content lives on my own WordPress setup, which means I own it. I’m not relying on a third-party platform that could shut down or change terms, and I’m not risking losing control or rights over my own content.
That being said, if you do want to create a course outside of the WordPress ecosystem, then LearnWorlds is probably a good bet as it has features like a website builder, community platform, and AI insights built in.
LMS tools
- LearnDash
- LearnWorlds (Alternative)
Other essential tools and plugins running Van Marciano Pro
Alright, to wrap things up, I want to share a few other tools and plugins I’m using here on Van Marciano Pro. These are definitely worth mentioning, as they’ve played a key role in the small wins I’ve had with the training platform, so let’s dive in.
Met Box (Plugin)
Creating custom post types and custom fields is a fundamental part of working with WordPress, and Meta Box is one of those plugins that lets you do it without all the unnecessary complexity. It’s what I use to create post types for the podcast, tutorials, build series, and the templates library on Van Marciano Pro.
And by the way, I’ve got dedicated tutorials on Van Marciano Pro that I’ll link in the show notes.
Tidio is a third-party live chat tool that integrates really nicely with WordPress. It’s one of the simpler options out there, and also pretty affordable. I’ve got to mention it because when I first launched Van Marciano Pro, it was the main tool I relied on to connect with new members. Even now, I still use it during promotions or when we’re rolling out major updates to the site.
As I mentioned, it’s a more affordable option compared to some of the more dedicated WordPress solutions, as you can simply pay for what you need, when you need it.
Right then, the next tool I want to mention is another WordPress plugin — Independent Analytics. I honestly don’t give this one enough credit, it’s easily one of the best out there. There’s also AnalyticsWP, which I use on a few other projects as well.
For me, Independent Analytics works really well on Van Marciano Pro, especially the premium version. There are a couple of standout features that I rely on quite a bit — the campaign builder and click tracking.
Click tracking lets me monitor links that match specific patterns or file types like PDFs or ZIPs. So I can see whether things like media kits inside the courses are actually being downloaded, along with any PDF guides I’m offering, and exactly where those clicks are coming from.
Then there’s the campaign builder, which I genuinely love. It allows me to create custom URL parameters for any conversion page on the site, and use those across Bricks, emails, social posts — wherever I’m promoting something. That way I can track things like source, landing page, medium, and search terms. It just gives me much better insight into what’s working, and ultimately helps me improve both the site experience and the content itself.
Finally, I want to mention Vimeo, as this is where all of the course content and video tutorials are hosted. It does get a bit of criticism for being expensive, and in some cases, missing features at the lower tiers—like live streaming and other advanced tools. Personally, I haven’t had any issues with reliability or video delivery, but yeah, it’s definitely not cheap, even with the recent bump from 200GB to 1TB of storage.
It is a bit frustrating that live streaming is locked behind the higher-tier plans, which are pretty pricey. That said, the current starter plan does the job for now. It’s something I’ll need to review as Van Marciano Pro continues to grow, especially when we start properly rolling out live streaming inside the community platform.
Some of you have asked why not just use YouTube. The thing is, it’s not really built for hosting premium content. For starters, you don’t want someone getting to the end of a lesson and immediately being pulled into a bunch of unrelated recommended videos. And then there’s ads — even if you minimise them, you don’t have full control over the viewing experience.
When you’re building a proper membership platform, things like branding, layout control, and how the content is delivered really matter. You need that clean, distraction-free environment. And while YouTube does have solid live streaming features, making everything truly private and seamlessly integrated for a members-only experience isn’t as straightforward as it needs to be.
Summary of the tech stack for Van Marciano Pro
So there you have it. Hopefully you found this episode insightful and it’s given you a bit of a behind-the-scenes look at the tech stack powering Van Marciano Pro. If any of the tools mentioned sound like they could be useful for you, definitely go and check them out.
Quick disclaimer—I am an affiliate for some of the tools and plugins mentioned. So if you do decide to purchase through my links, I’ll earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. As always, I appreciate your time and your support.
OK, that is it from me, see you in the next episode, until then happy website building, take it easy and peace.
