WordPress membership plugins allow you to convert your website into a membership site that only allows registered visitors to access limited content.
By establishing a paywall that prevents users from accessing information until they have paid a particular amount of money, several membership plugins can assist you in developing a subscription website. Others can assist you with selling event tickets, publishing member directories, and charging members recurring fees.
Are you planning to use WordPress to create a membership website? Do you want to discover which WordPress membership plugin is the best?
For your company to succeed, picking the ideal membership plugin is essential because a superior platform offers more room for expansion.
To make it simple to construct premium membership websites, we will compare the top 7 WordPress membership plugins in this article.
Why Should You Use a Membership Plugin?
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- Membership sites generate more than simply cash. This model will increase your credibility and community relationship.
- It is helpful to use a membership plugin since it helps you to monetize your website by granting paid access to premium services or content.
- It makes managing memberships easier by letting you manage registrations, restrict access, and schedule regular payments.
- Through tools like forums and member directories, it also promotes a sense of community among users, increasing engagement and loyalty. Overall, a membership plugin gives you the ability to make money, provide members with value, and build a vibrant online community.
To choose a membership plugin, consider these factors:
Many payment methods:
Your membership plugin may not use the same payment methods due to their global distribution.
Select a membership plugin that supports both PayPal and Stripe for international payments. More payment alternatives make joining easier.
Simple interface:
The membership plugin should be easy to use. It should support membership management.
It must also match your WordPress theme
Integrates with other apps and software:
The membership-based plugin should work with your website and other business tools. CRM, email marketing, and social media.
Reliable customer support:
Most plugins function easily and are updated routinely, but technical issues may require more than an update.
When your firm is losing money, an accounting plugin with good customer care is essential.
What Qualifies as a Membership Plugin for WordPress?
Although there are many WordPress membership plugins available, not all of them provide the specific functionality you would require to build your membership site.
While some of them offer more varied membership levels and subscription management services, others are better suited to selling subscriptions on a single level.
You can gradually deliver new content to a user using the drip content feature offered by several plugins. Others are limited to providing only concealed stuff.
You must decide which payment gateways you will employ as well. Do you wish to take PayPal, just credit cards, or both? Your selected payment gateways should be supported by your membership plugin, either built-in or via an addon.
1. MemberPress:
A well-liked WordPress membership plugin is MemberPress. You can use it to securely accept credit cards and digital wallets while creating membership websites. You can restrict access to any material, including pages, posts, categories, custom post kinds, files, and tags, using the plugin’s strong access control features.
Its robust learning management system (LMS) makes it simple to create and market online courses. You can gradually deliver content to subscribers by using the drip content functionality to keep your content enticing and clients’ interest high.
Key Features:
- Combines with thousands of third-party programs and applications
- That supports the PayPal and Stripe payment processors. Authorize.net is also supported by the Pro plan.
- Content Limitations
- Functionality for drip content
- Billing for recurring subscriptions
- Dashboard for debates and idea sharing for members only
Price:
Plans begin at $179.50 per year.
Pros of MemberPress:-
Easy To Set Up:
MemberPress makes it easy to put up a WordPress membership website. Your users’ price, login, account, and thank you pages can be automatically created. Membership plans are easy to add.
No Limitations:
Create infinite membership levels with MemberPress. Each level’s premium content and price are up to you.
Material Access Control:
MemberPress’s robust access control lets you restrict access to any material, including posts, pages, custom post kinds, categories, tags, files, and more.
Content Dripping:
After a set time, members can see restricted content. Selling online courses or learning resources benefits from this capability.
Online Courses:
MemberPress enables you simply build and sell online courses. Users can learn interactively and focus on course completion.
Integrations:
AWeber, MailChimp, GetResponse, and MadMimi are MemberPress’s email integrations. It interfaces with Amazon Web Services, Blubrry for podcast hosting, and BuddyPress for community creation.
Cons of Memberpress Plug-In:
Limited Payment Options:
MemberPress only supports the three most popular payment gateways. Site owners in countries without these payment gateways would be out of luck.
Limited Integrations:
The plugin supports enough major services to operate a membership site, but it lacks integrations with several others. You can hire someone to incorporate a third-party service into the plugin, which is extendable.
2. Paid Membership Pro:
Next, Paid Memberships Pro has many of the same capabilities as other membership plugins, but with some great enhancements. First, articles, products, categories, and tags can hide material. Second, it offers a starter theme.
Key Features:
- Dedicated theme or seamless Divi integration
- Limit custom post types
- Drip content
- Custom member homepages
- Multi-site WordPress
- You need a membership site that can be easily customized.
- There must be a free theme.
- Premium-level assistance and documentation are required.
Price:
Paid Subscriptions Pro Pricing: Annual rates begin at $247.
Pros of Paid Memberships Pro:
Most Effective:
It is the most effective and dependable WordPress plugin ever used. With this program, there doesn’t appear to be any end to what you can achieve.
Smooth Function:
It runs smoothly and quickly and integrates so well with WordPress. PMPRO is dependable and steady.
Leadership team:
The application’s assistance is its best feature. Moreover, the leadership team is responsible, understanding, and supportive.
Cons of Paid Membership Pro:
There isn’t much about PMPRO that someone doesn’t enjoy.
It would be fascinating if they offered more pre-built “widgets” right out of the gate, but the program wouldn’t likely be as expandable.
3. MemberMouse:
For WordPress site owners who wish to offer products or memberships with flexible payment options including custom checkouts, one-click purchases, and promo codes, MemberMouse is an enterprise-level membership plugin.
Key Features:
You can password-protect pages to distribute premium material, videos, PDFs, and applications to members using the plugin.
Additionally, you may manage members with a user-friendly CRM platform. Track member information, transaction history, activity, and more using CRM tools.
Member Mouse automates password resets, account updates, and transaction history viewing. Without customer support, they can downgrade, upgrade, or cancel services.
Price:
Starting at $200 per year
Pros of Using MemberMouse:
Advanced Reporting Suite: Track lifetime customer value, retention and churn rates, member engagement, and more.
Click Purchase Links:
Your members may buy upsells and cross-sells in one click without re-entering their credit card information.
Free & Paid Memberships – Offering free and paid memberships is a terrific way to attract new visitors to your membership site.
Overdue Account Handling:
MemberMouse automatically handles delinquent payments, ensuring revenue.
Built-in Push Notifications:
You can quickly build and deliver push notifications to members or specified WordPress user roles for actions like new member added, membership terminated, payment received, and more.
Cons of MemberMouse:
Fewer Design Options:
Because MemberMouse depends on WordPress and the theme you’ve installed, there may be fewer design options available.
Limited Integrations:
Despite smoothly integrating with a large number of well-known payment gateways and email service providers, MemberMouse has fewer integrations available than other membership plugins.
4. Wishlist Member:
Next up on our list is Wishlist Member, a strong WordPress membership plugin you may not be familiar with. It allows you to create a full-featured membership website with a range of membership levels, subscription-based services, and options for payment integration. It also serves as an entire learning management system, enabling you to design and manage courses and exams.
Key Features:
- Complete interaction with Divi’s LMS functionality
- thorough configuration wizard
- More than a dozen methods for integrating payments and emails
- Integration with Woo Commerce
- particular members pages
Price:
Starting at $150 per year.
Pros of Wishlist Member:
Unlimited Membership Levels:
You can establish unlimited membership levels. Free, premium, or pay-per-post subscriptions are options.
One-Click Content Protection:
In the WordPress editor, click “Protect” to make pages and posts members-only.
Drip, schedule, and archive:
You can drip material to new members. Archive content to keep subscribers.
Sneak Peaks:
Non-members can see samples of your content and sign up to see more.
Built-in Course Features:
The course features a built-in Wishlist Member including Course Cure, a course builder. Create lectures, quizzes, and certifications effortlessly.
Cons of wishlist member:
Fewer Integrations:
WishList Member has fewer integrations with other marketing tools, even if it interfaces with numerous well-known payment services.
Overwhelming Number of Options:
WishList Member’s vast array of membership features and options may be too much for beginners.
5. LearnDash:
WordPress users can easily develop interesting, polished courses with LearnDash, a strong learning management system. Therefore, it’s the perfect plugin for experts who wish to profit from their experience.
The LMS platform provides cutting-edge capabilities to give users the greatest possible online learning experience.
Key Features:
- Course creator using drag and drop
- Incorporates the most well-known applications, such as BuddyPress, Zapier, Mailchimp, and Woo Commerce
- Plan drip content as students move through the course onboarding procedure to demonstrate how to get the most out of the plugin.
- Incorporates 2Checkout, PayPal, and Stripe
- The best WordPress membership plugin is for website owners who want to provide visitors with high-quality courses.
Price:
Plans start at $199 per year
Pros of using LearnDash:
Easy to Setup:
LearnDash is simple to set up and add content to. It also has advanced features to effortlessly arrange membership content into tiers, groups, and more.
Easy Content Restrictions:
LearnDash lets you conceal material and limit membership groups.
Sell Courses:
Create and sell online courses with it. Unlike other WordPress membership plugins, it provides advanced modules for managing learning content.
Community Features:
It includes tools to develop highly engaging membership sites with quizzes, user badges, course-specific forums, certificates, user profiles, and more.
Cons of Using LearnDash:
Lacks Some Membership Features:
Some of Learndash’s features might not be relevant if you’re trying to create a membership website without selling courses.
6. Restrict Content Pro:
Restrict Content Pro is the next item on our list. Unlimited membership levels, membership administration, Stripe payments, invoicing, and content restriction are just a few of the usual features that come with it.
Price:
Starting at $99 per year.
Key Features:
Restrict Content Pro’s main attributes are:
- Discount and coupon codes
- Avoiding password sharing
- several possibilities for payment gateways
- Free samples
- Customization of member emails
- 34 skilled integrations and add-ons
Pros of using Restrict Content Pro:
Control on membership level:
RCP lets you quickly create and manage different membership levels or tiers. Control material access, downloads, expiration dates, and member registrations and profiles.
Restriction on Material:
RCP lets you restrict material by membership level. Shortcodes can restrict pages, posts, custom post kinds, and content inside a page. You can tailor material to members with this flexibility.
Easy Payment Method:
RCP connects with PayPal and Stripe, making membership recurring payments easy. The plug-in automates billing, making member payments safe and easy.
These benefits make Restrict Content Pro a formidable solution for membership-based content management and website monetization. It gives you the tools to build a successful membership community and give your members a great experience.
Cons of using Restrict Content Pro:
Learning Curve:
Users unfamiliar with membership management systems may find the RCP Membership Plug-in’s initial setup and configuration difficult. It takes time to learn and use all its capabilities. The plug-in may require more work to learn and troubleshoot.
Limited connectors:
Restrict Content Pro features fewer third-party connectors than other membership plug-ins. While it connects effectively with common payment gateways and email marketing services, it may not be as compatible with other platforms or add-ons as certain users may need.
7. WP-Members:
WP-Members allows content filtering and personalized registration. The plugin creates content teasers. That means you can protect certain materials and let visitors access the rest without signing up.
Custom registration and login forms on your membership website might produce unique registration page URLs.
However, its premium add-ons, which include Woo Commerce membership sales and user tracking, offer more extensive functionality.
Key Features:
- Limit the pages and postings
- API extensions are available
- Customizable profile and registration fields
- Shortcodes for login, registration, content restriction, and more
- For powerful modifications, there are over 120 filter and action hooks.
- Best WordPress membership plugin for Companies searching for a practical means of setting up a WordPress member website.
Price:
Free plan with add-on upgrade possibilities.
Pros of using WP-Members:
User-Friendly Interface:
WP-Members’ straightforward interface makes membership functionality on WordPress sites easy to set up and manage. Its simple configuration and easy integration with WordPress content make it accessible to users of all technical levels.
Content Restriction and Protection:
WP-Members lets you restrict website content including posts, pages, and custom post kinds. You may choose membership levels and regulate content access. Content excerpt protection and login redirects ensure that only registered users can read restricted content.
Flexible Registration and User Management:
WP-Members lets you configure the user registration process to capture particular user information and create custom registration and profile fields. Member directories, login widgets, and password reset options are supported. You can customize registration and user administration with this freedom.
Cons of Using WP-Members:
Limited Integrations:
WP-Members may be less compatible with third-party plugins and services than other membership plugins, restricting your capacity to interface with certain tools or add-ons for your website.
Design and Styling Limitations:
WP-Members may have fewer built-in design modification choices than other membership plugins, making it harder to construct a visually unified and branded membership site.
- Secure Messaging
- Woo Commerce integration
- Multi-gateway support
- Mailchimp integration
Which WordPress membership plugin is the best?
Our best pick is MemberPress, which provides great reviews, a wide range of features, and affordable prices. Its integrated course management system also serves as an LMS plugin.
Conclusion:
You’ve seen some of the top WordPress membership site plugins and learned what to look for when making your selection. The ideal plugin will match your objectives, finances, and skills.
To prevent security breaches brought on by plugins, you should also make sure the plugin has positive evaluations and is constantly updated. Having said that, the best method to choose the appropriate plugin is to conduct in-depth research and take your needs and spending power into account. Good luck!
