Grow a Profitable Community: 17 Membership Plugins Reviewed

Grow your membership community today!

Are you thinking of setting up a membership website? Looking for the best WordPress membership plugin?

Membership websites are a rapidly growing market that feeds into our desire for exclusivity and to be part of something special.

• By 2025, the subscription economy will be worth an estimated $1.5 trillion, a significant increase from $650 billion in 2020.
• The eCommerce subscription market is expected to expand at a rate of 25% per year by 2025.
• 70% of businesses view membership and subscription models as vital for future growth.

(Source)

Those are three good reasons to discuss the benefits of creating a membership website and review the most popular WordPress membership plugins.

We have tried, tested and compared them all to help you make the best buying decision.

The Benefits of Creating a Membership Site

There are many benefits to membership websites, not least the earning potential.

Increase Revenue

A membership website gives you the opportunity to offer exclusive premium content and charge for it.

A number of online communities are already exceeding the $100k per year mark. With some hard work and dedication, yours could too.

Demonstrate Authority

Creating a membership site helps establish your expertise and build authority in your domain.

As long as you deliver consistent quality and earn that authority, your name will quickly become synonymous with your niche.

Add More Value

People often value something more if they are paying for it rather than getting it for free.

Offer quality, unique viewpoints or something members can’t get elsewhere and many will be willing to pay for it.

Build an Email List

You probably know the importance of building an email list. Email marketing continues to provide one of the highest rates of return for all marketing channels.

Members already trust you or are starting to trust you, making them prime candidates for further marketing.

What To Look For in a WordPress Membership Plugin

When choosing the right membership plugin, we look for some key features when comparing many membership plugins, including:

• Ease of use: Any plugin you install on your website should be easy to install, activate, set up and use.
• Compatibility: Any plugin you install needs to be compatible with the latest version of WordPress as well as your theme and plugins.
• User access and content restriction: You should have the flexibility to set up and customize content restrictions easily.
• Payment options: It’s important that the membership plugin integrates seamlessly with payment gateways so you can accept both one-time and recurring payments.
• Integration: Your membership WordPress plugin should ideally integrate with other tools and software or support APIs.
• Support: Most membership plugins are stable and simple to use but it’s always useful to have support on hand just in case.

We included all these features in SureMembers and compared all other top WordPress membership plugins on the market against these requirements in this list.

Best Membership Plugins for WordPress Websites

Each of the 17 membership plugins in this post are worth checking out but 3 stand out above the others:

Membership Plugin	Price	Best For
SureMembers	From $99/year	Any type of membership site
MemberPress	From $249/year	Established businesses that need flexibility
Paid Member Subscriptions	From $69/year	Bespoke solutions where shortcodes work best

1. SureMembers

SureMembers is our own membership plugin and is already making quite an impact.

It’s part of the SureCrafted group of products, designed to make it simple to create membership websites. It’s fast, stable, easy to use and the right plugin for you.

We think it delivers everything a membership site needs and then some!

Ease of Use

Configuration — Configuration is simple. All you need to do is open the plugin, create different memberships (access) groups, assign content to the group and set a price.

Member-friendliness — SureMembers comes with a detailed admin dashboard so you can control every aspect of memberships.

There’s also a simple user dashboard where members can control subscriptions and all aspects of their account.

Content Restriction

It’s easy to add or remove content, set category access, exclude certain content or allow free access periods so you can try before you buy.

WordPress Theme/Plugin Compatibility:

• Themes — Designed to work with all compliant WordPress themes. As we are the team behind the Astra theme, it works perfectly with it.
• Plugins — Easily integrate with other WordPress plugins including SureCart, CartFlows and others.
• WooCommerce — While designed for SureCart, SureMembers works seamlessly with WooCommerce.

Integration

SureMembers is compatible with a wide range of WordPress plugins, themes and services.

There’s also API and webhook support if you want to take integration much further.

Payment Options

SureMembers is designed to work with an eCommerce solution such as SureCart or WooCommerce. It will accept a wide range of payment methods including Stripe, PayPal and others.

SureMembers Support

• Extensive documentation, knowledge base and how to videos.
• Ticketed support.
• 24/7 dedicated support team.

Pros of SureMembers

• Simple to set up and manage.
• Create multiple membership levels as you want including payment options.
• Full control over content.
• Integrations with lots of email and payment tools.
• Drip content tools.
• One of the favorite WordPress Membership plugins

Cons of SureMembers

• Limited documentation.

SureMembers Pricing

• SureMembers Pro – $99/year for a single site.
• SureMembers Business – $199/year up to 5 sites.
• SureMembers Agency – $299/year up to 10 sites.

NewPulse Labs had this to say about SureMembers:

“If you’re looking for a lightweight membership solution that doesn’t slow your site down, is easy to set up, has a modern UI, and integrates with all your other apps, I think SureMembers is absolutely worth a try.”

Get SureMembers

2. MemberPress

MemberPress is a highly-configurable WordPress membership plugin created and maintained by Caseproof.

It allows you to easily create and manage membership subscriptions and digital products.

Ease of Use

Configuration — Configure the WordPress user permissions, registration process, log in and how the membership site will look and feel.

Member-friendliness — MemberPress is the best WordPress plugin, provides the ability to create, update, upgrade or cancel subscriptions directly from member portals.

Content Restriction

MemberPress is the best free membership plugin that allows you to control what users can see based on their membership or the products they have purchased.

You can also restrict access to pages, child pages, posts, categories, tags and any other type of files in your WordPress installation.

WordPress Theme/Plugin Compatibility

• Themes — Compatible with any WordPress theme (even custom themes).
• Plugins — Compatible with most WordPress plugins. However, there are a few plugins that may not work well with MemberPress.
• WooCommerce — Works well with WooCommerce.

Integration

MemberPress currently integrates with 70+ third-party software and tools.

For plugins and software that aren’t listed above, you’re also able to extend the functionality and connection using developer tools.

Payment Options

• PayPal — Integration available on all plans.
• Stripe — Integration available on all plans.
• Authorize.net — Integration is only available in the Plus and Pro plans.

MemberPress Support

• Extensive user manual and knowledge base.
• Ticketed support.
• Support hours — 09:00 to 17:00 MST, Monday to Friday.

On the topic of support, Reddit member OutOfFavor said:

“MP can generally do anything you want it to do, but sometimes not in the way you would prefer that it be done. It has tons of options that gives you great flexibility.

Another pro is the extensive online documentation and related videos and the Facebook groups (discussed below). Support has been quick to answer the few times I have had questions.

MP is definitely supported and updated frequently, which is a good thing.”

Pros of MemberPress

• Detailed dashboard with stats and controls.
• Well-designed UI with logical interface.
• Developer tools to enable further integration.
• Compatible with most themes and plugins.
• Reasonable learning curve.

Cons of MemberPress

• Support hours only Monday through Friday 9-5 MST.
• No free trial.

MemberPress Pricing

• Basic — $249/year for a single site.
• Plus — $399/year for 2 sites.
• Pro — $549/year for 5 sites.
• No free trial.

Get MemberPress

3. Paid Member Subscriptions

Paid Member Subscriptions is an all-in-one membership plugin for WordPress that allows you to create subscriptions, manage members and restrict access to premium content.

The plugin is created and maintained by Cozmoslabs and has over 10,000+ active installations.

Ease of Use

Configuration — There are many pre-built shortcodes that you can use to build registration pages, login forms, member account pages and most other pages.

Member-friendliness — Once registered, members can easily add another subscription or product to their plans. If they are on a free trial, they also have the option to upgrade to paid plans.

They also have the option to downgrade their membership from their user profile.

A review from user stevanterzic on WordPress.org sums up why we like it so much:

I’ve been using the Paid Member Subscriptions plugin by Cozmoslabs on my WordPress site, and it’s honestly been a breeze. Setting it up was easy, even for someone not too tech-savvy like me. What really stands out is the range of payment options—it’s made subscribing super accessible for my audience.

Content Restriction

Paid Member Subscriptions enable you to restrict content based on many membership levels. You also have the option to restrict content based on parameters such as duration, status and price.

WordPress Theme/Plugin Compatibility

• Themes — Compatible with most WordPress themes. Additional functionality is available for the Elementor website builder.
• Plugins — Compatible with most WordPress plugins.
• WooCommerce — Yes. Restrict content, product viewing, and purchasing.

Integration

Paid Member Subscriptions is compatible with WooCommerce and many popular plugins. BbPress integration is available with an addon.

Payment Options

• PayPal — All plans are compatible with PayPal. You’ll need the Pro plan to accept subscriptions or recurring payments.
• Stripe — Integration is only available with the Pro plan.

Paid Member Subscriptions Support

• Extensive documentation and knowledge base.
• Web support is available via their ticketing system.
• Support hours — 09:00 to 17:00 (GMT), Monday to Friday.

Pros of Paid Member Subscriptions

• Well-designed dashboard with intuitive controls.
• Flexible user interface with logical layout.
• Create unlimited membership levels with flexible and subscription options.
• Free demo option for new members.
• Cheaper than some options.

Cons of Paid Member Subscriptions

• Limited email app integration.
• Support hours only Monday through Friday 9-5 GMT.
• No free trial.

Paid Member Subscriptions Pricing

• Hobbyist — $69/year for a single site.
• Pro — $149/year for unlimited sites.

Get Paid Member Subscriptions

4. Restrict Content Pro

Restrict Content Pro allows you to create a membership site by using content restriction and tying it to a subscription.

It works a little differently than a dedicated WordPress membership plugin but it still gets the job done.

Ease of Use

Configuration — You can easily create as many membership levels and packages you want with built-in tools.

Member-friendliness — The customer dashboard allows members to easily view their account, subscription information, renewal dates and upgrade/downgrade/cancel their accounts.

Content Restriction

Restrict Content Pro allows you to restrict content within a post or page based on membership levels.

You can also restrict topics within the forum based on membership levels.

WordPress Theme/Plugin Compatibility

• Themes — Designed to integrate with most WordPress themes with no custom CSS required.
• Plugins — Easily integrate with other WordPress plugins.
• WooCommerce — Yes. It allows you to control who can view or purchase products from your store.

Integrations

Lots of integrations including many popular plugins such as ActiveCampaign, Mailchimp, AWeber and others.

Also integrates with Easy Digital Downloads (created by the same company) allowing you to sell digital products.

Payment Options

Restrict Content Pro integrates with multiple payment gateways including Stripe, PayPal and others.

It can also integrate with others with the help of the custom payment gateway API.

Restrict Content Pro Support

• Extensive documentation and knowledge base.
• Online ticketed support.
• Email support.

Pros of Restrict Content Pro

• Integrates seamlessly with Easy Digital Downloads.
• Multiple email platform integrations.
• Numerous payment options.
• Detailed membership levels and content control.
• Custom APIs.

Cons of Restrict Content Pro

• Reviews of support are not the best.

Restrict Content Pro Pricing

• Free — Basic free WordPress membership plugin (2% Stripe processing fee).
• Personal — $99/year for a single site.
• Plus — $149/year for 5 sites.
• Professional — $249/year for unlimited sites.

Get Restrict Content Pro

5. ProfilePress

ProfilePress is an advanced membership plugin for selling paid memberships, accepting one-time and recurring payments and selling digital products.

ProfilePress is created and maintained by the Proper Fraction team and is apparently used on thousands of websites.

Ease of Use

Configuration — Create custom registration and login pages, set up payment methods, configure taxes and create coupons.

Member-friendliness — ProfilePress includes a user account page to manage orders and subscriptions, upgrade/downgrade/cancel accounts, and update profile information.

Content Restriction

ProfilePress gives you fine-grained control over what content users can see based on your protection rules and shortcodes.

You can create different membership levels, and restrict content, including pages, child pages, posts, custom post types, categories, tags, and custom taxonomies based on membership plans, user roles, usernames, and logged-in status.

WordPress Theme/Plugin Compatibility

• Themes — Compatible with any WordPress theme.
• Plugins — Compatible with numerous WordPress plugins.
• WooCommerce — Yes. You’ll need an addon though.

Integrations

ProfilePress currently integrates with third-party software and tools via addons available with paid plans. Most popular apps are included.

Payment Options

ProfilePress supports Stripe, PayPal, Razorpay, Paystack and Mollie.

ProfilePress Support

• Extensive documentation and how-to videos.
• Support is available via a ticketing system.

Pros of ProfilePress

• Detailed membership reports.
• Multiple membership plans and payment methods.
• Fine-grained control over what content members can see.
• Powerful addons covering most use cases.
• Compatible with most themes and plugins.

Cons of ProfilePress

• Limited official integration with email marketing software.
• Integrations mainly through addons rather than built-in.

ProfilePress Pricing

• Free – Basic free WordPress membership platform.
• Standard — $129/year for a single site.
• Plus — $299/year for 3 sites.
• Agency — $499/year for unlimited sites

Get ProfilePress

6. WooCommerce Memberships

WooCommerce Memberships is one of the best WordPress plugins as it allows you to create a membership store or retail club deeply integrated with WooCommerce.

The plugin is created and maintained by SkyVerge and could work well for existing stores that want to include memberships as part of the mix.

Ease of Use

Configuration — Allows you to convert your eCommerce store into a membership-based site with member-only products or exclusive products.

Member-friendliness – Members can upgrade or downgrade or pause their memberships but not much else.

Content Restriction

Enable any or all sections of the member area to show them a list of accessible content, products and discounts.

The plugin also allows you to drip content but doesn’t have the same level of membership features as other WordPress membership plugins in this list.

WordPress Theme/Plugin Compatibility

• Themes — Compatible with most WordPress themes.
• Plugins — Compatible with most WordPress plugins.
• WooCommerce — The plugin integrates extensively with WooCommerce and WooCommerce-related extensions.

Integrations

The plugin integrates with WooCommerce Subscriptions to help you sell and manage recurring membership options. In fact, you’ll probably need it to create your site.

Payment Options

Since this is built into your WooCommerce store, it connects directly to the payment system you use. So, if you accept PayPal, Stripe in your store you can use it for memberships.

WooCommerce Memberships Support

• Extensive documentation.
• Web support is available through a ticketing system.
• Support hours — 10:30 to 19:00 (GMT), Monday to Friday.

Pros of WooCommerce Memberships

• Integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce.
• Easy to use and manage.
• Well-designed dashboard.
• Great for creating exclusive stores.
• Responsive support team.

Cons of WooCommerce Memberships

• You’ll probably need to buy Woocommerce Subscriptions.
• Cannot exclude content from memberships.
• No free trial, although there is a demo site.

WooCommerce Memberships Pricing

• Single site — $199/year.

Get WooCommerce Memberships

7. s2Member

s2Member membership plugin designed to protect and restrict posts, pages, tags, categories, files, audio and video within your membership website.

The plugin is created and maintained by WPSharks and has in excess of 1.2 million downloads.

Ease of Use

Configuration — s2Member is easy to configure and extend. The ultimate member plugin is powered entirely by WordPress shortcodes, making it easy to install and set up.

Member-friendliness — Members can easily edit or update profiles, change subscriptions and perform other basic tasks.

Content Restriction

Ability to sell specific posts or pages, or sell access to specific file downloads. Content dripping is available only in the Pro version.

WordPress Theme/Plugin Compatibility

• Themes — Integrates with other themes.
• Plugins — Integrates with other plugins.
• WooCommerce — Not very compatible with WooCommerce but it can work.

Integrations

s2Member integrates with a number of services such as payment gateways, email platforms, affiliate programs, forum plugins and more.

Payment Options

• PayPal — Available for both the free and Pro versions.
• Stripe — Only available for the Pro version.
• Authorize.net — Only available for the Pro version.
• ClickBank — Only available for the Pro version.

s2Member Support

• Extensive documentation, knowledge base, articles, video tutorials, and forum.
• No additional support available.

Pros of s2Member

• Flexible membership plugin with lots of options.
• Unlimited membership levels with or without subscriptions.
• Set custom access with simple controls.
• User account security tools.
• Integrates with most WordPress themes and plugins.

Cons of s2Member

• Slight learning curve for more complex controls.
• WooCommerce integration isn’t the best.

s2Member Pricing

• Framework — Free membership plugin.
• Pro version S2Member — $89 one-time fee for a single site.
• Pro version Unlimited — $189 one-time fee for unlimited sites.

Get Started with s2Member

8. MemberMouse

MemberMouse is the right membership plugin for you if you are planning for building a membership website in an easy way as it allows you to sell products, memberships, and subscriptions.

The plugin is created and maintained by Eric Turnnessen and mixes membership qualities with eCommerce elements to provide a lot of flexibility in how you run your site.

Ease of Use

Configuration — MemberMouse helps with both free and paid memberships. It lets you customize checkout pages, create a password-protected member’s area, and easily protect/restrict content.

Member-friendliness — Members can upgrade or downgrade their membership plans and update their payment information.

Members also have the option to register and log in using Facebook, Twitter and Google using social login.

Content Restriction

You can restrict or protect pages or deliver premium content (PDFs, videos, software) to specific members using this plugin.

WordPress Theme/Plugin Compatibility

• Themes — Fully compatible with most themes.
• Plugins — Fully compatible with most plugins.
• WooCommerce — Not compatible with WooCommerce but can be integrated using MemberMouse WooCommerce Plus.

Integrations

There aren’t as many integrations for MemberMouse as for other membership plugins but all the basics are covered. You can easily integrate with third party services using MemberMouse’s API or Zapier.

Payment Options

MemberMouse integrates with leading payment providers:

• PayPal — Only available for the Plus and Pro version.
• Authorize.net — Only available for the Pro version.
• Braintree — Available for the Plus and Pro version.
• Stripe — Available for all versions.
• ClickBank — Only available for the Pro version.

MemberMouse Support

• Extensive knowledge base with lots of articles and videos.
• Ticketing system available for installation help or troubleshooting.
• Support hours — 09:00 to 17:00 (EST) Monday to Friday.

Pros of MemberMouse

• Lots of subscription options including products and services.
• Checkout optimizations with upsell tools.
• Extensive membership management.
• Drip content and scheduling.
• Lots of tracking and reporting options.

Cons of MemberMouse

• Priced for larger business or enterprise.
• Support is Monday to Friday only.

MemberMouse Pricing

• Basic – $199/year.
• Plus – $299/year.
• Pro – $399/year.
• Elite– $1,199/year.

Get Started with MemberMouse

9. Magic Members

Magic Members is a WordPress membership plugin that helps turn your website into a fully automated membership site.

It isn’t the most up to date or polished in terms of interface and branding, but it certainly delivers the features. So if you are looking or need to create a membership website, Magic Members is a good alternative for you.

Ease of Use

Configuration — The plugin allows complete control over your membership site so you can easily upgrade, downgrade or remove members.

Member-friendliness — Magic Members has a simple member dashboard to control basic settings.

There’s also a built-in email reminder system so members will receive a custom email before their subscription expires.

Content Restriction

The Control Content Access feature allows you to control what members in different levels of memberships can see.

The pay per post and pay per view features give you the ability to allow non-members to purchase content or articles on an individual basis, which is a neat trick.

WordPress Theme/Plugin Compatibility

• Themes — Compatible with most WordPress themes.
• Plugins — Compatible with most WordPress plugins.
• WooCommerce — Compatible with WooCommerce.

Integrations

Magic Members integrates with many services including email, payment gateways, forums and more.

Payment Options

Magic Members integrates with an extensive list of payment gateways and processors, which is why it’s in our list of best membership plugins.

It supports:

• 1ShoppingCart.
• PayPal Standard.
• PayPal Website Payments Pro.
• PayPal Express Checkout.
• 2CheckOut.
• Stripe.
• CCBill.
• Authorize.net.
• ClickBank.
• WorldPay.
• MoneyBookers.
• iDeal.
• Epoch.
• Payza.
• Ogone.
• SagePay.
• eWay.
• PagSeguro.

Magic Members Support

• Knowledge base and support video library.
• Ticketing system available for installation help or any troubleshooting.
• Support Hours — 09:00 to 17:00 (EST) Monday to Friday.

Pros of Magic Members

• Easy to use and to master.
• Extensive payment gateway options.
• Easy to set up sequential drip content for courses.
• In-depth reporting tools.
• Sensible lifetime pricing.

Cons of Magic Members

• Lots of different features to learn.
• We’re not sure if it’s still being developed or not.

Magic Members Pricing

• Single — $97 one-time fee.
• 3-Site — $197 one-time fee.
• Unlimited — $207 one-time fee.

Visit Magic Members Website

10. WP-Members

The WP-Members is a free membership plugin for WordPress that allows you to easily create a WordPress membership site without having to spend anything.

Created and supported by RocketGeek for any type of membership businesses, and has been installed on over 80,000+ websites.

Ease of Use

Configuration — Create and edit membership options based on the duration and membership types of access. Restrict individual posts or pages. Easily set up a WooCommerce site to sell membership plans.

Member-friendliness — The plugin has a user profile section where members can manage their own settings and update passwords.

Content Restriction

Ability to restrict posts or pages based on membership levels. You also have the option to restrict an excerpt or portion of posts and pages instead of the entire post.

WordPress Theme/Plugin Compatibility

• Themes — Compatible with most WordPress themes.
• Plugins — Compatible with most WordPress plugins.
• WooCommerce — Requires the purchase of an extension, included with the purchase of the WP-Members Pro Bundle.

Integrations

WP-Members works with the most compliant WordPress plugins and has API support for everything else.

Payment Options

WP-Members only integrates with PayPal and requires the purchase of the PayPal subscription plugin.

WP-Members Membership Plugin Support

• FAQ library.
• Priority email support and access to the support forum is only available for paid support subscriptions.

Pros of WP-Members Membership

• User friendly and easy to learn.
• Supports flexible subscriptions and member options.
• Can configure the entire website for memberships including menus.
• Notifications for events and new signups.
• APIs available for extra integration.
• One of the free membership plugins.
• Create membership website without spending an extra penny.

Cons of WP-Members Membership

• Overly complicated pricing.
• Dependency on plugins for integrations.
• Some useful features are restricted to extra premium extensions.

WP-Members Membership Plugin Pricing

• Free — No support and no access to premium support or the forum.
• WP-Members Priority Support — $59/year. Includes 1 year of email support, and access to the forum.
• WP-Members Pro Bundle — $125/year.
• Extensions — Additional purchases are required for plugins with prices ranging from $39 to $49.

Get WP-Members Plugin

11. WishList Member

WishList Member is an easy to use simple membership plugin for your site that allows you to convert any site into a powerful membership community.

Created and supported by WishList Products, this plugin is known for offering the flexibility to design almost any type of membership website.

Ease of Use

Configuration —Create unlimited membership levels, create and sell free, trial and paid membership levels. Easy to install and integrate with your WordPress website.

Content Restriction

Restrict content (posts, pages, course lessons, categories, folders, files) based on membership levels. You also have the ability to enable a pay-per-post option.

Control the length of time each member has access (3 days, or 7 days, or any time period).

WordPress Theme/Plugin Compatibility

• Themes — Compatible with most WordPress themes.
• Plugins — Compatible with most WordPress plugins except bbPress or BuddyPress.
• WooCommerce — Compatible with WooCommerce.

Integrations

WishList Member integrates with over 50 services as well as Zapier and SureTriggers. There’s also an API for extra flexibility.

Payment Options

WishList Member integrates with an extensive list of popular payment gateways, which is one reason we like it so much.

It supports:

• PayPal.
• Stripe.
• Infusionsoft.
• ClickBank.
• PayPal Pro.
• Authorize.net.
• Recurly.
• 1ShoppinCart (API).
• 2Checkout.
• eWay.
• JVZoo.
• Pin Payments.
• SamCart.
• Premium Web Cart.
• UltraCart.
• Red Oak Cart.
• Cydec.

WishList Members Support

• FAQs, tutorials, knowledge base and codex.
• Ticketed support available.

Pros of WishList Member

• Setup wizard walks you through most steps.
• Excellent ‘protect’ button in content editor.
• Unlimited membership levels.
• Extensive trigger actions.
• Sneak peek option for protected content.

Cons of WishList Member

• There’s a lot to learn.
• Course options only available in more expensive plans.

WishList Members Pricing

• Basic – $149.50/year.
• Plus – $249.50/year.
• Pro – $349.50/year.
• Elite – $1,149.50/year.

Get Started with WishList Member

12. AccessAlly

AccessAlly allows you to seamlessly accept recurring or one-time payments, create courses, set up a fully functional LMS and manage members all with a single tool.

The plugin is ideally suited for websites that want to sell memberships and online courses.

Ease of Use

Configuration — Create multiple courses or complete membership tiers with the help of the course wizard. Manage members, user permissions, subscriptions all in one place.

Member-friendliness — Create member directories so users can find and connect with each other. Members can also update their profiles or upload their photos.

Content Restriction

Create flexible content layouts based on the various membership levels. Control or restrict pages, posts, and courses based on your settings.

WordPress Theme/Plugin Compatibility

• Themes — Compatible with most WordPress themes. Added functionality for Elementor, Beaver Builder and Divi.
• Plugins — Compatible with most WordPress plugins.
• WooCommerce — AccessAlly is fully compliant with WooCommerce.

Integrations

Lots of integrations covering most popular services, Zapier, SureTriggers and others included within the core plugin.

Payment Options

AccessAlly integrates with both Stripe and PayPal. It also integrates with widely used eCommerce services such as SamCart and ThriveCart.

AccessAlly Support

• Demo, knowledge base and documentation.
• All subscriptions included access to priority email and web support.

Pros of AccessAlly

• Used by over 2.5 million site owners.
• Combined membership/LMS/affiliate/community plugin.
• Extensive tools to control content access and memberships.
• Lots of integrations for plugins and services.
• Free demo.

Cons of AccessAlly

• Expensive.

AccessAlly Pricing

• AccessAlly Essentials — $990/year for a single-site license.
• AccessAlly Pro — $1,290/year for a single-site license with built-in LMS.
• AccessAlly Community — $1,490/year for a single-site license.

Get Started with AccessAlly

13. ProfileGrid

ProfileGrid allows you to create user profiles, groups, communities, directories and membership sites for WordPress, WooCommerce and bbPress.

The membership software is easy to use, feature-rich and could deliver the flexibility you need to build a membership site.

Ease of Use

Configuration — Create email templates within the WordPress dashboard. Send automated emails based on member actions — account creation, password changes, account deletion.

Member-friendliness — Users can sign up or login using either Gravatar or social media accounts. There’s also the option to add members as friends and communicate with them via private message.

Content Restriction

Ability to restrict individual posts or pages, but this has to be done manually for each post. There isn’t an option to set global restrictions based on categories or authors.

WordPress Theme/Plugin Compatibility

• Themes — Compatible with most WordPress themes.
• Plugins — Compatible with most WordPress plugins.
• WooCommerce — Yes. Available extensions help integrate with a store.

Integrations

ProfileGrid has a few integrations with WooCommerce, email services and WordPress.

Payment Options

ProfileGrid integrates with both PayPal and Stripe.

ProfileGrid Support

• A knowledge base is available for all users.
• Premium and Premium+ subscriptions receive access to web support via online ticketing.

Pros of ProfileGrid

• Well-designed UI throughout.
• Simple tools to control everything.
• Lots of social aspects for members.
• Fully integrated with WooCommerce and extensions.
• Free version with paid extensions.

Cons of ProfileGrid

• Can cause occasional slowdowns when activated.

ProfileGrid Pricing

• Core — Free plugin.
• Premium — $79/year for a single-site license.
• Premium+ — $139/one-time for unlimited site license lifetime updates and support.
• Extensions — Option extensions for the free plugin from $49.

Get Started with ProfileGrid

14. Ultimate Membership Pro

Ultimate Membership Pro is a popular plugin that helps you create exclusive access membership programs for both free and paid members.

It’s not like a complex membership plugin as it’s an easy plugin with thousands of happy customers and lots of great reviews.

Ease of Use

Configuration — The plugin comes with pre-created templates for registration pages, login pages, content areas and subscription pricing pages.

Member-friendliness — The member dashboard allows users to edit or customize profiles, social accounts, subscription levels, view orders and transaction history.

Content Restriction

Restrict access to pages, products, categories, any URL, images, files, navigational menus. Partial content restriction is also available to restrict based on certain parameters.

WordPress Theme/Plugin Compatibility

• Themes — Compatible with most WordPress themes.
• Plugins — Compatible with most WordPress plugins.
• WooCommerce — Yes. Sell subscriptions using WooCommerce and offer discounts for packages.

Integrations

Ultimate Membership Pro has a decent number of integrations including email, social media and more as part of the package.

Payment Options

Ultimate Membership Pro integrates with multiple payment gateways:

• PayPal.
• Authorize.net.
• Stripe.
• Braintree.
• Payza.
• 2Checkout.
• Mollie,
• Pagseguro.

Ultimate Membership Pro Support

• Support is provided via Envato Market.
• All future updates as part of the purchase price.

Pros of Ultimate Membership Pro

• Templates for every conceivable use.
• Extensive reporting tools.
• Lots of payment gateway integrations.
• Flexible membership and content restriction options.
• Drip content tools.

Cons of Ultimate Membership Pro

• Complex plugin with lots of features to learn.

Ultimate Membership Pro Pricing

• Regular license — $59/one-time free for a single-site license.
• Additional support available at $26.25/year.

Get Ultimate Membership Pro

15. ARMember

The ARMember membership plugin is a complete system that allows you to build, maintain and grow a fully functional WordPress membership website.

It’s a powerful plugin for creating a membership used by businesses of all shapes and sizes.

Ease of Use

Configuration — Create and offer any type of membership plan — free, trial or paid plans, and recurring subscriptions. The built-in form builder allows you to create sign up forms, login pages, profile update pages and more.

Member-friendliness — Allows members to sign up and log in using social connect (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google).

Content Restriction

Restrict content (pages, posts, category, navigation menus, archives, BuddyPress pages) based on membership levels.

Drip content feature allows you to delay the release of content (posts, pages) based on membership levels and subscription period.

WordPress Theme/Plugin Compatibility

• Themes — Works with any WordPress theme.
• Plugins — Works with most WordPress plugins.
• WooCommerce — Yes. Content restriction rules are available for WooCommerce products.

Integrations

ARMember is fully translation ready and supports the WPML plugin. Zapier integration is available to connect with other CRMs or email marketing platforms.

Payment Options

ARMember integrates with multiple payment gateways:

• PayPal.
• Authorize.net.
• Stripe.
• 2Checkout.
• Pagseguro.
• PayUmoney.
• Mollie.
• PayStack.

ARMember Support

• Extensive documentation and video tutorials.
• Dedicated web and email support is available for premium subscriptions.

Pros of ARMember

• Membership setup wizard included.
• Trial periods for new members.
• Drag and drop form builder.
• Flexible content restriction options.
• Free version available.

Cons of ARMember

• Not the most intuitive plugin to use.
• Some documentation is hard to follow.

ARMember Pricing

• ARMember Lite — Limited version with basic features.
• ARMember Pro — $69/one-time fee for a single-site license.
• ARMember Add-on Bundle Pack – $149 for 35 premium addons.

Get Started with ARMember

16. DigiMember

DigiMember is a useful and ultimate membership plugin that allows you to create a fully functional membership website.

Rather than setting up an entire site for memberships, DigiMember offers per-page control for greater flexibility. So it’s one of the best WordPress plugin for creating your membership site.

Ease of Use

Configuration — Easy to install and set up free and paid membership options. Create unlimited products and membership levels and choose which protected content belongs to which level.

Member-friendliness — Member account management to easily change passwords, edit profile information or delete accounts.

Content Restriction

Control how long members can access your content (a certain number of days, weeks or unlimited access).

Pay per post feature enables you to restrict access to single articles, and request a specific price for access.

WordPress Theme/Plugin Compatibility

• Themes —. Works with any WordPress theme.
• Plugins — Works with most WordPress plugins and a list of compatible plugins is growing.
• WooCommerce — Compatible with WooCommerce.

Integrations

DigiMember doesn’t change how the site works so it will integrate with most services you’ll use on your site.

Payment Options

DigiMember integrates with multiple payment gateways:

• PayPal.
• Stripe.
• 2Checkout.
• ClickBank.
• CleverBridge.
• AffiliCon.
• Digistore24.

DigiMember Support

• Extensive documentation and video tutorials available to all users.
• Dedicated email support is available for DigiMember Pro licenses via a ticketing system.
• Support Hours — 09:00 to 17:00 EST; Monday to Friday.

Pros of DigiMember

• Designed for ease of use.
• Unlimited products and membership levels.
• Drip feed tools included.
• Integrates with payment gateways and email tools.
• Secure download manager.

Cons of DigiMember

• Cost of premium puts it out of reach of smaller websites.

DigiMember Pricing

• Free — Limited to 1 membership level and 50 paying members.
• DigiMember Pro — $37/month. Unlimited members and membership products.
• Additional site licenses $10/month.

Get Started with DigiMember

17. Paid Memberships Pro

Paid Memberships Pro is an all-in-one WordPress membership solution. If you are looking for a membership plugin, its comprehensive documentation and vast array of integrations and addons make this plugin a must-have.

Ease of Use

Configuration — Paid Memberships Pro is one of the most powerful yet straightforward WordPress membership plugins to set up.

Member-friendliness — Members can cancel and modify memberships, use an invoice system and manage core membership settings.

Content Restriction

Paid Membership Pro offers simple-to-use content restriction by membership level along with a range of addons to drip feed or protect content.

WordPress Theme/Plugin Compatibility

• Themes — Compatible with any WordPress theme (even custom themes). Also, themes created by the Paid Memberships Pro team. So you are free to choose the best WordPress theme as you find suitable for your website.
• Plugins — Compatible with all WordPress plugins.
• WooCommerce — Yes. Core eCommerce functions supported.

Integrations

Paid Memberships Pro currently has over 60+ integrations including Zapier. Some are included with the core product while others are enabled by addons.

Payment Options

Paid Memberships Pro supports:

• PayPal.
• Stripe.
• Authorize.net.
• Braintree.
• CyberSource.
• 2Checkout.
• Payfast.

Paid Memberships Pro Support

• Extensive user manual and knowledge base.
• Web support is available via a ticketing system.

Pros of Paid Memberships Pro

• Flexible membership levels and payment options.
• Uses REST API.
• Compatible with Zapier and other integrations.
• Open source core.
• Works for all types of membership websites.

Cons of Paid Memberships Pro

• Issues have been reported with some payment integrations.

Paid Memberships Pro Pricing

• Free — Unlimited site and some addons.
• Plus — $37/month for all addons and 1-5 site licenses.

Get Started with Paid Memberships Pro

Create Your Own Membership Website

Have any of these plugins inspired you to create your own membership website? It’s easy if you use WordPress and one of these membership plugins! Learn about the best WordPress options available.

This video shows you how:

Conclusion

Now you have seen our list of the best WordPress membership plugins compared, what’s next?

All the best membership plugins for WordPress in this list are worth checking out otherwise they wouldn’t be here.

So you are free to choose the best WordPress membership plugin considering the feature and customization you require.

However, we recommend our own SureMembers plugin for anyone looking for ease of use, flexibility and reliability.

There’s no easier way to create a successful membership website!

If you want a WordPress theme to go with it, look no further than Astra. It will work seamlessly with any of these membership plugins and delivers exceptional designs and superior performance.

Recommended Astra’s templates:

• Membership website templates
• eLearning website designs and templates
• LMS website templates

Here’s the best part — Astra is available for free to use for your WordPress membership site up and running.

As you grow your website and add more features, then Astra Pro will help you provide more customizations and personalization.

Do you run a membership website? What do you look for in a membership plugin? Share your thoughts in the comments.