14 Best WordPress Membership Plugins (Compared) – 2025

When we were first setting up our free video membership website, we wanted to make sure that we picked the right tool for the job.

Choosing the right membership plugin is very important because it will affect your growth opportunities and sales.

We eventually decided on MemberPress for our website, and we’ve had a great experience with it so far. But we also know that other businesses may have different needs for protecting and monetizing their content.

That’s why we went through the process of testing the most popular membership plugins. While doing this, we looked at different factors like ease of use, features, customization options, and pricing.

In this article, we will compare the best WordPress membership plugins to let you easily create paid membership websites.

Quick Pick – The Best WordPress Membership Plugins

Are you in a hurry? If so, then you can take a quick look at our top 3 picks for the best WordPress membership plugins.

That said, we recommend you keep scrolling to see our complete list!

🥇 First Choice	🥈 Second Choice	🥉 Third Choice
MemberPress	Thrive Apprentice	Easy Digital Downloads
Pricing: Starts at $179.50/yr + Free	Pricing: Starts at $149/yr	Pricing: $99.50/yr + Free
All-in-one solution for membership sites	Building and selling courses online	Selling digital products on a membership site
Courses and CoachKit add-ons for online learning	An intuitive school setup wizard with over 55 customizable templates	Built-in shopping cart for multiple downloads
Drip content tools and robust access control	Drip content tools with multiple schedules for varied learning styles	Restrict downloads by membership levels
Recurring and one-time payments	Recurring and one-time payments	Subscription billing with Recurring Payments add-on
Works with AWeber, Mailchimp, Uncanny Automator, Constant Contact, AWS, Blubrry, and BuddyBoss	Multiple language support, search engine optimization (SEO), email notification, and dynamic buttons	Accept payments from Stripe, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Braintree, with no monthly fees
Read more »	Read more »	Read more »

How We Tested and Reviewed WordPress Membership Plugins

There are plenty of WordPress membership plugins, but not all of them have the specific features that you may need to create your membership site.

Some are great for simple setups, like selling one subscription plan. Others come packed with features to handle multiple membership levels, manage subscriptions, and more.

To help you pick the right one, we tested several popular membership plugins and focused on the following:

• Ease of Use: We looked for plugins that are super easy to use, even if you’re not tech-savvy. Our top picks have beginner-friendly dashboards, step-by-step guides, and detailed documentation to help you get started without any headaches.
• Different Use Cases: Not all membership sites are the same, so we checked for support for a wide variety of membership features. These included members-only content, subscription plans, community features, online courses, and more. We’ll discuss these in more detail in the points below.
• Members-Only Content: We checked for features that let bloggers or businesses hide certain posts or pages for paying members.
• Subscription Plans: Whether you need simple monthly plans or multi-tier options, we checked how well the plugins handle subscriptions.
• Community Features: We gave extra credit to plugins that allow private forums or member dashboards.
• Online Courses: If you’re an educator, trainer, or coach, you might need tools to build online courses with lessons, quizzes, and progress tracking.
• Drip Content: Want to release content gradually? We made sure these plugins can help you keep members coming back for more.
• Selling Digital Products: We looked for plugins that make it easy to sell eBooks, music, or other downloadable products.
• Payment Gateways: We tested options that work with popular gateways like PayPal and Stripe so you can easily collect payments.
• Customizability and Growth: We checked how easy it is to tweak things like membership levels, access rules, and user roles. Plus, we made sure these plugins can grow with you – whether you’re adding more members or rolling out new features.
• User Reviews: We also remembered to check real user reviews to see how the plugins perform in real-world situations.

As you can see, we only included trustworthy plugins that work well and give you the most important membership features. It’s also worth noting that we could never recommend that slows down your site or negatively impacts the user experience.

Having said that, let’s see what you will need to start a WordPress membership site.

What Do You Need to Run a WordPress Membership Site?

Membership websites are resource-intensive, and choosing the wrong host can hurt your site’s overall performance. That’s why the first thing you need to do is choose the best WordPress hosting that you can afford.

If you are on a budget, then you can start with Bluehost.

Their Business Pro plan comes with an SSL certificate, which you need to securely collect payments, a dedicated IP, and a dedicated support line.

If you don’t already have one, then you will also need to choose a domain name for your website. Here is our guide on how to pick the right domain name for your membership site.

The good news is that with our Bluehost coupon code, you can score a great deal! You’ll get hosting, SSL certificates, and a domain name for just $1.99 per month.

If budget is not an issue, and you want the best performance, then we recommend using a managed WordPress hosting provider like SiteGround.

Lastly, you will need to choose essential business plugins such as OptinMonster, which helps you capture leads and boost subscriptions.

Now that we have covered what you need to start a membership site with WordPress, let’s take a look at our top WordPress membership plugins.

1. MemberPress

MemberPress is an all-in-one WordPress membership plugin that lets you sell unlimited membership levels and manage subscriptions easily. We use it on WPBeginner to power our video membership site, and we love how beginner-friendly yet powerful it is.

Read our complete MemberPress review to see why we’re such big fans.

When we first set up MemberPress, we were impressed by how easy-to-use it was. In just a few clicks, it automatically created all the essential pages for us, like pricing, login, account, and thank-you pages for our users.

We also love how we could add drip content, keeping our members engaged over time. If you’re curious about how we did it, check out our tutorial on how to create a client portal in WordPress.

Other than that, we appreciate the powerful access control.

With MemberPress, we can easily restrict access to posts, pages, custom post types, categories, tags, and files. Pretty much any content we want, including creating a paid newsletter for your website.

In our opinion, it’s also a perfect fit for setting up a subscription model. MemberPress supports both recurring and one-time payments, so you can offer monthly, yearly, or even lifetime memberships.

It also makes offering courses online a breeze.

With the Courses and CoachKit add-ons, you can create a seamless experience for your learner, from content delivery to tracking progress.

These tools can really transform the way you run your courses, and we’re so glad the MemberPress team added them to the toolkit.

✅ Pros of MemberPress:

• Easy setup with auto-generated pages (pricing, login, account, thank-you)
• Drip content tools to engage members over time
• Powerful access control for posts, pages, files, and more
• Supports recurring and one-time payments via PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.net (Developer Plan)
• Courses and CoachKit add-ons for streamlined online learning
• Perfect for paid newsletters or client portals
• Integrates with tools like AWeber, Mailchimp, Uncanny Automator, and Constant Contact
• Works with AWS, Blubrry (podcasts), and BuddyBoss (private networks)
• Other features include membership dashboards, coupon codes, email notifications, and Rest API

❌ Cons of MemberPress:

• MemberPress’s free plan offers basic features, but upgrading to the pro version is necessary to access more advanced options
• It supports only the three most popular payment gateways.

Why we recommend MemberPress: We love MemberPress because it’s the best WordPress membership plugin on the market. It allows unlimited membership levels, comes with a user-friendly interface, integrates with popular gateways, and also offers content restriction, making it a great all-in-one choice.

Pricing: MemberPress offers four pricing plans to suit different needs. The Basic plan is $179.50/year, and it’s ideal for beginners. This plan allows unlimited members with no transaction fees and integrates with Stripe and PayPal for selling memberships. That said, course creators might need to opt for the higher-tiered plans, starting from $299.50/year.

2. Thrive Apprentice

Thrive Apprentice is a powerful membership and course builder for WordPress. With advanced features, easy access control, and various course templates, it’s ideal if you want to create and manage professional online courses with ease.

When we started exploring ways to build and manage online courses, Thrive Apprentice quickly became a favorite. Lots of our readers love it, and we’ve tested it a bunch of times. For more information, you can see our Thrive Apprentice review.

The school setup wizard is a big plus. When testing, it walked us through the entire setup process, making what could have been overwhelming feel simple and intuitive.

Building courses was also just as easy. The drag-and-drop builder, customizable certificates, and over 55 course templates allowed us to focus on creating content without worrying about the design.

What stood out even more was the personalization options. Visitors see a tailored course overview, while members have their own customized view.

We also discovered that Thrive Apprentice can track student progress, offer one-time or recurring subscriptions, create landing pages, and build coupons and discount offers for different membership or subscription courses.

Once we set everything up, we explored the content-dripping tools. They let us unlock lessons on a schedule and even create multiple timelines for the same content.

In addition, their built-in membership management dashboard lets you easily grant or revoke access to courses, content, or membership products for specific subscribers.

Plus, integrating Thrive Apprentice with tools like Thrive Leads, Thrive Quiz Builder, and Thrive Optimize opens up even more opportunities for automation, engagement, and optimization.

✅ Pros of Thrive Apprentice:

• Intuitive school setup wizard for easy onboarding
• Drag-and-drop course builder with over 55 customizable templates
• Customizable certificates to reward students
• Personalized content display for visitors and members
• Tracks student progress to monitor learning outcomes
• Flexible content-dripping tools with multiple schedules for varied learning styles
• Supports one-time and recurring subscriptions
• Tools for creating landing pages, coupons, and discount offers
• Built-in membership management dashboard for easy access control
• Multiple language support, search engine optimization (SEO), email notification, and dynamic buttons

❌ Cons of Thrive Apprentice:

• No free plan

• Thrive Apprentice only offers built-in support for Stripe payments

Why we recommend Thrive Apprentice: Overall, we recommend Thrive Apprentice for its powerful subscription and online course tools. With a drag-and-drop builder and ready-made templates, it’s perfect if you’re looking to create and sell online courses quickly and easily.

Pricing: Thrive Apprentice costs $149 per year for the standalone plugin, ideal for adding courses and memberships to an existing site. For new sites or businesses, there’s the Thrive Suite plan at $299 per year. It includes Thrive Apprentice and other essential Thrive plugins to help you design and grow your website.

3. Easy Digital Downloads

Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) is a top eCommerce plugin. It’s a great option if you’re looking to sell digital products on your WordPress membership site. Whether you’re selling eBooks, software, or music, it lets you manage products, payments, and reports all in one place.

Several of our partner brands use Easy Digital Downloads to sell plugins and software, and they’ve told us how much they like the tool. We’ve also tested EDD for tons of purposes over the years and have had great experiences with it. You can learn more in our full Easy Digital Downloads review.

During setup, we quickly realized just how much EDD simplifies selling digital products. First, there’s a built-in shopping cart system, so customers can buy multiple downloads at once.

One of our favorite add-ons is Recurring Payments. It lets us handle subscription billing and manage customer info, making it perfect for selling subscription-based products.

We also love the flexibility it offers. For example, you can restrict downloads by membership levels, offer special discounts, and send email notifications.

The plugin’s reports and analytics also provide users with valuable insights. This can make it easy to track membership sales and product performance without any hassle.

✅ Pros of Easy Digital Downloads:

• Easy to set up and use
• Built-in shopping cart for multiple downloads
• Supports subscription billing with Recurring Payments add-on
• Restrict downloads by membership levels
• Offers special discounts and email notifications
• Reports and analytics for tracking sales and performance.

• Accept credit card payments from Stripe, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and other popular payment gateways like Braintree, with no additional monthly fees

❌ Cons of Easy Digital Downloads:

• Limited integrations with popular tools and services beyond AffiliateWP
• The Easy Digital Download free plan is available, but the pro version is needed for subscription and membership features

Why we recommend Easy Digital Downloads: We included Easy Digital Downloads on this list because it’s the best plugin for creating a membership site that sells digital products. It comes with a built-in shopping cart system, recurring payments, and a library of add-ons to grow your business.

Pricing: While Easy Digital Downloads offers a free version, the Personal plan at $199/year unlocks additional features, including email marketing integrations with ActiveCampaign and Campaign Monitor. You also get powerful upselling and cross-selling tools to boost your online sales.

4. MemberMouse

MemberMouse is a versatile WordPress membership plugin that’s perfect for growing businesses. Its advanced features let you protect your content, sell products, create courses, and boost your revenue.

For a deeper look into the platform, check out our MemberMouse review.

Based on our experience, we found it easy to create a customized membership site using MemberMouse.

When we created our first plan, we learned that the tool offers both free and paid membership options. It also offers drip content and lets you create a dedicated space on your website that is only accessible to members.

One feature we really loved was the ability to create upsells and cross-sells. With just one click, members could make purchases without having to re-enter their payment details. It made the shopping experience seamless and increased our revenue without added hassle.

Another highlight for us was the SmartTags feature.

It lets you personalize content for each member without needing to write a single line of code. This level of control over your content display is invaluable because it allows you to protect and showcase content exactly how you want it.

On top of that, MemberMouse tracks important business metrics, like lifetime customer value and churn rates, helping monitor our growth. The plugin even takes care of overdue payments automatically, so you’ll never have to worry about missing out on revenue.

You can also create and send push notifications to members or specific WordPress user roles based on specific actions. They included adding new members, canceling memberships, receiving payments, and more.

✅ Pros of MemberMouse:

• Easy to offer both free and paid memberships
• Drip content feature to release material over time
• One-click upsells and cross-sells for seamless purchases
• Personalize content using SmartTags; no coding required
• Tracks key metrics like customer value, churn, and engagement
• Automates overdue payment handling

• Send push notifications to members or specific user roles based on specific actions

❌ Cons of MemberMouse:

• Limited design options
• No free plan
• Limited integration options for payment gateways compared to other plugins on this list

Why we recommend MemberMouse: In our opinion, MemberMouse is a powerful WordPress membership solution for businesses that are serious about growth. It’s powerful enough to support enterprise-level membership sites, so it’s a good choice for very ambitious website owners.

Pricing: MemberMouse offers four pricing plans to choose from. With the Basic plan, ($199.50/year), you can start your own membership site, create unlimited plans, and accept payments via Stripe. It also includes the Courses for MemberMouse extension, making it a solid all-around option.

5. WishList Member

WishList Member is packed with powerful features to protect your members-only content and create a positive experience for your site’s subscribers. Its advanced restriction settings make it ideal for paywalling content like blog posts or specific pages.

For an in-depth breakdown, you can head over to our comprehensive WishList Member review.

WishList Member gives you the flexibility to create unlimited membership levels and offer various types of content, whether it’s free, premium, or pay-per-post on your WordPress blog.

When testing the tool, we noticed that the one-click content protection feature makes it incredibly simple to restrict access. We could just click the ‘Protect’ button in the WordPress editor to lock content for members only.

Plus, with the Private Tags feature, we protected specific sections of posts, offering even more flexibility. We also loved how we could show sneak peek snippets to non-members, sparking their interest and encouraging them to sign up.

There’s also the CourseCure feature.

It allowed us to build courses with lessons, quizzes, and certificates without hassle.

What’s more, WishList Member makes it easy to schedule and release drip content, set up recurring subscriptions, and integrate with popular email marketing services to help grow your email list.

✅ Pros of WishList Member:

• Unlimited membership levels
• Easy content protection with a one-click functionality
• Private Tags for section-specific protection
• Sneak peek content for non-members
• Built-in course builder (CourseCure)
• Drip content scheduling
• Integration with email marketing services

• Accept payments from 20+ popular gateways, including Stripe, PayPal, WooCommerce, 2CheckOut, and Authorize.net

❌ Cons of WishList Member:

• The extensive features can feel overwhelming for beginners
• It has no free plan

Why we recommend WishList Member: If you want to create members-only content with powerful restriction features, then WishList Member is a great choice. It offers drip scheduling, page locks, integrations with a lot of payment gateways, and many advanced features to take your membership site to the next level.

Pricing: WishList Member‘s Basic plan costs $149.50 per year and allows you to create unlimited membership levels, set content protection rules, and build courses. It supports payments via PayPal Checkout, Stripe, and eWay and integrates with tools like Easy Affiliate, Thrive Apprentice, and Thrive Architect.

6. AccessAlly

AccessAlly is a powerful yet user-friendly membership plugin. We signed up to explore the features and saw how it can be a great solution for creating and selling courses, group coaching, and memberships.

The builder is very simple. You can create live courses or set up drip content without any significant hassle.

Plus, the reporting and analytics are solid, giving you the insights you need to optimize your offerings. And the built-in affiliate program is a great bonus.

One thing that stood out was the gamification tools. With a flexible points system, badges, and leaderboards, it’s easy to boost engagement and keep members motivated throughout their journey.

AccessAlly also makes managing memberships a breeze. You can create unlimited membership levels and use tag-based permissions to control access so members can easily upgrade or downgrade their subscriptions whenever they choose.

When it comes to drip content, AccessAlly offers a variety of delivery options like delayed, specific date and time, completion-based unlocking, cohort style, and all-access.

And if you’re looking to maximize conversions, AccessAlly doesn’t fall short.

It includes one-click upsells, order bumps, coupons, bulk course enrollment, abandoned cart follow-ups, free trials, and a cross-selling members dashboard. These features make it easy to drive revenue and keep members coming back for more.

✅ Pros of AccessAlly:

• Elegant and user-friendly design
• Built-in affiliate program
• Gamification tools (points, badges, leaderboards)
• Multiple drip content delivery options (delayed, date/time, completion-based, cohort, all-access)
• Conversion-focused features (upsells, order bumps, coupons, bulk enrollment)
• Abandoned cart follow-up
• Solid reporting and analytics
• Seamlessly integrates with popular payment gateways like Stripe and PayPal

❌ Cons of AccessAlly:

• Limited customization options to change the look of your membership site
• There’s no free plan

Why we recommend AccessAlly: After a thorough review, we found that AccessAlly is a powerful plugin for building and scaling a coaching, teaching, or training membership website. It comes with all of the features you need to offer 1-1 or group coaching, including dripped content releases, live group cohorts, bulk course enrollment, and more.

Pricing: AccessAlly has 3 plans. The starter one is called AccessAlly Essentials, and it’s $990/year. It offers a 1-site license, unlimited courses and members, no transaction fees, and top-tier support with up to three calls each month. To unlock the community, discussion threads, built-in LMS, and more, you’ll need the higher-tiered plans.

7. LearnDash

LearnDash is a highly flexible and user-friendly WordPress LMS plugin. It features advanced membership modules and numerous integrations, making it ideal for creating exclusive members-only online courses.

Check out our complete LearnDash review for more details.

During testing, we found that LearnDash is quite simple to set up, and adding content to it is even simpler. The drag-and-drop course builder makes organizing your lessons simple, and the pre-designed templates save tons of time.

Plus, the option to give completion certificates is a nice touch.

Like most membership plugins, LearnDash also allows you to set up levels, groups, and custom rules to restrict or hide content as needed. It’s great if you want to offer different experiences to different member tiers.

We also appreciate that LearnDash makes it easy to keep your members engaged. Features like quizzes, user badges, forums, and profiles add fun and interactivity to your site. You can even control when students access lessons, which is helpful for keeping them on track.

The drip content feature is also great. It lets you release lessons at regular intervals or after a student completes a level, which keeps people coming back for more. And the plugin even tracks student progress, so you know how your courses are doing.

✅ Pros of LearnDash:

• Drag-and-drop course builder with pre-designed templates
• Completion certificates for a professional touch
• Flexible content restriction with levels, groups, and custom rules
• Engagement tools like quizzes, badges, forums, and profiles
• Drip content for timed or progress-based lesson release
• Tracks student progress to monitor course performance

• Integrations with MemberPress, WooCommerce, bbPress, Slack, and more
• Multiple payment options, including PayPal, Stripe, Razorpay, 2Checkout, and more

❌ Cons of LearnDash:

• If you’re building a membership site without selling courses, some of LearnDash’s features may not be relevant, as it’s not solely a membership plugin
• LearnDash has no free plan

Why we recommend LearnDash: Overall, LearnDash is packed with tools to help you create an engaging, well-structured membership site. Its extensive set of add-ons and integrations allows you to build a highly engaging platform. It’s also WordPress multisite compatible.

Pricing: LearnDash offers three pricing plans, each tailored to the number of sites you need. In our opinion, it’s competitively priced for those seeking scalable course management. The Single Site plan is $199 per year, ideal for solo course creators or small businesses, and includes all features and support.

8. Teachable

Teachable stands out as an all-in-one platform for building and managing online courses. It combines a membership website, LMS, discussion forums, email marketing, and detailed analytics.

After testing it, we found it to be a complete platform for creating, selling, and growing your online course business – all from one dashboard.

We were super impressed by how easy it was to set up. You don’t need any technical skills to hit the ground running, which makes it perfect for beginners and pros alike.

The drag-and-drop builder and ready-to-use templates save a lot of time. Plus, you have the AI assistant to generate course outlines and more!

Teachable also offers quiz, assessment, and certificate features. Plus, uploading videos, PDFs, text, and other course materials is quick and seamless, thanks to the course builder.

In addition to the flexible drip content feature, we really appreciated the auto-generated sales page.

We also loved how Teachable fosters community building with discussion forums, quizzes, and contact forms. This makes it easy to create an interactive learning environment.

Then, with detailed analytics, fraud protection, and powerful engagement tools, it’s clear to us that Teachable is designed to help you grow your online course business with confidence.

✅ Pros of Teachable:

• Drag-and-drop builder, ready-to-use templates
• AI assistant for course outline generation
• Flexible drip content feature
• Auto-generated sales page
• Community-building tools (forums, quizzes, contact forms)
• Detailed analytics and fraud protection

• Integrates with flexible payment types like Affirm and Klarna.

❌ Cons of Teachable:

• Not available as a WordPress plugin (need to integrate it into your WordPress site by adding links or a subdomain)

• It includes everything, which makes it more expensive than other membership tools

Why we recommend Teachable: Based on our findings, Teachable is perfect if you’re looking for a simple LMS platform with built-in sales pages and email marketing tools. However, it can get pricey and not as flexible regarding pricing and offering memberships.

Pricing: Teachable’s free version offers a good start. To use key features like drip content, you’ll need the paid plans, which start at $39 per month. These plans may include transaction fees, and payment timing varies by plan.

9. Restrict Content Pro

Restrict Content Pro is a WordPress membership plugin with powerful content restriction capabilities. It allows you to lock down access to posts, pages, and other content based on different criteria.

These advanced features might sound a bit intimidating. But during testing, we found the Restrict Content Pro dashboard is easy to navigate.

The dashboard is intuitive enough to manage subscriptions and access levels. You can customize content access based on individual progress or actions. This gives you full control over who sees what.

We also appreciate how easily Restrict Content Pro lets you restrict content to registered users, specific membership levels, or even individual pages, posts, tags, and categories. Its flexibility stands out, and that’s something we truly value.

The plugin also allows you to set up unlimited membership tiers, offer recurring subscriptions, create custom registration and login forms, and use discount coupons – all of which save you time in the long run.

With built-in reporting and analytics and the ability to set up referral programs and integrate with email marketing services, we found it to be a comprehensive solution for growing and managing a membership site.

The drip content feature is an added bonus.

✅ Pros of Restrict Content Pro:

• Advanced content restriction capabilities with an easy-to-navigate dashboard
• Customize access based on user progress or actions
• Set up unlimited membership tiers
• Recurring subscriptions options
• Registration and login, discount coupons, referral program, and drip content features
• Built-in reporting and analytics
• Email marketing service integration

❌ Cons of Restrict Content Pro:

• Marketing features are not as strong as other tools on this list
• The free plan has limited features and plugin branding

Why we recommend Restrict Content Pro: In our opinion, the Restrict Content Pro plugin is a great choice for building a membership website due to its powerful content restriction features, great access control, and seamless integration with WordPress.

Pricing: Restrict Content Pro offers a free version with basic features like content restriction, membership levels, member dashboard, and Stripe payments. The Pro version is at $99 annually. It includes 34 premium add-ons, offering more scalability for your membership site.

10. SureMembers

SureMembers is a user-friendly membership plugin designed for beginners who want to start their own membership site. It offers essential features like content protection, subscription management, and member access controls.

During our testing, we learned how SureMembers allows us to set up both simple subscriptions and complex membership levels with customizable access rules. You can restrict any content on your site, including pages, posts, categories, and tags.

You can also easily add a paywall. This makes it a great choice for anyone looking to monetize their content.

With SureMembers, you can also control menu item visibility and integrate with popular third-party tools like Beaver Builder, Twitter/X, Slack, and YouTube. We also appreciate the detailed analytics that let you track your membership site’s performance.

On top of that, SureMembers offers drip scheduling and integrates seamlessly with email marketing services to help you build an email list. Plus, with excellent customer support and a helpful knowledge base, you’ll be good to go, even if you’re new to creating a membership site.

✅ Pros of SureMembers:

• Beginner-friendly tool for creating simple and complex membership programs
• Content protection (pages, posts, categories, tags) with paywall setup
• Third-party tool integrations (Beaver Builder, Twitter/X, Slack, YouTube)
• Detailed analytics
• Drip scheduling with email marketing service integration
• Great customer support

❌ Cons of SureMembers:

• No course builder or community forum features
• Limited content dripping capabilities
• No free plan is available

Why we recommend SureMembers: If you are just starting to build your membership site, then SureMembers is a great choice. It has all the features you need, such as content protection, subscription management, and member access controls, making it simple to get started.

Pricing: SureMembers offers 4 paid plans. The Starter plan costs just $69 per year, making it perfect for bloggers and solopreneurs. It includes one site license and one year of managed updates and support.

11. aMember Pro

aMember Pro stands out for its flexibility and extensive integration options. It’s great for businesses looking to build a powerful membership platform. That said, it does require some technical skills, so if you’re not tech-savvy, you’ll likely need to hire a developer to set it up.

aMember Pro is an open-source tool with a user-friendly interface. Even though it’s not technically a WordPress plugin, don’t let that fool you. It integrates smoothly with WordPress, allowing you to create a members-only area.

What sets aMember Pro apart is its versatility. Whether you’re managing email lists or diving deep into advanced reporting, it’s got you covered.

Plus, you get the ability to handle both recurring and one-time payments through 100 payment systems. These include Stripe, PayPal, CoinBase, and more, which can be a great option if you have global customers.

We were impressed with its integrations of over 200 third-party apps, including affiliate programs and email marketing tools. This flexibility in membership management lets you easily set up multiple membership levels that cater to your needs.

Another great feature is its content protection. You can lock down everything from blog posts to videos and courses, ensuring that only subscribers get access.

✅ Pros of aMember Pro:

• Open-source with a user-friendly interface
• 100+ payment options, including Stripe, PayPal, and CoinBase
• Integrates with 200+ third-party apps
• Flexible membership level setup
• Content protection for posts, videos, courses, and more
• Advanced reporting and email list management

❌ Cons of aMemberPro:

• Limited customer support and documentation
• Requires technical knowledge for installation and maintenance

Why we recommend aMember Pro: If you run a small business site and need a plugin that might integrate well with the tools you already use, then aMember Pro can be a great choice. However, since it requires some technical knowledge, it’s a better fit for those with a development team who can handle the installation and maintenance.

Pricing: aMember Pro offers 3 plans. The Single License costs $149 for a one-time payment and includes one public installation. Then, they have the Professional plan at $399, which covers up to 5 public installations. For larger needs, the Enterprise plan is customized, offering unlimited installations, software customization, and VIP support.

12. WooCommerce Memberships

WooCommerce Memberships is a WordPress plugin built to work perfectly with your WooCommerce store. If you’re running an online store and want to offer special perks or members-only content, this plugin makes it simple to manage everything in one place.

After integrating the plugin with WooCommerce, we were able to start selling memberships just like products. Based on our research, we noticed that it also lets you offer free trials and manage user accounts directly from the dashboard.

Having tested it across several WooCommerce stores, we were really impressed with how easily you can turn an online store into a membership site. The ability to offer discounted pricing to members and create drip-specific products added a lot of flexibility.

We also found that we could create exclusive products for paying members and loved how we could tailor content for different membership levels. If you’re looking for more details, check out our tutorial on how to create a members-only WooCommerce store.

Additionally, if you need to sell memberships to teams or companies, you can add the Teams for WooCommerce Memberships extension. It allows you to sell access to a group of users rather than just individuals.

✅ Pros of WooCommerce Memberships:

• Easy integration with WooCommerce stores
• Free trial and user account management
• Create exclusive content for paying members
• Offer discounted pricing for members
• Supports drip-specific products
• Customize content based on membership levels
• Sell group memberships

❌ Cons of WooCommerce Memberships:

• Not suitable if you are not using WooCommerce
• No free plan is available
• Limited integration options

Why we recommend WooCommerce Memberships: If you already have a WooCommerce store and are planning to sell courses, subscriptions, or memberships, then WooCommerce Memberships is the best plugin for you.

Pricing: WooCommerce Memberships costs $199 per year. This plan gives you full access to the plugin’s features, including the ability to sell memberships, offer free trials, and manage exclusive content for members. The Teams for WooCommerce Memberships extension is sold separately for $129 per year.

13. Paid Memberships Pro

Paid Memberships Pro simplifies the process of creating membership and subscription sites. It stands out for letting users create multi-tiered membership levels with ease. Plus, it allows you to set up offline communities and keep your subscribers engaged with built-in email tools.

We tested it ourselves, and we really liked it. You can check out our Paid Memberships Pro review for more information about our experience with it.

With the plugin’s easy-to-use features, you can quickly set up a site that offers exclusive content, recurring payments, and flexible membership levels.

The plugin lets you restrict default content and sets a message for users who attempt to access it. It also takes things further by allowing you to lock down custom post types and single pages to only your paying members.

Another standout feature was the ability to add personalized content and schedule drip content. It also lets you create member dictionaries and profiles for everyone on your site, which really impressed us during testing,

Additionally, Paid Memberships Pro has the tools to run promotions with discount offers, track sales and revenue, build landing pages, and manage affiliate programs – all from one easy-to-use interface.

✅ Pros of Paid Memberships Pro:

• Create multi-tiered membership levels
• Set up offline communities and engage with subscribers via email
• Lock custom post types and pages for paying members only
• Add personalized and drip content with member dictionaries and profiles
• Run promotions with discount offers
• Track sales and revenue
• Build landing pages and manage affiliate programs
• Set up one-time or recurring payments through PayPal, Stripe, and Braintree

❌ Cons of Paid Memberships Pro:

• Limited features on the free plan
• The user interface and setup can be a bit overwhelming for beginners
• No advanced reporting and analytics compared to other plugins on the list

Why we recommend Paid Memberships Pro: Overall, the Paid Memberships Pro plugin offers an easy way to set up and manage a membership or subscription-based site. It’s a good choice for creating multi-tiered membership levels with content protection and email tools.

Pricing: Paid Memberships Pro has a free plan, but as it’s quite limiting, you’ll want to opt for the paid one. The Standard plan, priced at $174/year, is perfect for beginner membership site owners. It includes premium support, advanced customization options, affiliate tracking, and many other features to help you create and manage your membership site efficiently.

14. Ultimate Member

Ultimate Member is a free WordPress plugin designed to help you build vibrant online communities, sell subscriptions, and create membership programs with ease. Besides being free, one of its standout features is that it lets you create visually appealing user profiles.

It also offers a high level of customization for both user and membership directories. You can easily create public or private directories with user listings sorted according to your chosen criteria.

In addition to eye-catching user profiles, you can also add customer registration and login forms right on your site. Plus, it works well with BuddyPress, which can help create a fully connected online community.

During our research, we also found that its account management system is super powerful. It allows users to easily view and update their profiles, change passwords, and manage their details directly from the front end. This can significantly enhance the user experience for your community members.

The plugin also introduces some great social features, allowing users to leave reviews and ratings for other members and track social activity across your website.

✅ Pros of Ultimate Member:

• High customization for user and membership directories
• Easy to create public or private directories with custom sorting
• Integration with BuddyPress for a connected community
• Account management system for easy profile updates and password changes
• Social features like reviews, ratings, and activity tracking

❌ Cons of Ultimate Member:

• Integrating the plugin with other tools can sometimes lead to conflicts
• Lacks an advanced reporting feature

Why we recommend Ultimate Member: If you’re looking for an option to create a thriving community with your members, Ultimate Member is a fantastic free WordPress membership plugin that packs a punch.

Pricing: Free to download from the WordPress plugin directory.

Avoid: S2Member

Although we don’t recommend S2Member, we’re including it in this list because it’s a popular WordPress membership plugin with over 1.59 million downloads.

It lets you create multiple membership levels with different access controls. You can also customize the registration and login forms, add drip content, and password-protect various pages on your website.

The plugin provides a dedicated dashboard for members to manage their accounts and also sends email notifications to inform them about any updates.

✅ Pros of S2Member:

• Customizable email templates
• File download restrictions
• Protected audio/video streams
• Multisite network support
• Integrates with PayPal, Stripe, ClickBank, and Authorize.net

❌ Cons of S2Member:

• Difficult for beginners to set up, especially for advanced features like content dripping
• Unfriendly plugin interface with outdated front-end elements for login and registration pages
• Free plan available, but most features are locked

Why we don’t recommend S2Member: The S2Member plugin is outdated and not intuitive when compared to other membership plugins. We recommend using another membership plugin from this list because you’ll get a better user experience and more modern membership features.

However, if you run a video membership site and don’t care about a user-friendly interface, then S2Member could be a suitable option. It lets you restrict audio and video content based on membership levels.

Pricing: Premium plans start at $89 per site per license. This gives you lifetime access.

Which Is the Best WordPress Membership Plugin?

In our opinion, MemberPress is the best WordPress membership plugin on the market. It has all the features that you need to create a membership site and sell online courses, along with great documentation and support to help you learn the membership software.

If you want a MemberPress alternative, then Thrive Apprentice is a great option. It’s a powerful and easy-to-use membership and online course builder plugin.

Alternatively, if you want to sell digital products on your membership website, then we recommend using Easy Digital Downloads. It comes with powerful features to create and sell digital downloads.

Similarly, if you want to sell subscriptions in your online WooCommerce store, then you can use WooCommerce Memberships.

Frequently Asked Questions About WordPress Membership Plugins

Having helped over 2 million WordPress users start their websites, we’ve answered a ton of questions over the years. Below are some of the answers to the most frequently asked questions about membership plugins.

What is the best membership plugin?

Our top 5 choices for the best membership plugin are:

• MemberPress – Best WordPress membership plugin (overall).
• Thrive Apprentice – Best membership plugin for selling online courses.
• Easy Digital Downloads – Best membership plugin for selling digital products.
• MemberMouse – Best membership plugin for creating a coaching membership site.
• WooCommerce Memberships – Best membership plugin to sell subscriptions in your WooCommerce store.

No, this question is not a joke. We seriously get this question even after referring people to this guide.

What is the best free membership plugin for WordPress?

While there are free membership plugins available, such as Paid Memberships Pro and WP-Members, they often come with limited features and additional transaction fees.

But, with a premium WordPress membership plugin like MemberPress, you get all of the features you need to build a successful membership site. Plus, there are no hidden fees.

MemberPress also offers a 14-day free trial period so that you can test it out first.

How do I create a successful membership site?

Simply follow this tutorial on how to create a membership site with MemberPress for step-by-step instructions.

Video Tutorial

Before you go, be sure to check out our video on the best WordPress membership plugins.

Subscribe to WPBeginner

Best WordPress Guides for WordPress Membership Sites

To help you learn more about building and managing membership sites, we’ve gathered some of our best guides that will walk you from setup to optimization. Check out these helpful resources:

• How Much Does it Cost to Start a Membership Site?
• How to Create a Pay-Per-View Site with WordPress
• Best WordPress Themes for Membership Sites
• How to Create a Searchable Member Directory in WordPress
• How to Add Subscriptions to WooCommerce (Free and Easy)
• Best Membership Site Examples That You Should Check Out
• How to Sell Group Memberships in WordPress for Corporate Teams
• How to Stop Spam Registrations on Your WordPress Membership Site

That’s all!

We hope this article has helped you learn about the best WordPress membership plugins. Next up, you might want to check out our guide on tracking customer journeys using MemberPress and our expert tips for protecting content in WordPress.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.