We Tested 11 Best WordPress Paywall Plugins (Free and Paid Options)

You’ve spent countless hours creating valuable content on your WordPress website, but you’re giving it all away for free. Meanwhile, your hosting bills keep adding up, and you’re wondering how to turn your expertise into actual revenue.

A paywall plugin sounds like the obvious fix — until you realize many are either too complex to set up or too basic to be effective. You might end up with paying subscribers who can’t access their content, or worse, visitors who bounce because your paywall is confusing.

At WPBeginner, we’ve tested dozens of WordPress monetization tools and learned that the right paywall plugin can make all the difference.

In this roundup, we’ll share the 11 best WordPress paywall plugins (free and paid) to help you protect your content, create a seamless user experience, and start earning from your work — without frustrating your readers. 🙌

A Quick Look: The Best WordPress Paywall Plugins

Want the highlights? Here’s a quick overview of each WordPress paywall plugin we’ll cover in this guide:

#	Plugin	Best For	Starting Price	Free Version
🥇	MemberPress	Premium memberships for small + midsize businesses	$179.50 / year	✅
🥈	MemberMouse	Enterprise-level membership sites + selling physical products	$149.50 / year	❌
🥉	WishList Member	Maximum content control + Pay-per-Post feature	$149.50 / year	❌
4	Paid Memberships Pro	Free membership management	$174 / year	✅
5	Thrive Leads	Lead generation and conversion optimization	$99 / year	❌
6	OptinMonster	Hiding content until users subscribe to your email list	$59.60 / year	✅
7	AccessAlly	All-in-one learning management system	$82 / month	❌
8	Restrict Content Pro	Good customer dashboard + WooCommerce integration	$99 / year	✅
9	aMemberPro	Affiliate programs + multi-language support	One-time payment of $149	❌
10	LearnDash	Advanced course builder + selling courses + gamification	$199 / year	❌
11	WooCommerce Memberships	WooCommerce store owners	$199 / year	❌

What Are WordPress Paywall Plugins?

A WordPress paywall plugin is a tool that lets you monetize your website by restricting access to content. Visitors must pay or subscribe to get past the “wall” and view your premium posts and pages.

You’ll often hear the terms “paywall plugin” and “membership plugin” used together. It’s helpful to think of a paywall as a key feature of a membership plugin.

While some simple tools only block content, most of the powerful plugins on this list are complete membership solutions. They not only create the paywall but also manage user accounts, handle payments, and let you offer other perks like courses or private communities.

Think of sites like The New York Times or Patreon, where users subscribe to unlock exclusive articles or support creators in exchange for premium content.

Why Add a Paywall in WordPress?

Sometimes, you want to save your best content for your most loyal paying customers.

Gating your content is one of the most proven ways to make money online blogging. However, paywalls are not limited only to bloggers. Here are some other common use cases:

• 🎙️ Content creators and podcasters can gate their most valuable media content to make it exclusive for paying customers.
• 🗞️ Digital publishers like online newspapers or magazines can restrict access to premium articles.
• 📚 Course creators can offer premium tutorials and educational content with paywall plugins.
• 🎨 Artists and photographers can use paywall plugins to sell artwork licenses, digital downloads, or high-resolution images.
• ℹ️ Freelancers or agencies can charge a fee to access premium resources like templates or support.

A paywall is often used to monetize content, allowing you to earn revenue for the valuable information you provide to your audience.

But it’s also a great way to grow your email list since you can require users to create an account to access premium content.

How We Test and Review WordPress Paywall Plugins

We understand that selecting the right paywall plugin can be daunting, especially with so many options claiming to deliver the best results.

To help you make an informed decision, we tested popular paywall plugins to see whether they live up to their promises. When reviewing each plugin, we considered several key factors to ensure a thorough evaluation:

• Value for Money: We evaluated whether each plugin’s pricing aligns with its features, so you get the best deal for what you need.
• Ease of Use: We checked how intuitive each plugin is for both site owners and members.
• Features: We looked for standout tools like content dripping, custom membership levels, and automated access to make paywalls more effective.
• Integrations: We checked how well each plugin works with email services, payment gateways, and other must-have tools to keep things running smoothly.
• Performance: We tested each plugin on real sites to see their speed and reliability, making sure it runs smoothly without slowing things down.
• Flexibility: We checked how easily you can set up content access, membership tiers, and pricing to match your needs.

Why Trust WPBeginner?

At WPBeginner, we have over 16 years of experience in WordPress, including website monetization, eCommerce, and online marketing.

When reviewing paywall plugins,

• We tested them on real WordPress sites to see how well they manage content restrictions, handle payments, and integrate with third-party tools.
• We evaluated their speed, ease of use, and unique features to provide practical, reliable recommendations.

Our hands-on approach means you get expert-backed advice based on real-world testing. For a deeper understanding of how we assess and select the best tools, feel free to explore our complete editorial process.

With that said, let’s see the 11 best WordPress paywall plugins. Here’s a quick overview of all the things we’ll cover in this guide:

• MemberPress
• MemberMouse
• WishList Member
• Paid Memberships Pro
• Thrive Leads
• OptinMonster
• AccessAlly
• Restrict Content Pro
• aMember Pro
• LearnDash
• WooCommerce Memberships
• What Is the Best WordPress Paywall Plugin?
• Frequently Asked Questions About Paywall Plugins
• More Guides for Memberships and User Permissions in WordPress

1. MemberPress – Best for Premium Memberships

MemberPress is the best paywall plugin on the market. It’s perfect if you run a small business and want to sell exclusive content as a premium membership. We used this plugin to create our video membership site, and we have had a great experience with it.

For more details about what this plugin can do, check out our ultimate MemberPress review.

Overall, the plugin comes packed with features that allow you to build a paywall, manage content and memberships, and receive recurring payments.

As the site owner, you are in charge of content access rules. You can drip content based on set time periods and access expirations.

Releasing content on a schedule helps keep customers engaged since they stay subscribed for ongoing access.

Beyond that, you can also create different membership levels.

Users can choose the plan they want to join, and each plan comes with its own unique content, pricing, and features. That way, you can build membership plans that appeal to different audiences, which can help boost sales.

In the MemberPress settings, you’ll find other handy features that can help drive conversions. For example, you can choose how many pages a visitor can access without a subscription.

This lets new visitors sample your content and get a preview of what to expect in your premium content.

In addition, we appreciate that there are plenty of other rules you can set. They include choosing to gate content based on tags, categories, and other taxonomies.

Pros of MemberPress:

• MemberPress is easy to use.
• It integrates with many other third-party apps, such as Drip, Constant Contact, Stripe, PayPal, and others.
• You have total control over how you want to restrict content and create membership levels.

Cons of MemberPress:

• While the free version is great for basic content restriction, the Pro version is needed for advanced features like subscription billing, content dripping, and selling digital downloads.

Why We Recommend MemberPress: With MemberPress, it’s easy to set up and restrict specific posts, pages, categories, and files to paying site members. After all our research and testing, we haven’t found a paywall plugin that offers as many features.

Pricing: A free MemberPress version is available. That said, you can upgrade to MemberPress Pro, starting from $179.50 per year.

2. MemberMouse – Best for Enterprise-Level Memberships

MemberMouse is one of the most user-friendly paywall plugins you’ll find. At the same, its advanced features make it powerful enough for enterprise-level membership sites. In addition to gated content, you can also sell exclusive, physical products.

For more details about the features available, check out our detailed MemberMouse review.

When testing out this tool, we discovered that it gives you plenty of options to maximize sales, such as one-click upsells, free and paid trials, and members-only pricing.

In addition, you can restrict content access by protecting certain pages and posts, and auto-lock shared accounts. Just like MemberPress, you can add custom content dripping schedules and multiple membership levels.

Overall, you are in the driver’s seat when it comes to content restriction and dripping.

For instance, you can set a specific content drip schedule based on the specific membership level. This helps to encourage subscribers to continue renewing their membership.

Another standout feature is that you can create login forms so users can easily sign in anytime once they’ve become members. MemberMouse creates custom HTML for each login form.

Then, you can add that HTML to a custom sales page or landing page you’ve created using a page builder plugin like SeedProd.

Pros of MemberMouse:

• You can sell both paywall subscriptions and physical products from one platform.
• The plugin connects with popular email marketing services and payment gateways.
• You can embed the login form anywhere on your site, such as on a landing page.

Cons of MemberMouse:

• There is no free version of the plugin available.

Why We Recommend MemberMouse: Due to its advanced features, we recommend MemberMouse for larger and enterprise-level companies. It’s great for creating paywalls, managing membership sites, and handling physical product sales.

Pricing: MemberMouse starts from $149.50 per year

3. WishList Member – Best for Granular Control

WishList Member is a paywall plugin that allows you to sell premium content on your site with maximum control. This means that you have granular control over when, who, and which content you are giving access to.

We did a deep dive into the plugin’s features, which you can see in our in-depth WishList Member review.

WishList Member automatically provides and removes access based on the membership level. Like the other plugins, you can create as many member levels as you’d like.

During testing, we learned that you can also automate content distribution by scheduling posts to go live at a specific time and date.

The “sneak peek” feature is cool, too, and it can help drive conversions. It shows snippets of gated content, giving readers a taste of what they are missing.

WishList Member is also one of the few plugins that offers a Pay-per-Post feature.

So, rather than providing access to specific content based on membership level, users can pay for each post separately. That means you can also set a different price point for each post, depending on its value.

On top of all that, one of the best things about WishList Member is its wide range of integrations. You’ll find a long list of payment providers, email marketing services, and other marketing automation.

For example, if you are a course creator or coach, then you can integrate the plugin with LearnDash or FunnelKit Automations to build a backend sales funnel for higher-ticket programs.

Pros of WishList Member:

• You can use “sneak peeks” to show previews of gated content and encourage signups.
• It offers a huge library of integrations with other marketing and payment tools.
• You have the flexibility to gate content by membership level or charge per individual post.

Cons of WishListMember:

• The interface can feel a little complicated for beginners.

Why We Recommend WishList Member: This paywall plugin is a solid option if you want fine-tuned control over your content. The feature that sets it apart is the ability to sell individual posts while still offering traditional memberships.

Pricing: You can buy WishList Member starting from $149.50 per year.

4. Paid Memberships Pro – Best Budget-Friendly Option

Paid Memberships Pro proves that you don’t need to buy an expensive plugin to have an effective paywall. It’s a freemium membership solution that lets you secure your content and charge recurring subscriptions for it.

We have tested it thoroughly to learn about all its features, and you can see our full Paid Memberships Pro review for additional details.

The free version of Paid Memberships Pro offers 28 different types of content restrictions.

For example, you can limit access to a specific number of page views before hitting the paywall, show sneak peeks or hide the restricted content entirely, and drip-feed access based on a schedule.

You can even offer directories to view other member profiles or create personalized content based on membership level.

When we looked at the paid version, we found that it gives you more control and advanced features.

The paid plans offer premium customization recipes, allowing you to tailor your paywall’s look and feel to your exact needs. For example, you could add a progress bar to show how much content a user has consumed or redirect members upon logout based on level.

Additionally, you get a ton of addons like Google Analytics and eCommerce tracking, premium support, advanced checkout page customizations, and more.

Pros of Paid Memberships Pro:

• The plugin supports popular payment gateways.
• It provides performance information, such as revenue and sales reports.
• You can allow users to purchase one-time access to individual categories or specific posts.

Cons of Paid Memberships Pro:

• It offers less granular control over the actions members can take in their account area. For example, you can’t allow members to upgrade their plan without also allowing them to cancel it.

Why We Recommend Paid Memberships Pro: We like Paid Memberships Pro because the free version is powerful enough to get started. If you want to add other customizations, like improving the checkout experience or accepting donations, you can always upgrade to the Pro version.

Pricing: Paid Memberships Pro starts from $174 per year. But there’s also a free version, which you can download when you sign up for an account.

5. Thrive Leads – Best Paywall Plugin for Lead Generation

Thrive Leads is designed to convert traffic visitors into email subscribers. It offers a variety of features, such as the ability to create a pop-up lightbox, sticky and floating bars, in-line forms, and even a content lock with a paywall.

For more details on our experience testing it, you can see our complete Thrive Themes Suite review.

It has an easy-to-use drag-and-drop visual editor, allowing you to create an optin form. Beyond that, there are tons of professionally-designed templates, so you can pick one that best fits your offer.

But what we like most about Thrive Leads is that you can choose to gate your content via an email optin or by collecting payments.

To use Thrive Leads for paid content, you’ll need to integrate it with a plugin that handles payments and user access, such as WooCommerce or Thrive Apprentice. You can place a link to your checkout page within the Thrive Leads form, guiding users to purchase access.

Do note that Thrive Leads comes as a standalone plugin subscription or as part of the entire Thrive Suite. For example, with Thrive Apprentice, you can easily set up a paywall and get your visitors to pay for access to your membership site.

Pros of ThriveLeads:

• There are lots of professionally-designed optin templates to choose from.
• You can embed the content lock feature anywhere on your website.
• The plugin is intuitive and easy to use.

Cons of ThriveLeads:

• It requires a separate plugin, like WPForms or WooCommerce, to handle payment collection.

Why We Recommend Thrive Leads: When used as part of the full Thrive Suite, you get a complete marketing toolkit under one roof. You can build landing pages, create opt-in forms, and manage conversions without relying on multiple third-party tools.

Pricing: Thrive Leads costs $99 per year. Alternatively, you can buy the Thrive Suite bundle for $299 per year, and you’ll get all Thrive products, including Thrive Leads, Thrive Ovation, Thrive Comments, and more.

6. OptinMonster – Best for ‘Subscribe Walls’

While many plugins on this list create paywalls for collecting payments, OptinMonster is our favorite tool for creating a ‘subscribe-wall.’ Its primary goal is to grow your email list by letting you hide content until users sign up for your email list.

We use OptinMonster at WPBeginner, and we strongly recommend it. You can get more information about the platform in our extensive OptinMonster review.

OptinMonster’s content-lock feature works really well with in-line campaigns. This way, you can embed lead generation forms directly on a page.

With this feature, you can also remove your gated content from the page until the reader signs up or make everything blurry for users until they sign up.

Then, once the user enters their email, the gated content will appear, and they will be able to start reading your exclusive material.

Plus, just like Thrive Leads, we appreciate that OptinMonster allows you to create engaging lead generation campaigns such as lightbox popups, slide-in scroll boxes, and fullscreen welcome mats.

Pros of OptinMonster:

• It’s an excellent way to grow your email list.
• It comes with tons of templates and campaign types like popups, slide-ins, and more.
• You can either remove content entirely or make it blurry to entice users to sign up.

Cons of OptinMonster:

• It focuses on lead generation and doesn’t accept payments.

Why We Recommend OptinMonster: If your main goal is to grow your email list by gating content, then OptinMonster is a fantastic choice. While it’s not a traditional paywall for collecting payments, it’s one of the best tools for lead generation.

Pricing: OptinMonster starts from $7 per month ($59.60 per year when billed annually.)

7. AccessAlly – Best Paywall Plugin for Online Courses

AccessAlly is a learning management system (LMS) plugin. It provides you with several different ways to create a paywall and accept recurring membership payments. This makes it perfect for coaches, trainers, and creators who want to sell courses via a membership.

We have tested it extensively to see all its features, and we believe it is a great option for adding paywalls to WordPress blogs and websites.

Unlike the standard paywall plugins on this list, AccessAlly focuses on being an all-in-one platform that helps online coaches create stunning learning experiences.

With the platform, you can design online courses, memberships, certifications, high-end coaching programs, communities, and books. We also found templates for each of these campaigns, so you never have to start from scratch.

We really like the control you get when it comes to protecting content. With access tags, you can easily upload and protect files like PDFs, MP3s, and more.

As a course creator, you can restrict content based on membership level or course. We saw that everything is handled with tags and materials, ensuring that only paying members can view certain content.

In addition, AccessAlly’s protected content allows you to remove it from Google search results. This prevents unauthorized users from stumbling upon your restricted paywall content.

Pros of AccessAlly:

• You can manage all your digital products, memberships, and gated content in one place.
• It integrates with popular tools like CRM apps and email marketing services.
• You can use gamification features to keep users engaged by letting them earn points for tasks.

Cons of AccessAlly:

• There is no free version available.

Why We Recommend AccessAlly: This powerful plugin is best suited for content creators and online coaches. You can protect your gated content, separate it into membership tiers, and accept payments with built-in Stripe and PayPal integrations.

Pricing: AccessAlly starts from $82 per year.

8. Restrict Content Pro – Best Customer Dashboard

Restrict Content Pro is another solid WordPress paywall plugin. We like that it offers a user-friendly customer dashboard and WooCommerce integration.

We downloaded and thoroughly tested this plugin to check out all its features. During our research, we discovered that the plugin allows you to restrict content in a few ways. You can use tags, content categories, membership status, WordPress user roles, and more.

As we mentioned, this tool makes it super easy for customers to manage their accounts with its built-in dashboard. Members can view their account status and membership expiration date, upgrade or cancel their accounts, and view their complete payment history and past invoices.

Restrict Content Pro also lets you send automated, customizable emails to subscribers. It has tags to choose from, so you can personalize your emails by adding their first and last name, expiration dates, coupon codes, and more.

While there is a free version, the Pro version offers more advanced features, like detailed reports about your earnings and the option to offer free trials.

If you need a free tool, this is a bit of a downside since analytics can be crucial for optimizing your sales strategies, and free trials are a great way to convert more leads.

Pros of Restrict Content Pro:

• The plugin offers WooCommerce integration, allowing you to restrict product purchases based on membership levels.
• You have several options for restricting your content.
• The Pro version allows you to offer free trials to help boost sales.

Cons of Restrict Content Pro:

• Many advanced features like content dripping, free trials, and detailed reports are only available in the Pro version.

Why We Recommend Restrict Content Pro: This tool offers a great customer dashboard that allows users to easily manage their own memberships. We also like that it integrates with WooCommerce, making it perfect for online stores.

Pricing: Restrict Content Pro starts from $99 per year. There is also a free version, but it doesn’t include advanced features like analytics and support for discount codes.

9. aMember Pro – Best for Multilingual Sites & Affiliate Programs

aMember Pro is a beginner-friendly paywall plugin with advanced settings that can be super useful for growing eCommerce sites. For example, it allows you to translate your site into multiple languages and offers a built-in affiliate program.

Like the other plugins on our list, aMemberPro lets users create unlimited member levels. This allows you to sell restricted content based on different price points and subscription terms.

Our testing also revealed that the plugin allows you to build your own members-only area. Every piece of content is accessible only to members, so non-paying members won’t know what’s inside.

As we mentioned, aMember Pro stands out for its multi-language support. You can easily translate your content into any of its 22 languages.

Beyond that, you get advanced features like flexible signup forms with automatic password generation and even a built-in affiliate program.

We really appreciate the affiliate program feature, as it offers a great way to encourage subscribers to spread the word about your memberships.

Pros of aMember Pro:

• You can create your own affiliate program, similar to a dedicated plugin like AffiliateWP.
• The checkout process is highly customizable with flexible signup forms, coupon codes, and more.
• The plugin gives you precise control over who can access your content.

Cons of aMember Pro:

• There is no free version available.
• The user interface looks a bit outdated.

Why We Recommend aMember Pro: This is a great plugin that offers plenty of customization. You have detailed control over content drips, membership levels, and what content you want to restrict. Plus, it has multi-language support and a built-in affiliate program.

Pricing: You can get aMember Pro for a one-time payment of $149.

10. LearnDash – Best for Advanced Online Courses

LearnDash is a popular WordPress LMS plugin, similar to AccessAlly, which we reviewed earlier. However, it offers an advanced custom course builder for additional control. It’s an excellent choice for anyone who wants to paywall online courses, quizzes, and lessons.

We tried it out to test all the features. You can check out our complete LearnDash review for more information.

One of our favorite things about LearnDash is its simple drag-and-drop editor, which lets you set up backend courses without writing a single line of code.

We also like that this learning management system goes way beyond just a simple paywall site. It comes with comprehensive course builder tools, where you can design branded course content.

For example, users can access the next module only after completing the previous one, which provides more structured guidance for efficient learning.

Online learning can quickly become dull, but yours doesn’t have to with LearnDash.

It helps you keep users engaged with your material by allowing you to create a private forum or membership quizzes. You can also issue user badges and give award certifications upon course completion.

In addition to these features, you can also set content restriction rules, such as requiring students to meet a certain number of points by completing quizzes or reading past articles in a series.

Pros of LearnDash:

• It’s a powerful and flexible tool for selling online courses.
• It includes plenty of gamification elements to keep users engaged.
• You have detailed control over how you restrict access to your course content.

Cons of LearnDash:

• It’s a full LMS, which may be more than you need if you’re looking for a simple content paywall.

Why We Recommend LearnDash: We like LearnDash because it takes a more dynamic approach than a traditional paywall. Instead of just gating content, it offers more ways to engage users, which is great for building customer loyalty.

Pricing: LearnDash plans start at $199 per year.

11. WooCommerce Memberships – Best for WooCommerce Integration

WooCommerce Memberships is a powerful extension that works directly with WooCommerce. As the name suggests, it’s perfect if you want to paywall membership content in your WooCommerce store.

When testing WooCommerce Memberships, we discovered that it allows you to restrict services, products, and content to registered users only. It is one of the few tools available that brings your shop, content, and memberships together.

Giving special access to paid members helps to build a tight-knit community and boost customer loyalty. WooCommerce Memberships makes this possible.

For example, you may want to send members gifts and exclusive content. This allows you to add more perks to each membership plan than you would get from a simple paywall plugin. You can even offer free shipping for paid members.

You can also can drip content using WooCommerce Memberships.

Besides that, we particularly appreciate its advanced control options. For instance, the plugin lets users restrict product viewing to only members. This way, only members can view your best, exclusive products.

This works great if you sell items using something like an auction plugin to deal with limited inventory.

Pros of WooCommerce Memberships:

• You have many control options, like restricting who can view specific products.
• The add-on allows you to offer free trials for memberships.
• You can drip content out to members on a set schedule.

Cons of WooCommerce Memberships:

• It is designed specifically for WooCommerce store owners and requires WooCommerce to be installed.

Why We Recommend WooCommerce Memberships: This plugin offers a great way to gate content for store visitors. When customers pay to become a member, they are happy to receive extra perks they might not find elsewhere.

Pricing: WooCommerce Memberships starts from $199 per year.

What Is the Best WordPress Paywall Plugin?

After testing dozens of tools, three plugins stand out as our top recommendations: MemberPress, MemberMouse, and WishList Member.

For most users, MemberPress is the best all-around choice. It offers a powerful set of features for managing memberships and dripping content, all in a user-friendly package that’s perfect for small and midsize businesses.

If you run a larger, enterprise-level site, MemberMouse is an excellent option. It comes with advanced sales tools like one-click upsells and the ability to sell physical goods alongside your digital content.

Finally, WishList Member is the ideal solution if you need maximum flexibility. Its unique Pay-per-Post feature gives you more ways to monetize your content beyond standard subscriptions.

Frequently Asked Questions About Paywall Plugins

As you consider paywall plugins, you may have some questions. Let’s dive into some common FAQs to help you find the right fit for your WordPress site.

Can I put a paywall on WordPress?

Yes, all you need is a paywall plugin that allows you to restrict access to content by page, post, category, and more. That way, visitors must complete an action like creating an account or becoming a paid member to view the content.

What is the best paywall plugin for WordPress?

The best paywall plugin is, hands-down, MemberPress. It comes with powerful access rules, letting you restrict content however you’d like. You can also drip content to members over time and even sell online courses.

What is the best free paywall plugin for WordPress?

Paid Memberships Pro is the best paywall plugin with a free version. It offers many different content restriction types for detailed control over your content, and it lets you accept recurring payments.

How does a paywall make money?

A paywall makes money by charging visitors for access to exclusive content. This can be through subscriptions, one-time payments, or membership fees. When people see value in what you offer, they’re more likely to pay for it.

How effective are paywalls?

Paywalls can be very effective, especially for sites that offer unique, high-quality content. They help generate a steady income, but depend on how well you market your content and the value it provides.

More Guides for Memberships and User Permissions in WordPress

We hope this article helped you find the best paywall plugin for WordPress.

You may also want to check out our other guides on:

• Creating a WordPress Membership Site
• How to Run Members-Only Events in WordPress
• How to Require a Login to View a Page in WordPress
• How to Restrict User Login to One Device in WordPress
• How to Password Protect a Page or Post in WordPress
• The Best WordPress Membership Plugins

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