8 of the Best WordPress Membership Plugins Compared

Searching for the best WordPress membership plugins to create a free or paid membership site?

No matter what type of content you want to offer to your members, WordPress membership plugins have you covered. However, it is essential to choose the right WordPress plugin for your site. I mean, you wouldn’t want to pay for features that aren’t even useful to you.

In today’s post, we are going to talk about the top WordPress membership plugins, their key features, pricing, and what makes each one different. By the end of this post, you will be able to pick the right membership plugin for your WordPress site.

Want to create a #membership site with #WordPress? 👥 Here are the 8 best #plugins

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1. Paid Memberships Pro

Paid Memberships Pro is a complete membership solution for all types of membership sites.

You can easily create a one-time membership, or charge a recurring subscription directly from plugin’s dashboard. You’ll also get flexible content restriction options to restrict individual posts or bulk content.

You can also customize how your membership site functions thanks to 64+ premium add-ons and 19+ free add-ons.

Top features ⚙️

Unlimited membership levels
Built-in sales/revenue report
Six payment gateways
Up to 50 additional paid add-ons (premium plans)
33+ free add-ons
bbPress and BuddyPress compatible
Open-source, 100% GPL
Easy content restriction

Price 💰

There is a free plan, though as you might expect, it’s limited. It’s no longer on WordPress.org (the listing was closed on October 17, 2024 at the author’s request), so you download it from the Paid Memberships Pro site instead. The Standard plan runs for $499 per year with a 1-site license, all Premium Add Ons and support. The Max plan costs $999 per year and includes hosting, while Max 2x is $2,999 per year. All plans come with a 100-day money-back guarantee. If the prices seem out of reach, check their website because they often offer steep discounts that are significantly lower than the “usual” rate.

What makes it a good fit? 🤔

With its 80+ free and premium add-ons, Paid Memberships Pro is one of the most extensible WordPress membership plugins that you’ll find. You can find add-ons for so many tiny features, which gives you a lot of flexibility for how you set up your membership site.

2. Ultimate Membership Pro

Ultimate Membership Pro has established itself as one of the best WordPress membership plugins for managing multi-level subscriptions. Its target market is those WordPress sites that seek to sell their content via an intricately dynamic membership system, made up of several asymmetrical subscription levels.

What we mean is, this tool doesn’t restrict you to a regular membership structure. It is, instead, comprehensive enough to facilitate all sorts of content subscriptions across a multisite environment with unlimited levels.

You can, for instance, set up a free membership package and then maybe follow it up with several premium options. You’re also free to charge your subscribers a one-time fee, long-term recurring fees, or limited recurring fees.

The content here can be lifted directly from any of your WordPress directories. Ultimate Membership Pro is capable of drawing stuff from blog posts, web pages, custom categories, files, navigation menus, etc.

Content access, on the other hand, is controlled via a wide range of dynamic membership levels. The membership plugin’s versatile framework allows you to set up membership plans with time-restricted access, unrestricted access, periodic access, and date-range access.

Top features ⚙️

WordPress multisite environment
Integrates with 10 email marketing services
Members directory
Import your users
Customizable membership badges
Subscription management
Different menu links for visitors and registered members
Drip content
An unlimited number of subscription packages
Integrates with WooCommerce
Multiple content restriction options
Prebuilt templates for subscription, content restriction, login, and registration pages
Multiple subscription billing options
Supports all the major payment services
Unlimited paid and free membership levels

Price 💰

Ultimate Membership Pro is sold on yearly plans only, with introductory pricing for the first term and renewals at full price. All plans come with a 14-day money-back guarantee:

Pro – $79.30 per year introductory, normally $122 (1 site)
Full Package – $149.40 per year introductory, normally $249 (3 sites, with the 46 Pro add-ons)
Agency – $288.00 per year introductory, normally $450 (10 sites)

What makes it a good fit? 🤔

Overall, the most outstanding thing about Ultimate Membership Pro is its versatile framework, which is as comprehensive as they come.

This WordPress plugin has the provisions to power whichever membership architecture you might have in mind.

You can link up multiple websites, sell your content in timed drips, offer both free and premium packages, allow members to choose between recurring and one-time payments, customize pages for members and non-subscribers, plus so much more.

3. LearnDash

LearnDash is a WordPress LMS plugin with built-in membership and payment features, which makes it a great option for course-based WordPress membership sites.

You can also include more detailed learning features that other membership plugins don’t offer, like quizzes and course prerequisites.

Top features ⚙️

Unlimited users
Built-in payment integrations
One-time or recurring memberships
Dynamic forums
Course content protection
LearnDash focus mode
Powerful course builder
Advanced quizzing
Drip-feed content
Flexible prerequisites
Course completion points
Email notifications
Certificates & badges
GDPR compliant

Price 💰

LearnDash is a premium WordPress membership plugin and is sold only as a bundle with The Events Calendar, Give and Kadence. All prices are billed per year.

$350 per year – 1 site license
$599 per year – up to 10 sites
$799 per year – up to 25 sites
$899 per year – up to 50 sites
$999 per year – up to 100 sites

What makes it a good fit? 🤔

LearnDash is a good choice if your membership site is focused on delivering online course content. Think of it as a hybrid between an LMS plugin and a membership plugin. However, it’s not quite as flexible as the other plugins on this list because it focuses on online course creation.

4. Ultimate Member

Ultimate Member is a free WordPress plugin that you can use for creating social membership communities where users can sign up with ease. This membership plugin is also highly extensible. By that, I mean, you can take the functionality into any direction using paid add-ons.

Top features ⚙️

User registration
User email
Front-end user signup
bbPress and Mailchimp compatible
Custom form fields
Drag-and-drop form builder
Content restriction
Conditional navigation menus

Price 💰

Ultimate Member is available for free on the WordPress directory. Paid plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee:

Standard – $276 per year (21 standard extensions, 1 site)
Pro – $348 per year (adds Stripe and Zapier integration, 2 sites)

What makes it a good fit? 🤔

While many of the other membership plugins are focused on creating paid membership sites, Ultimate Member is more focused on helping you create a social community.

For example, users get detailed profiles and you can use premium extensions to add features like private messaging and social followers.

However, while you can restrict content in the free plugin, the Pro plan adds Stripe integration for taking payments.

5. User Registration & Membership

User Registration & Membership homepage.

User Registration & Membership is a free WordPress plugin that combines a drag-and-drop registration form builder with custom login and registration pages, membership plans, payments and content restriction.

The free plugin already covers free and one-time membership plans with PayPal and bank transfer payments, so you can start charging members without purchasing a paid plugin plan. Paid plans add recurring subscriptions and more advanced membership tools.

Top features ⚙️

Drag-and-drop builder for custom registration forms and login pages (free)
Free and one-time membership plans in the free plugin
PayPal and bank transfer payments in the free plugin
Content restriction, including partial locks on sections or blocks within a page
Unlimited paid memberships and advanced content rules (Personal plan)
Recurring subscriptions on paid plans
Content drip and prorated upgrades (Plus plan)
Team memberships with seat management (Plus plan)
Members directory, coupons and custom email notifications (Personal plan)

Price 💰

The core plugin is free on WordPress.org. Paid plans come with a 14-day money-back guarantee, and renewals are billed at full price:

Personal – $99 per year (1 site)
Plus – $199 per year introductory, normally $249 (5 sites)
Professional – $499 per year (unlimited sites)
Lifetime – $299 (1 site), $699 (5 sites) or $999 (unlimited sites)

What makes it a good fit? 🤔

User Registration & Membership is a good fit for sites that want custom registration and login forms and simple memberships in one plugin, with the option to start for free.

The trade-off is that recurring subscriptions and most membership extras, such as content dripping and team memberships, need a paid plan.

6. Paid Member Subscriptions

Paid Member Subscriptions is a flexible WordPress membership plugin that comes with a generous free version at WordPress.org, as well as affordable premium versions.

You can restrict content and offer recurring, one-time payment, or free membership access. You’ll also find integrations with popular plugins, like Elementor, WooCommerce, and bbPress.

Top features ⚙️

Front-end account management
Content dripping
Flexible content restriction
Basic reporting
WooCommerce compatible to restrict purchasing or offer special discounts
Flexible billing, like free trials or one-time signup fees
Elementor integration to restrict widgets
Export member data
Prevent account sharing
bbPress integration

Price 💰

The core Paid Member Subscriptions plugin is available for free at WordPress.org. For more sophisticated integrations and advanced functionality, you need to go premium. All plugin licenses are billed yearly on auto-renewal and come with a 15-day money-back guarantee:

Basic – €99 per year (1 site)
Pro – €169 per year (3 sites)
Agency – €299 per year (unlimited sites)

What makes it a good fit? 🤔

Overall, Paid Member Subscriptions is just generally a solid membership plugin with all the features that most sites will need. It also offers a unique Elementor integration that lets you restrict Elementor content, which is great if you’re using Elementor.

For the features that it offers, Paid Member Subscriptions is also more affordable than most other membership plugins, which makes it a good option if you’re on a budget.

7. WooCommerce Memberships

While it uses WooCommerce as its base, WooCommerce Memberships can help you create both a “traditional” membership site as well as a members-only ecommerce store, so don’t let the name fool you.

Top features ⚙️

Integrated with WooCommerce which lets you use the many WooCommerce extensions
Content dripping
Bulk or individual content restriction
Link membership plans to WooCommerce products
Integrates with WooCommerce Subscriptions for recurring payments
Detailed ecommerce integrations, like offering special shipping options for members
Group membership purchases (with a separate add-on)

Price 💰

WooCommerce Memberships costs $199 for a 1-year plan, or $318.40 for a 2-year plan.

You’ll likely also need to pair it with other WooCommerce plugins. For example, if you want to sell recurring memberships, you’ll also need the WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin, which costs $279 for a 1-year plan.

What makes it a good fit? 🤔

The unique thing about WooCommerce Memberships is the fact that it’s based on WooCommerce. Again, you aren’t limited to using it only on an ecommerce store, though.

This WooCommerce-based approach gives you a lot of flexibility because of how many WooCommerce extensions there are. You’ll also be able to integrate with more payment gateways than most other membership plugins offer.

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8. WP Full Member

WP Full Members is perfect for sites that offer online courses, run communities, or host premium blogs. As an add-on to the WP Full Pay plugin, it integrates easily with Stripe, allowing you to turn your WordPress site into a membership platform. You can create content that’s only available to subscribed members, set up multiple membership levels, and manage subscriptions easily.

WP Full Members supports both one-time payments and subscription models, allowing you to monetize your content. It also offers over 15 payment methods, including credit/debit cards and digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Top features ⚙️

Customizable emails: Send welcome and campaign emails to members.
“My Account” page: Lets members manage their subscriptions.
Content protection: Restrict access to premium content.
Global currency support: Accept payments in over 100 currencies.
Multiple payment methods: Includes credit/debit cards and digital wallets.
Stripe subscriber import: Import subscribers directly from Stripe.
Localized messages: Translate messages into different languages.

Price 💰

WP Full Members is no longer sold on its own: it comes bundled with WP Full Pay. Both plans have introductory pricing for the first term, renew at full price and include a 30-day money-back guarantee:

WP Full Pay Plus – €139.50 per year introductory, normally €279 (1 site)
WP Full Pay Pro – €239.50 per year introductory, normally €479 (1 site)

What makes it a good fit? 🤔

WP Full Members is ideal for WordPress sites looking to offer flexible membership plans. It supports international payments in over 100 currencies and is easy to use.

By allowing you to set up exclusive, members-only content, WP Full Members helps you monetize your WordPress site effectively.

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Which WordPress membership plugin is right for you?

Still struggling to pick the right plugin for your specific situation?

To help you choose one, below is a quick summary of the eight best WordPress membership plugins we covered in this post:

Want to create a #membership site with #WordPress? 👥 Here are the 8 best #plugins

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Paid Memberships Pro – flexible thanks to a huge collection of add-ons.
Ultimate Membership Pro – the best WordPress membership plugin for building and managing multi-level subscriptions.
LearnDash – great for online courses.
Ultimate Member – a good option for social membership communities; the Pro plan adds Stripe payments.
User Registration & Membership – custom registration and login forms plus simple memberships in one free plugin.
Paid Member Subscriptions – an affordable option with all the features most membership sites need.
WooCommerce Memberships – the WooCommerce-based approach gives you a lot of flexibility and also makes a great option for ecommerce stores.
WP Full Member – a good option to quickly set up member only content.