Looking to transform your WordPress into a membership site? Choosing the best WordPress membership plugins is crucial.
Membership plugins are designed to transform your regular website into a fully-fledged members only site, where users pay for content.
WordPress membership plugins are ideal if you sell your work online. Whether you’re a creative like a writer or an artist, or a teacher of any kind, having a membership plugin makes it easy to monetize your work.
When starting out, half the battle is choosing the right platform.
Because you’ve found your way to this blog, we can only assume that you’re planning to use WordPress for your site. Congratulations! WordPress is an excellent choice. We commend you on your excellent taste.
Not only is it one of the best (if not the best) CMS on the web, there are so many amazing WordPress membership plugins that can help to build the membership site of your dreams.
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What to Look for in a WordPress Membership Plugin
The best WordPress membership plugins have some key features in common.
They should make it easy to:
- Choose which content is free to view, and which is members only.
- Set a price for members only content.
- Accept secure payments.
- Create email lists, so you can send specific offers and updates to your members.
You should carefully consider what kind of experience you want to give your customers.
Are you looking to create a jazzy, bells-and-whistles membership site where you can foster a community around your work? Or are you just after a straightforward, simple site that puts your most valuable content behind a paywall?
When building your site, you’ll want to ensure that you’re delivering a worthwhile experience to your paying customers. Choosing the best WordPress membership plugins ensures that you deliver on value for money and ease of use.
The Best WordPress Membership Plugins on the Market
So, without any further pre-amble, let’s jump into looking at the best WordPress membership plugins.
MemberPress
First on our list is MemberPress. Often heralded as one of the best all-in-one membership solutions, MemberPress certainly lives up to the hype.
Key Features
- Powerful Access Rules – You have complete control over content restriction. It allows for unlimited membership levels and you can restrict any page or post type. You can fine-tune any aspect of content restriction, you’re in the drivers seat here.
- Seamless Integration – MemberPress easily integrates with WordPress. It’s compatible with any theme – so no matter where you sourced your theme, you shouldn’t encounter any issues.
- Course Builder – MemberPress is equal parts membership plugin and LMS. If you’re a teacher, you can easily build courses and sell them using the course builder add-on. Drag and drop tools make building courses as easy as 1, 2, 3.
MemberPress comes with a ton of useful, dynamic tools including content dripping and “coupons that don’t suck.”
If you’re looking for a robust tool packed full of features, MemberPress is certainly one of the best WordPress membership plugins available.
Find out more on the MemberPress website.
Site Access and Content Restriction
Next up is our very own Site Access and Content Restriction plugin. It’s the ideal tool to lock away your exclusive content, giving access to only your most valued customers.
Key Features
- Advanced Content Restriction Tools – Want to set content to only be accessible by logged-in users? Check. Want to restrict access based on account role? Check. With the advanced content restriction tools provided, you have complete control over who can (and who can’t!) access your exclusive content.
- Content Dripping – A key part of any membership site is content dripping, to get users hooked on what you’re selling. With this membership plugin, you can drip content by account role.
- User Blacklists and Whitelists – The most recent feature is user blacklists and whitelists. Add any users to your lists, and control whether they are denied or granted access to your content.
- Integration with Payment support – The plugin integrates with a payment support solution so you can charge users to register to your site to view the content which is otherwise gated.
- Content can be restricted by URL or permalink making it possible to restrict access also to other plugins content which is generated on the fly
Site Access and Content Restriction is a powerful tool. It’s easy to use, but with plenty of features that make it one of the best WordPress membership plugins.
Restrict Content Pro
If you’re after a lightweight, agile membership solution, look no further than Restrict Content Pro. It gives you everything you need to create a full-featured membership site.
Key Features
- Simple Setup – There’s no messing around. Restrict Content Pro is easy to setup, and even easier to navigate. It makes it ridiculously easy to deliver your premium content to members.
- Built-In Payment Options – There are plenty of in-built payment options to choose from. These include Stripe, Paypal, and Authorize.net. Restrict Content Pro makes it easy for members to pay exactly how they want to.
- Analytics Reports – The plugin provides easy to use (and understand!) analytics reports that show you how well your membership site is performing. Track performance over any time period to assess the results.
Restrict Content Pro is a stellar choice, with comprehensive features that deliver quality to your customers. Find out more about Restrict Content Pro.
WooCommerce Memberships
If you run an eCommerce store, this could be the best WordPress membership plugin for you. It lets you restrict the sale of your products to members only.
It’s not a standalone plugin, instead WooCommerce Memberships requires – you guessed it – WooCommerce. WooCommerce is free but paid plugins like WooCommerce Memberships extend the functionality.
Key Features
- Membership Perks – Reward your most loyal customers with membership perks. Keep ’em coming back for more with free shipping or special discounts. This can really help to make signing up worth their while.
- Flexible Memberships – The plugin lets you create different kinds of memberships. Offer membership as part of a product purchase, or set up monthly or yearly subscriptions for valued repeat customers. The choice is in your hands.
- Easily Manage Members – Import and export member info via a CSV file to transfer the data to other tools. Use “Membership Notes” to add special info about particular customers and even communicate with them directly.
There are plenty more features that make WooCommerce Memberships worth considering. Find out more information over on the WooCommerce website.
Finding the Best WordPress Membership Plugins
Honestly, this is just a taster of the WordPress membership plugins that are out there, but we hope it’s given you some valuable insight into what’s available.
Each plugin comes with its own pros and cons, so it’s important to consider what’s most important to you, and which plugin makes sense for your business.
Are you interested in analytics? Are membership perks the golden feature you want?
There’s something for everyone out there, so you’re bound to find exactly what you need!
