17 best WordPress membership plugins to create subscription websites – 2023

Using a membership plugin is a great way to turn your WordPress website into a profitable subscription business.

Whether you’re looking to create a course website, a blogger seeking to drip-feed content, or an agency owner searching for an affordable pricing plan, you’ve come to the right place.

With so many WordPress membership plugins available, you might feel overwhelmed selecting the most suitable one for your needs.

But don’t worry; we’ve got you covered! 🙂

Sit back, grab a cup of coffee (or tea ☕), and let’s get started!

What is a WordPress membership plugin?

A WordPress membership plugin allows you to create a subscription website by restricting access to your entire site or part of it.

It helps you create access groups (membership levels) and grant level-based permissions for them.

This enables you to sell subscription plans and receive payments using different gateways.

Membership plugins also provide an array of other features, including member profiles, separate dashboards, customizable sign up or checkout forms and drip-feeding content restriction options.

WordPress membership plugins are an excellent solution if you want to monetize your website by offering paid memberships or subscription plans.

Since the membership industry is still in the early stages, it has a huge potential for anyone who wants to build and grow a business around it.

Data Source: Sell Courses Online

Whatever the reasons for creating a membership website, there is no sign that the industry will see a plateau anytime soon.

Why are membership websites profitable?

Here are a few reasons we think membership websites are bursting with potential:

• Membership websites usually receive recurring payments so you can ensure a steady stream of income over time.
• A membership website is just like other digital software products. Meaning, you don’t need to worry about logistics and or shipment.
• Unlike physical goods, you don’t need to invest in each unit. So, you’re producing just a single unit and selling it to infinite users by replicating the same product.
• With the subscription model, users frequently need to return and stay on the website to get their desired services. This increases the number of returning visitors and reduces bounce rate.
• Having memberships at different price points allows you to reach more customers with different budgets.
• Membership websites are much easier to set up as the solutions are much less complicated than traditional eCommerce tools.
• According to Sell Courses Online, “The subscription economy grew by approximately 435% from 2012 to 2020, and it is expected to be 1.5 trillion USD in 2025.

That’s how profitable building a WordPress membership website can be!

Membership plugin summary table

Our editorial team has come up with a quick breakdown of the top competitors:

Functionalities	SureMembers	Ultimate Member	Paid Memberships Pro	MemberMouse	MemberPress	WishList Member
Create membership levels and access rules	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Drip-feed content	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Express checkouts (Apple Pay, Google Pay and Amazon Pay)	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Customizable coupons and discounts	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Lock site menu	✅	✅	✅ (Addon)	✅	✅	✅
Lock pages, posts and parts of the page	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Payment integrations	✅ (5)	❌	✅ (5)	✅ (7)	✅ (4)	✅ (20)
Advanced marketing tools (Order bumps, upselling, downselling)	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
Integrations with WooCommerce	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Integrations with SureCart	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
LMS integration	✅	❌	✅ (add-on)	✅	✅ (add-on)	✅
Invoicing	✅	❌	✅ (add-on)	✅	✅ (add-on)	✅
Show content excerpts	✅	❌	✅	✅	✅	✅
Spam protection	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Customizable forms	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Collect sales tax and VAT	✅	❌	✅ (add-on)	❌	✅	✅ (add-on)
Event and trigger based email	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
View post limit	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌
Basic pricing plan	$99/year	249/year	247/year	289/year	$179.5/year	$299/year

17 best membership plugins for WordPress

There are currently dozens of membership plugins in the WordPress ecosystem. We have compiled some of the best subscription plugins for WordPress in the following list.

1. SureMembers

SureMembers tops our list due to its intuitive user interface, modern SaaS-like platform, and very high customer satisfaction rate (4.9 out of 5).

You can create any type of custom area on your website for client documents, content upgrades, private community, Patreon websites, selling courses or podcasts and even Amazon Prime-like membership websites.

The plugin has a dedicated platform to store your website data (like images, videos and text and other encrypted user data).

This dedicated platform speeds up your website just like a SaaS-based solution. This ensures faster page loading than its competitors.

And we all know a faster website means more conversions!

Important features of SureMembers:

• An intuitive user interface to create paywalls with access groups and access rules with post excerpt teaser.
• Drip feed content and set automatic expiration rules for the subscription plan.
• Restrict menu items of the site navigation bar.
• Lock the entire website, part of a web page, pages, posts, all templates, images, videos and even custom post types (CPT).
• Integration with other eCommerce platforms like SureCart and WooCommerce.
• Payment gateway integrations with Stripe, PayPal, and Express Checkouts (Apple Pay, Google Pay and Amazon Pay) via SureCart. It also supports all WooCommerce payment gateways.
• Create and lock courses with LMS plugins.
• Integration with learning management system platforms (LMS) such as LearnDash and TutorLMS,
• Integration with solutions like BuddyBoss to create a membership community.
• Integrations with page builders like Elementor, Divi and Spectra.
• Customizable checkout forms with sales tax and VAT collection features using TaxJar.
• Includes Google reCaptcha version 3 and HoneyPot spam protection system.
• Create user roles and set permissions and capabilities like whether they can access the backend (wp-admin).
• Event and trigger-based automatic email-sending feature.
• Exclusive features like order bumps, cart recovery and advanced reporting via SureCart.
• Event and trigger-based actions with SureTriggers.

Cons of SureMembers:

• No free plans available right now.
• No view post limit feature.

SureMembers pricing

Starts from $99/year for one site. However, if you are an agency, you can get the $299 deal to use on 10 websites.

2. Ultimate Member

If you’re looking for a user profile and membership plugin for your WordPress website, Ultimate Member might be the perfect fit.

This solution simplifies the process of signing up and becoming a member on your site, while also allowing you to enhance its look with visually appealing user profiles.

Whether you’re seeking to build an online community or a membership-based website, Ultimate Member has covered you with its versatility and ability to customize easily.

Plus, its lightweight codebase ensures fast performance, which is an extra bonus

Key features of the Ultimate Member subscription plugin:

• Great interface that includes a powerful user profile and dashboard.
• Drag and drop-based form builder, including custom form fields and conditional logic.
• Create user roles and set permissions and capabilities like whether they can access the backend (wp-admin).
• Provides custom field support to collect user data.
• Event or trigger-based customizable email templates.
• Restrict the site navigation menu and set rules on whether to show or hide for logged-in users.
• Advanced member directory features to allow users to find each other.
• Integrations with Google reCaptcha, WooCommerce, bbPress, MailChimp, and other extensions.
• Dedicated plugins to create job postings and forums.

Cons of Ultimate Member:

• Complex interface.
• No integrations with LMS systems.
• A little buggy.
• No view post limit feature.

Ultimate Member pricing

Ultimate Member is a free plugin. Its premium plan starts from $249/year and you can use it on unlimited websites.

3. WP-Members Membership Plugin

The WP-Members Membership Plugin is a simple and easy-to-use solution for creating membership sites.

It provides a range of features that help you manage access to content, customize registration and user profiles, and keep track of new user registrations.

The plugin is straightforward to install and set up and offers a high degree of customization through its API functions and more than 120 action and filter hooks.

The WP-Members Membership Plugin is also highly scalable with a range of premium extensions.

Some prominent features include:

• Limiting site navigation menu only to logged-in users.
• Restrict pages, posts and custom post types.
• Scalability using a vast library of API functions.
• Control registration, login and content restrictions using shortcodes.
• Event or trigger-based email sending option.
• Post excerpt feature to create trailers for hidden content.
• User registration, login and profile integration with any third-party theme.
• Free spam protection and test email feature.
• Administrative control for members.
• integration with popular plugins like MailChimp, WooCommerce, bbPress, BuddyPress, Easy Digital Downloads, ADF and The Events Calendar.
• Premium spam protection using HoneyPot.
• Integration with PayPal.
• Many action and filter hooks for scalability.

Cons of WP-Members Membership Plugin:

• No drip feed content feature.
• You must purchase premium extensions separately to sell memberships.
• No view post limit feature.

WP-Members Membership Plugin pricing

The plugin is free, but the individual extensions start from $49/year. You can also use it for unlimited sites for an additional $100.

4. ProfilePress

ProfilePress is a powerful yet easy-to-use WordPress membership plugin. It can create membership plans that charge users one-time and recurring payments, manage customer orders and subscriptions and allow users to manage their accounts.

It has integrations with popular payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, Mollie, Razorpay, and Paystack as well as email marketing software such as Mailchimp and Campaign Monitor.

Its content protection feature lets you control what content your users can see based on their logged-in status, subscribed membership plan, user roles, and more.

Powerful features of ProfilePress include:

• Intuitive admin panel for creating membership plans, paywalls, and content protection rules.
• Conversion-optimized checkout page.
• Drag and drop builder for creating custom registration, login, and reset password forms.
• Built-in Tax/VAT calculation and collection during checkout.
• Advanced reporting to keep track of membership and store performance.
• Content restriction feature for adding paywalls to content.
• Dedicated LMS integration to create course websites.
• Payment integration with Stripe, PayPal, Mollie, Razorpay, and Paystack.
• Advanced member directory features allow users to find each other.
• Automated event-based email notifications.
• Limit post views to grant free access to a certain number of sessions.
• Integrations with page builders like Elementor, Divi and Beaver Builder.

Cons of ProfilePress:

• Limited free version.
• No native learning management system.
• No advanced marketing analytics like order bumps, upselling, or down selling.
• You can not buy addons separately.

ProfilePress pricing

The cheapest plan starts from $99/year for one site, and the highest-priced tier costs $499/year for unlimited sites.

5. MemberPress

MemberPress makes it easy to create custom membership levels, manage member subscriptions, and securely protect your content from unauthorized access.

It has integrations with email automation tools like MailChimp and popular payment gateways such as Stripe, PayPal and Authorize.net.

Its drip content feature and other extensive paywall features can be effective at building a thriving membership website.

Prominent features of MemberPress include:

• Integrated reporting and analytics allow you to keep track of the overall performance.
• Well-equipped paywall functionalities with content dripping service.
• Tax and VAT collection from checkout form using TaxJar.
• Customizable checkout forms and coupons.
• Dedicated LMS extensions to create course websites.
• Create as many access rules and membership plans as you need.
• Option to create corporate membership accounts.
• Events and trigger integration with Zapier and HelpScout. Other integrations include two-factor authentication, Blubrry PowerPress, BuddyPress and Google reCaptcha.
• Payment integration with Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net and Express Checkouts (Apple Pay, Google Pay and Amazon Pay).
• Lock menu items, posts, pages, custom post types (CPT), parts of a post or page, all templates, files/downloads and URL.

Cons of MemberPress:

• Doesn’t include advanced sales features like order bumps, cart abandonment, upsells and downsells.
• Checkout form is difficult to customize.
• No view post limit feature.

MemberPress pricing

The cheapest plan starts from $179.50/year for 1 site, and the highest priced tier costs $319.60/year for 5 sites.

6. aMember Pro

aMember Pro is perhaps the oldest WordPress plugin and packs nearly all the features you can imagine.

It was launched in 2002 as website software to restrict access to content. Over the years, the team behind it has developed 200 integrations making it amazingly customizable.

While being a robust membership solution, it may create a few compatibility issues with other themes and plugins because it’s not a native WordPress plugin.

Important features of aMember Pro include:

• Create unlimited membership levels and products.
• Restrict content for subscribers only with recurring and non-recurring billing.
• 50 pre-configured reports.
• Send out emails for different events and make your members aware of their subscription plan’s status.
• Integration with email marketing platforms such as ​​MailChimp, AWeber and GetResponse.
• Provide users with a members-only area where they can check their own membership status.
• Incremental content delivery or drip content feature.
• Integration with payment gateways like PayPal, 1ShoppingCart, 2Checkout, Plimus, ClickBank, WorldPay, SWREG, and Zombaio.
• Third-party script integration, which is a unique feature for database management.
• Built-in affiliate program that can be paid through a number of gateways.

Cons of aMember Pro:

• Non-native WordPress plugin.
• Outdated user interface makes it a bit complex for first-timers.
• No view post limit feature.

aMember Pro pricing

aMember Pro has a one-time fee of $149.00 for 1 site. They also have a custom pricing plan that depends on your requirements.

7. Members

Members is a top-rated free membership plugin from the same developer of MemberPress. They have acquired this plugin and are actively developing it.

The plugin enables users to add roles with specific capabilities, allowing for content restriction. It includes a user-friendly interface for editing, creating, and deleting the roles and restricting capabilities.

This plugin can also easily integrate with many existing plugins. If you have a plan to create a basic membership website, it’s definitely worth a try.

Some prominent features include:

• Can edit, create, and delete roles as well as capabilities for these roles in the easy-to-use role editor.
• Allows you to restrict access to content based on user roles.
• Assign multiple roles to a user.
• Can easily integrate existing plugins.
• Create, edit and delete membership roles as well as restrictions for these roles.
• Clone existing user roles by copying the attributes.
• Control access groups with shortcodes.
• Includes login form widgets.
• A number of integrations with other platforms for custom roles and capabilities.
• Ability to be GDPR friendly.
• Core Create Caps feature to establish more control over editing capabilities.
• Categories and Tags Caps feature for the admin to control the users who can edit, assign, delete and manage taxonomies.
• Hierarchical roles system
• Integrations with EDD, GiveWP, Meta Box and WooCommerce.

Cons of Members:

• Limited content restriction features.
• No drip content feature.
• Lacks advanced reporting.

Members pricing

Members is a free plugin.

8. Paid Memberships Pro

Paid Memberships Pro is a robust WordPress membership tool that checks all the important requirements to create a subscription-based website.

It offers a wide array of addons and thorough developer documentation, making customization easy for developers and agencies. You can create membership levels and specify user access rules with a recurring subscription model.

Other features include user registration, custom profile fields, and the organized member management system with custom profile fields and seamless user registration .

Notable features of Paid Memberships Pro include:

• Freemium pricing plan gives you a head start if you want to create a membership site for free.
• Restrict custom post types like products, podcasts, videos, courses, community, events and downloads.
• Secure blocks, pages, posts and categories.
• Not only a subscription website builder but also a complete eCommerce solution.
• Invoicing feature via third-party solutions.
• Comprehensive reporting and analytics feature.
• Highly customizable and scalable through premium extensions.
• Limit post views to grant free access up to a certain number of sessions.
• Member directory feature to help build a community.
• Schedule your content to drip-feed the audience.
• Show excerpts as a teaser to premium content.
• Automated event-based email notifications.

Cons of Paid Memberships Pro:

• Upgrading the pricing plan can be quite costly.
• Paid knowledge base.
• You can not buy addons separately.
• Difficult to determine which plan best suits you as addons are pre-bundled in different plans.

Paid Memberships Pro pricing

Paid Memberships Pro has a free version. However, the basic pricing starts from $247/year, which you can use for a single site. The highest tier is capped at $697/year (up to 5 sites).

9. Simple Membership

Simple Membership can be a great choice if you are looking for a free membership plugin to offer both free and locked content.

It’s user-friendly and comes with comprehensive documentation to guide you every step of the way. You can easily secure your tutorials, videos, eBooks, and courses with a membership login and start charging users for access.

This plugin allows you to protect specific articles, posts, and pages by creating different membership access levels.

Key features of the Simple Membership plugin:

• Choose what content to restrict and what to make available to different members.
• Create unlimited membership access.
• Set redirection rules after login.
• Shortcodes to create registration and login forms as well as profiles.
• Manually approve new members.
• Protect the membership area with passwords.
• Fully automated payment system.
• Recurring payment and one-time payment options.
• Payment gateway integration with PayPal, Stripe and Braintree.
• Offer a trial period before visitors purchase a plan.
• Highly customizable and scalable with a series of paid addons.

Cons of Simple Membership:

• No drip content feature.
• Lacks built-in reporting tools.
• No advanced marketing tools like order bumps, upselling or downselling.

Simple Membership pricing

Simple Membership is a free plugin you can scale by buying premium addons separately or in bundles. A single addon starts from $47 for 1 site or $103 to use it on 10 websites.

10. WishList Member

WishList Member places emphasis on customizability and compatibility with a majority of WordPress plugins, themes, and page builders, making it a versatile option.

Additionally, it features trigger-based actions that can streamline your workflow. Whether you’re seeking to create an LMS, a restricted community, or a private website, WishList Member is equipped with all the bells and whistles.

While it’s great to have so many possibilities at your fingertips, it can also be overwhelming trying to sort through all the features WishList Member has to offer.

Key features of WishList Member:

• Create a membership website using a setup wizard.
• Unlimited membership levels and members with both free and paid access rules.
• A comprehensive knowledge base including docs, blogs, how-to guides and tutorial videos.
• Integration with popular platforms like WooCommerce, Zapier, and dozens of email service providers.
• A full REST API and WP-style template tags to make it more developer-friendly.
• Futuristic dashboard to manage your membership website.
• Create a custom login page.
• Lock WordPress pages, posts and custom post types.
• File and folder protection while you’re selling digital files to members.
• Drip and schedule content with the ability to allow members to archive content periodically.
• Partially lock pages or posts to give non-paying members or visitors a sneak peek.
• Integration with other popular payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net and Shopping Cart.
• Integration with other popular platforms such as LearnDash, TutorLMS, Slack, SenSei, ResponseSuite, LifterLMS, BuddyBoss, WooCommerce, AWeber and email tools.
• View post limit option.

Cons of WishList Member:

• No free version.
• Too many features might overwhelm beginners.

WishList Member pricing

Wishlist Member starts from $299/year for 1 site, with the agency plan priced at $695/year for 5 sites.

11. MemberMouse

MemberMouse is one of the best paid WordPress subscription plugins to help you easily create a membership site.

As an enterprise-level membership plugin for WordPress, it provides all the tools you need to sell products, subscriptions and memberships.

The checkout process is customizable, and you can even set up upsells, one-click purchases, and coupon codes.

When it comes to protecting your membership content, MemberMouse allows you to keep your premium content secure with passwords. Whether it’s videos, images, PDFs, audio files, software, or anything else, it’s easy with this plugin.

Key features of MemberMouse include:

• Members only area that provides statistics on engagement while auto-locking shared accounts
• Lock pages, posts and the site menu.
• Drip and schedule content to keep things running smoothly.
• Dedicated member management dashboard.
• Automation tools for support and a member activity log to keep track of everything.
• Maximize revenue by providing critical metrics like sales, lifetime customer value by source, and retention rates.
• Tracking sales and memberships, as well as affiliate channel tracking.
• Maximizing sales with customizable coupons.
• Dynamic checkout and customizable confirmation page.
• Member home page included with fully functional my account page.
• Flexible pricing, including recurring subscriptions with free or paid trials.
• Google reCaptcha to protect from spam.
• Custom login page with login limit options.
• Social login feature.
• Integration with many third-party platforms.

Cons of MemberMouse:

• A learning curve for first-time users.
• Even experienced users might need to hire developers to prevent occasional glitches.
• Expensive compared to other solutions.
• No express checkout.
• No view post limit option.

MemberMouse pricing

MemberMouse is a premium plugin with a basic plan starting at $289/year.

12. LearnDash

LearnDash is a very powerful course membership plugin designed specifically to provide a great learning experience.

Being a dedicated learning management system, it can help you the most if you are an online coach, instructor, or teacher. You have the ability to create a membership site that provides access to various resources, such as videos, course materials, and assignments.

Plus, it features quizzes and assignments to keep your students engaged all the time with built-in certificate and badge capabilities.

Key features of LearnDash:

• Best suited for online educators or instructors to create online eLearning websites.
• Keep students engaged with quizzes and assignments.
• Motivate by issuing certificates and badges.
• Sell courses with one-time purchases or with recurring subscriptions.
• Drip-feed lessons for dynamic course content delivery.
• Dedicated eLearning templates.
• Drag and drop-based course builder.
• Course creation wizard to create courses faster.
• Focus mode to eliminate distractions.
• Event-based automated notification, such as when a student completes a milestone, they are notified instantly.
• Profile dashboard to see course progression.
• Includes native Stripe integration and integrates with WooCommerce payment gateways.
• Integrates with many other popular plugins like BuddyBoss, The Events Calendar, EDD, MailChimp, bbPress and Slack.
• Tax collection features.
• Coupon and discounts features.

Cons of LearnDash:

• Limited functionality for a general membership website as it is intended to create a course website.
• No free version.
• No view post limit option.

LearnDash pricing

The basic plan starts from $299/year.

13. Thrive Apprentice

Thrive Apprentice allows you to create awesome course content and monetize it using subscriptions and advanced functionality like drip feeding.

With its user-friendly dashboard, you can keep track of all information in one place. You can select how you want to organize your courses, what format they should be in (text, video or audio), and even include supplementary materials.

You can also issue certificates for learners to download after they successfully complete their course.

Key features of Thrive Apprentice:

• Attractive user interface that sets it apart from other plugins.
• Beautiful course overview pages you’ll get out of the box.
• Scheduled repeating or drip-feed lessons.
• Dynamic labels to upsell courses.
• Course completion page including a ‘thank you’ message, salutation and a way to collect feedback and testimonials.
• Comes with a predefined set of editable certificate templates, including certificate validation to verify authenticity.
• Customizable login and registration forms.
• Quizzes, lesson completion indicators and course progress bar.
• Edit access control to courses from the admin area.
• Advanced course reporting system.
• Integration with other plugins and platforms like MailChimp, MemberPress, ConvertKit, WooCommerce, ActiveCampaign, ThriveCart and SendOwl.

Cons of Thrive Apprentice:

• No built-in payment gateways.
• Not suitable for general membership purposes other than eLearning websites.
• No view post limit option.

Thrive Apprentice pricing

Thrive Apprentice costs $299/year.

14. Easy Digital Downloads

Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) is a user-friendly eCommerce plugin for WordPress that allows you to sell digital products and accept recurring payments.

With Easy Digital Downloads, you can sell a wide range of digital products, such as eBooks, PDFs, audio files and videos. It features a built-in shopping cart system that allows customers to purchase multiple products in a single transaction.

You have the flexibility to accept one-time payments or set up recurring payments at intervals of your preference, including daily, weekly and monthly basis.

Key features of Easy Digital Downloads:

• Restrict content options.
• Integrated shopping cart system that allows your customers to download multiple downloads simultaneously.
• Ability to track the time, date and IP address of the transactions.
• Ability to create customizable discount codes.
• A RESTful API that makes it developer friendly.
• Payment gateway integrations with Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net, Braintree, SOFORT Banking and Express Checkout with Apple Pay and Google Pay.
• Show purchase history only to logged-in users using a single shortcode.
• Securely host your files on Dropbox for reliability.
• Integration with MailChimp, Dropbox, AffiliateWP, AWeber, Zapier, ConvertKit, and Slack.
• Multi-currency support.
• Keep track of business growth using a detailed eCommerce report.

Cons of Easy Digital Downloads:

• No native learning management system.
• Less emphasis on membership features.
• Not beginner friendly.
• No view post limit.

Easy Digital Downloads pricing

EDD has a free version and a basic plan that starts from $99.50/ year for 1 site. There’s also a premium plan that costs $499.5/per year for 3 sites.

15. ARMember

ARMember is a highly-rated premium membership plugin that enables you to create a subscription-based website with a straightforward setup wizard.

You can create Medium-like subscription-based websites, online tutoring websites or business consulting services and sell any form of digital content without any hassle.

With ARMember, you can create any pricing model to sell your subscription, create and customize login and registration forms with a built-in builder, and receive payments with many payment gateways.

Key features of ARMember:

• Build membership communities and let members connect with each other.
• Create custom membership plans and sell any type of digital content such as podcasts, videos, graphic designs and templates.
• Create a subscription plan with recurring payments or with a one-time payment.
• Lock pages, posts, custom posts, WooCommerce content according to membership roles.
• Ships with fully customizable user profiles and directory templates.
• Create forms with a built-in form builder with custom fields.
• Gamify the learning process with badges and achievements.
• Drip-feeding feature to schedule content.
• Create as many membership plans as you want with trial period options.
• Customizable plan-specific coupons.
• Allow members to log in from social accounts like Facebook, Twitter, Google SignIn, Instagram, VK and Tumblr.
• Event-based email notifications.
• Spam protection with a captcha free system.
• Integrations with popular plugins and platforms like BuddyPress, bbPress, WooCommerce, WPBakery Page Builder, APPRICE, myCRED, and a number of email marketing solutions.
• Collect payment using free gateways like Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net, and 2CHECKOUT along with other paid payment extensions.

Cons of ARMember:

• A little buggy, as reported by customers.
• Purchasing all premium addons can be quite expensive.
• No view post limit option.

ARMember pricing

ARMember is a free plugin with premium plans starting from $79.25/year. You can also buy individual addons for your site. Each addon costs from $35, and the most expensive plan for a single addon costs $139 for 20 sites.

16. WooCommerce Memberships

WooCommerce Memberships is basically an extension for WooCommerce. It helps you control the users’ ability to download a particular product in exchange for payment, making it ideal for our purpose.

However, it is not a comprehensive solution, as you will also need to use the WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin to accept recurring payments for subscriptions.

Despite the inconvenience of paying for another plugin for a basic feature, you can still create a fully-fledged membership website.

Key features of WooCommerce Memberships:

• Ability to export member information into email marketing platforms.
• Capability to create locked content and products.
• Strategically grant access to members using a drip-feed content strategy.
• HIde WooCommerce products from non-members.
• Show products to the public but restrict their purchase to paid members.
• Give perks to paid members with free shipping methods.
• Reward members with discounts and coupons.
• Automated emails on membership expiration and renewal notice.
• Receive one-time and recurring payment methods.
• Pause, upgrade and downgrade membership plans.
• Allow free trials before purchase.
• Sell memberships to a group or company instead of individual members.
• Integrates with WooCommerce and supports native WooCommerce payment gateways.

Cons of WooCommerce Memberships:

• Fewer integrations with other platforms than its competitors.
• User interface looks a bit primitive.
• No view post limit.

WooCommerce Memberships pricing

WooCommerce Memberships costs $199/year.

17. Restrict Content Pro

Restrict Content Pro is a robust membership plugin packed with powerful features to help you create an amazing online community.

It’s a light eCommerce solution that lets you create subscription plans, access groups, and create access rules.

With built-in payment integrations like PayPal, Stripe and Braintree along with paywall settings, you’ll have everything to start earning immediately.

Key features of Restrict Content Pro:

• Create unlimited membership packages and membership groups.
• Set up paywalls with the WordPress block editor.
• Create unlimited, customizable coupons and discounts.
• Payment integration with Stripe, PayPal, Braintree, 2Checkout and Braintree.
• Lock content based on WordPress user role and membership level.
• Customizable registration forms, profile pages and other pages.
• Library of action hooks and filters makes it easily integrable with other platforms.
• Invoice feature.
• Dedicated dashboard for individual members.
• Show content excerpts to the non-paid users.
• Use a custom URL instead of the default login URL.
• Google reCaptcha to stop spam.
• View post limit option to allow a certain number of free content.

Cons of Restrict Content Pro:

• A little expensive compared to its competitors.
• Complex user interface that might be overwhelming for beginners.
• Limited security features.
• No advanced marketing analytics like order bumps, upselling or downselling.

Restrict Content Pro pricing

The basic plan starts from $99/year for one site. You can pick their premium plan priced at $249/year for unlimited websites if you’re an agency.

Wrapping up

This article includes both general-purpose membership plugins and LMS (Learning Management System) based subscription plugins.

Though both are membership plugins, it’s your call to identify your own requirements and pick the one that meets your needs.

If you really liked our article, don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to keep abreast of all the latest news, offers and articles.

Finally, if you’re using any one of these plugins, don’t forget to share your hands-on experience in the comment section below.