There can be many reasons why you would want to turn your website into a membership website. There are a lot of benefits for both parties. By turning to a membership website, you increase the user engagement of your website. Not only do you allow your valuable visitors access but you provide them with perks and other benefits.
Having a membership on the website lets your audience be free to discuss things on your forum and other places. They can also communicate via direct membership messaging. By doing so, you get to have a transparent view of their feedback.
But the dilemma starts when you can’t decide on the perfect WordPress plugin for that as there are many options. It is why we made a list of the top 15 WordPress membership plugins for you.
What Is a WordPress Membership Plugin?
In simple terms, WordPress membership plugins are the tool to assist you in creating a membership website. Along with its primary function, it brings many advanced features which might be useful to you.
With such plugins, you are ensured to have an email list so you can notify them about the discount, coupons, and other benefits that come along with the membership. Furthermore, you are free to share free content with your valuable users with a membership plugin’s assistance. Yet, the cherry on top is, for exclusive content, you may charge a reasonable amount.
However, you should know this varies greatly from gated content marketing. Gated content marketing only requires email while the membership website asks for additional things.
What WordPress Membership Plugins Can Do?
When you finally decide on an efficient plugin that can assist you in building the membership website, there are multiple aspects where it can help you with:
· By converting to a membership website, you charge a decent amount of fee from the valuable visitors who adore your content or products. Thus, you generate steady revenue that only increases over time all while keeping your audiences engaged.
· It is a dream of every small business owner to have a bigger email list that leads to better email marketing. Having folks registered to your membership website will grant you that long list of mail you desire and that is the right first step for small business owners to the right marketing.
· With a membership website, you provide valuable content to your registered users. By doing you so, you limit the content to them. And there’s only one place where they can come to any time if they need to have another read.
· You can further choose the option to build content prior to making your membership website. That way, your visitors will register on your website and can start enjoying the valuable content right away. However, if you wish to continue with the content creation, you can do so.
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Best 15 WordPress Membership Plugins
As mentioned before, there are countless options for you when you are trying to decide on a WordPress membership plugin for your website. There are many top-tier lists and each one of the plugins comes with different features, pros, and cons. It is on you to understand each of them to know which will perfectly suit your needs. That being said, here are the top 15 WordPress membership plugins that you need to know of:
1. MemberPress
MemberPress is an WordPress membership plugin with unlimited number of customizable membership. This plugin helps you to create dynamic pricing pages and put members in groups. It provides you the control over the coupons and has the payment options such as PayPal, Stripe, and many more.
MemberPress Features
- Unlimited Quizzes & Certificates
- Advanced Marketing Integrations
- Sell Podcast Memberships
- Forums Add-on
- Communities Add-on
- Zapier – 2000+ Custom Integrations
- HelpScout Integration
- Developer Tools
- Advanced Customization
MemberPress Price
Pro: $399.50/Year
Plus: $299.50/Year
Basic: $179.50/Year
2. Thrive Apprentice
Thrive Apprentice is a membership plugin for WordPress users that helps you to easily manage the training programs, online courses, and membership sites. It has the drag and drop option by which you can create content without any technical skills.
Thrive Apprentice Features
- Easily manage and track the progress of students
- Create interactive quizzes to test your students’ knowledge
- Reward your students with customizable certificates upon completion of their course
- Accept payments for your courses and membership sites directly on your site
Thrive Apprentice Price
The paid plan starts from $299 per year.
3. OptinMonster
OptinMonster is a premium WordPress plugin that help in creating conversion campaigns. It has a lot features such as popups, content lockers, slide-in boxes, and many more.
OptinMonster Features
- Lightbox Popups
- Floating Bars
- Inline Forms
- Scroll Boxes
- Fullscreen Overlays
- Drag & Drop Builder
- 300+ Designed Templates
- Custom Fonts
- Custom Styles
OptinMonster Price
- Basic: $9 per month
- Plus: $19 per month
- Pro: $29 per month
- Growth: $49 per month
4. MemberMouse
MemberMouse: Adored by many, this plugin holds a rating of 4.6/5. It is known to be the best choice as an enterprise-level plugin for WordPress. If you have a large website in WordPress then MemberMouse can be the finest plugin for your assistance.
MemberMouse Features
- Authorize.Net Payments
- ClickBank Payments
- Manage billing dates
- Full analytics & reporting suite
- Advanced affiliate setting
- Employee access control
- UserVoice integration
MemberMouse Price
- Builder: $29 per month
- Advanced: $79 per month
- Premium: $199 per month
- Custom: Cost determined on a case-by-case basis
5. WP-Members
WP-Members is a free WordPress membership plugin which is lighter than others along with a lot of features such as Create custom registration, hide posts, pages, and custom post types, and many more.
WP-Members Features
- Restrict or hide posts, pages, and custom post types
- Limit menu items to logged in users
- Create custom registration
- Notify admin of new user registrations
- Hold new registrations for admin approval
WP-Members Price
- WP-Members: $0
- WP-Members Priority Support: $59 per year
- WP-Members Pro Bundle: $125 per year
6. WooCommerce Memberships
WooCommerce Memberships is best in in price with limit content and have purchasing club. It means the visitors have to log in or sign up before buying.
WooCommerce Memberships Features
- Integrates with Constant Contact
- Content dripping
- Different membership levels
- Easy communication with members
WooCommerce Memberships Price
The paid plan for this plugin is around $199 per year.
7. aMemberPro
aMemberPro is a very simple plugin for WordPress users. It uses PHP which has is own benefits but it may cause issues with other plugins which has been installed in the WordPress. It has many features such as VIP Support, unlimited membership, and many more.
aMemberPro Features
- Payment System Integrations
- Order forms
- Shopping cart
- Helpdesk module
- Affiliate program module
- WordPress bridge
- Premium Support
- VIP Support
aMemberPro Price
Single Lincense: $149.36/ ONE-TIME
Professional Lincense: $149.36/ ONE-TIME
Enterprise: Custom
8. LearnDash
LearnDash is about time we introduce yet another membership plugin that is easy to use. LearnDash is known for being a plugin that is easy to use while also providing a lot of flexibility for the user.
LearnDash Features
- One-time payment
- Integrates with popular marketing apps
- Detailed reporting on enrollment, performance, and progress
- Course and group management
- Robust LMS capacity
LearnDash Price
- 1 Site: $199 per year
- 10 Sites: $399 per year
- Unlimited: $799 per year
9. Restrict Content Pro
Restrict Content Pro is a membership plugin with a very simple setup. If you’re looking for a free plugin, Restrict Content can be a good option. They also offer three paid plans, which start from $99 per year.
Restrict Content Pro Features
- Theme integration
- Action hooks & filters
- Editable template files
- Plugin integrations
Restrict Content Pro Price
- Basic: Free
- 1 Site: $99 per year
- 5 Sites: $149 per year
- Unlimited: $249 per year
10. s2Member
s2Member is one of those plugins that are not perfect for beginners but it offers a lot of features that can help you beyond your plan to create a membership website. The free version is unlike any other on this list. However, there is a paid version if you wish to upgrade.
s2Member Features
- Authorize.Net w/ Pro-Forms
- WordPress Roles/Capabilities/CCAPS
- Open Registration Option
- Unique IP Restrictions
- File Download Restrictions
- Custom Login/Registration Design
s2Member Price
Framework: Free
Pro Version (Single Site): $89 ONE-TIME
Pro Version (Unlimited Site): ONE-TIME
11. bbPress
bbPress is a free WordPress membership plugin by the same team that made WordPress. You need WordPress users to login and then you can redirect the users to the custom URL. You allow the members to shares their ideas and keep an eye on that words.
bbPress Features
- Simple setup and installation
- Clean forums
- Admin area
- Translated into 54 locales’ languages
bbPress Price
Free
12. WishList Member
WishList Member is known to be a plugin that perfectly fits with all the plugins that you have already integrated into your WordPress website. This plugin is all about customizing. This plugin also has approaches to help you increase your efficiency.
WishList Member Features
- Access to WishList Member
- WishList Member License
- Easy Setup Wizard
- Unlimited Protected Content
- Unlimited Membership Levels and Members
WishList Member Price
1 Site: $199/Year
10 Sites: $349/Year
13. Paid Membership Pro
Paid Memberships Pro has almost more than 100,000 downloads and it has been in the market for more than 10 years. You will have the benefit of drip content, coupons, unlimited WordPress membership, and its price is flexible.
Paid Memberships Pro Features
- Pay per post
- Personalized member homepages
- Admin dashboard
- Payment Gateways Options
Paid Memberships Pro Price
Free: $0
Standard: $247/Year
Plus: $397/Year
Builder: $697/Year
14. ARMember
ARMember is one of the rare elite WordPress membership plugins that are free. There are many things that you can do apart from using its assistance in building a membership website on WordPress such as signup page builder, 1-click content restrictions, and many more.
ARMember Features
- Free and paid memberships
- Pay per post
- Form Builder
- Badges and Achievements
ARMember Price
The annual plan is about $149
15. MagicMembers
MagicMembers has over 90,000 downloads. It really needs no introduction as it is considered to be one of the top horses on the list of WordPress membership websites. It has undergone many changes and updates to always stay a step ahead of the competitors and stay with the new market trends. It brings many features and usability along with it. You can also trust on this membership plugin due to its affordable price and time to time plugin update.
MagicMembers Features
- Custom widgets.
- Pay-per-post access
- Autoresponder integrations
- Payment gateway
- Controlled Content Display
MagicMembers Price
- Single: $97 one-time payment
- 3-Site: $197 one-time payment
- Unlimited: $207 one-time payment
Factors to consider in choosing the best WordPress Membership Plugin
There are many things you need to consider when you are looking for the perfect WordPress membership plugin. When you evaluate and acknowledge these, the search for the ideal plugin becomes easy for you.
- Ease of Use: The easier it is to use the plugin, the less hassle you go through on daily basis either you are an expert or a beginner on your team.
- Lightweight Plugin: Heavyweight ones are rich with features but they are complex to operate and rarely they can slow down your WordPress website while the lightweight ones provide the basic utilities that get the job done but has no additional features.
- Compatibility: Just like many other digital tools, you also need to check the compatibility of these plugins. If you ignore this part, you will bring in a lot of issues and your website may encounter a lot of bugs and glitches not to mention the plugin will also act strange.
When to use WordPress Membership Plugins?
You as a website owner must give a lot of thought before you consider turning your website into a Membership website. However, upon doing so, you will notice that plugins are the most essential way to do that.
When you have a set audience that values your content and keeps coming back for more, you gain their trust. By doing so, they are inclined to have exclusive access to your content.
You should consider WordPress membership website plugins only when you have such an audience are your loyal customers. By turning into a membership website, you restrict your valuable content to your loyal audience while also providing them with perks, such as coupons, forums, and other benefits.
Conclusion: WordPress Membership Plugins
You now know the best 15 plugins out there that can help you build that membership website that you have been trying for so long. As mentioned before, you should do your due research before you consider the perfect WordPress membership plugin for your website.
There are differences in opinions among the ones who have established a membership website with the help of plugins. However, you should know that something that works for them certainly does not mean it will work for you. Or something that didn’t work for them certainly does not mean it won’t work for you. Understand the requirements of your website and research the features that can meet your requirements.
FAQs About WordPress Membership Plugins
1. What is the easiest WordPress membership plugin?
There are many WordPress membership plugins that are easy to use. However, if we are to talk about the best, it won’t be just in terms of ease of use. There are other contributing factors. In addition to the ease of use, the best plugin would be the one that can meet your requirements effortlessly.
In that case, MemberPress is the finest choice out there. Not only is it easy to use, but it is trusted by the majority of WordPress membership website owners. Its features really speak for themselves. And when you consider all of its pros and features, the pricing is really worth it.
2. What is the best free membership plugin for WordPress?
It is a very rare occasion when a WordPress plugin is free yet is considered among the top plugins of its respective field. Restrict Content Pro is the best choice if you are looking for a plugin that is free yet very efficient. Furthermore, if you are enjoying your time with this plugin and wish to upgrade to get a lot more features, there are plans which are absolutely worth it.
3. What is better than MemberPress?
There are many WordPress membership plugins that are better than MemberPress. However, such claims can be made if we compare one of the features that both of these plugins bring. If we are talking about comparing any plugin with MemberPress on its overall aspects, there are no plugins that are better than this. If you are looking for a MemberPress alternative then Thrive Apprentice would be a good option for you.
4. Is there a membership plugin for WordPress?
There are many membership plugins for WordPress. You can even categorize them as heavyweights and lightweights. Heavyweights are the ones that bring you the basic features to get the job done while also providing you with additional features that can be useful to you. The lightweights are the ones that don’t provide you with additional features. However, they have features that can get the bare minimum task done, which is to turn your website into a WordPress membership website.
5. What is the best membership plugin?
The best WordPress membership plugin is MemberPress.
6. What are the top 5 plugins you typically use with WordPress?
Here are the top 5 plugins for WordPress that you definitely should consider if you are a WordPress website owner:
1. Yoast SEO
2. JetPack
3. Opinion Monster
4. WooCommerce
5. AIOSEO
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