6 Best WordPress Membership Plugins for Your Website

Last Updated on October 30, 2019

If you want to create a fully-functional membership website with WordPress, you need to use some good plugins for the job. With the right membership plugins, you can create an attention-drawing website that is bound to interest anyone who visits it.

Choosing the perfect plugins can make or break your website. If you go for the wrong ones, no matter how hard you try, your website will never be able to get off the ground. That’s why it’s important that you make the right choices regarding your plugins.

So, how can you be sure the plugins you’re using are the best ones?

Things to consider when choosing membership plugins

There are a few things you should take into consideration when choosing which plugins to use.

Here are some of the factors that play a big role:

Ease of use. If you’re not an experienced developer, there is a chance you won’t be able to figure out how some plugins work and how they can be integrated. Luckily, there are a plethora of plugins that are easy to understand and can be used by both experts and novices.
Number of features. The number of features you’ll require will depend on the website you’re building. There are plugins that offer a complete set of features straight away. And while that may be an advantage for some people, it can be overwhelming to others. If you don’t need too many options, choose one of the more lightweight plugins that will provide you with the essentials.
Compatibility. Not all themes were designed to work with every plugin. Before you make your choice, be sure to test out each plugin on a local WordPress. If it works smoothly, then you can be sure the plugin is compatible with your theme and you can continue integrating it without any issues.

Without further ado, here are some of the best WordPress membership plugins you won’t regret using.

MemberPress

If you’re looking for a premium WordPress plugin that has all you might need to create a great membership website, you can’t go wrong with MemberPress. It’s one of the most popular membership plugins, and it’s easy to see why.

With MemberPress, anyone can create a powerful membership site. Additionally, it allows you to transform a website you already have into a fully-featured membership website with ease.

It’s easy to install. Also, after you’ve entered your payment gateway details and set up your product, you’ll be able to start inviting members right away.

You can grant or revoke access to various types of content depending on a member’s status. You will also be able to create and manage subscriptions and sell digital products with ease.

Some of the best features MemberPress has to offer are:

premium support
unlimited access rules
management of unlimited members
unlimited pricing pages
grant and revoke access to members automatically

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LearnDash

This WordPress plugin was designed for creating and selling online courses. It’s the perfect choice for anyone who is looking to create a website for professional training or higher education. With LearnDash, you can provide your members with an ideal learning platform.

LearnDash is easy to set up, and adding content to it isn’t a hassle at all. You can create a highly-engaging platform thanks to its various add-ons and integrations which anyone will love.

There are various things you can do with LearnDash:

Sell courses. You can create and sell your courses as well as divide them into three different categories. You can sell all of your online courses to fully-fledged members, but also provide subscriptions and one-time offers for individual courses.
Restrict content. Depending on the type of membership a person has, you can limit the amount of content they can access.
Reward your members. You can deliver awards, badges, points, and certificates to members who have shown progress. This will give them the motivation to keep going forward and learn more from your courses.

As for integration and payments, LearnDash offers an impressive set of gateways. You can connect it to MemberPress, WooCommerce, bbPress, and Slack.

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Restrict Content Pro

This WordPress membership plugin is light-weight but still powerful enough to create a fully-featured membership website. It integrates with the WordPress user interface flawlessly, so you won’t have any issues understanding how to use it.

Restrict Content Pro is an easy-to-use membership plugin that is developer-friendly. It also comes with a great set of features any membership website might need. It has built-in integrations such as Stripe, PayPal, MailChimp, and others that aren’t paid add-ons.

This plugin also comes with extensive free documentation for all users, which can help you understand how to use its features. What’s more, if you have any additional questions, a professional support team is always available to you via email.

Some of the different ways you can use Restrict Content Pro are:

Club memberships. With this option, you can create a premium content library that only club members will be able to access.
Member blogging. Allow your members to create their own blogs and provide them with a creative outlet on your membership website.
Magazine subscriptions. You can offer an online membership subscription that will provide extra profit each month.
Private forums. Create private forums that will have premium content and only allow access to private communities.

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Paid Member Subscriptions

Paid Member Subscriptions is a full-featured plugin with a clear, user-friendly interface. With this plugin, you can limit product viewing, purchasing, and offer special product prices to people, depending on the type of membership they have.

The plugin is very easy to set up and it integrates with your existing WordPress website. This is a huge advantage as it doesn’t force you into a predefined structure and allows you to keep the structure of the website you choose.

Some of the best features Paid Member Subscription has to offer include:

Management of unlimited members. You will be able to have an unlimited number of members on your website, and this plugin will help you keep track of every single one. You will also have an overview of all of your members and their subscription plans.
Navigation menu filter. Restrict access to content depending on the access level each member has.
Payment options and management. Accept payments with PayPal Pro, PayPal Express Checkout, and Stripe. Keep track of purchased subscription plans and payment statuses of your members.
Prevention of account sharing. A user won’t be able to log into their account from different devices at the same time.

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Paid Membership Pro

This is a great choice for anyone who is looking for a free WordPress plugin for their membership website. You should also keep in mind that it comes with two premium plans.

However, you can build a great membership website with the free plugin just as efficiently. If you aren’t sure about how profitable your membership website will be, paying for a plugin is probably the last thing you want to do.

As soon as you install this plugin, you will be able to restrict content to certain members. It might not be as great as premium plugins which offer more features. Still, it is a good choice as it can help you build a fully-functioning membership website for free.

Here are some of the features this plugin offers:

unlimited membership levels
discount codes
easy payment gateway integration
free trial periods for members

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Wishlist Member

This is a premium membership plugin that helps you to restrict and allow access to content with ease. The plugin code is encrypted and doesn’t allow developers to make adjustments to it. However, it comes with a lot of settings and expansive menu systems so you have everything a membership website might need.

Wishlist Member will grant you a lot of control over your membership website. You will be able to easily hide and restrict content and handle memberships. You will have all the membership details presented to you on the intuitive dashboard. This includes membership statistics, levels, and quick access to updates and support.

It might seem complicated to work with at first, but there’s no need to worry as it comes with a wide selection of support material. Video tutorials, guides, as well as a year of unlimited support will help you handle all issues that you come across.

You will be able to handle free, trial, and paid memberships, as well as control the content your members will have access to. There is also an option that allows you to give free previews with protection to potential members so they can decide whether or not they would like to subscribe to your website.

These are other features Wishlist Member offers: