10 Best WordPress membership plugins in 2023
WordPress was initially designed for blogs only. But, thanks to WordPress plugins, it is now possible to create a fully functional website using it. With the help of WordPress membership plugins, you can create a membership website. Let’s talk a little about the membership website first.
What exactly is a Membership website?
A membership website has content available only for its registered users. This content could be anything from videos to some ebooks. You can also create forum websites that can be accessed by paid members only.
Generally, these members have to pay some fee. It could be either a one-time fee or a recurring fee. There are many benefits of membership websites:
- You can earn recurring money using membership websites.
- It becomes easy to create a highly responsive email list. As everyone is already your member in this list. Thus, it is easy to sell them new products.
By default, WordPress websites are open to all. Anyone can access these websites without any restrictions. But, you can use some WordPress membership plugins to convert your website to a membership website. These WordPress membership plugins can restrict access to some web pages.
Now, let’s talk about the Best WordPress membership plugins.
Best WordPress membership plugins
1. Memberpress (https://memberpress.com/)
Memberpress is currently the best WordPress membership plugin. You can convert your website to a membership website, without any hassle. It has all the features you need to create a powerful membership website.
This plugin is also very easy to use. You need to configure your payment page and products only with this plugin after installing it.
It is very easy to integrate this plugin with other services like PayPal and MailChimp. You can connect it to third-party plugins like LearnDash to create the perfect online learning website. The pricing for Memberpress starts from $119/year. There are many different plans available for this plugin.
2. Teachable (https://teachable.com/)
Teachable is perfect for creating online courses. It is an all-in-one platform where you can create and publish beautiful courses. You can easily integrate it into your already existing website or you can host it on a Teachable sub-domain,
Teachable has a very powerful editor. You can use it to create stunning landing pages. Thus, you can convert your visitors to members easily. Also, there is a separate section of marketing tools on this website. To improve your sales you can use these marketing tools. You can create coupon codes to boost your sales. It also allows you to host your own affiliate program.
3. Restrict content pro (https://restrictcontentpro.com/)
Restrict content pro lets you create a fully functional membership website. There are many built-in integrations available like PayPal, Stripe, and MailChimp available with this plugin. You have to pay for such integrations in other WordPress membership plugins.
The pricing starts from $99/year for a single site license. You can also buy a $ 499 lifetime package from them.
4. S2Member (https://s2member.com/)
S2Member is another very famous WordPress membership plugin. It comes packed with a lot of features. Thus, it is actually hard to get used to its interface. There are so many features, thus its interface is a little messy. But, this plugin is great once you get used to its interface.
The best thing about S2Member is that they provide a free basic plugin. You can use this basic plugin for small websites. There are many limitations on a basic plugin like you can only integrate it into PayPal. To remove these integrations, you can buy a single site license for $99.
5. aMemberPro (https://www.amember.com/)
aMemberPro is another WordPress membership plugin that comes packed with a lot of features. It is not actually a WordPress plugin. But, it is actually software made using PHP which you can integrate with your WordPress website.
This plugin lets you create a membership website and manage it easily. You can also run an affiliate program using this. If you are creating a website to sell digital products, then this plugin is perfect for you. You can get it for $180 for a single website.
6. LearnDash (https://www.learndash.com/)
LearnDash is similar to Teachable. It allows you to create and sell online courses. You can create a website like Udemy and sell your own online courses.
There are different ways to sell your course:
- Membership: You can provide access to all your content.
- You can also let users buy a specific course only. This can boost your sales, as most of the people are looking for a specific course.
You can buy a LearnDash license for $199 per year.
7. WooCommerce Membership (https://woocommerce.com/products/woocommerce-memberships/)
WooCommerce lets you restrict your website content to registered users only. If you want to try selling memberships on your website, then you should try this plugin.
If you are already using WooCommerce, then you must use this plugin for creating a membership website. The main reason for this is that it will be very easy to integrate this plugin with your website. You can provide special discount offers to your premium users.
You can buy a WooCommerce license for $149 per year.
8. Ultimate Member (https://ultimatemember.com/)
Ultimate Member is a lightweight plugin that can easily turn your website into a membership website. It is available for free, thus you can use it for your small websites.
There are more than 15 add-ons available with this plugin. You don’t need to pay for Google reCaptcha and online users. But you have to pay a little fee for using the other 13 add-ons available.
9. MemberMouse (https://membermouse.com/)
MemberMouse lets you create a separate password-protected area on your website. You can provide premium content to your paid members in this area. The rest of the website can be accessed by free users.
This is perfect when you have to provide some software or premium content to your members. This WordPress membership plugin is also available for free.
10. Wishlist (https://member.wishlistproducts.com/)
Wishlist is another premium membership plugin. It lets you create powerful membership websites in minutes.
You can use this plugin to control memberships at different levels. This plugin is perfect if you want more control over your membership options. It is available for $150 for one year.
These were all the best WordPress membership plugins in 2023. According to me, MemberPress is currently the best WordPress membership plugin available. It also depends on your needs. If you are looking to create a website similar to Udemy, then LearnDash is perfect for you.
You can also try the free options which we have included in this list. They are not powerful as other options. But, they will be good for normal small websites.