Top 5 WordPress Membership Plugins in 2023

Nowadays, the blogging business is on buzz, especially, since people often show interest to start membership sites.

By launching a similar site, you can offer premium content, create an exclusive community, or sell premium products or services.

WordPress membership plugins greatly reduced the hectic development process. As content creators seek innovative ways to connect with their users, starting a membership site becomes essential.

Membership plugins for WordPress have a plethora of features — from subscription management to content restriction.

Not only this, you can integrate e-commerce functionality with user management capability to your membership site.

In this blog post, I help you find a reliable WordPress membership plugin that will empower you to take your website to new heights.

What is a Membership Site and Criteria to Find the Best Plugin?

A membership site is more or less like a regular blog or website with restricted access to its content.

You have to become a member by subscribing to their packages to gain full content access. Forums, E-learning platforms, and Community websites are a few examples.

WordPress membership plugins help bloggers or website owners to create exclusive, tailored content for their audiences.

There are certain criteria to look after before choosing the right membership plugin for WordPress.

1. Assess the plugin’s features and functions including content restriction level, membership levels, content protection, and payment options.
2. Ensure the plugin facilitates you with easy to use interface for both administrators and users.
3. Membership plugins must support several payment gateway(s) to attract and retain members.
4. Check their security and data-protection level, preventive measures, SSL support, and compatibility with other plugins.
5. Make sure the plugin must be optimized for superior performance.
6. Finally, check for available customer support channels and extensive documentation for easy integration.

Be careful in evaluating each WordPress membership plugin based on the above criteria to meet your goals and requirements.

Top 5 WordPress Membership Plugins of 2023

Join me on this insightful journey of evaluating each plugin and finding the best one that matches your requirements. By the end of this guide, you will be equipped with knowledge on selecting the right plugin.

1. MemberPress

MemberPress WordPress membership plugin is one of the feature-rich and comprehensive plugins.

It empowers you to create and manage membership subscriptions with ease.

This membership plugin comes with a powerful learning management system (LMS) that lets you launch an online academy without extra cost.

If you are a blogger, you can restrict access to premium content with their content restriction options.

You can restrict access to specific posts, pages, or custom content types.

Pros and Cons of using MemberPress Plugin:

Pros:

• Easy Setup — All you can do is buy the plugin, and upload the zip file to the WordPress plugins directory. With a few mouse clicks, you can complete the setup including prices, user accounts, and marketing pages.
• Diverse Content Restriction — You can restrict access to various content types like pages, posts, content sections, etc.
• LMS Feature — Without extra cost, you can activate the LMS feature with payment gateway integration.

Cons:

• Limited Custom Styling — They have a few pre-build templates for regular use and customizing the look and feel requires additional coding.
• Higher Pricing — The basic plan itself starts from $179 per year and is relatively expensive for smaller websites.

Pricing: Basic starts from $179.50 per year, $299.50 per year for Plus, and $399.50 per year for Pro pack.

2. Restrict Content Pro

The next membership plugin for WordPress in my list is Restrict Content Pro — known for its simplicity.

A flexible user interface allows website owners to easily create and manage membership subscriptions.

Additionally, you can create membership levels, coupon codes, limit sharing passwords, and raise invoices as well.

One prime notable feature is you can even give free trials to your members.

Pros and Cons of using Restrict Content Pro Plugin

Pros:

• User-Friendly Interface — allows you a hassle-free setup and management.
• Multiple Payment Gateway Support — offers more payment options for secure transactions.
• Reporting and Data Export — provides comprehensive reporting tools.

Cons:

• Limited Content Dripping — is less when compared to other plugins.
• Advanced Add-Ons Require Purchase — to enable additional member features.

Pricing: $99 per year for a single site, $149 per year for 5 sites, and $249 per year for unlimited sites.

3. Ultimate Member

Yet, another versatile WordPress membership plugin that caters to several bloggers is Ultimate Member.

It is the most user-friendly plugin suitable for online communities, membership sites, and user profile management.

You can easily develop membership sites with its convenient shortcodes and power drag-and-drop site builder.

Now, create powerful, customizable user profiles and allow them to personalize their profiles.

Finally, restrict content based on membership levels, offering privacy and exclusivity to specific user groups.

Pros and Cons of Using Ultimate Member

Pros:

• Robust User Profile Customization — provides a wide range of customizable profile fields (~ 50 fields).
• Frontend User Registration and Login — streamline the registration and login process for members.
• Extensive Integration — seamlessly integrates with other popular plugins for extended functionality.

Cons:

• Limited Membership Features — shorten the membership handling needs.
• Dependency on Add-ons — greatly reduces access to advanced features.
• Support for Complex Websites — is much lesser, and it requires other paid add-ons.

Pricing: You can install the free version. Extensions Pass plan at $249 per year.

4. Thrive Apprentice

Thrive Apprentice is a unique WordPress Membership plugin specifically designed for online course builders.

You can easily develop engaging and professional course lessons and modules with its user-friendly interface.

Thrive Apprentice offers extensive features and options for content restriction based on membership levels.

Therefore, you can charge your members based on the content levels and membership levels.

Pros and Cons of using Thrive Apprentice

Pros:

• Intuitive Course Creation — makes it easy for instructors, coaches, and trainers to create and structure their online courses.
• Content Restriction for Members – ensure privacy and exclusivity for enrolled students based on their membership levels.
• Content Dripping — let you unlock content at consistent intervals for members.

Cons:

• Course-Only Focus — is mainly tailored for creating online courses making it not suitable for diverse membership site needs.
• Limited Advanced Features — lack some advanced options, unlike other WordPress membership plugins.

Pricing: $149 per year for a single site.

5. MemberMouse

Finally, the most robust and sophisticated feature-packed WordPress membership plugin is MemberMouse.

MemberMouse caters to several needs of membership sites, online courses, and subscription-based businesses.

Their comprehensive system allows you to create various membership levels, control content access, and handle subscription billing seamlessly.

Pros and Cons of using MemberMouse Plugin

Pros:

• Flexible Membership Levels — allows you to create multiple membership levels with unique access privileges.
• Easy Content Restriction — offers straightforward options and makes it simple to protect and deliver exclusive content.
• Advanced Reporting and Analytics — enables you to track key metrics and optimize campaigns.

Cons:

• Learning Curve — is more complex for beginners and require advanced learning skill.
• Integration Limitations — require some custom development or additional workarounds.

Pricing: Basic plan at $199.50 (regular price $399) per year, Plus plan is suitable for businesses starting at $299.50 per year. The pro plan is suitable for the perfect membership site cost you $399.50 per year and the Elite plan cost you $1199.50 per year.

Also Read

• 5 Top-rated WordPress Backup Plugins
• Best WordPress Page Builder Plugins

Conclusion

In the fast-paced online landscape, content creators come up with new forms of providing exclusive content.

And thus WordPress membership plugins have emerged as essential tools for those website owners.

If you plan to create a thriving online community to offer premium content, try any of these membership plugins.

With the right plugin, you can unlock the potential to foster user experiences and sustainable revenue growth.