A membership site is really four jobs at once: restricting content, handling payments and subscriptions, managing member levels, and making sure a paying member never gets locked out. When any one of them breaks, it’s an urgent email from the client.
Rachelle Wise’s take set the tone for part of this thread: she’s used several membership plugins and they all feel “kind of janky and crusty.” Even so, a few clear favorites emerged, along with some honest frustrations.
This post is a summary of a Tuesday Toolbox discussion inside The Admin Bar community, where agency owners shared their go-to WordPress membership plugins and what influenced their choices.
The Most Mentioned Membership Plugins
These came up repeatedly in the discussion:
A number of other tools came up as well (we’ll get to those).
Why Agencies Choose These Membership Plugins
MemberPress
The most-used option, with a pricing question mark.
MemberPress was the most mentioned plugin overall, and several members have used it for years. The reasons are practical: it handles courses, and it’s easy to set up.
“Easy to set up and great support.”
Traci Kay Dostalek
Traci runs it with the courses add-on on multiple sites. Gary Sorensen has used MemberPress for years, originally alongside LearnDash and BuddyBoss, but has since dropped LearnDash thanks to MemberPress courses, and is now looking at the MemberPress directory feature. Glenn Michael Topping picked it for a rush project where the client also wanted courses. The client needed multi-tier memberships, a corporate account with three access levels for training, content, and posting, which took custom PHP and JS to build and is “still a bit messy to manage.” Rachelle Wise uses it too and says it’s working out.
Jason Greenlees uses the Growth plan after many years, and put it plainly: “Support is excellent but you pay for it.”
The most significant comment came from Vanessa Dillon, who started on MemberPress when its plans were cost-effective and covered extras like courses. She says the pricing has since become “unsustainable.” Her sites are on a grandfathered plan, which means monitoring some plugins for updates manually, and moving to current plans would be far too expensive for her smaller clients. She called it a “ticking time bomb.” Take that as one member’s experience, and check current pricing before quoting a client.
Best fit: agencies building course-plus-membership sites who have the budget for it, or who are already on an older plan.
Paid Memberships Pro
Paid Memberships Pro was the most praised for support, and the one people said they enjoy working with.
Several members named it as their preference after trying others.
“It’s got a good feature set, is highly customizable and I’ve always appreciated their support staff.”
Patrick Boehner
Patrick tried Restrict Content Pro and MemberPress too, and also likes that PMPro is still run by the people who created it, who are open about their journey. Cheryl Microutsicos prefers it to MemberPress and notes it costs less, and that support is great. Johnno Read called the support excellent. Jennifer Moss, who has a multi-site license, said she’s had “ups and downs with the software” but the support is really good, with lots of code snippets available for those who can use them.
Alex Celeste’s agency uses PMPro for pure membership sites, and adds a custom plugin of site-specific extensions on every build. They also use Users Insights and its User Groups taxonomy to organize members beyond what the levels allow, such as board members or interests.
Two caveats came up. Cheryl noted that both PMPro and MemberPress require more customization than they should, such as reminder emails for subscriptions that should be native but often need snippets. Jennifer said PMPro has moved to a hosted model, or is trying to push it, which she flagged as a change to watch.
Best fit: agencies who value responsive support and a highly customizable plugin, and who are comfortable adding snippets.
SureMembers
The natural pick for SureCart shops.
SureMembers came up from five members, and almost every mention included SureCart.
“I’m liking SureMembers… it works so well, simple to implement, and pairs with SureCart great.”
Rob Marlbrough
Keith Mason pairs it with SureCart. Scott Gingrich says it works great with SureCart and SureDash. Vojkan Cvijanovic called it “solid” and also called WishList Member “ok.” Andrew Peters uses it and built a small custom plugin so visibility can be handled more easily in Beaver Builder’s conditional settings, and uses WP Fusion when the work is mainly CRM.
Best fit: agencies already building with SureCart who want membership that fits cleanly into that stack.
Woo Memberships
The pick when the site is already WooCommerce.
Nazar Hotsa uses WooCommerce Memberships. Alex Celeste’s agency uses PMPro on pure membership sites, but on the one site that also has eCommerce they chose Woo Memberships and Subscriptions. Haley Brown uses the free Groups plugin, which works with Woo, and called it “free and no fuss.”
Best fit: agencies with eCommerce-heavy sites that need membership and subscriptions to work inside WooCommerce.
FluentCommunity
The community-first option from the Fluent ecosystem.
Scott Macon named FluentCommunity as his pick. Mark Peters runs FluentCommunity and FluentCart, with NibWP to configure and manage it all. It stands out in this thread because it’s a community platform, not just content restriction.
Best fit: agencies already in the Fluent ecosystem who want membership and community in the same system.
Notable Mentions
These also came up in the thread:
- Restrict Content Pro: Dan Boyden finds it much more lightweight than MemberPress, simple to use, and great with BuddyBoss or BuddyPress. Patrick Boehner has used it too.
- s2Member: Johnno Read’s longest-running membership site uses it and is almost 14 years old, “overall hassle free”
- MembershipWorks: David Bishop has used it for years with its WordPress plugin. By his account it’s free under 50 members with limited features and $35 per month for all features up to 300 members, with more for larger sites. Verify current pricing.
- Groups: Haley Brown’s free, no-fuss pick that works with Woo
- AR Member: Samantha La Deaux’s current go-to, chosen because it’s easy to set up and easy for the client to manage
- WishList Member: Vojkan Cvijanovic called it “ok”
- WP Fusion: Andrew Peters uses it when the work is mainly CRM
- Users Insights: Alex Celeste uses it for a better user listing, with User Groups for organizing members
- Memberium, BuddyBoss, and MemberPress together: Patrick Gallagher’s tongue-in-cheek advice was to run all three at once, “if and only if you’ve completely forgotten why at least two of them were installed in the first place.” On a WooCommerce multisite, no less.
Patterns We Noticed
A few things stood out across the thread:
- Support quality is the deciding factor. PMPro’s and MemberPress’s support came up repeatedly, with members valuing responsive answers more than extra features. For a tool that breaks in front of paying members, that makes sense.
- Pricing is a live concern. Vanessa Dillon’s MemberPress experience and Jason Greenlees’s comment that you “pay for” the support both point to cost as a real factor for agencies with several small clients.
- Customization is almost always required. Glenn, Alex, Cheryl, Jennifer, and Andrew all described custom code, snippets, or supporting plugins. Even the favorites rarely work out of the box for a real client.
- Ecosystems are driving choices. SureMembers pairs with SureCart. FluentCommunity sits with FluentCart. Woo Memberships goes with Woo. Many choices are about fitting the stack you already have.
- Courses and community are blurring into membership. Gary dropped LearnDash for MemberPress courses, Glenn’s client wanted courses, and FluentCommunity is a community tool in its own right.
- Longevity matters. Johnno’s 14-year-old s2Member site and members who’ve used MemberPress or PMPro for years show that once a membership site is running, nobody wants to migrate it.
- Nobody is excited. Rachelle’s “janky and crusty” comment and her thought of building her own, and Glenn’s idea of building a MemberPress extension, hint at a category where the tools work but few people love them.
- Hosted models are a trend to watch. Jennifer’s comment that PMPro is moving toward a hosted model is worth monitoring if you’ve bought multi-site licenses.
How to Choose the Right Membership Plugin
These questions can help narrow it down:
- Is it a pure membership site, or does it include eCommerce, courses, or community features?
- Which stack are you already in: Woo, SureCart, Fluent, BuddyBoss?
- How many membership levels and access rules do you need? Will you need custom code for the complex ones?
- How good is the vendor’s support, and how much does it matter on this project?
- What does the full cost look like per site, per year, and what happens at renewal?
- Do you need CRM or automation integrations, such as WP Fusion?
- Is the plugin independent and actively developed, or has the model changed?
- Will the client be managing members themselves? How easy is it for them?
Frequently Asked Questions About WordPress Membership Plugins
What is the best WordPress membership plugin? MemberPress was the most-used in this community, with Paid Memberships Pro, SureMembers, and WooCommerce Memberships also well represented. Paid Memberships Pro was the one members said they most enjoyed working with, largely because of its support.
MemberPress or Paid Memberships Pro? Members who have used both and gave a preference favored Paid Memberships Pro, citing lower cost, customization, and support. MemberPress has built-in courses and a directory feature that keep some people on it. One member raised concerns about MemberPress pricing, so check current plans.
What’s the best membership plugin for WooCommerce? WooCommerce Memberships, with Subscriptions, was used on eCommerce-heavy sites. The free Groups plugin was also suggested as a no-fuss option that works with Woo.
What’s the best membership plugin if I use SureCart? SureMembers. Several members pair it with SureCart, and described it as simple to implement and a good fit.
Is there a free WordPress membership plugin? Groups was recommended as free and no fuss. MembershipWorks has a free tier for under 50 members with limited features, according to one member. s2Member, available on WordPress.org, was also mentioned by a user who has run a membership site on it for nearly 14 years.
Can I build a membership site with courses and community in one plugin? It’s increasingly possible. MemberPress has courses and a directory feature, and FluentCommunity is a community platform. Others still combine membership with LearnDash or BuddyBoss. One member’s multi-plugin setup was a joke, but plugin sprawl is real, so decide what each plugin is for.
Kyle Van Deusen
After spending 15 years as a graphic designer and earning a business degree, I launched my agency, OGAL Web Design, in 2017. A year later, after finding the amazing community around WordPress, I co-found The Admin Bar, which has grown to become the #1 community for WordPress professionals. I'm a husband and proud father of three, and a resident of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Use of AI: AI helps me outline, research, catch typos, and find better words & phrases. I take full personal responsibility for all my published content (the good, the bad, and the em dashed).
