MemberPress: the ultimate membership plugin for WordPress

WordPress as CMS has many plugins available in its market which can transform your website into a membership platform. Many of these plugins are highly rated and also provide a ton of value for money too.

Also, almost all of these plugins need time and money investment in order to be set it up and used to their full potential. In such cases, it becomes important to understand what your needs are and which plugin fulfills them the most.

In today’s article, we will cover features and USP points about ‘MemberPress’ and give you a clear picture of whether it is ideal for you or not. We will also highlight the key features of MemberPress to help you understand what sets it apart.

Fundamentals of membership website

In order to build a membership website, it is important to have some of the fundamental features which will help you make your system complete, easy to use, and feature-rich. Advanced membership tools are essential for managing unlimited memberships, supporting multiple tiers, and scaling your site as your community grows.

At this point, we will provide you with a list of these fundamental features, which will further help you to select the ideal membership plugin for you.

Pages and Feature unlock after purchasing the plan:

One of the important reasons why people opt-in to buy a membership is the reward of unlocking exclusive content. At the very basic, the membership plugin should have an easy-to-use and well-integrated interface to make website content exclusive for the membership level.

A customizable registration form is essential for onboarding new members and providing a seamless experience when accessing exclusive content.

Availability of various stages of membership level and validity:

Having membership plans with different validity (e.g. Yearly, monthly, quarterly, etc.) gives people more choices to choose from, hence helping you increase your conversion rate.

In a similar manner, having different levels of membership like basic, premium, and ultra provides users with more flexibility in the selection of exclusive content and hence increases the per-user spending on your website.

MemberPress allows you to create different membership tiers, including unlimited membership levels, so you can structure your site with as many plans as you need. The Plus plan is ideal for growing businesses that require advanced features, more integrations, and the ability to manage multiple membership tiers efficiently.

Due to this reason, it is important that the membership plugin provides the flexibility to incorporate these features on your website.

User Dashboard:

After membership purchase, it is important to provide the user control over membership. Points like membership cancellation, payment method change, upgrade membership (if available), change membership plan and overall statistics related to membership are important to provide to the user.

Effective member management is crucial for administrators to oversee member details and subscriptions directly from the dashboard.

Arranging all these points in a single dashboard helps you to improve user experience and eventually contributes to user satisfaction. It is thus important to select a plugin that has a feature-rich user dashboard. Following is an example of a user dashboard for MemberPress made using Elementor.

Different types of product support:

On any website, membership could provide different types of content as output, e.g. Netflix provides membership to watch exclusive video content, and Amazon provides membership for faster delivery as well as streaming of exclusive content.

The content can range from physical products to digital streaming, and thus it is important that the plugin should have a different workflow in order to incorporate the maximum type of content.

Integration with page builder:

One of the important aspects of any membership website is its UI/UX. The overall look and feel of the website can make a huge impact on conversion rate, and hence it is important that the membership pages provided by the plugin are easily editable.

The proper integration of the plugin with page builders like Elementor, Gutenberg, and Divi can further help you streamline the designing of membership pages. Any membership plugin which is deeply integrated with any of the mentioned page builders will have a clear advantage over other membership plugins.

MemberPress integrates seamlessly with popular WordPress page builders, ensuring smooth setup and customization.

Transactional and update emails:

At every point in membership, notification to the user is important as it keeps the user updated and increases user interaction. It is therefore important to select a membership plugin that provides inbuilt automatic email functionality that is easy to use and flexible.

MemberPress also allows integration with popular email marketing services to automate reminders, notifications, and improve member engagement.

MemberPress Features

After going through the important features of any membership website, let’s see what MemberPress has to offer and decide whether it is the ideal membership plugin for us or not.

The MemberPress offer includes a range of MemberPress plans, each with different features and pricing to suit various types of membership site owners. MemberPress pricing is focused on premium features and does not include a free version, so there is no free plan available.

One key benefit is that MemberPress does not charge transaction fees on any plan. MemberPress supports multiple payment gateways, third-party plugins, and integrations, making it highly flexible.

With MemberPress, you can sell memberships and sell courses directly from your WordPress website. It enables you to easily build your own membership site or a fully-featured MemberPress site.

MemberPress is also recognized as one of the most popular WordPress membership plugins available.

Easy to set up:

Setting up MemberPress just needs installation and activation of the plugin. After installing, make sure to click the blue Activate Plugin button to complete the activation process.

To use MemberPress to set up your membership site on your WordPress website, MemberPress provides all the required pages and settings, and the only thing required from our end is to make different membership levels and set up payment to start selling our memberships.

The memberships menu in the WordPress dashboard allows you to access and configure membership levels. Within the membership options window, you can find tabs for customizing registration, permissions, and pricing.

When setting up membership plans, you can enable recurring payment options for ongoing billing. You can also offer free trials to attract new members. Additionally, configuring memberships rules helps control access and engagement.

It has among the easiest setup process for any membership plugin available for WordPress.

Full control on access restriction:

Using MemberPress, you can restrict posts, pages, custom post types or any type of file available on your website.

The area in which MemberPress takes the access restriction to a whole new level is it can even restrict specific parts of a page or post to make it members only. MemberPress is among the very few membership plugins which provide this level of access control for your content.

You can also override global settings to customize access permissions for individual pages or posts.

Deeply integrated with Elementor:

MemberPress is very well integrated with Elementor for design changes of plugin features. Using Elementor, you can edit all the MemberPress pages, manage access restrictions for each page, make a specific template for MemberPress pages, and use exclusive MemberPress Elementor widgets.

Since Elementor is among the biggest and most used page builders available on WordPress, this integration of MemberPress with Elementor provides the plugin with a very big edge over the competition.

All-round Subscription Management:

Like any subscription management system, MemberPress allows users to update, upgrade or cancel their subscription directly from the website.

It also ensures that automatic billing is processed at the payment gateway’s end; this ensures that cancellation from the user end, either from the website or from the payment gateway provider, will revoke user access from the membership, providing you with peace of mind that no user has access to membership without paying.

Easy-to-use user dashboard:

The dashboard provided by MemberPress by default for users has all the fields required related to membership; they are also arranged in a simple but effective way.

The MemberPress dashboard allows administrators to manage existing members and their subscriptions efficiently. One of the main USPs of MemberPress is the amount of control the user has regarding their membership.

This feature increases user trust in your product and website, hence increasing recurring renewals from existing customers. The MemberPress dashboard can also be customized using Elementor for both users and admins, making it ideal for a wide range of people.

Highly customizable:

One of the main USPs of MemberPress is that it is highly customizable. From customization of pages to compatibility with a wide range of membership content, MemberPress provides total freedom to us to change it in whatever way we want.

This feature makes it desirable to a wide range of crowds and hence making it among the top membership plugin available for WordPress.

MemberPress Security and Reliability

When it comes to running a successful membership site, security and reliability are absolutely essential. MemberPress stands out as a robust WordPress membership plugin that puts the safety of your membership website and your members’ data at the forefront.

Whether you’re selling online courses, managing multiple membership levels, or building a thriving membership business, MemberPress offers a comprehensive suite of security features designed to protect your WordPress site from unauthorized access and potential threats.

One of the core features of MemberPress is its secure payment processing. The plugin integrates seamlessly with trusted payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, and Authorize.net, ensuring that every transaction on your membership site is encrypted and protected.

This means you can confidently accept recurring payments, one-time payments, and even limit payment cycles, all while providing your members with multiple payment methods for maximum convenience.

MemberPress also makes it easy to create membership levels and manage content access with just a few clicks. You can set up flexible payment plans, offer lifetime access, or configure subscription renewals to suit your membership business model.

The plugin’s advanced content access rules allow you to restrict pages, posts, or even specific sections of your site, ensuring that only registered users or members at the right membership level can view your premium content.

Reliability is another area where MemberPress excels. The MemberPress team is dedicated to providing regular software updates and security patches, so your WordPress membership plugin is always up-to-date and protected against vulnerabilities.

Their customer support is responsive and knowledgeable, ready to assist you with any questions or issues that may arise as you manage memberships and grow your site.

For online course creators and anyone looking to sell online courses or memberships, MemberPress offers subscription management tools that make it easy to track member activity, handle subscription renewals, and manage access to your online course content.

The plugin is built to handle high volumes of traffic and unlimited members, making it the perfect membership plugin for both new and established membership sites.

In summary, MemberPress offers a secure, reliable, and feature-rich solution for anyone looking to build a successful membership site on WordPress.

With its strong security measures, flexible payment options, and outstanding customer support, MemberPress is the ideal choice for managing your membership website, selling online courses, and ensuring a seamless experience for your members.

If you’re searching for the best WordPress membership plugin to power your membership business, MemberPress is a top contender that delivers on both security and reliability.

MemberPress Alternatives

MemberPress is an excellent choice for WordPress websites. But if you are not satisfied with its features, there are a few other MemberPress alternatives too. These alternatives offer almost similar functionality and services as MemberPress. You can give them a try before making any decision.

When comparing entry-level options, the basic plan of each plugin, including the MemberPress Basic plan, typically provides essential features suitable for beginners or those on a budget, but may have limitations compared to higher-tier plans.

Be sure to review what is included and excluded in each basic plan to find the best fit for your needs.

Here’s the list of the most popular alternatives that I would recommend trying out: 

• WishList Member: A powerful WordPress membership plugin that seamlessly integrates with LMS platforms to protect and manage course content.
• MemberMouse: A flexible membership management plugin for WordPress that offers advanced automation, checkout, and content protection features.
• AccessAlly: A comprehensive membership and LMS plugin designed for course creators, offering deep CRM integration and gamification.
• Restrict Content Pro: A powerful content restriction plugin for WordPress, offering features like payment gateways, built-in integrations, and customizable emails.
• LearnDash: A WordPress LMS plugin, LearnDash is designed for creating and selling online courses, offering features like course builder, quizzes, certificates, and content dripping.
• WooCommerce Memberships: An extension for WooCommerce, this plugin enables selling memberships and restricting content access, integrating seamlessly with the popular eCommerce platform.
• Ultimate Membership Pro: A WordPress membership plugin, Ultimate Membership Pro provides features like multi-level access, content dripping, and payment gateways, allowing for versatile membership site creation.
• LifterLMS: A user-friendly, open-source WordPress LMS plugin for creating and selling engaging online courses, featuring drag-and-drop course building, multimedia support, secure content management, and seamless integration with popular themes and e-commerce platforms.

In my humble opinion, MemberPress is a great plugin that will meet all your needs. But at the same time, other plugins like OptinMonster, can do the job. But, keep in mind that every plugin has its own benefits and limitations. So make sure you explore every aspect of these MemberPress alternatives. 

If you are on the fence about MemberPress, feel free to give these alternatives a try to decide for yourself!

Wrapping things up

There are many great membership plugins available for WordPress. Every plugin has its own USP, and these are the points that give that plugin a unique identity.

In a similar manner, MemberPress also has many positive points, which makes it special. MemberPress makes it easy to offer both paid and free memberships, allowing organizations to create flexible access levels and content gating options to suit different user needs.

We hope we were able to help you today by deciding whether the MemberPress plugin is ideal for you or not. For any help or suggestions, you can reach out using our contact us page.

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