In continuation to our previous blog where we dealt with creating a Membership website on WordPress, we thought it would be wise to discuss now, some of the popular website plugins to run your membership websites.

A membership website is viewed as a sort of online community featuring gated information that can only access and make use of its members. As the Saas market is booming there are plenty of online membership systems or business models that are evolving. It’s not only limited to traditional membership with privileges, but also with several other elements like features based, just cost based, volume based and many more.

Nowadays, the membership system is very much interested in eLearning & LMS websites. eCommerce membership websites are growing fast. WooCommerce based membership advantages are providing an edge to WordPress based membership development ecosystem. Marketplace website membership systems are allowing the aggregator websites built good in industries like tours & travel aggregator, ecommerce aggregator, real estate aggregator, payment solution aggregators etc..

The membership website is a better source of additional and recurring income for businesses, individuals with niche ideas, clubs, and associations.

Here’s a curated list of Top 60 Membership Website Ideas and Inspirations. You must have a look!

Following are some of the best examples for Membership Websites:

To develop such a website for content restriction based on membership, you need to use dedicated website plugins to make it viable. Here we provide a comparison of the top 3 membership website plugins – Paid Memberships Pro (PMPro), Memberpress, BuddyBoss.

Paid Memberships Pro

Being open-source software, Paid Memberships Pro provides all the tools needed to develop and manage a membership website. The Paid Memberships Pro is designed for premium content websites, newsletters, and many more. With Paid Memberships Pro plugin, you can restrict your user access to the members-only content.

You can add different levels of content for different tiers of membership users. While checking out to your membership website, users are allowed to choose their membership tier as per their interests. The Paid Memberships Pro provides your users with front-end user registration and front-end user login.

The significant features of the Paid Memberships Pro include the following:

Content Restrictions

• Restrict Default Content: The plugin enables you to provide only the excerpt of your content or to hide the content completely.
• Restrict Custom Post Types: You can also restrict your users to access some additional content such as forums, videos, products, etc.
• Restrict Single Pages: The plugin allows your members to access individual content or make a single purchase at a flat price.
• Personalized Content: You can provide your members with the custom page for direct communication.

Membership Management

• Unlimited Levels: The plugin allows you to provide users with different levels of membership to access different types of content. It also enables members to hold more than one membership account.
• Multi-tiered Membership: The plugin offers individual memberships by linking with the child’s accounts.
• Offline Communities: The plugin allows you to set up a membership site to process dues from an offline community.
• Member Email Communications: It helps you customize all your messages sent to the members.

Integrations

The Paid Memberships Pro enables the integration with other WordPress plugins. Here are some of the popular integration plugins:

• WooCommers
• Zapier
• Mailchimp
• Social media profiles
• Members-only events

Payment Gateway Integrations: The Paid Membership Pro provides the option to integrate with a wide range of payment gateways:

• Stripe
• PayPal
• Braintree
• 2Checkout
• Authorize.net

Also Read

How Tutor LMS features help to build a membership based LMS website?

MemberPress

MemberPress is a full-stack plugin suitable for WordPress websites. By using MemberPress, you can develop powerful membership websites that can integrate with popular WordPress plugins such as Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, and more. It also enables integrations with other third-party services such as forums and social communities.

The main purpose of the MemberPress plugin is to use it on websites that sell digital products. It also allows your members to download digital products without any hassles. The plugin helps you create and manage your member subscriptions and restrict your members’ access to content and other materials based on the membership levels.

Here are some important features of the MemberPress:

• Content Restrictions: MemberPress provides you with powerful control over your content by restricting your members’ access to videos, posts, pages, and more.
• Coupons and Promotions: The plugin allows you to generate customized coupon and promotion codes. You can also decide on the coupon expiry date and the number of users.
• Community Forums: You can develop password-protected community forums and integrate with WordPress forum plugins such as BBPress.
• Customized Pricing Pages: MemberPress enables you to create dynamic and customized pricing pages as it requires no CSS and HTML coding.
• Content Dripping: The plugin ensures the timely release of the content and sets content access expiry.
• Easy Affiliate Program: MemberPress provides Easy Affiliate that enables small business owners to increase their business revenue through affiliate programs.
• Seamless Integrations: MemberPress’ integration with WordPress plugins and payment gateways enables you to enjoy more features.

Here’s an interesting case study that deals with WordPress Custom Membership Website Using Memberpress.

BuddyBoss

BuddyBoss is open-source software that enables you to develop a powerful social networking website. BuddyBoss is a platform suitable for online communities, non-profit organizations, online schools, and more. BuddyBoss is flexible enough to control and manage an online business without any hassles when compared to SaaS platforms.

While using BuddyBoss to build your membership website, you have the ultimate freedom to use existing free and premium plugins. Following are some of the significant features of BuddyBoss:

Member Profiles

Being an online community membership website plugin, BuddyBoss enables its users to edit their profiles. Under the member profiles, you can have the following:

• Custom Profile Types: you can create and manage various types of profiles and set different rules for different profiles.
• Custom Profile Fields: It allows your members to share their details and you can display their information based on the profile types.
• Profile Permissions and Rules: It helps you provide your members with extra profile fields.

Membership Management

You can charge your members based on a subscription or one-time purchase. The membership allows your users to access courses, products, and more.

• One-time Purchase: BuddyBoss enables you to sell your content or community at a one-time purchase.
• Subscriptions: The plugin provides users access to content or community based on the subscription method. It helps you generate a recurring revenue stream.
• Course: The BuddyBoss allows you to sell courses by creating the course and setting a price.

Create Online Courses

By integrating with LearnDash Learning Management System, BuddyBoss helps you create and share online courses with your members from your WordPress platform.

Following are some of the important inclusions:

• Assignment Management
• Advanced-Quizzing
• Drip Feed Content
• Lesson Timers
• Course Points
• Course Reporting
• Social Learning
• Certificates

Integrations

BuddyBoss integration with more than a hundred WordPress plugins and other software provides unlimited possibilities for you to increase your revenue and build a membership community.

Also Read

How To Create A WordPress Membership Website?

Tables of Comparison

WordPress offers plenty of membership plugins to grow your business. Choosing the right WordPress membership website plugin is not easy as most plugins provide a variety of features. Therefore, here we provide a comparison of three WordPress membership website plugins that helps you choose the most suitable one for your business.

MEMBERSHIP FEATURES

Features	PMPro	MemberPress	BuddyBoss
Application Management	Available	Not Available	Not Available
Automatic Renewals	Not Available	Available	Available
Dues Management	Not Available	Available	Available
Member Directory	Available	Not Available	Available
Member Database	Available	Available	Available
Member Types	Available	Available	Available

CONTENT RESTRICTION FEATURES

Features	PMPro	MemberPress	BuddyBoss
Content Protection	Available	Available	Available
Download Protection	Available	Available	Available
Drip Content	Available	Available	Available
Pay Per Post	Available	Not Available	Not Available

PAYMENT INTEGRATION FEATURES

Features	PMPro	MemberPress	BuddyBoss
PayPal	Available	Available	Available
Paypal Pro	Available	Available	Available
Stripe	Available	Available	Available
2Checkout	Available	Not Available	Not Available
Braintree	Available	Not Available	Not Available
Authorize.net	Available	Available	Available

EMAIL & OTHER INTEGRATION FEATURES

Features	PMPro	MemberPress	BuddyBoss
MailChimp	Available	Available	Not Available
ActiveCampaign	Available	Available	Not Available
WooCommerce	Available	Not Available	Available
GetResponse	Available	Available	Not Available
Constant Contact	Available	Available	Not Available
Zapier	Available	Available	Not Available
Social Media Profiles	Available	Available	Available
FluentCRM	Available	Available	Available
AWeber	Available	Available	Not Available
LearnDash	Available	Available	Available
Affiliate Program	Available	Available	Available

PRICING FEATURES

Features	PMPro	MemberPress	BuddyBoss
Free Version	Available	Not Available	Not Available
Free Trial	Not Available	Not Available	Not Available
Yearly Payment	$297/yr	$99/yr	$228/yr

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Membership Website Development Services

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In Conclusion

Overall, the membership based web application business model is growing exponentially in the pandemic and stay with businesses, as it gives lots of flexibility to the end customers. All three plugins discussed here are sufficiently enough to power your membership website with great ease. Businesses are also investing significantly on digital marketing to pull traffic to their membership websites.

A glance at the tables of comparison might suggest PMPro to be the clear winner among the other plugins in terms of features and pricing. BuddyBoss is another useful plugin with several positive user reviews on the internet. However, if analyzed closely, MemberPress offers a full suite of features for you to handle your membership websites at a much lower cost.

We sincerely hope that this blog will help you create a custom membership website.

If you need help in creating or marketing your membership website, our team at ColorWhistle can help you build a full-fledged website with all the marketing elements in mind. We will employ the latest technology and integrations to build a scalable membership website. Get in touch or call +1 (210) 787-3600 our experts today!

You can post questions on various membership website plugins and how to integrate it on your website in the comment box below. We’ll love to talk more about it!