WordPress Membership Plugin Review: Simple WordPress Membership and Top 3 Alternatives

establishMember SitesA great approach for businesses and content creators looking to cash in on their knowledge and build communities, WordPress offers a rich selection of plugins to help users easily set up and manage membership features, with the Simple WordPress Membership It is a popular plugin known for its simplicity and usefulness.

Simple WordPress Membership Plugin

Simple WordPress Membership is a lightweight membership plugin that allows users to create different levels of membership and restrict non-members from accessing specific content (including posts and pages). Whether you are a beginner or a user with some technical background, you can easily use this plugin to create a website with full membership features.

core functionality

1. Unlimited Membership Levels: UsersMultiple membership levels can be set up as needed, e.g. silver, gold, platinum, etc.

2. content protection: Specific posts and pages can be restricted from being accessed by non-members.

3. Payment Integration Functions: Built-in PayPal and Stripe support for one-time or recurring payments without additional plugins.

4. Free vs. Paid Membership: Allow to enable/disable free membership registration, as well as provide email activation and confirmation.

5. Membership Management: Supports whitelisting/blacklisting features to manually manage members.

6. Multi-language support: Built-in multi-language functionality for global users.

vantage

• Built-in payment methods: Support for PayPal and Stripe reduces the hassle of installing additional plugins.
• easy operation: The dashboard design is similar to WooCommerce and very easy to get started.
• Multi-language support: A website suitable for different language environments.
• Member Profile Front End Display: Users can view and edit their membership information.

drawbacks

• Functional limitations: It is not possible to restrict access to products or to hide specific parts of a page or post.
• Insufficient scalability: Despite supporting both free and paid add-ons, the overall functionality is relatively basic.

population (esp. of a group of people)

Ideal for small businesses or beginners who wish to create a membership site in a simple way, especially if you need a built-in payment gateway.

prices

Simple WordPress Membership plugin is completely free.

6 Tips for Choosing the Best Membership Plugin

The following points are especially important when choosing a membership plug-in:

1. functional requirement: Define the features that are needed, such as content restrictions, drip content distribution, member directories, etc.
2. usability: Choose plug-ins that have an intuitive interface and are easy to set up.
3. compatibility: Make sure the plugin is compatible with your version of WordPress and other plugins.
4. Updates & Support: Prefer plugins with frequent updates and technical support.
5. scalability: Consider whether the plugin can scale as the size of the membership site grows.
6. quality-price ratio: Consider the price and functionality of the plug-in together to choose the best value solution.

Top 3 Best Alternatives to Simple WordPress Membership Plugin

Below are 3 alternative plugins that are more feature-rich or designed for the needs of premium members:

1. AovUp Membership Plugin

AovUp Membership is a powerful premium membership plugin that supports creating unlimited membership levels and restricting specific content on your website. Its user-friendly dashboard and diverse restriction rules make it an ideal alternative to Simple WordPress Membership.

core functionality

• Supports the creation of member-only discounts, such as product discounts for specific membership levels.
• Allows batch import of members via CSV file.
• Members can access content immediately or unlock it incrementally based on a set amount of time.
• Provides 3 different content restriction modes to hide specific parts of pages, posts.
• User roles can be automatically assigned based on active and inactive status.

vantage

• Provides a rich content restriction model.
• Supports the Restrictions and Discounts feature for WooCommerce products.
• The dashboard provides detailed membership statistics.

drawbacks

• No built-in payment methods, but supports the WooCommerce payment extension.

population (esp. of a group of people)

Ideal for users who want to offer premium memberships within their WooCommerce store.

prices

249/year for single-site use.

2. WP-Members plugin

WP-Members is a free membership plugin for users who need basic membership features. Although not as feature-rich as other premium plugins, it is easy to use and ideal for newbies.

core functionality

• Multiple membership levels are supported.
• Limit posts, pages and custom post types.
• Customize the registration form fields.
• More than 120 action and filter hooks are provided for easy plug-in personalization.

vantage

• Support for customizing article types.
• Provides administrator registration notification function.

drawbacks

• Lack of built-in payment options.
• It is not possible to restrict parts of a page or post.

population (esp. of a group of people)

Ideal for users who wish to create simple membership sites.

prices

Totally free.

3. WooCommerce Membership Plugin

WooCommerce Memberships It is a premium membership plugin for e-commerce users that allows you to restrict product and page access, while offering exclusive member discounts and delivery options.

core functionality

• Set up member-only product discounts and delivery options.
• Gradually release content to members according to a schedule.
• Allows import and export of member data.

vantage

• Provide flexible content distribution strategies.
• Supports WooCommerce product and order management.
• Offers advanced member tiering and benefit settings.

drawbacks

• Advanced restriction rule setup is relatively complex.
• Additional plugins need to be installed to enable recurring payments.

population (esp. of a group of people)

Ideal for organizations looking to build membership functionality within a WooCommerce environment.

prices

199 dollars/year.

summarize

Simple WordPress Membership is a lightweight WordPress plugin designed for membership sites, offering unlimited membership levels, content protection and payment integration for beginners and small businesses. While simple in functionality, for more complex needs, the option of AovUp Membership,WP-Members maybe WooCommerce MembershipsThese plugins offer richer membership management features and scalability for sites of different sizes.