MemberPress Review: Is it Worth Your Money in 2024?

Thinking of using MemberPress for your membership website?

MemberPress is a popular plugin that comes with plenty of features and a support for a number of addons.

But, is it right for your membership business?

In this MemberPress review, we’ll give you a comprehensive breakdown of what’s good, what’s not so good and what could be better.

We cover:

• What qualities set a membership plugin apart
• Do those features exist in MemberPress?
• How simple is it to get started with MemberPress?
• What we think about MemberPress

As the company behind the SureMembers plugin, we know a thing or two about building membership websites.

We’ll use that knowledge for your benefit here.

What To Look For in a Membership Plugin

When searching for the perfect membership plugin, keep these key essentials in mind,

A membership plugin should have:

• Content dripping: Provide content based on a schedule you set.
• Content expiration: Let you control how long members can access specific content.
• Membership management: Make it simple to cancel, pause or modify memberships.
• Discounts and coupons: Offer discounts, coupons or gifts to both existing and new members.
• Flexible payment plans: Provide flexible payment plans such as partial or recurring payments.
• Easy payments: Give you the option to offer multiple payment methods to suit a wider audience.
• Email integration: Work smoothly with popular email services.
• Customization: Allow you to customize the checkout process and essential pages.
• Ease of use: Be easy to work with for anyone regardless of experience.

Considering these essentials, let’s explore whether MemberPress is the best WordPress membership plugin or not.

MemberPress Overview

MemberPress is a robust membership plugin used widely across the internet.

It excels at handling core functions like content protection, access control, and subscription management.

With just a few clicks, you can set rules to manage content access and decide who sees what and when.

Whether you prefer partial protection, a paywall, or members-only, it’s easy to configure from within the plugin.

It provides full control over where members can go, what they see and when.

You can direct them to a custom dashboard for upgrades, downgrades, subscription pauses, or self-administration of accounts.

You also get built-in email notifications that allow you to create automated messages. Useful for essential tasks such as subscription renewals, credit card expiry, or cart abandonment.

What really stands out about MemberPress is its adaptability.

If you want a straightforward membership management solution, the built-in features are sufficient. If you need more advanced features, the plugin has you covered with tons of addons and integrations.

What People Say About MemberPress

Having been around for over a decade, MemberPress is one of the industry’s most seasoned players.

Let’s see what real users are saying about it.

Here are a couple of reviews from TrustPilot and GetApp:

Review 1 (GetApp)

Review 2 (GetApp)

Review 3 (Trustpilot)

Review 4 (Trustpilot)

That’s what other people think of MemberPress, now let’s share what we think!

MemberPress Features

Here are some key features of MemberPress :

• Create unlimited members and courses
• Flexible content dripping
• Easy to manage subscriptions
• Create coupons to boost sales
• Customize access rules based on your needs
• Built-in support for PayPal, Stripe and Authorize.net
• Reminder management
• Build your own affiliate program
• Built-in tool to handle taxes

As you can see, the plugin has the core features most business needs to run a membership website.

Need some food for thought for your next membership website? We have some amazing ideas that work:

• 30+ membership site examples that created devoted fans
• 14 Best membership website ideas for your business in 2024

How To Use MemberPress

Now we’re a little more familiar with MemberPress, let’s explore how simple it is to set up on a WordPress website.

If you’re a beginner, this section will also guide you through how to get started with MemberPress.

Install and Activate the Plugin

Once you sign up, you can download the plugin (in zip file format) from your user dashboard.

Once the plugin file has downloaded, it’s time to install it on your WordPress site.

Log in to your WordPress admin area and navigate to the plugin menu.

Click on the Add New Plugin menu item, then hit the Upload Plugin button at the top.

In the middle of the page, you’ll find the Choose File button.

Click on it and select the MemberPress.zip file you downloaded.

Once you’ve chosen the file from your computer, hit the Install Now button to proceed.

Then hit the blue Activate Plugin button.

On the MemberPress Settings page, head to the License tab to enter and activate your license. This ensures you receive the latest updates each time they are released.

Note: You’ll find the license key inside your MemberPress dashboard.

That’s the basic plugin installation complete. Let’s now set things up.

Set Up a Payment Method

Before adding memberships to your website, it’s crucial to configure the payment methods.

To set up payments, go to the Payments tab within the Settings menu.

You’ll find the Add Payment Method option next to a ‘+’ button. Click on it to explore the available options.

You will see a few options to choose from:

• Stripe
• Offline
• PayPal
• Authorize.net

Each payment method comes with its own specific set of options.

When you choose a method, you’ll need to add its name for internal processing and provide the necessary information.

For instance, if you opt for Stripe, you’ll need to give it a name and select a couple of options.

After that, hit the Connect with Stripe button on the right to link your website with the payment gateway.

A wizard will appear that walks you through the rest of the process.

Once you’re done, click the Update button to save your new payment method.

The settings area includes other tabs where you can input business information or integrate external services.

For example, in the General tab, you can choose currency defaults and configure some SEO options.

Note: When there’s a significant update in MemberPress, it’s highlighted with a red New label.

For instance, when writing this review, we noticed a new option in the Taxes tab called Enable Stripe Tax.

This fresh feature assists in automatically calculating tax when you have Stripe payments enabled.

Set Up Membership Levels

Once you’ve finished configuring the payment method, the next step is to create membership levels.

To do this, click on the Memberships menu in the left sidebar. This action will take you to the membership management area.

Click the Add New button at the top to open the membership editor.

MemberPress uses WordPress default functionality, so this editor resembles a page editor.

Add a title and description and proceed to the Membership Terms widget in the right sidebar.

The widget enables you to set a price for the membership.

Once you input the price, it opens up the Billing Type option. You’ll see a dropdown menu for selecting either a one-time or recurring payment.

If you opt for a recurring payment, you’ll see a few additional choices, such as:

• Interval – Set weekly, monthly, yearly or custom payment intervals.
• Trial Period – Specify the number of days for the trial period, set the price or choose to keep it free.
• Allow Only One Trial – Limit members to a single trial.
• Limit Payment Cycles – Allow users to make a specified number of payments before their subscription expires or provide them with lifetime access.

After you’ve set the price, you might want to tailor the membership options.

Scroll down to locate the Membership Options window, which displays four tabs: Registration, Permission, Price Box, and Advanced.

You can customize a number of things here such as:

• Registration button text
• Thank you page message
• Welcome email members will receive after they sign up
• Payment methods
• Who can sign up for the membership
• Price box
• Membership access URL
• Login redirect URL

If you wish to include a featured image for this membership, you can do so from the sidebar.

Once everything is in order, click the Publish button to make the membership level live.

Create Rules for Memberships

Rules give you the power to determine how members engage with your content.

To achieve this, click on Rules in the left sidebar. This action will open the rules management page.

Click the Add New button at the top to create a new rule.

After the title screen, you’ll encounter three widgets: Content & Access, Drip/Expiration, and Unauthorized Access.

Content & Access allows you to:

• Choose the type of content you want to protect. It could be a post/page, category, tag, a group or entire content.
• Set the access restriction based on conditions.

Drip/Expiration includes the option to:

• Choose how you want to release content. Include a period after a member registers, a specific date, or after a member makes a purchase.
• Specify when you want the content to expire: after a member registers, on a specific date, or after a member makes a purchase.

Unauthorized Access empowers you to override global settings for handling unauthorized access to content protected by any particular rule.

Addons and Integrations

MemberPress seamlessly integrates with a variety of third-party services and plugins.

For instance, if your target audience includes WeChat users, you can enable payments through the China Payments Plugin addon.

If you’re switching to MemberPress from another plugin and need to import existing members, the native importer plugin can help.

Simply navigate to the Add-ons page and click the Install Add-on button within your desired widget to install it.

MemberPress Pricing

MemberPress provides four plans designed to cater to various audiences.

The Basic plan, suitable for a single website, is priced at $359 per year.

This plan is ideal for solopreneurs. It allows you to manage unlimited members, memberships, and restrict content according to your preferences.

However, if you need advanced features such as content dripping, multiple coaches, Taxjar integration, or order bumps, you’ll need a higher-tier plan.

Here’s a summary of the MemberPress plans:

MemberPress Review: Our Experience

MemberPress has a long-standing presence that makes it a reliable choice for many membership business requirements.

Whether you’re selling courses, podcasts, or exclusive content, the plugin handles it all.

One standout feature is its user-friendly setup which makes it accessible for beginners with no prior experience.

You won’t find yourself grappling with complex tasks like connecting payment methods or creating rules and groups – MemberPress streamlines the entire setup process.

It sounds like a perfect solution, but there are areas we think need attention. We are in 2024 with more diverse needs than ever before.

Today, it’s more about simplicity, modern features, customization and great user experience.

With MemberPress, you have to rely on addons and third-party plugins for additional features.

Tasks such as generating a PDF invoice, incorporating a captcha feature, or enabling members to download content may require separate addons.

Unfortunately, many addons add database tables which can gradually increase the database size over time.

This, in turn, adds to the effort required to maintain an optimized database.

If you ever decide to remove MemberPress, it might require expert assistance to uninstall the base plugin and addons and remove the database tables they added.

We would also like the freedom to customize member areas and forms to better align with individual needs and use payment methods of our choice.

MemberPress: The Pros

The things we like about MemberPress include:

• Easy to set up
• No transaction fees or monthly fee
• Built-in tax handling
• Tons of customizable email templates
• Comprehensive reporting to monitor everything
• Segment memberships with groups
• Highly flexible content dripping and expiration modules
• Responsive customer support

MemberPress: The Cons

There are a couple of things MemberPress could do better in our opinion:

• It gets pricer with more features
• Essential features like forums and order bumps are only available with more expensive plans
• Popular payment gateways such are Mollie or Razorpay are missing
• Lack of customization features keeps your branding needs unfulfilled

Comparing MemberPress With SureMembers

Membership businesses have no shortage of solutions as there are plenty of good WordPress membership plugins out there.

Let’s spice up our MemberPress review by comparing it side by side with a worthy alternative. This will give you a better idea of how MemberPress stacks up.

Let’s introduce SureMembers!

SureMembers

This new premium WordPress membership plugin has quickly gained a following.

SureMembers comes packed with features like creating content paywalls, drip feeding content, and managing membership levels.

It offers plenty of customization options to fulfill your branding needs.

Plus, it’s fully compatible with popular page builders like Elementor, Spectra and others which gives you extra wings.

It’s a great fit for any membership business, and it gets extra support from its two companions: SureTriggers and SureCart.

Now let’s expand our comparison!

Our objective is to find out whether MemberPress ticks all the essential feature boxes. We’ll also assess the same for its rival.

Curious how SureMembers works? Here’s an in-depth review that explains everything.

Is MemberPress for You?

MemberPress is a reliable, feature-packed plugin that gets the job done.

Its core functionality is effective in most scenarios, and for additional needs, there’s a wide range of addons and integrations.

You can create access groups and rules however you want to protect your content.

The basic version is a good fit for small businesses. But if you need advanced features like community-building, you’ll need to upgrade to a pricier plan.

This might be a deal breaker, especially if you’re looking for complete customization, stylish design, and various payment options.

If you’re seeking a membership plugin that fulfills all your requirements at less than half the price of MemberPress, consider SureMembers.

If you want to see how SureMembers can create a fully functional membership site, this video is a great resource.

What’s your choice for a membership plugin on your website? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.