A membership website is the most important tool when building your coaching business or selling your online courses. You already know how easy it is to build, customize and maintain a site using WordPress, so let’s look at some of the top WordPress plugins for managing a membership website. 

1. Restrict Content Pro

The first tool is Restrict Content Pro and it is a favorite for many reasons. It was created way back in 2010 and was the first solution of its kind for gating member content on a WordPress site. Restrict Content Pro supports all types of gated content and has a wide selection of add-ons and 3rd party integrations from big names like MailChimp. Restrict Content Pro has a variety of pricing levels, but best of all is a lifetime one-time-payment option which gives you access to all future updates and add-ons.

RestrictContentPro.com is a long-time favorite that suits the needs of most people starting their online coaching website. Here's what they had to say about their product:  

"Restrict Content Pro was designed to provide a complete membership management system that gave site administrators a clean, simple way to restrict content to paid subscribers and collect payments from paying customers. While Restrict Content Pro has never strived to provide every feature under the sun, it does aim to provide all of the fundamentals and much more in a clear, concise, and easy to use platform."

2. Member Press

Member Press is another popular choice for gating your content on a WordPress site. They offer a good amount of integrations and features, including coupons and gated community forums. Member Press takes privacy and security very seriously and provides easy to access member support. Member Press offers three different yearly tiers that suit beginners and pros alike.

MemberPress.com is The “All-In-One” Membership Plugin for WordPress:

3. LearnDash

LearnDash is one of the top options for online courses and gated membership websites. Learners can earn certificates, points and badges as they complete courses and with built in gamification like that, you know your customers will enjoy taking your courses. While LearnDash caters to online learning through courses and quizzes, the features are still fully functional for gating membership access to whatever content you’re looking to sell.

LearnDash.com is one of the top plugins for online courses:

"Easily create & sell courses, deliver quizzes, award certificates, manage users, download reports, and so much more! By using LearnDash you have access to the latest e-learning industry trends for creating robust learning experiences. After your course is complete then it’s time to start selling! LearnDash’s suite of tools will allow you to not just sell courses but to build a thriving business selling courses."

4. Simple Membership

Sometimes all you need is a simple solution like an email capture or one paid level of membership access. In this case, Simple Membership is a great no-frills option that lets you start your membership website quickly and easily. Simple Membership is a free WordPress plugin with enough features and secure payment processing to get you started with selling your content online. 

Simple Membership is a free WordPress plugin that uses PayPal, Stripe or Braintree payment options.

"A flexible, well-supported, and easy-to-use WordPress membership plugin for offering free and premium content from your WordPress site. You will be able to protect your content (tutorials, videos, e-books, courses) behind a membership login and start charging users to access it. Simple membership lets you selectively protect your articles/posts/pages by creating various membership access levels (example: Free, Silver, Gold etc.) and protect the content (posts, pages) of your site."

Whatever WordPress plugin you choose for your membership website, make sure your website is running smoothly with Work Hero. Sign up for a plan here and let us take care of the maintenance.