How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Rankite is independent; if a vendor ever pays for a featured spot, that listing is clearly labeled Partner.
Key takeaways
- If you already run WordPress, MemberPress (Launch from $399/year) and Kadence Memberships let you sell memberships on your own site with no platform lock-in, but read the fee fine print: MemberPress adds a 4.9% transaction fee on its cheapest plan.
- For creators who want to launch fast with no upfront cost, Patreon charges nothing monthly and takes a 10% platform fee from new creators, while Memberful charges $49/month plus 4.9% per transaction.
- Community-first platforms cost more per month but bundle discussion, courses, and events: Mighty Networks starts at $79/month and Circle at $89/month (annual billing), and both offer 14-day free trials.
- Wild Apricot ($63/month) is the pick for associations and nonprofits that need a member database, event registration, and dues collection in one place, backed by a 60-day free trial.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 MemberPress | WordPress site owners selling memberships, courses, and coaching | $399/year (Launch; renews at $399) | Free trial (14-day money-back guarantee) |
 Memberful | Creators and publishers who want full ownership of brand and payments | $49/month (Standard; plus 4.9% transaction fee) | Free trial (free to build until you go live) |
 Kadence Memberships | WordPress users who want memberships bundled with design and site tools | See website | Yes |
 Mighty Networks | Community-led memberships where discussion drives retention | $79/month (Launch; plus 2% transaction fee) | Free trial (14 days) |
 Circle | Creators who want community, courses, and email in one branded platform | $89/month (Professional, billed annually; plus 2% transaction fee) | Free trial (14 days) |
 Wild Apricot | Associations, clubs, and nonprofits managing members, events, and dues | $63/month (100 contacts plan) | Free trial (60 days) |
 Patreon | Creators with an existing audience who want zero upfront cost | $0 (free to join; 10% platform fee on earnings) | Yes |
 Kajabi | Experts selling premium courses, coaching, and memberships from one dashboard | $179/month (Basic; $143/month billed annually) | Free trial (14 days) |
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
The best membership website software
#1
MemberPress
Best for: WordPress site owners selling memberships, courses, and coaching
Visit memberpress.com
Starting price$399/year (Launch; renews at $399)
Free planFree trial (14-day money-back guarantee)
MemberPress is the most established way to turn a WordPress site into a membership business. You install it like any plugin, create membership levels, and protect posts, pages, files, or downloads behind them. The built-in courses add-on gives you a drag-and-drop curriculum builder with quizzes and certificates, and higher plans add CoachKit for coaching programs and ClubSuite for forums and member directories. If your audience already finds you through your own site, this keeps everything under your roof.
The pricing deserves a close read. The Launch plan is advertised with a 50% first-year discount ($199.50), but it renews at $399/year and tacks on a 4.9% fee per payment, which quietly becomes expensive once revenue grows. Growth ($699/year) drops the fee to zero and adds PayPal, content dripping, and community features. For a small blog testing paid memberships, Launch is fine. For a real revenue stream, budget for Growth.
What we like- Works inside WordPress, so you keep your site and your data
- Higher plans add courses, coaching (CoachKit), and community (ClubSuite) features
- Unlimited members and memberships on every plan
Watch out for- Launch plan adds a 4.9% transaction fee on every payment
- Each license covers a single site, so a second site means a second purchase
#2
Memberful
Best for: Creators and publishers who want full ownership of brand and payments
Visit memberful.com
Starting price$49/month (Standard; plus 4.9% transaction fee)
Free planFree trial (free to build until you go live)
Memberful is built for creators who refuse to rent space on someone else's platform. Your checkout, member accounts, and landing pages all live on your domain with your branding, and members pay into your own Stripe account, so you keep control of the money flow. It handles subscriptions, one-time payments, group plans, and private podcast feeds, and it plugs into WordPress, Discord, and email tools without much fuss.
Here is the honest cost math: $49/month plus 4.9% of every transaction, plus Stripe's own processing cut. At $10,000 in monthly revenue, that comes to roughly $539 before Stripe fees. That beats a 10% revenue share, but it also means Memberful only makes sense once you have real volume. The upside is that you can build everything for free and pay nothing until you start accepting payments.
What we like- Every page carries your brand on your own domain
- Payments flow through your own Stripe account
- Works with WordPress, newsletters, podcasts, and Discord
Watch out for- The 4.9% transaction fee stacks on top of Stripe processing
- A single Standard plan means no cheaper tier for low-revenue creators
Starting priceSee website
Free planYes
If you knew this product as Restrict Content Pro, that name is gone. It has been folded into Kadence Memberships and now ships inside the Kadence add-ons bundle alongside security, backups, and WooCommerce tools. What you get is the same core job: gate content by membership level, sell recurring subscriptions, and drip lessons on a schedule, all inside WordPress with 30-plus integrations for email and marketing tools.
The bundle approach is both the appeal and the catch. If you already build on the Kadence theme, getting memberships, security, and backups in one subscription is efficient. If you only want a membership plugin, you are buying a bigger package than you need, and the pricing page makes you work to find the number. A free version is available on WordPress.org, so you can test the content restriction basics before paying anything.
What we like- Unlimited membership levels and drip content schedules
- Now bundled with the wider Kadence toolkit (security, backups, WooCommerce tools)
- A natural fit for existing Kadence theme users
Watch out for- Sold as part of the Kadence Pro/Elite bundle rather than a standalone plugin
- Pricing is not published on a simple per-plan page
Starting price$79/month (Launch; plus 2% transaction fee)
Free planFree trial (14 days)
Mighty Networks bets that engagement is what keeps members paying, and it builds everything around that idea. Your members get real native mobile apps rather than a mobile website in a wrapper, and you can mix paid spaces, courses, live events, and challenges inside one network. The structure, monthly themes, weekly events, daily questions, is designed to keep people coming back and creating content themselves instead of you chasing them with email.
Pricing starts at $79/month on Launch with a 2% transaction fee, then jumps to $179 on Scale and $354 on Growth, where you also get migration support and advanced automations. A fully branded app of your own lives on Mighty Pro with custom pricing. If your membership is really a community with content attached, Mighty is purpose-built for that. If you mainly sell courses with a quiet forum on the side, you may be paying for engagement machinery you will never use.
What we like- Native iOS and Android apps that members actually open
- Courses, events, and paid spaces in one network
- 14-day trial with no credit card required
Watch out for- Transaction fees on lower plans add up as revenue grows
- The plan ladder climbs steeply from $79 to $179 to $354 per month
#5
Circle
Best for: Creators who want community, courses, and email in one branded platform
Visit circle.so
Starting price$89/month (Professional, billed annually; plus 2% transaction fee)
Free planFree trial (14 days)
Circle is the all-in-one answer for people who do not want to stitch together a forum, a course platform, and an email tool. Discussions, courses, live events, payments, and email broadcasts live in one dashboard, and everything carries your brand instead of the platform's. The AI features, agents that answer member questions, automated onboarding, and moderation workflows, are genuinely useful for a solo creator who cannot hire a community manager.
The price conversation needs the fine print. The $89/month Professional plan is the annual-billing price, and every plan adds a transaction fee (2% on Professional, dropping as you scale) on top of Stripe's cut. Circle Plus, with fully branded apps, is custom-quoted. Start on Professional, model your real cost at your actual revenue level, and upgrade only when the automations on Business save you real time.
What we like- Courses, events, payments, and email marketing under your own brand
- AI tools and automations for onboarding and moderation
- Branded mobile apps available on Circle Plus
Watch out for- All published prices assume annual billing, and monthly billing costs more
- Transaction fees apply on top of Stripe processing
#6
Wild Apricot
Best for: Associations, clubs, and nonprofits managing members, events, and dues
Visit wildapricot.com
Starting price$63/month (100 contacts plan)
Free planFree trial (60 days)
Wild Apricot is the odd one out on this list, and that is its strength. It is built for associations, chambers, clubs, and nonprofits, not for online creators. You get a member database with self-service profiles, dues billing with automatic renewals, event registration with payment processing, a website builder, and email campaigns, all designed for teams of volunteers rather than marketing departments. The company says more than 15,000 organizations run on the platform.
Pricing is contact-based: $63/month covers up to 100 contacts, and tiers climb from there, so a growing list raises your bill. The generous 60-day trial with onboarding coaching gives you real time to migrate data and train volunteers before paying. If your "membership" means dues-paying members and in-person events, this is the most complete option here. If it means selling video courses, look elsewhere.
What we like- Member database, event registration, email, website builder, and payments in one system
- 60-day free trial with onboarding coaches and no credit card required
- Built for volunteer-run organizations
Watch out for- Pricing scales by contact count, so costs rise as your list grows
- Less suited to creators selling courses or content subscriptions
#7
Patreon
Best for: Creators with an existing audience who want zero upfront cost
Visit patreon.com
Starting price$0 (free to join; 10% platform fee on earnings)
Free planYes
Patreon remains the simplest way to start charging for your work: create a page, set tiers, and share the link. There is no monthly subscription, no site to maintain, and millions of patrons already know how the model works, which removes friction for podcasters, artists, writers, and video creators. For new creators, Patreon takes a flat 10% platform fee plus payment processing, so your cost is zero until money comes in.
That simplicity has a ceiling. At meaningful revenue, 10% plus processing is one of the most expensive ways to take payments, and creators who joined before August 2025 kept lower legacy rates that new signups cannot get. You also build on rented land: your members, your page design, and your checkout all belong to Patreon's ecosystem. Use Patreon to validate demand fast, then run the numbers on moving to a platform you control once revenue is real.
What we like- No monthly fee, you pay only when you earn
- A built-in audience that already understands memberships
- Handles payments, tier management, and patron communication
Watch out for- The 10% platform fee plus processing is steep at scale
- Your business lives on Patreon's platform and terms, not your own site
#8
Kajabi
Best for: Experts selling premium courses, coaching, and memberships from one dashboard
Visit kajabi.com
Starting price$179/month (Basic; $143/month billed annually)
Free planFree trial (14 days)
Kajabi is the premium all-in-one for knowledge businesses. You build courses, membership areas, coaching programs, podcasts, and newsletters inside one dashboard, with email marketing and sales funnels included instead of bolted on. It is designed for people selling high-ticket programs, and the pitch is that replacing five or six separate tools justifies the monthly bill.
The bill is the conversation. Basic starts at $179/month ($143 on annual billing), Growth at $249/month, and Pro at $499/month, after a January 2026 price restructure that drew complaints because existing customers were not grandfathered. Basic caps you at 5 products and 2,500 contacts, so a growing email list pushes you toward Growth quickly. There is a 14-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee, so test it with a real product before committing.
What we like- Courses, memberships, email marketing, funnels, and payments in one system
- No platform transaction fees on Kajabi Payments
- Strong for premium-priced programs
Watch out for- One of the priciest options here, and the January 2026 restructure raised prices without grandfathering
- Contact and product limits can force early upgrades
How we chose
Our method was document-based, not hands-on. We checked each vendor's own pricing page and homepage for current plans, fees, and trial terms, and we recorded the exact address-bar URL of every site. We compared feature lists and public documentation covering memberships, payments, community tools, and content protection. We read public reviews on G2, Capterra, and Trustpilot, plus creator discussions on Reddit, to find the complaints vendors do not advertise, such as transaction-fee stacking and unannounced price restructures. We weighted the total cost of ownership, subscription plus platform fees plus payment processing, not just the headline monthly price. We did not run free trials ourselves or take vendor demos for this roundup, so treat this as researched analysis rather than tested experience.
The two paths to a membership site
Every tool on this list sits on one of two foundations, and the choice matters more than the feature list.
The WordPress path (MemberPress, Kadence Memberships) means you own the site, the data, and the checkout experience. You pay for hosting and a plugin license, and no platform can change your fees or terms overnight. The tradeoff is that you are the IT department: updates, backups, security, and payment gateway setup are your job, or your developer's.
The hosted path (Memberful, Mighty Networks, Circle, Wild Apricot, Patreon, Kajabi) means someone else handles the servers, the checkout, and the uptime. You launch faster and you never touch a plugin update. The tradeoff is recurring cost and, on some platforms, a percentage of your revenue plus less control over the member experience.
A practical rule: if your site already earns traffic and you have (or can hire) basic WordPress help, the plugin path usually wins on long-term cost. If you want to be selling by next week with no technical setup, pick a hosted platform and accept the higher monthly bill as the price of speed.
How to choose: five questions that narrow the list
Do you already have a website with an audience?
If yes, a WordPress plugin like MemberPress or Kadence Memberships monetizes what you have without asking your audience to move. If you are starting from zero, a hosted platform gives you landing pages, checkout, and member accounts out of the box.
What is your real cost per dollar collected?
Add the subscription, the platform's transaction fee, and the payment processor's cut together. A $49/month plan with 4.9% fees can cost more than a $179/month plan with no platform fee once you pass a few thousand dollars in monthly revenue. Model it at your expected revenue, not at zero.
Is the membership about content, community, or administration?
Content libraries and courses point to MemberPress, Kajabi, or Memberful. Discussion-driven communities point to Mighty Networks or Circle. Dues, events, and directories for a formal organization point to Wild Apricot. Buying a community platform to host static courses (or vice versa) wastes money.
Who owns the customer relationship?
Memberful, MemberPress, and Kadence Memberships keep payments and data on your own accounts and domain. Patreon keeps the relationship inside its ecosystem. The middle options (Mighty Networks, Circle, Kajabi) brand the experience as yours but still run on their infrastructure. The more your membership is your main business, the more ownership matters.
What happens when you outgrow the plan?
Check three things before you commit: how the price changes at the next tier, whether transaction fees drop or stay flat, and how you export your member list and content. Platforms make money when switching is painful, so confirm the exit path while you are still deciding, not after you are locked in.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest way to start a membership website?
Patreon is the cheapest to start because there is no monthly fee; you pay a 10% platform fee only when you earn. If you already have WordPress hosting, Kadence Memberships offers a free version on WordPress.org, and MemberPress's Launch plan costs $199.50 for the first year (renews at $399). Factor in transaction fees before calling anything cheap, since a free start with high per-payment fees can cost more than a paid plan within months.
How do platform transaction fees actually work?
A transaction fee is a percentage the platform takes from every payment your members make, on top of the payment processor's own cut. For example, Memberful charges 4.9% plus Stripe's processing fee, and Mighty Networks charges 2% on its Launch plan. These fees apply per transaction, so they scale with your revenue. Plans with higher monthly prices often reduce or remove the fee, which is why the "cheap" plan is not always the cheap option.
Can I sell annual memberships as well as monthly ones?
Yes, on every platform listed here. MemberPress, Memberful, Mighty Networks, Circle, Wild Apricot, Patreon, and Kajabi all support monthly, annual, and one-time payment options. Annual plans usually improve your cash flow and reduce churn, and most platforms let you offer a discount for paying yearly. Check whether the platform's transaction fee applies equally to annual charges, since a large yearly payment makes the percentage more noticeable.
Will I need technical skills to run a membership site?
It depends on the path. Hosted platforms like Circle, Mighty Networks, Patreon, and Kajabi need no technical skills; you configure everything in a dashboard. WordPress plugins like MemberPress and Kadence Memberships assume you can install a plugin, connect a payment gateway, and keep the site updated. If that sounds like a weekend project you would rather skip, the hosted route is worth the higher monthly cost.
Can I move my members to a different platform later?
Usually yes, but the effort varies. Member lists, subscription records, and payment tokens can generally be exported, and most platforms document a migration process. The painful part is payment data: moving active subscriptions often requires members to re-enter payment details, which causes churn. Before choosing, ask the vendor exactly what exports are available and whether subscription billing transfers without member action.
Sources we checked (16)
- https://memberpress.com
- https://memberpress.com/plans/pricing/
- https://memberful.com/
- https://memberful.com/pricing
- https://restrictcontentpro.com/
- https://wildapricot.com/
- https://www.mightynetworks.com/pricing
- https://mightynetworks.com/
- https://circle.so/
- https://circle.so/blog/best-membership-platforms
- https://patreon.com/
- https://kajabi.com
- https://www.capterra.com/p/76116/Wild-Apricot/pricing/
- https://www.clickfunnels.com/blog/kajabi-pricing/
- https://www.ruzuku.com/learn/articles/patreon-pricing
- https://www.wpbeginner.com/opinion/5-best-wordpress-membership-plugins-compared/comment-page-1/
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has spent more than a decade helping SaaS and e-commerce brands grow through search. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.