# MemberPress

> WordPress plugin for paid memberships, courses and communities

MemberPress is a WordPress plugin that turns your own site into a membership business. It puts pages, posts and files behind a paywall, sells one-time and recurring memberships, and adds a course builder, quizzes, coaching programs, forums and a member directory. It is sold as a yearly license for one site, and the cheapest plan takes a fee on each payment.

- **Category:** Courses & Communities
- **Made by:** Caseproof, LLC
- **Website:** https://memberpress.com
- **Runs on:** Web
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 17, 2026

## Pricing

MemberPress is a paid product, starting at $399 per year at renewal, after a first year for $199.50.

- **Pricing model:** Paid
- **Free plan:** None.
- **Free trial:** None listed.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Launch | $399 per year at renewal, after a first year for $199.50 | $199.50 the first year. One site, unlimited members and courses, Stripe only, 25,000 AI credits. MemberPress takes a 4.9% fee on each payment. |
| Growth | $699 per year at renewal, after a first year for $349.50 | $349.50 the first year. No transaction fee, PayPal and Square, forums and member directory, CoachKit, quizzes, certificates, dripping, 50,000 AI credits. |
| Scale | $999 per year at renewal, after a first year for $499.50 | $499.50 the first year. REST API and webhooks, Zapier, Easy Affiliate, direct messaging, gradebook, corporate accounts, Authorize.net, 100,000 AI credits. |

Read from https://memberpress.com/plans/pricing/ on Oct 17, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with MemberPress before buying.

## Ways to pay less

- **Half price for the first year** (Other savings): The pricing page sells the first year of Launch at $199.50, Growth at $349.50 and Scale at $499.50; renewals are at the full $399, $699 and $999. Source: https://memberpress.com/plans/pricing/
- **Introductory price for life for nonprofits** (Nonprofit): Qualifying nonprofits keep the introductory price at every renewal, which MemberPress describes as up to 50% off all plan levels. Source: https://memberpress.com/memberpress-for-nonprofits/

## Key features

- **Paywall and content rules:** Smart Rules protect pages, posts, custom post types, categories, tags, files or parts of a page by membership; dripping content on a schedule needs Growth.
- **Memberships and checkout:** Unlimited one-time and recurring memberships with upgrades, downgrades and pausing, coupons, a multi-item cart and a self-serve member dashboard.
- **Courses and quizzes:** A drag-and-drop curriculum builder for unlimited courses and lessons; quizzes, assignments and certificates come with Growth.
- **AI Course Generator:** Describe a course and AI drafts the sections, lessons and quiz questions, using a yearly allowance of AI credits that grows with the plan.
- **ClubSuite community:** Forums and private groups called Circles, member profiles and a searchable directory on Growth, with direct messaging added on Scale.
- **CoachKit coaching:** Run coaching programs with unlimited coaches, clients and cohorts, milestone and habit tracking, and dashboards for coaches and clients.

## Good for

- Site owners who want to sell memberships on their own WordPress site
- Paywalled content, courses and coaching under one login
- Builders who want to own their member data and pick their own host

## Worth knowing

- MemberPress needs a WordPress site. Each plan covers one site activation, staging sites included; up to 15 more are sold as separate yearly subscriptions.
- Launch takes 4.9% of every payment and accepts Stripe only; Growth and Scale drop the fee, though Stripe or PayPal charges still apply.
- First-year prices are half the list price, and every plan renews at full price: $399, $699 or $999 a year.
- Forums, coaching and quizzes start on Growth; Zapier, the REST API and webhooks, and affiliates need Scale.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 1.8 out of 4**, graded Oct 17, 2026. MemberPress puts a paywall, memberships, courses, coaching and forums on your own WordPress site, and the member data stays with you. Growth is the plan to buy: $699 a year at renewal with no fee on sales, half that in year one. But it needs WordPress and hosting, and there's no free version or trial.

- **Value for money: C.** Launch is $399 a year at renewal plus 4.9% of every payment, about $131 a month at $2,000 of sales. Growth drops the fee: $699 a year at renewal, about $58 a month ($349.50 in the first year). The middle of this category, with hosting on top.
- **Free plan and trial: F.** Nothing free: no free version and no trial in the listing. You buy a yearly license to see it.
- **Features: C.** Paywall rules, memberships, a course builder, quizzes and certificates on Growth, ClubSuite forums and a member directory, and CoachKit coaching. A broad kit, but it needs a WordPress site to be useful, and Zapier and the API wait for Scale.
- **Ease of use: C.** No rating on record. You need WordPress on a host before anything else, then content rules and memberships to set up, so it takes some learning.
- **Platforms and integrations: B.** Runs in the browser inside WordPress, with Stripe, PayPal, Square, Authorize.net, Zapier, Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign and Kit. The REST API and webhooks are on Scale.

These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from MemberPress's own pages on 17 October 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.

## Where it stands among course and community platforms

- MemberPress's GPA of 1.8 is higher than 0 of the 18 other course and community platforms we grade.
- It stands best on platforms and integrations (B, above 0 of 18) and worst on free plan and trial (F, above 0).
- Its paid plans start at $33.25 a month when paid by the year, against a middle price of $41 for the category: 5 of the 17 others that charge start lower.
- On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 3 tools score higher and cost less.

The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/courses-communities

## Keep it, or make your own?

**Keep it.** The plain part of MemberPress you could make: online courses. What surrounds it you could not. The 4 things listed below take a company, not a weekend. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 18 of the 18 other course and community platforms grade higher. It costs $399 a year.

- You could make: Online courses: an app builder makes this well.
- You could not: A members' space with posts, chat and events that people keep coming back to.
- You could not: It plugs into other products, Stripe, PayPal and Square among them, and has an API.
- You could not: AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
- You could not: People on the other end: coaches. No app builder makes those.

A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it.

## Works with

Stripe, PayPal, Square, Authorize.net, Zapier, Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Kit

**Tags:** Online courses, Community, AI features, Public API

## Alternatives

- [LearnDash](https://toolgpa.com/tools/learndash): WordPress plugin for building and selling online courses. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/learndash-vs-memberpress)
- [Podia](https://toolgpa.com/tools/podia): Website, store, courses, community and email for creators in one place. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/memberpress-vs-podia)
- [Kajabi](https://toolgpa.com/tools/kajabi): All-in-one platform for selling courses, coaching and communities. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/kajabi-vs-memberpress)
- [Circle](https://toolgpa.com/tools/circle): Community platform with courses, events, payments and branded apps. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/circle-vs-memberpress)
- [Teachable](https://toolgpa.com/tools/teachable): Online course, coaching and membership platform with its own checkout. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/memberpress-vs-teachable)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 17, 2026:

- https://memberpress.com/plans/pricing/
- https://memberpress.com
- https://memberpress.com/docs/can-i-use-memberpress-on-multiple-websites/
- https://memberpress.com/docs/activate-your-memberpress-license/
- https://memberpress.com/memberpress-for-nonprofits/

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/memberpress
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).