Introduction
If you’re in the market for WordPress membership plugins, you may be overwhelmed by the choices initially. When I tried to create my first membership site, I wasted hours trying to implement a few free membership plugins that either didn’t have the functionality that I wanted, or had so many bugs that they were more or less useless. Although the paid plugins aren’t exactly cheap, if your WordPress membership site has any sort of success, they will surely pay for themselves.
The Key Players
There are arguably four paid WordPress membership plugins to choose from:
- MemberWing
- Digital Access Pass
- Wishlist Member
- Your Members
Although I’ve included all of them in a comparison chart below, I really only recommend two of them depending on what you are trying to achieve.
Best WordPress Membership Plugin: Digital Access Pass
Click Here to Download
I am a very happy user of Digital Access Pass. After a brief period using Wishlist Member and wanting more, I switched to DAP and I’ve never looked back. I now use it for all of my membership sites and have had great success with the plugin. What sets Digital Access Pass apart from the other WordPress membership plugins is its vast array of features. Here are a few that I believe make DAP the best choice:
- Tru Drip: Drip content easily and intuitively over time
- Built in Email Autoresponder: although I highly recommend using Aweber for building your email list, if you are on a serious budget, DAP can handle it for you
- Built in Affiliate Program: again, I highly recommend using Clickbank, but DAP handles affiliate commissions for you if you want
- Automated Cancellations
- Works WITHOUT WordPress as well
- Synchronized Drip: of emails, content, and files
- Pay-per-download
Of course there are countless other features that I haven’t listed, but these are the features for which DAP blow the other WordPress membership plugins out of the water.
The only negative thing I can say about DAP is that its Support documentation hasn’t kept up with the updates to the plugin. This makes things a little confusing when you’re trying to configure it, however the ticket support system is very easy and I’ve never waited more than a day for a response. In fact, responses usually come within an hour even at odd hours at night.
…read my full Digital Access Pass review
or Download Now!
Second Choice: Wishlist Member
In your research, you will probably find more recommendations for Wishlist Member than for Digital Access Pass. Although I think Wishlist Member is a very good product and there are probably some genuine recommendations, I would like to point out that their affiliate program is open to all, while DAP’s affiliate program is only open to people who have purchase DAP. I’M JUST SAYIN’.
I’m not going to go into detail here about the features of this WordPress membership plugin because everything Wishlist Member does, Digital Access Pass does as well if not better. However if you would like to read more, you can read my full Wishlist Member review.
What I will say about Wishlist is that their support documentation and videos are superb, and the plugin is a touch easier to implement. Therefore, if you are looking for a simple WordPress membership plugin, and do not need to drip content, Wishlist Member may do the trick.
…read my full Wishlist Member review
Comparison Chart
I’ve highlighted the winner (if there was any) in each category in green.
| Recommended | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MemberWing | Digital Access Pass | WishList Member | YourMembers | |
| Installation | Easy | Easy, and if you’re feeling lazy the developer will install free! | Easy | Easy |
| Configuration and Use | A little confusing at first but easy once you get the hang of it | The basics are easy but advanced usage gets slightly harder. | Very organized and easy to use | A bit cumbersome to use |
| Support | Documentation for basic usage and free tech support through email. | Comprehensive documentation and videos and amazingly quick tech support through ticket system (usually respond within an hour!) | Very good documentation and video and decent tech support through ticket system | Documentation for basic usage and forum for the rest. |
| Refund Policy | 14-days at seller’s discretion | 30-day money back guarantee | 30-day money back guarantee | 30-day money back guarantee |
| Supported Payment Processors | PayPal, 2Checkout, ClickBank, PayDotCom, and e-junkie. | PayPal, 1ShoppingCart, and ClickBank | PayPal, ClickBank, Google Checkout, 1ShoppingCart, and more. | PayPal and ClickBank |
| Download Protection | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Sequential Content Delivery | Yes, through an additional included plugin | Yes, very easy and intuitive to implement | Technically yes, but it is not very intutive | Yes |
| Partial Content Protection | Limited | Yes, added recently, just use the “more” tag | Yes | Yes |
| Autoresponder Integration | Native integration with AWeber | Built-in and AWeber | Native AWeber and Autoresponse Plus | Requires simple setup |
| Affiliate Program | Native integration with iDevAffiliate. Also ClickBank | Built-in and ClickBank | 1ShoppingCart and ClickBank | Through ClickBank |
| Protected RSS Feeds | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Available Membership Levels | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Use it outside of WordPress | No | Yes | No | No |
| What Makes It Different | Fairly simple and stable | Best features of any WordPress membership plugin | Professional and easy to use. | Cheap |
| Available Licenses and Prices | 1-Site: $149.95Unlimited: $295 | 1-Site: $167Unlimited: $297 | 1-Site: $97Unlimited: $297 | 1-Site: $50Unlimited: $200 |
| Who Should Use It | No Suggestions | Anyone looking to make flexible, expandable membership sites | Someone who wants to make one simple membership site | No Suggestions |
Leave a Reply