Do you want to add a simple user ranking system for WordPress comments on your website?
A ranking system can gamify your comments section and motivate more users to leave their thoughts and questions on your website. This can boost engagement and build a sense of community around your brand.
In this article, we will show you how to easily add a simple user ranking system for WordPress comments.
Why Add a Ranking System for WordPress Comments?
Comments help improve user engagement on your WordPress website. By adding a ranking system for these comments, you can motivate users to leave informative and well-written discussion points on your blog.
For example, you can feature the comments you like at the top of the comment section or award badges to the comments of your choice.
Similarly, you can add an upvote/downvote system for users to control comment popularity or bury spam comments at the bottom of the discussion. This can create a sense of community around your WordPress blog and also help you moderate comments.
Having said that, let’s see how to easily add a ranking system for WordPress comments. In this tutorial, we will look at two methods, and you can use the links below to jump to the method of your choice:
Method 1: Add a User Ranking System in WordPress Comments
If you want to add a simple user ranking system to your comments section, then you can easily do this with Thrive Comments.
It is the best WordPress comments plugin on the market that helps you create an interactive comments section by featuring/burying comments, adding thumbs up/thumbs down, awarding badges, and more.
First, you must visit the Thrive Themes website and sign up for an account. Once you do that, head over to your member dashboard.
From here, click on the ‘Download and install the Thrive Product Manager plugin’ link.
Next, open up your WordPress dashboard to install and activate Thrive Product Manager. For detailed instructions, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, you must visit the Product Manager tab from the WordPress admin sidebar and click on the ‘Log into my account’ button.
Once you have provided your login credentials, you will see your Product Manager dashboard.
From here, select the Thrive Comments plugin and click the ‘Install selected products’ button.
Next, you can visit the Comments » Thrive Comments Moderation page in the WordPress dashboard, where you will see a list of all the comments on your blog.
From here, you can approve, unapprove, edit, or flag the comments as spam. You can also feature a comment by opening the ‘More’ dropdown menu and selecting that option.
Once you do that, all the featured comments will be displayed at the top of the discussion section. These comments will also have a badge in the top left corner, which will signify their importance.
Afterward, you can visit the Thrive Dashboard » Thrive Comments page from the WordPress admin area and scroll down to the ‘Voting and Badges’ section.
From here, you can add like/dislike functionality to your comments to boost engagement. You can select the ‘Up and down’ option to add thumbs up/thumbs down icons with the comments.
You can also choose the ‘Up only’ option if you don’t want users to be able to dislike any comments on your website.
After that, you can toggle the ‘Users must be registered and logged in to vote’ switch to ‘On’ if you only want to provide this functionality to logged-in users.
Next, you can scroll down and toggle the ‘Award Badges’ switch to ‘On.’ Once you do that, just click the ‘Add New Badge’ Button.
This will open a prompt on the screen, where you can start by adding a name for the badge. After that, you can choose when to award it from the dropdown menu.
For example, if you want to award a badge to a user when they have at least 5 featured comments on your website, then you can select the ‘Featured’ option from the dropdown menu.
Then, add 5 as the value next to the ‘reaches’ option.
After that, you can choose a badge image or upload one from your computer.
Once you are done, simply click the ‘Save Badge’ button to store your settings.
You can then click the ‘Add New Badge’ button again to create a badge awarding system for your comments.
Your settings will be saved automatically.
Now, simply visit your WordPress site to view the badges in action.
In our example, you can see that the comment at the top is featured because it has an icon at the top left corner. You can also see the badge awarded to the users next to their names.
Method 2: Add a User Ranking System in WordPress Forums
If you want to create a ranking system for the discussion forums on your website, then this method is for you.
Upon activation, visit the Forums » Add New page from the WordPress admin sidebar. Here, you can add the name, description, visibility, status, and moderators for the forum you will create.
Once you are done, don’t forget to click the ‘Publish’ button to store your settings. For detailed instructions, see our tutorial on how to add a forum in WordPress with bbPress.
This plugin will show each forum member’s total rankings, the number of topics they started, and replies.
Upon activation, visit the Settings » bbp user ranking page from the WordPress dashboard and scroll down to the ‘Ranking Calculations’ section.
Here, you will see that the plugin uses the number of topics and replies a user has created to calculate rankings. You can simply check these options to add them as ranking factors.
Now, by default, the plugin offers two ranking levels for comments. However, if you want to add another ranking level, then simply enter the number of levels you want into the ‘Number of levels’ field and click the ‘Save Changes’ button to refresh the page.
Once you have done that, it’s time to configure settings for different levels.
To do this, scroll down to the ‘Level 1’ section and type a name for it into the ‘Rank Name’ field. This will be the name that will appear on the user’s profile.
After that, you must add the number of posts that members must make to graduate from this level and move to the next level under the ‘Up to number’ option.
For instance, you may create a New Member level with an ‘Up to number’ value of 5. This means that anyone who posts 1-5 comments will be a New Member.
You can then also add the URL for the image that will displayed next to the name of all level 1 users. You can get the image’s URL from your media library.
After that, you can also configure the image size, font color, and font size from different settings.
You can then repeat the process to set up other levels on your website. Once you are done, don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.
After that, switch to the ‘Badges’ tab from the top. Here, you can select if you want to show multiple badges earned by the users in a row or column.
Next, scroll down to add the number of badges you want to create for your forum next to the ‘Number of Badges’ option. After that, click the ‘Save Changes’ button to refresh your page.
Then, you can add a badge name, paste the URL for the badge image, and choose a font color.
You can then also configure the image size according to your liking. If you don’t want to display an image with your badge, then you can select the ‘Click to display name’ option from the top.
However, you must select the ‘Click to display name on top of image’ option to show both the name and image for your badge.
You can now repeat this process to create as many badges as you want. Once you are done, don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.
Next, switch to the ‘Display’ tab from the top. Here, you can configure how the user ranking information will look on your forum.
You can now choose if you want to display the topic count, reply count, level symbols, or rank names. Simply check the box next to the information that you want to showcase.
After that, you can add an optional label to help people understand what the different numbers mean.
Next, you can also check the boxes to display level images and badges next to the user’s names.
After that, don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.
You have now successfully added a user ranking system. You can visit your website to view the users’ profiles in your forum.
Here, you will be able to see their ranking levels and calculations.
You can also award different badges that you created to users on your website. However, keep in mind that you will have to do this manually by visiting the Users menu tab.
Once you are there, click the ‘Edit’ link under any user profile of your liking.
This will take you to a new screen where you must scroll down to the ‘Badges’ section.
Here, check the ‘Click to add this badge’ option for any badge that you want to award the user. Once you are done, don’t forget to click the ‘Update User’ button to store your settings.
You can now repeat the process for other users as well.
Bonus: Add a Points System in WordPress
Other than adding a ranking system for comments, you can also add a points system on your WordPress site to boost engagement.
For instance, you might reward your customers with points upon user registration, purchasing a product, or as part of a loyalty program. You can then award prizes or exclusive content to visitors with the most points.
If you have a membership site, then you can also offer a level upgrade to users with a certain number of points.
You can easily add a points system in WordPress with myCred. Upon activation, simply visit the Points » Settings page from the WordPress dashboard to start choosing a label and image for your points.
For example, you can call the points earned by the audience coins, brownies, jewels, tokens, or anything else that works.
After that, you will have to create user levels, set hooks for the points system, and integrate the plugin with different tools like MemberPress or LearnDash according to your liking.
Once you are done, you can use the different blocks provided by myCred to add a points system leaderboard on your website.
Are you looking to find the best fun WordPress plugins for your website?
Since there are thousands of plugins available on the market, it can be difficult to pick the ones that will actually add a fun and interactive element to your site while boosting conversions.
To make this easier for you, we tested some of the most popular plugins on the internet and examined factors such as ease of use, features, customization, and pricing.
In this article, we will share our list of the best fun WordPress plugins that you may be missing out on.
If you are in a hurry, then you can take a look at our top picks to quickly choose the best fun WordPress plugin for you:
We installed and tested every plugin from this list on our websites to find their features, pros, and, cons, and provide you with the best recommendations.
While we were doing that, we paid special attention to the following criteria to pick the best fun WordPress plugins:
Popular plugins: We tested the most popular and best WordPress plugins on the market to see if they can add a fun element to your site. We analyzed those plugins based on ease of use, features, pricing, and customization options.
Different use cases: There are various ways to make your site enjoyable for users. That is why we reviewed plugins for all kinds of use cases like spin the wheels, giveaways, quizzes, interactive elements, ranking systems, and more.
Plugins tested by us: We included plugins that we have used on our own websites to boost engagement and add fun elements.
Why Trust WPBeginner?
At WPBeginner, we are a dedicated team of people with over 16 years of experience in WordPress, design, and online marketing.
Our WordPress experts extensively review each plugin or tool that is featured here and thoroughly test them on real websites. To learn more, you can see our complete editorial process.
Having said that, here is our list of the best fun WordPress plugins that you are missing out on.
OptinMonster is the best lead generation and conversion optimization tool on the market that lets you create amazing spin-to-win optins. They can add a gamification effect to your website and make it more interactive and fun for your visitors.
Once you have added the wheel, users can enter their email addresses and spin the wheel to win different prizes, such as discount codes and coupons. This can convert website visitors into subscribers and customers.
The software has a drag-and-drop builder and premade templates that make it super easy to build spin-the-wheel campaigns. You can also add dynamic content, countdown timers, CTA, images, and email fields to capture leads.
It comes with triggers and display rules like exit intent technology. Upon testing the plugin, we realized that this could help build FOMO (fear of missing out) by showing limited-time offers or exclusive content before a visitor leaves the page.
The software also offers A/B testing, analytics, and geolocation targeting.
Cons
It does not have a free plan. However, the connecting plugin is free.
Why we recommend OptinMonster: It is the best spin a wheel coupon plugin that makes it super easy to add gamification elements to your website. Plus, OptinMonster comes with premade templates and a drag-and-drop builder and also lets you create popups and banners, making it a super fun option.
RafflePress is the best WordPress giveaway plugin on the market. It allows you to host all kinds of contests and giveaways to add a fun element to your site while generating leads.
It comes with a drag-and-drop builder and premade templates. Plus, it allows you to add multiple methods for giveaway entry, including subscribing to your email list, following you on social media, and visiting specific pages.
We have actually used the plugin on WPBeginner to run a viral giveaway and found it super easy to use.
RafflePress offers complete fraud protection from spam entries.
It can integrate with email marketing services, form plugins, and CRMs. This can help you add different entry methods for the contest.
It comes with a built-in integration with SeedProd. This means that you can add your giveaways on attractive landing pages.
Some of its other features include success tracking, retargeting, social logins, email verification, and a prize gallery.
Cons
The plugin has a free plan, but you will need the pro version to unlock more templates and entry methods.
Why we recommend RafflePress: It is a super fun plugin that adds a gamification effect to your website and helps you build your email list or social media followers at the same time. You can bring back more customers and attract new ones by offering freebies or discounts to giveaway winners.
Uncanny Automator is the best automation plugin on the market that acts like Zapier for WordPress. You can use it to create fun, automated workflows for your website.
For example, you might use the plugin to connect your blog with Twitter. Now, every time you publish a new post, it will automatically be tweeted on your handle. This can help boost followers and attract new users.
It is a great Zapier alternative that can integrate with 150+ tools, including form builders, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, BuddyPress, and WooCommerce.
The plugin is easy to use and comes with unlimited recipes and triggers.
It also has advanced features like delays, scheduling, and user creation.
The plugin has a free plan, but it comes with limited triggers and actions.
Why we recommend Uncanny Automator: It is a super fun plugin that you can experiment with to build different workflows and save time on your website. For instance, you could integrate it with a gamification plugin to reward users for specific actions.
It lets you display a live sale notification in your eCommerce store to real-time visitors, which can motivate them to make a purchase as well.
Other than recent purchases, it can also display bubble notifications for form submissions or free trial sign-ups to encourage users to join your email list.
The plugin allows real-time event tracking on your website.
When reviewing the plugin, we noticed that it allows you to customize your notifications to match your brand identity. You can adjust colors, fonts, and animations, and even add custom messages.
TrustPulse also offers smart targeting, A/B testing, analytics, and exit intent notifications.
Cons
The plugin does not have a free plan.
Its analytics feature is basic compared to other tools.
Why we recommend TrustPulse: It is one of the best fun WordPress plugins that can boost sales for your small business by showing social proof to users. This can cause FOMO among visitors, which can lead to more conversions for your online store.
Chrismasify is a free WordPress plugin that you can use during the Christmas season to add fun elements to your WordPress blog.
You can add jingle music, snowflakes, and a flying Santa on your website to create holiday spirit. This can motivate visitors to explore your site and even make a purchase if you have an online store.
The plugin is completely free and has a user-friendly interface.
It lets you control the speed of the snowflakes and adds Christmas decorations to images as well.
We liked that you can also change the heading’s font on your website to add holiday cheer.
The plugin lets you configure the activation and deactivation dates for the Christmas effects.
Cons
Chrismasify is just used for adding interactive elements. It cannot help you build an email list or boost conversions.
The plugin does not have great customer support.
Why we recommend Christmasify: If you are planning a holiday sale, then you can use Christmasify to add some fun elements to your online store. This can spread the holiday spirit on your site and encourage users to make a purchase.
It comes with an intuitive drag-and-drop builder and premade templates that you can use to add right/wrong, number, percentage, or personality quizzes.
For example, if you have a travel business, then you could add a quiz that suggests the next destination users should visit based on their hobbies. This can boost engagement and lead to more business for you.
The plugin also offers gamified elements like progress bars, customizable results pages, and social sharing options to further boost user engagement.
We particularly appreciated the branching questions feature. If you use this option, then the next question displayed to the users in a quiz will depend on their previous answer.
Thrive Quiz Builder comes with different question formats like multiple choice, true or false, open-ended, personality, and matching questions.
Based on quiz results, you can automatically tag users with specific categories or segments within your email marketing platform.
It has a lot of features, which can be confusing for beginners.
Why we recommend Thrive Quiz Builder: Quizzes are a great way to boost engagement and attract more visitors. You can use this plugin to build amazing quizzes that suit your niche.
Football Pool is another fun WordPress plugin that adds a sports pool to your website. Here, users can predict the outcomes of matches and earn extra points.
You can select different leagues and tournaments that you want to add to your sports pool and add multiple prediction types like winner, score, or first goalscorer.
Football Pool also allows you to add registration forms so that users can log in to participate in the pool. Additionally, it displays a leaderboard showing the top participants based on points and users can view their own points on their profiles.
Pros
The plugin is completely free.
It comes with automatic points calculation, bonus questions, social media sharing, and email notifications.
When we reviewed the tool, we found out that you can set deadlines for users to submit their predictions.
Cons
It offers limited customization options.
The plugin does not have great customer support.
Why we recommend Football Pool: If you have a WordPress blog related to sports, then this plugin can be a great way to add some fun elements to your site. It can encourage more users to log in regularly to submit their predictions and earn points, ultimately increasing traffic on your blog.
Smash Balloon offers a suite of different plugins that allow you to embed social media feeds into your website, including Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter.
These feeds can show a more fun side of your business to your website visitors, which can boost user engagement.
Adding a social wall feed is a good idea because it can motivate visitors to check your social media profiles, leading to more followers.
Smash Balloon comes with an intuitive feed editor, premade layouts, and multiple customization options for your feeds. If you have a YouTube channel, then you can even embed your YouTube live streams to increase site traffic.
Pros
All the Smash Balloon plugins are completely mobile responsive.
Smash Balloon lets you embed Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, or Instagram feeds without using any code.
The plugins enable you to filter your feeds to display specific content and control what appears on your website.
Cons
All the Smash Balloon plugins have free plans with limited features. To access advanced options, you will need the premium versions.
Why we recommend Smash Balloon: You can use any of the Smash Balloon plugins to showcase your social media feeds and display social proof on your website.
It comes with a built-in voting and badge feature that allows you to award points and badges to users based on different criteria. For instance, you can give a silver badge to users if they have 5 comments on your site and a gold one if they have 10.
Additionally, you can use the plugin to add a like/dislike functionality. This will discourage users from leaving spam comments.
It has a dedicated moderation area, provides analytics, and shows custom messages to users upon leaving their first comment. This can improve the user experience.
It is a part of Thrive Themes and can integrate with other plugins from the suite.
Cons
Thrive Comments does not offer a free plan.
Its analytics and reporting feature is basic compared to some other tools.
Why we recommend Thrive Comments: If you want to use a fun WordPress plugin to add gamification to your comments section, then this is the perfect solution for you.
Thrive Comments allows you to award badges, add like/dislike icons, feature interesting comments at the top, and even allow users to subscribe to different comments.
myCred is a WordPress points management plugin that can add a fun loyalty program or gamified system to your website.
You can use different hooks provided by the plugin to award points to users. For example, you can award points upon user registration, leaving a comment, submitting a guest post, making a purchase, and more. Then, you can reward your active users with coupons and discounts.
This can create brand loyalty among customers and increase conversions if you have a WooCommerce store.
It lets you add multiple point types and award points automatically when the user performs the required action.
The plugin allows users to check their points balance and history.
You can award discount coupons, freebies, and exclusive offers to users upon achieving certain points. We particularly liked the badge feature that you can use to award badges and appreciate users when they reach different levels.
myCred lets you create a leaderboard to display the top point achievers.
Cons
Its free plan has limited features.
Using a lot of the addons offered by the plugin can sometimes hurt your site speed.
Setting up the plugin can be complex because it has a lot of features.
Why we recommend myCred: If you want to add a points system to your WordPress website, then this is the best fun plugin for you. It will help build loyalty and ultimately generate leads.
Chartify is another fun WordPress plugin. It helps you build all kinds of charts for your website, including bar charts, pie charts, column charts, donut charts, histograms, and so much more.
The plugin is completely free and allows you to modify the visual effects for your charts like color, font, labels, and titles.
Plus, it shows a live preview so you can see all the changes you made in real time.
Pros
It allows you to enter data directly within the plugin.
Chartify lets you import CSV files and connect with Google Sheets.
Adding a lot of charts can increase your page load time.
It does not come with any advanced features to build charts.
Why we recommend Chartify: If you want to add a fun element to your blog posts, then you can use Chartify. It will help you build all kinds of visually appealing charts that can make your articles a more interesting read for users.
Confetti is a super fun WordPress plugin that adds a confetti effect to your website using a block.
It has a free plan, is easy to use, and allows you to customize the color and size of the confetti as well.
Additionally, upon review, we discovered that it offers different kinds of confetti effects, including fireworks, school pride, falling, realistic cannon, and more.
You can configure the plugin to show the confetti effect when you scroll to a specific point on a page.
It also provides a preview of all the effects before you add them to your site.
Cons
The plugin is basic and does not offer any advanced features.
You can only integrate the plugin with other tools once you upgrade to the pro version.
Why we recommend Confetti: If you are announcing a winner for a competition or just want to add a visually appealing effect to your blog, then Confetti can be a great choice.
Which Is the Best Fun WordPress Plugin?
In our expert opinion, OptinMonster is the best fun WordPress plugin because it lets you add a spin-the-wheel popup on your page. This makes your website more engaging and can also help you collect leads.
However, if you want to host a competition or giveaway, then RafflePress should be your go-to option. On the other hand, if you want to use FOMO to boost conversions, then you can choose TrustPulse instead.
Similarly, if you want to add personality quizzes or polls, then we recommend Thrive Quiz Builder and WPForms.
Frequently Asked Questions About Fun WordPress Plugins
Here is a list of some questions that are frequently asked by our readers:
What is the most popular WordPress plugin?
WPForms is one of the most popular WordPress plugins, with over 6 million active installations.
It is the best form builder on the market that comes with a drag and drop builder, 1700+ premade templates, and complete spam protection. You can use it to create any kind of form you like, including contact forms, registration forms, login forms, online order forms, and more.
Will these fun WordPress plugins slow down my website?
Using a poorly-coded plugin can slow down your website. However, we have thoroughly tested all the plugins on our list to make sure that they are updated regularly and optimized for speed.
Still, you must keep in mind that using a lot of plugins at the same time can slow down your website. We recommend choosing only 3 to 4 fun plugins to boost engagement.
Is it okay to use multiple plugins on my website?
You can add a few well-chosen plugins to make your site more enjoyable. However, you must keep in mind that too many plugins can clutter your site and overwhelm visitors.
That is why we recommend choosing plugins that complement each other and do not have overlapping functionalities.
Are you looking for the best WordPress membership plugin to build a website?
Choosing the right plugin is very important for your membership business because a better platform means more growth opportunities.
Luckily, we have made this super easy for you by testing the most popular membership plugins and inspecting different factors like ease of use, features, customization options, and pricing.
In this article, we will compare the 14 best WordPress membership plugins to let you easily create paid membership websites.
Are you in a hurry? If so, then just take a quick look at our top picks to help you make a decision.
How We Tested And Reviewed WordPress Membership Plugins
There are plenty of WordPress membership plugins, but not all of them have the specific features that you may need for creating your membership site.
Some of them are good for selling subscriptions on a single level, while others offer more diverse membership levels and subscription management features.
To give you the best recommendations, we tested some popular membership plugins and paid attention to the following criteria:
Ease of Use: We have picked membership plugins that offer a beginner-friendly interface along with extensive documentation. We have also prioritized an easy onboarding process.
Different Use Cases: We have included plugins that can perform different functions on your site like selling digital products, creating members-only content, building courses, supporting payment gateways, creating an LMS, releasing drip content, and more.
Reliability: For this showcase, we have only included the membership plugins that we have tested ourselves. We also went through some customer reviews to find popular options.
Why Trust WPBeginner?
WPBeginner is a team of experts with 16+ years of experience in WordPress, hosting, SEO, online marketing, and more.
We have thoroughly reviewed and tested each plugin in this list on real websites to give you the best recommendation for all kinds of membership site use cases. For more information, you can see our editorial process.
Having said that, let’s see what you will need to start a WordPress membership site.
Video Tutorial
If you’d prefer written instructions, then just keep reading.
What Do You Need to Run a WordPress Membership Site?
Membership websites are resource-intensive, and choosing the wrong host can hurt your overall performance. That’s why the first thing you need to do is choose the best WordPress hosting that you can afford.
If you are on a budget, then you can start with Bluehost. Their Business Pro plan comes with an SSL certificate, which you need to securely collect payments, a dedicated IP, and a dedicated support line.
If budget is not an issue, and you want the best performance, then we recommend using a managed WordPress hosting provider like WP Engine.
If you don’t already have one, then you will also need to choose a domain name for your website. Here is our guide on how to pick the right domain name for your membership site.
MemberPress is the best WordPress membership plugin on the market that allows you to sell unlimited membership levels and subscriptions.
It is super easy to set up and can automatically add pricing, login, account, and thank you pages for your users. The plugin also lets you add drip content to your site and create a client portal to manage client resources online.
Other than that, MemberPress comes with powerful access control, allowing you to restrict access to any content, including posts, pages, custom post types, categories, tags, files, and more.
MemberPress can also act as a WordPress subscription plugin because it supports both recurring and one-time payments and it can offer monthly, yearly, or even lifetime memberships to your users. This also makes it easy to sell courses online.
It is the best content protection plugin because it allows you to restrict content based on membership level or user role.
The plugin can integrate with AWeber, Mailchimp, Uncanny Automator, and Constant Contact. It also integrates with Amazon Web Services, Blubrry for podcast hosting, and BuddyPress for building an online community.
MemberPress comes with built-in support for PayPal and Stripe payment gateways. The developer plan also adds Authorize.net support.
Some of its other powerful features include a built-in membership management dashboard, customizable coupon codes, email notifications, user registration forms, custom widgets and shortcodes, Rest API for developers, and more.
Cons
MemberPress’s free plan has limited features, and you will need to upgrade to the pro version to unlock more options.
It only supports the three most popular payment gateways. This could be a deal breaker for site owners who live in countries not supported by these payment methods.
Why we recommend MemberPress: MemberPress is the best WordPress membership plugin on the market. It allows unlimited membership levels, comes with a user-friendly interface, integrates with popular gateways, and also offers content restriction, making it a great all-in-one choice.
Thrive Apprentice is a popular all-in-one membership and online course builder plugin for WordPress. It comes with advanced features and easy access control settings.
It offers a built membership management dashboard where you can easily grant or revoke access to courses, content, or membership products for specific subscribers.
The tool comes with a drag-and-drop builder, customizable certificates, and 55+ course templates that make it super easy to create, sell, and manage online courses.
When we were testing the plugin, we also found out that Thrive Apprentice can track student progress, offer one-time or recurring subscriptions, create landing pages, and build coupons and discount offers for different membership or subscription courses.
Pros
It has a school setup wizard that will guide you through the process of setting up the plugin.
It has powerful content-dripping features that let you unlock content at consistent intervals for students. You can also create multiple drip schedules for the same content.
You can show personalized content for different users to boost engagement and sales. For example, you can display a different course overview or login form for visitors and members.
Thrive Apprentice offers multiple language support, SEO optimization, email notification, and dynamic buttons.
Cons
The plugin does not have a free plan.
Thrive Apprentice only offers built-in support for Stripe payments.
Why we recommend Thrive Apprentice: Overall, Thrive Apprentice is a powerful WordPress subscription plugin that comes with a drag-and-drop builder and premade templates. We recommend it if you want to build and sell courses online.
It allows you to restrict downloads based on membership levels, offer discounts for different memberships, and send email notifications to inform members about important updates or renewals.
Easy Digital Downloads is easy to use and gives you the ability to accept recurring payments. You can use the plugin to sell any type of digital product in WordPress, including eBooks, PDFs, audio files, videos, and more.
Pros
It comes with a built-in shopping cart system that allows your customers to purchase multiple downloads at once.
You can accept one-time payments or easily set up automatic recurring payments on any product, including daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, and annually.
With Easy Digital Downloads, you can accept credit card payments from Stripe, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and other popular payment gateways like Braintree, with no additional monthly fees.
You can use the EDD Subscription addon to create membership plans with different access levels and the EDD Member Downloads extension to grant access to specific downloads based on membership level.
The plugin also offers built-in reports and analytics to track membership sales and activity.
Cons
While Easy Digital Downloads connects with some popular tools like AffiliateWP to create an affiliate program for your products, it lacks integrations with other popular services.
It has a free plan, but you will need to upgrade to the pro version to use it as a WordPress subscription or membership plugin.
Why we recommend Easy Digital Downloads: It is the best plugin for creating a membership site that sells digital products. It comes with a built-in shopping cart system, recurring payments, and a library of addons to grow your business.
MemberMouse is another powerful, flexible, and scalable WordPress membership plugin. It has many advanced features for protecting your content, selling products, creating courses, and maximizing revenue.
We were impressed by the plugin’s SmartTags, which allow you to display personalized content based on member attributes without using any code. This gives you complete control over how you protect and display content on your site.
Additionally, MemberMouse keeps track of important business metrics like lifetime customer value, retention and churn rates, member engagement, and more.
Pros
With MemberMouse, you can create upsells and cross-sells that your members can purchase in one click without re-entering their credit card information.
The tool lets you offer both free and paid memberships.
It can automatically handle overdue payments so you don’t have to worry about missing out on revenue.
The plugin lets you create and send push notifications to members or specific WordPress user roles based on actions like new members added, memberships canceled, payment received, and more.
It lets you create a dedicated space on your website that is only accessible to members and offer drip content.
Cons
MemberMouse offers limited design options.
It does not have a free plan.
It has limited integration options for payment gateways compared to other plugins on this list.
Why we recommend MemberMouse: It is a powerful WordPress membership plugin for businesses that are serious about growth. If you have a coaching business or a growing membership site, then MemberMouse is the perfect choice.
WishList Member is another flexible WordPress subscription plugin that comes with powerful features to protect members-only content.
It allows you to create unlimited membership levels and offer free, premium, or pay-per-post content on your WordPress blog.
WishList Member even allows you to schedule and release drip content over time, set up recurring subscriptions, and connect with popular email marketing services to build an email list.
Pros
It offers one-click content protection where you can click the ‘Protect’ button right in the WordPress editor to quickly set your content to members-only. It also has a Private Tags feature, which you can use to protect specific sections within the post.
WishList Member has a built-in course builder called CourseCure. It lets you easily build lessons, quizzes, and certificates.
It allows you to show ‘sneak peek’ snippets of your content to non-members and invite them to sign up to see what they’re missing.
You can accept payments from over 20 of the most popular payment gateways, including Stripe, PayPal, WooCommerce, 2CheckOut, Authorize.net, and more.
Cons
The plugin has a lot of features that can feel overwhelming for beginners.
It has no free plan.
Why we recommend WishList Member: If you want to create members-only content with powerful restrictive features, then WishList Member is a great choice.
It offers drip scheduling, page locks, integrations with a lot of payment gateways, and many advanced features to take your membership site to the next level.
AccessAlly is an elegant and user-friendly membership plugin for creating and selling courses, group coaching, and memberships.
It allows you to create as many membership levels as you want and uses tag-based permission to control access. This makes it easy for members to upgrade or downgrade membership subscriptions on their own.
AccessAlly also comes with a user-friendly builder to create live or drip-fed online courses, detailed reporting and analytics, and a built-in affiliate program.
Pros
AccessAlly offers multiple content delivery options. You can choose from delayed, specific date and time, completion-based unlocking, cohort style, and all-access.
It comes with tons of conversion-focused features, including one-click upsells, order bumps, coupons, bulk course enrollment, abandoned cart follow-up, free trial offers, cross-selling members dashboard, and more.
You can boost engagement for your courses with gamification features like a flexible points system, badges, and leaderboards.
Seamlessly integrates with popular payment gateways like Stripe and PayPal to accept online payments.
Cons
It doesn’t offer many customization options to change the look of your membership site.
There’s no free plan.
Why we recommend AccessAlly: AccessAlly is a powerful plugin for building and scaling a coaching, teaching, or training membership website. It comes with all of the features you need to offer 1-1 or group coaching, including dripped content releases, live group cohorts, bulk course enrollment, and more.
LearnDash is a super flexible and extremely easy-to-use WordPress LMS plugin. It comes with advanced membership modules and tons of integrations to help you create members-only online courses.
LearnDash is quite easy to set up and adding content to it is even simpler. It also comes with advanced tools to easily organize your membership content into levels, groups, and more.
The tool also has a powerful drag-and-drop course builder, pre-designed templates, and completion certificates to help you build and sell courses online.
Pros
LearnDash allows you to easily hide any content and restrict it to different membership groups. It also lets you control when a student gets to access specific lessons.
It comes with a powerful drip content feature, allowing you to roll out content to users at regular intervals or upon completion of levels.
The plugin offers tools to create highly engaging membership sites with quizzes, user badges, course-specific forums, user profiles, and more.
It can track student progress, offer multiple pricing options, and optimize your courses for SEO.
LearnDash also has an amazing set of integrations and payment gateways. You can even connect it to MemberPress, WooCommerce, bbPress, Slack, and more.
Cons
If you are trying to build a membership website without selling courses, then some of LearnDash’s features may not be useful because it is not exclusively a WordPress membership plugin.
LearnDash has no free plan.
Why we recommend LearnDash: It is the perfect solution if you want to sell online courses on your paid membership website. Its extensive set of add-ons and integrations allows you to build a highly engaging platform. It’s also WordPress multisite compatible.
Teachable is an all-inclusive online course builder. It packs a membership website, LMS (learning management system), discussion forum, email marketing, and analytics all into one dashboard.
The tool offers a drag-and-drop builder, course templates, and certificates, and also lets you build quizzes and assessments for students. The students can then submit their work and receive feedback on the same platform.
During our testing, we were very impressed by the flexible drip content feature, which allows you to grant access to content based on a user’s progress or subscription level.
Pros
It is easy to set up and does not require any technical skills.
The software includes built-in tools to quickly create and upload videos, text, PDFs, and more.
It comes with detailed analytics and reports, offers fraud protection, and integrates with flexible payment types like Affirm and Klarna.
Teachable offers discussion forums, quizzes, contact forms, and other features to boost user engagement and build powerful online communities.
Cons
Teachable is not available as a WordPress plugin. Instead, you must integrate it into your WordPress site by adding links or a subdomain.
It includes everything, which makes it more expensive than other WordPress membership plugins.
Why we recommend Teachable: If you want to create a membership site that sells online courses and also has an LMS system, then you can opt for Teachable.
Restrict Content Pro is a robust WordPress membership plugin that helps you build a membership site and restrict content based on different criteria.
You can use the plugin to restrict content to registered users, membership levels, and access levels, as well as target individual pages, posts, custom post types, tags, or categories for restriction.
The plugin allows you to build unlimited membership stages, offer recurring subscriptions, add discount coupons, and create dedicated registration and login forms.
Pros
It lets you create drip content to be released over time.
Restrict Content Pro allows members to manage their subscription and access levels in the dashboard.
It lets you control content access based on individual progress and actions.
It offers reports and analytics, lets you build a referral program, and integrates with email marketing services.
Cons
Restrict Content Pro’s marketing features are not as strong as other tools on this list.
It has a free plan, but most of the features are locked in it. Plus, the free version also has the plugin branding, which can only be removed by upgrading to the pro plan.
Why we recommend Restrict Content Pro: The plugin is a great choice for building a membership website due to its amazing content restriction features, great access control, and seamless integration with WordPress.
SureMembers is another beginner-friendly plugin that can help you build a membership website.
It is easy to set up and can be used to create simple subscriptions or complex membership levels with access rules. You can use it to restrict any content on your website including pages, posts, categories, and tags.
SureMembers also allows drip scheduling and can integrate with email marketing services to help you build an email list.
Pros
It provides detailed analytics so you can track how your membership site is performing.
SureMembers lets you add a paywall, configure menu item visibility, and integrates with a lot of third-party tools like Beaver Builder, Twitter/X, Slack, and YouTube.
It offers amazing customer support and a knowledge base to you help build a website.
Cons
SureMembers does not offer a course builder or community forum features.
Its content dripping feature is not as complex as some of the other tools mentioned in the list.
This WordPress membership plugin does not have a free plan.
Why we recommend SureMembers: If you are just starting to build your membership site, then SureMembers is a great choice because it is super beginner-friendly.
aMember Pro is membership software that helps you create and manage subscription-based websites.
It supports recurring and one-time payments, lets you create multiple membership levels, and can integrate with over 200 third-party apps like affiliate programs, email marketing services, and payment processors.
Additionally, aMember Pro can protect your content, including blog posts, videos, and courses, by only making them available to subscribers.
Pros
It supports about 100 payment systems, including Stripe, PayPal, CoinBase, ccBill, and more.
It is not a WordPress plugin but provides seamless integration with the platform.
aMember Pro is open source and has a user-friendly interface.
It lets you create a members-only area, manage your email list, and provide advanced reporting.
Cons
aMember Pro does not have great customer support and provides limited documentation for the software.
Installing, configuring, and maintaining aMember Pro requires some technical knowledge.
Why we recommend aMember Pro: If you have a small business site and are planning to sell subscriptions, then aMember Pro can be a great choice.
WooCommerce Memberships is another WordPress subscription plugin that is specifically designed to integrate with your WooCommerce store.
It lets you convert your online store into a membership site and create exclusive content that is only accessible to paying members.
You can also show different content to various members based on their membership levels using this plugin. For details, you can see our tutorial on how to create a members-only WooCommerce store.
Pros
Upon integrating the plugin with WooCommerce, you can sell memberships as products.
You can offer free trials and manage user accounts from the dashboard.
WooCommerce Memberships allow you to create exclusive products that are visible and purchasable by members only.
The plugin allows you to give discounted pricing to members and create drip-specific products.
Cons
The plugin is not an ideal choice if you are not already using WooCommerce.
It does not offer a free plan.
It has integrations with a limited number of tools.
Why we recommend WooCommerce Memberships: If you already have a WooCommerce store and are planning to sell courses, subscriptions, or memberships, then this is the best plugin for you.
Paid Memberships Pro is a popular WordPress subscription plugin that lets you create a membership and subscription-based website easily.
It lets you restrict default content and sets a message for users who attempt to access it. It even restricts custom post types and single pages to paying members only.
Paid Memberships Pro allows you to create personalized content and add drip content. While testing the plugin, we were also impressed that it lets you create a dictionary and profile for all the members on your website.
Pros
The plugin lets you build multi-tiered membership levels, set up offline communities, and connect with your subscribers over emails.
It can integrate with payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, and Braintree. You can also set up one-time or recurring payments.
Paid Memberships Pro lets you create discount offers, view sales and revenue, build landing pages, and manage affiliate programs.
Cons
It has a free plan, but most features are locked in it.
The user interface and setup can be a bit overwhelming for beginners.
Unlike some other plugins on the list, it does not offer advanced reporting and analytics.
Why we recommend Paid Memberships Pro: Overall, the plugin has the basic features you need to build a membership or subscription-based site in just a few minutes.
Ultimate Member is a free WordPress plugin that lets you build online communities, sell subscriptions, and create membership programs.
It also lets you create visually appealing user profiles and enables you to add customer registration and login forms on the website front.
Plus, Ultimate Member has an account management feature where users can see their profile details, update account information, and change passwords directly.
Pros
You can use the plugin to create public or private directories with user listings based on specific criteria.
The plugin allows users to leave reviews and ratings for other members and track social activity on your website.
Ultimate Member can also integrate with WooCommerce, BuddyPress, and Mailchimp.
Cons
Integrating the plugin with other tools can sometimes lead to conflicts.
It lacks an advanced reporting feature.
The plugin does not have any customization options.
Why we recommend Ultimate Member: If you are on a budget and looking for a free solution, then Ultimate Member can be a great WordPress membership plugin for you.
Although we don’t recommend S2Member, we’re including it in this list because it’s a popular WordPress membership plugin with over 1.59 million downloads.
It lets you create multiple membership levels with different access controls. You can also customize the registration and login forms, add drip content, and password-protect various pages on your website.
The plugin provides a dedicated dashboard for members to manage their accounts, and also sends email notifications to inform them about any updates.
Pros
S2Member comes with customizable email templates, file download restrictions, protected audio/video streams, and multisite network support.
The plugin integrates with popular payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, ClickBank, and Authorize.net.
Cons
It’s very difficult for beginners to set up S2Member, especially advanced features like content dripping.
The plugin interface is not user-friendly and front-end elements like login and registration pages look outdated.
It has a free plan but most of the features are locked.
Why we don’t recommend S2Member: S2Member is outdated and not intuitive when compared to other membership plugins. We recommend using another membership plugin from this list because you’ll get a better user experience and more modern membership features.
However, if you run a video membership site and don’t care about a user-friendly interface, then S2Member could be a good option. It lets you restrict audio and video content based on membership levels.
Which Is the Best WordPress Membership Plugin?
In our expert opinion, MemberPress is the best WordPress membership plugin on the market. It has all the features that you need to create a membership site and sell online courses, along with great documentation and support to help you learn the membership software.
If you want a MemberPress alternative, then Thrive Apprentice is a great option. It’s a powerful and easy-to-use membership and online course builder plugin.
Alternatively, if you want to sell digital products on your membership website, then we recommend using Easy Digital Downloads. It comes with powerful features to create and sell digital downloads.
Similarly, if you want to sell subscriptions in your online WooCommerce store, then you can use WooCommerce Memberships.
Frequently Asked Questions About WordPress Membership Plugins
Having helped over 2 million WordPress users start their websites, we’ve answered a ton of questions over the years. Below are some of the answers to the most frequently asked questions about membership plugins.
What is the best membership plugin?
Our top 5 choices for the best membership plugin are:
MemberPress – Best WordPress membership plugin (overall).
Thrive Apprentice – Best membership plugin for selling online courses.
MemberMouse – Best membership plugin for creating a coaching membership site.
WooCommerce Memberships – Best membership plugin to sell subscriptions on your WooCommerce store.
No, this question is not a joke. We seriously get this question even after referring people to this guide.
What is the best free membership plugin for WordPress?
While there are free membership plugins available, such as Paid Memberships Pro and WP-Members, they often come with limited features and additional transaction fees.
But, with a premium WordPress membership plugin like MemberPress, you get all of the features you need to build a successful membership site. Plus, there are no hidden fees.
MemberPress also offers a 14-day free trial period so that you can test it out first.
