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Are there really no good WP Membership Tools?

Building in public seems to be the trend for a few years. I neglected this far too long, but it´s never too late to start a good habit.

I am currently building an SEO solution that offers a ready-made do-follow backlink partner directory to solve SEO for hand-picked Startups on vispr.net

As I am no coder, I build it with a no-code solution and use a WordPress frontend to sign up new users and give them a branded place to manage their subscription while they can download the embed code for their website.

Looking for an easy way to restrict access to the WP download, I just realized that there are no good membership tools for WordPress that work nicely with Stripe Checkout.

I even wasted two weeks on this so far! Bummer!

I tested Billflow, MemberPress, MemberSpace, Memberful, Billsby, Chargebee, MemberMouse, Ultimate Member, Restrict Content Pro, WP-Members, Restrict User Access, Paid Memberships Pro, WP Full Stripe, and some more…

Spoiler alert: Most of them S@#k!

Read the full blog post here to learn why I only recommend 3 of these tools:
https://vispr.net/membership-tools/

  1. 1

    If you want to just restrict content after taking payment you should take a look at EDD. It's specifically made for digital downloads. It also has a content restriction add-on if you want to have a very basic member's only area.

    If you need a full-featured membership with user profiles, directories, roles etc. Have a look at Ultimate member. Easily the best membership plugin I've used. You can get it to work with Stripe but you have to install WooCommerce. Using WooCommerce for just a Stripe checkout is a bit of a pain but it works.

    1. 1

      Thank you! I only want to restrict access to 1 page so installing a fully-fledged shopping cart system like EDD or WooCommerce is total overkill. Also, EDD only works with their own Restrict Content Pro and the stuff has no styling sheets at all which looks... I currently use Ultimate Member which has the best user profile I have ever seen for WP but the same problem with WooCommerce. I tried hooking it up with many external tools but none worked. They don´t change the user role so the content restriction does not work. But hey... you can only know when you installed and tested everything :) Thank you for your insight! Highly appreciated!

      1. 1

        With UM you should be able to restrict content based on a specific role. If you have WooCommerce installed you can set up a product that changes a user's role after they purchase the product.

        If you need a bit of help let me know.

    1. 1

      As you might have read, I have already tried Memberful and many more. They don´t work for my workflow. But thanks and highly appreciated :)

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