9 Best Membership Site Platforms for Creators in 2024

Are you looking for the best membership site platforms for creators?

Building a community on social media platforms is a good marketing strategy, but what if you had to accept payment for your content, restrict users’ access based on their payment plans, or monitor users’ engagement within the community? How would you do this?

This is where membership site platforms come in.

Membership sites take community building a step further by allowing you to create subscription plans, dictate how to receive payment, and what content will be accessible after payment.

When choosing a membership site platform, there are key features to look out for. Some of these include:

1. Payment processing options: The membership site platform you choose should integrate multiple payment options (like cards, bank transfers, or cryptocurrencies) and third-party payment platforms. This will give your members flexibility when making payments and increase their interaction with your site.

The platform should also allow various payment structures like instalments, on-time, or recurring payments.

2. Content types: The membership site platform should offer flexibility in the kind of content you can post and how you offer this content.

For instance, you should be able to post video, audio, or livestream content and decide if you want to post it to all members or only members who have performed a particular activity.

Creating diversity in your offerings will keep your members engaged.

3. Membership size limit: Most platforms restrict the number of active members on your site. For some, the restrictions are on the number of members that can sign up on the site.

The rule of thumb is to look for the one with unlimited membership size or whose restrictions fit your marketing goal.

4. Integration with email marketing providers: It is important to keep in touch with your members, whether you are offering technical support to help them navigate your site, exclusive discounts, or early access to a new feature.

Some membership site platforms allow integration with various email marketing providers, while others have built-in email marketing tools.

5. Community building: The membership platform should allow members to interact with themselves. This will increase conversation about your brand on the site and social media.

Apart from being community-friendly, it should also let you monitor the engagement between members to reduce spam and scams.

6. Customizing options: Your site should have the look and feel of your brand. The platform should allow you to set up a custom domain and style all content types with your brand color and logo.

This will help you create a sense of credibility with your members.

7. Analytics: A key feature among the best membership site platforms is their ability to track members’ activity and provide insight to improve your growth strategy. The extent of this analytic function varies with the payment plan.

But regardless of which plan you choose, this feature is a must-have.

Now that you know the top features to look for in a membership site platform, what platforms should you consider?

The Best Membership Site Platforms

Membership site platforms can be in the form of website plugins or standalone platforms. In this article, we explore the best membership sites from both categories.

1. ProfilePress

ProfilePress is a popular WordPress membership plugin that allows creators to develop user profiles, accept payments, and control content visibility based on each user’s payment plan.

ProfilePress integrates with Learning Management Systems (LMS), which allows you to build online course websites. While helping you build a paid membership site, ProfilePress also prevents spam registrations by blocking banned email addresses and domains.

Features of ProfilePress:

• Enables one-time and recurring payments via credit card, Apple Pay, bank transfers, and several third-party payment platforms, including Paypal, Stripe, and Paystack
• Integrates with various email marketing providers, including Mailchimp and Campaign Monitor
• Enables uploading diverse content types including digital products like podcasts and music, downloadable files like PDF, and online courses.
• A report section that analyzes the performance of each user on the site and tracks your revenue.
• Drag-and-drop builder for creating user profiles, custom registration, and login forms.
• Allows members to search for each other through its filterable member directories.

ProfilePress Price: Premium plans start from $129/year.

2. Memberful

Memberful is a membership software that allows creators to build fully hosted membership sites. This means that you can sell memberships without owning a website.

They also integrate with WordPress, which allows you to transfer your membership data from Memberful to your WordPress site.

Memberful offers a dashboard to report members’ payments and activities.

Features of Memberful:

• Integration with Stripe for payment processing.
• Integration with email marketing providers like Campaign Monitor, ConvertKit, Drip, and Mailchimp.
• Integration with online learning management platforms like LearnDash and Sensei allows you to create member-only lessons and quizzes.
•  A paywall that restricts content access based on membership plans.
• Custom subscriptions include one-time, recurring, or installment payments.

Memberful price: Pro plan starts from $25/month.

3. Kajabi

Kajabi is an all-in-one membership management software that helps creators build and manage community platforms from their dashboards.

They offer training sessions to new site owners to guide them while planning the early stages of their business. Kajabi also has an AI hub to generate email and page copy, social media posts, and online courses.

Features of Kajabi:

• Enables one-time and recurring payments
• Integrates with Stripe and PayPal for payment processing
• Integrates with Mailchimp, Aweber, Drip, and ConvertKit for email marketing
• Integrates with Segment, Google Analytics, and Meta Pixel for tracking members’ performance and building business intelligence
• Allows content restriction based on members’ payment plans

Kajabi Price: Premium plan starts from $149/month.

4. Kartra

Kartra is a membership management software that helps creators launch membership sites without coding. Their drag-and-drop builder can design pages, checkout forms, shopping carts, and helpdesk.

Kartra also lets you design email copies, automate the marketing process, and track the performance of your email campaign.

Features of Kartra:

• Allows the creation of multiple membership levels, with each having its pricing and content.
• Allows the creation of online courses.
• Allows content dripping, where content or features are unlocked only after members have completed a specific milestone (e.g., completed a course or remained active for a period).
• Analysis of members’ payments and interaction with your content. Kartra keeps track of subscription rates, active members, and average retention.
• Integrates with Stripe, Paypal, Braintree, and Authorize.net for payment processing.
• Integrates with SendGrid, MailGun, Elastic Mail, and Postmark for email marketing.

Kartra price: A 30-day free trial with premium plans starting from $99/month.

5. MemberSpace

MemberSpace is a membership site plugin that helps you protect content based on members’ subscriptions. Before installing the plugin, you need to create subscription plans that will grant your users access to protected pages.

MemberSpace also allows integration with other community forums and directories like Circle and Community Box.

Features of MemberSpace:

• Integrates seamlessly with several websites, including WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Duda, Notion, and Webflow.
• Integrates with Stripe for payment processing.
• Enables one-time, multiple, and recurring payment plans.
• Allows you to customize the look and feel of the Account form.
• Enables group conversation and private messaging between members.

MemberSpace Price: 5% transaction fee.

6. Mighty Networks

Mighty Networks is a community platform for building paid membership sites and live-streaming events.

Their Mighty Co-Host™ feature reports the similarities between members, engages them with personalized messages, and suggests how to improve your community.

Features of Mighty Networks:

• Tracks members’ participation, revenue, and livestream analytics. 

• Enables messaging between members.
• Integrates with Hubspot for customer relation management.
• Integrates with Stripe for payment processing.
• Integrates with Mailchimp and ConvertKit for email marketing.

Mighty Networks price: It has a 14-day free trial with premium plans starting from $33/month.

7. Podia

Podia is an all-in-one membership site platform that offers website building, email marketing, payment processing, and video hosting all on the platform.

Their in-built email marketing tools allow you to broadcast and run automated campaigns. You can also enable affiliate marketing for your members by creating commissions and invitation affiliate links.

Features of Podia:

• Integrates with Stripe and PayPal for payment processing.
• No hidden fees after signing up for a paid plan.
• Allows unlimited members and membership levels.
• Links to your community groups on Facebook, Slack, and Palapa.
• Enables free trial for your members.
• Easy-to-use site builder. You can also customize your brand color and logo.

Podia price: The starter plan starts from $4/month.

8. Teachable

Teachable is a membership platform for creating and selling online courses, downloadable files, and mentorship programs. You don’t need coding or design skills to build a site on Teachable.

With a paid plan, you can access a custom domain, affiliate marketing tools, unlimited membership levels, and live chat support.

Features of Teachable:

• Creates quizzes and course outlines based on lesson content
• Automatically adds subtitles and translations to your videos
• Integrates with Google Pay, Apple Pay, and PayPal. Your members can also pay immediately or schedule payments
• Ensures secure payments by enabling fraud protection and chargeback support
• Integrates with Mailchimp, ConvertKit, AWeber, and Active Campaign for email marketing
• Integrates with Google Analytics, Hotjar, and Google Tag Manager for tracking students’ performance and payments

Teachable price: Premium plans start from $39/month.

9. Thinkific

Thinkific is a membership management platform that helps creators build membership sites that are compatible with mobile devices, create online courses, quizzes, and assignments, and host live lessons and events.

Thinkific also supports drip scheduling, which allows you to release your courses to members on schedule.

Features of Thinkific:

• Enables custom themes and domains
• Allows unlimited member size
• In-built email and live chat support
• Integrates with Hubspot and Salesforce for customer relations management
• In-built payment model as well as integration with PayPal and Stripe

Thinkific price: Premium plans start from $36/month.

Conclusion

All the membership site platforms on this list have the key features needed to run a successful membership site, but some are better equipped on certain aspects than others.

For instance, Teachable is the perfect option if you are a course creator and need a site to sell your courses and coaching sessions.

If you have a WordPress site and need a membership plugin that can cover your e-commerce and learning programs, ProfilePress is the perfect option.

But if you are on a limited budget, MemberSpace and Podia are better options. The membership site platform you choose should depend on your goal and budget.

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