10 Best Membership Site Platforms And Software (2024)

Factors To Consider When Choosing A Membership Site Platform

Membership sites are among the most popular ways to make money online for bloggers, course creators, and entrepreneurs. But it’s difficult to choose a membership platform for your business when there are so many great options on the market.

Before you make a decision, it’s important to understand the factors that could impact your final selection.

To navigate the options and find your ideal fit, keep these key factors in mind:

Your needs and goals:

• What kind of content will you offer? Videos, podcasts, articles, courses, or a combination?
• What’s your desired revenue model? Monthly subscriptions, one-time payments, or tiered membership levels?
• How tech-savvy are you? Choose a platform with a user-friendly interface and intuitive features.

Platform features and functionality:

• Content management: Does it offer drag-and-drop functionality, scheduling, and drip content options?
• Payment processing: Does it integrate with your preferred payment gateways and handle recurring subscriptions seamlessly?
• Analytics and reporting: Can you track member engagement and gain insights to optimize your content?

Technical considerations:

• Pricing: Compare monthly or annual subscription costs, transaction fees, and any hidden charges.
• Scalability: Can the platform handle your current and future membership growth?
• Integrations: Does it integrate with your existing email marketing, CRM, or analytics tools?
• Security: What security measures are in place to protect member data and privacy?
• Customer support: Is there readily available and helpful support available if you need assistance?

Once you’ve identified the factors that are most important to you and your goals, the guide below will provide you with the information you need. Each plaform review contains valuble insights along with pricing, pros, and cons. (Keep in mind that membership platforms are different from community platforms. You can read about community platforms here.)

The Best Membership Site Platforms | Features, Pricing, and Pros and Cons

While the reviewed platforms share the core functionality of building and managing online subscriptions, key differences emerge in pricing and additional features that streamline your membership website management. However, the difference lies in the pricing and secondary features that could make your job easier when running your membership website.

1. Kajabi (Best Membership Platform Overall)

Kajabi is an all-in-one online membership site platform that allows you to create, sell, manage, and market high-quality membership programs.

If you need to start by building a website, Kajabi provides a landing page creator, a drag-and-drop website builder, and responsive themes. These tools make it easy to create landing pages without any web developer skills. In no time, you’ll have a website where you can share information with prospective and current members. 

Once you have a website in place, then you can take advantage of Kajabi’s specific membership tools. For example, under Products, you can select Communities and create an engaging space! You can use Communities to offer: 

• Newsfeeds
• Chats
• DMs
• Live Video Calls
• Events
• Challenges
• Smart Recording Library
• Accountability Tools

Keep track of your community with the member directory and leaderboard. You can also assign admins and ambassadors to help as you grow! Communities can be free or paid. 

Another Kajabi tool is called “Memberships”. This is where you can create a hub where members can return to consume the content you’ve created at their own pace. You can use this tool to develop different membership levels, create products specific to each membership level, and provide downloadables. 

 To help you keep in constant contact with your program members, Kajabi comes with robust email marketing and automation features. Members can be segmented based on behavior, engagement, or custom roles assigned by you. By grouping members, it becomes easy to target specific audiences when you release new products, create email offers, and send newsletters. 

In addition to the tools we’ve already discussed, Kajabi can also be used to create online courses, develop sales funnels, and analyze analytics. There’s even a mobile app so that your members can access your products on the go!
If you’re interested in learning more about Kajabi and what this platform offers, read our full Kajabi Review.

Kajabi Pricing and Free Trial

Unleash your online business potential with Kajabi’s 3 feature-rich plans. Create and manage exclusive memberships, and skyrocket your sales and marketing – risk-free! Every plan includes a 14-day free trial.

Basic Plan: $119 a month when billed annually, $149 a month when billed monthly.

What’s Included:

• 0% transaction fee
• 3 products
• 3 funnels
• Unlimited landing pages
• Unlimited marketing emails
• 10,000 contacts
• 1,000 active customers
• 1 website
• 1 admin user

Growth Plan: $159 a month when billed annually, $199 a month when billed monthly. 

What’s Included:

• 0% transaction fee
• 15 products
• 15 funnels
• Unlimited landing pages
• Unlimited marketing emails
• 25,000 contacts
• 10,000 active customers
• 1 website
• 10 admin users

All Basic Features, plus:

• Affiliate program
• 24/7 Chat support
• Advanced automations
• Ability to remove Kajabi branding

Pro Plan: $319 a month when billed annually, $399 a month when billed monthly. 

What’s Included: 

• 0% transaction fee
• 100 products
• 100 funnels
• Unlimited landing pages
• Unlimited marketing emails
• 100,000 contacts
• 20,000 active customers
• 3 websites
• 25 admin users

All Growth Features, plus

• Custom Code Editor

2. Mighty Networks

Mighty Networks is a powerful membership site and community-building platform. Like the other platforms on this list, it’s easy to build and launch a new website and host online courses.  What makes it an excellent platform are the tools you can use to create a truly thriving and interactive space for members. 

Here’s a breakdown of a few of the features that make this platform really stand out: 

• Activity Feed: Similar to the activity feed you would find on Facebook, this feature allows members to post, share photos, go live,  and comment.
• Chat: Group chat live with others in real time. 
• Events: Create livestream events that members can RSVP to. 
• Discovery: A discovery page is a useful landing page that shares the latest posts, can link members who live within a certain mile radius, and advertises upcoming events. 
• Member List: Allow members to create their own personal profiles for others to see. 
• Mighty Co-Host™: Mighty Co-Host™ is the first AI community builder powered by Community Design™ and GPT-4. 

Essentially, Mighty Networks allows you to create a personalized social media like platform for your members to enjoy. 

The community you build can also be broken down into smaller communities, specific for members who are enrolled in certain courses.

If you want to learn more about all the features that come with Mighty Networks, read our full review.

MightyNetworks Pricing and Free Trial

Mighty Networks offers a variety of “Mighty Plans”. Every plan comes with unlimited members, unlimited admins, and unlimited spaces! Mighty Co-Host™, an AI-powered community builder is also included. Here’s a breakdown of each available plan:

Community Plan – $41 per month when billed annually, $49 per month when billed monthly

The community plan lets you build a community from scratch or migrate a community from a social media platform. This plan includes: 

• Custom Web Domain
• Custom Branding
• Availablity on iOS and Android
• Ability to Charge for Access to Your Mighty Network
• Zoom Integration
• Basic Mighty Insights™
• Questions and Polls
• Online and In-Person Events
• Ambassador Member Referral Program
• Intuitive People Explorer
• Member Leaderboard
• Chat 
• Direct Messaging
• Articles
• Native Video
• Total Storage – 250 GB
• 5 Hours of Livestreaming per Month with Multiple Onscreen Speakers, 50 Viewers per Stream
• Multiple Tiers of Paid Plans
• One Time or Subscription Plans
• Ability to Charge in Different Currencies
• 3% Transaction Fees

Courses Plan – $99 per month when billed annually, $119 per month when billed monthly

The Courses Plan is an excellent option if you’re looking to create and charge members for courses. It includes everything that is in the Community Plan, plus: 

• Unlimited Courses
• Unlimited Course Communities
• Unlimited Instructors and Moderators
• Native Video Upload in Courses
• Quizzes and Tests
• Mighty Co-Host™ Instant Course Outline
• Custom Member Tags and Badges
• Premium Mighty Insights™
• Member Data Download
• CovertKit Integration
• API Integratins Via Zapier
• Google Analytics Integration
• Marketing Pages
• Resources and Structured Content
• 1 TB Storage
• 20 Streaming Hours Per Month
• 200 Viewers Per Stream
• Ability to Charge for Online Courses
• Ability to Charge for One Time Events
• 2% Transaction Fees

Business Plan – $179 per month when billed annually, $219 per month when billed monthly

The Business Plan is the right choice for you if you’re trying to rapidly scale and build your brand. It includes everything found in the Courses Plan, plus: 

• White-Labeled Emails
• Ability to Add SSO
• Unlimited Profile Fields
• Automated Questions and Polls via the Infinite Question Engine
• 2 TB  Total Storage
• 30 Hours of Livestreaming per month
• 500 Viewers per Stream

Mighty Pro Plan – Custom Pricing, Contact the Mighty Pro Team

If you have a branded app, you may want to consider the Might Pro Plan. This plan includes everything in the Business Plan plus: 

• Your Own iOS & Android Apps
• Branded App Notifications
• Additional AI Features
• Migration & Launch Services
• A Dedicated Community Strategist
• Access to the Mighty Pro Membership Network
• White-Labeling & Branded Notifications 

Read our complete Mighty Networks review.

3. MemberPress

MemberPress is a WordPress plugin that provides you with the tools you need to build a membership website. It has helped users earn over a billion dollars by selling memberships, online courses, and digital products.

This plugin is a great option if you already have a WordPress website and existing content or if you are seeking to build your new website in WordPress. No website development or coding knowledge is needed to immediately begin using MemberPress. 

Our favorite MemberPress features include: 

• Premium Community Forums: Create a password protected forum that can be integrated with other popular plugins, like bbPress.
• Powerful Access Control: Enjoy complete control over what content your users can see based on their membership levels and purchases.
• Coupons: Customize coupons to encourage prospective members to sign up.

In addition to these membership features, MemberPress makes it ridiculously easy to create online courses or coaching programs. 

MemberPress integrates seamlessly with dozens of other plugins and softwares, including but not limited to: 

• Zapier
• MailChimp
• Constant Contact
• CoachKit
• Chat GPT
• WooCommerce

You can learn about all of the features that MemberPress has to offer, read our in-depth review. 

MemberPress Pricing and Free Trial

MemberPress currently provides 4 plans:

1. Basic: This plan starts at $179.50 per year (discounted from $359) and is suitable for beginners starting their first membership site. It includes:

• Use on 1 Site
• Unlimited Members
• Unlimited Courses
• No transaction fees
• No monthly fees
• Stripe & PayPal Integration
• Subscription Management
• Email Automation
• Drip Content
• ReadyLaunch™ Page Maker
• Powerful Content Protection
• Advanced Publisher Paywall
• Coupon Codes
• Email Marketing Integrations
• Basic Add-Ons & Integrations

2. Plus: This plan starts at $299.50 per year (discounted from $599) and is best for growing membership sites. It includes everything in Basic, plus: 

• Use on up to 2 Sites
• Unlimited Quizzes & Certificates
• Advanced Marketing Integrations
• Sell Podcast Memberships
• Forums Add-on
• Communities Add-on
• Zapier – 2000+ Custom Integrations
• HelpScout Integration
• Developer Tools
• Advanced Customization

3. Pro: This plan starts at $399.50 per year (discounted from $799) and caters to established membership sites or those planning integrations with complex systems. It includes everything in the Basic and Plus plans, plus: 

• Use on up to 3 Sites
• Authorize.net Integration
• Sell Corporate Accounts
• Sell Gifted Memberships
• TaxJar Integration
• Order Bumps at Checkout
• 3 Months Free Access to OptinMonster & OptinMonster University
• 3 Months Free of TrustPulse

4. Elite: This top-tier plan starts at $499.50 per year (discounted from $999) and is ideal for large-scale or high-volume membership sites. It includes everything in Pro, plus:

• Use on up to 5 Sites
• Sell Coaching Programs with CoachKit™
• Unlimited Students
• Track Goals and Milestones
• Automated Student Reminders
• Unlimited Student Cohorts
• Unlimited Coaches
• 1-on-1 Coach Messaging
• Coach-Cohort Messaging
• VIP #1 Top-Rated Support

4. MemberSpace

MemberSpace is simple – it allows you to take any section of your website and create a space that is only accessible by members. MemberSpace works with ANY website platform such as WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, and even custom coded websites, making it a great choice for people with existing websites who want to create a members only section of the site.

Like other membership website platforms, it doesn’t require any coding knowledge to get started. Installation on your website is easy and only takes about 5 minutes. 

Memberships can be free, a one time payment, multiple payments, or a recurring payment. Flexible payment options provide your members with choices on how to make payments. Bank grade encryption keeps every member’s financial information safe.

The best features of MemberSpace make it easy to have total control over your members and how you communicate with them. The platform provides in-depth information on member accounts, analytics, and the ability to do email campaigns. When your community grows, you can add additional admins to help manage things. 

If you’re new to creating paid membership communities, MemberSpace University provides a wide variety of guides to help you get started!

MemberSpace Pricing

MemberSpace has one monthly price – $39 a month.

Learning Revolution users automatically get a 10% discount on the professional plan.

5. Kartra

Kartra combines website building, marketing automation, email marketing, video hosting, and even helpdesk features into one platform. This can be convenient for managing everything in one place and potentially save costs compared to using separate tools. 

If you’re just starting out and need a new website, the drag-and-drop builder is intuitive and requires no coding knowledge. A variety of customizable templates ensure that you can get your membership website up and running quickly. Every website is 100% mobile friendly, so your members can access information on the go. 

The membership management tools provided by Kartra help you to stay organized. Membership status is indicated by a dot by each member’s name and profile picture, green for currently subscribed and red for canceleld. Automated emails keep you in contact with your community. You can moderate and support your community with comments and forums where questions can be asked. When your community grows, you can assign admin permissions to other moderators. 

The analytics included in Kartra help you to keep track of members and to determine if they are staying on course. These tools can also help you optimize your content delivery.

These are just a few of the features that make Kartra an outstanding membership website platform. If you’ve like to learn more, read our full Kartra Review. 

Read our complete Kartra review.

Kartra Pricing and Free Trial

Kartra offers three different paid subscription plans with a 30-day money-back guarantee and a 25% discount on annual billing.

All of Kartra plans come with a 30-day free trial and a free 1:1 Onboarding Call. 

Let’s take a close look at what Kartra’s plans offer.

The Starter Plan costs $99 per month for an annual subscription, or $119 when paid monthly and offers: 

• Up to 2,500 contacts
• 1 language
• 1 domain
• 5 team members
• Unlimited pages
• Unlimited videos
• Unlimited products
• Memberships and Courses
• Funnel Mapping
• Forms
• Funnels and campaigns
• Unlimited email & SMS
• Checkouts
• Lead capture
• Lead management
• Sales management
• Calendars
• Advanced analytics
• Automated sequences

The Growth Plan costs $189 per month for an annual subscription or $229 when paid monthly and includes: 

• Up to 12,500 contacts
• Unlimited languages
• 3 domains
• 10 team members
• Unlimited pages
• Unlimited videos
• Unlimited products
• Memberships and Courses
• Funnel Mapping
• Forms
• Surveys & Quizzes
• Webinars – 300 attendees
• Webinar Presenters – 6
• Funnels and campaigns
• Unlimited email & SMS
• Checkouts
• Lead capture
• Lead management
• Sales management
• Calendars
• Funnel simulation
• Advanced analytics
• Automated sequences
• Affiliate Management
• Helpdesk support
• Agency capacity
• API access
• Custom code page
• Advanced automations

The Professional Plan costs $429 per month for an annual subscription or $549 when paid monthly and includes: 

• Up to 25,000 contacts
• Unlimited languages
• 5 domains
• 20 team members
• Unlimited pages
• Unlimited videos
• Unlimited products
• Memberships and Courses
• Funnel Mapping
• Forms
• Surveys & Quizzes
• Webinars – 1000 attendees
• Webinar Presenters – 6
• Funnels and campaigns
• Unlimited email & SMS
• Checkouts
• Lead capture
• Lead management
• Sales management
• Calendars
• Funnel simulation
• Real-Time Funnel Analytics
• Advanced analytics
• Automated sequences
• Affiliate Management
• Helpdesk support
• Helpdesk live chat
• Agency capacity
• API access
• Custom code page
• Advanced automations

Read our complete Kartra review.

6. Thinkific

Thinkific is another popular platform that provides features that can help to build and monetize membership websites.

Here are the Thinkific features that can help in creating and selling membership sites:

1. Membership Levels: Thinkific enables users to create multiple membership levels or tiers within their sites. Users can set different access levels for each membership level, allowing them to provide different content and features based on the subscription level.
2. Member Management: Thinkific provides tools for managing members within the platform. Users can track member activity, manage subscriptions, and communicate with members through built-in messaging features.
3. Drip Content: Similar to course content, Thinkific allows users to drip content to their members over time. This means that users can schedule when certain content becomes available to members, helping to keep members engaged over time and reducing drop offs in engagement.
4. Marketing and Sales Tools: Thinkific includes marketing and sales features to help users promote their membership sites and attract new members. Users can create landing pages, run promotions, and leverage email marketing tools to drive membership sign-ups.

The analytics included with Thinkific help to track membership growth and engagement over time. 

Overall, Thinkific is a robust membership platform and is a good choice for anyone seeking to offer both a membership opportunity and online courses.

Thinkific Pricing and Free Trial

Thinkific is among the few online course and membership platforms that offer a free plan. However, to offer memberships, you’ll need to upgrade to the Start Plan. Each premium plan comes with a 30-day free trial during which you can explore the features and decide if it’s the right choice for your business before making an investment.

The Start and Grow plans cost $99/month and $199/month, respectively, which is higher than many other options in this article. However, if you’re already selling courses and want to start a membership community or wish to offer a world-class learning experience to your students, Thinkific is an excellent option.

Learn about all fo the features offered by this all-in-one platform in our complete Thinkific review.

7. New Zenler

Zenler is another all-in-one online course and membership site platform that allows you to build a community platform and offer various subscription tiers to members. 

Specifically, the community feature allows you to create a social media like community page directly in your website. Community members can connect, ask questions, join discussions, like, comment, and share content. New Zenler reports that building a community results in “better completion rates, increased student engagement, and drives retention.”

With Zenler, you can create gated content and members-only subscription programs that contain different online courses, learning tracks, and stand-alone video/audio/PDF lessons.

It’s an intuitive product with excellent user experience and numerous options for creating and memberships and online courses. 

You can learn more about New Zenler’s other features, such as email marketing, funnels, webinars, and course creation in our full New Zenler Review. 

NewZenler Pricing And Free Trial

Zenler offers two premium plans that both include membership features. It also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Both plans have all the core course creation and admin features. The main difference is in the marketing features. For example, the Pro plan allows up to 100 funnels and 100K emails/month, while the Premium plan has unlimited funnels and up to 500K emails/month. Similarly, the Pro plan allows 500 automations, while the Premium plan offers unlimited automations.

Overall, Zenler offers immense value for money and is a complete membership site management platform for serious eLearning professionals.

8. Wix

Wix is not a conventional membership site builder or online course platform. Instead, it’s a leading CMS and website builder that also comes with a tool called the Members Area.

The Members Area tool provides several features that can be fully customized to fit your website. These features include: 

1. Customizable Forms: Create a Sign Up and Login form to match your site. 
2. The Login Bar: Once members sign up, they can use the login bar to sign into the website. 
3. Members Pages and Menus: Create private pages that are only accessible by members. Examples include exclusive content or pages involving a member’s private information, like a Wallet. 
4. Profile Pages and Profile Cards: Let your members share their details with a personal profile page and card. 

Once you create a members area on your Wix site, you can create content pages with videos, text, audio, PDFs, and other content types. Member’s Area is a simple and effective way to build a community, especially if you’ve already build your website using the Wix platform.

Wix Pricing

Wix offers five premium plans. Every plan includes a custom domain, 24/7 customer care, and no Wix branding. It’s important to note that the lowest priced tier, Light, does not offer memberships and packages.

9. Uscreen

Uscreen is a versatile all-in-one platform that claims to be “Built with memberships in mind.” 

If you’re a video creator, this is the platform for you! Uscreen allows you to upload, organize, and distribute your video content while simultaneously providing viewers with the fastest video playback in HD. The tools provided by Uscreen ensure that you can build gorgeous websites, mobile apps, and even TV apps with no coding knowledge. Livestreaming tools are built into the platform, no third-party subscriptions required. 

Every step of they way, Uscreen provides analytics, reporting, and membership management tools to help you build your community. 

https://www.learningrevolution.net/goto/uscreen-pricing/
To learn more about all features offered by Uscreen, read our full review.

Uscreen Pricing and Free Trial

Uscreen offers three tiers of pricing: Growth, Pro, and Plus Custom Pricing. An annual subscription allows you to save 20%.

The Growth Plan costs $149 a month with an annual subscription or $100 when paid monthly. This plan is the best option if you are a video creator who is just getting started. It does not include features like a Mobile and TV app builder. 

If you already have video content and you want to aggressive scale your community, consider the Pro Plan, which costs $499 a month with an annual subscription or $599 when paid monthly. 

If your offering is so large that the Pro Plan isn’t enough, contact Uscreen to learn more about their Plus Plan and get a custom quote. 

Each pricing tier includes Membership+, a platform that helps you, the creator, to connect with other creators.

Read our complete Uscreen review.

10. Podia

Podia is the last of the membership platforms our list. But that doesn’t mean it’s any less impressive than the other options we’ve discussed so far.

Here’s what sets Podia apart. The platform offers unlimited members and unlimited membership levels – create as many membership plans as you want! Offer free trials to potential members, offer monthly or yearly billing options, and engage with members via public or members only posts, comments, and likes. You can even integrate your membership site social media accounts, like Facebook, Slack, and Palapa. 

If you want to bundle any products you offer on Podia, the platform makes it possible to seamless offer bundles to members. Sell digital downloads, online courses, or coaching sessions. Host webinars and even create your own affiliate program, allowing your members to help you sell your products in return for a commission. 

You can’t go wrong when you choose Podia for your membership site platform. 

Explore all the Podia has to offer by reading our full Podia Review. 

Podia Pricing

Podia offers three reasonably priced subscription plans and a free plan. When you subscribe to annual payments, you can save up to 55%!

While the Free Plan does offer the ability to bring your members, discussions, and products to one place, and allows you to create unlimited free and paid community plans. However, the plan charges 10% transaction fees and there are limits to what you can offer – 1 download and 1 coaching product.

The lowest tier, the Podia Starter Plan, costs $9 a month when paid monthly or just $4 a month with an annual subscription. Transaction fees are lowered to 8% and there are still limits to what you can offer. You can prepare bundles and save them at drafts for later, when you are ready to upgrade. 

The next tier up, the Mover Plan, costs $39 a month when paid monthly and $33 a month with an annual subscription. Transactions are lowered to 5%. The plan includes unlimited webinars, product bundles, unlimited coaches, unlimited online courses, and unlimited downloads. 

The highest tier, the Shaker Plan, is $89 when paid monthly and $59 a month with an annual subscription. All features are included. 

Ready to learn about all of the tools and features Podia offers? Read our complete Podia review.

Best Membership Site Platforms And Software | Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Which membership WordPress plugin is best?

Depending on your business goals, MemberPress and MemberSpace are both excellent WordPress plugins that help you create a community space.

How do I create a membership website for free?

You can create a free membership site with Thinkific.

How do I create a paid membership site?

You can create a paid membership site with any leading membership site platform like Mighty Networks, Kajabi, MemberSpace, or MemberPress.

How much does it cost to create a membership website?

You can easily start a high-quality membership site for as low as $25 with Wix and Mighty Networks.

See also:

• What Is a Membership Site and How to Make Money From It
• How to Build a Learning Community
• 15 Ways to Promote a Membership Site

Jeff Cobb, Founder of Learning Revolution

Jeff Cobb is an expert in online education and the business of adult lifelong learning. Over the past 20+ years he has built a thriving career based on that expertise – as an entrepreneur, a consultant, an author, and a speaker. Learning Revolution is a place where Jeff curates tips, insights, and resources to help you build a thriving expertise-based business. Learn more about Jeff Cobb here.