Paid Memberships Pro vs Simple Membership Plugin
Paid Memberships Pro
paidmembershipspro.comSimple Membership Plugin
simple-membership-plugin.comSide by side
| Figure | Paid Memberships Pro | Simple Membership Plugin |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $41.58/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 7 | 4 |
| Spec score · Membership Site Platforms | 9.1 (#5) | 8.3 (#30) |
| Content gating | post | page |
| Developer tools | PMPro provides more than 300 action and filter hooks, REST API support with eight endpoints, bulk update tools, and debugging tools. | The plugin provides customization hooks and an API for creating and updating member accounts. |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Integrations | Official integrations include WooCommerce, BuddyPress, BuddyBoss, bbPress, Mailchimp, MailerLite, MailPoet, Slack, Google Analytics, Zapier, LearnDash, and LifterLMS. | The addon directory lists integrations including MailChimp, Zapier, bbPress, WooCommerce, ConvertKit, MailerLite, and AWeber; it separates free and premium addons. |
| Membership levels | Users can create unlimited free or paid membership levels with flexible subscription pricing. | It supports unlimited access levels, such as free, silver, and gold, with content assigned to the levels. |
| Purpose | Paid Memberships Pro lets WordPress site owners restrict content, accept payments, and manage subscriptions from their website. | The free WordPress plugin lets site owners protect posts and pages behind member logins and offer free or premium content. |
| Security | The setup wizard includes checkout spam protection that blocks repeated attempts from the same IP address and recommends reCAPTCHA or Akismet. | The core plugin has a strong-password setting; the maker's PCI guidance also describes debug logging and failed-login limits, and points to a separate 2FA addon. |
| Subscription billing | both | both |
| Support | The company provides support forums and says Max plans include hands-on help customizing membership sites and implementing new features. | The maker offers documentation and forum support for the free plugin, while paid troubleshooting is $39 per issue and may take 24 to 48 hours to assess and answer. |
Plans
Paid Memberships Pro
- FreeFree
- Standard$49 a month
- Max$99 a month
- Max 2x$299 a month
- Standard$499 a year
- Max$999 a year
- Max 2x$2,999 a year
Simple Membership Plugin
- Core Simple Membership PluginFree
- Paid support$39, paid once
- Two-Factor Authentication Addon$39.95, paid once
- Form Builder Addon$47, paid once
In their own words
Paid Memberships Pro
Paid Memberships Pro is a WordPress plugin and open-source platform for restricting content, taking payments, and managing subscriptions on a website. Site owners can protect 28 types of content and create unlimited membership levels, with free or paid access, one-time charges, or recurring billing from hourly to annual intervals. Pricing tools include trials, coupons, proration, donations, gift codes, invite codes, and variable pricing. Stripe and PayPal are included without a platform transaction fee, although gateway charges still apply. The free plan provides the self-hosted platform and 25 free add-ons; Standard, Max, and Max 2x include 54 premium add-ons. Paid plans start at $49/mo. Standard is $49 a month, Max is $99 a month, and Max 2x is $299 a month, all billed monthly. The platform includes member administration, customizable dashboards and forms, reporting, and integrations such as WooCommerce, Mailchimp, and LearnDash. It supports WordPress installations running version 5.2 or higher, while technical support covers only the three most recent minor releases. Premium purchases have a 100-day money-back guarantee covering one payment.
Simple Membership Plugin
Simple Membership Plugin has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.