What is the best WordPress membership plugin?
It depends on what you sell and what you will pay in fees. Three things separate the options: whether the free edition can take payments, what fee sits on top of Stripe’s own, and whether you can bring your existing members with you. Fennec Members is a free plugin that takes payments through your own Stripe account with no Fennec fee. MemberPress and Paid Memberships Pro are the established alternatives, and the table below sets them side by side with a source for each figure.
Fennec Members, compared
Membership levels
Free, one-time or subscription (every N days, weeks, months or years) in any currency Stripe supports. Free and one-time levels can run for a fixed length.
0% transaction fees
Payments go straight to your Stripe account with your own keys. No Stripe Connect, no application fee, no revenue share.
Restrict content your way
Per post or page, whole categories and tags, or part of a page with the Members Only block or [fennec_members_only]. Visitors see a teaser and a join link.
No leaks
Restricted content is also hidden from the REST API, RSS feeds, search results and comments. Short posts are never given away whole by the teaser.
Move from MemberPress or PMPro
Import levels, members and active subscriptions from MemberPress or Paid Memberships Pro, with a dry run first. Existing Stripe subscriptions keep billing without re-signup.
Failed-payment recovery
Retry-aware dunning emails that follow Stripe’s Smart Retries, a payments ledger per member, and a grace period before access ends.
| As of Oct 6, 2026 | Fennec MembersFree core; Pro from $79/yr | MemberPress Launch$399/yr ($199.50 first year) | Paid Memberships Pro (free)Free core |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fee on member payments | 0% | 4.9% on top of Stripe | 2% via Stripe Connect without a paid license |
| Free edition takes payments | Yes | No | Yes |
| Pay only Stripe’s processing fees | Yes | No | Only with a paid license or your own API keys |
| AI agent access (Abilities / MCP) | Yes | Not listed | Not listed |
Figures were checked on each vendor’s own pages on October 6, 2026 (the same sources as our alternatives pages). MemberPress charges 0% only on its higher Growth and Scale plans; Launch is $399/yr, half price in the first year. On a $10/month membership with 500 members, a 4.9% fee is about $2,940 a year. “Not listed” means we couldn’t confirm it on the vendor’s own pages. Sources: MemberPress fee FAQ, PMPro Stripe docs.
Sources: MemberPress Launch: MemberPress fee FAQ, Paid Memberships Pro (free): PMPro Stripe docs. Read Oct 6, 2026.
Not built yet
Planned, not shipped:
- Content dripping and scheduled access
- Protected downloads
- Member directory
- PayPal gateway
Requires WordPress 6.9+ and PHP 8.1+. Docs · Pricing · All comparisons
Questions
Which WordPress membership plugin is cheapest?
Price is more than the licence. Fennec Members is free and takes 0% of member payments, with Pro from $79 a year. Paid Memberships Pro has a free core, and its Stripe fee depends on how you connect Stripe. MemberPress lists a 4.9% fee on top of Stripe on its Launch plan. The comparison table above has the sourced figures.
Do I need a membership plugin if I only want to hide a few pages?
Not always, but a membership plugin also handles sign-up, renewals and cancellations. Fennec Members works without any payment provider for free levels, manual members and restriction.
Can I switch from MemberPress or Paid Memberships Pro?
Fennec Members imports levels, members and active subscriptions from both, with a dry run first. Existing Stripe subscriptions keep billing without members signing up again.