Top 11 Membership Site Platforms to Watch in 2025: The Ultimate Ranking

Thinkific is an online platform that enables you to create, promote, and sell courses and membership sites. It features an intuitive drag-and-drop builder to help you design and organize your courses and websites with ease.

Mighty Networks is a comprehensive platform for selling memberships. It provides valuable data insights that can help you enhance your website’s performance. While tracking your members’ activity, you can identify what content resonates most with your audience. In addition to analytics, Mighty Networks is an excellent choice for those looking to cultivate a community around their content. The platform makes it straightforward to connect with members, create discussion forums, and establish groups for interaction.

Expert’s Advice

If you’re looking for an alternative to traditional Facebook groups but still want to build a community of learners, Skool is a perfect choice. Its easy-to-use interface combined with advanced features makes it a versatile membership platform that adapts to various goals. This platform not only simplifies managing online communities but also enhances engagement and interaction among members.

Skool is a comprehensive platform that offers everything needed to foster strong relationships between students and teachers at all educational levels.

One of its standout features is the ability for users to create and manage their own content, such as forums, blogs, Q&A sessions, polls, and surveys. This makes managing community interactions straightforward and helps ensure important conversations are preserved and easy to follow.

Skool also includes features like member profiles and direct messaging, enabling users to connect on a more personal level. Its intuitive dashboard keeps members updated on coursework deadlines and upcoming events, making it simple to stay organized. Additionally, the platform incorporates gamification elements to motivate learners as they progress through courses.

Other notable features include tools for tracking engagement metrics like student participation and course completions, as well as options for monetizing content through auto-affiliate programs. Overall, Skool provides a powerful, user-friendly environment for building vibrant online learning communities.Courses are promoted through integrated marketing of other products or services directly within the platform. Students can efficiently search for specific content using the post search feature. Sending out mass emails to members is simplified with email broadcast capabilities. Additionally, members can create profiles and follow those they consider friends.

Pricing:

Skool offers a single subscription plan costing $99 per month, which includes all the features mentioned above.

Learning Management System:
LearnDash is ideal for creating engaging courses. It allows users to develop courses, add lessons, and organize all course materials in one place. The platform supports multimedia elements such as videos, audio, and images, making courses more dynamic. Users have praised LearnDash for its ease of use and comprehensive features that streamline course creation and management. Pricing for LearnDash starts at $24+ per month, and there are discounts available for annual subscriptions, with a 17% discount offering savings for yearly payments. The platform also provides promotional options to enhance course marketing efforts.14-Day Money-Back Guarantee

LearnDash provides a platform to build and organize your courses, add lessons, and manage all your course materials in one convenient dashboard.

LearnDash supports various multimedia elements like videos, audio tracks, and images, enabling you to design interactive and captivating courses that appeal to different learning preferences.

You can incorporate quizzes and assignments to enhance understanding and provide certificates to acknowledge student achievements—all easily managed with a few simple clicks.

With LearnDash, you can personalize your course’s appearance to align with your branding. Choose from ready-made templates or craft your own unique style. Additionally, it integrates seamlessly with page builders like Elementor or Beaver Builder, allowing for easy drag-and-drop page creation.

Some notable features include:

LearnDash offers various pricing options and infrastructure features to help you develop, manage, and monetize your online courses effectively.

Pricing starts at $24 per month per user when billed annually.

Ideal for creating online courses – $499 per month).

Thinkific is an online course platform designed to help creators develop, promote, and sell courses and membership sites.

It features a drag-and-drop interface that simplifies designing and organizing your courses and website content.

You can upload videos, create quizzes, schedule lessons, automate content delivery, and personalize your site’s layout and appearance. The builder also allows you to organize different sections of your page and tailor your site’s theme to match your brand identity.

For developers, full design access and custom domain options are available. You can also create different pricing plans, including free trials, subscription options, and one-time payments, with support for over 100 currencies.

Payments can be processed securely through major credit cards like MasterCard, Visa, and American Express or via third-party gateways such as Stripe and PayPal. The platform also offers tools for tracking course completion, sending automated progress emails, fostering discussions, and more to keep your students engaged.

Cloud-based data storage is secured with SSL certificates and monitored continuously. Key features include drip content scheduling, downloadable resources, JavaScript tracking, mobile-responsive content, single sign-on, and comprehensive site analytics.

Additional features include:

The platform also offers advanced marketing and ecommerce features, including affiliate programs, email marketing, detailed analytics, external integrations, ad retargeting, and more to boost your course’s visibility and sales. It provides student engagement tools such as progress indicators, replay options, language settings, and certificates. Data tracking and reporting features allow you to segment audiences, analyze performance, and export data as needed.

Pricing options:

Thinkific provides four subscription tiers:

All plans include features like quizzes, content hosting, instant payout, and a 30-day refund policy.

Kajabi is a comprehensive online business platform designed to help creators develop and manage their digital products. It facilitates building courses, coaching sessions, and membership websites with ease. The platform provides ready-made, customizable templates along with a drag-and-drop builder, allowing users to create membership sites without any coding skills. It includes templates for landing pages and email campaigns to effectively promote your offerings.

It supports sending single and bulk emails, automating sequences based on customer interactions, and notifying of events or updates. Its visual editor allows real-time preview and customization of your website, with features like countdown timers and embedded videos. The dashboard connects your website with marketing efforts, including emails, landing pages, and product management. Kajabi also offers pre-designed sales funnels and automation templates to streamline launching your membership programs or sales processes, featuring ready-to-use frameworks for various campaign types.

The platform enables mapping out and tracking customer paths through automated pipelines, supporting not only course creation but also affiliate programs, podcasts, and complete sales automation. It offers detailed analytics by monitoring interactions across all channels, providing insights into subscription rates, revenue, products sold, and membership engagement. The subscription churn reports help identify areas where retention can be improved.

Key features include creating quizzes and surveys, building sales pages, hosting videos, and drip content delivery. It offers over ten pre-designed product themes and a members-only private community area. User forecasting and progress tracking tools help manage growth, while the integrated CRM enables segmentation and management of members. Payment integration with PayPal and Stripe allows quick payouts without extra fees. Users can set up various subscription options, such as recurring payments, one-time fees, trials, and upsells, with a mobile app available for both Android and iOS devices, supporting account recovery and quick sign-in.

Pricing plans include three tiers: Basic at $119/month, Growth at $159/month, and Pro at $319/month. All plans include automation, templates, no transaction fees, webinar hosting, live chat support, and a 14-day free trial.

7. Wild Apricot Wild Apricot is ideal for small businesses and non-profits, with pricing ranging from free to $600 per month. It offers a range of tools to help organizations manage memberships, events, and websites efficiently.Wild Apricot is an online, cloud-based platform designed for building and managing membership websites. It simplifies routine membership management tasks and is ideal for a variety of groups such as bloggers, arts councils, nonprofits, clubs, and historical societies. The platform features an easy-to-use drag-and-drop website builder along with pre-designed themes that are mobile-friendly, making it quick to set up professional-looking sites. These themes and tools allow you to create essential pages like application forms, members-only areas, news blogs, member directories, and event listings.

The platform securely stores all your members’ data in the cloud, giving you anytime, anywhere access from any device. You can search and organize your database, automate renewal reminders, customize different membership levels, and manage data securely—all within a centralized system. For convenience, Wild Apricot provides a mobile app that enables you to handle contacts, edit event details, check members in at events, process payments, and more, without needing a computer. Members also have their own app to manage their profiles, register for events, and search the directory.

Wild Apricot supports instant online payments by automatically generating invoices and receipts. It allows your organization to collect donations online and set up recurring membership fees easily. The platform includes features like event management, real-time database updates, the ability to embed an event calendar, and check-in options via QR codes. It offers guest registration and waitlist management, ensuring smooth event operations. With mobile-responsive themes and integration with Square for credit card processing, it simplifies online financial transactions. You can also export financial data into tools like Excel or QuickBooks.

Two dedicated mobile apps are available—one for administrators and another for members—facilitating on-the-go management. Wild Apricot also features an integrated email system for sending automated confirmations, reminders, and targeted campaigns, with robust tracking capabilities for engagement metrics. Additionally, you can extend sales capabilities by creating an online store that supports catalogs, product variants, and special pricing for members.

Pricing plans vary based on your contact list size, with options ranging from a free plan for up to 50 contacts, to more comprehensive paid plans for larger organizations. The free plan lacks online store and mobile app functionality, but all paid plans include these features. A promotional offer rewards new users: signing up for the Group plan earns a $50 Amazon gift card after three months, and the Community plan or higher rewards $100 after the same period. Overall, Wild Apricot is a versatile, all-in-one membership management solution suitable for organizations of various sizes.

Wild Apricot is also equipped with an email marketing system that integrates seamlessly with your database. It enables automatic email confirmations and reminders, advanced contact searches, and targeted marketing campaigns. By utilizing the platform’s builder and themes, you can also create an online store with product catalogs, support for product variants, and exclusive member pricing, expanding its functionality beyond just membership management.

Teachable is a popular platform for creating, selling, and hosting multimedia courses and membership sites, costing $39 per month. It provides various tools for customizing course content, including multimedia lectures, videos, sales pages, and coaching sessions. You can add team members to your account, assigning specific permissions and roles. However, Teachable doesn’t support creating separate posts or pages or building a standalone community, which might limit its use for some creators. It also lacks a free trial option for memberships and cannot charge custom upfront payments—only fixed monthly or annual subscriptions are available. On the plus side, it supports coupon codes, discounts, and accepts payments in over 130 currencies via PayPal and other gateways, facilitating international transactions.Contributors, affiliate commissions, first-touch and last-touch attribution, and more are all manageable with this platform.

This platform allows you to create and embed a wide range of content, such as quizzes, surveys, drip content, certificates, and course compliance checks.

It integrates smoothly with many tools, including helpdesk software like Zendesk, Olark, and Intercom, among others.

Key features include an built-in course player, support for conversion pixels, scheduling one-on-one coaching sessions, unlimited video bandwidth, live chat support, full EU VAT compliance for memberships, and built-in affiliate marketing tools. The dashboard also provides insights into student progress and membership tracking. You can connect your existing website through custom domains and embed forms or surveys to gather feedback.

Additionally, Teachable supports calendar integration with Calendly for scheduling events, and it offers third-party forms for feedback collection. Security measures include hosting, 24/7 data monitoring, automatic updates, and SSL encryption with a 2048-bit SSL certificate. Payment processing relies solely on PCI Level-1 compliant providers to ensure safety.

Pricing options include three subscription tiers: a free plan at no cost, a basic plan at $29 per month, a pro plan at $99 per month, and a business plan at $249 per month. All paid plans include unlimited courses and students, integrated payments, quizzes, VAT support, and other essential features.

MemberPress is a popular choice for WordPress sites, costing $149 annually. It allows you to create membership sites, courses, and digital downloads with all standard features like gated content, tiered memberships, and payment collection. Setup is straightforward, requiring only three steps: install, set up payment details, and add products. The plugin offers customizable themes for different pricing options, allowing you to build pages with CSS or use pre-designed templates.

You can create multiple membership tiers with options for recurring payments, free or paid trials, annual fees, and payment limits. Content access can be restricted based on memberships, product purchases, categories, tags, and other rules. You can generate and manage unlimited coupons for promotions, with control over usage and expiration dates.

Other features include managing subscriptions, adding forums and community features, integrating with existing WordPress sites, setting up payment gateways via API, and accessing detailed reports on sales and marketing. Content can be scheduled for timed release, and members can manage their subscriptions directly through your website. Automated billing handles payment status changes effectively.

MemberPress also integrates with Forum plugins like bbPress and offers a Pro version that includes Affiliate Royale for managing affiliate programs. The plugin supports numerous third-party payment gateways and business tools like PayPal, Mailchimp, and ConvertKit. Custom coding, Zapier integration, and extensive support resources are available for advanced management.

Pricing plans range from $149 for the Basic to $349 annually for the Pro plan, including features like content protection, course creation, and member dashboards, with a 14-day money-back guarantee.

Podia is an ideal platform for promoting membership sites through email marketing, with plans starting at $39 per month.

Podia is an all-in-one digital storefront platform that allows you to create and sell various online products including memberships, courses, digital downloads, webinars, and more. It guides you through every step of the sales process — from designing sales pages and capturing email contacts to handling EU VAT charges and payment processing. The website builder supports creating responsive sites optimized for mobile, tablet, and desktop, with automatic updates ensuring your site stays current. It operates seamlessly in the background, maintaining your business confidentiality, and allows you to receive all membership payments without transaction fees. Users can view their purchase history securely with a single login, and data on sales, assets, and customers can be filtered, sorted, and exported easily. You can choose to accept one-time payments or establish tiered memberships, such as monthly or yearly plans, including free trial options. Moreover, Podia enables monetization of online courses, digital programs, or any periodic content under membership plans, along with a free newsletter service.

Podia’s other key features include the ability to drip-feed content to members over time, an integrated live chat for support, and options to pin important posts at the top of your channels. You can schedule future content releases, allow members to comment and react on shared posts, and get notified via email whenever new content is added. The platform also allows embedding videos, images, and social media content within membership posts, and it can connect membership communities to platforms like Facebook groups, Slack, or Palapa. It has community-building tools to facilitate engagement among members, an affiliate program to promote your offerings, coupon codes based on usage or time limits, and high-converting checkout pages to expedite payments. Customer support is available 24/7, and you can bundle multiple products into one comprehensive membership plan. You can create dedicated pages or posts for your members, restrict access to premium content based on membership levels, and enable members to access public posts via links or search engines.

In addition to its storefront capabilities, Podia features a built-in email marketing system that helps you send newsletters, set up drip campaigns, and segment your subscriber list. It provides analytics on subscriber engagement, including open rates, click-throughs, and conversion tracking. One limitation is that Podia does not support the creation of learning paths or the ability to charge setup fees. However, it can be integrated with advanced tools like Zapier, Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, PayPal, and others to enhance functionality.

Pricing-wise, Podia offers two main plans: the Mover plan at $39 per month and the Shaker plan at $79 per month. Both include weekly reports, live Q&A sessions, messaging, email marketing tools, webinars, website hosting, and more. A 14-day free trial allows you to try out features before committing. For more details, check out the full review article linked here.

11. Wix.
Best for building a website ($23 per month).
Wix is a popular platform for creating, designing, and developing websites, offering over 500 customizable templates for various types of online presence, such as blogs, portfolios, web applications, or e-commerce stores. It enables adding a “Members Area” to your site, where you can restrict access to exclusive or premium content. Standard features include custom domains, CDN performance, visitor analytics, SSL security, and multilingual support. Its membership services encompass free trials, subscription options, punch cards, event scheduling, discounts, and access control for different levels of content. With Wix, you can set up recurring payments, offer trial periods, and create members-only content or services to suit your needs.

You can accept payments through various methods such as cash, digital cards, digital wallets, or popular payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, and Alipay.

Additionally, Wix offers a built-in “Wix Payments” service that supports transactions in over 40 different currencies. The platform also automates billing by sending quotes and invoices and integrates seamlessly with well-known accounting software like QuickBooks, making financial management easier.

Some of its advanced features include hosting online sessions with Zoom, providing live chat support, offering discounts and coupons, notifying members via email or SMS, creating packages that bundle services with memberships, integrating calendars for scheduling, and handling recurring payments. It also allows generating unique coupon codes, managing SEO for better search rankings, creating custom forms to gather member information, and tracking business performance and attendance. Managing calendars, members, and sessions, as well as scheduling service or product purchases, is simplified. The platform supports collaboration among members, allows mobile interaction, enables running email campaigns with custom domains, and offers tools for lead generation with tracking invoices and quotes. There’s even a plugin to add a business phone number and a broad range of integrations with over 250 professional website solutions to enhance your site’s functionality.

Beyond these features, Wix provides resources like blogs, partnership opportunities, privacy centers, and design tools to optimize your website’s performance.

Pricing for Wix’s membership options includes three main plans designed to add members-only areas to your website:
– Business VIP: $49 per month
– Business Unlimited: $27 per month
– Business Basic: $23 per month

Creating a membership section is free if you don’t need to process payments. The paid plans also come with a 14-day money-back guarantee, offering flexibility and peace of mind.

What Are Membership Site Platforms?

Membership site platforms, often called “Membership Management Software,” serve as comprehensive tools for creating, managing, and promoting membership websites. These platforms allow you to restrict access to exclusive content, accept online payments, donations, or fees, and often provide features geared toward content delivery such as courses, coaching sessions, special reports, newsletters, and events. They enable you to offer unique coupons and discounts to attract new members.

Most Management Software options provide functionalities such as processing financial transactions, setting up events, reminders, and payment information; communicating with members through emails and newsletters; automating invoice generation; maintaining a comprehensive database of member contact details; organizing engaging content through events calendars, blogs, or member directories; tracking revenue and member activities; and analyzing membership data for insights.

Features to consider when choosing a membership site platform

When selecting a platform, it’s important to focus on features that align with your goals. Key aspects to evaluate include the ability to offer gated and exclusive content—meaning providing tailored material to members while still giving visitors a preview of what you offer—so your site effectively caters to both audiences. You should also look for contact segmentation capabilities, which help you organize your member base for targeted communication and marketing efforts.

An effective membership platform can automatically organize your contacts into members and non-members. Such systems also offer CRM functionalities and support categorization of other tasks aligned with your target audience.

The platform should allow you to create customized pages for members and users, including sign-up forms, event pages, sales, and pricing sections. Many tools come with ready-made templates and intuitive drag-and-drop interfaces that make designing these pages straightforward.

Automation tools enable you to streamline sales processes by establishing automatic workflows that nurture potential members and encourage ongoing engagement. You can set up automated email reminders, welcome messages, retargeted advertisements, discount offers tailored to user actions, and more, making your marketing efforts more efficient.

If you are offering free memberships, you won’t need this feature. However, for paid memberships, it’s important to select a platform that integrates seamlessly with third-party payment providers like Stripe and PayPal. It should support various payment methods, including wallets and credit/debit cards.

Here’s a comparison article between Square and PayPal to help you choose a payment gateway with the right features for your needs.

An excellent membership site platform should support various membership tiers and provide relevant information on demand. It should allow recurring billing, one-time payments, monthly or yearly subscriptions, free trial options, and more. Additionally, integration with third-party business tools, email marketing systems, engagement analytics, blogging, and other functionalities are also essential for managing your community effectively.

Most membership platforms operate in a similar manner. To illustrate, I’ll walk you through setting up Wild Apricot as an example.

Let’s begin:

Step 1. Verify Browser Compatibility and Log In. Ensure that your browser works well with Wild Apricot. Provide your login details if you’re new to the platform. When you log in, a pop-up may appear asking you to accept the terms of use to activate your account. Also, keep an eye out for notifications about unpaid invoices, incomplete registration steps, renewal dates, and other important updates.

Step 2. Access Site Pages. From your dashboard, click on Website > Site. This will direct you to the website editor, which allows you to customize your membership templates. You can select from a variety of themes by clicking the “Theme” option on the top navigation bar. Using themes and the drag-and-drop builder, you can create or modify your website, design email campaigns, set up renewal notices, and more.

You can also choose from various themes by clicking the “Theme” button on the top menu. This allows you to customize your website’s appearance and layout using simple drag-and-drop tools for building pages, email campaigns, automated reminders, and other features.

Step 3. Create Membership Levels. You can set up different membership tiers directly from your dashboard. Navigate to the Members > Level section to add new levels or modify existing ones. This flexibility helps you manage various membership types efficiently and tailor access based on user categories.

You have the option to modify the “Renewal policy” and create personalized membership levels directly from the dashboard.

To do this, hover over the “Members” menu and select the “Membership Fields” option.

Next, move your cursor over the “Contact” tab and click on the “Common Fields” option.

Here, you can also input additional details for each common field to customize your membership form further.

Step 4. Configure Payment Settings

Begin setting up your payment system by clicking the “Settings” button and choosing the “Payment Settings” option.

If you are based in the US or Canada, you’ll need to submit an application along with your federal tax ID and bank account information for verification.

If you’re outside these regions, you’ll need to connect an alternative payment gateway suitable for your location. It typically takes one to two business days to complete the verification process and get approval for processing payments.

Once approved, return to the “Payment Settings” and enable online payments by checking the relevant box. After that, select your preferred payment system and enter your account details to finalize the setup.

Step 5. Add a Membership Application Gadget

To incorporate a membership application form, navigate to the “Website > Site Pages” section where you can create or modify a membership application page.

Click on the gadget icon, then drag and drop your desired gadget onto the page. You can embed various elements such as an event calendar, donation forms, fundraising goals, product catalogs, shopping cart, and more.

You also have customization options for the gadget’s appearance, including text, colors, fonts, and additional elements like descriptions and titles. Once your setup is complete, remember to save your changes to ensure everything is properly configured.

Step 6. Create Discount Offers and Coupons

Offering discounts and coupon codes can be a powerful way to attract new members and encourage current ones to subscribe more actively.

Access this feature by clicking “Settings,” then navigating to the “Discounts” section under the “Members” settings. A screen titled “Discount Coupons” will appear, allowing you to create personalized discount codes or special offers for your membership base.

No matter your current membership size, enhancing your site’s appeal and outreach is always beneficial. Here are some effective methods to grow your community.

Your existing members are your best ambassadors. Reward them with exclusive content, discounts, or special perks available only through your site. Consider implementing referral programs, where members can earn rewards or discounts by bringing new members through their referral links.

Content is key to attracting and retaining members. Focus on producing high-quality, engaging material that appeals to your target audience. Think about offering videos, podcasts, articles, or infographics. Experiment with different formats to discover what resonates most with your audience and encourages them to join.

Effective SEO is essential for increasing your site’s visibility. Use relevant keywords on your pages to improve your rankings in search engine results. Ensure all titles, images, and meta descriptions are optimized, and build backlinks from reputable websites related to your niche. These strategies will help drive more organic traffic to your site from platforms like Google and Bing.

A vibrant membership community depends on active members. To maintain engagement, consider implementing the following tactics:

That concludes my list of top membership website platforms. Providing gated content and subscription options is an excellent strategy for enriching member experience and generating income. If you’re interested in creating an exclusive members-only area, offering multiple subscription levels, and monetizing your content, consider these platforms:

Which membership platform are you thinking of using, and what’s your reason? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.