The Best Paywall Plugins For Your WordPress Website

Last updated on Aug 28, 2023

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The Best Paywall Plugins For Your WordPress Website

Besides engaging audiences and ensuring they stay updated with the latest developments relevant to them, news publishers also seek revenue. This is necessary to sustain operations. In recent years, paywalls have emerged as a viable option for publishers to increase revenue. 

Depending on the nature of implementation, paywalls allow users to access only limited amounts of content for free. In order to unlock access to premium content, users need to pay for the content they wish to see or subscribe to the website via a monthly, quarterly, or annual fee. Consider this approach similar to News-as-a-Service, just as you pay a subscription for a software service.

By implementing a paywall, your publication can selectively provide premium content that fulfills your customers’ needs. In return, you get compensated for all the hard work and effort that goes into creating engaging content. You can do all this while still creating regular content that is available to everyone for free. 

Prominent publications and online magazines such as The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, and The Washington Post have successfully implemented paywalls on their site. If WordPress powers your website, then plugins could simplify your implementation of a paywall. If you need a simplified explanation, you may read our post on News Paywalls and how they work.

Best Paywall Plugins for WordPress

  1. Leaky Paywall
  2. Memberful WP
  3. MemberPress
  4. Restrict Content Pro Plugin
  5. S2Member
  6. Paid Memberships Pro Plugin
  7. Zlick

Since finding the ideal WordPress plugin to implement a paywall for your website can be a daunting task, we created a guide with the 7 best paywall plugins for WordPress.

Paywall Plugins

Features

Price

Free Version

Leaky 

Supports traditional, hybrid & metered paywalls.

$249/month

Available

Memberful WP

Single sign-in. Automatic syncing of data.

$25/month

Available

Member Press

Restrict access to pages, child pages, custom posts

$279 (customizable)

Unavailable

Restrict Content Pro Plugin

Unlimited membership levels. Built-in member account dashboard.

$99/year

Available

S2Member Plugin

Integrates with leading payment options. Easy customization

$89 

(customizable)

Available

Paid Memberships Pro

Content Restrictions, Membership Management, Admin Reports, Popular Site Enhancements

$247

Available

Zlick

Zero Set-up cost, Flexible restrictions, Users can pay without signing up

$37/month

Available

 

Leaky Paywall

best-paywall-plugins-wordpress-leaky-paywallLeaky Paywall is open source and allows news publications and online magazines to create email lists, generate revenue from subscribers, and create new content. This plugin supports a variety of paywall types, including traditional, hybrid, and metered paywalls.

By implementing the Leaky Paywall, you will be able to have subscribers pay you via PayPal, MagHub, RunMags, and Stripe.

The Leaky Paywall plugin is available for download for free. The premium version costs $249 a month but offers setup and instant support to help you with smooth operations.

Key features of Leaky Paywall

  • By restricting incognito browsing, conversion rates can be increased.
  • Based on the actions of site visitors and subscribers, it provides actionable information.
  • Use post types, categories, tags, and taxonomies to organize your material.

Also Read: Best Paywall Solutions

Memberful WP

best-paywall-plugins-wordpress-leaky-memberfulMemberful WP is one of the top WordPress membership plugins with a user-friendly interface. You can include widgets on your website that allow subscribers to change their subscription settings. 

Using Stripe, you can use this paywall plugin to integrate the Memberful subscription tool to sell articles and post subscriptions. It implements a paywall and restricts content based on membership levels.

Memberful WP integrates with WordPress directly and allows users to automatically sign in once they have signed in to WordPress. Users don't have to log in twice. 

The pay-per-click plugin allows you to restrict access to specific content and secure your website based on how many people are logged in at the same time.

Key features of Memberful WP

  • Existing members can export their data to CSV format.
  • Manage members and memberships.
  • Real-time conversion tracking provides insights into real-time data.

MemberPress

best-paywall-plugins-wordpress-leaky-memberpressMemberPress not only builds content-sharing membership portals but also provides various tools for users of all skill levels. They have a simple setup process that makes it easier to restrict access to specific sites, posts, files, and categories.

You can construct password-protected forums using MemberPress, such as bbPress, which can significantly enhance your membership retention rates. You can also use this plugin to generate coupon codes. This will also help you increase your membership retention rates.

The MemberPress plugin offers professionally designed price pages that can be personalized for your website. You do not require any coding skills to set up or manage MemberPress.

This plugin costs $279 and includes 12 months of free support.

Key features of MemberPress

  • Accepts PayPal, Authorizenet, and Stripe payments.
  • Allows you to set different access levels for posts, pages, categories, tags, and files.
  • The ability to steadily deliver content over time.

Also Read: News Paywalls Explained

Restrict Content Pro Plugin

best-paywall-plugins-wordpress-restrict-content-proYou can restrict access to your material in a variety of ways with the Restrict Content Pro restriction tool. For example, you can limit access based on membership status or categorize and tag content.

You can create an unlimited number of membership levels, trial subscriptions, free trials, and paid subscriptions with Restrict Content Pro plugin.  It also provides detailed reports on the site's performance, revenue, and transaction tracking, as well as modifies the information to match the needs of the client.

This paywall plugin allows you to view all of your members in one place, including active, pending, expired, canceled, and free members.

Your WordPress website has several membership levels. Restrict Content Pro helps you get complete control over the pricing, signup fee, and the role that members receive when they register. This plugin is priced at $99.

Key Features of Restrict Content Pro

  • You can sell an unlimited number of digital products.
  • You can allow your customers to access their account details by providing a customer dashboard.
  • You can provide exclusive discount codes to your registered users.

Also Read: How iZooto can help you increase paid subscriptions by 12%

S2Member

best-paywall-plugins-wordpress-s2-memberS2Member allows you to set custom login and registration restrictions as well as use open registration, which allows anyone to register at any time. This will enable you to restrict access to your content based on your set of rules.

When you purchase a pay-per-post plugin, you will acquire a security badge, which enhances visitor confidence but does not increase the security of your website. The membership plugin includes all of the features required to create a fully effective membership site, such as subscription renewal functions and restriction options.

Business owners can also sell user keys when entered into S2Member. This allows users to access digital content such as eBooks and online courses.

The plugin is free with the Free/Lite version and $89 with the Premium version.

Key Features of S2Member

  • You can upload protected media files to your website.
  • Custom coding allows you to create membership accounts for your members.
  • Purchases are issued a security badge.

Also Read: 12 Content Remarketing Playbooks for Publishers

Paid Memberships Pro Plugin

best-paywall-plugins-wordpress-paid-memberships-proThe Paid Memberships Pro plugin includes everything you need to start, administer, and grow your membership website. This paywall plugin is ideal for premium content marketing websites, companies that provide online courses, and training institutions that work with people all over the world.

You can generate sales and revenue reports for your business with Paid Memberships Pro, which will help you make smarter decisions in the future. You can also check how many members have joined and canceled, as well as how many active members there are.

You can give your members complete control over their profiles by granting them full access.

Although the Lite version is free, the Pro edition costs $247.

Key Features of Paid Memberships Pro Plugin

  • Individual posts and pages can have membership levels assigned to them.
  • Six payment gateways are integrated.
  • Give your members a flexible pricing structure and a free trial period.

Also Read: Monetization challenges that are hurting publisher revenues

Zlick

best-paywall-plugins-wordpress-zlickZlick is an easy-to-use plugin paywall. Your consumers can access restricted content just by making one single click. It does not require you to create an account or download the application to make payments. 

Users can pay-per-post or Subscribe for premium content using various methods of payment such as credit cards, apple pay, etc.

Readers can see the content previews before they see the Zlick button, allowing them to continue reading with a single click.

Zlick is made especially for content creators. This is why it is easy to use and set up. Everything is accessible easily.

Price- $37 per month. A free version is also available. Charges 5% for every transaction.

Key Features of Zlick

  • Paywall that can be customized for one-time payments and monthly subscriptions.
  • Customers can purchase content without subscribing. Users can log in without a password after that.
  • You can retarget your customers with Custom and Automated newsletters. 

Key takeaways

The plugins mentioned above, have different features and functionalities. They all offer various ways in which you can set up a paywall for your WordPress website. The plugin you choose should align with the content you are offering.

For example, if you only need a simple paywall to cover up the content on your WordPress website, then you can use Leaky Paywall, pay-per-view, or Memberful plugin.

If you want to do more with your site than just publish premium content, consider using one of the membership plugins. This suggests that you should create a variety of content for various subscription levels, community forums, products, and so on.

We suggest you make a list of goals for your WordPress site and business and then choose which plugin best resonates with your vision.

Looking for different plugins for your website? Check out the best WordPress plugin for you blog. We have a list of 14 plugins to choose from.

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Punya Batra
Punya Batra
Punya is a full-time content marketer and a part-time blogger who loves to explore the unique stories behind brands. She pens down short stories, poems, and one-liners in her free time. Her dream is to publish her thoughts as a book someday.

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