The Membership Levels page displays the available membership levels and a link to complete checkout. You can use the default shortcode or block appearance for this page, or design a more attractive layout using the Advanced Levels Page Shortcode Add On.
This page can also be created using any page builder or custom pricing table plugin, you just need to include the correct checkout links for each membership level you offer.
In the core Paid Memberships Pro plugin, members that renew a fixed-term membership level early will automatically have the expiration date extended by one additional term.
For example, a member whose annual plan is set to expire in two weeks can renew today, and their new expiration date will be set for 54 weeks from the checkout date.
This scenario doesn’t require any custom code. PMPro handles fixed-term membership renewals of the same level automatically, adding the remaining time on the current membership to the new term.
For this post, we share a way to offer this same logic for membership level changes. The code recipe below demonstrates how you can extend a member’s current level duration when they upgrade to a new level.
For example, a member on a “Bronze” plan with two months left can upgrade to a “Gold” annual plan, and their new expiration date will be 14 months from the checkout date.
Keep reading to get that code recipe and learn more about membership renewals with Paid Memberships Pro.
We offer a 100% Money-Back Guarantee on all paid plans on the site. This encourages conversions by building trust and setting customers at ease. They know that if our software or support doesn’t work out for them, they can at least get a refund for the cost of membership.
Further, because we process refunds quickly and with understanding, a lot of our ex-customers leave with goodwill toward us, instead of resentment.
Protect downloads for members only and charge for access to downloadable files using Download Monitor and Paid Memberships Pro.
The Trusted Membership Platform That Grows with You Restrict content, and manage member subscriptions with recurring payments, user registration, custom profile fields, and robust member management. Used by over 90,000 online businesses. Built for your unique membership site. PMPro supports any kind of member-focused business. Launched in 2011, we have more than 14 years of (more…)
Browse our downloadable tutorials, how-tos, and conversion guides to help you start, manage, and grow your membership site with WordPress and Paid Memberships Pro. Nuggets of Wisdom 29 insights and ‘aha moments’ for new or veteran membership site business owners. Use these nuggets of wisdom to inspire or challenge you. Membership Site Terminology: A to (more…)
Set a custom level cost text statement for membership levels and discount codes without coding, allowing you to easily adjust how membership subscription pricing is displayed on your site.
Jason Coleman CEO Stranger Studios Creator of Paid Memberships Pro What is Paid Memberships Pro? In the WordPress repository. On GitHub. Documentation and support at PaidMembershipsPro.com. What is InvestorGeeks? http://www.investorgeeks.com http://www.investorgeeks.com/trends/ The Plan Lock down trends page for paid members. Flashy pricing page from PageRascal.com. Setup Stripe. Bonus: Install PMPro-Mail-Chimp Questions (Jason will post some (more…)
The site administrator can manually update a user’s membership level through the WordPress admin or the member can change their own level through your site.
If your site relies on PayPal for recurring subscriptions, you may have noticed something strange between November 12–18, 2025: recurring transactions were processed by PayPal, but your site never received them.
This was not a bug in your site, Paid Memberships Pro, or your server. This was an issue on PayPal’s end, with their IPN verification endpoint, the one used to confirm incoming recurring payment notifications. During this time frame, PayPal incorrectly returned HTML error pages instead of the expected VERIFIED or INVALID responses.
Keep reading to understand what went wrong and how to get order data back in sync by resending IPN history to your membership site.
Launch a Public or Members-Only Directory with PMPro Create a public or members-only directory with customizable profiles, searchable listings, and optional maps. Control the design, visibility, and monetization of your directory without being locked into a closed platform. Why Directories Matter Directories aren’t just a feature. They’re often the heartbeat of a membership site. (more…)
This guide outlines how group memberships function, including parent checkout, group management, child account access, and what happens when a parent account changes or expires.
If you plan to display a map of members in your directory or profiles, you must enter your Google Maps API Key on the Memberships > Settings > Advanced page in the WordPress admin.
Paid Memberships Pro gives you many options for protecting WordPress posts, pages and 26 other types of content right out of the box. For some sites, you may want to restrict access to protected files as well.
In this guide, we provide an overview of how you can protect direct access to members-only files with Paid Memberships Pro. You’ll learn how to use the built-in file protection features to securely share downloadable files, like PDFs, ZIPs, or MP4s, with only specific membership levels.
If you’re new to PMPro’s restricted file system, this is a great place to start.
Membership sites that offer multiple payment methods at checkout can increase conversions, support international members, and reduce friction for renewals.
But what happens when an active member wants to switch from one gateway to another? From Stripe to PayPal…without paying twice?
Out of the box, Paid Memberships Pro handles payment-method changes within the same gateway (e.g., updating a card on file in Stripe). Switching between gateways requires a more manual process, until now.
This guide explains how to let active members change their payment method or gateway without double billing, using a code recipe you can install on your PMPro-powered site.
MemberHost offers bespoke, fully managed WordPress hosting for high-traffic, plugin-heavy membership and eLearning sites. Their team comes from the trenches of the membership space, with deep expertise in both server architecture and the specific demands of logged-in user experiences on WordPress.
We’ve reviewed their service for compatibility with Paid Memberships Pro and have outlined setup recommendations and what to expect when hosting your site on their infrastructure.
Kinsta is a high-performance, managed WordPress hosting provider known for developer-friendly tools, automatic scaling, and a clean dashboard experience. We’ve tested Kinsta’s infrastructure for compatibility with Paid Memberships Pro and have outlined our findings and setup recommendations below.
Membership websites are a powerful way for creators and entrepreneurs to generate recurring revenue, deliver exclusive content, and build engaged communities.
Whether you’re launching a digital course, creating a premium newsletter, or building a private forum, choosing the right platform, WordPress vs SaaS for membership, can be a key factor in your success or failure.
Both WordPress and SaaS (Software as a Service) platforms, like Kajabi or Podia, have their strengths, but they represent two very different approaches.
If you’re leaning toward control and flexibility, WordPress stands out as a popular and powerful foundation. It’s open-source, self-hosted, and endlessly customizable, especially when paired with the right membership plugin, such as Paid Memberships Pro (PMPro).
But if speed and simplicity are your top priorities, SaaS platforms offer an all-in-one solution that gets you up and running quickly without technical setup.
In this article, we’ll break down the key differences between WordPress and SaaS platforms, compare features like content gating, payment processing, and community tools, and help you decide which option is right for your goals.
We’ll also share real-world examples and frameworks to help you think long-term, so you can build a membership site that lasts.
Let’s get started.
The Group Accounts Add On for Paid Memberships Pro enables you to establish hierarchical relationships between membership levels. This is useful for scenarios like schools with districts, campuses, and teachers or corporate organizations with headquarters, managers, and employees.
This tutorial walks you through setting up and understanding the limitations of a three-tiered structure: grandparent, parent, and child accounts.
At first glance, restricting your members from renewing their membership might seem counterproductive. Membership sites thrive on recurring revenue. However, there are specific situations where you may need to restrict renewals for certain membership levels.
These code recipes prevent membership renewal for their current membership level. Instead, they will be prompted to select a different membership level at checkout. The recipes are customizable, allowing you to define which levels are restricted and to set a custom error message.
Stripe is a payment service that operates as both a Payment Gateway and Merchant Account. In practice, this means that setting up an account with Stripe is fast and easy.
This documentation area covers basic Stripe information and settings. We also have a guide on troubleshooting a few common issues with Stripe that can happen at Membership Checkout.
If you are currently using the Sponsored Members Add On, we strongly recommend migrating to Group Accounts Add On.
Group Accounts offers more features, a simpler setup, and better compatibility with future versions of Paid Memberships Pro. In fact, we will be officially dropping support for Sponsored Members in favor of the Group Accounts Add On in 2025.
You can prepare yourself for this deprecation by using the script in this guide to migrate from the Sponsored Members Add On to the Group Accounts Add On.
While this process may seem a bit overwhelming, we can assure you that we have successfully used this script with many people through our support channels. Through this post, we feel confident that the script is ready to share with the greater user community.
That said, this script does make irreversible changes to your database. We strongly recommend that you backup your WordPress database and consider working through this process with the guidance of our technical support experts or a dedicated developer.
An annual support license is recommended for websites running Paid Memberships Pro.
This page outlines the steps to take to review your license key usage, regenerate your key, and upgrade your plan to purchase additional uses.
Whether you’re a content creator, a small business owner starting out, or a brand manager creating a discussion space, one of the best ways to add value to a growing community is through memberships.
Member programs give you a direct connection with your community and, when combined with protected content, create a financially sustainable model that benefits everyone involved. Fortunately, with so many plugins to choose from, it’s straightforward to set up a membership program on your existing WordPress site.
If you decide to start selling memberships, you’ll want to start with a lot of research into the best membership platforms out there. There are hundreds of WordPress-based and non-WordPress membership software options available. But, when it comes to developing and maintaining a membership community on WordPress specifically, two long standing products jump out. In this post, we provide a comparison of Paid Memberships Pro and s2member.
Launching your first online business or expanding your operation online is an exciting time for a company or creator, but it comes with stress as well. With so many tools and services available, it’s easy for small business owners to feel overwhelmed. Should you go with a hosted platform like Shopify compared to Paid Memberships Pro, a self-hosted platform that lets you own your data?
Choosing the right platform is the first major decision you’ll make in building an online business—and trust me when I say this is not a decision you want to reverse in a few months.
In this guide, we explore two popular options: using Paid Memberships Pro and WordPress to manage a membership and storefront, or the fully hosted e-commerce platform, Shopify. Each has its own benefits and challenges, so keep reading to explore your options.
Paid Memberships Pro is recommended by our customers and users
