Paid Membership Pro Review – WordPress Membership Plugin

Choosing the right membership plugin is crucial for every member-based business because they can help these businesses and nonprofits to generate a steady stream of income via content restriction.

Paid Membership Pro (PMPro) is one of the most powerful membership plugins with all core features that are required to provide multiple membership solutions. We have not only used and customized this membership plugin for our nonprofit clients, but we have reviewed this plugin in detail and described all the information that will help you decide if the plugin is the right fit for you! We even have some of the most important PMPro Plugin FAQ’s answered to further help you understand the capabilities of this plugin. Please note that we are in no way affiliated with PMPro.

Paid Membership Pro

Paid Membership Pro is a standalone WordPress membership plugin that is flexible and a great solution for creating custom membership websites. You can include unlimited membership levels and further extend the functionalities of your website with the help of the 60+ premium extensions.

Click here to learn how to download and install the Paid Membership Pro plugin.

Features of Paid Membership Pro

General features

• Professional organization of thousands of members can be easily managed
• Paid e-learning and digital courseware are available
• Recurring payments can be accepted for content, podcasts, videos, and more
• Private social communities can be created for unique interest groups
• Robust directory or listing sites can be developed based on topic or region 
• Product subscriptions or member-only discounts can be provided
• Payment gateway interactions are available. You can choose from PayPal, Stripe, Authorize.net, Braintree, or 2Checkout
• SMS reminders can be sent for renewals and credit card expiry through Twilio
• Option to store MailChimp users with different segments in the same list. Plus, details can be stored on various MailChimp lists based on membership levels

Unlimited membership levels

• Multiple levels can be set up depending on your business
• One-time and recurring (annually, monthly, weekly, daily) subscription plans can be configured
• Option to allow users to have only one membership at a time
• Custom trial periods like free trials, custom-length trials, or introductory pricing trials can be provided 
• Access restrictions to pages, posts, categories, videos, forums, downloads, supports, individual pages, and more can be set up based on membership levels
• Pmpro donations addon provides only one-time donation by default. Customization is required to make it recurring. But the recurring interval depends on the recurring membership level and it is not possible to change the interval. For example, if the recurring interval of membership is one year, then the recurring donation interval will also be set as one year

Control the user experience

• Members have the option to update their billing information directly on the website
• Members can cancel an active membership subscription at any time
• Website administrator can update the user’s membership level manually 
• Members can update the payment method at any time for a recurring subscription 
• Members can update their credit card details for recurring payments in case of card theft or expiry or if they want to change to a different credit card

Membership Reports 

• Membership visits, views & login details can be tracked  
• Membership sales & revenue reports can be extracted 
• Various membership stats like signups, monthly recurring revenue (MRR), lifetime value (LTV), and cancellations can be tracked

Email Notifications

• Emails can also be sent for successful renewal payments, failed renewal payments, payment reminder and credit card expiry 
• Option add users to one of the appropriate Mailchimp lists once they get a membership
• Welcome emails can be automatically sent to new members or to the members who upgrade their membership level
• Membership invoice email can be sent when a new subscription payment is made
• Email alerts can be sent when a recurring payment has failed due to an expired or failed credit card

Support Community

• Support is provided via email or by phone during business hours
• Technical support for non-plugin related queries will be addressed with additional charges

Paid Membership Pro plugin information

• Pricing – Free, Plus – $297, Unlimited – $597
• Active installations: 80,000+
• Ratings: 4.2 out of 324 votes

Common Q and A for Paid Membership Pro

1. Does the admin have the option to assign/delete different levels of members manually from the backend?

Yes, admin can assign/delete various levels of members manually.

2. Can admin create the fields that users need to enter during the membership registration?

Yes, admin can create custom membership sign up form fields. 

3. Can admin manage fields which users should enter into account pages?

Yes, admin can manage fields using custom hooks.  

4. Can users be added to MailChimp lists based on their levels?

Yes, users can be added to appropriate MailChimp lists based on membership levels.

5. Does the admin have an option to pay on behalf of the member from the site backend using the member’s credit/debit card with Stripe?

No, this feature is not available at the moment and cannot be customized.

6. Can members update their credit/debit cards on the website?

Yes, the credit/debit card details of members can be updated on the website while the member is logged into their membership account.

7. Does the member have an option to request a refund from their account?

Yes, members can request a refund using a contact form

8. Does the admin have an option to process a refund from the admin backend?

An admin can only process the refund from the payment gateway directly and update the order status as “Refunded” in the website backend for that specific order manually.

9. Can a member cancel their membership subscription?

Yes, members can cancel their subscription at any time.

10. Will the system send automated reminder emails for users whose subscription is going to expire?

Yes, the system will automatically send reminder emails.

11.  Are there options to redirect pages based on the payment method a user selects while registering?

Yes, this feature can be achieved by customizing the plugin.

12. Is it possible to display profile completeness status?

Yes, this feature can be achieved by customizing the plugin.

13. Is it possible to integrate with the Stripe payment gateway?

Yes, you can integrate with Stripe.

14. Does this plugin support multi-level membership?

Yes. PMPro provides an addon to achieve multi-level membership where a user can have multiple membership subscriptions at the same time. But this add on is still in beta version and not a stable release.

15. What is the approval process of memberships?

The approval process for any membership level is possible through an addon called “Approval Process for Membership”. But, the payment is processed at the time of subscription and not at the time of approval. For example, if a user subscribes for a yearly membership on Oct 1, 2019, and admin approves this request on Nov 1, 2019, the membership start date will be October 1st.

Additional Q and A for Paid Membership Pro

Here are the answers for some additional queries we asked the support team at PMPro by assuming that a website we are going to create has two membership levels; level 1: non-voting members and level 2: voting members.

1. Is it possible to set separate membership levels (level 1 for non-voting members and level 2 for voting members)?

Yes, you can add two different membership levels on your website.

2. Is it possible to offer level 1 membership with a one-time payment of $20 with lifetime validity?

Yes, you can provide lifetime access with a one-time membership fee.

3. Is it possible to offer level 2 membership with a recurring payment of $25 per year?

Yes, you can provide membership access based on recurring membership payments. 

4. If some users want to subscribe for level 2 membership directly, can they be charged $45 (i.e: $20 one-time payment of level 1 + $25 recurring payment every year)?

Yes, the user can be charged $45, with $25 of that amount occurring annually. 

5. If some users upgrade from level 1 to level 2, can they be charged only the recurring payment of $25 per year?

Yes, they can be charged only the recurring payment of $25 per year.

6. If some users upgrade from level 1 to level 2, can the level 1 membership be removed from the user? This is to keep users active at any one level at a time.

Yes, the user can be kept active at any one level at a time.

7. If some users downgrade from level 2 to level 1, will their membership be removed from level 2 and added in level 1?

Yes, level 2 subscription will be canceled and the user will be added to level 1.

8. Can we deny the level 1 active user from accessing level 1 subscription options in his/her account?

Yes, you can deny the level 1 active user from accessing level 1 subscription options.

9. Can we deny a level 2 active user from accessing level 1 subscription options as well as level 2 subscription options in his/her account?

Yes, you can deny the user from resubscribing to their own levels and another level using settings and some custom coding.

10. Can a member without levels, select either level 1 or level 2?

Yes, users can choose any level of their choice.

11. Can we add level 1 members in MailChimp’s level 1 list?

Yes, level 1 members can be added to level 1 MailChimp’s list.

12. Can we add the level 2 members in MailChimp’s level 2 list? Also, the member should be removed from the level 1 list if they are upgrading.

Yes, level 2 members can be added to level 2 MailChimp’s list and they will be removed from level 1 list if they are upgrading. 

13. If a user’s level 2 membership has expired, can he/she be added to a new level 2 expired list in MailChimp?

Yes, this feature can be achieved by customizing the plugin.

14. Can I add two types of payment options (Stripe and bank transfer/cheque) on my website?

Yes, you can add both payment options.

15. Does the user have options to cancel their membership from level 1  or level 2?

Yes. 

16. Can a level 2 member (An existing annually recurring payment member) change the credit card on file because his existing card expired or is lost/stolen?

Yes, to do so the member has to go to his payment section in the user backend and update the card details on file.

Winding-up

To successfully build a membership website and restrict the access to certain pieces of content, or files as per membership levels, an advanced membership plugin is essential.

After reading this article, you should have a better idea about some of the more advanced Paid Membership Pro plugin capabilities. The plugin developer has also provided hooks that can enhance the website features and allows you to customize any part of your membership website easily.

Therefore, if this plugin suits your requirements, you can use it to customize your website as per the membership levels you want to have on your website.

Do you have any other information about Paid Membership Pro that we have missed?  Do share in the comment section below!