WP eMember Membership Site Plugin Review

The WP eMember has grown in popularity since its inception because it is less expensive than many alternatives but still full of features membership site managers love. At the same time, there are still some important potential drawbacks that need to be considered to determine whether or not is the best fit for a particular type of membership site.

Key Features of WP eMember

1. Fully Automated Member Management

One of the best aspects of the WP eMember is how much of the member management processes are fully automated. Membership sign-up, payments, account expirations, cancellations, upgrade notifications, and even password resets are fully automated once the plug-in is been set up. This is true across an unlimited number of membership levels which can significantly decrease the day-to-day maintenance required to operate a fully functional membership site. One of the most unique automated processes is automatic membership upgrades. This plug-in allows you to schedule automatic upgrades for your members based upon certain time increments. For example, you can offer a membership upgrade after a set period of time to reward long-term members.

2. WP eStore Integration

Another great feature of WP eMember is WP eStore integration. Many membership plug-ins for WordPress create compatibility issues with popular e-store plugins. While WP eMember is only designed to be integrated with WP eStore, at least membership site owners know there will be a fully functioning e-store plug-in which will play nice with their membership site.

3. Fee Add-ons

A final benefit of WP eMember is it includes a number of free WP eMember add-ons which are included. They include a member’s profile display, Captcha integration, the ability to capture affiliate leads, the ability to create unique pricing tables, and to send email broadcasts to all members. Plus, if you don’t want these types of functionality integrated into your membership site you can simply not install the add-ons making the overall application more lightweight.

Pricing

One of the most notable benefits of this WordPress membership site plug-in is its price. It requires only a one-time payment of $49.95. This includes a full lifetime license, free lifetime updates, and the ability to use the plug-in on an unlimited number of websites simultaneously.

Potential Drawbacks of WP eMember

If there is one potential drawback of WP eMember it is the fact that it is designed specifically to integrate with other WP eProducts such asWP eStore. Over the long run, this can create compatibility issues with other plug-ins. While this is currently not a systemic issue it is something to keep an eye on as additional WP eProducts are released.

WP eMember Overall

Overall WP eMember will meet the need of most average membership site owners. While it is not as feature-rich as some of the most mature membership site plugins on the market, it definitely covers all of the essential bases effectively. Plus, at the comparatively low price it becomes a great value purchase for most websites.