There are many ways to create members-only content and even charge for membership. This guide will present you with the different options for building members-only content on your WordPress.com site.
In this guide
Before you start building your site, take some time to consider the membership features you’ll need:
- Will members pay to join your site, or will it be free?
- What kind of membership access will you offer? Examples include:
- Paid members only content
- Members only community
- Online classes
- Access to members only file downloads
- Do you plan to offer perks based on different membership levels?
- Will you sell other items or run a store aside from membership access?
If you’re not sure where to start, take a look at our free, self-paced, Membership Sites 101 course. In this course, you’ll learn what a membership site is, why you should have one, what to consider, and how to get started.
To get started, visit the Membership Sites 101 course in our learning hub, where you’ll discover:
- Different types of membership sites.
- Creative content ideas to engage your members.
- How to plan and create different membership levels.
- Site setups including:
- Privacy and password protection
- Paid subscriptions
- Membership plugins
- Members-only newsletter options
You can use several membership features built into your WordPress.com site, or expand your site’s functionality with plugins. Learn more about your options for setting up members only content:
If you have a small number of pages you wish to make exclusive to certain people only, you can password-protect a page (or post). Share the password with anyone who you wish to have access to the page:
For content that you wish to make exclusive to paying members only, you can place your content behind a paywall so only people who pay for membership can view the content. You can set up one-time, monthly, or yearly membership fees.
Paid content is often used by:
- Journalists and bloggers to share their writing.
- Teachers sharing courses online.
- Artists sharing videos, photos, music, and more.
When writing a blog post on WordPress.com, you can set your post to be sent to everyone, to subscribers only, or to paying subscribers only. This can encourage people to subscribe to your site and enable you to (optionally) earn an income from your audience. Learn more about creating a paid newsletter here:
This section of the guide applies to sites with the WordPress.com Creator and Entrepreneur plans, and the legacy Pro plan. For sites on the free, Starter, and Explorer plans, upgrade your plan to access this feature.
There are many plugins you can use to create a membership site with more features. Here are some specific examples and solutions:
- Online classes: To create courses, organize classes, track student progress, take payments, and more, our recommended option is to use WooCommerce, Sensei, and the premium WooCommerce Paid Courses plugin.
- Message board: For a fully-fledged forum or message board, you can consider plugins like bbPress or other available plugins.
- Organizations and clubs with perks for members: Based on different membership levels, you might want to offer some perks (such as a special discount, trial period, exclusive products, and more.) This is possible using WooCommerce with the WooCommerce Membership extension. Explore other membership plugins here:
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When using membership plugins, make sure to review the login configuration. Also, take time to check the plugin’s documentation regarding the membership setting for “anyone can register.”
Creating a private site is a great option if you don’t have a plugin-enabled plan. Your private site becomes your members only area, separate from your main site. You decide who has access to the private site by inviting them to become members of the site.
Our Membership Sites 101 course has a dedicated module titled “Privacy and Password Protection” that includes a private site use-case example.
