MemberPress pricing and what a membership site costs
A membership site on MemberPress Growth, Hostinger and the free Kadence theme comes to $397.38 in the first year, using the prices on each vendor's own page. MemberPress prints no renewal figure, only that annual renewals are at full price, so the renewal total is a minimum. I have not run speed or uptime tests, and prices were read on October 30 and 31, 2026.
Alston AntonyUpdated
What this job needs
A membership site has to restrict pages to paying members, bill them on a schedule, take card payments, and run on a WordPress host with backups. I picked MemberPress Growth because it is the cheapest plan whose own pricing page states all of: unlimited members, 0% plugin transaction fees, and both Stripe and PayPal. A plugin that does not print those on its page may still meet them. The cheaper stack below is priced from a free plan whose page I could not confirm covers recurring billing, so I do not claim it meets that requirement.
- Restrict content to members and bill them on a recurring schedule, as the plugin's own page words it
- Take card payments through Stripe, and PayPal as a second checkout
- A WordPress host plan that lists backups and shows a price in USD on the host's own page
- A theme with a price stated on its own page, free or paid
Recommended plugins, theme and host
Plugin: MemberPress
Growth is the cheapest of the three MemberPress plans that lists 0% transaction fees, with Stripe, PayPal, Square and manual payments, unlimited members, content dripping and course certificates. Launch costs $150.00 less and adds a 4.9% fee per successful payment, and its page says Stripe only. The page prints no renewal figure and no site limit.
Cost: Growth, billed annually. $349.50 in the first year, with no renewal price stated by the vendor. Checked Oct 30, 2026.
Hosting: Hostinger
The lowest first-year cash among the USD hosts I read that list backups: $47.88 for 12 months, against $132 for Cloudways, $336 for WP Engine and $350 for Kinsta. The page lists 3 websites, 20 GB SSD storage and free weekly backups. It renews at $10.99 a month, which is $131.88 for 12 months, about 2.8 times the first year.
Cost: Premium, 12-month term, 12 months, paid upfront. $47.88 in the first year, $131.88 a year at renewal. Checked Oct 30, 2026.
Theme: Kadence
A theme whose wordpress.org page shows no price and lists paid commercial upgrades and support as separate. I chose a free theme so the stack has no theme cost; the paid Astra Pro row on the cost page is not in the stack.
Cost: Kadence theme, free, free. $0 in the first year, $0 a year at renewal. Checked Oct 30, 2026.
What it costs
First year is what you pay in the first 12 months. A plan marked as prepaid covers more than 12 months, so its amount is the full upfront payment and not a 12-month cost. Renewal is the cost of 12 months at the price the vendor lists for renewal. Every figure shows the date I checked it.
| Product | Plan and billing term | First year | Renewal, per year | Included | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MemberPressPlugin | GrowthBilled annually$349.50 a year, shown beside a struck-through 'normally $699'. Same footnote as Launch: all annual renewals are at full price. The page does not state a renewal price. The plan is listed with 0% transaction fees. | $349.50 | Not stated by the vendor | Everything in Launch, plus Stripe, PayPal, Square and manual payments, content dripping, unlimited course quizzes and assignments, course completion certificates, community forums and a member directory, and the CoachKit coaching platform. The page does not state a site limit. | |
| HostingerHosting | Premium, 12-month term12 months, paid upfront$3.99 a month on the 12-month term. The page says: Today you pay $47.88 for 12 months. Renews at $10.99/mo for the same term. Twelve months at $10.99 is $131.88. Prices are listed without VAT. | $47.88 | $131.88 | 3 websites, 20 GB SSD storage, free weekly backups, CDN, priority 24/7 expert support | |
| KadenceTheme | Kadence theme, freeFreeThe wordpress.org page says: This theme is free but offers additional paid commercial upgrades or support. Version 1.5.2, last updated July 24, 2026. It is a free theme, so no renewal applies. | $0 | $0 | The theme from wordpress.org, listed with 500,000+ active installations | |
| Total | $397.38 | At least $131.881 renewal price is not stated by the vendor | |||
Every plan, billing term and source: Membership site plan prices, first year and renewal
A cheaper stack
Paid Memberships Pro's free plan swaps the $349.50 plugin for $0, which brings the first year to $47.88. Its WordPress.org listing says: This plugin has been closed as of October 17, 2024 and is not available for download. This closure is permanent. Reason: Author Request. So the free plan comes from paidmembershipspro.com, not WordPress.org. The pages I read do not say which Paid Memberships Pro plan includes recurring billing, so I do not claim this stack meets the recurring billing requirement; it is priced as the cheaper way to start from what the free plan's page states. It gives up the premium Add Ons and support that the $499 Standard plan lists, and its pricing page does not state a plugin transaction fee, so the 0% in the main stack is not matched by a stated figure.
- Plugin: Paid Memberships Pro. The free plan is obtained from paidmembershipspro.com, since its WordPress.org listing is closed. The pricing page describes it as The complete core plugin, free Add Ons, and payment gateways on the WordPress host of your choice, and its menu lists Stripe and PayPal under payment gateways. The pages I read do not say which plan includes recurring billing, so I do not state that the free plan does.
- Hosting: Hostinger. Same host and term as the main stack, chosen by the same lowest-first-year rule. Best WordPress Hosting (October 2026): Compared
- Theme: Kadence. Same free theme as the main stack.
| Product | Plan and billing term | First year | Renewal, per year | Included | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paid Memberships ProPlugin | Free (host yourself)Free, self-hostedShown as $0. The page describes it as 'The complete core plugin, free Add Ons, and payment gateways on the WordPress host of your choice.' It is a free plan, so no renewal applies. The plugin's wordpress.org listing says: This plugin has been closed as of October 17, 2024 and is not available for download. This closure is permanent. Reason: Author Request. So the free plan is obtained from paidmembershipspro.com, not from WordPress.org. | $0 | $0 | The open-source PMPro platform, free Add Ons and payment gateways. Premium Add Ons and support are in the paid plans. | |
| HostingerHosting | Premium, 12-month term12 months, paid upfront$3.99 a month on the 12-month term. The page says: Today you pay $47.88 for 12 months. Renews at $10.99/mo for the same term. Twelve months at $10.99 is $131.88. Prices are listed without VAT. | $47.88 | $131.88 | 3 websites, 20 GB SSD storage, free weekly backups, CDN, priority 24/7 expert support | |
| KadenceTheme | Kadence theme, freeFreeThe wordpress.org page says: This theme is free but offers additional paid commercial upgrades or support. Version 1.5.2, last updated July 24, 2026. It is a free theme, so no renewal applies. | $0 | $0 | The theme from wordpress.org, listed with 500,000+ active installations | |
| Total | $47.88 | $131.88 | |||
MemberPress plans as the page words them
MemberPress lists three annual plans in USD: Launch at $199.50, Growth at $349.50 and Scale at $499.50 a year. Each sits beside a struck-through price of $399, $699 and $999 with the label normally. The footnote says: Special introductory pricing, all annual renewals are at full price.
The page does not say the full price equals the struck-through figure, so I have entered no renewal amount for these plans. It also does not state a site limit. Its terms say support, updates and plugin downloads run for one year after purchase and then need a renewal.
The refund line reads: If you don't like MemberPress over the next 14 days, we'll happily refund 100% of your money.
| Plan | First-year price | Struck-through price | Transaction fee | Payment methods listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Launch | $199.50 | normally $399 | 4.9% per successful payment | Stripe only |
| Growth | $349.50 | normally $699 | 0% | Stripe, PayPal, Square, manual |
| Scale | $499.50 | normally $999 | 0% | Stripe, PayPal, Square, Authorize.net, manual |
Other membership plugins
Each row is the vendor's own price, read on October 30, 2026. None of these pages states a renewal price. Whether one costs less than MemberPress depends on the site count, the payment methods and the add-ons you need, so the table does not rank them.
| Plugin and plan | Price and term | Sites | Notable limits stated on the page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ultimate Member Standard | $276 a year, billed once per year until cancelled | 1 site license | 21 standard extensions; Stripe integration is listed only under Pro |
| Ultimate Member Pro | $348 a year, billed once per year until cancelled | 2 site license | Adds Stripe and Zapier integration; the page showed 'Excluding 25.5% tax' for the detected location |
| Paid Memberships Pro Free | $0, self-hosted | Open source, no site limit stated for the plugin | Obtained from paidmembershipspro.com (WordPress.org listing closed October 17, 2024); free Add Ons and payment gateways; premium Add Ons need a license |
| Paid Memberships Pro Standard | $499 a year, or $49 a month | 1 site license | All premium Add Ons and support; 100-day money-back guarantee |
| WooCommerce Memberships | $199 for a 1-year plan; $318.40 paid upfront for 2 years | NOT STATED on page | No renewal price stated; a WooCommerce extension, with 30-day money-back guarantee |
| WooCommerce Subscriptions | $279 for a 1-year plan; $446.40 paid upfront for 2 years | NOT STATED on page | No renewal price stated; sold separately from Memberships |
Payment gateway fees
Gateway fees come from the processor and are on top of any plugin price. Stripe's US page, read October 31, 2026, lists 2.9% + 30¢ per successful transaction for domestic cards, plus 0.5% for manually entered cards, 1.5% for international cards and 1% if currency conversion is required, and a $15.00 fee for each dispute you receive.
PayPal's own US fee page, last updated October 1, 2026, lists PayPal Checkout at 3.49% plus a fixed fee, standard credit and debit card payments at 2.99% plus a fixed fee, and a US dollar fixed fee of 0.49 USD. International commercial transactions add 1.50%.
What I could not confirm
Restrict Content Pro is not on this page as a plan. Its address redirected to a Liquid Web page for Kadence add-ons that names Kadence Memberships and does not mention Restrict Content Pro, so I could not confirm it as a separately sold product. Kadence Memberships has no row because the Kadence pricing page does not say which of its site tiers includes it.
Astra and Brainstorm Force
Disclosure: I work at Brainstorm Force, the company that makes Astra. Astra has a price row on the cost page ($99 a year, renewing at $149) and no slot in either stack, because the stack rule above picks a free theme.
What this page is based on
Nothing on this page comes from hands-on use of these products. Every price and limit is the vendor's own, read from its page on the date shown, and I have not run speed, uptime or support tests.
How I checked
Every price comes from the cost page named above, read from each vendor's own pricing page on October 30, 2026. The WooCommerce, Stripe, Paid Memberships Pro and Astra pages were re-read in a US view on October 31, 2026. Nothing was converted or rounded, and nothing was purchased. I have not run speed or uptime tests.
The first-year total adds the plugin, host and theme rows in dollars. The renewal total adds only the renewal prices the vendors state, so a plan with no stated renewal makes the total a minimum. The hosting rows come from the same host pages as the best WordPress hosting list.
Sources and checked dates
Every price above comes from the vendor's own pricing page.
- MemberPress pricing page, checked . Prices change; confirm at checkout.
- Hostinger pricing page, checked . Prices change; confirm at checkout.
- Kadence pricing page, checked . Prices change; confirm at checkout.
- Paid Memberships Pro pricing page, checked . Prices change; confirm at checkout.
Questions
How much does MemberPress cost?
MemberPress lists Launch at $199.50, Growth at $349.50 and Scale at $499.50 a year in USD, each beside a higher struck-through price. The page says annual renewals are at full price and prints no renewal figure.
Does the stack total include payment processor fees?
No. Stripe and PayPal charge their own fees on each payment, and they are separate from the plugin, host and theme prices in the total.
Why Hostinger for the host?
The rule was the lowest first-year cash among the USD hosts I read that list backups. It does not rank hosts on speed or uptime, which I have not tested.