Today there are dozens of membership site platforms promising to turn your content, course or community into recurring revenue. We compared the top 50 to find the seven best you can use to start charging members today.
What is the Best Membership Site Platform?
- KLEQ — best of the best
- Hyax — best bang for the buck
- Kajabi — best all-in-one
- Mighty Networks — best for community
- Thinkific — best for online courses
- Outseta — best for software startups
- Wishlist Member — best for WordPress
1. KLEQ
Our Verdict — Best Of The Best
Price: Starts at $197/month
KLEQ is a membership site and course platform that replaces your website builder, funnel software, and shopping cart software with one system. We think it's the best of the best because it bundles unlimited courses, unlimited members, a drag-and-drop website builder, and a built-in affiliate system into a single plan, with zero transaction fees on every sale you make.
The Best Part:
Everything under one roof. Courses, funnels, an affiliate program, and Stripe or PayPal checkout all live in the same account, so you stop stitching separate tools together just to launch a paid community.
The Worst Part:
One expensive plan, no smaller tier. KLEQ charges $197/month with no annual option listed on its pricing page and no cheaper starter option, which is steep for a creator who hasn't sold anything yet. If that number is out of reach right now, Hyax, our #2 pick, costs a fraction of it.
Get it if you want one platform that builds your site, sells your course, and pays your affiliates.
I recommend you go straight for the $197/month plan — it's the only plan, and it already includes unlimited courses and unlimited members.
(30-day trial for $1)
Best For
KLEQ is best for creators who want courses, funnels, and a paid community without separate tools.
Top Features
Build without a developer. Drag-and-drop pages come with hosting, daily backups, and security built in, so your funnel goes live without a separate web host.
Turn members into a community. Quizzes, gamification, and a private forum come built into your membership site, so members stick around instead of watching one video and leaving.
Let affiliates sell for you. The built-in affiliate system lets partners promote your course for a cut, with no extra plugin to install.
No platform cut. Stripe and PayPal checkout come standard, and KLEQ charges zero transaction fees on top of what the processor takes.
An AI copywriter on staff. Connect your own OpenAI account and KLEQ drafts headlines, emails, and page copy, then rewrites the tone until it sounds like you.
Pricing
KLEQ lists this entry offer:
- KLEQ: $197/month for unlimited courses and unlimited members.
Try KLEQ today with a 30-day trial for $1.
2. Hyax
Our Verdict — Best Bang For The Buck
Price: Starts at $29/month
Hyax is a CMS for creators that bundles a blog, email marketing, membership plans and community forums into one subscription. We think it's the best bang for the buck because membership plans and a community forum come built in, and Hyax takes no cut of your sales on any plan beyond what the processor charges.
The Best Part:
Three AI assistants included. Content Manager researches and drafts blog posts, Customer Support answers members, and Growth Researcher digs up growth ideas, all reviewed by you and drawing on the AI credits your plan includes.
The Worst Part:
Packing everything in has a cost. CMS, email, membership, chat and AI agents all live in one dashboard, and at least one reviewer found the layered features easy to get lost in while still learning where things live.
Get it if you want to run your blog, email list, and paid community from one login.
I recommend you start on Starter at $29/month, then move up to Pro at $49/month as your team grows.
(starts at $29/month)
Best For
Hyax is best for creators who want their blog, email, and membership site under one subscription.
Top Features
Let AI write your blog. The Content Manager agent researches topics and drafts SEO-ready posts, then waits for your approval before anything goes live.
Drip your course out. The Course Builder releases modules and lessons on a schedule you set, so members don't binge everything in one sitting and disappear.
A forum members actually use. Community & Forums live inside the same account as your course, so discussion happens next to the content instead of on a separate app.
Email that doesn't need a plugin. Broadcasts, sequences, and transactional emails run natively, with open and click analytics built into the same dashboard.
Get paid your way. Checkout accepts Stripe, PayPal and USDC, and Hyax takes 0% on top of the processor fee.
Pricing
Hyax offers four pricing plans:
- Starter: $29/month for one team member and 15 GB of storage.
- Pro: $49/month for five team members and 100 GB of storage.
- Power: $99/month for 10 team members and 500 GB of storage.
- Beast: $199/month for unlimited team members and 1 TB of storage.
Try Hyax today.
3. Kajabi
Our Verdict — Best All-In-One
Price: Starts at $179/month
Kajabi puts your website, courses, community, checkout and email marketing under one login, with a mobile app for every member from day one. We think it's the best all-in-one because unlimited email sends come standard, and Kajabi takes no revenue share when you get paid through Kajabi Payments or PayPal, even on the entry plan.
The Best Part:
One login for the core. Website, courses, community, checkout and email marketing all live under one login and one bill.
The Worst Part:
The entry price is steep. Basic starts at $179/month, and the features experts want most — a lower processing fee, an affiliate program and a branded app — sit in the pricier Growth and Pro plans.
Get it if you want one platform to run your website, courses and community.
I recommend you start the 14-day free trial on Basic, which then continues at $179/month.
(14-day free trial)
Best For
Kajabi is best for creators who want one platform to run their entire business.
Top Features
Every email is included. Email marketing has no send limit on any plan, so you never pay per message. Your plan caps contacts, not sends.
Your members get an app too. Every plan includes the Kajabi Customer App on iOS and Android, and Pro swaps it for a version carrying your own brand in the App Store.
An AI partner drafts the busywork. Kajabi Cofounder writes your offer, sales page and email sequence, and a separate connection lets AI assistants like Claude work inside your account.
The core stays the same on every plan. Basic, Growth and Pro all include a custom domain, unlimited landing pages and funnels, so you get the same building blocks from day one.
One inbox, every message. Kajabi's Universal Inbox pulls email, comments and DMs into one place, so you answer everyone without hopping between apps.
Pricing
Kajabi offers three pricing plans:
- Basic: $179/month for five products and 2,500 contacts.
- Growth: $249/month for 50 products and 25,000 contacts.
- Pro: $499/month for unlimited products and 100,000 contacts.
Annual subscriptions provide a 20% discount.
Try Kajabi today with a 14-day free trial.
Our Verdict — Best For Community
Price: Starts at $95/month
Mighty Networks builds a community around your members — groups, live events, challenges and badges sit next to any courses you sell. We think it's the best for community because AI Cohost sets up your entire network from one question.
The Best Part:
It builds the community for you. AI Cohost asks one question about who you want to bring together, then generates your landing page, logo and brand images automatically, so you launch with a finished look instead of a blank page.
The Worst Part:
Integrations wait for a higher tier. Launch comes with basic automations, but Zapier, Kit, Google Analytics and API access stay locked until you reach Scale.
Get it if you want challenges, live events and badges built around your community.
I recommend you start with the 14-day free trial, which runs on the Growth plan, then commit to Launch for $95/month.
(14-day free trial)
Best For
Mighty Networks is best for community builders who want challenges, live events and badges running alongside their courses.
Top Features
A method built in. Community Design™ gives you a step-by-step strategy for building your community, plus access to Mighty Hosts, a private group of other hosts to learn from.
Courses live next to the community. Run on-demand, cohort-based and live courses with challenges, quizzes and drip content, so members learn without ever leaving the group they already check every day.
Engagement is built in. Leaderboards, streaks, points and badges reward members for showing up, and a referral program is already built for you — nothing extra to set up.
Livestream without extra software. Host live sessions right inside your network, with the hours and viewer limits growing from Launch up to Mighty Pro.
Security that passes an audit. Mighty Networks is SOC 2 Type II compliant, and every plan gets its Trust Portal and self-service risk assessment.
Pricing
Mighty Networks offers four pricing plans:
- Launch: $95/month for unlimited members and 200 GB of storage.
- Scale: $215/month for unlimited members, API access and 500 GB of storage.
- Growth: $425/month for unlimited members and 1 TB of storage.
- Mighty Pro: Custom pricing, for your own branded apps.
Annual subscriptions provide a 17% discount.
Try Mighty Networks today with a 14-day free trial.
5. Thinkific
Our Verdict — Best For Online Courses
Price: Starts at $109/month
Thinkific turns a course into a structured curriculum for creators, with lessons, modules and quizzes organized start to finish. We think it's the best for online courses because every plan ships unlimited courses, quizzes, certificates, bundles and live cohorts, with student discussions built in.
The Best Part:
Courses that sell themselves. Checkout, order bumps, coupon codes and abandoned-cart emails come built in, so you can raise your average order value without bolting on a separate ecommerce tool.
The Worst Part:
Your own app costs extra. A branded mobile app for iOS and Android is a separate paid add-on, so members only get your logo on their phone if you pay beyond the standard plan.
Get it if you want courses, cohorts and certificates in one plan.
I recommend the free trial, then Start at $109/month for memberships and cohorts.
(free trial)
Best For
Thinkific is best for course creators who want live cohorts, certificates and memberships from the Start plan up, without extra plugins.
Top Features
Community that feels alive. A private feed, direct messages and weekly digests keep members talking between courses, with room for three communities on the Grow plan.
Recurring revenue built in. From the Start plan up, memberships and subscriptions let you charge for ongoing access to your course library instead of a one-time purchase, with no separate billing tool required.
Cohorts without extra tools. On Start and above, unlimited Zoom sessions, a built-in scheduling calendar and attendance tracking let you run cohort-based coaching straight from your course dashboard.
Certificates that get shared. From the Start plan up, branded completion certificates are downloadable and shareable on LinkedIn, giving finishers a reason to talk about your course.
Bulk sales for teams. On the Grow plan, group orders and B2B invoicing let companies buy course licenses in batches, which matters once you're selling training instead of single seats.
Pricing
Thinkific offers four pricing plans:
- Start: $109/month, or $82/month billed annually, for memberships and live cohorts.
- Grow: $219/month, or $164/month billed annually, for three communities and no Thinkific branding.
- Expand: $499/month, or $374/month billed annually, for 10 communities and unlimited group sizes.
- Plus: Custom pricing, for large teams that need SSO and 10,000+ seats.
Annual subscriptions provide up to a 25% discount.
Try Thinkific today with a free trial.
6. Outseta
Our Verdict — Best For Software Startups
Price: Starts at $47/month
Outseta packs a software startup's back office into one subscription — a customer database (CRM), billing, support and an API built for AI agents. We think it's the best for software startups because one login replaces separate tools and support never needs a second app.
The Best Part:
One login runs the business. Your customer database, Stripe billing, login system, email and help desk all live in the same account, so nothing falls through the cracks between tools.
The Worst Part:
Fees stack on top. Every tier below Max adds a transaction fee — 2% on Start, 1% on Scale and Pro. Budget for it on top of the subscription.
Get it if your startup wants CRM, billing and support running on one login.
I recommend the free trial, then Scale at $127/month past 1,000 contacts.
(14-day free trial)
Best For
Outseta is best for software startups that want CRM, billing and support running on one subscription.
Top Features
Gating without a plugin. Authentication and protected content are native, so you can lock courses or community pages behind a login without a separate plugin.
Migration comes free. Free data migrations bring your members over from Memberstack or Kajabi, so switching platforms doesn't mean rebuilding your list.
Ready for AI assistants. Outseta lets AI tools read and act on your account data out of the box, using the connection (API) every plan includes.
Embeds match your brand. Sign-up, login, profile and lead-capture embeds ship with light and dark themes and font choice, so they don't look bolted on.
No per-seat fee. Every plan includes unlimited seats, so adding teammates to the account never adds another line to your bill.
Pricing
Outseta offers four pricing plans:
- Start: $47/month for up to 1,000 contacts, plus a 2% transaction fee.
- Scale: $127/month for up to 10,000 contacts, plus a 1% transaction fee.
- Pro: $247/month for up to 25,000 contacts, plus a 1% transaction fee.
- Max: $897/month for up to 100,000 contacts, with no transaction fee.
Annual subscriptions provide up to a 24% discount.
Try Outseta today with a 14-day free trial.
Our Verdict — Best For WordPress
Price: Starts at $149.50/year (regular price $299)
Wishlist Member is a WordPress plugin that locks the pages and posts you already own behind drip and pay-per-post rules. We think it's the best for WordPress because it works inside the site you already run, and Private Tags protect a single paragraph inside a page.
The Best Part:
Zero transaction fees. Even the Basic plan checks out through Stripe, PayPal and eWay without Wishlist Member taking a cut, so you only pay your processor's standard rate.
The Worst Part:
Price doubles at renewal. Every plan bills annually, never monthly, and the number you sign up for is a first-year rate — the regular price comes back at renewal. Budget past year one before you commit.
Get it if you already run WordPress and refuse to move your members off it.
I recommend the Basic plan at $149.50 a year for one site — upgrade to Plus or Pro only once you manage more than one.
(14-day money-back guarantee)
Best For
Wishlist Member is best for WordPress site owners who want to gate content without moving off the platform they already run.
Top Features
Drip and archive on your schedule. Release lessons over time, lock old posts automatically, or sell single posts one at a time — the plugin handles all three without a separate tool.
Protect a single paragraph. Private Tags hide a section inside a post or page, so free and paid readers can share the same URL.
A course builder built in. CourseCure ships with unlimited courses on every plan, the Plus plan adds badges and points, and it connects to LearnDash if you already use it.
More integrations as you grow. Basic covers Stripe, PayPal and eWay, and the Plus plan adds webinar integrations and Integrately, which connects you to 1,100+ apps, with no transaction fee on top of your processor's rate.
Members manage themselves. A self-serve dashboard lets members update their own details, and registration pages force SSL.
Pricing
Wishlist Member offers three pricing plans:
- Basic: $149.50 for the first year, then $299/year, for one site.
- Plus: $249.50 for the first year, then $499/year, for two sites.
- Pro: $349.50 for the first year, then $699/year, for five sites.
Try Wishlist Member today with a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Our Top Three Picks
Here's a quick summary of our top three picks:
Here's a quick comparison of our top seven picks:
Tool | Entry Offer | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
KLEQ | $1 trial | Starts at $197/mo |
Hyax | Starts at $29/mo | Starts at $29/mo |
Kajabi | 14-day free trial | Starts at $179/mo |
Mighty Networks | 14-day free trial | Starts at $95/mo |
Thinkific | Free trial | Starts at $109/mo |
Outseta | 14-day trial | Starts at $47/mo |
Wishlist Member | 14-day refund | Starts at $149.50/yr |
Here are the top 50 membership site platforms we considered in this review:
- KLEQ
- Hyax
- Kajabi
- Mighty Networks
- Thinkific
- Outseta
- Wishlist Member
- Circle
- Podia
- Teachable
- MemberPress
- MemberSpace
- Patreon
- Skool
- Uscreen
- Vimeo Streaming (ex-Vimeo OTT)
- MemberVault
- Memberful
- Passion.io
- Bettermode
- Disciple
- Wild Apricot
- Kartra
- Systeme.io
- Membership.io (ex-Searchie)
- New Zenler
- CustomerHub
- Beamly
- Nas.io
- Swarm
- HiveBrite
- Join It
- GroupApp
- Glue Up
- MemberClicks
- Memberstack
- Thenty
- Member365
- Paid Memberships Pro
- Ultimate Member
- Kadence Memberships
- Memberium
- AccessAlly
- Crevio
- Wix
- Squarespace
- Heartbeat
- LearnWorlds
- Ghost
- Heights Platform
Frequently Asked Questions About Membership Site Platforms
What is a membership site platform?
A membership site platform is software that gates content, courses or a community behind a login and collects a recurring payment for access. Most of the tools here are hosted, all-in-one platforms that handle your content and payments, and some replace your website and email tool too, while one option is a WordPress plugin instead. Pick based on whether you want a new home for your business or an add-on for the one you have.
Which membership site platform is best overall?
KLEQ is our top pick overall. It bundles a drag-and-drop website builder, a full membership site with courses and a private forum, marketing funnels, and a built-in affiliate program into one login, so you launch without stitching separate tools together.
Does any membership site platform offer a free plan?
Not really. None of the seven lists a free plan on its pricing page today. Most offer a trial or a cheap first month instead: Kajabi, Mighty Networks and Outseta give you 14 days, Thinkific opens its paid plans with a free trial and KLEQ starts with a first month for a token fee. Kajabi and Wishlist Member also back their plans with a money-back guarantee.
Which membership site platform is best for WordPress?
For WordPress, go with Wishlist Member: a plugin that locks pages and posts on the site you already run, instead of moving your business to a separate platform. Reach for it if you have already built on WordPress and want to keep it that way.
Which membership site platform is best for community?
Mighty Networks puts community first, with courses layered on top when you want them. Members and hosts interact through groups, live events, and gamified leaderboards, with an AI cohost that sets it up from one question.
Which membership site platform is best for online courses?
Thinkific takes the course crown. It handles unlimited courses, video lessons, quizzes and student discussions from day one, plus live cohorts, certificates and bundles from the Start plan up.
What should I look for when choosing a membership site platform?
Start with where your content already lives: a hosted all-in-one platform replaces your website and tools, while a WordPress plugin adds membership features to a site you keep. Then check the practical side — payment gateways supported, transaction fees, course and community features, and how content protection actually works page by page.
Can I move my existing content into a new membership platform?
Yes, in most cases. Hosted platforms typically offer migration help or free data imports when you switch from another tool, and a WordPress plugin can sit on top of content you have already published without moving a single file. Check the specific import path before you commit, because depth of support varies by platform.
Kajabi vs Thinkific: which one should I choose?
Kajabi is the broader all-in-one pick, bundling a customer mobile app and unlimited email sends on top of courses and memberships. Thinkific stays closer to a course-first tool, with a lower entry price and group orders for businesses on Grow. Choose Kajabi for scale, Thinkific to stay focused.
The Bottom Line
To recap, here are the best membership site platforms to try this year: