WishList Member and MemberPress are two of the longest-running WordPress membership plugins. Both protect content and handle recurring payments — the differences determine which fits your specific setup.
Interface and Ease of Use
MemberPress has the more modern interface. Setup is guided, reporting is built-in, and the dashboard gives a clear overview of members, subscriptions, and revenue. Non-technical users find MemberPress more approachable.
WishList Member‘s interface reflects its older codebase — functional but less polished. The protection rules system is flexible but requires more configuration to understand initially.
Pricing
| WishList Member | MemberPress | |
|---|---|---|
| Basic (1 site) | $149/year | $179/year |
| Plus (unlimited) | $249/year | $299/year |
| All features included | Yes (no gating) | No (features gated by tier) |
| Courses included | No | Yes (MemberPress Courses) |
Payment Integrations
WishList Member has a broader payment integration list — notably ClickBank and JVZoo, which MemberPress does not support natively. For digital product sellers using these platforms, WishList Member’s integrations are a genuine advantage. MemberPress supports Stripe, PayPal, and Authorize.net natively, covering most mainstream use cases.
Course Creation
MemberPress includes MemberPress Courses — a basic LMS for creating and delivering course content within membership. WishList Member has no built-in course functionality — you need a separate LearnDash or LifterLMS integration for courses. If courses are central to your membership, MemberPress’s included course feature is a significant advantage.
Not sure which fits your situation? Describe your project and get a free expert recommendation.
Which to Choose
Use WishList Member if: you use ClickBank or JVZoo for payment processing, you are extending an existing WishList Member installation, or the all-features-included pricing at $149/year matters.
Use MemberPress if: you want a more modern interface, you need built-in course delivery, or your team needs clear reporting without custom configuration.
Reporting and Analytics
MemberPress has a significantly better built-in reporting dashboard. From MemberPress admin, you can see: total revenue, active subscriptions, new members per period, churn rate, and trial conversion rates. This data is available without exporting to spreadsheets or integrating with analytics tools.
WishList Member’s reporting is more basic — member counts and level activity, but less financial depth. For subscription businesses where tracking MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue), churn, and LTV matters, MemberPress’s reporting saves time compared to pulling data manually from your payment gateway.
Content Drip
Both plugins support content drip — releasing content to members over time after joining. The implementation differs:
WishList Member drip is configured per-content-piece (set Days After Registration for each protected post). More granular but time-consuming to configure for large content libraries.
MemberPress has a dedicated Rules system for drip that lets you apply schedules to content groups (categories, tags) rather than individual posts. More efficient for large course libraries with many lessons.
For membership sites with substantial drip content, MemberPress’s bulk drip rules are a practical advantage.