Side by side
Buy Me a Coffee vs WP eMember
Both stand on membership site platforms. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.
Free plan Web
Buy Me a Coffee combines audience payments with memberships, sales, and publishing on a free-to-use plan. Creators should factor in the per-transaction platform fee and any payment processing fees.
Visit Buy Me a Coffee Free plan Self-hostedWeb
WP eMember provides broad membership, content-gating, payment, and account-management tools for WordPress. Its main constraint is that one user database cannot serve member logins across multiple WordPress installations.
Visit WP eMemberThe facts
| Buy Me a Coffee | WP eMember | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Not published | Not published |
| Runs on | Web | Self-hosted, Web |
| Lowest paid plan | Free or on request | WP eMember: $59.95, paid once |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Maker | Buy Me a Coffee | Not published |
| Website | buymeacoffee.com | tipsandtricks-hq.com |
| On membership site platforms | #29 of 85 | #25 of 85 |
Buy Me a Coffee: what it does well
- Supporters can pay and leave a message without an account.
- Memberships can be monthly or yearly.
- Creators can sell digital and physical items.
- Unlimited emails to fans are listed as free.
- Supporter lists can be exported by creators.
What to know first
- A 5% platform fee applies per transaction.
- Payment processing fees may also apply.
- Some payment methods are available only in supported regions.
WP eMember: what it does well
- Protects full sites or selected content
- Unlimited membership levels and members
- Automated membership administration
- Multiple payment integrations
- HTTP account-management APIs
What to know first
- No free trial
- Cross-site shared user database unsupported
- Optional two-factor security is an add-on
Alternatives to Buy Me a Coffee Alternatives to WP eMember The whole list