Side by side
Ultimate Member 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 Self-hostedWeb
Choose Ultimate Member to build WordPress membership or community features, especially if its free plan covers the needed profile and access functions. Look elsewhere if you require a free trial or need a published price before choosing a paid plan.
Visit Ultimate Member 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
| Ultimate Member | WP eMember | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Not published | Not published |
| Runs on | Self-hosted, Web | Self-hosted, Web |
| Lowest paid plan | Standard: $276 a year | WP eMember: $59.95, paid once |
| Plans published | 3 | 1 |
| Maker | Ultimate Member | Not published |
| Website | ultimatemember.com | tipsandtricks-hq.com |
| On membership site platforms | #21 of 85 | #25 of 85 |
Ultimate Member: what it does well
- Free plan includes profiles, registration, login, directories, and content restriction.
- Drag-and-drop forms support multi-column layouts.
- Administrators can control roles, access, and profile-field visibility.
- Extensions add groups, messaging, social login, and more.
- Stripe subscriptions support paid memberships in Pro.
What to know first
- The self-hosted Pro plugin has no free trial.
- Paid licenses renew automatically every year unless canceled.
- Expired licenses no longer receive support or updates.
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 Ultimate Member Alternatives to WP eMember The whole list