Membership plugin recommendations?

[sleary]

Apparently, a surprising number of my clients have been waiting for 3.0 to make setting up networks easier (!), and several are now asking me about setting up premium membership sites.

I've heard a few endorsements for aMember. One of the sites I'm working with is currently using Wild Apricot, which was new to me. I saw this morning that the folks at wpmu.org have a new Membership plugin.

I know there are umpteen ways of handling this, and I'd appreciate hearing from those of you who've done this before.

[Ryan]

I'd take a look at how Justin Tadlock is handling membership upgrades for his site ... http://themehybrid.com/

I'm not sure what he's using, but it's bound to be free and bound to be reasonably good otherwise he'd have released a plugin of his own to handle it I assume.

[Utkarsh]

Justin uses Your Members plugin for ThemeHybrid.

[andrea_r]

a surprising number of my clients have been waiting for 3.0 to make setting up networks easier (!),

Is that (!) the same as I feel? It's exactly the same. Actually, there's a couple extra steps. It's just the perception that it's easier... otherwise, the functionality is no different.

As for membership sites, it depends. Network-wide? Shutting down all blogs/site or just specific ones? Not that I've done much here.

edit: note Stephanie asked for ones that will run on a Network.

http://www.newmedias.co.uk/your-memb...rtner-program/

"
We offer two Your Members MU Partner rates one for academic and educational institutions and one for commercial access. Both are single one of payments:

• Academic Partner – $600
• Commercial Partner – $800

These costs in relation to the final price are approximately a 1/3 of the final price with a full license for YMMU expected to be approximately $2000. Partner Membership not only significantly reduces this cost but also provides you with immediate access to YMMU and the development team."

Like I asked above, once you turn on the Network, you;ve now got two option: on each blog, or sitewide? Pick one.

[Ipstenu]

It depends on what you want to do with membership.

I fiddled with Your Members to set it up so only members of X standing could create new sites, at which point they were the boss of their own site. It was a failed experiment, but that part was fine.

Make a list of what you think you'd want to use the membership plugin FOR, and you'll be a lot closer to finding the right plugin :)

[grant.swaim]

I've heard a few endorsements for aMember... I know there are umpteen ways of handling this, and I'd appreciate hearing from those of you who've done this before.

Stephanie,

I did a lot of research on membership sites as I prepared to set up an online course on a WordPress powered site. I actually presented on this topic at WordCamp Raleigh 2010 and here is a link to my handout.

The best solution to deploy depends on the site requirements. Solutions fall into two major categories - WP plugin solutions and integration solutions.

WP Plugin Solutions
While there are many choices in this category, the most chatter lately is about WishList Member. It has a solid set of features and is easy to implement since it is a WP plugin. However, it does not deliver the level of features as integrating a membership script such as aMember.

Integration Solution
While it takes more work, controlling access on a WP site with aMember will offer you the largest set of features. For example, the aMember program includes a coupon system and a built-in affiliate program. aMember also integrates with other programs such as vBulliten, aWewber, MailChimp, phpBB, ect. This means with a single login you could log into WP and another program simultaneously.

IMHO, one of the best sites for membership information is Membership Academy. To hear a conversation between David Moscowitz of Membership Academy and Ken Gary (a well respected third party aMember coder) about the pros/cons of WishList Member and aMember, click here.

I am using aMember on my WP powered site to handle registrations and control access. Currently I use it to allow instructors to access an online version of a book I wrote and sell. Eventually I will use it to deliver an online course. If you want to see a WP site integrated with aMember visit http://digitalliteracyproject.com

After you digest all this, if you want some more specific information about WP membership sites, ask away...

[andrea_r]

Great info Grant - have you tried any of those with wordpress MU or with the network enabled in 3.0? :)

[grant.swaim]

Great info Grant - have you tried any of those with wordpress MU or with the network enabled in 3.0? :)

No. Just single sites, so far.

[dgwyer]

I can vouch for aMember, I use it on more than one site. I haven't used it in conjunction with WordPress MU yet though. I find aMember a pretty good solution for the cost, and the support those guys provide is amongst the best I have ever encountered, which is the main reason I have stuck with them.