A WordPress user registration plugin replaces the plain WordPress sign-up screen with your own form: the fields you need, on a page that looks like your site, with options such as approving new users, choosing a role or taking a payment. The plugins that do it fall into two groups: user and membership plugins, where registration is one part of the member experience, and form builders with a registration add-on. This guide compares eight of them, including our own, WP User Manager.
We make WP User Manager, so read our section with that in mind. Install counts and ratings are from wordpress.org and prices from each vendor’s site, all checked in October 2026.
What to look for in a registration plugin
- Custom fields: collect more than a username and email, and save the answers to the user’s profile.
- Roles: register everyone with one role, or let people choose from roles you allow.
- Spam protection: a honeypot, captcha, or email confirmation, because open registration attracts bots.
- Approval: confirm the email address or approve each new user by hand.
- Payments: charge for registration if you run a paid membership.
- What comes after: login, password reset, an account page and profiles. A form builder gives you the form; a user plugin gives you the rest too.
WordPress registration plugins at a glance
| Plugin | Type | Active installs | Rating | Registration in the free version | Paid plans from |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WP User Manager | User and membership plugin | 10,000+ | 4.7 | Yes | $149 a year |
| Ultimate Member | User and membership plugin | 200,000+ | 4.4 | Yes | $276 a year |
| User Registration & Membership | User and membership plugin | 50,000+ | 4.8 | Yes | $99 a year |
| Profile Builder | User and membership plugin | 40,000+ | 4.7 | Yes | €99 a year |
| ProfilePress | User and membership plugin | 100,000+ | 3.1 | Yes | $129 a year |
| WPForms | Form builder | 5,000,000+ | 4.8 | No (Pro plan) | $399 a year |
| Gravity Forms | Form builder | Not on wordpress.org | Not rated there | No (Elite license) | $259 a year |
| Formidable Forms | Form builder | 300,000+ | 4.8 | No (paid add-on) | Paid plans |
User and membership plugins
1. WP User Manager
WP User Manager gives you a registration form, login, password reset, account and profile pages on activation, styled by your theme. Under Users > Registration Forms you drag fields into the form, choose the role new users get or let them pick from roles you allow, and turn on terms and conditions or logging people in straight after they register. Every registration form includes a hidden honeypot field that catches simple bots, and the form’s Payment tab can charge for registration with Stripe.
Paid addons extend it: Custom Fields for your own fields, Registration Forms for several forms and multi-step forms (the Add Step and Add HTML buttons need it), User Verification for email confirmation or manual approval, and Social Login.
Where others are stronger: form builders such as WPForms and Gravity Forms have far more field types and conditional logic, and User Registration & Membership includes conditional logic for free.
2. Ultimate Member
Ultimate Member is the most installed plugin in this group. Its free version has registration forms with custom fields and conditional logic, alongside profiles and member directories. Paid extensions, from $276 a year for 21 of them, add social features. It’s the choice if registration is the start of a community with a lot of features. We compare the two in WP User Manager vs Ultimate Member.
3. User Registration & Membership
User Registration & Membership by WPEverest has the most generous free form builder here: drag and drop, over 60 field types, conditional logic and a repeater field. It has grown into a membership plugin, with plans, content restriction and payments in the free version too. The searchable member directory is in the paid plans, from $99 a year.
4. Profile Builder
Profile Builder by Cozmoslabs is built around three forms: registration, login and edit profile, added with shortcodes or blocks. The free version covers the basics, including an avatar upload field. Unlimited custom fields need the Basic plan at €99 a year, and member listings and different forms per role need Pro.
5. ProfilePress
ProfilePress has registration, login, password reset and edit profile forms with a drag-and-drop builder and templates. Most of its recent development has gone into selling memberships and digital products. Plans start at $129 a year. Its wordpress.org rating is the lowest in this list.
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Form builders with registration add-ons
These are general form plugins. Their registration add-ons create a WordPress user when someone submits a form, which suits a site that already uses the form builder. They don’t give you profiles, directories or an account page.
6. WPForms
WPForms is the most installed form plugin on WordPress. Its User Registration addon adds registration, login and password reset forms, maps form fields to user profile fields, and can create an account when someone pays through a form. It needs the Pro plan: $399 a year, $199.50 for the first year.
7. Gravity Forms
Gravity Forms isn’t on wordpress.org. Its User Registration Add-On creates accounts from form submissions, assigns roles, can wait until a payment is confirmed before creating the account, and handles multisite sign-ups. It comes with the Elite license, $259 a year for unlimited sites.
8. Formidable Forms
Formidable Forms has a User Registration add-on for front-end registration, login, password reset and profile editing, with automatic roles, email verification and conditional logic. It’s included in Formidable’s paid plans.
Also worth knowing
Theme My Login is free and does one thing: it moves WordPress’s own login and registration screens into your theme. RegistrationMagic is a registration form builder with a submissions manager.
How to set up registration with WP User Manager
- Install WP User Manager from wordpress.org. It creates the registration page and puts the default form on it.
- Choose the fields. In Users > Registration Forms, edit the form and drag fields from Available Fields into it. Our guide to creating a custom WordPress registration form goes through every option.
- Set the role and options in the form’s Settings tab: the registration role, whether people can choose one, terms and conditions, and logging in after registration.
- Turn on registration in Settings > General by ticking Anyone can register, if it isn’t on already.
- Protect it. The honeypot is on by default. For more, add a captcha (see adding reCAPTCHA to WordPress) or require email confirmation or approval (see verifying user signups).
Which WordPress registration plugin should you choose?
- Registration plus profiles, login and an account area, kept light: WP User Manager.
- The most field types and logic for free: User Registration & Membership.
- A big community with social features: Ultimate Member.
- You already use a form builder: its registration add-on (WPForms Pro, Gravity Forms Elite or Formidable).
- Just a themed version of the WordPress screens: Theme My Login.
To try ours, install the free WP User Manager plugin, and see pricing for the addon bundles.