BuddyPress gives you profiles, activity streams, groups and private messages, but it can’t take a payment. To charge for your community you need a BuddyPress paid membership plugin alongside it, and the choice comes down to one question: how much of BuddyPress can it control? Some plugins lock individual features by membership level. Others only add members to groups.
We make WP User Manager, which is not one of the five: it has no BuddyPress integration. It’s a different route, for sites that don’t need a social network at all, and we cover it after the comparison. Prices and features come from each plugin’s own site and wordpress.org, checked in October 2026.
What to look for in a BuddyPress paid membership plugin
A general membership plugin can protect pages, but BuddyPress features aren’t ordinary pages. Check these four things before you buy:
- Feature control: can it decide who sends messages, makes friend requests or posts, or only who sees a page?
- Groups: can a plan add members to a group automatically, and sell access to a specific group?
- Directory and profiles: can it hide the member directory from non-members, and hide non-paying members from the directory?
- Cancellations: what happens to group membership when a subscription ends?
The five options at a glance
| Plugin | What it controls in BuddyPress | BuddyPress integration | Starting price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paid Memberships Pro | Features, groups and directory, per level | Free add-on | Free; paid plans from $499 a year |
| MemberPress | Group membership by subscription | Growth plan and up | $699 a year ($349.50 first year) |
| ProfilePress | Sells access to specific groups, syncs profiles | Paid addon | Free; paid plans from $129 a year |
| ARMember | Features for members, profile sync | Paid plans | Free; paid plans from $89 a year |
| Paid Member Subscriptions | Pages and posts only | None | Free, 2% Stripe fee; paid from €99 a year |
1. Paid Memberships Pro: the most control
Paid Memberships Pro has the deepest integration here, and its BuddyPress add-on is free. For each membership level you can:
- lock all of BuddyPress, or pick features such as public messages, private messages and friend requests
- control who can create groups, view groups and join them
- add members to chosen groups automatically, or invite them
- choose whether that level appears in the member directory
Anyone without access goes to an Access Restricted page you choose. There are two catches. Forum access needs a separate bbPress add-on, and tying BuddyPress member types to a level needs custom code to create them first.
The core plugin is free but no longer on wordpress.org, so you download it from their site. Paid plans start at $499 a year. Choose it if you want different levels to do different things in your community.
2. MemberPress: the simplest group rules
MemberPress has no free version. Its BuddyPress integration does two things: it links each member’s account page to their BuddyPress profile, and it adds or removes people from groups based on their subscription status. That covers the last question on the list above, without per-feature rules.
The integration needs a Growth license, $699 a year ($349.50 for the first year). The cheaper Launch plan doesn’t include it. Choose MemberPress if you already use it to sell content or courses and only need groups to follow subscriptions.
3. ProfilePress: selling access to groups
ProfilePress suits a community where the groups are the product. Its BuddyPress and BuddyBoss addon lets you sell access to specific groups, including private and hidden ones. You create a membership plan, set its price and choose the groups it grants. It also keeps WordPress profile fields and BuddyPress extended profiles in sync both ways.
The plugin is free to start, and paid plans begin at $129 a year. Check their pricing page for which plan includes this addon before you commit, because we couldn’t confirm the tier.
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4. ARMember: the budget choice
ARMember includes its BuddyPress integration on every paid plan, from $89 a year for one site. It can limit group creation, friend requests, private messages and viewing the member directory and profiles to members. You can also map its fields to BuddyPress profile fields and sync avatars and cover photos.
Its documentation covers restricting who creates groups, not access to individual groups, so it’s a weaker fit for selling groups. There’s a free version, but the integration isn’t listed on the free plan.
5. Paid Member Subscriptions: payments without the integration
Paid Member Subscriptions is a solid general membership plugin with 10,000+ active installs, and it can run next to BuddyPress. Cozmos Labs says itself that there’s no dedicated integration, so you get protected pages and posts, not rules for messages or groups.
The free version adds a 2% fee on Stripe transactions, and paid plans start at €99 a year. Choose it if you only need to protect some content and the community itself can stay open.
Which one should you choose?
- Different levels get different community features: Paid Memberships Pro.
- You already sell through MemberPress: stay with it and let groups follow subscriptions.
- You sell access to specific groups: ProfilePress.
- You want member-only features on a small budget: ARMember.
- You only need to protect a few pages: Paid Member Subscriptions.
Whichever you pick, test it with a real subscription: sign up, join a group, cancel, then check what that account can still see. Group access is the part most likely to surprise you.
Do you need BuddyPress at all?
BuddyPress is the most complete free social network for WordPress, with 90,000+ active installs. If your members need activity feeds, friend connections and private messages, keep it and pick a plugin above.
Many paid communities need less than that. If members only need to sign up, pay, have a profile, find each other and see private content, a membership stack without BuddyPress is simpler, and that’s what we built WP User Manager for:
- Payment at registration: the free plugin charges through Stripe, one-off or recurring. Members manage their plan and card from their account page. See our guide to building a membership website.
- Profiles and directories: member profiles and searchable directories are free.
- Groups: the Groups addon (paid) adds public, private and hidden groups with their own member lists.
- Paid content: the Content Restriction addon (paid) restricts pages by role or by Stripe product.
Here’s where BuddyPress is stronger: WP User Manager has no activity stream, friend connections or private messages, and it takes payments through Stripe only (or WooCommerce, with the WooCommerce addon). The free plugin’s Stripe connection adds a 2% fee per transaction, and the Stripe Pro addon removes it. We don’t integrate with BuddyPress, so run one or the other. Our WordPress community plugins guide compares the two approaches in more detail, and members only areas shows the setup step by step.
To try it, install the free WP User Manager plugin, and see pricing for the addon bundles.
