Are you looking for a ProfilePress review to see whether it’s the right user registration plugin for you?
With ProfilePress, you can add fully-customizable membership forms, directories, and user profiles to your site. You can even sell membership plans and subscriptions, and restrict access to your content based on the person’s membership level.
In this ProfilePress review, we’ll see whether it is the right user registration plugin for your WordPress website.
What is ProfilePress?
ProfilePress is a popular user registration and membership plugin.
It comes with all the forms you need to allow user registrations in WordPress. You can simply add these ready-made forms to your site using a shortcode that the plugin provides automatically, or you can customize the forms using a straightforward drag-and drop editor.
You can create as many membership levels as you want, and then accept one-time or recurring payments.
To sell more memberships, ProfilePress allows you to add free trial subscriptions, create exclusive members-only content, and even add downloadable files to your membership plans.
Do you want to turn your WordPress website into a social online community?
With ProfilePress, you can add a searchable membership directory to your website, so users can create their own profiles and then search for other members. This is also a great option if you’re creating a client portal.
If you’re just getting started or have a limited budget, then you can download the lite version of ProfilePress from the official WordPress repository.
This plugin has essential features that allow you to create a membership website.
However, Stripe will add a 2% fee to all your transactions. If you want to avoid this charge, then you’ll need to upgrade to the premium ProfilePress plugin.
ProfilePress Review: Is It the Right User Registration Plugin for You?
There are lots of great user registration and membership plugins on the market. However, not every plugin has the features you need to turn WordPress into a successful membership platform. With that said, let’s see whether ProfilePress is the right membership plugin for your WordPress website.
1. Easy to Set Up
With ProfilePress, it’s easy to create a membership site. To start, you can install and activate it just like any other WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, the ProfilePress setup wizard will guide you through the process of setting up your membership site.
Simply click on each step and ProfilePress will take you to a screen where you can complete that step.
2. Create Unlimited Membership Levels
With ProfilePress, you can create as many membership levels as you want.
Each plan can have its own unique content, features, and pricing.
This allows you to create levels that target different groups of people, which is a great way to grow your membership website.
You can also choose what happens when a visitor joins your membership plan.
For example, you might create a custom thank you message that will be added to the customer’s order receipt.
3. Detailed Content Restriction Rules
You’ll typically want to restrict access to content based on the user’s membership level. This encourages visitors to buy a subscription in order to see the content.
If you have multiple membership levels, then you can even offer different content to different users. In this way, you can encourage visitors to buy a higher tier subscription.
With ProfilePress, you can restrict access to pages, child pages, posts, custom post types, categories, tags, and custom taxonomies.
You can even stack content protection rules.
For example, you might give Gold and Silver members access to a particular piece of content. With ProfilePress, it’s easy to create these detailed content protection rules.
Another option is to assign a piece of content to a particular user role.
You can use any of the default WordPress user roles, or create a custom role for each membership plan.
4. Sell Services, Digital Products, and Downloadable Files
To get more members, you may want to attach files to your different plans.
With ProfilePress, you can add digital products such as podcasts, PDFs, ebooks, and audiobooks. When creating a membership level, simply upload all the files you want to offer as part of this membership.
You can also set a download limit and an expiration date, which allows you to control file downloads in WordPress.
In particular, this can make it more difficult for members to steal your content and distribute it to non-members.
If you want to sell online courses, then ProfilePress integrates with LearnDash, LifterLMS, and other popular learning management systems.
5. Create a Content Paywall
Paywalls usually ask the visitor to buy an ongoing subscription, so they’re a great way to make money over the long term.
However, not all paywalls ask for payment. Many smart website owners use them to grow their email list by asking users to sign up for a free account.
With ProfilePress, you can easily create a paywall by displaying a content preview, and then asking visitors to become a member in order to unlock the full content.
6. Supports Major Payment Gateways
Selling memberships is a popular way to make money online. However, if customers can’t use their favorite payment method then you may struggle to get conversions.
With that in mind, ProfilePress supports popular payment gateways including Stripe, PayPal, Razorpay, and Mollie. This means that customers should have no problems joining your membership site.
7. Collect One-Time or Recurring Payments
ProfilePress lets you offer one-time and recurring payments.
Accepting recurring payments is a great way to automate the billing process. This automated workflow can save you a ton of time and generally leads to fewer payment delays and errors, which will improve the user experience. It also means you don’t have to send invoices manually.
If you collect recurring membership payments, then you can renew indefinitely or collect a fixed number of payments.
You can also choose from a list of different billing cycles, such as monthly, yearly, or quarterly.
No matter whether you accept recurring or one-off payments, you can offer a free trial subscription. This encourages visitors to become members, by giving them the chance to experience your content without paying.
Finally, ProfilePress allows you to charge a sign up fee, which allows you to cover any initial set up costs.
8. Create Custom Forms
Forms are a big part of the membership experience, and can directly impact your total signups and engagement rates.
To start, ProfilePress comes with ready-made login, user registration, password reset, edit profile, user profile, and melange forms.
You can add these forms to any page, post, or widget-ready area using a shortcode that the plugin creates automatically.
However, you can also edit these forms using an easy drag-and-drop editor.
This allows you to collect exactly the information you need, and customize the form with your own color scheme.
You can even customize the My Account and Edit Profile forms so users can change their profiles, upload avatars, and change their account settings with ease.
When you’re happy with how the forms look, you may want to set up redirects. For example you might automatically redirect users after a successful login by sending them to the My Account page.
In this way, ProfilePress can remove friction from the membership experience, which will make people want to spend more time on your WordPress blog or website.
Finally, giving members unlimited access to the WordPress dashboard is typically bad for WordPress security. This is particularly true if anyone can join your membership site.
For that reason, ProfilePress allows you to restrict access to the WordPress dashboard based on user roles. You can also disable the admin bar for members, which will help keep your website safe.
9. User Profile and Membership Directories
Adding a directory to your membership site can get you more engagement by encouraging new members to join and connect with each other. You can even create a staff directory so potential customers can learn more about your team.
With ProfilePress, you can add a user directory to any page, post, or widget-ready area using a shortcode that the plugin creates automatically.
You can also customize the default directory to meet your exact requirements.
To start, you can add and remove fields from the directory. This allows you to control exactly what information ProfilePress shows on each member profile.
After adding the directory to your small business website, social site, or blog, visitors can search for other members.
To help visitors find who they’re looking for, you can customize the default search. For example, you can choose whether to show the newest users first, enable custom sorting, and decide how many matches ProfilePress should show per page.
10. Easy Member and Order Management
ProfilePress allows members to manage their own account, orders, and subscriptions.
WordPress admins can also manage members directly in the WordPress dashboard. Here, you can learn more about each person, and edit this information manually if required.
ProfilePress also records each purchase, including the amount, payment method, and customer name.
If you allow members to register using a different platform, app, or service, then you can add orders to WordPress manually. This allows you to track all your orders and members from a single location.
11. Secure and Compliant
ProfilePress is Secure Customer Authentication (SCA) and GDPR compliant. This protects your audience’s information, while also helping you avoid the fines and legal headaches that come from breaching security and privacy laws.
12. Integrates With Popular Plugins and Services
To help grow your email list, ProfilePress integrates with Mailchimp and Campaign Monitor. This means you can automatically subscribe new members to your mailing lists, and sync their profile changes.
If you’re using WooCommerce, then you can replace the default WooCommerce login and Edit Account pages with ProfilePress forms. This is perfect if the standard WooCommerce forms don’t collect the information you need, or provide the best user experience.
13. Community and Professional Support
ProfilePress allows you create custom login and membership forms, and then add them to your site using a shortcode that it provides automatically. You can also add a professionally-designed membership directory and detailed content restriction rules, without having to write a single line of code.
However, sometimes you may need some extra information, or help. If you prefer to research yourself, then ProfilePress has in-depth online documentation.
There’s also the ProfilePress blog where you’ll find detailed, step-by-step guides on how to use the plugin.
It also has helpful best practices and advice on general topics such as how to accept credit card payments in WordPress.
If you prefer one-on-one help, then you can submit a support ticket by visiting the ProfilePress website.
ProfilePress Pricing Plans
If you’re on a budget or just getting started, then you can download the lite version of ProfilePress from the official WordPress repository. This plugin has many essential features so you can add membership forms to your site, and start selling subscriptions.
However, Stripe charges a 2% fee on all transactions made using the free plugin. With that said, we recommend upgrading to the premium plugin so you can avoid this additional fee.
There are 3 plans to choose from:
- Standard. For $125 per year, this plan allows you to use ProfilePress on a single website. In addition to removing the 2% Stripe fee, ProfilePress Standard integrates with Mailchimp and Campaign Monitor, plus popular learning management systems such as LearnDash and LifterLMS. With that in mind, Standard is a great choice if you use any of these tools.
- Plus. Priced at $299 annually, you can use Plus on up to 3 websites. That said, it’s a good option if you want to offer memberships across multiple websites. Plus also integrates with WooCommerce, so it’s a great option if you run an online marketplace.
- Agency. For $499 per year, you can use Agency on as many websites as you want. This makes Agency a great deal for freelancers, WordPress development agencies, and anyone else who manages multiple client sites.
Conclusion: Is ProfilePress the Right User Registration and Membership Plugin for You?
After looking at the features, support options, and pricing, we’re confident that ProfilePress is a great user registration plugin. It has everything you need to turn WordPress into a membership website, or even a user directory.
If you own a single website, then ProfilePress Starter is a good option.
Meanwhile, if you run an online store then Plus integrates with WooCommerce. You can also use Plus on up to 3 websites, so it’s a good option if you have a portfolio of WordPress websites or blogs.
Finally, if you’re a WordPress developer or agency, then you may want to look at the ProfilePress Agency plan. You can buy a single plan and then use ProfilePress across all your client websites.
We hope this ProfilePress review helped you decide whether it’s the right user registration plugin for you. Next, you may want to see our guide on how to track website visitors, or check out our expert pick of the best live chat software for small businesses.
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