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Membership website builders are excellent tools for individuals, small businesses and organizations to offer exclusive content, services and resources to subscribed members. If you’re here, chances are you something valuable to share—and maybe even monetize. Whatever your goal, learning how to make a website and using the right platform can help you engage with an online community and grow your business.
With the right membership website builder, you can create a professional site that’s easy to manage and built for success. This article will walk you through the best membership website builders out there. Whether you’re after an AI website builder or a hands-on drag-and-drop website builder, these platforms have everything you need to launch and grow your exclusive community.
When choosing a website builder, you want one that’s flexible, powerful and easy-to-use. Wix is the go-to platform for millions of users looking to create a stunning website effortlessly. See what makes Wix stand out from the crowd and why it’s the right fit for you.
First, what are the benefits of a membership website?
If you’re exploring the idea of a membership business model, let’s start with the basics: What is a membership website? More than just a way to engage your audience, a site is a smart way to support the scalability of your business. Focusing on exclusive content offerings, subscriptions or community access, the best membership websites can build revenue streams and long-term relationships with customers, making growth more predictable and sustainable.
Depending on the focus of your site, membership platforms emphasize community building or exclusive content—or a mix of both. Examples include businesses offering online courses and virtual memberships, nonprofits or organizations fostering communities, or coaches and consultants who want to deliver exclusive content (such as videos or downloadable eBooks) to their audiences.
Usually, membership websites encourage visitors to pay for a subscription or content, but that’s not always the case. Many times, a membership platform is used by business owners to offer a more personalized experience or open up the sales funnel. Sometimes, they’re used by organizations to strengthen the network within a community—for example, many school websites include private forums for supporting parents, or exclusive hubs where students can gain resources and communicate with advisors.
Before you search for the best membership website builder for your needs, consider what model you’ll use to deliver content:
Drip- feed memberships: Delivers content to registered members on a time release basis, whether that’s daily, weekly or monthly.
All-in membership: Gives members instant access to all content as soon content to members all at once, as soon as they register and pay.
Fixed- term membership: Allows members access to content within a specific time period, which may expire after a few months, or a year.
Online courses: Provides members with information using live classes or pre-recorded material.
Online forums: Sets the stage for members to participate in discussion topics within an exclusive community.
Products: Means that visitors to your site can access online products, such as website templates or e-books once they register as a member.
8 best membership website builders
01. Wix
Wix is perhaps the most resourceful membership website builder around, providing well-rounded support for a variety of membership models and community websites. Its advanced drag-and-drop website builder is highly customizable and user friendly, and the platform offers versatile options to start—including over 900 templates, an AI website creation tool and the option to add custom code with Velo for even more personalization.
This is one of the best website builders for small businesses on our list, with tools to support your membership site from start to growth. New business owners appreciate the range of branding tools available, while its extensive marketing features come in handy for attracting new members. The platform places an importance on search engine optimization (SEO) to help your website rank on Google, providing optimized designs from the get-go, while guiding visitors to add details like meta tags and alt-texts.
For membership websites, this is a platform that stands out for its management tools and customizable elements. From community forums and password protected pages, to unique member profiles and pricing plans—Wix’s versatile membership tools provide a quality ecosystem to support your business and help serve customers.
Wix’s Membership Area setup includes several key elements, including login bars, sign up forms, member pages and profile cards. Down to the small details, features like member chats, automatic welcome emails, loyalty points and customized badges are perfect for nurturing your audience and keeping them engaged and informed.
Key features:
Members area and password-protected pages that offer more customization than most builders
Wix Payments and integrations for monetization
Multi-tiered subscriptions
Mobile app support for members
Supports community forums with a blog maker
Seamless booking and event management
Email marketing for customized campaigns and member engagement
Superior site reliability and website performance
Wix’s pricing: Wix offers both free and paid plans for your membership website. Paid plans start at $17/month.
02. Simvoly
Simvoly is an all-in-one membership website platform that focuses on conversions, making it ideal for membership models that require high engagement. The membership platform offers a user-friendly drag-and-drop website editor and professional templates, using savvy A/B testing capabilities to help you make informed decisions and optimize your content.
While it's not as customizable as Wix, Simvoly is perfect for niche membership websites and small business audiences. It provides the complete essentials, like password-protected pages, payment processing solutions and tiered membership access—which means you can deliver custom membership experiences without the need for additional plugins.
Key features:
Dedicated templates for one-step check outs that are optimized for mobile
All-in-one membership functionality, including a CTM for engagements
Built-in sales funnels and upsell features to capture leads
Access to Simvoly’s Marketing Academy to boost your online business skills
Tiered membership access means you can offer different levels of memberships, including a free trial period to hook new visitors
Simvoly’s pricing: Simvoly offers a 14-day free trial period as well as paid plans. Paid plans start at $18/month.
03. Site123
If you’re looking for a simple and easy setup, Site123 is a great option for a basic website creation approach. Although its features may not be as rich as competitors, it's great for no-fuss membership websites, offering essential membership tools.
Some may find the simplicity of Site123 limiting. For example, the members-only option applies to your entire website, so anyone who visits will be prompted to sign up for an account. This can be great for certain businesses and communities, specifically nonprofits, clubs or educational resources—it also means it's a really safe platform for private content.
Site123’s Client Zone tool is available with a premium subscription, providing a log-in portal and member profile your customers can customize. A unique feature for members is that they receive recommended topics, forum threads or content and may also use the forum search tool to find what they need. As a website admin, you can use this customer relations management (CRM) to control which content members engage with, limit website access, manage forums, monitor comments, view engagement and vet members before granting membership status.
Key features:
Easy setup for private member pages on our list
Basic Commerce and subscription options
Add online courses that users can pay for in their client zone
Subscriptions easily managed by members
A library of informative resources to guide you including chat for customer support
Site123 pricing: Site123 offers options for a free or paid plan, which costs $12.80/month.
04. IONOS
IONOS is a cheap website builder that allows you to create a simple membership platform, especially designed for those just starting their business who want to build interest in their offerings. Providing a mix of essential website creation tools and membership services, IONOS is a cost-effective and reliable solution for entrepreneurs who want an affordable way to offer gated content.
Without extra plugins, IONOS is limited in terms of its growth capabilities. The membership platform itself only provides password-protected pages, and doesn’t include exclusive member areas, customized payment tiers or as much automation as other platforms like Wix.
By adding embedded code or plugins, your IONOS website can add paid subscription and forum features. And what the membership website builder lacks in customization, it makes up for in support—IONOS sites guarantee a 99.99% uptime and provides free 24/7 customer support.
Key features:
Robust security and performance optimization
Integration with third-party membership plugins
Beginner-friendly platform
Emphasis on sustainability, powering website with 100% renewable energy
Email marketing options for engaging your audience
Ionos pricing: Ionos offers a 30-day money-back guarantee period. Premium plans start at $12/month.
05. UScreen
Compared to other membership website builders on our list, UScreen stands out as an all-in-one membership builder specially designed for monetizing video content. Their unique templates are promoted as user interfaces, providing a sleek visually oriented design built to give visitors access to exclusive videos, courses and livestream.
Ideal for YouTubers, influencers, media companies, educators and instructors—UScreen supports pre-recorded or live streamed video content across all devices. It also makes it easy for your videos to generate profit, emphasizing subscription business models that include subscriptions, one-time purchases and rentals. It also gives you handy lead capturing and conversion tools, like free trials for courses or coupons for new members.
UScreen membership websites have engaging tools to help retain clients, providing live stream chats for real-time interactions, commenting and discussions to foster engagement. You can also drop content or schedule releases to build excitement and keep your members coming back.
Key features:
Videos are securely hosted with DRM protection, water-marking and geo-blocking
Offers the option to build personal own app
Features gift cards and give-away funnels to help land new customers
Analytics and secure insights into trends with website profit, video performance and membership data
UScreen pricing: Premium plans start at $199/month.
Learn more:
06. MightyNetworks
Mighty Networks is one of the best platforms for community-driven membership websites. Although it utilizes easy set-up and AI content building, the software hones in on dynamic content for powerful engagement with members. It stands out with its app-building software, building branded mobile apps alongside your website to engage users on-the-go.
The membership website builder emphasizes engagement and gated content, including chats, discussion forums and member directories. Offering a highly customized and highly branded experience, the tool balances business features with an emphasis on building distinct online communities. MightyNetworks is the perfect membership platform for coaches, thought leaders, niche communities and networking groups to thrive with a strong online presence.
Key features:
Dynamic chat and social networking features bring members together
Community directories help create groups and cohorts for people to interact
Course and event creation tools, along with live streaming and event hosting to monetize your expertise
Onboarding features to orient new members, such as welcome checklists, icebreakers and introductions
MightyNetworks pricing: 14-day trial period. Paid plans start at $49/month.
07. Wild Apricot
Wild Apricot is a membership website builder designed for organizations who want to operate community events and engagement. Its strong management tools make it easy to grow attendance, handling automated renewals, customizable member databases and a self-service portal for your members. These and other targeted membership features for community events make it an optimal platform for organizations that are too big for more comprehensive tools.
With this membership website builder, there’s an emphasis on automating routine tasks, which is particularly great when you run a business or community. Wild Apricot’s content management system generates basic pages for you, including specific templates for event calendars and membership application forms—all of which automatically adjust for mobile devices.
When hosting members-only events, you can use Wild Apricot’s RSVP tracking and event tickets builder. It seamlessly integrates payment processors like PayPal and Stripe to make sales and payments a streamlined process. The platform’s databases keep event planning simple, allowing you to keep tabs on members, prospects, donors and more.
Key features:
Donation pages are designed with progress bars to show how close your organization is to reaching its goals
Outstanding financial reporting capabilities for donation summaries and keeping track of member dues
With the Wild Apricot mobile app, you can engage with members on-the-go by providing access to events
Marketing tools are available for building and keeping your community engaged and connected, including email marketing, event reminders and automated membership renewal
A wealth of online resources, including eBooks and a blog that highlights tips for community building and growing your membership
Wild Apricot pricing: Free trial. Paid plans start at $63/month.
08. Teachable
So, you have knowledge or skills you're ready to share with the world? Teachable is an excellent platform to help earn revenue with memberships, making it easy for you and your students to participate in online courses. Teachable emphasizes the idea that memberships are beneficial, not just for you as the owner—but also for your students, letting you deliver consistent content and foster connections to keep them engaged.
The platform's flexible templates make building a membership website fast and simple. Though its design elements aren’t as advanced as Wix, Teachable offers solid personalization when it comes to membership plans and content distribution options. These templates cater to courses in a variety of specific industries, from marketing and business courses, to health and fitness, academics, beauty, finance and more.
One of the ways the membership site excels is by offering free trials to interested members. With Teachable you can also build subscription tiers, building incentives by giving members access to different products and exclusive content to try out before they officially sign up.
Key features:
Marketing tools like coupons, bundles, upsells and more
Automated business suite that helps with tax handling and payment solutions
Supports content like online courses, digital downloads and one-on-one coaching sessions where you can monitor client progress
AI-powered tools integrate seamlessly into your courses and membership area to help automate tasks more efficiently
Teachable pricing: Paid plans start at $59/month.
Editor's note: The information presented in this article is true as of February 13, 2025, unless mentioned otherwise.
What makes a great membership website?
The best membership websites stand out for their unique sense of community, exclusive content and personalized experiences. Compared to typical business websites, membership platforms foster ongoing engagement with gated access, subscription perks and interactive features like forums and courses.
Depending on your personal or business goals, a membership website needs the qualities to build lasting relationships with your audience, and the potential to generate revenue, too.
Common features that make this type of website work include:
Ways to engage your community: This includes inviting communications tools like forums, discussion boards, private chats, email marketing, live stream or video conference hosting.
User registration and login: By requiring users to register and create an account, login features make sure only authorized members have access to exclusive content and protected areas of the website.
Gated content: Ranging from articles, videos, webinars or downloadable resources, many membership websites offer exclusive content that’s only accessible to registered users.
Community forums: Encouraging network building, community forums and discussion boards allow members to interact, ask questions and share insights on specific topics.
Member portals: Personalized member profile pages or dashboards enhance the member experience by allowing them to securely store information, manage subscriptions and easily access content.
"It's about truly understanding what the community and customers care about and fostering better connections within the community so it can support itself. This can range from basic engagement on forums to amplifying community voices that advocate for change—something we also prioritize." - (Dovetail) Shachaf Rodberg, marketing trend analyst at Wix
Features to consider when choosing the best membership website builder
When choosing the best membership platforms, we’ll look beyond the basics of website creation. The right platform will support essential features for a quality online presence, but will give you tools to grow your membership model—helping you manage subscriptions, encourage engagement and build an overall thriving, long-term community.
These membership platform features include:
Secure web hosting: Excellent website hosting provides the infrastructure for reliable content delivery, speedy uptime and website security. There are different options for how to host a website, but the platforms we chose provide free web hosting so you don’t have to do this on your own.
Mobile friendliness: The increased use of mobile devices means a website that’s mobile friendly is a must. The best membership platforms have built-in responsive technology to automatically adjust your site’s content, making the process of how to make a website mobile-friendly pretty much effortless.
CRM: When it comes to interacting with your members, a CRM is a useful tool that helps manage, track and use information for more personalized communication. This can be used to streamline onboarding, automate renewals and improve customer engagement by providing insights into user behavior.
Access control: One of the most critical elements is the ability to create password protected web pages that restrict content to paid members or specific groups.
Payment and monetization options: Whether it's a one-time fee or recurring subscriptions, you’ll want a platform that gives you the ability to accept and process secure payments.
Marketing tools: Building website traffic and growing your community depends on online marketing, which is easier to implement and manage with a platform that provides tools like email marketing, social media integrations and paid advertising.
Communication tools: From email marketing to private chats—a membership website needs communication tools to support members, remind them about subscription renewals and announce upcoming events.
Booking features: If your membership portal is service related, for example, running online courses, consultation or coaching sessions, booking integrations are a necessary tool for streamlining and managing these processes.
Domain name connection: Due to their exclusive nature, your membership websites should have a uniquely branded web address. Look for a membership website builder that allows you to connect your own domain name—an element that’s both functional and important for a memorable online presence.
Expert tips for building a membership website
With the right membership platform at hand, you can learn how to create a membership website like a pro in no time. As you go through the process step-by-step and finish the items on your website launch checklist, keep these ideas in mind:
Develop a plan for your memberships: Before you build your site, think about what kind of model you’ll offer your visitors. Decide on the kind of products you’re offering and what subscription plan and membership format works best.
Find the right template for your project: Website templates give you the foundations you need for a design. From there, you can customize it to reflect your business and brand. If you aim to give members a simple user experience, you may want to check out membership website templates and the best one page website builders, too.
Get a branded domain: Your online presence will be more professional and memorable with a custom web address. While many membership platforms require premium subscriptions for this feature, it’s worth the investment long term. You can use a tool like a domain name generator to get ideas, and a domain name search tool to check the availability of your web address.
Design with web accessibility in mind: Your community should be inclusive, which makes web accessibility one of the most critical aspects of your design. Before you publish your site, do an accessibility audit using a checklist, built-in tools or third-party options to ensure it's ready for members who have disabilities. Not sure how to do this? Learn more about the importance of web accessibility and how to make a website accessible.
Promote your membership platform: Use outlets like social media, online advertising and SEO to spread the word about your membership offerings. Another great way to do this is by starting a blog, which can give visitors a taste of your expertise and boost your site’s SEO. If you’re new to blogging, learn more about how to start a blog and the benefits of blogging for your brand, business growth and website.
"Blogging without SEO is like writing in a journal no one will read. Optimizing your content makes sure your message reaches the right audience and drives organic traffic that can make a real impact." - Sharon Hafuta, SEO blog editor at Wix
Membership website builders FAQ
What is the best website builder for subscription services?
The best website builder for subscription services largely depends on your specific needs. However, Wix is a top choice for many due to its user-friendly drag-and-drop builder, customizable subscription plans, and integrated payment solutions.