ARMember Plugin Review 2024: A Powerful WordPress Membership Solution

Membership websites have exploded in popularity in recent years as creators and businesses look to generate recurring revenue through subscriptions. In fact, the subscription ecommerce market is projected to more than double from 2019 to hit $38 billion by 2023. WordPress users who want to ride this wave and build their own membership sites should consider the ARMember plugin.

ARMember is a freemium plugin that makes it surprisingly simple to add a full-featured membership system to an existing WordPress site. With ARMember installed, you can quickly create membership plans, registration forms, content paywalls, and more – no coding required. Over 20,000 WordPress sites rely on ARMember to power their membership offerings.

In this in-depth ARMember review, we‘ll take a close look at everything this powerful plugin has to offer and help you determine if it‘s the right solution for your membership site.

What is ARMember?

At its core, ARMember is a WordPress membership plugin that enables you to build almost any type of membership site. This could be a site offering premium content to paid subscribers, an online course platform with different access levels, a private community forum, and much more.

The plugin provides an intuitive, user-friendly interface for configuring your membership site without having to touch any code. With ARMember activated, members can self-register for the plan of their choice, securely pay online, and immediately access gated content based on their membership level.

Some of the key features that make ARMember stand out include:

Flexible content restrictions

One of the most important aspects of any membership plugin is the ability to lock content and make it accessible only to authorized members. ARMember gives you granular control over exactly which content is restricted.

You can set up access rules to show or hide specific pages, posts, categories, or even parts of content based on a logged-in user‘s membership plan. For example, you might make blog posts free for everyone, while reserving videos and downloads only for your paying "Pro" members.

ARMember also supports partial content restriction, allowing you to lock just a portion of an otherwise public page or post. This is useful for offering a free preview or teaser to encourage visitors to sign up.

Easy plan building

Some membership plugins place limits on the number of plans you can create, but ARMember gives you total freedom to build an unlimited number of membership levels. You can define exactly what each plan contains and costs using the streamlined membership setup wizard.

One standout feature here is the ability to offer multiple payment options for different billing periods. For instance, you could charge $25 monthly, $250 annually, or a $500 one-time lifetime price for the same membership plan – the choice is up to the customer. This flexibility helps you maximize revenue by appealing to a wider range of budgets and preferences.

ARMember even supports free trials and paid trial periods to let prospective members test drive your membership before committing to a subscription.

Customizable member forms

ARMember comes with its own drag-and-drop form builder for designing branded registration and login forms that seamlessly integrate with your WordPress theme. The visual, code-free builder is beginner-friendly and lets you customize everything from form fields to submit button colors.

To speed up form creation, you can start with one of the plugin‘s pre-built templates and then modify it to your needs. You can also easily duplicate forms to reuse them across your site.

Additionally, ARMember supports social logins via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other networks as well as spam-stopping features like Google reCAPTCHA and honeypots. The plugin even includes a built-in password reset process for members who get locked out.

Drip content

ARMember‘s premium version adds support for drip content, allowing you to release access to posts and pages on a predetermined schedule. Rather than overwhelming members with all your content at once, you can gradually "drip" it out over days, weeks, or months.

Dripping is especially useful for membership sites built around courses or ongoing training. You can time the release of new lessons and modules to match your curriculum calendar. Content can be dripped based on a member‘s registration date or on a specific launch date that applies to all members.

Security and anti-cheat safeguards

Protecting your exclusive members-only content is crucial, and ARMember offers several tools to combat unauthorized access. The plugin can help defend against brute force attacks by limiting failed login attempts before temporarily disabling the targeted account.

ARMember also makes it difficult for members to game the system by sharing their account credentials. The "cheat off" feature tracks IP address and usage patterns to identify and automatically block accounts engaging in suspicious activity.

Add-ons for advanced functionality

While the core ARMember plugin is free, the developers also sell a suite of premium add-ons to extend the membership system with advanced features. Some notable additions include:

• Affiliate portal: Recruit affiliates to promote your memberships in exchange for a commission on successful referrals
• Digital downloads: Securely sell and deliver files and other digital products to members
• Social community: Let members interact with user profiles, friend connections, and direct messaging
• Two-factor authentication: Protect member accounts with an extra verification step via SMS or app
• Zapier integration: Connect ARMember with 3000+ web apps to automate workflows

These add-ons are available individually or bundled depending on your plan. Speaking of…

ARMember pricing

The base ARMember plugin is free to download and use with a limited set of features. This is sufficient for basic membership sites with simple content restrictions and payment options.

Upgrading to the premium version ($49) unlocks the plugin‘s full potential with advanced functionality like drip content, social logins, pay-per-post rules, and multiple membership currencies. Many of the most powerful add-ons also require a premium license.

Premium pricing starts at $49 for use on a single site and scales up to $249 for 25-site license with more add-ons included. Compared to other membership plugins, ARMember is competitively priced while still being feature-rich. The free version is also more generous than most "freemium" alternatives.

Using ARMember

Getting started with ARMember is straightforward thanks to the plugin‘s setup wizard and well-organized admin dashboard. Upon activation, you‘ll be guided through the initial configuration steps like choosing a page for member registration and login.

From there, you can define membership plans, create registration forms, and begin restricting access to content. The ARMember site has extensive documentation and video tutorials for every major feature.

While you don‘t need to be a developer to use ARMember, some customization does require editing template files and inserting shortcodes. The plugin integrates with popular page builders though, so you can visually design your membership site as well.

In terms of performance, ARMember is lightweight and shouldn‘t slow down your site. The biggest potential issue is the security of your membership content. As with any WordPress plugin, it‘s important to keep ARMember updated and follow WordPress security best practices to prevent unauthorized access to your restricted pages and files.

Who should use ARMember?

ARMember is an excellent solution for WordPress site owners who want to offer premium content, courses, downloads, or community features to paying members. The plugin is accessible enough for membership site beginners while still being powerful and customizable enough for advanced users.

Some specific use cases include:

• Bloggers and publishers selling subscriptions to exclusive content
• Course creators offering online video lessons and digital downloads
• Nonprofit organizations providing member benefits and resources
• Coaches and consultants hosting paid mastermind groups or private communities
• Ecommerce retailers with a members-only loyalty or discount club
• Any business that wants to generate recurring revenue through membership

Of course, WordPress membership sites aren‘t ideal for every scenario. If you primarily want to sell one-off products, a full ecommerce platform like WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads is likely a better fit. For very large or complex membership sites, a hosted platform like Teachable or Kajabi may be easier to manage than a self-hosted WordPress site with plugins.

ARMember alternatives

ARMember is one of the most popular and highly-rated membership plugins for WordPress, but it‘s certainly not the only option. Other leading membership solutions include:

• MemberPress: Powerful and user-friendly membership plugin with built-in affiliate features (from $249/year)
• Restrict Content Pro: Lightweight membership solution for selling recurring subscriptions (from $99/year)
• Paid Memberships Pro: Flexible plugin for sites offering multiple membership levels (free and paid plans)
• WishList Member: Ideal for content dripping and creating "members-only" courses (from $147/year)
• MemberMouse: Robust membership software with advanced features like upselling and member management (from $59/month)

Each of these ARMember alternatives has its own strengths, so the "best" choice depends on your specific needs and budget. In general though, ARMember compares favorably in terms of features and ease of use.

Is ARMember right for you?

Choosing the right membership plugin is an important decision – after all, your membership program is the heart of your recurring revenue model.

ARMember stands out as a user-friendly yet powerful WordPress membership solution at an affordable price point. The plugin makes it easy to create and customize every aspect of your membership site, from registration forms to content access rules.

With a generous free tier and modular premium add-ons, ARMember can scale with you as your membership program grows. The plugin‘s extensive documentation and active support forums also provide peace of mind.

While no tool is perfect for every use case, ARMember is an excellent all-around choice for most WordPress membership sites. If you want to build a fully-featured membership program without breaking the bank, definitely give the free version of ARMember a try.

Ready to turn your WordPress site into a recurring revenue machine? Click here to download the ARMember plugin and start building your membership site today.