21 Top WordPress Membership Themes for Your Website

Struggling to make money from your WordPress website? Creating a membership section is a great way to generate recurring income from your user base, and WordPress membership themes can streamline this process. 

When it comes to creating a membership-based website, there are two common approaches: Installing a WordPress theme or using a WordPress plugin. We’ll quickly review these two options, then go into the best WordPress membership themes that you can install now. Let’s dive in.

WordPress Membership Theme vs. Membership Plugin

Should you use a WordPress membership theme or install a membership plugin? What’s the difference between both, and which one is the best choice for you?

A membership theme typically comes with everything you need to set up a membership website. The bundle will include the theme and the tools you need to restrict content. You can then create membership levels and take payments from subscribers.

Alternatively, a membership WordPress theme will be compatible with a specific membership plugin, ensuring that the theme and plugin work seamlessly together. One example would be BuddyX, which is compatible with the BuddyPress membership plugin.

Your other option would be installing a membership plugin. A membership plugin is a standalone solution that will allow you to add a membership section to your site regardless of your theme.

Use a membership theme if:

• You’re not totally married to your current theme.

• You’re starting an entirely new membership website.

• You have a $40-to-$80 budget for a premium theme.

Ready to get started? Check out the best WordPress membership themes below.

The 21 Best Membership WordPress Themes

To help streamline your membership site-making efforts, we’ve collected 21 of the best membership WordPress themes. Keep reading for a look at each in more detail, or jump to the one that catches your eye.

Table of Contents

• Vayvo

• Aardvark

• Seeko

• Jannah

• Woffice

• The Practitioner

• Beehive

• SKRN

• Olympus

• BuddyApp

• KLEO

• JNews

• Ultra

• Divi

• Astra

• PointFinder

• Heista Pro

• Gwangi

• REAL

• OceanWP

• Binder Pro

1. Vayvo

Vayvo is a membership theme that comes pre-bundled with the ARMember plugin. It includes settings for establishing subscription plans, offering free trials, and restricting content. It also allows you to charge users a one-time fee for accessing individual posts.

With Vayvo, you can offer courses, expert insights, or exclusive services. It comes with a drag-and-drop page builder, making it a great choice for those who’d like to avoid coding. 

You can watch the theme’s demo to see the easy and quick setup process.

Best for: Video makers and educational content. Vayvo is optimized for video streaming, making it ideal for you if you’re planning to launch video courses. You can also restrict your content based on subscription levels

Pricing: A one-time fee of $69.

2. Aardvark

Aardvark is a community and membership WordPress theme that includes demos for various types of membership-based sites. You can create a dating site, membership-driven social network, directory, networking hub, or paid course. With a host of options, Aardvark is one of the most versatile membership themes on the list. most versatile membership themes on this list.

Aardvark specifically works with the Paid Membership Pro plugin, which must be downloaded and installed separately. It uses the WPBakery Page Builder for drag-and-drop customization. You won’t need to touch a single line of code when editing this theme.

What we love: Aardvark’s range of demos makes building your site easy. Just find a demo that is closest to the business you hope to build and go from there. 

Pricing: A one-time fee of $65.

3. Seeko

Seeko is a membership theme that’s specifically designed for social and dating sites. If you’re looking to create a membership-based social community, this is the theme for you. 

You can still use it to launch other types of sites; however, you won’t be able to import any demo material. In that case, you’ll have to build everything from the ground up.

Seeko comes integrated with the Paid Memberships Pro and BuddyPress plugins to set up a robust and exclusive online community. It uses the Elementor page builder, so you won’t have to code while customizing the design.

Best for: Dating and community sites. Seeko offers advanced options available for matching community members — making it ideal for pairing people with common interests. 

Pricing: A one-time fee of $54.

4. Jannah

Jannah is a BuddyPress theme that’s specifically focused on newspaper and magazine websites. The best part is that you can create a member section where users can post their opinion on forums.

Jannah is a great choice for you if you’re planning to launch a news blog or website. If you’d like to restrict content behind a paywall, you can use a plugin such as Leaky Paywall.

Best for: Membership sites that thrive on user comments and engagement with content. Jannah also comes with the BuddyPress community plugin, making connection easy.

Pricing: A one-time fee of $59.

5. Woffice

Woffice is a premium theme that’s designed for membership-based organizations. It’s ideal if you’d like to give your members their own dashboard, where they can access a member directory and have their own profile.

Woffice comes bundled with BuddyPress, Paid Memberships Pro, and bbPress for setting up memberships and community forums. 

One major limitation: Woffice doesn’t have any front-end public demos. You can still publish the front end of your website, but you’ll need to build it from scratch.

What we love: If customization is a part of your business model, Woffice can bring your vision to fruition. With this theme, members can build their own custom dashboards based on how they prefer to use your site. 

Pricing: A one-time fee of $59.

6. The Practitioner

The Practitioner makes a great option for membership sites in the health, nutrition, and functional medicine spaces.

In total, it comes with six different importable starter sites. While some of these starter sites are focused on practitioners offering services to clients, others are more focused on helping you create a membership community built around health, such as the Blog & Podcast starter site pictured above.

All of the demo content is built with Elementor for easy customization, and you also get access to 70+ custom Elementor widgets and other Elementor add-on functionality.

To add the membership functionality, The Practitioner offers a built-in integration for the popular Paid Memberships Pro plugin. Or, you can pair it with your favorite WordPress membership plugin.

Best for: Built-in integration with the Paid Memberships Pro plugin for membership content and easy customization thanks to the tight Elementor integration. Plus, did we mention a built-in WooCommerce integration to sell products or power your membership site's payments? 

Pricing: $69 with lifetime updates. 

7. Beehive

Beehive is ideal for founding a membership-based community around a common interest. To create subscription tiers, you’ll want to install a plugin such as Paid Memberships Pro in addition to the theme.

Beehive includes member profiles, group profiles, forums, and news feed pages. Your users can also chat with one another. The theme uses the Elementor drag-and-drop editor for easy customization.

Best for: Social networking membership sites built around a common theme or interest. Beehive also has advanced options available for connecting community members.

Pricing: A one-time fee of $59.

8. SKRN

SKRN is a media streaming theme that allows you to create subscription tiers using the ARMember membership plugin. If you’re planning to host videos on your membership website, this is the theme for you.

While the demo lists movies and TV shows, you can use SKRN to provide access to exclusive video courses, tutorials, and more. Its drag-and-drop page builder makes customization easy.

Best for: Video hosting sites. You can also restrict certain content, allowing you to offer different membership tiers. 

Pricing: A one-time fee of $69.

9. Olympus

Olympus is a social networking theme that’s optimized for creating a membership-based website. It includes demo pages for newsfeeds, individual member profiles, groups, comments, reviews, and forums. Users can also see each other’s activities and friends.

Olympus is ideal for you if you’re planning to build a membership-based organization — complete with events, groups, and more. You can also include a storefront for easier monetization. 

One major limitation: Olympus doesn’t include the option to add subscription or membership levels. All of your users will have the same level of access. 

Best for: Building a comprehensive membership site. With Olympus, members can create profiles, feeds, comments, and forums.

Pricing: A one-time fee of $68.

10. BuddyApp

BuddyApp is a membership theme that’s ideal for launching an online community. It’s integrated with the BuddyPress plugin to allow community members to chat amongst themselves, see each other’s profiles, and join groups. Users can also publish forum posts.

Like Olympus, Beehive, and Woffice, BuddyApp is ideal for you if you want to run a membership-based organization or social network. The theme uses the WPBakery drag-and-drop page builder for code-free customization.

Best for: Social-based sites that focus on member-submitted content such as forum posts.

Pricing: A one-time fee of $43.

11. KLEO

For a simple and versatile membership theme, look no further than KLEO. It’s integrated with the Paid Memberships Pro plugin, so you won’t need to download the plugin separately. KLEO also uses the WPBakery page builder for easy and code-free customization.

Best for: Directory websites. KLEO is compatible with GeoDirectory and BuddyPress to create both member and local business directories. You can easily direct users to the content they’re looking for. 

Pricing: A one-time fee of $59.

12. JNews

JNews is a newspaper and magazine theme that allows you to place content behind a paywall so that only members can access it. This is a great alternative to Jannah, as it automatically includes a paywall function, prompting your site visitors to become members or subscribe.

With JNews, you can create a pricing page with different plans. If you wanted to launch a subscription-based membership model, this theme will allow you to do that too.

What we love: JNews comes equipped with 150 demos for different types of news sites. There’s no need to start from scratch with this theme.

Pricing: A one-time fee of $59. 

13. Ultra

Along with an easy-to-use interface, Ultra offers several pre-made “skins” for your WordPress theme. Choose from restaurant, wedding, fitness, or other categories for your membership site. The tool is also beginner-friendly, with no need to code any functions. All you have to do is choose what works for you and get building. 

What we love: This theme offers an easy drag-and-drop builder, so anyone can build a beautiful site.

Pricing: $59 for Standard; $69 for Developer, which includes Photoshop files.

14. Divi

Divi is all about visual, drag-and-drop building that lets you quickly create your ideal membership site. Sites are designed to be responsive and lightweight, making it easier for visitors to find what they’re looking for and taking the pressure off your website infrastructure. You can also modify code as needed to align with site objectives.

What we love: This theme is great for website makers who have coding experience. However, if you encounter a problem beyond your skillset, you can access on-demand support with your yearly subscription. 

Pricing: $89 per year or a one-time fee of $249. 

15. Astra

Astra is one of the most popular WordPress themes for web developers. It’s no surprise that Astra comes equipped with a top-notch membership option. With thousands of users, you can troubleshoot any challenge you encounter while building your site. All you have to do is tap Astra’s large community of members for support and advice.

What we love: In addition to membership options, you can also use your Astra site to sell additional products. This theme offers integration with WooCommerce, making merchandise easy. 

Pricing: $44 per year or a one-time fee of $224 for Astra Pro. 

16. PointFinder

If your goal is to make payment easy, PointFinder offers the solution. This theme lets you quickly create a review or directory site. Once your directory is complete, you can integrate it with popular payment gateways, including PayPal and Stripe. <

What we love: If your site targets a global community, PointFinder is a great option. This theme supports multiple languages, so you can serve more than just English speakers. 

Pricing: A one-time payment of $69. 

17. Hestia Pro

Hestia Pro is all about minimalist design and high performance. This theme’s one-page layout is simple and eye-catching to help you capture member interest. Hestia also offers broad compatibility with other page builders, so you won’t have to worry about integration.

Best for: Building a simple and speedy membership site to connect with customers.

Pricing: $69 per year for a personal plan that offers one site. $99 per year for a business that offers support for three sites. 

18. Gwangi

Gwangi makes it possible to create both membership and social sites that help your customers connect. It also lets users build their own profiles and includes geolocation services for members who want to share where they are with the community. 

If you’re deciding between an advertisement and a subscription model, no need to worry. Gwangi offers support for both.

Best for: Creating ad-driven membership sites that transition to subscription services.

Pricing: A one-time payment of $59.

19. REAL

This minimalist theme is focused on blogging but can also help you transition into a membership site. With a small number of features to manage and support both eCommerce and membership plugins, REAL is a solid starting point. 

Best for: Transitioning from a blog-based WordPress site to a membership site.

Pricing: A one-time payment of $49.

20. OceanWP

Looking to try before you buy? Consider taking OceanWP out for a test drive. This theme’s free tool downloads let you see what OceanWP can do before you make a purchase. If you do make the leap and purchase, the theme’s easy-to-install demos get you started ASAP. 

What we love: If you want to sell additional products on your membership site, OceanWP can help. You’ll have options to create a membership model and ecommerce storefront. 

Pricing: $27 per year for a personal plan that supports three sites. $44 per year for a business plan that supports up to 6 sites.

21. Binder Pro

Focused on article publishing, Binder Pro can help companies build a solid following over time through membership fees. Its simple and sleek design is great to look at, and multiple widgets let you customize article organization and display.

Best for: Transitioning from a free online article or knowledge resource to a subscription-based site.

Pricing: A one-time fee of $129 for the Binder Theme Package.

Use a Membership WordPress Theme to Monetize Your Site

By offering memberships through your website, you can tap into the revenue potential of your existing traffic. Use a dedicated theme to set up a profitable membership-based site — and watch your user base grow exponentially along with your profits.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in October 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.