The 13 Best WordPress Membership Themes

Are you a business owner, content creator, or community manager looking to monetize your WordPress website, build an exclusive community, or offer premium content to your audience?

If so, you’ve likely heard about WordPress membership themes. But what exactly is a WordPress membership theme, and how can it transform your website into a thriving online hub? 

In this article, we’ll delve into the world of WordPress membership themes and discover how they can elevate your online presence. We’ll also unravel the 13 best membership website themes for WordPress sites to help you kickstart your endeavor!

What is a WordPress membership theme?

A WordPress membership theme is a specialized theme designed to facilitate membership-based websites, offering exclusive content and interaction to registered users. 

In other words, it’s your golden ticket to creating a community or subscription-based platform, perfect for bloggers, businesses, and creators like you. With 76% of business owners saying that subscription-based products boost customer retention coupled with the fact that a 5% rise in customer retention can increase revenue between 25-95%, it’s no wonder that launching subscription-based membership sites is becoming increasingly popular among entrepreneurs. 

Subscription-based membership sites better enable you to engage with loyal customers while simultaneously generating a steady monthly/yearly revenue – it’s a win-win!

But that’s not all.

Why use a WordPress membership theme?

• Easy setup and configuration: Unlike custom coding or complex website builders, WordPress offers a user-friendly and intuitive interface that’s perfect for beginners. Most membership themes come with step-by-step guides and intuitive customization options, ensuring that even those with minimal technical experience can have their website up and running in no time.
• Exclusive content: Membership themes allow you to share exclusive content with your registered users, whether it’s premium articles, tutorials, videos, or any other valuable resources.
• Monetization: If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, you can use membership themes to monetize your website by offering premium subscriptions, turning your passion into a profitable venture.
• Customization: WordPress membership themes are highly customizable, giving you the creative freedom to design your website as you envision it. You can choose from various layouts, color schemes, and typography options to make your website truly yours.
• Membership levels and subscription management: WordPress membership themes provide you with the tools to create different membership levels, making it easy to cater to a diverse audience. Whether you want to offer free, basic, premium, or VIP access, these themes come with built-in features for managing subscriptions effortlessly.
• Diverse and flexible payment options: When it comes to monetizing your website, you’ll want flexibility. WordPress membership themes support various payment gateways, allowing you to choose the one that suits you and your audience best. PayPal, Stripe, credit cards, and even cryptocurrency options can be easily integrated, ensuring that you can reach a global audience with ease.
• Built-in community features: Building a thriving online community is essential for many website owners, and WordPress membership themes offer features for this purpose. You can create discussion forums, interactive chat rooms, and member profiles, fostering a sense of belonging and interaction among your members. This community aspect is excellent for retaining subscribers and growing your website’s reach.
• Personalized user experience: WordPress membership themes offer member profiles and dashboard customization options, enabling your members to tailor their experience on your website. Personalization not only keeps members engaged but also enhances user satisfaction.
• Scalability: As your website grows, you’ll need a solution that can scale with your success. WordPress membership themes are highly customizable, so you can adapt and expand your website as your audience and offerings grow. This scalability is crucial for those looking to turn their passion into a profitable venture.
• Support and updates: Reputable membership themes usually come with ongoing support and updates, ensuring your website stays secure and functional.

Do You Need a Dedicated WordPress Membership Theme?

The answer depends on your website’s unique requirements, your budget, and your technical skills. If you’re a beginner looking for an easier setup, a dedicated theme might be the right choice. 

However, if you’re comfortable with WordPress and want more flexibility and cost savings, a regular theme with membership plugins might be the way to go.

Dedicated WordPress membership themes

• Designed specifically for creating membership websites. They come with built-in membership site features for user registration, content protection, and payment processing, making the setup process significantly easier for beginners.
• Offer a streamlined user experience for both you and your members. You won’t need to juggle multiple plugins, reducing the chances of compatibility issues and speeding up your site.
• Restrict access to content based on membership levels. You have granular control over who sees what, ensuring a secure and exclusive experience for your members.
• Come with various monetization options, such as subscription models, one-time purchases, or free trials. You can easily implement different pricing tiers, encouraging more users to join.
• Provide reliable customer support and regular updates. This is crucial for beginners who might encounter technical issues along the way.

Regular WordPress themes

• Offer a wide range of designs, catering to different niches. You can find themes for blogs, eCommerce, portfolios, and more. They allow you to customize your site’s look and feel according to your preferences.
• Ideal for websites that don’t rely heavily on membership features. If your primary goal is content sharing, blogging, or showcasing a portfolio, a regular theme might suffice.
• To create a membership site with a regular theme, you’ll need to rely on various plugins, which can make your site complex. You might need a plugin for user registration, another for content restriction, and more for payment processing. This can lead to compatibility issues and potentially slow down your site.
• Cheaper or even free, but the cost of purchasing necessary plugins can quickly add up.

That said, if you’re serious about creating and launching a WordPress membership site, it’s worth opting for a premium WordPress theme designed explicitly for this purpose. Generally speaking, these themes come with features designed expressly with membership sites in mind. 

Often, these include:

• Restricting content based on the user’s membership level
• Compatibility with popular membership plugins (such as Paid Memberships Pro)
• Supporting eCommerce features to enable you to monetize your membership site
• Access to pre-designed membership pages, including user profiles, groups, newsfeeds, messaging, etc.

The top 13 dedicated WordPress membership themes

NB: None of these brands are affiliated with Codeable in any way. We’ve just handpicked this selection because, in our opinion, these popular WordPress membership themes have the most to offer.

1. Divi

Divi is a highly popular and versatile WordPress theme with a built-in visual builder. With its modules that integrate well with popular membership plugins, you can easily build membership site elements.

Key features

• Visual builder technology: Divi comes with a drag-and-drop visual builder, allowing you to design your membership site in real time and see the changes instantly.
• Modules: Divi provides a vast array of modules (elements) like call-to-actions (CTAs), sliders, forms, testimonials, and more, which can be used to design unique membership pages.
• Layout library:  This WP theme offers hundreds of pre-made layouts and templates, some of which can be adapted for membership sites, saving time on design.
• Split testing: Its Leads tool allows you to perform A/B tests on your pages, which can be useful to optimize the landing and registration pages of your membership site.
• Custom CSS control: For advanced users, Divi allows the addition of custom CSS, giving more control over the design and functionality.
• Integration with popular plugins: Divi integrates seamlessly with popular membership plugins like MemberPress, Restrict Content Pro, and more, ensuring you can add membership functionality without compatibility issues.
• Security: This theme has been built with robust security measures, and Elegant Themes often releases updates to ensure the theme remains secure.
• Lead generation: Divi comes with built-in tools for lead generation, such as opt-in forms, which can be integrated with popular email marketing platforms.
• Monetization features: With Divi’s customizable modules, you can easily set up areas for advertisements or sponsored content, providing monetization opportunities.

2. Astra

The Astra theme is known for its flexibility, performance, and deep compatibility with various plugins, making it a favorite among many WordPress users, including those who run membership sites.

Key features

• Performance optimized: Astra is lightweight and built for speed, ensuring that your membership site loads quickly, which is essential for user experience and retention.
• Customization: Astra offers extensive customization options through the WordPress Customizer. You can modify layouts, colors, typography, and more without needing to code.
• Starter templates: This theme provider provides a library of pre-built website demos, including templates suitable for membership sites. These can be imported and customized as needed.
• Plugin compatibility: It is compatible with popular membership plugins like MemberPress, Restrict Content Pro, and Paid Memberships Pro, ensuring seamless integration.
• WooCommerce integration: If you’re planning to sell memberships or related products, Astra’s deep integration with WooCommerce can be beneficial.
• Translation & RTL ready: If you have a global audience, Astra supports translations and is RTL (Right-to-Left) language ready.
• Hooks and filters: For advanced customizations, Astra offers numerous hooks and filters, allowing developers to modify or extend the theme’s functionality as needed for membership-specific features.
• Accessibility ready: Astra is built with accessibility in mind, ensuring that your membership site is usable by all, including those with disabilities.
• Integration with page builders: Astra works seamlessly with popular page builders like Elementor, Beaver Builder, and Brizy, allowing for more design flexibility for membership pages.
• Security: Astra follows best coding practices and is built with security in mind, ensuring that your membership data and content are protected.

3. Aardvark

Aardvark is a community-focused theme that can be used for membership sites, online courses, and more. It integrates well with the BuddyPress and bbPress plugins to provide social networking and forum functionality. It comes bundled with a bunch of other premium plugins, including Ultimate Reviewer, Sensei Certificates, LayerSlider, and more. 

Key features

• Integration with BuddyPress: BuddyPress allows you to build any kind of community website using WordPress, with member profiles, activity streams, user groups, messaging, and more.
• Integration with bbPress: For users who want to add forums to their site, Aardvark fully supports the bbPress plugin.
• Online courses: With the integration of the Sensei plugin (sold separately), Aardvark can be used to create and sell online courses.
• Paid membership levels: Integrated with the Paid Memberships Pro plugin, Aardvark can set up paid membership levels, restrict content, and charge users for accessing certain parts of the site.
• Multiple homepages: The theme offers several pre-designed homepage templates that cater to different needs.
• Customization: The theme provides a powerful customization panel that allows you to tweak almost any element, from colors to fonts and layout structures.
• Responsive design: Ensures that the website looks great on all devices, including mobiles and tablets.
• WooCommerce integration: Aardvark supports the WooCommerce plugin, which means you can set up an online shop alongside your community or membership site.
• SEO optimized: The theme is designed with SEO best practices in mind, ensuring a better chance of ranking well in search engines.
• Ajax filtering and sorting: Offers dynamic ways to filter and sort content, improving the user experience.
• Social sharing features: Integrated tools for sharing your content on popular social networks.
• Drag and drop page builder: Integrated with the WPBakery Page Builder (formerly Visual Composer) for easy page creation and customization.

4. OneCommunity

OneCommunity is a popular WordPress theme designed primarily for community and membership sites, leveraging the power of the BuddyPress plugin.

Key features

• Drag and drop page builder: The theme comes with a built-in drag and drop page builder, making it easy for site administrators to design and customize pages without needing to write code.
• Responsive design: OneCommunity is designed to be fully responsive, ensuring that the website looks and functions well on all devices, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones.
• Retina ready: This theme supports high-resolution displays, ensuring that images and content appear crisp on retina devices.
• Ajax search: It enhances the user experience by providing instant search results without reloading the page.
• Pop-up login & register forms: Users can quickly log in or sign up on the site through pop-up forms, improving user experience.
• Translation ready: OneCommunity is ready for translation, allowing administrators to easily translate the site into different languages.
• RTMedia integration: This integration allows users to upload media like photos, videos, and audio directly to their profiles or groups.
• Memberships and subscriptions: Through integration with plugins like Paid Memberships Pro or MemberPress, OneCommunity can handle paid memberships, subscriptions, and restricted content.
• Privacy features: OneCommunity offers features that let users manage their privacy settings, deciding what information they want to share and with whom.

5. Vayvo

Vavyo is a WordPress membership theme with a shared focus on media streaming. This makes it great for video creators and those offering online courses. 

Key features

• User registration and management: The ability for users to register, log in, and manage their profiles.
• Content protection: Restrict access to specific content based on membership levels or user roles.
• Subscription management: Handle recurring payments, subscription tiers, and provide options for free trials or discounts.
• Integration with payment gateways: Seamless integration with popular payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, etc.
• Content dripping: Release content to users gradually over time rather than all at once.
• Community features: Integration with forums, social networking plugins, or other community-building tools.
• Email integration: Send out automated emails for things like welcome messages, subscription reminders, etc.
• Reporting and analytics: Track membership growth, revenue, user activity, etc.
• Speed and performance: Optimization for faster loading times and smoother user experiences.

6. Gwangi

Gwangi is another dedicated WordPress membership theme specifically designed for entrepreneurs looking to launch online communities, paid and free membership areas, dating sites, e-learning communities, and more. Users have also used Gwangi to sell digital and physical products, organize events, and offer coaching services. 

Key features

• BuddyPress integration: Gwangi is fully integrated with BuddyPress, allowing users to create profiles, post messages, make connections, and more.
• Advanced search: It offers an advanced search functionality where members can search for other members based on various criteria.
• Drag-and-drop page builder: Gwangi often comes bundled with popular page builders like Elementor, making it easy for users to design and customize their pages.
• Events management: The theme can integrate with events plugins, enabling users to create and manage events.
• Multiple layouts: Gwangi provides various layout options for profile pages, directory pages, and more.
• Monetization options: Site owners can generate revenue by setting up paid memberships, selling products, or placing ads on their site.
• SEO optimized: The theme is coded with best SEO practices in mind to help your site rank better in search engines.
• Custom widgets: Gwangi comes with several custom widgets that are specifically designed for social networking and community sites.
• Premium support: Purchasers of the PRO version often get access to premium support, ensuring any issues or questions are addressed promptly.
• Regular updates: The theme is regularly updated to ensure compatibility with the latest WordPress version and to add new features.
• Multiple demos: Gwangi typically offers multiple demo versions, allowing users to choose a design that best fits their needs and then import the demo content to get started quickly.

7. Thrive

Thrive is a WordPress theme tailored for online communities, memberships, courses, and forums. It’s built to integrate seamlessly with tools like BuddyPress, bbPress, and WooCommerce, making it versatile for a variety of online community projects.

Key features

• BuddyPress, bbPress, and WooCommerce integration: Like Aardvark, Thrive offers deep integration with BuddyPress, enabling features like user profiles, activity streams, notifications, forum creation and management, and more.
• Live customizer: Thrive offers a live customizer feature, which means you can see changes in real time as you customize the theme to fit your brand or preference.
• Drag and drop page builder: It provides a user-friendly page builder for crafting your website layout without any coding.
• Responsive design: The theme is optimized to look and function well on all devices, whether it’s desktop, tablet, or mobile.
• Translation & RTL ready: This ensures the theme can be used for multilingual sites and supports right-to-left languages.
• Event calendar integration: Manage and showcase events directly on your website.
• File sharing: Members or users can share and manage files, which is especially useful for community sites focused on collaboration.
• Polls: Create and manage polls to engage your community and gather opinions.
• Knowledge base: Set up a knowledge base or FAQ section to help guide and support your community members.
• One-click demo import: Helps in quickly setting up the site to look like the demo, which can then be customized as per requirements.

8. BuddyBoss

BuddyBoss is a popular platform for building community, membership, courses, and eLearning sites on WordPress. 

Key features

• User profiles: Allows for the creation of detailed user profiles, including custom profile fields, profile photos, and cover images.
• Social groups: Users can create and join groups, making it easier for members with similar interests to connect.
• Private messaging: Enables private, direct communication between members.
• Activity feeds: A social feed where users can post updates, comment, and engage with content, similar to popular social networks.
• Forums: Integration with bbPress allows for the creation of discussion forums where members can engage in conversations.
• Notifications: Users receive real-time notifications for various activities like mentions, likes, or when someone replies to their updates.
• Friend connections: Members can send and receive friend requests, promoting networking within the community.
• Content restrictions: You can restrict access to specific content, making it accessible only to registered members or specific membership levels.
• Membership subscriptions: Integration with popular membership plugins like MemberPress or Paid Memberships Pro allows for the creation of free and paid membership levels.
• Online courses: BuddyBoss seamlessly integrates with LearnDash, enabling the creation of online courses. This includes features for quizzes, certificates, and course progress tracking.
• Mobile app: BuddyBoss offers a mobile app solution, allowing your members to access the community on the go.
• Customizable branding: Easily customize the look and feel of your membership site to match your brand.
• Extensions and integrations: BuddyBoss is compatible with a range of WordPress plugins and offers extensions for added functionality.
• Sell digital products: Integration with WooCommerce allows for the selling of digital products, subscriptions, and more.
• Private community option: If needed, you can make your community entirely private, ensuring access only to registered members.
• Document and file sharing: Members can upload and share documents or files within the community.

9, Membershiply

Aptly named, Membershiply is a WordPress theme explicitly designed for membership areas and online communities. It’s responsive and loaded with helpful membership site features.

Key features

• Content protection: Restrict access to specific content, ensuring that only registered members can view it.
• Membership levels: Allow the creation of multiple membership tiers, each with its own set of privileges and pricing.
• Recurring payments: Integrate with payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, and others for automatic recurring billing.
• Content dripping: Release content to members on a schedule rather than all at once.
• Integration with email marketing services: Connect with tools like MailChimp, ConvertKit, etc., to manage member communication.
• Registration and login forms: Customizable forms for user registration, login, and profile management.
• Community features: Features that enable discussions, forums, or social networking among members.
• Analytics and reporting: Track member activity, revenue, and other essential metrics.
• Flexible pricing options: Offer trial periods, discount codes, and various payment terms.
• Easy member management: Search, filter, and manage members directly from the WordPress dashboard.
• Content access controls: Decide which membership levels have access to which content.
• Affiliate program integration: Integrate with affiliate marketing tools to promote your membership site.

10. Memberlite

Memberlite is another first-rate WordPress membership theme that enables you to customize a fully responsive site and edit page layouts, fonts, colors, and more. 

Key features

• Integration with aid Memberships Pro: Memberlite is optimized for use with the Paid Memberships Pro plugin, ensuring seamless integration and enhanced functionality for membership-based features.
• Responsive design: Memberlite is designed to be fully responsive, ensuring that your membership site looks and functions well on all device types, including mobile phones, tablets, and desktops.
• Customizable banner area: This feature allows you to display a unique banner on different pages, which can be customized with a background image, call-to-action button, and text.
• Custom page templates: The theme comes with a variety of custom page templates, including landing pages, login pages, pricing tables, and more, to enhance the user experience.
• Sticky posts highlighting: Sticky posts are highlighted in a unique way, ensuring that they stand out on your blog or news feed.
• Custom widgets: Memberlite offers several custom widgets, such as recent posts with thumbnails, which can be added to various widgetized areas of your site.
• Enhanced member navigation: The theme provides an improved navigation menu for members, making it easier for them to access important sections of your site.
• Shortcodes: Memberlite comes with a range of shortcodes that can be used to add various functionalities and design elements to your pages and posts.

11. BuddyX

BuddyX is perfect for brands with a playful, friendly appeal. It comes with beautifully styled post types exuding lighthearted, positive vibes. It also supports enriched blog listing layouts to liven up your blog.

Key features

• BuddyPress compatibility: BuddyX is designed to be fully compatible with BuddyPress, making it easier to create online communities or social networks.
• Responsive design: The theme is designed to be responsive, which means it adjusts to fit various screen sizes, from desktop monitors to mobile devices.
• Multiple header and footer options: Users can choose from various header and footer layouts to customize their website’s appearance.
• Integration with popular plugins: Apart from BuddyPress and WooCommerce, BuddyX is compatible with popular plugins like bbPress, LearnDash, and more.
• Performance optimized: BuddyX is built with performance in mind, ensuring that websites load quickly and run smoothly.
• Dark mode: A feature growing in popularity, BuddyX offers a dark mode option for better nighttime viewing.
• Multiple layouts: BuddyX offers various page layouts, including grid, list, and masonry.
• RTL support: For languages that are read from right to left (like Arabic), BuddyX offers RTL support.

12. Beehive

Beehive is a social network theme for WordPress that requires no coding and is easy to set up. Thanks to its complete compatibility with bbPress and BuddyPress, you can create news feeds, video feeds, groups, and notifications and facilitate likes, comments, messaging, etc.

Key features

• Robust theme controls: Full autonomy over website customization.
• Elementor builder integration: Intuitive drag-and-drop functionality for page design.
• Single-click setup: Swift theme installation with just a click.
• Adaptable layout: Ensures seamless operation across various devices and browsers, offering a mobile-centric experience.
• Font library by Google: Broad selection of typefaces to enhance design.
• Instant messaging & group conversations: Facilitates real-time dialogues among users.
• Direct messaging system: A comprehensive platform for users to share files, text, and emoticons instantly.
• eCommerce ready: Prepared for initiating online transactions.
• Subscription tiers: Integration capability with premium subscription plugins, offering content access based on subscription levels.
• Integrated blogging: A sleek blogging platform with an option for user-contributed content.
• Exclusive user environment: Ability to limit content visibility to registered members.
• User management tools: Mechanisms to oversee, restrict, or report community members.

13. KLEO

Kleo is one of the popular multipurpose WordPress themes with a particular focus on community and membership websites.

Key features

• BuddyPress, bbPress, and WooCommerce integration: Kleo is fully integrated with BuddyPress and bbPress, making it easy to launch a community or social network website. It’s also compatible with WooCommerce, enabling you to set up an online shop alongside your community.
• Drag and drop page builder: Comes with a visual page builder to help you design and create pages without any coding.
• One-click install: Allows users to quickly set up their website using one of the theme’s demo content options.
• Responsive and retina-ready: Kleo is designed to look good on all devices, from desktops to smartphones.
• Live customizer: Offers a live customizer to preview changes in real-time before publishing.
• Multiple Header Styles: Provides various header layouts to suit your site’s branding and design.
• Facebook login integration: Allows users to register or log in using their Facebook accounts.
• Child theme included: Useful for developers who want to make advanced customizations without affecting the main theme.
• Clean code: The theme’s code is optimized for speed and SEO.
• Premium plugins: Comes bundled with several premium plugins like Slider Revolution and Visual Composer.

Unlimited sidebars: Users can create as many sidebars as they need.

Can’t find the ideal membership WordPress theme?

If you’ve not spotted a suitable template for your membership website in the above list, it might be because, at heart, you have a precise vision you would like to see realized. But are these themes missing certain features? Do they simply not represent the look and feel of your brand? 

In that case, you might be better off looking to create your own WordPress membership theme. However, unless you have the experience and skill to do so yourself, your best bet is to engage a professional WordPress developer. They can create custom plugin integrations, customize a highly specific WordPress theme, add your desired functionality to your membership site, and much more.

Hire a codeable developer to build your own

Working with a professional web developer is an excellent experience if you find the right match for your requirements. This is where Codeable comes in. Codeable connects you with experienced WordPress developers who specialize in theme customization. Every expert is carefully vetted, so you can rest easy knowing they’ll get the job done to an impeccable standard. Codeable also provides a safe payment system that deposits your funds in escrow and only releases them when you’re 100% satisfied with the results.

Are you ready to design your membership site?

As you can see, with a dedicated membership theme, you can create a successful and great-looking membership site. Many of our top 13 contenders come with vast customization potential and integrate with front-end drag-and-drop page builders like Elementor, making web design a breeze. In addition, all of the WordPress themes mentioned above are responsive and integrate seamlessly with BuddyPress and bbPress.