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We know each situation is different, and Memberful might not be the ideal solution for your membership program. We’d rather recommend a competitor that is a better fit for your business than try to hard-sell you on using Memberful. With that in mind, here are a few alternatives you may want to consider.

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Building a custom web application.

Memberful is focused on providing a clean and simple checkout and account management experience. We’ve made lots of intentional design decisions to encourage ease of use. If you’re building a custom web application or want complete control over all the user flows, you’re much better off integrating directly with a payment processor like Stripe or with providers that give you more control, like Chargebee, Chargify, Recurly, or Zuora.

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Running a brick and mortar business.

Memberful is mostly for online businesses. Although we’ve seen Memberful implemented for brick-and-mortar memberships, our current (and future) features won’t be a great fit if you’re taking in-person payments and physical checks. If you’re looking for that functionality, check out Square.

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Looking for cheaper options.

Memberful provides a fully hosted, best-in-class checkout and account management interface for your members. It includes a built-in member website and members-only email newsletters. We also offer dedicated one-click integrations with the best tools and services like Stripe, WordPress, Mailchimp, and Discourse. You also get a powerful independent dashboard featuring metrics, charts, and activity feeds. If you’re looking for a more basic and affordable option that works inside of WordPress, check out these alternatives: Restrict Content Pro, MemberMouse, Paid Memberships Pro, or Memberpress.

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Looking for all-in-one solutions.

Memberful functions as a wonderful all-in-one solution with a built-in member website, members-only email newsletters, and hosted Downloads. We also offer certain features through integrations with best-in-class third-party tools and services. This includes WordPress for content management, Mailchimp, Sailthru, MailerLite, Drip, Kit, and Campaign Monitor for email newsletters, Discourse and Discord for communities, and LearnDash for courses. If you’re looking for a platform that offers more built-in features and tools, check out Patreon, our parent company. Patreon provides a powerful all-in-one solution for creators, including built-in discovery, community features, and an easy setup process, all with no monthly subscription fee. Other alternatives to consider: Podia, Kajabi.

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Protecting content with Squarespace or Wix.

Memberful provides 100% secure server-side content protection with our built-in hosted member website or our WordPress plugin. Secure server-side protection is not available for popular site builders like Squarespace or Wix, because they don’t provide any user authentication or content protection integration options. There are some JavaScript-based alternatives like SentryLogin and MemberSpace, but please keep in mind that these solutions are insecure and easily bypassed. Website visitors can disable JavaScript in their web browser settings and view your content.

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Selling digital downloads.

Memberful is focused on memberships. We have a basic built-in feature for selling standalone downloads and including them with your subscription plans, but it’s not the main focus of our service. If your business is focused solely on the distribution of digital downloads and you’re looking for insights like tracking download activity, consider one of these alternatives: Sendowl, Gumroad, Easy Digital Downloads.

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Selling physical products.

Memberful is focused on selling memberships and associated access to digital content, email newsletters, and online communities. If you’re mostly selling physical products and you need inventory tools, consider a dedicated e-commerce solution like WooCommerce or Shopify.