Buy Me a Coffee – Membership, Paywall & Fundraiser with Stripe & PayPal vs Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction

User Guide | Demo | Visit Plugin Site Buy Me Coffee is a free WordPress membership plugin, paywall plugin, donation plugin, and creator monetization tool in one lightweight package. Sell paid memberships, protect premium posts and pages, accept tips, collect one-time donations, and run recurring monthly or yearly subscriptions directly through your own Stripe and PayPal accounts — with zero commission and no third-party platform in between. New in 1.2.6: Memberships and content monetization. Create paid membership levels, lock premium posts or pages, show teaser content with a built-in WordPress paywall CTA, and turn readers into paying members without sending them to Patreon, Ko-fi, or an external creator platform. Use it as a self-hosted Patreon alternative, Ko-fi alternative, Buy Me a Coffee alternative, WordPress donation plugin, Stripe donation plugin, PayPal donation plugin, or lightweight membership site plugin. Unlike hosted creator platforms, Buy Me Coffee keeps the payment flow on your WordPress site and sends payments directly to your merchant account. Your supporters pay you — not a middleman. Who Is This For? Buy Me Coffee is built for creators, publishers, educators, nonprofits, and membership site owners who want a direct, self-hosted way to monetize content and accept supporter payments: Bloggers & Writers — Monetize premium articles, paid newsletters, tutorials, and members-only posts Artists & Musicians — Accept donations and one-time tips for your creative work Podcasters & YouTubers — Sell supporter memberships and let your audience support you directly without a middleman Open-Source Developers — Fundraise for your project without a SaaS dependency Nonprofits & Charities — Collect donations with Stripe or PayPal, zero commission Educators & Coaches — Sell paid lessons, course updates, coaching resources, and monthly recurring access Freelancers & Consultants — Let clients or fans tip your work Church & Community Organizations — Accept recurring giving on your own WordPress site Membership Site Owners — Monetize premium posts, tutorials, newsletters, lessons, downloads, or private updates with paid access levels Independent Publishers — Build a lightweight WordPress paywall for subscriber-only content Why Choose Buy Me Coffee? Memberships and content monetization — Create paid membership levels, restrict premium posts, and convert readers into recurring members. Built-in WordPress paywall — Show a preview, then prompt non-members to join with a clean paywall CTA. Zero commission, zero fees — We never take a percentage of your donations. Free means free, forever. Direct payments — Stripe and PayPal deposit funds directly into YOUR bank account. No platform holding your money. No third-party account required — Supporters don’t need to sign up anywhere. They just donate. Self-hosted & private — All donor data stays on your WordPress site. No external tracking, no data harvesting. Recurring subscriptions built-in — Monthly and yearly Stripe subscriptions included free. No paid membership addon required. Modern admin dashboard — A beautiful Vue 3-powered admin panel with dark mode, revenue charts, and activity logs. One-click refunds — Refund any Stripe or PayPal transaction from inside WordPress — no need to log into your gateway dashboard. Full activity logging — Every payment, renewal, cancellation, refund, and webhook event is recorded with a searchable timeline. Key Features Memberships & Content Monetization Turn your WordPress site into a self-hosted membership platform. Create paid membership levels with monthly or yearly pricing, descriptions, and reward bullets. Mark posts or pages as members-only from the editor, choose which membership levels can access each piece of content, and show non-members a word-limited preview followed by a polished paywall CTA. Active members get access automatically based on their subscription status. WordPress Paywall for Premium Content Protect blog posts, pages, tutorials, newsletters, lessons, downloads, private updates, or creator-only resources. Use teaser content to improve conversions, then send visitors straight into the membership checkout flow with the selected level and return URL. Accept Donations via Stripe & PayPal On-site Stripe checkout and PayPal integration let your visitors donate or subscribe without ever leaving your website. Supports 135+ currencies via Stripe and 20+ via PayPal. Credit cards, debit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay — whatever your visitors prefer. Recurring Monthly & Yearly Subscriptions (Stripe) Let your supporters become long-term monthly or yearly members with Stripe recurring subscriptions. Full lifecycle management is included: automatic renewals via webhook, admin cancellation from WordPress, subscription status tracking, and a dedicated subscriber account page. No paid addon required. Membership Members Dashboard Manage active members from a dedicated Memberships screen. Search members by name or email, review their level, billing interval, renewal date, and subscription status, then jump directly to subscription details or cancel a membership when needed. No WooCommerce Required Run paid content, supporter subscriptions, donation forms, and membership checkout without installing WooCommerce or a heavy LMS. Buy Me Coffee is built for creators who want a focused monetization workflow. Supporter Wall & Donor Leaderboard Display a beautiful ranked leaderboard of your top donors on any page with the [buymecoffee_supporters] shortcode. Gold, silver, and bronze badges highlight your top 3 supporters. Choose which fields to display (name, avatar, amount, message) from the admin settings. Gutenberg Block & Shortcodes Add a donation button, inline donation form, or full donation page anywhere on your site using the native Gutenberg block or classic-editor shortcodes: [buymecoffee_button] — Donation button that opens a modal or links to your donation page [buymecoffee_form] — Inline donation form embedded on any post or page [buymecoffee_basic] — Full-page donation template with banner, profile, supporter wall, and form [buymecoffee_supporters] — Public supporter wall / ranked donor leaderboard [buymecoffee_account] — Subscriber self-service dashboard for logged-in recurring supporters One-Click Refunds Issue full refunds for Stripe and PayPal transactions directly from your WordPress admin. A confirmation modal displays transaction details and live gateway response — no need to visit your Stripe or PayPal dashboard. Subscriber Account Page Recurring supporters are optionally assigned a WordPress user account linked to their subscription. Place the [buymecoffee_account] shortcode on any page to give them a self-service dashboard showing active subscriptions, billing history, and payment status. Complete Activity Logging Every event is logged — payments, refunds, subscription renewals, cancellations, webhook events, and outgoing emails. Each supporter and subscription has its own chronological activity timeline. A global Activity Log page provides a filterable, paginated view across your entire donation history. Email Notifications Automatically send a branded thank-you email to donors after every successful payment, and receive an admin notification for each new donation. Both templates are fully customizable with dynamic placeholders: {{donor_name}}, {{amount}}, {{payment_method}}, and more. Supporters Admin Hub A dedicated admin hub with everything in one place: Metric cards — Total supporters, lifetime revenue, active subscribers, average donation amount Top supporters ranking — Your highest-value donors at a glance Configurable display settings — Control exactly what appears on the public supporter wall Shortcode documentation — Copy-paste shortcodes with descriptions, inline in the admin Privacy controls — Mask email addresses, allow anonymous donations, hide donor amounts Customizable Donation Page Appearance Personalize your donation page with a profile image, banner photo, brand accent color, and a custom quote. A live preview updates in real time as you make changes. Styling uses CSS custom properties — no bloated override rules. Modern Vue 3 Admin Panel The entire admin interface is a single-page application built with Vue 3, featuring sidebar navigation, breadcrumbs, a revenue chart dashboard, dark mode with system theme detection, and a responsive layout that works on desktop and mobile. WordPress Multisite Compatible Activate network-wide on WordPress Multisite — each site gets its own isolated tables, supporter records, and plugin settings. Guided Quick Setup Wizard A 5-step onboarding wizard (Welcome → Profile → Form → Payment → Launch) gets you from zero to accepting donations in under two minutes. Includes Stripe API key verification and PayPal credentials setup. Test Mode & Safe Data Reset Switch between Stripe test mode and live mode without changing your configuration. A “Delete all test data” button removes test transactions, supporters, and subscriptions in one click so your dashboard stays clean. Compare: Buy Me Coffee vs. Membership, Donation & Creator Platforms Buy Me Coffee is built for direct, self-hosted WordPress monetization instead of routing supporters through an external platform. Commission: Buy Me Coffee takes 0%. Official Buy Me a Coffee takes a platform fee. GiveWP Free takes 0%. Ko-fi may charge platform fees for some features. Payment routing: Buy Me Coffee sends payments directly to your Stripe or PayPal account. Official Buy Me a Coffee routes payments through its platform. GiveWP routes payments directly. Ko-fi routes payments through Ko-fi. Content monetization: Buy Me Coffee includes paid membership levels, members-only content controls, and a built-in WordPress paywall CTA for premium posts and pages. Recurring subscriptions: Buy Me Coffee includes Stripe subscriptions free. Official Buy Me a Coffee requires a paid plan. GiveWP requires a paid addon. Ko-fi subscriptions stay on Ko-fi. Admin refunds: Buy Me Coffee supports Stripe and PayPal refunds from WordPress. The compared free alternatives do not include the same built-in WordPress refund workflow. Activity logging: Buy Me Coffee includes a full payment, refund, subscription, webhook, and email event log. Supporter wall: Buy Me Coffee includes a built-in [buymecoffee_supporters] shortcode. Admin UI: Buy Me Coffee uses a modern Vue-powered WordPress admin screen with dark mode. Data storage: Buy Me Coffee stores supporter and payment records on your WordPress site. Price: Buy Me Coffee is free forever with no plugin commission. Get Started in 2 Minutes Install and activate the plugin from the WordPress plugin directory Run the Quick Setup wizard (Dashboard → Buy Me Coffee → Quick Setup) Connect your Stripe or PayPal account in Settings Create membership levels if you want to monetize premium content Mark posts or pages as Paid and choose allowed membership levels Add [buymecoffee_button], [buymecoffee_form], or [buymecoffee_basic] anywhere on your site Start receiving memberships, donations, tips, and subscriptions directly to your account — zero commission

Paid Member Subscriptions is the #1 WordPress membership plugin focused on growing recurring revenue. Increase conversions and generate subscription revenue with a feature-packed membership solution. It lets you accept recurring payments, register and manage new members, create subscription plans and restrict access to premium content. Paid Member Subscriptions is designed to help you kickstart your subscription business in just a few minutes and begin generating income as quickly as possible. Integrates with WooCommerce, allowing you to restrict product viewing and purchasing to members-only as well, offer special discounted product price based on subscription plans as well as allow your customers to purchase subscription plans through the WooCommerce Checkout. You can also use it to setup an Elementor membership site fast and easy. Free Demo | Compare Free vs Pro | Documentation Optimize Membership Monetization And Boost Your Revenue Offer premium access and exclusive benefits for members, establishing a thriving paid community that generates income through membership fees or subscription plans. This is ideal for: * Paid Membership Services * Online Courses * Online Coaching * Online Consultancy Services Automate Revenue Streams With Our Proven Membership Tools Keep your focus on content creation while Paid Member Subscriptions takes care of consistently generating revenue for you through its automated recurring revenue model. This is ideal for: * Content restriction on blogs, news sites, and content hubs * Members-only content subscriptions * Private WooCommerce Stores * Members-Only WooCommerce Stores Build And Grow Your Community While Also Monetizing It Communities are all about collaboration. By giving members the opportunity to gain exposure, promote their services or create networking opportunities, you’re building a valuable community that people are willing to pay to be a part of. This is ideal for: * Business Directories * Member Directories * Online Associations and Clubs * Online Communities Shortcodes & Blocks for Member Registration, Login, Content Restriction and managing Membership Plans You can use one of the following shortcodes or available blocks to get started: [pms-register] – adds a front-end user registration form where users can purchase a membership level [pms-login] – create a front-end member login form [pms-restrict subscription_plans=”9,10″] Special content for members subscribed to the subscription plans that have the ID 9 and 10! [/pms-restrict] – to restrict content based on subscription plans or logged in status [pms-account] – setup a WordPress members area where members can easily edit their account information and manage their subscription plan(s) [pms-payment-history] – adds a front-end table with the member’s payment history [pms-recover-password] – adds a recover password password form, that enables users to reset their password if needed Membership Modules: Content Restriction You’ll find it really simple to restrict entire posts, pages or custom post types or just portions of them. Restrict Content offers you options to: display content based on logged in status show content to members only, setup private pages for subscribers partial content display by using the [pms-restrict][/pms-restrict] shortcode display another template for restricted posts restrict Gutenberg blocks Integrates with Elementor page builder allowing you to restrict content for Elementor sections and widgets based on logged in status or subscription plans, by using the visual interface. Membership Payments Accept PayPal or direct credit card payments from your subscribers. You can keep track of all member payments, payment statuses and purchased subscription plans. Access to detailed payment logs. Recurring Payments Ability to accept recurring payments through the PayPal or Stripe payment gateways. The recurring setting can be forced or you can let the user choose whether he wants to subscribe for a recurring subscription or not. Hierarchical Subscription Plans You can create an unlimited number of hierarchical subscription plans (eg: Free, Silver, Gold). Each new user can choose a membership plan (subscription) during the registration process. Existing users can purchase a subscription plan from a page with the [pms-register] shortcode, similar to new users. Members can upgrade their subscription plan from the [pms-account] page, the same page also allows the member to Renew, Cancel or Abandon his subscription. Subscription plans can offer free and/or paid memberships on your website. Discount Codes Create an unlimited number of discount codes and offer percentage or flat rate based discounts for your memberships. Members Management Have an overview of all your members and their subscription plans. Easily add/remove members or edit their subscription details. Membership Emails and Messages Customize default member emails and setup member messages sent/displayed on certain user actions. Admin emails can also be customized. Free Trial and Sign-up Fees You can configure your subscription to have a free trial period and a sign-up fee, allowing you to have more control on your subscription setup. Pay in Installments Configure a subscription that ends after a certain amount of billing cycles. Stripe Effortlessly process credit card payments, both one-time and recurring, directly on your website with Stripe. Stripe provides a secure and intuitive payment solution that seamlessly integrates with your WordPress site, ensuring smooth transaction management and an enhanced user experience. Accept a wide range of additional payment methods including Apple Pay, Google Pay, Bancontact, iDeal, Giropay, and more. Allow your users to save their cards and make one click purchases. Reports and Exports Whether you prefer to maintain your own records of your members’ database, do custom reports , or you simply need to import records into another service or application, such as MailChimp or Excel, you can do that with Paid Member Subscriptions. Export all member records to a CSV at anytime. Payment history can be exported to a CSV file, letting you then import the payment data into Excel, QuickBooks, or other accounting software that can process a CSV file. WooCommerce Integration Paid Member Subscriptions integrates beautifully with WooCommerce, allowing you to do the following out of the box: Create a Members-only Store – restrict access to the Shop page to members-only Restrict Product Viewing and Purchasing – control who can see or purchase a WooCommerce product based on logged in status and subscription plan. Easily create members-only products. Offer discounted product prices to members – offer special product prices to members based on their active subscription. Set membership discounts per product or subscription plan. Sell subscription plans as products – associate products with Subscription Plans to offer customers a membership with a product purchase or allow customers to purchase Paid Member Subscriptions plans using the WooCommerce Checkout Others automatic refunds directly from your WordPress dashboard GDPR automatically log users in hide admin bar prevent account sharing redirect default WordPress pages setup a WordPress members area enable reCaptcha v2 or v3 on your forms Powerful Add-ons Paid Member Subscriptions has a range of premium Add-ons that allow you to extend the power of the membership plugin: Basic Add-ons (available in the Agency, PRO or Basic versions) Global Content Restriction – add global content restriction rules to subscription plans, based on post type, taxonomy and terms Email Reminders – create multiple automated email reminders that are sent to members before or after certain events take place (subscription expires, subscription activated etc.) Advanced Subscription Toolkit – extend your Subscription Plans and Discount Codes with extra options like automatic downgrade after expiration, limit member count, schedule availability for subscription plans and more LearnDash – create multiple automated email reminders that are sent to members before or after certain events take place (subscription expires, subscription activated etc.) Navigation Menu Filtering – dynamically display menu items based on logged-in status as well as selected subscription plans Fixed Period Membership – create subscriptions plans that end at a specific date, no matter when a member subscribes to it. Pay What You Want – accept donations and let subscribers pay what they want when purchasing a subscription plan bbPress – integrate Paid Member Subscriptions with the popular forums plugin, bbPress, to restrict your forums and topics. Pro Add-ons (available in the Agency & PRO versions only) Gift Subscriptions – Let members purchase subscription plans as gifts for others. Perfect for holidays, special occasions, or rewarding team members with instant or claimable subscriptions Pause Subscriptions – Allow members to temporarily pause recurring subscriptions without canceling. Maintain membership relationships while billing is suspended with flexible pause durations and limits Multiple Currencies – Enable visitors to pay in their local currency, either through automatic location detection or by manually selecting their preferred currency Pro Rate – Pro-rate subscription plan Upgrades and Downgrades, offering users a discount based on the remaining time for the current subscription Tax & EU VAT – collect tax or vat from your users depending on their location, with full control over tax rates and who to charge Group Memberships – sell group subscriptions to your users Content Dripping – create schedules for your content, making posts or categories available for your members only after a certain time has passed since they signed up for a subscription plan Multiple Subscriptions per User – setup multiple subscription level groups (e.g. Physics, Math) and allow members to sign up for more than one subscription plan, one per group (e.g. Physics Beginner and Math Advanced) Invoices – both you and your members will be able to download PDF invoices for each payment that has been completed Files Restriction – secure your valuable content and ensure it reaches only those who have subscribed and paid for access Mailchimp – integrate Mailchimp to keep your membership audience up to date. Automatically add or update subscribers, enable Double Opt-In, and sync custom fields between Mailchimp and member profiles Brevo – sync your members with Brevo to manage contacts smoothly. Automate newsletter subscriptions, use Double Opt-In for compliance, and link custom fields between Brevo and your member data The Ultimate Membership Bundle Combine user registration, memberships, and recurring revenue in one powerful plugin bundle called the Ultimate Membership Bundle. Get access to both Paid Member Subscriptions Pro and our all in one user management plugin, Profile Builder Pro. These two plugins are designed to work perfectly together, offering you a powerful toolkit for managing and expanding your user base while generating revenue through paid memberships and recurring revenue. Paid Member Subscriptions in your Language We’re focusing on translating Paid Member Subscriptions in as many languages as we can. So far, the translations for 10 languages are almost complete, but we still need help on a lot of other languages, so please join us at translate.wordpress.org You will be able to download all the available language packs as well as help us translate Paid Member Subscriptions in your language. For more information please visit our documentation page Website https://www.cozmoslabs.com/wordpress-paid-member-subscriptions/ Documentation https://www.cozmoslabs.com/docs/paid-member-subscriptions/ Addons https://www.cozmoslabs.com/paid-member-subscriptions-add-ons/