This comparison document takes a look how WooCommerce Memberships compares to Groups for WordPress (free). The comparison assumes that you’re also using Groups for WooCommerce ($79) to sell access to Groups.
| Memberships | Groups | |
|---|---|---|
| Sales Page | View | View |
| Documentation | View | View |
| Plugin Cost | $199+ | $79+ |
Comparison chart
↑ Back to top| Access and Membership Length | ||
|---|---|---|
| Feature | Memberships | Groups |
| Sell membership access via your store |  |
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| Give away / manually grant membership access | |
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| Grant access for previous purchases | |
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| Grant access at user registration | |
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| Customers can have multiple memberships | |
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| Create unlimited memberships (never expire) | |
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| Create set-length memberships (expires) | |
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| Create fixed-date memberships (expires) | |
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| Subscriptions and Recurring Billing | ||
| Feature | Memberships | Groups |
| Sell recurring memberships alone | – | – |
| Sell recurring memberships when used with Subscriptions ($199) | |
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| Offer membership free trials | with Subscriptions | with Subscriptions |
| Can choose to exclude some content from Subscriptions free trial period | |
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| Supports subscription switching (upgrade / downgrade) | |
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| Decouple access from Subscription billing | |
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| Content and Product Restriction | ||
| Feature | Memberships | Groups |
| Display & customize content restriction messages | |
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| Show how to gain access to restricted content | |
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| Restrict entire post / content types | |
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| Restrict post / content taxonomies (category / tag) | |
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| Restrict individual page, post, product viewing | |
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| Restrict product categories / taxonomies | |
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| Restrict product purchasing (allow public viewing) | |
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| Hide restricted content completely (404) | |
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| Hide restricted content only (no 404, still show title & featured image in archives) | |
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| Restrict content via shortcode | (details) |
(details) |
| Can show excerpts of restricted content to users / search engines | |
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| Content Dripping | ||
| Feature | Memberships | Groups |
| Can drip content access over time (don’t give all access immediately) | |
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| Can drip product viewing or purchasing access | |
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| Exclude trial periods from dripping | |
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| Member Management | ||
| Feature | Memberships | Groups |
| Creates a member area to show members content / discounts they have access to | |
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| Ability to transfer memberships (from admin) | |
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| Import members via CSV (supports membership [and user] creation and transfers) | |
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| Export members to CSV | |
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| Customer membership management screens | |
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| Add private membership notes for record keeping | |
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| Can email membership notes to a member | |
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| Email expiration or renewal reminders to members | |
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| Other Features or Integrations | ||
| Feature | Memberships | Groups |
| Setup complexity | low | high |
| Can provide free shipping to members | |
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| Can sell group or team access | requires Teams add-on | – |
| Works with Dynamic Pricing | requires Role Handler add-on | |
| Works with User Switching | |
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| Can create automatic member discounts | |
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| Remind members to log in for discounts | |
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| Can create member coupons | – | with Groups Coupons ($49) |