Leaky Paywall
by Leaky Paywall
Metered paywall that lets visitors read a set number of articles before asking them to subscribe.
This link may earn us a commission. It never changes our rating.
What Leaky Paywall does
Metered paywall that lets visitors read a set number of articles before asking them to subscribe.
It sits in the memberships part of a WordPress stack and is sold by Leaky Paywall on a premium basis. We recommend it in our memberships guides because it does that one job well without asking you to rebuild the rest of the site around it.
Every plugin adds work to a page request, so treat this as a decision with a cost. Record a speed test before you install it and run the same test afterwards, on the same page, so you know exactly what it charged you.
Real user ratings
Score
4.2/5
Reviews
35
Active installs
600+
Downloads
124K
Latest version
5.1.9
Last updated
2026-09-08
These figures come straight from the public WordPress.org plugin directory API for version 5.1.9, not from us. Check them yourself on the WordPress.org listing. Our own editorial score is 4.3/5.
Where Leaky Paywall ranks elsewhere
Leaky Paywall does not appear in the published "best of" lists we track from WPBeginner, TechRadar, Kinsta, Themeisle and similar sites. That is not a mark against it - those roundups are short and skew towards the biggest names.
What changed in the latest version
- New: Payment Receipt email. Leaky Paywall now emails subscribers a branded receipt for every payment, including automatic subscription renewals. It is on by default for new installs. On existing sites it starts switched off with a dashbo...
- New: Branded email template. Add your logo, an accent color, and footer text under Leaky Paywall > Settings > Emails and it applies to every email Leaky Paywall sends. Each email now has a Send Test Email button.
- Improvement: Stripe subscriptions are now created with Stripe's current Prices API instead of the deprecated Plans API.
- Improvement: On multisite, a single gateway webhook endpoint can now finalize a registration that was started on any site in the network.
- Fix: Free subscribers added through the REST API on a Forever level were given a one month expiration instead of never expiring. This also affected the default Free Registration level.
- Fix: Prevented an error when creating a Stripe subscription for a level that still referenced an old Stripe plan ID.
- Fix: Prevented a PHP warning on the account screen when a subscriber's level could not be found.
- Fix: Prevented a "Could not create subscription" error at Stripe checkout on sites running an older Recurring Payments add-on.
- Security: detailed debug logging is now off by default and can be turned on from Leaky Paywall > Tools > Debug Log. Errors are always recorded. The log is stored in a protected folder, is given a new unguessable name each time detailed l...
- Security: subscriber exports are no longer saved to a publicly readable location. Exports are delivered as a download only a logged-in administrator can request, are removed once downloaded, and any export files left behind by earlier ve...
- Added: the Import tool can now delete the uploaded CSV from your Media Library when the import finishes, so a file containing subscriber data is not left in place. Enabled by default.
- Improved: the email you receive when a subscriber deletes their own account now lists the Stripe subscriptions that were cancelled, or confirms there were none.
- Improved: admin notices now warn when an access configuration would silently lock subscribers out, and a new level no longer starts with an access rule the resolver does not honour.
- Fixed: searching subscribers now matches on both account details and subscriber data instead of losing one half of the search when a filter is applied.
- Fixed: an abandoned Stripe registration no longer removes access from a subscriber who signed up twice on the same Stripe customer.
- Added: the category and tag exemption setting now supports custom taxonomies, not just the built-in categories and tags.
- Added: a "New Paid Subscription" filter on the Transactions list that shows initial paid signups only, excluding renewals and refunds.
- Added: a leaky_paywall_free_registration_effective_price filter so extensions can adjust a registration's effective price (for example, coupon discounts) while keeping free vs paid level validation secure.
- Added: a leaky_paywall_skip_stripe_sync filter to suppress the Stripe to Leaky Paywall sync during migrations or bulk corrections.
- Improved: extension installation is more reliable, with a writable-directory pre-flight check and a clear support message (including manual-upload instructions) when a download cannot be saved.
- Improved: REST API subscriber endpoints. Expiration is only overwritten when a value is supplied, an optional password can be set when creating a subscriber, expiration now accepts "never" and rejects unparseable dates, and API-driven ch...
- Fixed: PayPal Standard settings and IPN processing now stay available even after the gateway is unchecked, so existing PayPal subscribers keep renewing instead of silently lapsing.
- Fixed: new Stripe signups are granted access only once payment is confirmed or genuinely in progress, closing a window where an abandoned or unconfirmed payment could receive temporary access.
Release notes are the developer's own words, published on WordPress.org. Read the full changelog
Pros and cons
- Metered access built for publishers
- Paid support and updates from the vendor
- Actively maintained and used on production sites we test
- Metering needs tuning to avoid bounce
- Renewal cost is annual and per site
How to use it
- 1Map out your levels and what each one unlocks before configuring anything.
- 2Create the levels, then apply access rules to content rather than per post.
- 3Test signup, renewal and cancellation as a real member would.
- 4Exclude account and members-only pages from caching.
- 5Set up dunning emails for failed recurring payments.
How it compares
Other memberships plugins we recommend, with their rating and pricing model.
| Plugin | Our rating | WordPress.org | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leaky Paywall | 4.3 | 4.2 (35) | Premium | Metered access built for publishers |
| MemberPress | 4.6 | n/a | Premium | Cleanest access rules of any option |
| Members | 4.9 | 4.9 (1,275) | Free | Content restriction and role editing in one free plugin |
| Paid Memberships Pro | 4.5 | n/a | Freemium | Free core with real functionality |
| ProfilePress | 4.4 | n/a | Freemium | Front-end user management done well |
| Restrict Content Pro | 4.4 | n/a | Premium | Light and focused |
Guides that cover Leaky Paywall
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