Members
by Caseproof
Role and capability management with simple content permissions for private or members-only pages.
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What Members does
Role and capability management with simple content permissions for private or members-only pages.
It sits in the memberships part of a WordPress stack and is sold by Caseproof on a free 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
4.9/5
Reviews
1,275
Active installs
300,000+
Downloads
7.7M
Latest version
3.2.26
Last updated
2026-08-25
These figures come straight from the public WordPress.org plugin directory API for version 3.2.26, not from us. Check them yourself on the WordPress.org listing. Our own editorial score is 4.9/5.
Where Members ranks elsewhere
| Publisher | List | Position |
|---|---|---|
| WPForms | Best WordPress Membership Plugins Compared | #11 of 14 |
Positions are read from the published articles themselves, so they reflect that publisher's order rather than ours. Lists get re-ordered over time, so follow the link if you want the current version.
What changed in the latest version
- Fixed: On the user profile / edit-user screen with Multiple User Roles enabled, the role checkboxes could appear to have no checkmark - looking "unresponsive" - when another plugin's admin CSS overrode core checkbox styles (e.g. line-hei...
- Fixed: Hardened the Multiple User Roles save against a possible PHP 8 TypeError from malformed submitted role data (a nested array reaching members_sanitize_role()).
- Fixed: Saving a post via the REST API as a user without the restrict_content capability (e.g. custom roles, Gutenberg + ACF Pro) failed with "Sorry, you are not allowed to edit the _members_access_role custom field," and silently dropped...
- Fixed: The REST protected-posts exclusion scoped its restriction lookup to the queried post type, so posts inheriting a restriction from an ancestor of a different post type were not excluded, making X-WP-Total / pagination counts inaccu...
- Fixed: Content Permissions role configuration and the custom error message were visible in REST API responses to any user who could read the post (registered meta is readable regardless of its write auth callback). Both meta keys are now...
- Fixed: Comments on role-protected posts were fully readable - bodies, author names, dates - via the REST API comments endpoint (/wp/v2/comments), including by anonymous visitors. Comment collections now exclude protected posts and single...
- Fixed: With "Hide protected posts from REST API" enabled, hidden posts remained enumerable by ID - a single-item GET (/wp/v2/posts/ID) returned a 200 response exposing the title, slug, date, and author. Hidden posts now return the same 4...
- Fixed: A crafted form submission with nested array values could cause a PHP 8 TypeError fatal in the classic Content Permissions meta box save.
- Fixed: Evaluating protected posts for the REST exclusion no longer triggers the legacy _role meta conversion, which performed database writes during unauthenticated GET requests and could destructively migrate _role postmeta belonging to...
- Fixed: The block editor "Error Message" field in the Content Permissions panel was a rich-text control used outside a block context, so it silently ignored Enter and formatting - a multi-line message could not be entered. It is now a sta...
- Fixed: Content Permissions could not be saved via the REST API (block editor, Elementor, and other page builders) in 3.2.23, failing with "Sorry, you are not allowed to edit the _members_access_role custom field." The meta auth callback ...
- Fixed: The 3.2.23 REST protected-posts exclusion (CVE-2026-12426 fix) generated deeply nested correlated subqueries that caused severe database load and timeouts on large sites. It is now resolved to a flat list of excluded IDs computed ...
- Fixed: The same REST exclusion query could exceed MySQL's join/subquery limits and return zero posts even when nothing was restricted. Pagination counts remain accurate and the side channel stays closed.
Release notes are the developer's own words, published on WordPress.org. Read the full changelog
Pros and cons
- Content restriction and role editing in one free plugin
- Free with no licence to renew
- Actively maintained and used on production sites we test
- No payments, so pair it with a membership plugin
- Support is community-led rather than guaranteed
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Members | 4.9 | 4.9 (1,275) | Free | Content restriction and role editing in one free plugin |
| 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 |
| 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 Members
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Updated 10 September 2026
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Alternatives
Other memberships plugins
Leaky Paywall
Leaky Paywall
Metered paywall that lets visitors read a set number of articles before asking them to subscribe.
35 reviews · 124K downloads · v5.1.9
MemberPress
Caseproof
Membership platform with rules-based content protection, subscriptions, courses and drip content.
Paid Memberships Pro
Stranger Studios
Membership levels, recurring billing and content restriction with an unusually capable free core.