You may have a specific preference on the experience that you want your subscribers to go through. You can have them register first then pay, pay first then register, register and submit financial information and pay after a trial period…or something else…
I tried to investigate all the possible registration flows that WordPress membership plugins support and listed them below.
You can click on the name of the product below to view its full review.
s2Member
Because of its flexibility and tight integration with various powerful payment processors, s2Member supports all sorts of imaginable user registration scenarios (each ‘→’ represents a redirect):
- Register → Login & access free content → Pay
- Register → Pay → Login
- Pay on PayPal first → Register → Login
- Pay and register account on one page on your site → Login
- Register for a free trial by submitting payment info → Login → Automatic payment after trial
WishList Member
WishList Member supports the following registration flow scenarios (each ‘→’ represents a redirect):
- Register → Login & access free content → Pay
- Register → Pay → Login
- Pay on PayPal first → Register → Login
- Pay and register account on one page on your site → Login
- Register for a free trial by submitting payment info → Login → Automatic payment after trial
Digital Access Pass
When it comes to customizing the registration process on your membership site, DAP is very flexible. And it supports all types of registration flow scenarios. Take a look below (each '→' represents a redirect):
- Register → Login & access free content → Pay
- Register → Pay → Login
- Pay on PayPal first → Register → Login
- Pay and register account on one page on your site → Login
- Register for a free trial by submitting payment info → Login → Automatic payment after trial
DAP even has a feature called "Login Xpress", which enables buyers to be immediately logged in upon completion of the purchase. For example, when the buyer is transferred back to your site after completing the payment on PayPal, they won't have to login because they'll already be logged in!
The "Login Xpress" feature is not supported on all payment processors.
eMember
Since eMember mostly just works with PayPal Standard, it only supports registration and payment flows that PayPal Standard supports, which are the following (each ‘→’ represents a redirect):
- Register → Login & access free content → Pay
- Register → Pay → Login
- Pay on PayPal first → Register via special link → Login
Magic Members
Magic Members extensive payment gateway support enables all of the possible registration flow scenarios. Take a look below (each ‘→’ represents a redirect):
- Register → Login & access free content → Pay
- Register → Pay → Login
- Pay on PayPal first → Register → Login
- Pay and register account on one page on your site → Login
- Register for a free trial by submitting payment info → Login → Automatic payment after trial
Paid Memberships Pro
PMPro supports the following registration scenarios (each '→' is a redirect):
- Register → Login & access free content → Pay
- Register → Pay → Login
- Pay on PayPal first → Register → Login
- Pay and register account on one page on your site → Login
- Register for a free trial by submitting payment info → Login → Automatic payment after trial
WPMU DEV Membership
Membership supports the following registration scenarios (each ‘→’ represents a redirect):
- Register → Login & access free content → Pay
- Register → Pay → Login
- Pay on PayPal first → Register → Login
- Pay and register account on one page on your site → Login
MemberWing
MemberWing supports almost all registration flow models, but not without additional costs and plugins.
It has support for the following models without any additional plugins ('→' represents a redirect):
- Register → Login & access free content → Pay
- Register → Pay → Login
- Pay on PayPal first → Register → Login
And with the help of the Authorize.Net WordPress plugin ($89), it can also support the following models:
- Pay and register on one page on your site → Login
- Register for a free trial by submitting payment info → Login → Automatic payment after trial
There isn't enough information on implementing some of these registration flows. You'll either have to figure things out on your own or seek support.
Your Members
Because of lack of documentation, it is unclear what registration flows Your Members supports, and I don't know how well Your Members integrates with PayPal Standard and Authorize.Net. But considering that it does integrate with these two payment processors, it is likely that it supports the following registration flows (each ‘→’ represents a redirect):
- Register → Login & access free content → Pay
- Register → Pay → Login
- Pay on PayPal first → Register → Login
- Pay and register account on one page on your site → Login
wp-Member
wp-Member supports the following registration flows (each ‘→’ represents a redirect):
- Register → Login & access free content → Pay
- Register → Pay → Login
