An Access Pass is a way to grant someone membership access manually — without sending them through a payment checkout. Instead of subscribing and paying, the person is simply given access for a set period of time, controlled by you.
Think of it as a guest pass: you decide who gets in and for how long, independent of any subscription or recurring billing.
How an Access Pass works
An Access Pass is tied to a specific user and a window of time:
- It has a start date and an end date, so access can be temporary or open-ended.
- It has a status — active, upcoming, or expired — so it’s clear whether the person currently has access.
- It works without a payment, so no card or subscription is involved.
When to use one
Access Passes shine whenever you want to grant access outside the normal paid flow:
- Comped access for staff, contributors, sponsors, partners, or early supporters.
- Offline payments — an HOA collecting dues by check, or a customer who paid by invoice.
- Temporary access — a trial, a one-time event, or a fixed-term arrangement.
How Members Only approaches it
Members Only includes Access Passes, which let you grant membership access to a WordPress user for a specific period — no Stripe checkout required. You can grant and expire them manually, which is ideal for comped accounts and offline payment situations. If you don’t need to take any online payments at all, you can run a members-only site on access passes alone, without a Stripe account. Members see their pass (and when it begins and ends) right in their account dashboard, alongside any Stripe subscriptions.
Next step
See the Access Pass documentation for setup details. For the paid alternative, see What Is Recurring Billing?
Related terms: What Is a Membership Website?, What Is Recurring Billing?, What Is a Member Portal?