For newspapers, magazines, and independent publishers
Put your articles behind a paywall
Turn readers into subscribers with a clean, fast paywall — without a complicated membership suite.
What this is
Members Only lets newspapers, magazines, local news sites, niche industry publications, and independent journalists put articles behind a paywall on their own WordPress site. Readers see a teaser and a clear “subscribe to keep reading” message; subscribers see the full article. Stripe handles the checkout (so payment data never touches your site), and the paywall is built natively into WordPress — meaning fast page loads, clean SEO, and no heavy membership platform slowing down your articles.
Frequently asked questions
See the documentation for more details, or send us a message if you have other questions.
Can I show a teaser and lock the rest of the article?
Yes. The standard pattern is to show the first few paragraphs of an article, then display a clear “Subscribe to keep reading” message with a checkout button. You can customize the teaser length, the message text, and the call-to-action. Search engines still see the teaser, which helps articles rank for the keywords they cover.
Can I run monthly and annual subscription plans?
Yes. Most publishers offer both, with annual priced at a meaningful discount — typically 15–25% off the equivalent monthly cost — to encourage longer commitments and reduce churn. You configure the prices in your Stripe dashboard, and Members Only picks them up automatically.
What happens when a subscriber cancels?
Cancellations take effect at the end of the current billing period — subscribers keep reading until what they paid for runs out. This avoids the “I cancelled and lost access mid-article” complaints that drive support tickets and refund requests at other publishers.
Can I comp access for staff, contributors, or sponsors?
Yes. Use Access Passes to grant subscriber access without putting anyone through checkout — useful for reporters, freelance contributors, advertisers running campaigns with you, sponsor accounts, partner publications, or anyone you want to read your work without paying.
Will it work with caching plugins and CDNs?
Yes, with one caveat: aggressive full-page caching can occasionally serve a paywalled article to a logged-in subscriber as if they weren’t logged in (or vice versa). The fix is to exclude restricted articles from full-page cache, or to use cache rules that vary by login status. Our documentation includes recommended exclusions for popular caching plugins and CDNs.
Ready to launch your paywall?
Pick a plan, connect Stripe, and start turning readers into subscribers. You can be live this afternoon.