S2Member Pro is easy to use, flexible, and affordable WordPress membership plugin. It’s an established membership plugin that has been providing outstanding service for years. A plethora of options are available if you need a WordPress membership plugin, but S2Member Pro stands out from the crowd with its notable features and ease of use.
The S2Member Pro is easy to install, configure, and offers an extensive number of features. Most of the premium membership plugins come with complicated pricing options. Fortunately, it’s not the case with S2Member; which comes with a one-time cost of $89.
On top of that, S2Member provides lifetime plugin updates – at no extra cost.
In this S2Member Pro review, we’ll take an in-depth look into features and benefits, pricing, integrations, functionality, and all the nitty-gritty details of the S2Member membership plugin. Additionally, we have featured a step by step walkthrough to create a fully-functional membership with S2Member.
So let’s dive in.
S2Member Pro Review: In a Nutshell
When it comes to an established and powerful WordPress membership plugin, S2Member Pro shines in terms of ease of use, flexibility, and robust features. S2Member is one of the easiest to use and most powerful WordPress membership plugins out there on the market.
S2Member enables you to create a fully functional WordPress membership site with ease. The S2Member plugin comes with all the essential and advanced features that you will need to create a profitable membership website, such as unlimited membership labels, tiered membership, content writing and more.
The installation & setup of this plugin is quite easy and straightforward. S2Member Provides an easy-to-use shortcode that enables you to showcase and add a membership area to your website without any hassle. With the help of the shortcodes provided, you can create a simple or complex membership fee structure as per your needs.
With S2Member, you can easily protect your WordPress posts, pages, tags, and categories as well as portions of content within your posts and pages too. The content protection is effortlessly configurable and extensive. The best part, you can even protect downloadable members-only files. You can store your data locally, or use S2Member’s integration with Amazon to store your data on the cloud.
S2Member Pro seamlessly integrates with all major payment processes and email service providers to make it super easy to receive payments and connect to your members.
S2Member comes with a free forever plan, along with paid premium plans as well. The free plan allows you to create a membership website with basic features. The premium plan is fully loaded with powerful features that enable you to create a fully functional WordPress membership site with ease. Further, the premium version comes with lifetime free updates to the plugins.
The customer support of S2Member is top-notch. In addition to the traditional support methods, it provides comprehensive documentation, video tutorials, and in-depth articles, along with 50,000 forum posts.
Read on as we explore the features and benefits of S2Memeber Pro to see if it’s the right membership plugin for you.
S2Member Pro Features and Benefits
From flexible membership management to unlimited membership levels and content dripping, S2Member has everything to help you build a profitable membership-based business with ease.
S2Member offers tons of features that make this plugin more powerful and flexible than the competition. If you’re a beginner and just getting started with membership plugins, the number of features offered by S2Memeber might be overwhelming. We didn’t find this to be much of a downside; over time, as you play around with these features, you’ll get the hang of the more advanced features thanks to S2Memember’s intuitive design and responsive customer support.
Let’s take a look at some of the most notable S2Member features.
Unlimited Membership Levels and Tires
When you have single membership label orders, it can quickly become difficult to manage services for your members. For this reason, many users find it necessary to have multiple membership labels. S2Member enables you to create unlimited membership levels for your membership website.
The S2Member free version only enables you to create four membership levels, while S2Member Pro allows you to create unlimited membership levels. Also, you can set up different access, pricing, and features for each membership label.
Flexible Content Restriction Options
S2Member protects anything and everything within your WordPress website. The content restriction and protection options are flexible, and you can easily protect WordPress pages, posts, specific post types, tags, categories, URLs, and more.
It even allows you to protect a portion of the content within the post and pages. The content protection is effortlessly configurable, and it can even help you to protect the downloadable files of your membership site, ensuring that your paid content can’t be shared to unauthorized users. The content of your WordPress site can be easily protected using a meta box in WordPress editor.
One-Step Registration and Checkout
S2Member comes with a one-step registration and checkout module. Registration and checkout is often a multi-step process, but S2Member breaks it down to make it simple and quick. The S2Member Pro forms module consolidates the registration/checkout process into a single step to make the process easy and helps you convert more potential customers to subscribers.
Content Dripping
Content dripping is one of the vital features of a membership website. The content writing features allow you to release content to new members at your desired pace. You can offer a steady flow of content to the subscriber over time.
Content dripping also helps you to prevent the cancellation of memberships, as if you provide access to all your membership content at once, a member might read all the content, download all materials, then cancel the subscription right away. Luckily, with this plugin, you can control this with the help of a robust content dripping feature.
Extensive Library Of Shortcodes
S2Member comes with a vast library of easy-to-use shortcodes to help you create and manage a fully functional membership website with ease. You can use these shortcodes to protect your posts, pages, tags, categories, and so on.
All you need to do is just copy and paste the shortcode, and you are ready to go. S2Member comes with tons of shortcodes for various conditions that you can use if a specific situation applies to you.
File Download Restrictions
With S2Member Pro, you can set up various file download restrictions depending on multiple situations. It comes with four file download restriction options – basic download restriction, advanced download restriction, protected file download storage, and inline delivery.
You can easily enable any of these four file download restrictions with the help of a shortcode, just use the short code that is already provided for every kind of restriction option, and you are ready to go.
Prevents Account Sharing
Unauthorized membership account sharing is common. No matter the membership system, one member can share his or her username with others, reducing your membership revenue.
But with S2Member Pro, account sharing is easily prevented.s. S2Member Pro monitors the login information to identify simultaneous logins from the same username to prevent account sharing.
Brute Force Login Protection
Another threat to your revenue stream is brute force attacks, where a user floods your website with username and password combinations in an attempt to break into your members-only content. S2Member helps you to block these brute force login attacks and block the unauthorized user.
Once you configure it, if someone tries to access the membership-only content repeatedly from the same IP address, S2Memeber will detect its IP and can temporarily or even permanently ban the user.
Customizable Email Templates
S2Member Pro makes it super easy to build custom emails that are sent to your membership subscribers. You can customize every aspect of the email, such as the subject, body, and even the list of recipients. The best part, it provides a replacement code for added flexibility so that you can easily insert a customer’s name, email address, transaction ID, item descriptions, and much more.
Anti-spam Security Measures
The antispam security measures help to prevent spambots from registering for your membership. If you offer any free membership plan, and most likely you do, the bots want to access the account by spamming it. This is where S2Member Pro is going to help you.
S2Member comes pre-integrated with Google’s ReCaptcha service that prevents bots from subscribing to your free membership plan.
S2Member Inetgerations
S2Member seamlessly integrates with all major payment processes and email service providers. The extensive integration list of S2Member extends the functionality of this plugin and makes it incredibly easy to create and manage a fully functional membership site.
Let’s have a look at the services and plugins S2Member integrates with:
Payment Processors
The S2Member plugin seamlessly integrates with all major payment processors out there. The integration with all major payment providers makes it easy to receive payments for your membership site.
The S2Member free plugin only integrates with PayPal payments. On the other hand, the S2Member Pro version easily integrates with all major payment providers. The integration list includes Paypal, Stripe, Authroize.net, ClickBank, and so many more.
Email Service Providers
The extensive list of integration with email service providers makes S2Member stand apart from the competitors. The integration list of email service providers includes MailChimp, AWeber, GetResponse, and so on.
All integrated email service providers support the following features:
- Double opt-in checkbox
- Custom merge fields
- Automatic list transitioning
- Automatic profile synchronization
S2Member also comes with event-driven API notifications via email or through HTTP communications.
What’s more, the S2Member plugin also integrates with other popular plugins, including bbPress and BuddyPress. It also integrates with caching plugins; the integration list of caching plugins include WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache, and others.
Finally, S2Member seamlessly integrates with a powerful LMS plugin – WP Courseware, which allows you to build fully functional online courses in minutes.
S2Member Pricing
S2Member comes with flexible and affordable pricing options for everyone’s business needs. S2Member provides a free forever plan alongside the premium paid plans. The free forever plan is a great way to try out S2Memeber, but for a profitable business, you’ll want all of the features and options found in S2Memeber Pro.
Most membership plugins come with monthly/yearly pricing plans, but this is not the case with S2Member. S2Member Pro is just a one-time $89 or $189 payment depending on how many sites you plan to use it on..
Let’s have a look at the pricing plans for S2Member Pro:
Pro Version (Single Site License)
The pricing for a single-site is an $89 one-time fee. This plan includes all the framework features, including custom pages, custom registration/profile fields, content protection, and so on.
This plan also includes premium features such as one-step registration and check out, Stripe, PayPal Pro, Authorize.net, and ClickBank integration. Other featured offerings include the use of unlimited membership levels, coupon code entry, gift/redemption code entry, and more.
The pro version for a single site is the perfect plan for the site owner with one domain name. The license is the perfect choice if you want to create a fully functional membership site running in a standard WordPress installation.
On top of that, with the pro plans, you will also be getting lifetime access to the new versions of the plugin- at no extra cost.
Pro Version (Unlimited Site Pro License)
The pro version for an unlimited number of sites is a one-time payment of $189, with no recurring or additional fees. The unlimited site pro version includes all the features of the single site license and the free plan.
Additionally, it comes with some other notable features, such as WordPress multi-site support, unlimited membership levels, and so on.
The unlimited site license is the perfect choice for site owners with multiple domain names or multi-site networks. Also, you will be getting lifetime access to the new version of the plugins at no extra cost.
Does S2Member Provide a Money-Back Guarantee?
Yes, S2Member comes with a 14 day money-back guarantee. However, this money-back guarantee doesn’t work the usual way. If you are having some kind of trouble with the plugin, the S2Member customer support team will help you to resolve the issue in every way possible.
If the issue still exists, they will refund your money without question within the first 14 days from the date of purchase.
Is The Pro Version Worth a Try?
The answer is yes – if you want to create and manage a profitable and scalable WordPress membership site.
As usual, the free framework plugin comes with basic features, and for payment processing, it only supports PayPal. With such basic features, you will be able to create a small membership website, but a truly profitable membership site requires all the robust features that the pro version has.
One of the big downsides of the free plugin is that it doesn’t come with the content dripping feature that helps you to keep customers in the long run.
The bottom line is that S2Member Pro has all of the essential third-party integration options, and at an affordable one-time cost of $89, it’s the version to go with if you’re running a membership-based business.
Go grab the free version now and we’ll walk you through setting up an S2Memeber-based website so that you can see for yourself all this plugin has to offer.
How Do I Start A Membership Website With S2Member?
Getting started with this plugin is quite easy and straightforward. You can install the plugin, set up your membership levels, make some other necessary tweaks, and you’re up running in minutes.
If you want to create a fully-functional membership website, follow our step by step by step walkthrough to get started quickly.
Step #1: Install & Activate The Plugin
First, you need to install and activate this plugin. Navigate to your WordPress Dashboard >> >> Plugins >> Add New and then click on ‘Upload’ plugin button.
Now you need to browse your desktop and choose the zip file of the plugin. Once you select the file, click on the ‘Upload Now’ button.
It will take a minute to install the plugin; after installation, activate the plugin right away.
Note: If you haven’t downloaded the S2Member Pro plugin, just download it from the dashboard of the S2Member official website.
Step #2: Setting Up Membership Levels
In this step, you need to create and set up membership levels for your membership website. Just navigate to S2Member >> General Options and then select the Membership Options and Membership Levels/Labels.
Now here you need to enter all the required information correctly and complete the form. If you want, you can change the tier name at this step. Once you’re done, click on the ‘Save All Changes’ button and proceed. In the same way, you can add as many levels as you want.
Now that we’re done setting up the membership levels; we need to make some tweaks in the configuration settings to get you up and running.
Step #3: Basic Configuration
S2Member Pro comes with various settings and configuration options; it will literally take just a few minutes to configure your basic setup process. Instead of covering all of the features, we will configure just the essential features to get started with it quickly.
Navigate to your WordPress dashboard by going to S2Member >> General Options. Here we are going to configure some essential options by following the walkthrough given below.
Security Subscription Key: From the General Options tab, select the Security Subscription Key tab and choose ‘Auto Generate’. For an added layer of security, save the key offline somewhere safe.
Email Configuration: Just select the Email Configuration tab and then add the email address that you want to use for the email you’ll send to your members. Also, you can enter a different email for support queries from members of your website.
Open Registration/Free Subscriber: If you want to add a free subscription or membership tier, you can add it here.
Registration/Profile: Just select the Registration/Profile Field option and simply set everything to yes.
Login Welcome Page: Select the Login Welcome Page and set it to the Members page.
Membership Options: Just select the Membership Options page and simply select the subscriber page you created earlier.
Once you’re done, save all your changes.
Step #4: Payment Setup
Select PayPal Options, and then select the payment options you need from there. Select one payment processor at a time and fill out all the information required.
Once you are done making all the changes, don’t forget to save changes to make it live.
Once you configure the payment options, it will show the payment process name in the S2Member side menu; let’s say you chose PayPal. Now select the PayPal button and complete the form carefully.
After that, select Generate Button Codes and just copy and paste the code into the page and hit save changes to make it live.
Following the same process, you can add payment methods to each membership level you have created.
Step #5: Content Restriction
At this point, we have done all the basic configuration and setup. Now its time to restrict the content from viewing by unauthorized users.
To add restrictions on any of your WordPress posts or pages, just open the page in the WordPress editor and navigate to the S2Member box on the right side menu. Here you need to select the Post Level Restrictions radio button and then select the membership levels you want to add it to. Finally, update the page or post to make all the changes live.
In the same way, you can create and add restrictions to new content as well as existing content for an unlimited number of posts and pages.
You can now enjoy your fully-functional WordPress membership site and continue exploring the many other features available to you via the documentation, video tutorials, and other support available from S2Member..
Pros & Cons Of S2Member
Pros:
- Flexible content restrictions
- Easy to install and configure
- Content dripping shortcodes
- Unlimited paid membership levels
- Provides import/export tools
- Robust file download restrictions
- A powerful brute force login protection
- One-step registration/checkout process
- Comes with antispam security measures
- Seamlessly integrates with all major plugins and services
- Use documentation, support guides, and instructional videos
Cons:
- No monthly or yearly subscription options
- User experience is good but still has room for improvement
S2Member Pro Review Conclusion
S2Member is an established and feature-rich WordPress membership plugin. S2Member Pro comes with all the essential and advanced features that you need to create a fully-fledged membership website in no time.
The S2Member plugin installation and configuration is quite easy and straightforward. No matter whether you are a beginner or professional, it enables you to create fully functional membership websites- with little to no experience.
The free plan comes with basic features but lacks some of the must-have features, such as content dripping and integration with third-party plugins.
S2Member Pro is fully loaded with tons of superb features, and the single site license costs $89, a one-time fee with no hidden charges and free updates for the lifetime of the plugin.
One possible downside of S2Member is that it comes with tons of features, which may overwhelm a beginner. With our walkthrough for basic setup and S2Memeber’s great customer support, we don’t think this will be a major issue for a patient beginner.
If you’re looking for a reliable and affordable WordPress membership plugin, S2Member is worth looking at.
We hope this S2Member Pro review gave you better insight into this WordPress membership plugin.
What are your thoughts about S2Member Pro? Have you tried S2Member Pro before, or are you just getting started with it?
Feel free to drop your thoughts in the comments section below.
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