Paid Memberships Pro
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy if you run WordPress and need gated content with Stripe/PayPal subscriptions, and you will keep the plugin patched.
Comparison
Paid Memberships Pro vs Leaky Paywall
Paid Memberships Pro and Leaky Paywall both land on Depends.
Leaky Paywall
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy it if you run a serious WordPress news or magazine site and need metered subscriptions with group accounts.
| Compare | Paid Memberships Pro | Leaky Paywall |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Depends |
| Best for | WordPress sites selling memberships | News and magazine publishers on WordPress |
| Who it's not for | Non-WordPress projects | Hobby bloggers . free core or Substack is plenty |
| Privacy | Multiple public CVEs (SQLi, CSRF, auth bypass) across 2023-2026; patching discipline is mandatory.⁷ | Several public CVEs from 2024-2025, including high-severity missing-authorization flaws . keep the plugin updated. |
| Support quality | No user support evidence in sources | Case studies show engagement; mixed community feedback |
| Public sentiment | WordPress reviewers rate it well, but Reddit threads flag fee changes and its exit from the repo.¹ | Publishers praise its flexibility and stay for years, but Redditors complain loudly about the 5% revenue cut and setup fees.12 |
| Biggest gotcha | Repeated CVEs (SQLi, CSRF, auth bypass) mean slow patching is genuinely risky⁸ | Pro/hosted plans take 5% of new-subscriber revenue plus reported $750-$999 setup fees16 |
Pick Paid Memberships Pro when
- WordPress sites selling memberships
- Creators gating content behind subscriptions
- Sites migrating off Patreon
When Paid Memberships Pro is not a fit
- Non-WordPress projects
- Teams wanting zero plugin maintenance
- Simple one-off paywalls . lighter tools suffice
Pick Leaky Paywall when
- News and magazine publishers on WordPress
- Metered/'leaky' paywall strategies
- Publishers selling subscriptions and first-party data
- Sites needing group or corporate accounts
When Leaky Paywall is not a fit
- Hobby bloggers . free core or Substack is plenty
- Non-WordPress sites; it's WordPress-native only
- Anyone allergic to 5% revenue share plus setup fees
- Teams too slow to patch plugin CVEs quickly
Sources
review
- Paid Memberships Pro Review . Membership Geeksmembershipgeeks.comreview
review
- An Honest Paid Memberships Pro Review . BlogVaultblogvault.netreview
- PSA: fee-avoidance friction . Redditreddit.comnews
- PMPro leaving wordpress.org . Redditreddit.comnews
- CVE-2023-23488 . SQL injectionsentinelone.comsecurity
- CVE-2024-37277 . NVDnvd.nist.govsecurity
- Pricing and Plans . PMPropaidmembershipspro.comofficial
- Free core plugin . PMPropaidmembershipspro.comofficial
- Leaky Paywall - WordPress pluginwordpress.orgreview
- Leaky Paywall Reviewswordpress.orgreview
- Leaky Paywall review . 3.8/5 . Benchmark Gridbenchmarkgrid.comreview
- Paid Memberships Pro alternative . Leaky Paywall pricingleakypaywall.comofficial
- Leaky Paywall Pricingleakypaywall.comofficial
- Paywall discussion . Reddit r/Wordpressreddit.comreview