Most community plugins build an activity feed because Facebook trained everyone to expect one, but feeds are ephemeral and invisible to search. We compare 8 options on shape, real cost including renewal cliffs, and performance at scale.

Pay-per-post, subscription gating, and metered walls are three different products sold under one name. We compare 10 plugins, name the few that genuinely sell a single article, and show why a $2 unlock loses 18% to processing fees.

Substack takes 10% of your revenue, forever. We priced ten WordPress membership plugins for paid newsletters, ran the real take-home math at $5,000 a month, and found the 4.9% transaction fee hiding in MemberPress’s entry tier.