by Blair Williams 4.9 (1,277 reviews)

Members - Membership & User Role Editor Plugin

Name: Members - Membership & User Role Editor Plugin
Rating: 4.9 (1277 reviews)
Author: Blair Williams

The best WordPress membership and user role editor plugin. User Roles & Capabilities editor helps you restrict content in just a few clicks.

Members ranks #185 among WordPress.org plugins with 300,000+ active installations, is #24 of 8,538 in the Customization category, a 4.9/5 rating from 1,277 reviews, and was last updated Aug 25, 2026. Data from WordPress.org, refreshed twice daily — see methodology.

Compatible with WP 7.1

v3.2.26 Current Version v3.2.26

Updated 3 weeks ago Last Update on 25 Aug, 2026

Refreshed 11 hours ago Last Refreshed on

#24 of 8,538 in Customization Top 1% by installs Downloads -26.5% this week Actively maintained

View on WordPress.org

Rank

#185

— No change

Active Installs

300K+

-12.3%

KW Avg Position

3.8

0.2 worse

Downloads

6.8M

+1,787 today

Support Resolved

100%

— No change

Rating

98%

Review 4.9 out of 5

4.9 (1,277 reviews)

Next Milestone 400K

Total Progress 41.7%

300K+ 400K+

Ranks to Climb

Growth Needed

8,000,000

Active Installs

Pro

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Need 58,334 more installs to reach 400K+

Rank Changes

Current #185

Change

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Active Installs Growth

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Active Installs 0,000,000+

Growth +0.0%

Peak 0,000,000

Downloads Growth

Downloads

Growth

Peak

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Reviews & Ratings

4.9

1,277 reviews

Overall 98%

1,196 (94%)

37 (3%)

14 (1%)

5 (0%)

25 (2%)

Support Threads Overview

Resolved

Unresolved

Total Threads

Resolved

Unresolved

100%

Resolution Rate

Security History

Source: WPVulnerability

2 known vulnerabilities on record · 2 in the last 24 months · checked 1 week ago

Dec 10, 2024

Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin [members] < 3.2.11

CVE-2024-11008 · Fixed in v3.2.11
Dec 10, 2024

Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin [members] < 3.2.23

CVE-2026-12426 · Fixed in v3.2.23

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Plugin Details

Version: 3.2.26
Last Updated: Aug 25, 2026
Requires WP: 6.0+
Tested Up To: 7.1
PHP Version: 7.4 or higher
Author: Blair Williams

Support & Rating

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 4.9
Reviews: 1,277
Support Threads: 10
Resolved: 100%

Keywords

access capabilities memberships permissions roles

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TL;DR

AI summary of the plugin's readme

This plugin is for WordPress site owners who want to build membership sites with role- and capability-based access control. It solves the problem of restricting content and managing user permissions without needing custom code, and includes add-ons for admin access, privacy, and integrations with plugins like WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads.

Role editor (create, edit, delete)
Multiple user roles per user
Explicitly deny capabilities
Clone existing roles
Role import/export as JSON
Content Permissions / Restricted Content
Shortcodes for content access
Administrator Rescue (Magic Link)

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about Members - Membership & User Role Editor Plugin

We weren't satisfied with the current user, role, and permissions plugins available. Yes, some of them are good, but nothing fit what we had in mind perfectly. Some offered few features. Some worked completely outside of the WordPress APIs. Others lacked the GPL license. So, we just built something we actually enjoyed using.

Members and MemberPress solve different problems and are designed to work together. Members is a free roles and capabilities plugin. It gives you a UI on top of WordPress' native roles and capabilities system so you can create and edit roles, assign multiple roles to users, and restrict content by role or capability. It's the right tool when you need to control who can do what inside your site—dashboard access, content permissions, and capability management—without charging for access. MemberPress is a premium, all-in-one WordPress membership platform built for monetization and much more. In addition to paid subscriptions, payment processing (Stripe, PayPal, and more), recurring billing, coupons, and drip content, MemberPress also includes: Courses — a built-in LMS for creating and selling online courses with lessons, quizzes, and progress tracking. CoachKit — tools for running coaching programs, including milestones, habits, and client check-ins. Community Groups — private member communities and discussion spaces tied to your memberships. Member Profiles & Directories — customizable front-end profiles and searchable member directories. Email marketing integrations, affiliate program support, and many more premium features. It's the right tool when you need to sell access to content, courses, coaching, or communities—and grow a full membership business around it. The two plugins are complementary, not competing. Many sites use Members for fine-grained role and capability management alongside MemberPress for everything membership-business related. For a full side-by-side comparison, see Members vs MemberPress.

Most things should be fairly straightforward, but you can also view the docs online.

Yes. On the Roles screen, use Export All to download a JSON file containing every role, its capabilities, and your Members plugin settings. To export only some roles, select them in the roles table and choose Export from the Bulk Actions menu. To import roles, upload a Members export JSON file from the same screen and click Upload and Preview. Members will show each role before anything is changed, so you can import new roles, skip roles, overwrite existing roles, or import conflicting roles under a new slug. Protected roles, such as the built-in Administrator role, your current role, and the site's default role, cannot be overwritten or renamed. Minimum PHP requirements. Members now requires PHP 7.4+ I can't access the "Role Manager" features. When the plugin is first activated, it runs a script that sets specific capabilities to the "Administrator" role on your site that grants you access to this feature. So, you must be logged in with the administrator account to access the role manager. If, for some reason, you do have the administrator role and the role manager is still inaccessible to you, deactivate the plugin. Then, reactivate it.

If you have a multisite installation, only Super Admins can create, edit, and delete roles by default. This is a security measure to make sure that you absolutely trust sub-site admins to make these types of changes to roles. If you're certain you want to allow this, add the Create Roles (create_roles), Edit Roles (edit_roles), and/or Delete Roles (delete_roles) capabilities to the role on each sub-site where you want to allow this.

If you can no longer access the WordPress admin (for example, after changing your role or capabilities), you can restore your Administrator access yourself: Go to your site's login page: yoursite.com/wp-login.php In the address bar, add ?action=members_rescue so the URL is: yoursite.com/wp-login.php?action=members_rescue Enter the email address of an account that has (or had) the built-in Administrator role, or is a Super Admin (multisite). Click "Send Rescue Link". If that account is eligible, a secure link will be sent to that email (you may need to check spam). Open the link from the email within 15 minutes. Your Administrator role and Members capabilities will be restored, and you'll be redirected to the login page to sign in. Only users with the built-in WordPress "Administrator" role (or Super Admins on multisite) can use this feature; custom or cloned roles are not eligible. The link expires after 15 minutes and is limited to a few attempts per IP to prevent abuse. Help! I've locked myself out of my site! Please read the documentation for the plugin before actually using it, especially a plugin that controls permissions for your site. We cannot stress this enough. This is a powerful plugin that allows you to make direct changes to roles and capabilities in the database. If you have the built-in Administrator role (or are a Super Admin on multisite) but lost access to the admin (e.g. after editing roles), try the Administrator Rescue (Magic Link) first: go to yoursite.com/wp-login.php?action=members_rescue, enter your admin email, and use the link we send you to restore access. If that doesn't apply or didn't work, stop by our support forums to see if we can help. Your web host may also be able to restore your site from a recent backup, but we only recommend that as a last resort, as it could mean losing work or members added since the backup.