The best Shopify membership apps let you gate content, lock products behind paid tiers, and collect recurring revenue — without writing code or rebuilding your store. But picking the wrong one can mean checkout friction, hidden transaction fees, or member payments that never show up in your Shopify dashboard.
Subscription customers have 5-7x higher lifetime value than one-time buyers. That's why membership programs are showing up on every kind of Shopify store, from fitness brands selling workout libraries to fashion stores offering VIP early access to new drops.
Shopify doesn't include membership functionality out of the box. You need an app. Some use Shopify's native checkout. Others route payments through Stripe with their own flow. Some charge transaction fees. Others charge per member. Here are seven Shopify membership apps worth evaluating, with verified pricing, ratings, and honest trade-offs for each.
What Should You Look for in a Shopify Membership App?
Before comparing apps, know the features that actually matter:
- Content gating — Can it hide specific products, collections, pages, or blog posts from non-members?
- Checkout type — Does it use Shopify's native checkout or its own? Native checkout means customers use the payment methods they already trust. Third-party checkouts add friction.
- Tiered memberships — Can you create multiple membership levels (free, premium, VIP) with different perks at each tier?
- Member perks — Discounts, free shipping, early access, store credits, exclusive pricing?
- Transaction fees — Some apps charge 1-3% on top of your payment processor fees. That adds up fast.
- Auto-tagging — Does it tag members in Shopify so you can segment them in email marketing, analytics, and Shopify Flow?
1. Conjured Memberships
Conjured Memberships is one of the strongest options for stores that need real content gating with tiered membership levels. It uses Shopify's native checkout, which means members pay through the same flow as any other purchase.
The app lets you gate products, collections, pages, and content behind membership tiers. You can offer perks like free shipping, member-only discounts, and early access to new products. The tier system is flexible enough to run anything from a simple one-level membership to a multi-tier VIP program.
Pricing: Free plan available. Limited Special at $9.99/month (+ 2.9% transaction fee). Starter at $19/month (+ 1.9% transaction fee). All plans include a 30-day free trial.
Rating: 4.7 stars from 85 reviews.
Best for: Stores that want full content gating with Shopify's native checkout. Merchants praise its cost-effectiveness at scale and responsive support.
Watch out for: Transaction fees on every plan add to your costs. If you're processing high membership volumes, calculate the total cost including those percentage fees before committing.
2. Bold Memberships & Loyalty
Bold is one of the most established names in the Shopify app ecosystem, and their membership app reflects that experience. It handles recurring payments, access control, and member perks in a single install.
You can show or hide products, prices, add-to-cart buttons, blog categories, specific posts, and entire collections based on membership status. The access control is granular. Bold also handles VIP memberships and loyalty tiers effectively.
Pricing: Starts at $9.99/month. Pricing scales based on member count. Payments processed through Stripe carry an additional 1% transaction fee from Bold.
Rating: 4.3 stars from 298 reviews.
Best for: Stores that want a well-established app with deep access control and don't mind using Bold's checkout instead of Shopify's native one.
Watch out for: Bold uses its own checkout, not Shopify's. Some merchants report that member sign-ups don't sync within Shopify orders. That means customers sometimes need to contact support outside of Shopify for billing issues. The 1% Stripe transaction fee is on top of Stripe's own processing fees.
3. Simplee Memberships & Loyalty
Simplee stands out for two reasons: it uses Shopify's native checkout, and it charges zero transaction fees. That combination is rare in this category.
The app can hide pages, products, collections, and blog posts from non-members. You can create tiered membership plans with perks like exclusive discounts, store credits, and member-only content. Setup is straightforward, and the app integrates cleanly with Shopify's existing customer infrastructure.
Pricing: Free to install. First 50 member sign-ups are free. After that, you pay 10% of the membership fees collected. Charges are billed every 30 days.
Rating: Highly recommended by merchants for its intuitive setup and no-transaction-fee model.
Best for: Stores just starting with memberships. The free-to-start model and zero transaction fees make it low-risk to test. The 10% revenue share keeps costs aligned with your actual membership income.
Watch out for: The 10% revenue share can become expensive at scale. If you're charging $20/month for memberships and have 500 members, that's $1,000/month to Simplee. At high volumes, a flat monthly fee from another app may be cheaper.
4. AAA: Recurring Memberships
AAA takes a broad approach to memberships. It auto-tags members by plan, which makes segmentation in Shopify and your email platform straightforward. You can gate access to products, pages, and content, set member-only prices, and offer perks like discounts and free shipping.
The app includes free member migration and setup assistance, which helps if you're switching from another membership solution.
Pricing: Free plan available with basic features. Paid plans scale with member count and features.
Rating: Well-reviewed for its auto-tagging and content gating capabilities.
Best for: Stores that need strong auto-tagging for email segmentation and marketing automation. The free migration support is valuable if you're switching apps.
Watch out for: Like Bold, AAA uses its own checkout rather than Shopify's native one. This means members go through a different payment experience than your regular customers.
5. Appstle Memberships
Appstle is known in the Shopify ecosystem for its subscription app, and their membership app brings that same infrastructure to membership programs. You can create paid or free membership tiers, assign perks like gated content and discounts, and automatically manage customer access based on membership status.
The app handles both paid memberships (monthly/annual recurring charges) and free membership tiers (VIP access based on purchase history or signup). This flexibility is useful for stores that want a free loyalty tier alongside paid premium memberships.
Pricing: Free tier available. Paid plans scale with features and member count.
Rating: Merchants consistently praise the responsive chat support team.
Best for: Stores that already use Appstle for subscriptions and want to add memberships within the same ecosystem. The free + paid tier combo is good for gradual rollouts.
Watch out for: If you're only looking for membership features and don't need Appstle's subscription tools, a dedicated membership app may be simpler to manage.
6. ECA: Easy Memberships
ECA focuses on simplicity. The app lets members unlock gated content and products through page restrictions, and the setup process is designed to get you running quickly without complex configuration.
It's a good option for stores that need basic membership gating without the overhead of tiered programs, loyalty systems, or complex perk structures. If your use case is "pay $10/month, get access to these products" — ECA handles that without bloat.
Pricing: Free plan available with limited features. Paid plans unlock additional functionality.
Best for: Stores with simple membership needs — one or two membership levels with basic content gating. No unnecessary complexity.
Watch out for: If you need multi-tier memberships with varied perks, discounts, and advanced access control, you'll likely outgrow ECA. It's built for simplicity, not scale.
7. Seal Subscriptions
Seal Subscriptions is primarily a subscription app, but it includes membership functionality that works well for stores that want to combine product subscriptions with membership perks.
The app gives you control over subscribers, products, discounts, subscription boxes, free trials, memberships, and cancellation flows. If you already sell subscription products and want to add a membership layer on top, Seal handles both in one install instead of requiring two separate apps. (If subscriptions are your primary need, see our best Shopify subscription apps roundup.)
Pricing: Free plan available for up to 150 subscriptions. Paid plans start at $4.95/month.
Best for: Stores that want both product subscriptions and memberships in one app. The free plan is generous enough to test the concept.
Watch out for: Membership features are secondary to subscription functionality. If memberships are your primary focus, a dedicated membership app gives you more gating and access control options.
Native Checkout vs. Third-Party Checkout in Membership Apps
This is the most important technical decision in choosing a membership app, and most comparison articles skip it.
Apps that use Shopify's native checkout (Conjured and Simplee) process membership payments through the same checkout your customers already use for regular orders. The payment shows up in Shopify's order system. Refunds work through Shopify. Customer support stays in one place.
Apps that use their own checkout (Bold and AAA) process payments through Stripe or another gateway outside of Shopify's order system. This means membership payments don't appear as Shopify orders, and customers may need to contact the app's support portal for billing issues instead of your normal support flow.
Neither approach is wrong. But if keeping everything inside Shopify's ecosystem matters to your operations, filter your shortlist to native checkout apps first.
Pick the Right Membership Model for Your Store
The app matters less than the membership structure you build. Start by deciding which model fits your business:
- Access memberships — Members pay for access to gated products, content, or pricing. Works for digital content, exclusive collections, and wholesale pricing.
- Perks memberships — Members pay for ongoing benefits like free shipping, member discounts, or priority support. Works for any product type.
- Hybrid memberships — Combines access and perks. Members get both exclusive content and ongoing benefits. More complex to set up but higher perceived value.
Most stores start with a simple single-tier membership at $5-10/month. Test the concept with your existing customers before investing in complex multi-tier structures. Install one app from this list, create one membership plan, and promote it to your email list. You'll know within 30 days whether your audience wants to pay for membership access. Once they do, pair it with a loyalty program to keep them renewing.