{"id":783,"date":"2026-03-24T18:23:56","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T18:23:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/payhip.com\/hub\/?p=783"},"modified":"2026-04-01T18:51:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T18:51:25","slug":"what-is-memberful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/payhip.com\/hub\/what-is-memberful\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Memberful?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Memberful was founded in 2013 by Drew Strojny, a former NFL player who transitioned into tech, to help creators, publishers, educators, and others sell memberships and build a recurring income stream for their businesses. By August 2018, the platform was acquired by Patreon.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_77 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/hub\/what-is-memberful\/#What_is_Memberful\" >What is Memberful?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/hub\/what-is-memberful\/#How_does_Memberful_work\" >How does Memberful work?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/hub\/what-is-memberful\/#What_you_need_to_know_about_selling_on_Memberful\" >What you need to know about selling on Memberful<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/hub\/what-is-memberful\/#Is_Memberful_the_best_platform_to_sell_memberships\" >Is Memberful the best platform to sell memberships?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_Memberful\"><\/span>What is Memberful?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Memberful is a membership platform that allows you to sell subscriptions, distribute content, and build a community with your audience on your own website or app. Creators can launch paid communities while retaining ownership of their content and membership lists. You\u2019ll be able to have your own branded website without paying for external hosting.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_does_Memberful_work\"><\/span>How does Memberful work?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Memberful works by allowing you to build a hosted membership site on the platform. You\u2019ll be able to create landing pages, offer protected downloads, share secure and private posts, share exclusive and private podcasts, offer member-only newsletters, and build a community for members to join.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Since it\u2019s hosted on your own website, you\u2019ll have to bring in your own members. If you\u2019re a content creator with followers on social media, you can share links in your Stories or in your bio link to attract new members to join your paid community.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_you_need_to_know_about_selling_on_Memberful\"><\/span>What you need to know about selling on Memberful<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Memberful has high transaction fees on top of its monthly subscription. The Standard plan costs $49 per month plus a 4.9% transaction fee. Fortunately, they have an unlimited free trial until you go live. Once you go live and start accepting payments, the fees kick in. Still, you\u2019ll be giving up a lot of your earnings with the fees set at those prices. Overall, there are <a href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/memberful-alternatives\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Memberful alternatives<\/a> that offer better rates or even no monthly subscription fees.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not an all-in-one platform. You\u2019ll need third-party integrations to use the tools, such as WordPress or Discord. You also won\u2019t have any native built-in tools for community, course, or even website building.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>One downside to selling on Memberful is that you can only use Stripe as your payment processor. You\u2019ll be able to accept payments from Apple Pay, Google Pay, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, and JCB. However, you won\u2019t be able to accept PayPal, which is one of the most popular payment gateways on the market.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>You won\u2019t be able to sell other types of products that go well with membership sites. For example, there are no built-in tools for selling digital downloads, courses, coaching services, physical products, software, and more. Overall, if you have a built-in community, you\u2019ll likely want to upsell them other products to help you generate more revenue from your existing audience.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Is_Memberful_the_best_platform_to_sell_memberships\"><\/span>Is Memberful the best platform to sell memberships?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>No, Memberful isn\u2019t the best platform to sell memberships; Payhip is. Payhip allows you to sell more than just memberships on your website; you\u2019ll also be able to sell digital downloads like ebooks, courses, coaching services, software, and physical products. Plus, you\u2019ll only pay a 5% transaction fee, with no monthly subscription. Plus, on this all-in-one platform, you\u2019ll be able to fully customize your website and access marketing tools. On top of that, you can choose from over 100 payment gateways, including PayPal. To start selling memberships and more, <a href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/auth\/register\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sign up for free today<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n{\n  \"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\",\n  \"@type\": \"FAQPage\",\n  \"mainEntity\": [{\n    \"@type\": \"Question\",\n    \"name\": \"What is Memberful?\",\n    \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n      \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n      \"text\": \"Memberful is a membership platform that allows you to sell subscriptions, distribute content, and build a community with your audience on your own website or app. Creators can launch paid communities while retaining ownership of their content and membership lists. 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Memberful is a membership platform that allows you to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-platforms"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is Memberful? - Payhip Resource Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Thinking about starting a membership site? Get answers to What is Memberful and how does it work? 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