Title: Members &#8211; Membership &amp; User Role Editor Plugin
Author: Blair Williams
Published: <strong>September 17, 2009</strong>
Last modified: February 13, 2026

---

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# Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin

 By [Blair Williams](https://profiles.wordpress.org/supercleanse/)

[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/members.3.2.19.zip)

 * [Details](https://wordpress.org/plugins/members/#description)
 * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/plugins/members/#reviews)
 *  [Installation](https://wordpress.org/plugins/members/#installation)
 * [Development](https://wordpress.org/plugins/members/#developers)

 [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/members/)

## Description

Members is a roles and capabilities based WordPress membership plugin. It gives 
your users the ultimate member experience by giving you powerful tools to add roles
and capabilities and assign them to your users.

Members allows you to set permissions to restrict content on your site by providing
a simple user interface (UI) for WordPress’ powerful roles and capabilities system,
which has traditionally only been available to developers who know how to code this
by hand.

### Plugin Features

 * **Role Editor:** Allows you to edit, create, and delete roles as well as capabilities
   for these roles.
 * **Multiple User Roles:** Give one, two, or even more roles to any user.
 * **Explicitly Deny Capabilities:** Deny specific capabilities to specific user
   roles.
 * **Clone Roles:** Build a new role by cloning an existing role.
 * **Content Permissions / Restricted Content:** Protect content to determine which
   users (by role) have access to post content.
 * **Shortcodes:** Shortcodes to control who has access to content.
 * **Widgets:** A login form widget and users widget to show in your theme’s sidebars.
 * **Private Site:** You can make your site and its feed completely private if you
   want.
 * **Plugin Integration:** Members is highly recommended by other WordPress developers.
   Many existing plugins integrate their custom roles and capabilities directly 
   into it.

#### Seamless MemberPress Integration

If you’re looking to build a business out of your membership site by creating paid
memberships there’s no better way than to [use MemberPress](https://memberpress.com/plans/pricing/?utm_source=members_plugin&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=readme&utm_content=integration_1).
Members and [MemberPress](https://memberpress.com/plans/pricing/?utm_source=members_plugin&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=readme&utm_content=integration_2)
work together to provide the ultimate member experience and will help you start 
and profit from your amazing WordPress membership sites!

#### All Add-ons are now included

Members now includes ALL of it’s add-ons completely free of charge! Here are some
of the awesome features they add to Members:

 * **Block Permissions:** Allows site owners to hide or show blocks based on user
   logged-in status, user role, or capability.
 * **Privacy Caps:** Creates additional capabilities for control over WordPressâ
   €™ privacy and personal data features (GDPR).
 * **Admin Access:** Allows site administrators to control which users have access
   to the WordPress admin via role.
 * **Core Create Caps:** Adds the create_posts and create_pages caps to posts/pages
   to separate them from their edit_* counterparts, providing more flexible editing
   capabilities.
 * **Categories and Tag Caps:** The Category and Tag Caps add-on creates custom 
   capabilities for the core category and post tag taxonomies. This allows site 
   owners to have precise control over who can manage, edit, delete, or assign categories/
   tags.
 * **Role Levels:** Exposes the old user levels system, which fixes the WordPress
   author drop-down bug when users don’t have a role with one of the assigned levels.
 * **Role Hierarchy:** Creates a hierarchical roles system.
 * **ACF Integration:** Creates custom capabilities for the Advanced Custom Fields(
   ACF) plugin for managing with the Members plugin.
 * **EDD Integration:** Integrates the Easy Digital Downloads plugin capabilities
   into the Members plugin’s role manager.
 * **GiveWP Integration:** Integrates the GiveWP and GiveWP Recurring Donations 
   plugin capabilities into the Members plugin’s role manager.
 * **Meta Box Integration:** Integrates the Meta Box plugin capabilities into the
   Members plugin’s role manager.
 * **WooCommerce Integration:** Integrates the WooCommerce plugin capabilities into
   the Members plugin’s role manager.

For more info, visit the [Members plugin home page](https://members-plugin.com/?utm_source=members_plugin&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=readme&utm_content=learn_more).

### Like this plugin?

The Members plugin is a massive project with 1,000s of lines of code to maintain.
A major update can take weeks or months of work. We don’t make any money directly
from this plugin while other, similar plugins charge substantial fees to even download
them or get updates. Please consider helping the cause by:

 * [Adding MemberPress](https://memberpress.com/?utm_source=members_plugin&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=readme&utm_content=memberpress_upgrade).
 * [Rating the plugin](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/members/reviews/?filter=5#new-post).

### Support

If you need plugin support from us, you can [visit our support page](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/members/).

### Plugin Development

If you’re a theme author, plugin author, or just a code hobbyist, you can follow
the development of this plugin on it’s [GitHub repository](https://github.com/caseproof/members).

## Screenshots

 * [[
 * Role management screen
 * [[
 * Edit role screen
 * [[
 * Content permissions meta box (edit post/page screen)
 * [[
 * Plugin settings screen
 * [[
 * Select multiple roles per user (edit user screen)

## Installation

 1. Upload `members` to the `/wp-content/plugins/` directory.
 2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress.
 3. Go to “Settings > Members” to select which settings you’d like to use.

More detailed instructions are included in the plugin’s `readme.html` file.

## FAQ

### Why was this plugin created?

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.

### How do I use it?

Most things should be fairly straightforward, but you can also [view the docs](https://members-plugin.com/docs/)
online.

### 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.

### On multisite, why can’t administrators manage roles?

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.

### 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.

You’ll need to stop by our [support forums](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/members/)
to see if we can get your site fixed if you managed to lock yourself out. We know
that this can be a bit can be a bit scary, but it’s not that tough to fix with a
little custom code. Your web-host may also be able to restore your site from a recent
backup, but we only recommend doing this as a last-resort option, as restoring from
a backup could mean losing work you have done, or members that have been added between
the backup date, and now.

## Reviews

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/31a768e96c1af9098746d21a207d4649e75bc038d33fc52b826fd12cd6c69f73?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Very good](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/very-good-7758/)󠁿

 [andreabovarini](https://profiles.wordpress.org/andreabovarini/) April 4, 2026

Top for what I need. Very easy and trustful

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/4c15054a6133a3841645e7ca124fca53a0b7dea29c46f5083d284a4c71813118?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Works great, easy to use…](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/works-great-easy-to-use-73/)󠁿

 [ptancsik](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ptancsik/) April 3, 2026

The Members plugin has been a reliable part of my workflow. It keeps role and permission
management clean, predictable, and free of unnecessary complexity. Everything integrates
smoothly, and the interface makes it easy to set up exactly what you need without
bloat. If you want straightforward, dependable user‑role control, this plugin delivers.

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/f58c00a698461556187a24b86f7bda327a0e93fc8ea82905688e38271e0a9611?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Works Great](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/works-great-9776/)󠁿

 [Eva Garbo](https://profiles.wordpress.org/eva-garbo/) March 19, 2026

Simple to use

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/6a101f852b6d11b537e82fb7d1f5566fec2a4b1e3ffb7482f63e2034969f710c?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Very Good](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/very-good-7747/)󠁿

 [duckula](https://profiles.wordpress.org/duckula/) March 16, 2026

Worked perfectly for my use case

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/0a17ef80267b52908bdfa783d83fcba9023f5e17d55268708cda51186d6a670f?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[boa](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/boa-5/)󠁿

 [edunucleo](https://profiles.wordpress.org/edunucleo/) March 12, 2026

atende as necessidades

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/cbed79932c1e687209ea426666a29cf35ee5d70c1c38bff62f5e2461085e8690?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Buon plugin](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/buon-plugin-21/)󠁿

 [mdesigntruckstyling](https://profiles.wordpress.org/mdesigntruckstyling/) February
25, 2026

Semplice e funzionante. spero venga sempre aggiornato e funzioni tutto come si deve
anche in futuro

 [ Read all 1,246 reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/members/reviews/)

## Contributors & Developers

“Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin” is open source software. The following
people have contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

 *   [ Blair Williams ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/supercleanse/)
 *   [ cartpauj ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/cartpauj/)

“Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin” has been translated into 21 locales.
Thank you to [the translators](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/members/contributors)
for their contributions.

[Translate “Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/members)

### Interested in development?

[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/members/), check out
the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/members/), or subscribe to
the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/members/) by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/members/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).

## Changelog

The change log is located in the `changelog.md` file in the plugin folder. You may
also [view the change log](https://github.com/caseproof/members/blob/master/changelog.md)
online.

## Meta

 *  Version **3.2.19**
 *  Last updated **2 months ago**
 *  Active installations **300,000+**
 *  WordPress version ** 6.0 or higher **
 *  Tested up to **6.9.4**
 *  PHP version ** 7.4 or higher **
 *  Languages
 * [Dutch](https://nl.wordpress.org/plugins/members/), [Dutch (Belgium)](https://nl-be.wordpress.org/plugins/members/),
   [English (Australia)](https://en-au.wordpress.org/plugins/members/), [English (Canada)](https://en-ca.wordpress.org/plugins/members/),
   [English (New Zealand)](https://en-nz.wordpress.org/plugins/members/), [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/members/),
   [French (France)](https://fr.wordpress.org/plugins/members/), [German](https://de.wordpress.org/plugins/members/),
   [Italian](https://it.wordpress.org/plugins/members/), [Norwegian (Bokmål)](https://nb.wordpress.org/plugins/members/),
   [Persian](https://fa.wordpress.org/plugins/members/), [Portuguese (Brazil)](https://br.wordpress.org/plugins/members/),
   [Portuguese (Portugal)](https://pt.wordpress.org/plugins/members/), [Russian](https://ru.wordpress.org/plugins/members/),
   [Spanish (Argentina)](https://es-ar.wordpress.org/plugins/members/), [Spanish (Chile)](https://cl.wordpress.org/plugins/members/),
   [Spanish (Spain)](https://es.wordpress.org/plugins/members/), [Spanish (Venezuela)](https://ve.wordpress.org/plugins/members/),
   [Swedish](https://sv.wordpress.org/plugins/members/), [Turkish](https://tr.wordpress.org/plugins/members/),
   [Ukrainian](https://uk.wordpress.org/plugins/members/), and [Vietnamese](https://vi.wordpress.org/plugins/members/).
 *  [Translate into your language](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/members)
 * Tags
 * [access](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/access/)[capabilities](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/capabilities/)
   [memberships](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/memberships/)[permissions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/permissions/)
   [roles](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/roles/)
 *  [Advanced View](https://wordpress.org/plugins/members/advanced/)

## Ratings

 4.9 out of 5 stars.

 *  [  1,167 5-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/members/reviews/?filter=5)
 *  [  37 4-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/members/reviews/?filter=4)
 *  [  13 3-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/members/reviews/?filter=3)
 *  [  5 2-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/members/reviews/?filter=2)
 *  [  24 1-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/members/reviews/?filter=1)

[Add my review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/members/reviews/#new-post)

[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/members/reviews/)

## Contributors

 *   [ Blair Williams ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/supercleanse/)
 *   [ cartpauj ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/cartpauj/)

## Support

Issues resolved in last two months:

     9 out of 10

 [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/members/)

## Donate

Would you like to support the advancement of this plugin?

 [ Donate to this plugin ](https://memberpress.com/plans/pricing/?utm_source=members_plugin&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=readme&utm_content=donation_link)