The read · 12 Oct 2026
Ultimate Member owns the top and keeps shipping
Membership on WordPress has a clear leader. Ultimate Member runs on 200K+ sites, four times the next plugin, and holds 38% of every install in the category. A lead that size often comes with a sleepy incumbent. This one shipped a release 13 days ago, and its reviews hold up.
The chasing pack is just as attentive. User Registration & Membership, Kit and Simple Membership each sit between 40K+ and 50K+ installs, and all three have released within the last five weeks, Simple Membership only three days ago. Of the twelve largest plugins, only one has gone longer than 43 days without an update. When the leaders are this active, a newcomer can't count on neglect to win users.
The weak spot is an add-on
That one exception belongs to the leader's own family. Ultimate Member's reCAPTCHA extension still runs on 20K+ sites, yet its last release was 691 days ago and its ratings are the lowest of the top twelve. Spam protection on registration forms is a part of a membership site owners can't let rot, so this is the clearest crack in the Ultimate Member ecosystem, even with the core plugin in good shape.
Closures took out a real chunk of the market
The bigger story this quarter is what disappeared. Content Control, a content restriction plugin with 40K+ installs, was closed on 2026-08-12 with no reason recorded. At that size it matched the category's third and fourth largest plugins. Popup Maker followed on 2026-09-21 with 7K+ installs, and CustomerClub was closed on 2026-09-11, neither with a recorded reason.
The sites running Content Control won't lose it overnight, but a closed plugin can't ship updates through the directory, and some of those owners will likely go looking for a replacement. That's the most plausible opening in membership right now, and it favors plugins already strong at content restriction.
Growth is happening at the small end
The smaller plugins are moving, though not by much. SureMembers grew from 1K+ to 2K+ installs, the most meaningful climb of the window, and a small WooCommerce subscriptions plugin with content restriction went from 100+ to 400+. Going the other way, MemberSpace slipped from 300+ to 200+ and Membership For WooCommerce from 900+ to 800+.
The timing of those climbs fits Content Control's exit, but neither plugin is big enough yet to show it's absorbing those users, and the data doesn't reveal the cause. For now the top of this category is a moat held by well-maintained plugins, and the only open door is the one the closures left.
