How do I charge for posts with a paid membership?

Q: How do I charge for posts with a paid membership?

Open Memberships (under Income in the sidebar). First connect a Stripe account (setup takes a few minutes; if you already use Stripe you can sign in with it). Then, for each website, turn on Offer Paid Memberships and set a monthly price, an annual price, or both, from $1 to $10,000. Now set any article's Who Can Read It to Paid Members. Visitors and free members see the opening of the post plus a subscribe card with your prices; a reader signs in with their email, picks a plan, and pays through Stripe checkout. The money goes to your own Stripe account, and you handle payouts and refunds from your own Stripe dashboard. A paid member reads every paid post on the site, and Send to Members emails a paid post only to paying subscribers. Subscribers manage or cancel their plan through Stripe's billing portal, from the same subscribe card once they are paid.

Memberships & Income · Full walkthrough

Give your regulars something extra.

Set membership prices and access, connect payments and pair your offer with members-only content.

Before you start

Define what free members and paid members receive. Prepare the content or benefits that make the offer useful. Membership pricing and content access are separate settings; both must agree with the public offer.

Step 1

Review payments and the offer

Open Payment Setup to confirm the shared Stripe connection, then open Memberships for the membership offer and pricing.

State what someone gets before asking them to pay. Use the price and billing period configured for this website, not a hard-coded example from a guide.

Check account permissions if pricing controls are unavailable; payment and membership setup require the appropriate role.

Step 2

Set membership pricing

Review the paid membership prices, billing periods and saved offer. Make sure the public description agrees with the configured price and access.

Keep free signup and paid membership distinct. Joining an email list is not the same as purchasing a membership.

Before changing an existing offer, review how current memberships and renewals are handled by the displayed controls.

Step 3

Assign content access

In the post editor, choose whether each post is for everyone, members or paid members. Publish only after reviewing both content and access.

Make a clear free preview when appropriate, but verify that the protected content remains behind the intended access level.

Use a member-only post for free signed-in members and the paid setting for content that requires payment; a title saying ‘exclusive’ does not enforce access.

Step 4

Review the visitor experience

Preview joining, sign-in and protected content from the public site. Check what a logged-out visitor sees and what the intended member level can open.

Member sign-in uses the site's member flow. Check the links and confirmation email rather than expecting a Cloud account login to represent a visitor membership.

Review membership records and payment state when helping an existing member. Email subscription status and paid access are different records.

Review checklist

The offer and configured pricing agree.
Protected posts use the intended access level.
Joining and member sign-in are understandable.
Payment and member access states have been reviewed.

If you get stuck

A person joined email but cannot open a paid post

Email signup does not purchase a paid membership. Review their membership and payment state.

Protected content appears publicly

Review the post's saved access setting and public preview rather than relying on its title or menu position.

Try it in Podspun Cloud ↗