A Memberful alternative: a members area written as code

Where Memberful is better

• Fits the site you already have

  Memberful adds memberships to WordPress, Discord and Mailchimp you already run. OneCraft writes a new website, so an existing WordPress site would be replaced rather than extended.

• Membership tools out of the box

  Gift purchases, group plans, retention discounts, cancellation surveys and a referral programme are part of every Memberful plan. On OneCraft the agent builds what you ask for, one feature at a time.

• Tax collection

  Memberful lists global tax collection on every plan. OneCraft does not list tax collection for sites.

Where OneCraft is different

• A smaller fee at scale

  OneCraft keeps 2%, 1% or 0.5% of payments by plan, plus Stripe's fees, against Memberful's 4.9% on top of its $49 monthly price.

• One place for site and members

  Pages, gated content, downloads, a newsletter sign up and an admin area are one website, written as React Router code with its own database.

• Rules checked before you publish

  Every members table has row level security, and the agent checks it as an anonymous visitor and as a signed in member before a step can finish.

Fees side by side

Memberful's Standard plan is $49 a month plus 4.9% of transactions, with Stripe's processing fees on top since checkout runs on your Stripe account. At $3,000 a month in memberships that is $49 plus $147. OneCraft Pro is $25 a month plus 1%, $30, again with Stripe's fees on top. At low revenue the difference is small; it widens as members grow.

Add-on or whole site

Memberful is an add-on: it handles sign up, billing and access while your WordPress or Memberful-built site shows the content. OneCraft writes the website and the membership together, so a woodworking teacher's project plans, tiers and newsletter sign up are one codebase, downloadable as a zip, with its schema in the repository.

Things to ask the agent for

Some Memberful features need to be named in a OneCraft brief: gift memberships, free trials, a free tier alongside paid ones, a cancellation flow. The agent writes them into the plans table and Stripe subscriptions, and members manage cards in the Stripe billing portal. Check each flow in the preview before publishing.

Who should stay with Memberful

Stay with Memberful if you already run WordPress or Discord, want gift and group memberships ready made, or need tax collection handled. Move if you want one written website with its members area inside, and your revenue is high enough that 4.9% plus $49 costs more than a plan and a small fee.

Questions people ask