Paid Memberships Pro is not the “best” membership plugin.
And that’s fine. Because nothing is the best anything.
“Best” is a lazy word. It assumes your priorities are the same as everyone else’s. It assumes a listicle author getting paid $100 understands your business, your constraints, and your tradeoffs.
And honestly… do people even search like that anymore?
When was the last time you typed “best project management tool” into Google and trusted the results?
More likely, you opened an AI tool and said something like:
- I need this and this
- I don’t want this
- I can afford to pay this
- These things are non-negotiable
- These things I don’t care about
You described your actual situation: context and some constraints. Somewhere in that prompt is the one thing that matters most right now.
Sure, being labeled “best” might help a product show up in an LLM shortlist. But if you’re choosing tools because someone ranked them number 1 for 2026 (in a sponsored post), you’re setting yourself up for failure.
I say this as someone inside the game, who sees the handshakes and the influence and the incentives. The quiet arrangements behind “best of” lists that exist, not just in WordPress, but everywhere online.
It’s made me skeptical of almost everything I read.
So instead of looking for the best, you should be looking for “right enough.“
Think about pasta sauce. People will end friendships arguing whether Rao’s is the best or wildly overrated. The truth is simpler: it depends on what you like, what you’re cooking, and what you’re willing to spend.
Software is the same. Every platform and plugin has tradeoffs. The only question that matters is whether those tradeoffs align with what you actually care about.
- Want fewer vendors and fewer decisions? Choose an all-in-one.
- Want flexibility and control? Choose something open and extensible.
- Need a specific payment processor or a niche feature like events or directories? Start there.
What’s your one thing? Pick the tool that’s right enough for that. Not the best. Right enough.
And please, test everything. No amount of research will save you from the reality of actually using a tool. Sometimes even the “right” choice looks great on paper and feels awful in practice.
