Subscription Plugin Compatibility

Benecaster integrates with subscription and membership plugins through a bridge system. Each bridge is a tested, maintained integration that maps your membership plugin’s tiers and subscriber events to Benecaster’s access control system.

Supported Bridges

All bridges are included with any paid Benecaster license. No additional purchase is required to use any of them.

For version-specific compatibility notes and any known issues with particular releases, see the changelog.

Choosing a Subscription Plugin

If you don’t already have a membership plugin and are setting up from scratch, you have five options — including Benecaster’s own built-in system. A few considerations:

Benecaster Built-in requires no third-party plugin. Subscribers sign up and pay directly through your site using your own Stripe account. If you’re starting from scratch and don’t need the broader feature set of a dedicated membership plugin, this is the simplest path.

MemberPress is the most widely used WordPress membership plugin and has the most extensive documentation ecosystem. It handles both simple and complex membership structures well.

WooCommerce Subscriptions is the right choice if you’re already using WooCommerce for other products — subscriptions and podcast access live in the same shop.

Paid Memberships Pro is free at its Benecaster tier and works well for straightforward subscription setups. It’s a lower-cost entry point if budget is a factor.

Restrict Content Pro is lightweight and straightforward — a good fit if you want a simple membership plugin without WooCommerce complexity.

See the individual setup guides for each plugin for step-by-step configuration instructions.

Built-in Membership — No External Plugin Required

Benecaster includes a built-in subscription system with direct Stripe integration. No external membership plugin is needed — subscriber signup, payment collection, tier management, and the full subscription lifecycle are handled by Benecaster directly, using your own Stripe account.

To activate: enter your Stripe keys at Benecaster → Settings → Membership → Payments, define at least one membership tier, then select Benecaster Built-in in the bridge picker at Benecaster → Settings → Subscription → Bridge.

Existing external bridges remain fully supported. If you already have MemberPress or another plugin managing subscribers, there is no requirement to switch.

Unsupported Plugins

Membership and subscription plugins not listed above are not tested or officially supported. Attempting to connect an unsupported plugin will result in Benecaster’s bridge operating in a neutral state — no subscriber tokens are generated and no feed gating is applied.

If you rely on a specific membership plugin not listed here, check the add-ons page for availability or contact support.

Feature Compatibility Notes

Membership-plugin features beyond tier-based access control — like content drip or scheduling — operate at the WordPress content layer and do not interact with Benecaster’s feed system. Understanding this avoids configuring the wrong tool for podcast-specific needs.

Content Drip / Access Scheduling

Membership plugin drip features restrict access to WordPress posts and pages based on how long someone has been a member. They have no effect on Benecaster’s RSS feeds. To schedule when episodes appear in subscriber feeds, use Benecaster’s availability dates — that is the correct tool for this.

See Content Drip and Access Scheduling in the bridge overview for the full explanation.

---

Running Multiple Subscription Plugins

Benecaster supports one active bridge at a time. If multiple supported subscription plugins are installed, Benecaster prompts you to select which one to use during setup. You can change the active bridge at any time from Benecaster → Settings → Subscription, but doing so requires remapping your tiers.

Running two subscription plugins simultaneously for different purposes (e.g. WooCommerce for physical products and MemberPress for memberships) is supported — just select the plugin that manages your podcast subscriptions as the active bridge.

WordPress and WooCommerce Versions

WooCommerce Subscriptions requires WooCommerce. Benecaster tests against current and recent WooCommerce versions. If you encounter issues after a WooCommerce update, check the changelog for compatibility notes.