Switching Your Subscription Plugin

If you’re moving from one membership plugin to another — for example, from Paid Memberships Pro to MemberPress — the Bridge Switch Wizard handles the transition without breaking existing subscriber access. This tutorial walks through the full process.

When to Use the Bridge Switch Wizard

The wizard is the right path whenever you’re replacing your subscription plugin entirely. Examples:

You started with WooCommerce Subscriptions and want to move to MemberPress
You’re consolidating from two membership plugins to one
You’re testing a new plugin after running your paid tiers on the old one

If you’re simply adding a second plugin alongside your existing one, or troubleshooting a connection issue with your current plugin, you don’t need this wizard — see Subscription Plugin Overview instead.

Before You Start

Install the new membership plugin and activate it
Set up your membership levels in the new plugin — create levels matching your existing tiers (e.g. if your current setup has Gold and Silver tiers, create Gold and Silver levels in the new plugin)
Back up your database — the wizard preserves your tier mappings, but a backup is always good practice before structural changes

The wizard won’t migrate subscribers from one plugin to another — that’s your membership plugin’s job. The wizard only updates which plugin Benecaster talks to.

Running the Wizard

Step 1 — Backup Reminder

The wizard opens with a reminder to back up your database. If you’ve already done it, click I’ve backed up, continue.

Step 2 — Prerequisites Check

Benecaster checks that:

The new plugin is installed and active
At least one membership level is configured in the new plugin

If any check fails, the wizard pauses here and tells you what to address. Fix the issue, then click Re-check.

Step 3 — Plugin Picker

A list of detected subscription plugins appears. Select the plugin you’re switching to. The currently active plugin is shown with an “Active” label for reference.

Step 4 — Tier Mapping

This is the most important step. Benecaster loads the membership levels from your new plugin and asks you to map each one to a Benecaster tier.

The mapping board shows two columns: the levels from your new plugin on the left, and tier dropdowns on the right. Drag levels into the appropriate tier slots, or use the dropdown to assign each level.

Key principle: match the new plugin’s levels to the same tiers your current mapping uses. If “Gold Member” in your old plugin was mapped to the gold tier, find the equivalent level in your new plugin and map it to gold as well. This preserves feed access for subscribers who are migrated across from the old plugin.

Levels you don’t want to grant podcast access to should be set to No access rather than left unmapped.

When you’re satisfied with the mapping, click Confirm mapping.

Step 5 — Confirmation

The wizard shows a summary of what will change:

The new active bridge
The number of tier mapping rows that will be saved

Click Switch to complete the transition. Benecaster:

Saves the new tier mapping
Sets the new plugin as the active bridge
Fires the internal benecaster_bridge_switched event (add-ons that hook into bridge changes are notified)

The modal closes and the Settings page refreshes showing the new active bridge.

After the Switch

A notice appears at the top of Benecaster → Settings confirming the switch. It also reminds you to verify that your membership plugin’s subscriber data has been migrated — Benecaster’s bridge now talks to the new plugin, so subscribers need active memberships there to maintain feed access.

Test subscriber access: log in as a subscriber who has been migrated to the new plugin and verify their feed URL still works. If it doesn’t, check the tier mapping — confirm their new plugin level is mapped to the correct Benecaster tier.

Old tier mappings: the tier mapping rows from your previous plugin are retained in the database but are no longer active. They won’t cause issues; they’re just dormant until the old bridge is selected again (which you wouldn’t do under normal circumstances).

If Something Goes Wrong

Subscribers lose feed access after the switch
Their membership level in the new plugin isn’t mapped to a tier. Go to Benecaster → Settings → Subscription → Tier Mapping and add the missing mapping. No token regeneration is needed — the tier assignment takes effect on the subscriber’s next feed poll.

The wizard says the new plugin isn’t detected
Ensure the plugin is installed and active on the same WordPress site as Benecaster. Some plugins require additional setup (creating at least one membership level) before Benecaster can detect them. See the setup guide for your specific plugin in the Connecting Your Membership Plugin section.

You want to undo the switch
Run the wizard again, select the original plugin, and remap your tiers. The same wizard works in both directions.

See Using the Tier Mapping Board for guidance on the drag-and-drop mapping interface used in Step 4.