I’m trying to set up a system on my WordPress site to sell access to a digital spreadsheet. I’ve got the payment part sorted with Stripe, but I’m stuck on finding the right plugin to control who can see the content after they buy.
I’ve looked at a bunch of membership plugins, but I’m not sure which one would work best for this specific situation. Has anyone here done something similar? Maybe selling access to a spreadsheet or another digital file?
I’d really appreciate any advice on:
Which plugin you used
How well it worked for protecting your content
Any problems you ran into
If users found it easy to use
Thanks in advance for any help you can give! I’m a bit lost and could use some guidance from folks who’ve been there before.
I’ve used MemberPress for a similar setup, and it worked quite well for gating access to digital files. The plugin integrates seamlessly with WordPress and Stripe, making it easy to set up payment and access controls. One of its strengths is the flexibility in creating access rules, which is perfect for your spreadsheet scenario.
Setting up the content protection was straightforward, and users didn’t report any significant issues accessing the files once they’d paid. The only minor hiccup I encountered was ensuring the file couldn’t be shared outside the members’ area, but this was resolved by hosting the file securely and using MemberPress’s download protection features.
Overall, it’s a robust solution that should meet your needs without much hassle. Just be prepared for a bit of a learning curve if you’re new to membership plugins.
i used s2member for something like that. it was pretty easy to set up and worked ok for protecting my spreadsheet. only issue was some users got confused bout how to download after paying. but overall it did the job and wasnt too expensive. might be worth checkin out for ur needs
I’ve been in a similar situation, and I found that WooCommerce with the Product Add-Ons extension worked surprisingly well for this kind of setup. It’s not specifically a membership plugin, but it allowed me to create a ‘product’ for my spreadsheet and restrict access post-purchase.
The beauty of this approach is that it leverages WooCommerce’s robust e-commerce features while giving you granular control over file access. I set it up so that after payment, customers received a unique download link valid for a specific period.
One thing to watch out for is ensuring your spreadsheet is properly protected from unauthorized sharing. I ended up using a combination of password protection on the file itself and limiting download attempts to mitigate this risk.
Overall, it provided a smooth experience for users and gave me the flexibility I needed without overcomplicating things. Just be prepared to do a bit of configuration to get it working exactly how you want.