Breadcrumb

Best membership payment systems

Written by

The GoCardless content team comprises a group of subject-matter experts in multiple fields from across GoCardless. The authors and reviewers work in the sales, marketing, legal, and finance departments. All have in-depth knowledge and experience in various aspects of payment scheme technology and the operating rules applicable to each. The team holds expertise in the well-established payment schemes such as UK Direct Debit, the European SEPA scheme, and the US ACH scheme, as well as in schemes operating in Scandinavia, Australia, and New Zealand. See full bio

Last editedSep 20242 min read

Whether you’re involved in nonprofits or you’re running a gym, managing membership payments as effectively as possible is a great way to boost your bottom line and stand out from the competition. But with so many different online membership payment systems to choose from, it can be tough to decide which one is the best fit for your needs. For more information on subscription payment systems – as well as our rundown on three of the best models on the market at the moment – check out our simple guide.

What is an online membership payment system?

Membership payment systems are tools or software packages designed to make it easier to handle an array of tasks associated with memberships. This includes analytics and reporting, membership database management, marketing, event management, and, of course, taking membership payments. Memberships tend to require recurring payments – also referred to as subscriptions or automatic payments – which can get fairly complex if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing. Online membership payment systems can help you manage the collections process, whether you’re accepting membership dues or one-time donations from members.

Top 3 membership payment systems

Imagine that you’ve just started running a membership site but you’re not sure exactly how to charge your members for their subscriptions. What do you do? Well, there are plenty of ways to accept recurring payments. For example, you may decide to use a standard payment gateway with subscription functionality, like PayPal, Stripe, Square, and Wave. However, there is a range of online membership payment systems on the market that provide more specific functionality around memberships and subscription payments. Here’s our rundown of some of the best membership payment system options to consider for your business:

Join It

First up, there’s Join It. A comprehensive membership management platform, Join It has a broad range of features that help to make running your membership program a breeze. Manage your customers/members via the Membership Database, set up renewal reminders, and handle recurring billing with ease. In addition, Join It has a wide range of integrations with apps like QuickBooks, MailChimp, Eventbrite, and so on, ensuring that your data’s always available when you need it. Join It’s paid plans start from $29/month, while they also offer a free trial option, so that you can give the platform a try before making a full commitment.

Chargebee

Chargebee is an ideal choice of membership payment system if you need to manage recurring billing. The platform provides you with the opportunity to power the entire recurring revenue lifecycle, including subscription billing, receivables, revenue recognition, renewals, and much more. Chargebee accepts 100+ local currencies, making it a great option if you have fee-paying members based all around the world, while it also offers out-of-the-box integrations with more than 23 payment gateways. Pricing starts at $249/month for paid plans, although there’s also a free option if you don’t mind a more limited range of features.

Recurly

Another subscription payment system we want to highlight is Recurly, a subscription and billing platform that offers a broad range of features to help you optimize subscription and recurring billing. Using Recurly, you can automate complex billing scenarios, scale both at home and abroad, and customize receipts to ensure brand recognition at every stage of the billing cycle. Recurly offers a feature-limited free plan, while pricing for their paid plans is customized for each business.

Accepting recurring payments and membership fees via GoCardless

Alternatively, GoCardless can be a fantastic choice for businesses looking to accept recurring payments, such as membership fees. Using the ACH debit payment method, you can ensure that you’re receiving membership dues on time, every time, making late payments (and the time-consuming admin associated with them) a thing of the past. Integrating seamlessly with 300+ partners, GoCardless is one of the most suitable subscription payment systems for membership fees.

We can help

GoCardless is a global payments solution that helps you automate payment collection, cutting down on the amount of financial admin your team needs to deal with. Find out how GoCardless can help you with one-off or recurring payments.