WordPress User Registration Plugin

Not sure what’s the right WordPress User Registration Plugin for you to use in your project?

Going through all the WordPress User Registration plugins can be disorienting. You probably spent hours and hours searching for plugins and tutorials to help you with your project, and you’re still as confused as you were when you started.

Imagine finding the best user registration plugin for your project without losing hours testing them all out. You can then spend all that saved time relaxed, knowing what’s needed for your project.

In this article, we’ll run the rule over some of the best WordPress user registration plugins. We’ll also explain how to allow user registration on your WordPress website using Profile Builder Pro.

Let’s put everything into context before we begin.

What is WordPress user registration?

WordPress user registration allows people to create their accounts on your website. This can be useful in a variety of cases:

• Put content behind a paywall – Make your best content password protected and create a membership site.
• Restrict comments – Dissuade spammers by requiring people to log in before they can leave a comment.
• Create a community blog – Allow people to publish their own articles, transforming your site into a community blog.

The built-in WordPress new user registration process is automatically restricted, with the administrator having to create all new accounts, but you can change the settings to allow anyone to create a new account.

Why use a WordPress user registration plugin?

WordPress is a powerful CMS, but the built-in WordPress new user registration option offers a mediocre user experience. To create a professional user registration experience, with a custom registration form, custom registration pages, and custom user profiles, you’ll need a WordPress user registration plugin.

A good WordPress user registration plugin will also offer several outstanding features like:

• Front-end registration, using a custom WordPress user register form
• Registration with different/extra fields than the default WordPress user fields
• Spam protection for registration like Captcha or admin approval of new users (good if you in your WordPress anyone can register)
• User login from front-end – via a widget or a shortcode
• Editing of user’s profile from front-end
• Front-end posting
• Members listing, public and visible profiles for users
• Client area – A place where existing clients can log in and access their documents like invoices or contracts

Key components of a WordPress user registration plugin

Every WordPress user registration plugin is different, but there are some basic components every registration plugin should offer. Primarily, the plugin should offer options for creating front-end registration, login, and profile pages.

1. Front-end registration

Front-end registration allows people to create new accounts on your WordPress site without using the WordPress registration form in the admin area. Most user registration plugins do this by creating a separate registration form, like the Profile Builder registration form pictured below:

Front-end registration options protect the admin area of your site and are typically designed to look great with a variety of themes.

2. Front-end login

The login page is straightforward: it’s the page people use to enter their accounts on your website. The default WordPress user account functionality requires people to do this by entering the admin area of your site. To protect your security as your site grows, you’ll want to choose a WordPress user registration plugin that offers a front-end login form, such as this one generated by Profile Builder Pro:

3. Profile editor

The profile editor is where users can add or update key information about themselves, such as their name and birthday. The account page is also where they can update their password and other security information.

Some plugins, such as Profile Builder Pro, also allow you to customize the fields available for editing on the profile page. This allows you to gather more information about your customers and create more detailed customer personas, which will, in turn, make it easier to build targeted marketing campaigns. For example, you can make the password reset process easier.

Which is the best WordPress user registration plugin?

We’ve scoured the internet for the best WordPress user registration plugins available today. Let’s check them out:

1. Profile Builder Pro

Profile Builder Pro is a premium WordPress plugin that allows you to customize your website with forms for WordPress user registration, login, and password recovery. This plugin also comes with a front-end profile editing option, allowing users to change their information without entering the admin area. You can use shortcodes to embed these forms on any page of your WordPress site.

Profile Builder Pro also offers several tools to help you manage your users. You can create user roles and edit their capabilities, choose who sees the admin bar in the front-end, and restrict content to certain types of users.

You can use Profile Builder Pro to manage users on a community blog, build a membership site with the Private Website option, or restrict content and products to member-only sales.

Last but certainly not least, Profile Builder Pro comes with a variety of built-in user modules, including integrations with Mailchimp, Campaign Monitor, and MailPoet.

Pros

• Create custom redirects to send people to specific pages after Registration, Login, Logout, or Profile Editing.
• Allow users to upload avatars to their user profiles.
• Restrict access to any type of content, including WooCommerce product pages on your e-commerce store.
• Create custom profile menus so you can choose what information users can share with you and each other.
• Protect your website from bots with Google reCAPTCHA.
• Institute a minimum password length and strength to keep user accounts safe.
• Enjoy one year of full customer support and automated updates.
• Set up conditional logic and set required fields to make it easier for users to fill out forms.
• Import or export a user database to/from a third party (lets you bulk import to add WordPress multiple users).

Cons

Profile Builder Pro is built by us here at Cozmoslabs, and we like to call it “WordPress registration done right.”

Get Profile Builder Pro

2. Profile Builder

Do you want a highly flexible WordPress user registration plugin, but without the financial investment of Profile Builder Pro? Profile Builder free is here for you!

The free version of Profile Builder offers many of the same capabilities as Profile Builder Pro. You can set up front-end registration, login, and profile editor pages using shortcodes, and restrict content to create a membership site.

Profile Builder is also compatible with a variety of add-ons, including a free add-on for managing paid subscriptions. You will have to install each of these separately from the original plugin.

Pros:

• Choose what information you require with customizable fields for your login and registration forms.
• Profile Builder’s drag and drop form editor allows you to decide where various form fields go in each form, such as input fields, file uploads, and checkboxes.
• Choose whether users log in using their email address or their username; you can also set it up so they can log in with either option.
• Set a minimum password length and minimum password strength to maximize security.
• Role editor allows you to create and edit user roles.
• Restrict all types of WordPress content to specific user types.
• Restrict access to WooCommerce shop pages and products to offer your users exclusive deals.
• Easily integrate Profile Builder with other plugins/services via Add-ons.
• Everything is designed to be compatible with any WordPress theme.

Cons:

• Extra features like avatar upload and extra fields for registration, Custom Redirects, or advanced User Listing are only available in the Pro version (see above!).

Download Profile Builder from WordPress.org:

Get Profile Builder

3. Paid Member Subscriptions

Paid Member Subscriptions is a freemium plugin that offers complete membership solutions. You can use this plugin to accept member payments, manage members, create subscription plans, and restrict access to premium content. The Paid Member Subscriptions plugin also offers detailed membership reporting, which can be exported as a CSV at any time.

Best of all, this plugin is fully compatible with Profile Builder and WooCommerce, with no add-ons required. With all three plugins working together, you can create a dynamic membership site offering all kinds of exciting features to your customers.

Pros:

• You can set up a fully functional WordPress membership site in just four steps with Paid Member Subscriptions.
• Users register and subscribe to Paid & Free Subscription Plans easily.
• You can use the Paid Member Subscriptions plugin to offer users a free trial and charge sign up fees.
• The plugin allows you to easily manage your site members’ accounts and subscriptions.
• Shortcode based (register, login, account & content restriction).
• More complex functionality + integrations are available via add-ons, including payment gateways such as Stripe.

Cons:

• At this time, the only payment gateway available in the free core is PayPal Standard.

Download Paid Member Subscriptions from WordPress.org, or get the premium version here:

Also, be sure to check out our full tutorial on how to use a membership website builder for more information.

4. Theme My Login

This plugin automatically creates a page to use in place of wp-login.php, using a page template from your theme. Theme My Login also provides a widget for sidebar login.

Pros:

• Set up specific redirects for users upon registration, login, and log out, based on the user’s role.
• Restrict access to specific posts, pages, and navigation menu options based on user roles.
• Edit the HTML of the WordPress registration email to make it unique (this lets you customize WordPress email notifications).
• Moderate users by requiring email confirmation or admin approval.
• Use reCAPTCHA to keep bots away.
• Switch on Social so people can log in using their preferred social networks instead of creating new accounts.
• Use shortcodes to place forms anywhere on your WordPress site.
• Access over a dozen extensions to increase functionality and integrate with other services such as Mailchimp.

Cons:

• Theme My Login doesn’t offer as much flexibility as other options on this list, such as Profile Builder.

Download Theme My Login from WordPress.org.

5. WP User Frontend

This plugin gives the user the ability to create new posts, edit their profile all from the site front-end, so the user does not need to enter the backend admin panel to do these things. Everything they need to do can be done from the front-end.

WP User Frontend is an excellent tool if you want your website to function more like a social media platform, where everyone can publish their own content with no approval required, than a blog.

Pros:

• WP User Frontend allows people to publish their content on your website without ever entering the back end.
• Use the drag and drop form builder to create customized registration, login, and profile forms.
• The WPUF Block makes it easy to insert your forms into pages using the Gutenberg editor.
• Create user roles and edit what users in those roles are allowed to do.
• Create paid subscription options and accept payments.

Cons:

• The basic WP User Front-end is quite rigid in its structure. For advanced customization options, you will need to purchase the pro version.

Download WP User Frontend from WordPress.org.

6. WP-Members

WP-Members is a free membership management framework for WordPress that restricts content to registered users. The registration, login, and profile pages are configured to automatically integrate with almost any WordPress theme.

Pros:

• You can choose to notify an admin when new users sign up or even require all new accounts to receive admin approval.
• WP-Members allows you to create custom fields for registration and profile pages.
• You can enable reCAPTCHA to protect your site from bots.
• The WordPress user registration form, login form, and profile editing page created by this plugin self-adjust to match your existing theme.

Cons:

• This plugin doesn’t offer the possibility to add avatars or images for the users.
• You cannot accept payments through PayPal unless you sign up for the pro version.

Download WP-Members from WordPress.org.

7. User Registration

User Registration is a free, lightweight plugin that allows you to create front-end registration, login, and profile edit forms with a variety of custom fields. The core plugin is 100% free, but there are several premium add-ons for additional functionality.

Pros:

• Everything is easy to customize with the drag and drop form builder.
• Create unlimited registration forms for different areas of your site, different types of users, or any other purpose you can imagine.
• Protect your website from bots with Google reCAPTCHA authentication.
• Keep your web pages clean with shortcodes.

Cons:

• User Registration does not allow you to restrict content; you will need to purchase one of the premium add-ons if you want to create a membership site.
• This plugin automatically creates a variety of pages for your site. This creates extra work, and many webmasters won’t need all of the pages included.

Download User Registration from WordPress.org.

8. Registration Magic

Registration Magic is both a powerful WordPress registration form builder and a great tool for managing users. It comes fully integrated with PayPal, making this an excellent WordPress user registration plugin for anyone looking to start a membership site.

Pros:

• Create your WordPress user registration form in minutes with the simple form builder.
• Customize the appearance of your forms with three different layout options.
• Take advantage of integrations with a variety of services, including PayPal and WooCommerce.
• Create a custom WordPress new user registration email, plus customize the WooCommerce email confirmation.

Cons:

• There are so many different features and options that this plugin can be difficult to navigate for people with little technical knowledge.

Download from WordPress.org.

9. Easy Registration Forms

Easy Registration Forms is exactly what it sounds like: a simple WordPress plugin that makes it easy for you to create front-end WordPress user registration forms.

Pros:

• Choose from a wide variety of registration form layouts.
• Keep bots out of your site with Google reCAPTCHA.

Cons:

• This plugin does not offer any built-in integrations with other plugins.
• The add-ons available for this plugin are extremely limited.

Download from WordPress.org.

Bonus: how to allow user registration on your website using Profile Builder Pro

The Profile Builder Pro makes it incredibly easy to allow user registration on your website. Here’s what you need to do:

Get the Profile Builder Pro plugin and install and activate it to your WordPress website.

Next, create a new page (by going to Pages → Add New) from the WordPress dashboard and call it something like Register. Add the shortcode [wppb-register] to the text editor and click the Publish button. The page should look something like this on the front-end:

With Profile Builder Pro, you can customize the user registration page in a variety of different ways.

Final thoughts on the best WordPress user registration plugin

This is not by any means an exhaustive list of every WordPress user registration plugin out there. Instead, we have focused on the best of the best.

You’ve got multiple options to choose from, but it’s now up to you to figure out which one is most suited for your project.

For maximum flexibility in the forms you create and how user accounts work on your site, we recommend Profile Builder Pro:

You’ll be joining 50,000+ users of the plugin, that use it to create a professional user registration experience. The number of features, integrations, and polishing that was added over time make it perfect for any website trying to build a community around it.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Source: https://www.cozmoslabs.com/13357-wordpress-user-registration-plugin/

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