The Female Entrepreneur Association has around 5,000 members paying $47–$97 per month. That’s roughly $235,000 in monthly recurring revenue and it’s not from a course launch nor from a one-time product but from a membership site that generates income every single month.
That’s the kind of business I wanted to understand better. So I went looking for real examples. Who’s building memberships? What are they charging? What keeps members paying?
I put together 21 membership ideas with real sites behind them. Real pricing. Real communities. Some are solo creators working from home. Some are larger companies. All of them built something people pay for consistently.
The pattern I kept seeing? The best memberships combine content with community. Members don’t just watch videos and leave. They connect with each other, ask questions, and share progress. The value grows over time, and that’s why they stay.
Let me show you what’s working.
What is a Membership Site?
A membership site is a website where people pay to access exclusive content, community, or both. Members log in, get access to things non-members can’t see, and pay on a recurring basis to keep that access.
The content can be anything: courses, tutorials, templates, live calls, forums, downloadable resources, private communities. What makes it a membership is the gate. You’re inside or you’re not.
Most memberships charge monthly or yearly. Some offer lifetime access for a one-time fee. The model works because members aren’t just buying a product. They’re buying ongoing value, and they stick around as long as that value keeps showing up.
If you’ve ever paid for a Patreon, a private Slack group, or a premium newsletter, you’ve been part of a membership site.
Why Start a Membership Site?
A membership site changes how you earn money. Instead of chasing new sales every month, you build recurring revenue that grows over time.
Here’s why creators and businesses are making the shift:
Predictable income. You know what’s coming in each month. That makes planning easier and stress lower. No more revenue rollercoasters from launch to launch.
Higher customer lifetime value. A member who stays for 12 months at $47/month is worth $564. That’s more than most one-time course sales. And some members stay for years.
Deeper relationships. Members aren’t just customers. They’re part of something. They ask questions, share wins, and help each other. That connection builds loyalty you can’t buy with ads.
Content compounds. Every piece of content you create adds to the library. A course you made two years ago is still delivering value today. The longer you run a membership, the more valuable it becomes.
Community builds itself. Once you reach a certain size, members start helping each other. They answer questions, share resources, and create conversations without you doing all the work.
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Want to see how it works? BuddyBoss lets you build a membership site with courses, community, and your own mobile app.
Membership Site Trends & Stats for 2026
The membership model keeps evolving. Here’s what’s shaping the industry right now.
- The subscription economy hit $557.8 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $1.9 trillion by 2035.
- Community-driven memberships retain 85-92% of members, compared to 60-70% for content-only sites.
- Micro-communities are replacing mega-memberships. Smaller, niche-focused groups outperform broad “something for everyone” offerings.
- Gamification doubles engagement. Communities using points, badges, and challenges see 2x more logins and discussion activity.
- 70%+ of membership engagement now happens on mobile. If it doesn’t work on a phone, members won’t use it.
- 78% of learners prefer video-based content and complete video courses 2.3x faster than text-based alternatives.
- AI personalization improves results. Sites using AI see 52% better re-engagement and 38% faster member onboarding.
- Hybrid models boost retention to 76%, compared to 62% for single-format memberships. The winning combo: courses + community + live interaction.
- Annual subscribers churn 5-10% less than monthly. The commitment creates stickiness.
- The creator economy reached $212 billion in 2024 and is expected to hit $894 billion by 2032. More creators are launching memberships than ever.
Note: These statistics are based on industry reports from 2024-2025. Market data changes frequently, so verify current figures before making business decisions.
21 Membership Site Ideas
These aren’t hypothetical ideas. Every example below is a real membership with real members paying real money.
I’ve tagged each one with a category so you can find ideas that match your expertise. For each, I’ll show you what they offer, what they charge, and what makes the model work.
1. Rayner Teo (TradingwithRayner)
TradingwithRayner · Online Trading & Investing Education
Rayner built a 1.5 million person community around trading education. His site gets over 200,000 monthly readers, and his premium membership costs $490 per year.
The model is straightforward. Free YouTube videos bring people in. Helpful blog content builds trust. Then a percentage of that audience joins his paid courses and private community.
What makes it work: Free content that actually teaches something valuable. The paid membership goes deeper, with structured courses and a community where traders can ask questions and share strategies.
2. Female Entrepreneur Association
Female Entrepreneur Association · Professional Development for Women
I mentioned them in the intro, but they’re worth a closer look. Over 5,000 members paying $47–$97 per month. That’s a membership built specifically for women building businesses.
Inside, members get monthly masterclasses, business bundles, coaching calls, and a private community. It’s not just content—it’s ongoing support.
What makes it work: A clear audience (women entrepreneurs), consistent new content every month, and live coaching that makes the membership feel personal.
3. Tim Topham (TopMusicPro)
TopMusicPro · Music Education
Tim runs a membership for piano teachers. Not students but teachers. That’s a smart niche. He provides lesson plans, teaching strategies, and a community forum where music educators help each other improve.
What makes it work: A specific audience with a specific problem. Piano teachers need fresh lesson ideas and want to get better at teaching. Tim gives them both, plus a place to connect with peers.
4. Busuu
Busuu · Language Learning
Language learning memberships work because progress takes time. People need months or years of practice, which makes a subscription model a natural fit.
Busuu has built a community of over 100 million language learners across 14 languages. Premium plans run $5.25 to $13.95 per month depending on commitment length, with annual subscribers paying around $63/year.
What sets Busuu apart is how they’ve built community correction into the learning process. You complete a speaking or writing exercise, submit it, and native speakers in the community review your work and provide feedback. It’s not just software grading you; it’s real people helping you improve. In return, you can review submissions from people learning your native language.
Premium members get grammar lessons, AI-powered vocabulary review, personalized study plans, offline access, and official McGraw-Hill certificates upon completing levels. For learners who want more, Busuu Live offers private tutoring sessions and live group classes at an additional cost.
What makes it work: The community feedback loop. Free apps can teach vocabulary, but Busuu members pay for real human correction from native speakers. Add gamification (streaks, progress tracking), structured lessons, and certificates that validate your level, and you have a membership that keeps learners engaged through the long journey to fluency.
5. NurseCon
NurseCon · Professional Certification & Continuing Education
NurseCon offers accredited continuing education courses for nurses. The membership is free, which sounds counterintuitive until you understand the model. They partner with employers and sponsors who pay for access.
Nurses get free career development. Employers get a trained workforce. NurseCon builds a massive audience.
What makes it work: Removing the paywall and finding alternative revenue. If your audience has employers who benefit from their education, B2B partnerships can fund a free membership.
6. Shaw Elite Club (Brian Shaw)
Shaw Elite Club · Niche Fitness
Brian Shaw is a 4x World’s Strongest Man champion. His membership costs $8.99 per month or $89.99 per year. Members get exclusive training programs, a private community, and access through a dedicated mobile app.
He’s not trying to compete with generic fitness apps. He built something for a specific audience: people serious about strength training who want to learn from someone who’s actually competed at the highest level.
What makes it work: Authority you can’t fake, plus a focused audience that trusts his programming. The mobile app keeps members engaged daily.
7. Chloe Bruce Academy, BMABA
Chloe Bruce Academy · BMABA · Martial Arts & Flexibility
Chloe Bruce is a world champion martial artist and stunt performer. Her academy offers video training for people who want to learn martial arts and flexibility at home.
BMABA takes a different approach. It’s a membership association for martial arts business owners with over 30,000 members. They provide insurance, certifications, and business resources for gym owners and instructors.
What makes it work: Two models here. Chloe sells training directly to students. BMABA sells professional benefits to business owners. Both work because they solve specific problems for specific audiences.
8. Calm
Calm · Wellness & Self-Care
Calm is one of the most successful wellness memberships in the world. The app offers guided meditations, sleep stories narrated by celebrities, breathing exercises, and relaxing music. Premium membership costs $69.99 per year or $399.99 for lifetime access.
Wellness memberships thrive because self-care is an ongoing practice, not a one-time fix. The best ones offer daily content: guided meditations, journaling prompts, breathing exercises, sleep routines. Members build habits over time, and the membership becomes part of their daily life.
What makes it work: Low friction, high consistency. Calm asks for five to fifteen minutes a day. That’s it. Members stay because the content fits into their routine without feeling like a chore. The daily cadence creates a habit that’s hard to break.
9. Healthy Grocery Girl
Healthy Grocery Girl · Nutrition & Meal Planning
Megan Roosevelt built Healthy Grocery Girl around simple, healthy recipes. Her membership includes meal plans, shopping lists, and cooking videos.
Meal planning memberships work because they solve a recurring problem. Every week, people need to figure out what to eat. A membership that answers that question is worth paying for month after month.
What makes it work: Practical content people use weekly. Recipes, shopping lists, and meal prep guides that save time and reduce decision fatigue. Community challenges add accountability.
10. Saifedean.com
Saifedean.com · Cryptocurrency Education
Saifedean Ammous is the author of The Bitcoin Standard, one of the most influential books in the crypto space. He has over 200,000 followers and charges $45 per month for his membership.
Members get access to four courses, two of his books, weekly live seminars, and a private forum community. The membership isn’t about trading tips or get-rich-quick schemes. It’s economics education with a Bitcoin focus.
What makes it work: Author authority. Saifedean wrote the book people reference when explaining Bitcoin’s value. That credibility turns into a membership people trust and stick with.
11. Motivating the Masses (Lisa Nichols)
Motivating the Masses · Personal Development & Mindset
Lisa Nichols is one of the most recognized personal development speakers in the world, with over 2 million followers. Her company, Motivating the Masses, offers memberships that include workshops, meditation content, and transformational coaching.
Personal development memberships work because growth is ongoing. People don’t read one book and become the best version of themselves. They need consistent input, accountability, and community.
What makes it work: A recognizable name combined with content that speaks to real struggles. Members stay because personal growth isn’t a destination. It’s a practice.
12. SPI Pro (Pat Flynn)
SPI Pro · Coaching & Consulting
Pat Flynn built Smart Passive Income into one of the most recognized brands in the online business space. His membership, SPI Pro, offers tiered access starting at $59 per month for the All Access Pass and $99 per month for the Pro membership. Members get access to courses, live office hours with Pat, curated masterminds, cohort-based learning, and a private community of entrepreneurs.
Group coaching memberships let coaches scale their impact without trading all their time for money. The model usually combines pre-recorded courses with live group calls, community access, and sometimes member matching. Members get ongoing support instead of a one-time session. Coaches get recurring revenue instead of chasing new clients every month.
What makes it work: The combination of structure and access. Courses provide the foundation. Live calls and community provide accountability. Members feel supported without needing one-on-one time for every question. SPI Pro also uses an application process to filter members, which keeps the community quality high and creates exclusivity.
13. Grow by Jameson Group
Grow by Jameson Group · Industry-Specific Professional Networks
Grow is a membership for dental professionals. Members get access to career development resources, continuing education, networking opportunities, and industry-specific training.
Professional networks work because people want to connect with others in their field. They want to learn from peers, find job opportunities, and stay current on industry trends.
What makes it work: Specificity. A general “business networking” membership competes with LinkedIn. A membership for dental professionals solves problems LinkedIn can’t. The more specific the industry, the more valuable the community.
14. Sudhir Shivaram
Sudhir Shivaram · Photography Education
Sudhir Shivaram is a wildlife photographer who turned his expertise into a membership business. He offers courses, photography tours, webinars, and community discussions for photographers who want to improve their craft.
Photography memberships work because there’s always more to learn. New techniques, new gear, new editing software. Photographers who are serious about improving want ongoing education, not just a single course.
What makes it work: A mix of content formats. Courses teach the fundamentals. Webinars cover new topics. Community discussions let members share work and get feedback. Photography tours add a premium, experiential layer.
15. SVSLearn (Society of Visual Storytelling)
SVSLearn · Art & Illustration
SVSLearn was founded by working illustrators Jake Parker and Will Terry to teach visual storytelling and children’s book illustration. Their membership tiers range from $50 to $800 per year, with a standard subscription at $24.99 per month or $198 per year. Members get access to 100+ courses, live Q&A sessions with professional illustrators, and structured learning paths. Their Pro courses on children’s books and graphic novels run as paid cohorts several times per year, with students finishing with portfolio-ready work.
Art memberships help creators move beyond YouTube tutorials and into structured learning with real feedback. The best ones combine video lessons with critique workshops and portfolio reviews. Members don’t just watch someone else paint. They submit their own work, get feedback, and improve over time.
What makes it work: Accountability and feedback. Anyone can watch a free tutorial. What keeps members paying is the chance to have their work reviewed by someone who knows what they’re doing. SVSLearn pairs a paced curriculum with live mentorship sessions, so members aren’t just consuming content alone. That interaction is hard to find for free.
16. Project Manus (MIT)
Project Manus · Maker Spaces & DIY
Project Manus is MIT’s maker space, offering over 130,000 square feet of resources for students and community members. While this is an institutional example, the model translates to online memberships too.
DIY memberships provide how-to videos, project templates, and community collaboration. Members share what they’re building, ask questions, and learn from each other’s projects.
What makes it work: Community collaboration. DIY projects often hit snags. Having a group of people who’ve solved similar problems makes the difference between finishing a project and abandoning it halfway through.
17. 40 Aprons Premium
40 Aprons started as a recipe blog focused on Whole30, paleo, and clean eating. Their Premium membership costs $3.99 per month or $39.99 per year. Members get ad-free access to 1,500+ recipes, exclusive member-only recipes, monthly meal plans with shopping lists, downloadable eBooks, and a clean eating course. They also have a mobile app where members can save recipes, build grocery lists, and plan weekly menus.
Cooking memberships solve a simple problem: what should I make for dinner? The best ones offer video libraries, meal plans, shopping lists, and community challenges. Members get new recipes regularly, so they never run out of ideas. Challenges keep things interesting and give people a reason to try something new.
What makes it work: Consistent new content and practical tools. Recipes alone aren’t enough. Meal plans and shopping lists turn inspiration into action. 40 Aprons makes it easy: pick a meal plan for your dietary needs (Whole30, keto, dairy-free), get a ready-made grocery list, and cook. That simplicity is what keeps members paying $4 a month instead of searching through ad-cluttered free sites.
18. Our Daily Bread Ministries
Our Daily Bread Ministries · Faith & Spiritual
Our Daily Bread Ministries has over 5 million users. They offer daily devotions, prayer requests, events, and ministry updates. The membership is built around consistent, daily content that fits into members’ spiritual routines.
Faith-based memberships work because spiritual growth is ongoing. People want daily encouragement, a place to connect with others who share their beliefs, and resources that help them go deeper.
What makes it work: Daily touchpoints. A devotion every morning. A prayer community that responds. Content that becomes part of someone’s routine is content they don’t cancel.
19. Outdoorsy Black Women
Outdoorsy Black Women · Niche Identity Communities
Outdoorsy Black Women is a community built around a specific identity and shared interest. Members get access to groups, forums, events, book clubs, and even eCommerce offerings.
Identity-based memberships create belonging. Members aren’t just learning something or consuming content. They’re connecting with people who share their experience and perspective.
What makes it work: Shared identity plus shared interest. The combination creates a community people actually want to be part of. Members stay because the relationships matter, not just the content.
20. Choose901 (Memphis Job Board)
Choose901 · Local Job Boards & Professional Networks
Choose901 is a Memphis-focused job board and community. They offer rich profiles, employer and job seeker matching, and local events. The membership connects people to opportunities in a specific city.
Local job boards work because they solve a problem national sites can’t. They know the local market, the local employers, and the local talent pool.
What makes it work: Geographic specificity. A national job board has millions of listings but no local context. A Memphis-focused board knows which companies are hiring, which neighborhoods are growing, and what the local job market actually looks like.
21. Reckitt
Reckitt · Corporate Training (B2B)
Reckitt is a multinational company that uses membership-style platforms for internal training. They provide remote training, partner communication, and internal communities for employees across the globe.
B2B training memberships work because companies need to train employees at scale. A membership model lets them provide ongoing education without flying people to headquarters for every session.
What makes it work: Scalability and consistency. Every employee gets the same training. Updates roll out instantly. Progress is tracked automatically. For companies with distributed teams, a membership model is often the only way to keep everyone aligned.
Now Build It With BuddyBoss
You don’t need a massive audience or a revolutionary idea. Every membership site on this list started with one person who knew something valuable and found others who wanted to learn it.
Pick the idea that matches your expertise. Start small. A handful of committed members beats thousands of disengaged subscribers every time.
The best part? You can launch a basic membership in a weekend. A simple community, a few resources, and a clear promise to your members. You can always add more later.
The recurring revenue, the deeper relationships, the community that builds itself: it all starts with that first step.
Ready to build yours? BuddyBoss gives you everything you need to launch a membership site: courses, community, gamification, and your own branded mobile app. No coding required.
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