10 Best Groups Alternatives in 2026
Updated September 7, 2026 · Ranked by how closely each plugin matches, from WordPress.org data · How this works
Groups has 10,000+ active installs on WordPress.org. These 10 plugins share its category or its tags on WordPress.org, are actively maintained, and each has at least 100 active installs. They are ordered by how closely they match, not by our opinion.
The 10 closest alternatives to Groups
- 1
Restrict User Access
Closest matchRestrict User Access – Ultimate Membership & Content Protection
4.3 (94) 10,000+ active installsCreate Access Levels and restrict any post, page, category, etc. Supports bbPress, BuddyPress, WooCommerce, WPML, and more.
Shares the access-control, membership tags on WordPress.org. A similar number of installs, rated 4.3 against 4.8, last updated 11 days ago.
- 2
4.6 (475) 40,000+ active installsSimple membership plugin adds membership functionality to your site. Protect members only content using content protection easily.
Shares the member, membership tags on WordPress.org. About 4 times the installs, rated 4.6 against 4.8, last updated 7 days ago.
- 3
Ultimate Member
Paid version availableUltimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin
4.4 (1,445) 200,000+ active installsMembership & community plugin with user profiles, registration & login, member directories, content restriction, user roles and much more.
Shares the member, membership tags on WordPress.org. About 20 times the installs, rated 4.4 against 4.8, last updated 14 days ago.
- 4
Membership For WooCommerce
Paid version available4.4 (28) 900+ active installsThe membership plugin lets you easily restrict content, build online communities, customize user roles, & quickly manage access permissions.
Shares the member, membership tags on WordPress.org. 900+ installs against 10,000+, last updated 28 days ago.
- 5
WP-Members Membership Plugin
4.6 (272) 50,000+ active installsThe original WordPress membership plugin with content restriction, user login, custom registration fields, user profiles, and more.
Shares the membership tag on WordPress.org. About 5 times the installs, rated 4.6 against 4.8, last updated February 27, 2026.
- 6
User Frontend – Membership, User Registration, User Profile, User Directory & Content Restriction with Frontend Post Submission
4.1 (534) 20,000+ active installsCreate an AI-powered frontend post form, user registration form, user profile page, membership site, user directory, and content restriction.
Shares the membership tag on WordPress.org. About 2 times the installs, rated 4.1 against 4.8, last updated 13 days ago.
- 7
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) – Email Newsletter, Email Marketing, Membership, Subscribers and Landing Pages
4.8 (90) 40,000+ active installsBuild your email subscriber lists, send email marketing newsletters, create landing pages, build custom subscription forms with the Form Builder block …
Shares the membership tag on WordPress.org. About 4 times the installs, last updated 10 days ago.
- 8
WP User Manager – User Profile Builder & Membership
4.7 (350) 10,000+ active installsThe most customizable profiles & community builder WordPress plugin with front-end login, registration, profile customization and content restriction.
Shares the membership tag on WordPress.org. A similar number of installs, rated 4.7 against 4.8, last updated May 30, 2026.
- 9
Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction
4.7 (265) 10,000+ active installsFeature-packed membership plugin for creating subscription plans, adding recurring payments & content restriction on your membership site.
Shares the membership tag on WordPress.org. A similar number of installs, rated 4.7 against 4.8, last updated 19 days ago.
- 10
User Registration
Paid version availableUser Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder
4.8 (828) 50,000+ active installsBuild membership sites with tiered plans, content restriction, drag-&-drop custom registration & login form builder, and built-in payment system.
Shares the membership tag on WordPress.org. About 5 times the installs, last updated 26 days ago.
Switching from Groups: common questions
What is the best alternative to Groups?
Restrict User Access is the closest match: it shares the same WordPress.org tags and has 10,000+ active installs with a 4.3 out of 5 rating.
Which Groups alternative has the most users?
Ultimate Member, with 200,000+ active installs reported by WordPress.org.
Which Groups alternative is rated highest?
User Registration, rated 4.8 out of 5 by 828 reviewers. Only plugins with at least 50 reviews are counted.
Are these Groups alternatives free?
Every plugin listed here is free to install from WordPress.org. Where WordPress.org marks a plugin as commercial, the developer also sells a paid version or add-ons, and that is shown on each plugin.
How are alternatives chosen?
Automatically, from WordPress.org data: plugins that share a category top 10 with Groups score highest, then plugins that appear in the same WordPress.org rankings, then plugins with the same tags, weighted so rare tags count more than common ones. Plugins by the same author and plugins rated under 4.0 are left out.
How we choose these alternatives
Nothing on this page is picked by hand. Every day we walk the whole WordPress.org directory, then score every plugin against Groups on three signals: sharing a category top 10 counts most, then appearing in the same WordPress.org rankings, then carrying the same tags, with rare tags counting for more than common ones like "wordpress". Plugins by the same author are excluded, so an author's own add-ons cannot fill the list, and so is anything rated below 4.0 or with fewer than 100 active installs. The ten highest scores are what you see, in that order. Full methodology.
The bottom line
Restrict User Access is the closest match to Groups by the data we track, and Ultimate Member has the widest reach with 200,000+ active installs. Simple Membership shipped the most recent release, on August 31, 2026. The list is rebuilt every day from WordPress.org, so a plugin that stops being maintained drops out on its own.
Weekly · free
What moved this week
One email a week, built from the same daily snapshots these rankings come from: the plugins that climbed, what launched, and one ranking worth a look.