What is MembersOnly?
MembersOnly is a membership management platform built for community organizations — from kayak clubs and HOAs to professional associations. It handles member directories, event management, dues collection, and communications in one modern interface.
Unlike generic membership plugins bolted onto WordPress, MembersOnly is purpose-built from the ground up with Stripe integration, sponsor pages for local business partnerships, and an API-first architecture that enables custom integrations.
Kayak clubs managing seasonal memberships, HOAs collecting annual dues, professional associations coordinating events — MembersOnly provides the tools without the enterprise pricing.
Core Features
Member Management
Member profiles, directories, membership tiers, and engagement tracking.
Event Coordination
Event creation, RSVPs, calendar integration, and automated reminders.
Payment Collection
Stripe-powered dues collection, recurring billing, and invoice management.
Sponsor Pages
Local businesses can sponsor clubs with dedicated landing pages.
Stripe Integration
MembersOnly uses Stripe Checkout for payment processing, which means:
- Hosted payment pages — PCI compliance handled by Stripe
- Subscription management — Recurring dues with automatic retry
- Customer portal — Members can update payment methods themselves
- Webhook sync — Real-time status updates from Stripe to MembersOnly
The Sponsor API
One of MembersOnly's unique features is the Sponsor API — an interface that allows local businesses to manage their sponsor pages programmatically. We built reusable services for this integration.
MembersOnlySponsorService
The MembersOnlySponsorService class provides a clean interface to the Sponsor API:
// API Endpoints available:
GET /sponsor - Get sponsor info
POST /sponsor/content - Update sponsor content
PUT /sponsor/sections/{key} - Update section
POST /sponsor/sections/bulk - Bulk update
MembersOnlyAdapter
The MembersOnlyAdapter transforms project content (brand.json, CMS, config) into MembersOnly sponsor page format. This enables projects to be served natively on MembersOnly while maintaining brand identity.
buildHeadline()— Generates headline from brand databuildServicesSections()— Converts services to sponsor sectionssync()— Pushes all content to MembersOnlypreview()— Shows what would be synced without syncing
$adapter = new MembersOnlyAdapter($projectPath);$adapter->sync(); — Push all project content to MembersOnly
Architecture Decisions
Building MembersOnly required several key architectural decisions:
- Custom PHP over WordPress — No plugin conflicts, no theme limitations, complete control
- Stripe-native — Not a payment gateway abstraction; deeply integrated with Stripe's ecosystem
- API-first — The Sponsor API demonstrates extensibility beyond the web UI
- Multi-tenant — Each organization gets isolated data with shared infrastructure
Why Custom Development?
Off-the-shelf membership plugins exist, but they come with trade-offs:
- WordPress plugins add security surface area
- Generic solutions don't support sponsor partnerships
- SaaS platforms charge per-member fees that don't scale
- Custom integrations require developer access to plugin internals
MembersOnly was purpose-built to solve these specific problems for community organizations. The same approach — custom development with modern architecture — can solve your unique membership challenges.
MembersOnly demonstrates what's possible when you build exactly what's needed instead of adapting generic tools. We apply the same philosophy to every custom development project.
