LaunchPass vs Memberful Comparison 2026
LaunchPass puts a paywall in front of a Discord, Slack or Telegram community you already run, free to start or $29 a month for Premium at a 3.5 percent transaction fee. Memberful adds paid memberships to a website you already run, usually WordPress, for $49 a month plus a 4.9 percent fee. The axis is where the membership lives: a chat community on LaunchPass, or your own site on Memberful, and LaunchPass is cheaper on both the subscription and the percentage.
Charge for access to a Discord or Slack group
Paid memberships bolted onto a site you own
At a glance
- LaunchPass starts cheaper, at $29.
- Only LaunchPass has a free tier.
- LaunchPass takes 3.5% of what you earn against Memberful's 4.9%.
Side by side
LaunchPass | Memberful | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $29 | From $49 |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Free plan, paid tiers | Paid subscription |
| Free tier (they differ) | Yes | No |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | 14 days | Not stated |
| API |
LaunchPass
Charge for access to a Discord or Slack group
LaunchPass puts a paywall in front of a chat community you already run, and hands out and removes the roles as people pay and lapse. It connects to Discord, Slack and Telegram, and the money arrives through your own Stripe account. It manages access rather than hosting anything, so the community stays where your members already are.
Our note
Sensible if your community is already somewhere and already wanted. Compare it against DoorFee if the community is on Discord, since DoorFee sells the membership as well as gating it, and against Circle or Skool if you were half thinking of moving anyway.
Only on this side
- Works with Discord
Memberful
Paid memberships bolted onto a site you own
Memberful sells memberships from a site you already run rather than moving your audience to a platform, and it is the tool most WordPress publishers reach for when they start charging. One price covers everything and the money is charged on top as a percentage. Nothing is billed until a first payment comes in, so a launch that never launches costs nothing.
Why people weigh these two
- Memberful instead of LaunchPass
- Memberful starts at $49 with no free tier, more than LaunchPass' $29, and bolts memberships onto a site already owned rather than a Discord or Slack.
- LaunchPass instead of Memberful
- LaunchPass from $29 with a free tier charges for access to a Discord or Slack group, gating a chat rather than a site you own.
Which one should you pick
Choose LaunchPass if the community already exists on Discord, Slack or Telegram and the job is charging for access without moving it anywhere. Premium is $29 a month at a 3.5 percent fee, with Stripe's own processing on top, and the free tier is worth checking first for anybody with modest volume.
Choose Memberful if the membership belongs on a website you run rather than in a chat app, especially WordPress, since one plan at $49 a month includes everything with nothing charged until a first payment arrives. Model the 4.9 percent fee against revenue: at $2,000 a month collected it runs to about double the subscription itself.
Common questions
- Which one is cheaper?
- LaunchPass, on both numbers: $29 a month against Memberful's $49, and a 3.5 percent fee against 4.9 percent. Memberful is built for a website membership rather than a chat community, which is the trade for the higher price.
- Does either one host the content itself?
- Neither does, in different ways. LaunchPass manages access to a Discord, Slack or Telegram community that already exists elsewhere. Memberful adds paywalls and accounts to a site you already run rather than hosting content of its own.
- When is nothing charged on Memberful?
- Until the account goes live and takes a first payment; a launch that slips costs nothing. LaunchPass has a free tier of its own, plus a 14-day trial on Premium.
- Which one suits a WordPress publisher specifically?
- Memberful is described as the tool most WordPress publishers reach for when they start charging. LaunchPass is built around chat platforms instead and does not mention WordPress integration.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.