=== SureMembers - Membership & Content Restriction Plugin ===
Contributors: brainstormforce
Tags: membership, content restriction, members only, paywall, access control
Requires at least: 6.6
Tested up to: 7.1
Requires PHP: 7.4
Stable tag: 1.4.1
License: GPLv2 or later
License URI: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

Protect your content, build memberships, and control who sees what on your WordPress site, without writing a single line of code.

== Description ==

**SureMembers turns your WordPress site into a powerful membership platform.**

Lock content, build unlimited membership levels, and decide exactly who has access to what. Whether you run a paid membership site, a course platform, or simply want to share content with a select group, SureMembers gives you everything you need to get started.

Set it up in minutes. No complicated configurations. No monthly per-member fees. Everything runs natively on WordPress, under your brand, with your data.

**[Try the live demo](https://app.zipwp.com/blueprint/suremembers-demo-48o)** (no signup required).

== Why SureMembers? ==

Most membership tools either lock you into expensive monthly plans or require hours of configuration. SureMembers takes a different approach: a clean, focused content restriction solution that works the way you'd expect WordPress to work.

You stay in control of your content, your members, and your business. Pair it with your favorite payment platform like SureCart, and you have a complete membership system running on WordPress.

== What You Can Build ==

**Membership Sites**: Create unlimited membership levels and decide what each level can access.

**Paid Courses**: Protect lessons and course content based on membership.

**Private Content Libraries**: Share guides, resources, and downloads with paying members only.

**Subscription Communities**: Restrict access to community pages, posts, and discussions.

**Premium Newsletters**: Gate articles and posts behind a membership.

**Resource Hubs**: Give different access levels to different customer tiers.

== Free Features ==

**Memberships & Content Protection**

* Unlimited memberships: create as many access groups as you need
* Protect the entire website, any post type (posts, pages, and custom post types), taxonomy and term archives, or hand-picked posts, pages and terms
* Restrict by URL, including regular expression matching, for anything that is not a post
* Exclude specific content from a rule so you can protect broadly and open up exceptions
* Inline content gating with the `[suremembers_restrict]` shortcode
* Unauthorized access handling: redirect, show a custom message or teaser, or send visitors to a specific page
* Rule priority when several memberships protect the same content
* Restricted content stays restricted on the REST API, in search results, and inside SureDash spaces
* Hide navigation menu items from visitors who do not have access
* Restrict the WordPress admin dashboard and admin bar by user role
* Restrict the current page in one click from the front-end admin bar, and see restriction status right in the block editor

**Members & Access Management**

* Members screen with search, plus filters by user role and by membership
* Grant or revoke memberships, and set or change expiration dates, from the members list or the WordPress user profile screen
* Membership expiration dates with an automatic background sweep that revokes access on time
* Auto-grant a membership when a new user registers
* Duplicate an existing membership to reuse its rules
* Display members of specific memberships on any page with the `[suremembers_list_members]` shortcode

**Analytics**

* Analytics tab with new member counts, growth and trends, upcoming expirations, and recent activity
* Per-membership snapshot and a breakdown of where members came from (SureCart, SureForms, WooCommerce, LearnDash, TutorLMS, manual, and more)
* Access log of every grant and revoke event

**AI & Automation**

* Built on the WordPress Abilities API, with an optional MCP server so AI clients like Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code Copilot and Continue can work with your memberships
* Abilities to create, read, update, duplicate and delete memberships, manage protected content, grant and revoke access, and read member lists and analytics
* Read-only by default; editing and deleting are separate opt-in toggles
* WP-CLI support for listing and running abilities

**Login & Branding**

* Login page customizer: logo, colors, background image, transparent form, and more
* Custom login URL with a redirect for the default WordPress login page
* Redirection rules for login and logout
* Customizable restriction and login messages

**Integrations**

* SureCart: grant and revoke memberships automatically on purchase, refund or cancellation
* SureForms: grant memberships when a payment completes, revoke them on cancellation or full refund
* WooCommerce: grant access on order and subscription status changes, plus members-only coupons
* LearnDash: protect courses, groups and lessons
* TutorLMS: protect courses and lessons
* BuddyBoss: assign a membership when an account is activated, and use SureMembers as the access control provider
* SureDash: control access to portals, spaces and member search
* Jetpack compatibility

**Everything Else**

* Guided onboarding wizard and a Learn tab that walks you through setup
* Clean, intuitive admin dashboard
* Works with any WordPress theme
* Multisite friendly
* Lightweight and fast, no bloat
* Mobile-friendly responsive design
* Translation-ready, with German, Spanish, French, Dutch, Polish and Brazilian Portuguese included

== SureMembers Premium ==

Take your membership site further with SureMembers Premium:

* **User Role Sync**: Create custom user roles, assign them to memberships, and keep WordPress roles in sync automatically
* **Block-Level Restrictions**: Restrict individual blocks inside posts and pages, right from the block editor
* **Drip Content**: Release content over time, scheduled from the day a member joins
* **Protected Downloads**: Serve files from a private folder so only members can download them
* **Login Restrictions**: Limit concurrent login sessions per user role, block or allow new logins when the limit is reached, and let members log out of other devices
* **Email Templates**: Branded welcome, password reset and access expiration emails, with merge tags, optional WooCommerce styling, and test sends
* **Import Users via CSV**: Bulk import users, assign memberships and expiration dates, and send welcome emails
* **Team (Corporate) Accounts**: Sell team plans with per-team seat limits, shareable invite links, membership variations, manual or CSV member management, and front-end team pages. Members inherit the owner's access automatically

[Learn more about SureMembers Premium](https://suremembers.com)

== Works Great With ==

SureMembers is part of a growing WordPress ecosystem:

* **[SureCart](https://surecart.com/)**: Sell memberships, courses, and digital products. SureCart pairs perfectly with SureMembers to power your entire membership business.
* **[SureForms](https://sureforms.com/)**: Collect payments through a form and grant the matching membership automatically.
* **[SureDash](https://suredash.com/)**: Build a community right inside WordPress with discussion spaces, courses, and member dashboards. Use SureMembers to control access to portals and spaces.
* **[Astra Theme](https://wpastra.com/)**: The most popular WordPress theme, fully compatible with SureMembers.

It also works with WooCommerce, LearnDash, TutorLMS and BuddyBoss out of the box.

Each plugin works independently, but together they give you a complete membership and community business, all on WordPress.

== Perfect For ==

* Course creators selling online courses
* Coaches running paid coaching programs
* Bloggers offering premium content
* Membership sites with multiple tiers
* Communities that need private spaces
* Businesses sharing resources with customers
* Anyone who wants to control content access on WordPress

== Installation ==

1. Go to **Plugins > Add New** in your WordPress dashboard
2. Search for **SureMembers**
3. Click **Install Now**, then **Activate**
4. Go to **SureMembers** in your admin menu to create your first access group

Or upload the plugin zip file via **Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin**.

== Frequently Asked Questions ==

= Do I need any coding skills? =

Not at all. SureMembers works out of the box. Install it, create an access group, and start protecting your content. Everything is point-and-click.

= Will it work with my theme? =

Yes. SureMembers is designed to work with any standard WordPress theme. It does not change your site's appearance; it simply controls who can access your content.

= Can I sell memberships with SureMembers? =

SureMembers handles content restriction. To take payments, pair it with SureCart, SureForms, WooCommerce or any compatible payment plugin. SureMembers grants access automatically when the purchase completes and revokes it when the subscription is cancelled or refunded.

= Can I have multiple membership levels? =

Yes. You can create unlimited access groups, each with their own rules for what content they can access.

= Will it work with my LMS plugin? =

Yes. SureMembers integrates with popular LMS plugins so you can protect lessons and courses based on membership level.

= Is my data safe? =

Your data stays on your WordPress site. SureMembers does not store member information on external servers. You own everything.

= Does it work with WooCommerce? =

Yes. SureMembers grants access when a WooCommerce order or subscription becomes active and revokes it when the order is refunded, cancelled or deleted. You can also create members-only coupons.

= Can AI assistants manage my memberships? =

Yes. SureMembers registers WordPress abilities and can expose an MCP server, so clients like Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor and VS Code Copilot can read your membership data and, if you allow it, create or update memberships. Everything is read-only until you turn on the edit and delete toggles under Settings > AI Abilities.

= Can I sell team or corporate memberships? =

Team Accounts are part of SureMembers Premium. They let a buyer become a team owner, invite members through a shareable link or CSV, and manage seats, while members inherit the owner's access.

= How can I report a security bug? =

We take plugin security seriously. Report vulnerabilities through our [Bug Bounty Program](https://brainstormforce.com/bug-bounty-program/). We collaborate with Patchstack to validate and triage security issues responsibly.

== Links ==

* [SureMembers Website](https://suremembers.com)
* [Documentation](https://suremembers.com/docs)
* [Support](https://suremembers.com/support)

== Changelog ==

= 2026-09-08 - version 1.4.1 =
* Fix: Fixed an issue where a user's synced role was not always removed when their membership access was revoked or the membership itself was deleted, leaving the role assigned.
* Fix: Fixed an issue where the Bulk Edit action on the Users screen did nothing on WordPress 7.1 and above.
* Fix: Fixed an issue where the unauthorized access "Message" page appeared unstyled on block (full site editing) themes.
* Fix: Fixed an issue where percent-encoded characters were stripped from the redirect URL, breaking links such as SureCart checkout URLs.

= 2026-08-17 - version 1.4.0 =
* New: SureForms integration — automatically grant memberships when a SureForms payment completes, and revoke them when the subscription is cancelled or the payment is fully refunded. Requires SureForms.
* Improvement: Redesigned the Edit Membership and Email screens with a cleaner, tabbed settings layout.
* Improvement: Expanded WordPress Abilities support with new abilities to read and update a membership's configuration, view and manage its protected content, and duplicate an existing membership. Ability responses now include a result schema so connected MCP clients get a clear, predictable output contract.
* Improvement: Improved content protection and drip content selection on the Edit Membership screen.
* Fix: Fixed an issue where the membership assigned (Joined) date shown in the members list could be off by the site's timezone offset.

= 2026-07-28 - version 1.3.0 =
* New: Team (Corporate) Accounts — manage teams per membership, with team registration and management on the frontend. Requires SureMembers (Pro).
* Improvement: Improved the user details popup.
* Improvement: UI enhancements across the admin dashboard.
* Improvement: Added groundwork in the codebase to support upcoming features such as payments.
* Fix: Fixed an issue where unauthenticated visitors to wp-admin could be redirected to a restricted membership page instead of the login form when a custom login URL was set, locking administrators out.

= 2026-07-08 - version 1.2.2 =
* Improvement: Added the missing Analytics link in the admin sidebar so the Analytics page can be opened directly from the menu.
* Improvement: Switched the admin bar restriction script to WordPress's built-in element library for better compatibility and a smaller footprint.
* Fix: Fixed a security issue where redirect URL suggestions could render unsafe HTML; titles are now decoded and displayed safely.
* Fix: Fixed an issue where a membership's relative expiration date shown on the WordPress user profile screen could differ from the date shown in SureMembers and from when access actually ends.

= 2026-06-29 - version 1.2.1 =
* New: A new Analytics tab with membership growth insights, recent activity, upcoming expirations, and per-membership snapshots.
* Improvement: Improved membership status handling by automatically checking and updating expired memberships in the background.
* Improvement: Draft memberships now appear as disabled in the user details popup and can no longer be granted or revoked.
* Fix: Fixed an issue where some blocks, including Gravity Forms blocks, could show errors when used with SureMembers.
* Fix: Fixed an issue that could cause redirect loops in certain protected page settings.
* Fix: Fixed an issue on Multisite networks where viewing a user's profile could silently remove their membership assignments from other sites in the network.
* Fix: Fixed an issue where the expiration date set from the user details popup was not getting saved.

= 2026-06-17 - version 1.2.0 =
* New: Introduced WordPress Abilities support for managing memberships and accessing membership analytics, along with new MCP settings integration.
* New: Added the suremembers_list_members shortcode to display members from specific Access Groups directly on pages and posts.
* Improvement: Enhanced overall UI/UX across the plugin for a smoother and more intuitive user experience.

= 2026-06-08 - version 1.1.0 =
* New: Added a Learn tab to help users complete setup and configure the plugin more easily.
* Improvement: Added French, Dutch, and Polish language translations for improved localization support.
* Fix: Improved security by ensuring access restrictions are properly enforced across all post types, REST API requests, and SureDash content access.

= 2026-06-03 - version 1.0.2 =
* Fix: Resolved a JavaScript console error on admin pages caused by a missing UI styles dependency.

= 2026-06-02 - version 1.0.1 =
* Fix: Handled onboarding redirection while installing plugins through the onboarding process.

= 2026-06-02 - version 1.0.0 =
* Initial release of SureMembers Core, the free version of SureMembers.
