Content paywalling is a major source of revenue for web publishers. It provides a user-friendly alternative to ad-based monetization. Publishers can opt to set up a paywall on their website during the design process or add one later by subscribing to a paywall platform.
This article covers the best paywall solutions and platforms for online content creators.
Paywall Types
There are many ways to implement a paywall. Below is a list of paywall types:
- Soft or Metered Paywalls. A limited amount of content is available for free; users need to pay to unlock more.
- Hard Paywalls. No content is available for free. Consumers must subscribe to gain access to any content.
- Freemium Paywalls. The content is segmented into tiers, typically a free tier and a premium tier.
- Dynamic Paywalls. The availability of content is based on the user's on-site behavior.
- AdBlocker Walls. Client-side adblockers determine access to content.
- Server-Side Paywalls. Content is delivered bit by bit via server requests after a valid payment transaction.
- Client or Browser-Side Paywalls. Client-side scripts gate the content.
Note: To learn more about how paywalls work and their advantages as a monetization tool, check out our in-depth guide What is a Paywall?.
17 Best Paywall Solutions
The following paywall solutions have established themselves as the best option to monetize online content via paywalls.
1. Aptitude Subscription Management & Billing
Aptitude provides a subscription management service for publishers looking to optimize their recurring revenue growth. The Aptitude platform supports a variety of direct-to-consumer monetization models, including subscriptions, pay-per-view, metered paywalls, as well as hybrid models.
Whether you have an established publishing website or are seeking to launch a new service, Aptitude will help you minimize operational expenditures and maximize transaction success.
Price: Pricing info available on request.
2. MemberGate
MemberGate is a complete, all-in-one service for building, managing, and maintaining subscription websites. When you sign up for the service, professional web designers create a custom look for your website. The developers then implement monetization features, including modules for content publishing, paywalling, payment processing, subscriptions, and more. Personalized customer support is included in the price.
Price: $97/month for the MG100 tier.
Note: For more on how to start a subscription business, read our guide How to Start a Subscription Business.
3. Contribute.to
Contributions+ is an enterprise-level tool suite for monetizing digital content by Contribute.to (formerly Laterpay). It provides a flexible alternative to subscription-based monetization with its Tab feature.
With the Tab, users aggregate small purchases on a website over time and pay once their tab reaches $5. This gives users full control over how they access content, ensuring seamless, user-friendly monetization. The service comes as an API, which is integrated with an existing website.
Price: Free to use, with a 6% fee for direct contributions + processing fees.
4. Media Pass
Media Pass is a paywall platform aimed at publishers and content creators. A single line of code adds a paywall to articles, videos, podcasts, and other content. Media Pass supports multiple monetization options, including hard, soft, and metered paywalls. Users gain access to content by purchasing a subscription plan or a one-time access token. Alternatively, they pay to unlock individual pieces of content.
Price: Media Pass takes a percent of total revenue on the platform.
5. Leaky Paywall
Leaky Paywall is a flexible paywall solution aimed at WordPress publishers. It is one of the few paywall platforms with iOS and Android integration, as well as support for customer relationship management (CRM) software. The installation procedure is as simple as installing the associated WordPress plugin, making Leaky Paywall the perfect paywall solution for publishers with an existing tech stack.
Price: $249/month for the Pro Plan.
6. Pelcro
Pelcro is an all-in-one subscription and membership management platform for digital publishers. It features extensive paywall support, including embedded paywalls, wide-meter paywalls, and newsletter paywalls. Pelcro is deployed via plugins for WordPress, Wixx, and Drupal. One of Pelcro's standout features is support for paywall A/B testing, which allows the creation of custom subscription plans that target different users.
Price: $99/month for the Starter subscription (up to 1000 subscribers).
7. Piano.io
Piano.io is a sophisticated paywall solution that helps publishers analyze and monetize reader behavior. Features include metered paywalls, subscription reminders with customizable rules and triggers, A/B testing, and other features for driving customer engagement. What makes it all work is Piano.io's streamlined user interface, suitable for publishers with no prior experience with data-driven customer management.
Price: Pricing information available on contact.
8. Pigeon Paywall
Pigeon Paywall is a paywall solution for publishers and content creators who prefer simplicity and ease of use. It is deployed as plugin, making it easy to integrate with an existing website. Pigeon has built-in support for a wide variety of paywall types, including hard, metered, and reversed paywalls.
Price: One-off setup and training fee of $1500, a $99/month subscription, and a 10% fee per transaction.
9. Zuora
Zuora is a powerful platform for content monetization, offering a variety of paywall solutions, including recurring, usage-based, metered, and item-specific pricing. Zuora matches billing frequency to subscriber preferences. The platform provides low-code SDKs and APIs that work with existing publisher applications and ecosystems, making it easy to integrate into your tech stack.
Price: Pricing info available on request.
10. Digioh
Digioh is a flexible paywall solution for publishers. With Digioh's metered paywalls, publishers can allow partial access based on content category, the number of articles read, session length, and point of access. Digioh seamlessly integrates with over 100 tech stacks and is easily plugged into any publishing system. For advanced users, there is a professional dev team on stand-by to help with any issues.
Price: Pricing information available upon request.
11. Evolok
Evolok is the complete solution for managing content paywalls. Evolok's dynamic paywalls help publishers get the most out of their premium content without impacting customer experience. The built-in audience analytic tools make it easy to monetize content on a per-user basis, taking into account on-site behavior, purchase history, and content preferences. One of Evolok's standout features is built-in protection against adblockers.
Price: Pricing info available on request.
12. Zlick Paywall
The Zlick Paywall is a WordPress plugin with an extensive list of features. Zlick features a CRM system, an analytics dashboard, and a marketing toolkit. Content creators leverage the solution to restrict access to content on a post-by-post basis directly from the WordPress post screen.
Price: 5% fee on each transaction.
13. Pico
Pico is an audience development and monetization tool. With Pico, publishers sell memberships, email collections, newsletters, online courses, digital downloads, and one-time passes. It is easy to integrate with any CRM tool and comes with a WordPress plugin.
Price: $0/month for the first 500 contacts.
14. Poool
Poool is a dynamic paywall designed with publishers and content creators in mind. It helps create lasting connections with readers by offering personalized access to content. Poool comes with a dashboard that has functions such as paywall A/B testing, audience analytics, and more. It also offers a number of customizable, audience-facing widgets for seamless content unlocking.
Price: Starter subscription at ?350 per month for sites with up to 500 000 monthly page views.
15. Admiral
Admiral gives publishers the fastest, easiest way to implement paid subscriptions, metered paywalls, site registrations, memberships, and donations. Some of the top features include configurable engagement options and CTAs for paywall conversion optimization, audience segmentation and paywall targeting, subscriber management, and more. The installation is via a WordPress plugin, and takes minutes to complete.
Price: 15% revenue share of subscriptions sold.
16. Wallkit
Wallkit empowers publishers to control and monetize audience access to editorial content, newsletters, and online events. It offers full paywall customization for different types of content, including text, PDFs, video, and newsletters. Wallkit is API-based, and easy to integrate with publishing tools including WordPress, HubSpot, Streak, MailChimp, Stripe, Slack and Braintree.
Price: $199/month plus 2.9% transaction fee.
17. Zephr
Zephr is an intelligent paywall solution for publishers and other digital media outlets. It supports a variety of paywall techniques, including soft, metered, hard, and dynamic. Zephr fits seamlessly into any tech stack, making it easy to connect with your existing tools.
Price: Pricing info available on request.
Conclusion
Paywalls are one of the most effective monetization techniques in the realm of digital publishing. If you are serious about generating revenue with content, these top platforms and solutions will give you the tools you need to convert visitors into customers and subscribers.