Move from MemberPress to PaywallProject

This guide moves your readers from MemberPress to PaywallProject on the same WordPress site. Readers who pay with Stripe keep their card, price and renewal date, and everyone keeps their login. PaywallProject reads MemberPress’s data directly, even while MemberPress is deactivated.

Before you start

• Update to PaywallProject 4.2.0 or later. You need administrator access to WordPress and to your Stripe account.
• Connect the Stripe account your readers already pay into, under PaywallProject → Settings → Stripe.
• Create one level for each old plan, with the same price and billing interval. Steps 1 and 2 of the walkthrough show how.
• Do a test run on a staging copy of your site first.
• Recreate your access rules in PaywallProject. MemberPress rules don’t carry over.

Method 1: Import directly from MemberPress (recommended)

1. Go to PaywallProject → Tools. On the Import subscribers card, select Start an import.
2. Check that Import directly from MemberPress is chosen. PaywallProject reads your members at once.
3. Under Match plans to levels, check the level for each old plan. A level with the same name is chosen for you. Choose Leave out to skip a plan.
4. Under Match statuses, check the status chosen for each old status. Change any you want.
5. Select Preview import and read the preview. Nothing is saved yet.
6. Select Import now and confirm. Then select Download report (CSV) to keep a record.

Method 2: Import an export file

Use this if MemberPress ran on a different WordPress site.

1. In MemberPress, go to MemberPress → Subscriptions and open the Recurring tab.
2. Use the export link under the table that exports every page (MemberPress: Subscriptions page). Check that the row count matches.
3. If you sell one-time or lifetime access, export the Non-Recurring tab too, and import it as a second file.
4. Go to PaywallProject → Tools. On the Import subscribers card, select Start an import.
5. Under Upload an export file, choose MemberPress.
6. Under Add your export file, add the MemberPress export.
7. Under Check the columns, select Show the column matches and fix any wrong match.
8. Under Match plans to levels, check the level for each old plan. A level with the same name is chosen for you. Choose Leave out to skip a plan.
9. Under Match statuses, check the status chosen for each old status. Change any you want.
10. Select Preview import and read the preview. Nothing is saved yet.
11. Select Import now and confirm. Then select Download report (CSV) to keep a record.

After the import

• Don’t cancel or delete subscriptions in MemberPress. Its Cancel action cancels the subscription in Stripe.
• Deactivate MemberPress, which cancels nothing in Stripe. In Stripe, under Developers → Webhooks (or Workbench → Webhooks), disable the endpoint that points at your site’s /mepr/notify/ address (MemberPress: Stripe). Disable it rather than delete it, so you can roll back.
• Cancel the recurring payments of readers who pay with PayPal, in your PayPal account.
• Remove MemberPress’s fee. If you used MemberPress’s Stripe Connect on a plan with a fee, each subscription carries an application_fee_percent. Ask MemberPress to remove it before you disconnect, or Stripe keeps paying it on every renewal (details).
• Tell readers their subscription carries over. They sign in as before.

Good to know

• Logins: the import matches readers by email and never changes a username, password or user ID. Moving to a new WordPress site too? See Readers who get a new account.
• Readers who pay with PayPal or another gateway keep their end date and are marked to subscribe again. PaywallProject sends them the Renewal reminder email before that date (details).
• Each reader gets one level. A reader with several memberships keeps the one with the best status and latest end date, and the preview names the others.
• If you connected Stripe with MemberPress’s Connect button, only MemberPress can change its subscriptions through Stripe. If a cancellation or plan change from WordPress doesn’t go through, make it in your Stripe Dashboard (why).
• Read the preview explains every result and warning.
• Prefer an AI app? Claude, ChatGPT or another connected app can run the same import. See Move subscribers with an AI app.