Selling access to premium content — a members-only area, a private course community, or exclusive resources — requires two things: a way to collect recurring payments, and a way to restrict who sees what. WP SmartPay Pro handles the payment side; WordPress membership plugins handle the access side. Together they form a clean membership system without custom code.

Scenario

A fitness coach offers a monthly membership ($29/month) that grants access to a private workout library and weekly live session replays. New members sign up via a payment form, gain immediate access, and lose it if their subscription is cancelled or payment fails.

What You Need

  • WP SmartPay Pro (subscription billing + webhooks)
  • A membership plugin: Restrict Content Pro, WishList Member, or LearnDash (all have SmartPay integrations)
  • A gateway that supports recurring billing: Stripe, Mollie, or Paddle

Step 1: Create the Membership Level

In your membership plugin, create a membership level (e.g., "Fitness Pro Member"). Assign restricted content — pages, posts, course modules — to this level.

Step 2: Build a Subscription Payment Form

  1. Go to SmartPay → Forms → Add New.
  2. Set the price to $29 with a Monthly billing period.
  3. Optionally add a 7-day free trial to reduce sign-up friction.
  4. Publish the form and embed it on a "Join" or "Pricing" page.

Step 3: Connect SmartPay to Your Membership Plugin

  1. Go to SmartPay → Extensions.
  2. Find your membership plugin (Restrict Content Pro, WishList Member, etc.) and click Settings.
  3. Map the SmartPay subscription form to the membership level you created in Step 1.
  4. Save settings.
WP SmartPay extensions page showing membership integrations
The Extensions page shows all available integrations — activate the one that matches your membership plugin.

Step 4: Test the Flow

  1. Enable Test Mode in SmartPay General Settings.
  2. Submit the form using a test card.
  3. Verify the new subscriber appears in SmartPay → Subscriptions with Active status.
  4. Verify the user gains access to restricted content in your membership plugin.
  5. In SmartPay, cancel the test subscription and verify access is revoked.

How Access Changes Are Handled

EventSmartPay actionMembership result
First payment succeedsSubscription created (Active)Access granted
Monthly renewal succeedsSubscription renewedAccess continues
Renewal payment failsSubscription → FailingMembership plugin suspends access
Member cancelsSubscription → CancelledAccess revoked at period end

Result

When a customer submits the payment form, SmartPay creates a subscription and fires the smartpay_subscription_created hook. The membership integration listens to this hook and grants the correct membership level. No manual admin work is needed — access follows the subscription status automatically.

Tips

  • Use SmartPay's Payment Recovery feature (Reports → Recovery) to automatically retry failed renewal charges and send reminder emails before cancelling access.
  • Offer annual membership at a discount using SmartPay coupons — create a coupon for 2 months free and share it on your landing page.
  • Add the [smartpay_subscription_status] shortcode to a members-only page so logged-in users can see their next billing date.