WordPress User Roles

Some Memberships should come with more than content, such as the right to write posts. WordPress User Roles turns WordPress membership roles into part of your Memberships: when a member gets a Membership, they receive the WordPress role you linked to it, and when the Membership ends, that role is removed.

You set it once per Membership. From then on, roles follow your members’ Memberships.

WordPress membership roles, set per Membership

• A role for each Membership. Link a Membership to a role such as Contributor, Author or Editor, or to a custom role on your site.
• Added when the Membership starts. The role is added as soon as the Membership becomes active, next to the roles the member already has.
• Removed when it ends. When the Membership expires or is taken off the member, its role goes too.
• Several Memberships, several roles. A member who holds two Memberships gets both linked roles.
• Administrator kept out. Administrator isn’t offered in the list, and administrators never receive a role from the add-on.

How WordPress User Roles works

1. Switch on WordPress User Roles in Ultimate Membership Pro.
2. Pick a role for each Membership that should come with one, and save.
3. When a member’s Membership becomes active, the role is added to their account.
4. When the Membership expires or is removed, the role is taken away.

Step-by-step setup is in the WordPress User Roles guide.

When a Membership should come with a WordPress role

• Paying members who write. A monthly Membership gives Contributor, so members can submit posts for your review.
• Trusted authors. An annual Membership gives Author, so members publish their own posts.
• Roles from other plugins. Custom roles appear in the list too, so a role another plugin created can come with a Membership.

For example, a coaching club links Pro Monthly to Contributor and Annual Pass to Author. When a member joins Pro Monthly, they can write posts that the club reviews. When that Membership expires, the Contributor role is removed.

Works well with

• Manager Role, to let a team member work in chosen Ultimate Membership Pro screens.
• Subscriptions, for the start and expiry dates that drive each role change.
• Content restriction, to decide which pages each Membership opens.

Questions about WordPress User Roles

Which plans include WordPress User Roles?

WordPress User Roles comes with the Full Package and Agency plans, together with all 46 Pro add-ons. The Pro plan doesn’t include Pro add-ons.

Which roles can a Membership give?

Any role on your site except Administrator, for example Editor, Author, Contributor, Subscriber and custom roles from other plugins.

Does the member keep their usual role?

Yes. The new role is added next to the roles they already have, usually Subscriber. A member always keeps at least one role.

Can one member have several roles?

Yes. Each Membership adds its own role, so a member with two Memberships holds both roles while both are active.