Paid memberships

A member group can have a price. People pay to join it on your website, and they get the group's members-only pages and sections as soon as the payment goes through. Paid memberships work with the online store off.

Give a group a price

In the business app, Settings → Memberships → Member groups → New group (or Edit on a group):

1. Under How they get in, pick Paid.
2. Enter the Price and pick how it's Billed: Monthly, Yearly or One time.
3. Save.

If you change the price later, new members pay the new price. People already paying keep the price they joined at.

While someone is paying for a group, the group stays paid: you can't take its price off or change how people get in. Cancel their memberships first.

Who takes the money

Members pay on the business's own account, with the providers connected in Settings → Payment providers:

• Card: your card provider (Stripe, Square or Authorize.net, whichever you picked there).
• PayPal: when PayPal is connected too.

The money goes straight to your account. Each provider charges its own fees; ContentForge adds none.

How each provider handles a membership that renews:

• Stripe: cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Link. Stripe bills each period. In My account, Manage billing opens Stripe's own page, where the member can change their card, cancel, or see their invoices.
• Square: cards only for renewing memberships (Square can't keep Apple Pay or Google Pay on file). Square bills each period. The member changes their card in My account. If Square was connected before paid memberships, connect it again once in Settings → Payment providers: Square asks for permission to handle subscriptions, customers and invoices.
• PayPal: the member approves the membership in PayPal. PayPal bills each period. They change how they pay in their PayPal account (Automatic payments).
• Authorize.net: the first period is paid on Authorize.net's own card form. The card is saved with Authorize.net, which bills each later period. Cards only for renewing memberships. The member changes their card on Authorize.net's own page, from My account.

One-time prices can be paid every way your checkout offers: cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and pay later where you switched it on.

How people join

A page or section for a paid group shows logged-in people who aren't in it a button like Join Gold · $12.00 / month. It opens your site's own checkout (at /membership/checkout), with your logo and colors. Card details go only into the payment provider's own fields.

• Visitors log in or create an account first, so the membership goes on their account.
• Paying makes them a member, even when you approve new members.
• On invite only sites, only existing members can buy a paid group.
• Suspended members can't buy.

After paying, they get a receipt email and the group's pages open for them (it can take a minute).

Paid membership settings

Settings → Memberships → Paid memberships:

• Who takes the money: your connected providers, with a link to Settings → Payment providers.
• When a renewal fails: keep access for 0, 3, 5, 7, 10, 14, 21 or 30 days (7 by default). In that time the provider tries the card again and the member gets an email asking them to update it. If it still isn't paid, the group ends.
• Tax:
  • Don't add tax: the price is what they pay.
  • One of your rates: a tax rate from Settings → Payments.
  • Stripe Tax: needs your Stripe account connected. The checkout asks for the member's country and ZIP or postal code. On Stripe, Stripe adds the tax on every invoice. On the other providers, the tax worked out at checkout is part of the amount charged, and each paid period is recorded with Stripe Tax.
  • Prices include tax: tick it when your prices already include tax.

Canceling

• The member: My account → Membership → Cancel membership. They aren't charged again and keep access until the end of the period they paid for. On Stripe, Keep my membership undoes it before then.

• You: Contacts → Members, the member's ⋯ → Cancel paid membership:

  • Stop renewing: no more charges; access lasts until the paid period ends.
  • End it now: access to the group ends at once.

  No refund is made either way. To refund, do it in your payment provider.

• When a member deletes their account (or you remove it), every paid membership stops at once.

What you see

• Contacts → Members: each paid membership next to the groups, such as "Paid · renews Nov 3", "Payment failed · access until Nov 10" or "Canceled · ends Nov 3". Filter by Payment failed to see who needs to update a card.
• A contact's Membership card: the same status and the price.
• The groups table (Settings → Memberships): each paid group's price and Revenue (paid so far and how many are paying; hover for the last 30 days).
• The contact's timeline: Membership payment, Membership payment failed, Membership canceled, and when a paid group ends.

Emails

Free, from your address, in your site's look: Payment receipt, Payment didn't go through, Membership canceled and Membership ended. Edit on each one in Settings → Memberships changes its subject and opening line.

Automations

Triggers: Membership paid (joining and every renewal), Membership payment failed and Membership canceled. Each can be limited to certain groups.

Zeus and AI assistants

• Zeus in the editor can make a paid group with a price, or set or remove a group's price. It shows a confirm card first.
• The business app's Zeus can list members with a failed payment and say what each member pays.
• The AI assistant connection (MCP): set_group_price sets a price (after you confirm), and list_members, get_member and list_groups show paid status, prices and revenue.