Best / Membership platforms
Best open-source Membership platforms
The best self-hosted membership split in the c17.io catalog is Ghost for MIT publishing plus paid members (the published Memberstack / Outseta stack), WooCommerce when the job is a GPL file or membership product — /replace/podia, Discourse when the job is a GPLv2 community rather than a paywall — /compare/ghost-vs-discourse and /replace/mighty-networks, and Lago when the job is AGPL-3.0 plans and invoices rather than a member login. This is not Memberstack's every auth-gate SKU, Outseta's every CRM SKU, or Mighty Networks' every course OS. A classroom stays on /best/online-courses. A forum without billing stays on /best/forums-community.
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Ranked picks
1
GhostMIT publishing plus paid members — the c17 Memberstack / Outseta path. /compare/ghost-vs-discourse.
When to pick it: A site, a newsletter, and a member login you host.
55,549 stars in the catalog
2
WooCommerceGPL-2.0 shop already on /replace/gumroad and /replace/podia. Not a Ghost publication.
When to pick it: A file or membership product with Stripe.
10,554 stars in the catalog
3
DiscourseGPLv2 forum already on /replace/circle. /compare/ghost-vs-discourse.
When to pick it: A community if Mighty Networks was the seat, not a paywall.
48,009 stars in the catalog
4
LagoAGPL-3.0 usage billing already on /best/subscription-billing. Not a member CMS.
When to pick it: Plans and invoices, not a Memberstack gate.
10,692 stars in the catalog
How they compare
| Tool | License | Self-host | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ghost | MIT License | Easy | A site, a newsletter, and a member login you host. |
| WooCommerce | GNU General Public License v2.0 | Medium | A file or membership product with Stripe. |
| Discourse | GNU General Public License v2.0 | Medium | A community if Mighty Networks was the seat, not a paywall. |
| Lago | AGPL-3.0 | Medium | Plans and invoices, not a Memberstack gate. |
Related pages
- Ghost / WordPress stack
- WooCommerce / Ghost stack
- Discourse / Flarum stack
- Lago / Kill Bill stack
- Replace WordPress.com
- Replace Squarespace
- Replace Wix
- Replace Medium
- Replace Ghost(Pro)
- Replace Memberstack
- Replace Outseta
- Replace Memberful
- Replace Patreon
- Replace Gumroad
- Replace Podia
- Replace Circle
- Replace Skool
- Replace Facebook Groups
- Replace Stack Overflow Teams
- Replace GitHub Discussions
- Replace Discourse Cloud
- Replace Mighty Networks
- Replace Chargebee
- Replace Stripe Billing
- Replace Paddle
- Replace Lemon Squeezy
- Replace Lemon Squeezy
- Replace Recurly
- Replace Zuora
- Replace Baremetrics
- Replace ProfitWell
- Replace ChartMogul
- Replace FastSpring
- Ghost vs Discourse
- All best open-source pages
- All compare pages
- All replace pages
- All stacks
- Tools catalog
FAQ
- Ghost or Discourse?
- Ghost if you want the published Memberstack / Outseta paywall. Discourse if the job is a community — /compare/ghost-vs-discourse.
- Podia or Memberstack?
- Podia is a file or membership product — /replace/podia. Memberstack is a member login — /replace/memberstack.
- Is this Teachable?
- A classroom stays on /replace/teachable. This page is a membership, not a gradebook.
- Are these free?
- Ghost is MIT. WooCommerce is GPL-2.0. Discourse is GPLv2. Lago is AGPL-3.0. You pay hosting and a card processor. Template users never pay c17.
- How do I deploy it?
- Open /stacks/ghost-cms. Persist MySQL. Create one paid tier.
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