How to manage course access by membership level in WordPress

Write down exactly what each membership level should access. For example, Bronze might include Course A, while Gold includes Courses A, B and C. Decide whether an upgrade adds access, replaces the old level, or lets members keep several levels at once.

Use one clear source of truth for access. If both the LMS and membership plugin have separate enrolment rules, a member can still see a course after their membership expires or be blocked after paying.

Check whether your LMS has its own membership, bundle, group or access-plan feature. LifterLMS can attach courses to a membership through its membership auto-enrolment settings, while LearnDash can use course access settings and an integration to associate membership levels with courses.

This is the manual route and is fine for a small site when your LMS already handles memberships. Open the membership or bundle, add the courses, and configure what happens to access when the membership ends. The drawback is that each LMS uses different terminology and rules, so moving between systems or adding a separate membership plugin can create duplicate enrolments.

Choose what visitors and members without the right level see. Common options are a login prompt, a membership sales page, a custom message or a redirect. Keep the course sales page public if you want people to read the outline, but protect lessons and downloadable materials.

Check direct lesson URLs as well as the course page. Some systems protect the course but leave a lesson or attached file exposed unless the lesson inherits the course restriction. LifterLMS, for example, provides membership restriction settings and configurable redirects for restricted content.

Use a separate test account to check four states: no membership, the lowest level, an upgraded level and an expired or cancelled level. Confirm the course catalogue, course page, lessons, quizzes, downloads and progress dashboard all behave as expected.

Pay particular attention to existing members when you add a new course or change a rule. Some integrations enrol people only when they join or change level, so current members may need to be enrolled or removed manually.

For a membership-led site, install Paid Memberships Pro and its Courses for Membership Add On, then choose whether to use its native course module or connect it to an LMS such as LearnDash, LifterLMS, Tutor LMS or Sensei LMS. The add-on lets you select the membership levels that can access a course; with supported integrations, members can be enrolled when they complete checkout.

For the native module, go to Memberships > Courses, enable the course module, create the course and lessons, then select the permitted levels in the course’s Require Membership settings. For LearnDash, enable its module, set the course or group’s required levels, and set the LearnDash course access mode to Closed. Do not assume existing members will be updated automatically; review and correct their enrolments after changing protection.