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Membership Software (aMember etc)

by The Offline Oracle
10 replies
I'm on the lookout for some membership software (non-WordPress).

I'll be writing some custom PHP software which I want protected behind some membership software. So the user is presented with a login page (handled by the membership software) and once validated the user will be directed to my PHP pages/scripts. Somewhere along the journey I'll need to pass the user credentials to my PHP scripts through the use of a cookie or similar (as I'll need those user details to pull info from my database). I guess somewhere I'll need some sort of account administration which I feel the membership software should also handle.

Also I'd like the membership software to handle user registration and payments/subscriptions (may also need different levels/products of membership). Users will need to pay to get into my site. If the software supported Stripe and/or Paymill that would be a bonus.

Can aMember do all I need? I know I could write my own system but the likes of aMember is vastly cheaper than the time it would take me to code.

Any other products out there worth considering?
#amember #membership #software
  • Profile picture of the author David V
    Amember is good, also DLGuard and EasyMemberPro is popular.

    I'm not positive any of these have direct support for stripe, but it shouldn't be difficult to use if you have php skill and use their API's.
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    • Profile picture of the author The Offline Oracle
      There is a Stripe plugin for aMember I think. Did a Google search and there's a few mentions of it.

      Just noticed that aMember has it's own REST API which sounds great.
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      • Profile picture of the author cgicentral
        Yes, aMember is definitely correct choice for this project.

        Easier way is to use "Lite" API : API/Lite - aMember Pro v.4 Documentation
        There are other useful links:
        API/Samples - aMember Pro v.4 Documentation
        REST - aMember Pro v.4 Documentation
        Also, if it is anyway not enough, you can include and use full aMember API. All code is OOP, and source code is open (not encoded).

        Stripe plugin is out of beta-testing stage and included with last update.

        Alex
        Signature
        Author of aMember Pro - membership script with built-in: affiliate program, helpdesk, resells, shopping cart, mailing list manager +60 supported paysystems +40 integrations
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        • Profile picture of the author The Offline Oracle
          Originally Posted by cgicentral View Post

          Yes, aMember is definitely correct choice for this project.

          Easier way is to use "Lite" API : API/Lite - aMember Pro v.4 Documentation
          There are other useful links:
          API/Samples - aMember Pro v.4 Documentation
          REST - aMember Pro v.4 Documentation
          Also, if it is anyway not enough, you can include and use full aMember API. All code is OOP, and source code is open (not encoded).

          Stripe plugin is out of beta-testing stage and included with last update.

          Alex
          Great, thanks.

          Tell me. How so I pass log in details to my custom script (just the logged in username, email or ID)?
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          • Profile picture of the author cgicentral
            Originally Posted by Jack Nacho View Post

            Great, thanks.

            Tell me. How so I pass log in details to my custom script (just the logged in username, email or ID)?
            From Lite documentation:
            From any your PHP file (located outside of aMember), include the Lite.php library:
            <?php require_once '/home/myusername/public_html/amember/library/Am/Lite.php';
            Am_Lite class is located inside file amember/library/Am/Lite.php and provides the following functions:

            Am_Lite::getInstance()->isLoggedIn()             checks if user has been authenticated

            Am_Lite::getInstance()->getUsername()             get username

            Am_Lite::getInstance()->getName() returns first&last name of logged-in customer, not HTML-escaped!

            Am_Lite::getInstance()->getEmail()             returns e-mail address of logged-in customer, not HTML-escaped
            Signature
            Author of aMember Pro - membership script with built-in: affiliate program, helpdesk, resells, shopping cart, mailing list manager +60 supported paysystems +40 integrations
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            • Profile picture of the author roblawrence
              I was just wondering why not Wordpress? There are so many great membership plugins for it. Is it the security issues?
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              • Profile picture of the author The Offline Oracle
                Originally Posted by roblawrence View Post

                I was just wondering why not Wordpress? There are so many great membership plugins for it. Is it the security issues?
                Not at all. aMember gives me the opportunity to create my own online software but to use aMember to look after all the user administration, payments and subscriptions.

                For example if I wanted to write my own version of Google Analytics I could leave aMember to look after registering users, user logins, payments (PayPal, Stripe etc), subscriptions, protecting my user dashboard (custom PHP pages) and so on for around $180. I can then concentrate on my functionality.

                Essentially it allows you to bring a product to market quicker and saves me an awful lot of hours coding.
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                • Profile picture of the author Steve Fleming
                  Originally Posted by Jack Nacho View Post

                  Not at all. aMember gives me the opportunity to create my own online software but to use aMember to look after all the user administration, payments and subscriptions.

                  For example if I wanted to write my own version of Google Analytics I could leave aMember to look after registering users, user logins, payments (PayPal, Stripe etc), subscriptions, protecting my user dashboard (custom PHP pages) and so on for around $180. I can then concentrate on my functionality.

                  Essentially it allows you to bring a product to market quicker and saves me an awful lot of hours coding.
                  If you use s2Member plugin and WordPress you get to have all that and more... and it's FREE!

                  It also happens to be the best membership software I've used and the coding is top class. The support and community is also one of the best around and far surpasses many commercial alternatives.

                  I've used amember in the past and also had to troubleshoot issues frequently for one of my clients that got saddled with it years ago and is scared to move.

                  Good luck with your project

                  Steve
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                  • Profile picture of the author The Offline Oracle
                    Originally Posted by Steve Fleming View Post

                    If you use s2Member plugin and WordPress you get to have all that and more... and it's FREE!

                    It also happens to be the best membership software I've used and the coding is top class. The support and community is also one of the best around and far surpasses many commercial alternatives.

                    I've used amember in the past and also had to troubleshoot issues frequently for one of my clients that got saddled with it years ago and is scared to move.

                    Good luck with your project

                    Steve
                    I thought s2member protected only WordPress content? My code would not be WordPress based so I'd need a way to protect those pages. With aMember I can insert a small snippet of code into each PHP page to lock it down. Can s2member handle Strip also?
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                  • Profile picture of the author cgicentral
                    Originally Posted by Steve Fleming View Post

                    I've used amember in the past and also had to troubleshoot issues frequently for one of my clients that got saddled with it years ago and is scared to move.
                    Steve, you used another product. aMember v4 is full rewrite of code, so I guess you had no chance to try it yet.
                    Signature
                    Author of aMember Pro - membership script with built-in: affiliate program, helpdesk, resells, shopping cart, mailing list manager +60 supported paysystems +40 integrations
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