Memberful is a mature membership platform used by thousands of creators. If you're running a membership business that spans gated content, merchandise, podcasts, and community — Memberful is built for that.
StackPassis built for a narrower job: if you're already on Substack and just want the Discord sync part automated, we do only that, and we do it cheaper.
The short version
- Pick Memberfulif Substack isn't your primary content platform, or you need a full membership system with email, merchandise, and podcast hosting.
- Pick StackPass if Substack is doing fine as your content + payments backbone and you just want to bolt on a paid Discord community.
Pricing
| Tier | StackPass | Memberful |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | $19/mo ($15/mo annual) | $25/mo (Starter) + 10% transaction fee |
| Mid tier | $49/mo ($39/mo annual) | $49/mo (Pro) + 4.9% transaction fee |
| Transaction fees | 0% (we never take a cut of your revenue) | 4.9%–10% of member payments |
| Trial | 14 days, money-back guaranteed | 30 days free trial |
The transaction fee is the bigger cost for most creators. If you're doing $5,000/month in membership revenue, Memberful Starter takes $500/monthon top of the $25 base. StackPass's flat fee means your revenue stays yours — you only pay Stripe's standard 2.9% + 30¢ processing, which you're paying anyway through Substack.
Where Memberful wins
- Full membership infrastructure.Memberful hosts gated content, member-only podcasts, and a member dashboard. If you haven't committed to Substack, it's a great all-in-one.
- Stripe-free option.Memberful has its own payment processor if you don't want to run Stripe yourself.
- Multi-tier memberships natively. Gold / Silver / Bronze pricing tiers each with different perks are built in.
- Brand. Memberful is older and has a bigger customer roster.
Where StackPass wins
- No transaction fees.Your Substack revenue stays your Substack revenue. We're charging a flat subscription, not a percentage of your earnings.
- Built for Substack specifically.Memberful doesn't have a dedicated Substack integration — you'd have to migrate your paid content off Substack to use Memberful fully, or use it in a confusing dual-subscription setup. StackPass reads your Substack subscriber data directly through the Stripe account Substack already uses.
- Five-minute setup.Memberful's onboarding is thorough because it's running your whole membership system. StackPass connects in about five minutes because we only do one thing.
- Cheaper at every revenue level once you factor in transaction fees. The breakeven is effectively immediate.
The critical distinction
Memberful is a platform. It wants to host your business. Moving to it is a commitment — you'd likely migrate your paid Substack content over, accept Memberful's branded checkout, and learn their dashboard.
StackPass is a tool. It's designed to slot into a workflow you already have (Substack + Discord) without asking you to change anything about either. If Substack is working for you as a content platform, don't migrate off it just to add Discord sync — add StackPass.
Who should pick which
Go with Memberful if:you're building a membership business from scratch, OR you want to move off Substack onto a full platform, OR you need multiple paid tiers with different access levels today.
Go with StackPass if:Substack is working, you want your subscribers in Discord, and you don't want to pay a percentage of your revenue for what should be a simple sync.
Try StackPass free for 14 days
14-day trial. 14-day money-back guarantee. Takes about five minutes to set up.