The Best Paywall Software in 2026
We researched paywall software from official websites, including pricing pages, plan tables, and product documentation. Rankings reflect each product’s fit for restricting website content, value for money, and verified features such as access models, payment options, audience rules, and publishing integrations.
Our top picks
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Top ranked
Pigeon#1 of 309.4/10Broad paywall, entitlement, billing, and integration controls for digital publishers.
Free plan
-
Runner-up
Cleeng#2 of 309.2/10A multichannel paywall platform covering offers, billing, entitlements and retention.
Free plan
-
Top-ranked free plan
Pelcro#7 of 308.6/10A multichannel paywall and subscription platform with a free entry tier.
Free plan
Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. Vendors can pay for top positions in our rankings and for a place on other products' pages, and we may earn a commission when you click some links. Bought places stand at the number bought; this page and our disclosure say so. Paying vendors may get a fuller, more detailed review from our editors, and that review can change their score. How we rank.
The full ranking 30 tools, best first
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Best forPublishers needing broad paywall control
Broad paywall, entitlement, billing, and integration controls for digital publishers.
- Metered paywall
- Registration wall
- One-time payments
9.4/10★★★★★Visit Pigeon -
Best forMultichannel subscription businesses
A multichannel paywall platform covering offers, billing, entitlements and retention.
- One-time payments
- Entitlement rules
9.2/10★★★★★Visit Cleeng -
Best forPublishers needing advanced conversion journeys
A broad paywall and subscription platform for publishers with complex conversion needs.
- Metered paywall
- Registration wall
- One-time payments
9.0/10★★★★☆Visit Flip-Pay -
Best forEnterprise publishers optimizing conversion
Zephr combines flexible paywalls, personalization, identity, and analytics for publishers.
8.9/10★★★★☆Visit Zephr -
Best forPublishers running segmented experiments
A flexible paywall suite for publishers running segmented conversion experiments.
8.8/10★★★★☆Visit Poool -
Best forPublishers needing identity-led monetization
A broad paywall and subscription platform for publishers building identity-led monetization.
8.7/10★★★★☆Visit Evolok -
Best forPublishers needing affordable multichannel access
A multichannel paywall and subscription platform with a free entry tier.
- Metered paywall
- Registration wall
- One-time payments
8.6/10★★★★☆Visit Pelcro -
Best forWordPress publishers wanting apps included
A broad WordPress publishing stack with a free tier and managed plans from $299/month.
- Metered paywall
- Registration wall
- One-time payments
8.5/10★★★★☆Visit PaywallProject -
Best forVideo and premium-content businesses
A flexible paywall for video and premium-content businesses selling access across web and mobile.
- Registration wall
- One-time payments
- Entitlement rules
8.4/10★★★★☆Visit InPlayer -
Best forLarge publishers using AI decisioning
A broad publisher monetization platform for AI-driven access, pricing, and paywall decisions.
- Metered paywall
- Registration wall
- Entitlement rules
8.2/10★★★★☆Visit Sophi Paywall -
Best forWordPress publishers needing rich commerce
A commerce-focused paywall platform for WordPress publishers with a $799 monthly entry price.
- Metered paywall
- Entitlement rules
8.1/10★★★★☆Visit Wallkit -
Best forEstablished WordPress publishers
A broad WordPress paywall platform with strong subscription, CRM, and circulation support.
8.0/10★★★★☆Visit Leaky Paywall -
Best forWordPress sites wanting a managed paywall
A WordPress-focused paywall suite with subscriptions, targeting, testing, and access protection.
- Metered paywall
- Registration wall
- One-time payments
7.9/10★★★★☆Visit Admiral -
Best forPublishers needing identity and segmentation
A flexible publisher paywall with identity, subscriptions, segmentation, and first-party data tools.
- Metered paywall
- Registration wall
- One-time payments
7.8/10★★★★☆Visit UniSignIn -
Best forPublishers wanting paywall plus editorial CMS
A publisher-focused paywall with subscriptions, CMS workflows, and Stripe billing.
7.7/10★★★★☆Visit Paywall Plus -
Best forEstablished businesses needing commerce workflows
A broad commerce platform for publishers managing content access and subscriptions.
- Registration wall
- Entitlement rules
7.6/10★★★★☆Visit Atex -
Best forBudget-conscious WordPress publishers
A $49 one-time WordPress paywall with metering, subscriptions, and reporting.
- Metered paywall
- Registration wall
- Entitlement rules
7.5/10★★★★☆Visit PaywallWP -
Best forSmall WordPress publishers
A focused WordPress paywall with Stripe payments, quotas, and reader-access controls.
- Metered paywall
- One-time payments
- Entitlement rules
7.4/10★★★★☆Visit Boba Software -
Best forCreators selling mixed digital content
A flexible paywall for creators selling articles, media, subscriptions, and tips.
- Registration wall
- One-time payments
- Entitlement rules
7.3/10★★★★☆Visit codoc -
Best forTeams focused on paywall conversion testing
A web-based paywall platform for testing offers, segments and conversion journeys.
- Registration wall
- One-time payments
7.2/10★★★★☆Visit Upscore -
Best forCreators building memberships on external sites
A flexible creator paywall with useful publishing tools and a significant commission.
7.1/10★★★★☆Visit Steady -
Best forSmall sites needing basic metered access
A focused paywall service for small sites that need metering, subscriptions and Stripe payments.
- Metered paywall
- Registration wall
- Entitlement rules
7.0/10★★★★☆Visit Tollbridge -
Best forDevelopers wanting self-hosted paywall primitives
A flexible, self-hosted foundation for subscription and authentication gating in Next.js.
- Metered paywall
- Registration wall
- Entitlement rules
6.9/10★★★☆☆Visit Milkie -
Best forTeams needing paywall-adjacent analytics
A strong analytics layer for paywall-adjacent measurement, not paywall enforcement.
6.8/10★★★☆☆Try Piano Analytics -
Best forPublishers selling credit-based articles
A focused pay-per-article SDK for publishers using credit unlocks.
- One-time payments
6.7/10★★★☆☆Visit site -
Best forPublishers selling editions and articles
A flexible publisher paywall for articles, editions, subscriptions, and bundles.
- One-time payments
- Entitlement rules
6.6/10★★★☆☆Visit Paperview -
Best forExperimental micropayment publishers
A focused open-source pay-per-article system for crypto-ready publishers and AI agents.
- One-time payments
6.5/10★★★☆☆Visit Paperwall -
Best forWordPress sites selling individual posts
A focused paywall for individual WordPress content with Stripe and magic-link access.
- Entitlement rules
6.4/10★★★☆☆Visit Dude Paywall -
Best forWordPress video rental sites
A focused WordPress rental plugin with free essentials and a $29 Pro tier.
- One-time payments
6.3/10★★★☆☆Visit Pay-To-View -
Best forWordPress sites needing free granular gating
A free WordPress paywall plugin with granular rules, previews, and Stripe payments.
- Registration wall
- One-time payments
- Entitlement rules
6.2/10★★★☆☆Visit PostGate
No tools match those filters.
Compare at a glance
| # | Tool | Free plan | Paid from | Metered paywall | Registration wall | One-time payments | Entitlement rules | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pigeon | Yes | $99/mo | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 9.4 |
| 2 | Cleeng | Yes | Yes | Yes | 9.2 | |||
| 3 | Flip-Pay | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 9.0 | ||
| 4 | Zephr | 8.9 | ||||||
| 5 | Poool | 8.8 | ||||||
| 6 | Evolok | 8.7 | ||||||
| 7 | Pelcro | Yes | $450/mo | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 8.6 |
| 8 | PaywallProject | Yes | $299/mo | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 8.5 |
| 9 | InPlayer | Yes | Yes | Yes | 8.4 | |||
| 10 | Sophi Paywall | Yes | Yes | Yes | 8.2 | |||
| 11 | Wallkit | No | $799/mo | Yes | Yes | 8.1 | ||
| 12 | Leaky Paywall | No | $299/mo | 8.0 | ||||
| 13 | Admiral | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7.9 | |
| 14 | UniSignIn Paywall | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7.8 | ||
| 15 | Paywall Plus | 7.7 | ||||||
| 16 | Kayak Shop | Yes | Yes | 7.6 | ||||
| 17 | PaywallWP | No | $49 one-time | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7.5 | |
| 18 | Bobasoftware Publisher Paywall | Yes | $99/site/yr | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7.4 | |
| 19 | codoc | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7.3 | ||
| 20 | Upscore | Yes | Yes | 7.2 | ||||
| 21 | Steady | Yes | 7.1 | |||||
| 22 | Tollbridge | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7.0 | ||
| 23 | Milkie | Yes | Free | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | 6.9 |
| 24 | Piano Analytics | 6.8 | ||||||
| 25 | Content Credits SDK | Yes | Free | No | Yes | 6.7 | ||
| 26 | Paperview | Yes | Yes | Yes | 6.6 | |||
| 27 | Paperwall | Yes | $10/mo | No | No | Yes | 6.5 | |
| 28 | Dude Paywall | Yes | No | Yes | 6.4 | |||
| 29 | Pay-To-View Lite | Yes | $29 one-time | Yes | 6.3 | |||
| 30 | PostGate | Yes | Free | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 6.2 |
Head-to-head All 28 comparisons →
- Pigeon vs Cleeng
- Pigeon vs Flip-Pay
- Pigeon vs Zephr
- Pigeon vs Poool
- Pigeon vs Evolok
- Pigeon vs Pelcro
- Pigeon vs PaywallProject
- Cleeng vs Flip-Pay
- Cleeng vs Zephr
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How we rank paywall software
Every tool on this page was researched by iTechGuides Editors from its official website — pricing pages, plan tables and product documentation. We rank on how well each one does this category's core job, what the free or entry plan includes, and where it falls short. Where we have enough verified facts, the score out of 10 is a rubric — job fit, value and how much we could verify — shown with its breakdown on every tool's page; a tool we have not verified enough to score yet shows its rank without a number. Scores are re-checked when a product changes its plans. Read the full editorial policy, or submit a tool we missed.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Last updated · How we research and update