Membrr.com for Membership Websites & Subscriptions (EE2 & EE1.6.8) (Now Released!)
Development and Programming
Update: As of May 25, 2010, Membrr is now released and available publicly. We’ve added lots of new features, payment gateways, and enhancements during the beta. We’ve also solved a lot of issues and moved to a completely self-hosted distribution model to get rid of ourselves as another middle men. No transaction fees. No monthly fees. Get Membrr for ExpressionEngine today for just $145!
Hello,
Electric Function, Inc. would like to invite any ExpressionEngine designers/developers who require subscription billing and/or membership website features to a private beta of Membrr.com. Membrr is a powerful subscription billing engine that works across multiple payment gateways (with more to be added). It integrates with other software via an XML API but, more importantly to the ExpressionEngine community, includes free “Membrr for ExpressionEngine” modules that plug into EE 2.0 and EE 1.6.8 so you don’t need to do any API programming!
Once the module is installed in EE, you will have access to a Membrr control panel from within your EE control panel. Here you can manage subscriptions, create new subscriptions, view payment histories, and edit your subscription plans.
The module connects with the Membrr Server via an API to handle all of your recurring billing charges, automatic emails, transaction and customer records, and payment gateway preferences. For those who would prefer to host the billing engine themselves, there is Enterprise Licensing available. Also, designers can re-brand the Membrr Server and use a customized subdomain if they’d prefer.
Membrr integrates into ExpressionEngine with a comprehensive set of template tags. It even includes the ability to setup Channel (Weblog) Protection. With this feature, you can require subscriptions to make a post to any “protected” channel. This is perfect for directory listings, self-serve advertisements, paid blogging, job listings, etc.
All transactions occur over an encrypted HTTPS connection. No credit card information is stored on your server or the Membrr Server - all recurring billing is managed with your payment gateway’s native billing methods.
Here’s how it works:
Subscription purchase ==> Membrr Server processes transaction ==> Your payment gateway collects the payment ==> Membrr Server notifies your ExpressionEngine plugin
It’s incredibly simple to integrate with ExpressionEngine. It just takes a few minutes and all of the new template tags are fully documented and ready to go. For example, if you want to have subscribers-only content:
{exp:membrr:subscribed plan="2345"}This is only shown to subscribers of this plan{/exp:membrr:subscribed}Or, if you want to place a subscription order form:
{exp:membrr:order_form}Need to list all of a user’s active subscriptions?
{exp:membrr:subscriptions}You are subscribed to {plan_name} and this subscription is {status} but will expire on {end_date}. You will next be charged on {next_charge_date} for an amount of ${amount}.{/exp:membrr:subscriptions}I hope this rather long post gave you an overview of the system. Think it’ll help you with a project? Check out the private beta introduction page and apply today!. The private beta is free but there will be limited spots so that we are able to communicate efficiently with each beta tester.
The response for this module has been great. Thanks a lot to all of those who have been beta testing (particularly those who have sent in some feature requests and reports!).
It’s clear that that ExpressionEngine developers don’t want another cheap, PayPal-only solution to give to their clients: You want enterprise-class code, XML API’s, system hooks, comprehensive template integration, and the integration of professional, global payment gateways like Authorize.net, E-xact, SagePay, PayPal Pro, NetBilling, FirstData, etc.
For the next few weeks, private beta invites will be scarce as we prepare for a proper launch of the finished product in May 2010. This product will offer a really easy-to-use Membrr Server control panel where you manage your payment gateway(s), email triggers, subscription plans, etc., and an enhanced set of ExpressionEngine plugins for EE2 and EE1.6.x that offer more comprehensive reporting features for subscriptions and more subscription plan options.
We will also launch the payment model for the service and the developer referral program to let you developers earn some recurring revenue from the product as well!
Follow http://www.twitter.com/membrr to be notified of the launch!
– Regards, Brock Ferguson Lead Developer, Membrr
Hi Brock, just wondering what the status is on this? I sent you a few emails asking the same, but maybe you’re on hols or something.
Best wishes Lee
Hi Lee,
Strange - I haven’t received any emails from you. It’s going very well though - many bugs have been fixed and features are being added for the final release in about 2 weeks.
Final release will also include PayPal Standard integration.
Also, we are working on a new pricing model that I know will please a lot of EE developers.
many thanks for the info. I’m registered as a beta tester; wondering id the PayPal Standard integration is available to test?
It’s not available yet but it will be soon. I’ll send out a notice to all beta testers with the pre-release version when it’s ready. Thanks!
Looking forward to seeing how this will work.
Membrr is now released! See my update at the top of this thread or just visit Membrr.com to see how easy it can be integrating subscription billing, membership websites, and paid SAEF entry access into ExpressionEngine!
Sorry to be a pedant but your website says “Membrr is an ExpressionEngine plugin that brings subscription billing and membership website features to a powerful CMS platform.”. Shouldn’t that be a module and not a plugin?
Can’t wait to really get involved with this: from what I can tell, I might just be in love.
Yeah, this looks awesome. Does anybody with experience in the Beta have anything they can share with us? The documentation looks good, but the Forum hasn’t seen much traffic yet.
It’s actually out of beta. If you’d like, I can take some screenshots when I get back home in an hour or so.
As promised:
It’s just a blank install for now, but it should give you a decent idea of it. The style is just a quick modification to make the EE CP look a bit more like OpenGateway’s, which I absolutely adore (and, as you an see, there are still some things needing to be done with it).
Thanks very much for posting screenshots. It looks well-integrated with EE2. Do you know offhand if there’s support for testing end-to-end transactions with dummy card accounts? My gateway service isn’t on the list, but they’re an Authorize.net clone and other developers have found it straightforward connecting carts and other applications to them. Has anyone run full life-cycle subscriptions yet and observed how the system handles card authorizations and notifications around subscription renewals, etc?
@Steven, I too noticed those persistent references to a “Plugin” rather than a Module. They’re on the website as well as the CP screens. Think it’s an incomplete Language file?
Bob,
I’m still doing a lot of work for the rest of the front-end, so I haven’t gotten to serious implementation of anything with Membrr or OpenGateway yet (still planning a couple things for the latter), but the dummy cards provided by the gateway should work just fine – it’s not OpenGateway that’s processing them, but the gateway you use. Thus, OG or anything else should simply see a credit card and that’s it.
If I recall, I did notice a sandbox option for Paypal in the OpenGateway admin. I’ll check later to verify if it’s there for the other gateways as well.