Orbit's membership feature lets you create membership tiers that your community can join. Whether you offer a single free tier or multiple paid plans, membership integrates across your entire Orbit setup — from events and courses to resources and communications.
Membership Levels
You can create one or more membership levels, each with its own name, description, benefits, pricing, and featured image. Levels are managed from the admin portal under Membership > Membership Levels.
Pricing Options
Each membership level can be configured with one of the following billing types:
- One-time (lifetime) — a single payment grants permanent membership with no expiration
- Annual (recurring) — membership renews automatically each year via Stripe
Benefits
Each level has a dedicated benefits section where you can list what's included — whether that's access to exclusive content, event discounts, directory listing, or anything else your organization offers. Benefits are displayed on the public membership page alongside pricing.
How Members Join
Self-service Sign-up
When you publish a membership level, it appears on your public membership page. Visitors can browse available tiers, compare benefits, and join directly. For paid memberships, payment is handled securely through Stripe.
If you offer multiple levels, a tier selector is shown so users can compare options before joining.
Adding Members Manually
You can also add members directly from the admin portal. Navigate to a membership level, open the Members tab, and click Add Member. You can set their status, start date, and expiration date.
Importing Member Lists
For bulk onboarding, you can import members via CSV. The import system matches users by email address and membership levels by name. Export your existing data first to see the required format.
Managing Members
Each membership level has a Members tab in the admin portal showing all assigned members with their status, dates, and quick edit actions. From here you can:
- View member details
- Change a member's status, level, or dates
- Remove a membership
Membership Status
Each membership has one of four statuses:
- Active — the membership is current and valid
- Pending — awaiting payment or activation
- Expired — the membership period has ended
- Cancelled — the membership was cancelled
For recurring memberships, status transitions happen automatically based on Stripe webhook events — renewals extend the membership, cancellations update the status, and failed payments set it to pending.
How Membership Works with Other Features
Membership connects to several other parts of Orbit to unlock member-only experiences:
Events
- Restrict events to members only so only active members can register
- Offer member pricing — set a discounted price that active members automatically receive at checkout
Courses
- Set courses to Members Only access to restrict enrollment
- Configure a member price to give members a discount on paid courses
Resources
- Mark resources (videos, files, documents) as Members Only so only active members can access them
Communications
- Send announcements and newsletters to your members
- Share membership levels via email directly from the admin portal
Automated Emails
Orbit automatically sends emails at key moments in the membership lifecycle:
| When it's sent | |
|---|---|
| Membership activated | When a new membership is activated |
| Expiring in 90 days | 90 days before the membership expires |
| Expiring in 30 days | 30 days before expiration |
| Expiring in 7 days | 7 days before expiration |
| Membership expired | On the day the membership expires |
These emails are sent automatically — no manual action required. Email templates can be customized from the mailer settings.
Billing and Payments
For paid memberships, all billing is handled through Stripe:
- Members with active subscriptions can access the Stripe billing portal to update their payment method, view invoices, or cancel
- Subscription renewals, cancellations, and payment failures are processed automatically
- Revenue and payment history can be tracked from the admin portal
Sharing and Embedding
Membership levels can be shared via email, social media, or embedded on your website. See Sharing & Promotion for details.
Analytics
Built-in analytics track page views, signup trends, and engagement for each membership level. See Per-Feature Analytics for details.
Publishing Workflow
Membership levels follow Orbit's standard draft/publish/archive workflow. When archived, existing members retain their membership. See Publishing Workflow for details.
Coming Soon
We're actively developing new membership capabilities:
- Monthly billing — support for monthly recurring subscriptions in addition to annual
- Free tiers — membership levels with no cost, allowing users to join without payment
- Membership applications — let users apply for membership with a form that goes through a review and approval process
- Variable pricing — offer different price points within a single membership level based on criteria like organization size or revenue
- Multiple memberships — allow users to hold more than one active membership at a time
- Directory integration — gate access to the member directory so only active members can create and maintain their listing