I told my subscribers I was writing a review about MemberVault and asked them what they wanted to know about the course platform I love.

You can watch my Membervault review, including a behind-the-scenes look at some of my products, or read the text version below.

When I chose MemberVault as my course platform, I wasn’t new to creating and selling online courses.

I already had a lot of courses, and I’d used enough platforms to know very quickly whether something would work for how I teach. I’d also been a student inside other people’s MV products and loved the experience – clean, simple, easy to navigate.

This is an honest review of what it’s been like for me, the things I enjoy, the things I work around, and how to decide whether it’s right for your business.

Transparency

I now have the All Access Lifetime plan, which I won in an affiliate promo, which means no limits on users or products and no ongoing cost.

Why I Chose MemberVault

A few things made it an obvious choice at the time:

• I’d used it as a student and found it genuinely pleasant to learn in.
• It made sense to my brain – the module/lesson structure matches how I naturally break down content, and it mirrors the way I outline things in Notion.
• It was one of the cheapest options available when I joined.
• I didn’t want an all-in-one platform because I already had ThriveCart and ConvertKit.
• I didn’t want a WordPress plug-in option because I’d already tried and failed with MemberPress
• Mike and Erin (the original creators) were incredibly present in the community, and Erin’s marketing style was refreshingly non-shouty.

Because I had a lot of courses to migrate, I hired someone to handle the move for me. That meant I started with a cleaner, more polished setup than if I’d done it myself.

You can read the full messy backstory of my tour of five different course platforms here.

How I Use MemberVault Day to Day

I have 87 different products in MemberVault – 87!!!

Some are freebies.

Most are individual courses that deliver a specific outcome (for example my About Page Copy Quest will help you write your About Page, Persuasion Power-Ups will show you 7 techniques to apply to your copy to make it more persuasive).

What I Like

It works beautifully across devices – I switch between laptop, iPad and phone constantly. MV is easy to use on all three.

I love the Quiz function and use it for private back-and-forth with students.

You can embed MP3s directly, which is great for audio-first learners.

It auto-saves All The Time.

The community of MemberVault users is so supportive and open about sharing their knowledge and experience of the platform.

It still has a “family-run” vibe – MV still feels smaller and more human than the big corporate platforms.

We have made it look so beautiful and aligned with my brand – but I am not the brains behind this, so I will need to create a separate blog post about this with some help.

What It Doesn’t Do (In My Setup)

These aren’t criticisms – just the reality of how I use the platform.

• Video hosting is external: I use Vimeo.
• For private podcast feeds: I pay for Hello Audio.
• For chat: I use Chatra (paid separately).
• Search exists, but with a big library (like mine) it’s not very helpful.

Would I Choose It Again Today?

Probably, yes.

If I were brand new to online business, I might be tempted by an all-in-one platform because everything is bundled together, it’s only one decision to make and one platform to learn.

But knowing what I know about how I like my business to function, I prefer choosing specific tools for specific jobs.

MemberVault is still clean and simple for students, straightforward for me, and aligned with how I run my business. So yes – for my model, I’d choose it again.

Q&A: Honest Answers to Subscribers’ Questions

Q: What’s one thing a new user should know or consider when starting out?

A: Spend some time using MemberVault as a student. Sign up for a couple of MV-hosted courses or freebies and notice how people structure things. A lot of my best ideas came from observing other creators, including the moment I realised I could use MV as the portal for my 12-week 1-1 mentoring programme, Marketing On Purpose.

Q: Have you used MemberVault for free challenges?

A: Yes — both free and paid.

Delivering a challenge purely by email is messy because people lose emails or read them out of order. A portal solves this.

You can:

• create one catch-up page on your website or
• put each day in its own lesson inside MV.

Lessons also let you choose:

• public comments for community, or
• private quiz replies for individual check-ins.

Q: How customizable is the aesthetic?

A: Yes — both free and paid.

I’ll include examples of how mine looks below. The design in my account has definitely evolved with help from people who understand the platform better than I do. I’m putting together a dedicated blog post with two experts who will explain exactly what can be customised and what’s realistic. That’s coming soon.

Q: How easy is it to set up if you don’t have a WordPress website?

A: You don’t need WordPress at all. You don’t even need a separate website.

I do have my own website with its own domain, so I’ve kept it and simply added a login link to my menu and homepage. But you can absolutely use MemberVault as your main site — it can host standalone pages and blog posts. I’ll be sharing examples once I’ve checked what’s possible and gathered real-life setups.

Q: How customizable is the aesthetic?

A: Yes — both free and paid.

I’ll include examples of how mine looks below. The design in my account has definitely evolved with help from people who understand the platform better than I do. I’m putting together a dedicated blog post with two experts who will explain exactly what can be customised and what’s realistic. That’s coming soon.

Q: Does MemberVault do anything beyond hosting courses? And does it integrate well with other platforms?

A: Yes.

• Gamification triggers (pop-ups, messages, bonus unlocks).
• Checkout (I use ThriveCart, but MV has its own).
• Affiliate system.
• Comments and private Quiz replies.
• Seamless ConvertKit integration (no Zapier).
• A built-in link shortener with click tracking.

Q: How well does MemberVault integrate with email?

A: MemberVault itself doesn’t send broadcast emails — it sends data to your email provider. How tidy that feels depends on your setup.

In my business, the practical way to email a specific group is:

1. export the product list from MV,
2. upload it to ConvertKit,
3. apply a tag,
4. send the email.

It’s not elegant, but it’s reliable. MV + ConvertKit integrate cleanly without Zapier if you want to automate things more tightly — I just haven’t prioritised tidying that part of my setup.

Q: What are the gaps? What can’t it do?

A: The three main things I handle outside MV are:

• video hosting,
• private podcast feeds (Hello Audio),
• and chat (Chatra).

Everything else I need is inside MV.

Q: Do people resist creating an account just to access a freebie?

A: They don’t need to create an account. They fill out a regular opt-in box and Kit connects with MemberVault and sets up their access – creating a new account if they’re brand new, or linking this product to their existing account if they’ve already got other products. The delivery email sends them a One Click Sign-On link so they don’t even need to enter a password to log-in. I also add a link to log-in onto the Thank You Page, and sometimes if it’s just a PDF I add a button to deliver that on the Thank You Page too.

Q: How many courses or people do you need before MV is “worth it”?

A: It depends entirely on what you sell.

• If I only delivered a free challenge: not worth it.
• If I only used it for Marketing On Purpose: absolutely worth it, even with as few as 3 clients.
• It can also be worth it for a single paid course, depending on your price point.

There’s no fixed threshold – you have to run your own numbers.

Q: Does it have community features?

A: The community feature is in beta. From my experience with my clients (many of whom host memberships) if community is a top priority feature for you, explore Circle.

Q: Can you search for lessons?

A: Yes, but with my huge library it produces too many results to be helpful. With a smaller library or distinctive lesson titles, it works fine.