What MemberClicks Actually Is
MemberClicks is an association management platform with a built-in website builder, now part of the Momentive Software portfolio (formerly Community Brands). It handles membership database, dues processing, event registration, email campaigns, and website hosting in a single system. The platform is designed specifically for small to mid-size associations and chambers of commerce that need an AMS without enterprise complexity or pricing.
For associations that value simplicity over customization, this model works. Member login just works because the website and the database are the same system. Event pages pull directly from the event module. Renewal reminders link to the built-in renewal form. There is no middleware, no API configuration, no third-party connector to maintain.
The tradeoff is that your website is a feature of your AMS, not a standalone product. And features get less investment than products.
Where MemberClicks Websites Hit Their Limits
Design and theming: MemberClicks provides a drag-and-drop website builder with templates. You can change colors, swap logos, and adjust layouts within the constraints of the builder. You cannot build a fully custom design, implement advanced CSS, or create page templates that differ from the available options. For associations that need their website to reflect a specific brand identity — not just a color palette applied to a generic layout — this is a significant limitation. When your national conference has a branded campaign, when your advocacy initiative needs a dedicated microsite, when your board wants the website to look like a serious professional organization — the template constraints become visible to everyone.
SEO capabilities: The website builder offers basic SEO controls — page titles, meta descriptions, and some built-in SEO tools — but lacks the depth of a purpose-built CMS. Custom URL structures, advanced schema markup, XML sitemap control, redirect management, and per-page SEO optimization are limited compared to WordPress with Yoast or Rank Math. Associations that depend on organic search traffic for member recruitment, advocacy visibility, or conference promotion will find these limitations frustrating. You cannot implement structured data for events, create custom XML sitemaps for your resource library, or set up the redirect chains you need after a content reorganization.
Third-party integrations: MemberClicks is designed to be self-contained. If you need to integrate with tools outside the MemberClicks ecosystem — a specific email marketing platform like Mailchimp or HubSpot, a learning management system for continuing education credits, a third-party event registration tool like Cvent, or a custom analytics implementation beyond basic tracking — you are working against the platform design rather than with it. Integration capabilities exist but are limited compared to open-source CMS platforms. This becomes especially painful when your association adopts a new tool that the rest of your industry uses and MemberClicks has no connector for it.
Content architecture: The website builder uses a page-based content model without custom post types, taxonomies, or advanced content structuring. Associations with resource libraries, policy archives, committee document repositories, and publication collections need content models that MemberClicks does not support. A professional society with 500 technical papers organized by topic, author, year, and access level cannot manage that content in a flat page model. A trade association with legislative tracking across 50 states needs structured data that a basic page builder was never designed to handle.
Vendor lock-in: Your membership data and your website live in the same platform. If you decide to move your website to WordPress or Drupal, you need to extract your content and rebuild. If you decide to move your AMS to iMIS, Fonteva, or Nimble AMS, you lose your website too. The all-in-one model creates dependency that makes future platform decisions more expensive and more disruptive.
The Momentive Software Context
MemberClicks is now part of Momentive Software, the company formerly known as Community Brands (rebranded in 2024). Momentive Software owns multiple association technology products, and consolidation has been a recurring theme. For MemberClicks customers, this raises practical questions about the platform roadmap, development investment, and long-term viability.
When a product sits inside a portfolio company, its future depends on whether the parent company continues investing in it or shifts resources to other products in the portfolio. Associations evaluating MemberClicks should ask direct questions: what is the product roadmap for the next three years? What development resources are dedicated to the website builder specifically? Are there plans to sunset any features or merge the platform with other Momentive Software products?
This is not speculative risk — it is due diligence. Associations that built their websites on platforms that were later deprioritized by parent companies have had to undertake emergency migrations with compressed timelines and inflated budgets. Understanding where MemberClicks sits in the Momentive Software strategy is part of making an informed platform decision. If the answers you get are vague, that tells you something about the certainty of your investment.
What WordPress Offers Instead
WordPress is a dedicated content management system. It does one thing — websites — and it does it with the depth and flexibility that a standalone product requires:
- Full design control: Custom themes built to your brand specifications. No template constraints. Your designer creates the experience; WordPress renders it.
- Deep SEO: Yoast, Rank Math, or All in One SEO for per-page optimization. Custom URL structures, schema markup, XML sitemaps, redirect management, and structured data. Organic search becomes a real acquisition channel.
- Plugin ecosystem: Over 60,000 free plugins including AMS connectors (iMIS, Fonteva, Nimble AMS, MemberSuite), SAML authentication, role-based access, advanced forms, multilingual support, and analytics integration.
- Content architecture: Custom post types, taxonomies, Advanced Custom Fields, and structured content models that scale to thousands of pages organized by topic, audience, format, and date.
- Portability: You own the code, the database, and the content. You can move to a different host, a different development team, or even a different CMS without losing your data.
The Tradeoff: Integration Complexity
The honest tradeoff is this: MemberClicks gives you native integration between your AMS and your website because they are the same system. WordPress gives you a better website, but the AMS integration has to be built and maintained separately.
That means if you move from MemberClicks to WordPress, you need to choose a standalone AMS (iMIS, Fonteva, Nimble AMS, or another platform) and build an integration layer. That integration includes member authentication (SSO via SAML or OAuth), profile data sync, event registration, and renewal workflows. It works. Thousands of associations run this architecture. But it is not free, and it is not zero-maintenance.
The integration layer requires ongoing attention. API endpoints change when your AMS vendor releases updates. Authentication tokens expire and need refresh logic. Data sync schedules need monitoring to catch failures before members notice. A WordPress-to-AMS integration is not a weekend project — it is a permanent piece of your technology stack that needs a technical owner, whether that is your development agency or an internal team member who understands the data flow.
The cost of maintaining this integration typically runs $3,000 to $8,000 per year as part of a broader website maintenance retainer. That is real money. But it is also the cost of having a website that can do things the MemberClicks builder cannot — custom design, real SEO, structured content, and the flexibility to swap AMS vendors without rebuilding your entire web presence.
For associations where the website is a secondary concern — a place to post meeting minutes and a few event pages — the MemberClicks all-in-one model may be perfectly adequate. For associations where the website is a primary member engagement channel, a recruitment tool, and an advocacy platform, the limitations of the bundled website will show quickly.
When to Stay on MemberClicks
MemberClicks makes sense when:
- Your website is a secondary function, not a primary engagement tool
- You do not have budget for a separate website vendor or maintenance retainer
- Design customization beyond templates is not a priority
- SEO is not a meaningful traffic driver for your organization
- Your content is simple — pages, blog posts, event listings — without complex structure
- Vendor consolidation (one invoice, one support contact) is a higher priority than website capability
When to Move to WordPress
WordPress becomes the right answer when:
- Your website needs to be a real engagement platform — not a brochure attached to your AMS
- Design quality and brand consistency matter to your board and your members
- You need SEO as an acquisition channel for member recruitment or public visibility
- You have outgrown the MemberClicks content model and need structured content types
- You want the flexibility to change AMS vendors without rebuilding your website
- Third-party integrations (LMS, marketing automation, analytics) are part of your stack
What You Walk Away With
If you are evaluating whether to stay on MemberClicks or move to WordPress, we can run a gap analysis. We will document what your current site can and cannot do, map your actual requirements, and show you what the WordPress alternative looks like in terms of cost, timeline, and ongoing maintenance. You will have a clear picture of what you gain, what you lose, and whether the move is worth it for your organization.