Paywall and Registration Wall

The Paywall module allows you to hide selected website content. Users can gain access to it either by making a payment (Paywall) or by registering (Registration Wall).

Paywall is one of the methods for monetizing online content. This doesn't mean that all posts have to be available only to subscribers. CMS 4media allows you to create restrictions on selected content, such as in one article category or within the E-edition module.

The publisher decides:

What the individual subscription plans will include and their prices.
How much content will be visible to unregistered users or those without an active subscription.
About notification content, appearance, and banner content.
Whether the access restriction applies to the latest content, e.g., from the last week, month, year, etc., or all content.
Whether subscribers will see ads.
Whether comments will be available only to subscribers.

Settings for the Paywall and Registration Wall features are located in the Paywall module in the main Admin menu.

Paywall Module - Subscription Plan Settings

Subscription Plans - Here you can add several pricing plans that encompass different content. Each plan can have multiple pricing variants.
Pricing Variants of Plans - A list of all added pricing variants with options for editing and checking the list of subscribers who selected a specific variant.
Subscribers - A list of all subscribers.
Registration Wall - Here, the publisher can set the details of the Registration Wall plan.
Notifications - A list of notifications.
Notification Templates - Editing fixed elements that can be added to notifications.
Payments - A list of payments with details such as payment operator, date, etc.
Settings.

Adding a Subscription Plan

To add a new subscription plan, you need to go to the Paywall module, select Subscription Plans, click the plus icon, and fill in the fields: Plan Name and Plan Short Description.

Additionally, you can add Benefits, Full Plan Description, and Main Image.

adding subscription plan paywall — On the left: one of the subscription plans visible for website users. On the right: Adding Subscription Plan in Paywall module in CMS 4media.

Modules and Content Covered by the Subscription Plan

Content Covered by Paywall Subscription Plans

1. Modules that the plan will affect - you should select the modules to be entirely covered by the subscription plan, regardless of the post category.

Example: selecting the "Articles" module will restrict articles from all categories. Specific articles can be excluded from the plan in the Excluded Content field.

Modules Covered by Paywall Subscription Plans

2. Categories that the plan will affect - select categories if you want to restrict access to content only in specific categories, not the entire module.

Example: selecting "Health," "Technology," and "Politics" will make them available only to subscribers, while articles from other categories ("Sports," "Travel," and "News") will be visible to all users.

If an article belongs to multiple categories, and at least one is covered by the subscription plan, the article will be available only to users with an active subscription.

Selecting Categories Covered by the Subscription Plan

Note: If you want to restrict access to content only in specific article categories and not the entire module, make sure that the "Articles" module is not selected.

If both article categories and the "Articles" module are selected, all articles, regardless of categories, will be accessible only to subscribers.

You can exclude specific articles from the plan in the Excluded Content field.

3. Specific content to include or exclude from the plan - by clicking the "Select specific content" button, you can choose content from a module to be included in the subscription plan. A list of items will appear, allowing you to select or exclude specific content.

Select Specific Content to Include in the Paywall Subscription Plan

Select Specific Content to Exclude from the Paywall Subscription Plan

4. Selected content - a list of items added to the subscription plan. This option allows you to add specific content, such as a selected photo gallery, even if the gallery module is not included in the plan.

5. Excluded content - a list of items excluded from the subscription plan. This option allows you to exclude content that should be accessible to all users, such as sponsored articles or the "Contact" or "Cooperation" subpage.

Pricing Variants

You can add multiple pricing variants to a subscription plan.

1. Free Variant - selecting this option makes the variant available only from the administrative panel. It can be used when the publisher wants to provide access without charging the user.

2. Variant - Payment Type:

Renewable
One-time

3. Price with currency selection.

4. Cycle duration - the period during which a user with an active subscription will have access to the content after making a payment.

Paywall cycle duration plan — Cycle Duration

For renewable payments, there is no "Forever" option.

5. Renewable Payment operator for renewable payments (available after selecting the payment type as "Renewable"). The options are Stripe and PayPal.

Important: To choose a payment operator, it must be activated in the Settings module under Payments -> Payment Operators.

Depending on the selected operator, additional options will appear:

Stripe:

Options for Choosing Stripe as the Payment Operator

PayPal:

Options for Choosing PayPal as the Payment Operator

6. Always visible - unchecking this option will reveal the fields "Variant Visibility From" and "Variant Visibility To." These fields allow you to specify the timeframe during which the pricing variant will be visible.

Notifications

When you click the "+Add New Notification" button, you will see fields for:

Deleting a Notification.
Notification Sending Time - set the number of days and/or hours after starting or ending a subscription when a notification will be sent. If both Days and Hours are set to 0, subscribers will receive a notification immediately upon starting or ending their subscription.
Notification Template, which appears before the content. Templates can be added in the PayWall module under Notification Templates.
Notification Plan Details in an Email Message
Email Message Subject
Email Message Content

Other Subscription Plan Settings

1. Visibility:

Plan available for users to purchase: visible on the subscription plan selection page, users can choose and pay for it.
Plan available only in the administrative panel: not visible on the subscription plan selection page. Subscribers can be added to this plan only through the administrative panel (Paywall -> Subscribers).

2. The number of content pieces that can be displayed for free in a selected time frame without requiring payment.

Number of Content Pieces Displayable Without Payment

3. Featured - selecting this option highlights the plan in terms of color on the subscription plan selection page.

4. Active Plan - unchecking this option makes the plan unavailable to users.

Paywall Block View

The view for users without an active subscription can be set in the Paywall -> Settings -> Paywall Block View module.

This setting allows you to determine what percentage of content will be visible to users without an active subscription:

Editing the Paywall Content Hiding Method

For articles and subpages, you can set the number of visible paragraphs or the number of visible text characters.

If both "Number of Visible Paragraphs" and "Number of Visible Text Characters" fields are filled, the "Number of Visible Paragraphs" setting takes precedence.

Important: Each header in the content is considered a separate paragraph. The examples below show the "Number of Visible Paragraphs" settings for 1, 2, and 3:

Paywall Block View after 1, 2, and 3 Paragraphs

The first paragraph of the content is the "Fins and Swim Paddles..." header.

The title and lead (introduction) of the article are not subject to the Paywall block, so their length does not affect the number of paragraphs or characters.

Subscription Plan Selection View

The page for choosing subscription plans can be found at yourdomainname.com/paywall.

The number of plans, pricing variants, images, descriptions, and benefits are set in the Paywall -> Subscription Plans module.
The appearance of the page for choosing subscription plans is configured in the Paywall -> Settings -> Paywall Block View module.

Color-related settings are located in the Paywall module -> Settings -> Paywall Block View in the Design section.

Editing the Paywall Subscription Plans Subpage

To highlight a plan, you need to select the "Featured" option in the settings for that plan. In the above illustration, the "Standard" package is highlighted.

The label text (No. 3 in the above illustration: THE MOST POPULAR) is set in the Promotional Text for the Featured Plan field in the Paywall -> Settings -> Paywall Lock View module.

Settings

1. General Settings - here you can activate the Paywall and Registration Wall services. You can decide whether subscribers should see ads, exclude older content, and more.

2. Paywall Block View - this section contains settings for:

the view of subscription plans,
the Paywall lock view.

3. Registration Wall Block View - here you can decide what percentage of content will be locked for unregistered users and how the lock view will appear.

4. Banner in the Article - editing the promotional banner within an article.

5. Notifications - settings for subscription notifications sent to the publisher.

6. SEO - editing the SEO fields for the subscription plans subpage. For more information, see SEO Fields - How to Use?