The member portal vs website question comes up in almost every association project we work on. Someone on the board says "we need a member portal" and the executive team is not sure if that means a separate platform, a section of the website behind a login, or something else entirely.
Most of the time, the board member who asked for the portal does not know either. They know members are frustrated. They know peer associations have something called a portal. They are not sure exactly what they are asking for.
This post is the conversation we have at the start of every member portal vs website project. Here is how to actually make the call.
What people mean by "member portal"
Half the confusion comes from the term itself. "Member portal" means different things to different people.
To some people, a member portal is any page behind a login. The members log in, see member only content, and that is the portal.
To others, a member portal is a dedicated software product separate from the public website. It might be a module of the AMS (Wild Apricot, MemberClicks, iMIS) or a standalone product (Higher Logic, Mighty Networks, Hivebrite). It has its own URL, its own design, and its own feature set.
To a few people, a member portal is a Slack workspace, a Facebook group, or a Discord server. Members go somewhere outside the website to talk and access resources.
These are three completely different products with completely different costs. Before deciding member portal vs website, you need to agree internally on which definition you are working with.
When your website is enough
For many Canadian associations, especially smaller ones, you do not need a separate member portal. A members only section of the website handles everything members need.
This is the right call when most of these apply.
Your members log in to do specific transactions and then leave. Renew dues, register for events, update their directory listing, download a resource. They are not hanging around to chat.
Your member benefits are mostly content based. Member only articles, member only event recordings, member only templates and toolkits.
You have fewer than about 2,000 active members. At smaller scales, the cost of a dedicated portal is hard to justify.
Your AMS already handles dues processing and event registration through embedded forms on your website.
You do not have a community team or member engagement staff dedicated to running an online community.
If most of those are true, build a strong website with a clean members only section. Add SSO so members log in once and see the right content. Save the portal money for content and member services that members actually use.
When you actually need a member portal
A dedicated member portal makes sense when the website cannot do the job. This usually means one of these situations.
You need members to interact with each other in significant ways. Direct messaging, forums, community discussions, peer to peer mentoring. Websites are not built for this. Portals are.
You need member to member content sharing. Members uploading documents, asking questions, sharing case studies. This is community functionality that goes beyond what a CMS does well.
You have a regulated profession with continuing education requirements. Members need to log in, see their CE credits, track their progress toward certification renewal, and complete required learning modules. This is a learning management system function that bolts onto a portal.
You have multiple member tiers with significantly different access. Free members see one thing, full members see another, fellows see something else. Managing complex access controls inside a CMS gets ugly fast.
You have an active member engagement team. Someone whose job it is to manage the community, moderate discussions, surface relevant content for members, and respond to member needs. Without this role, the portal will be quiet within six months.
The hybrid model that works
For most Canadian associations between 500 and 5,000 members, the right answer is neither website only nor portal only. It is a hybrid.
The public website handles everything the public sees. Mission, programs, news, events, member directory (with privacy controls), contact, and so on. It is search optimised and includes the case for membership.
The members only section of the website handles transactional and content needs. Renew dues, register for events, access member resources, download templates, watch event recordings.
A dedicated community platform (which can technically be called a portal) handles community interaction. This might be a Hivebrite or Mighty Networks instance, a private LinkedIn group, or a Slack workspace.
Single sign on connects the three so members log in once. The website tells members where to go for what.
This is more cost effective and more sustainable than trying to build one monolithic portal that does everything.
Cost ballparks
Real number ranges for Canadian associations.
Members only section of an existing website (no separate portal). $5,000 to $15,000 added to a website redesign budget. Mostly the work of building login, access control, and the members area design.
AMS native portal (using Wild Apricot, MemberClicks, iMIS as the portal). Often included in your AMS subscription, though more advanced features may cost extra. Branding and customisation are limited.
Third party community platform (Hivebrite, Mighty Networks, Disciple, Bettermode). $300 to $2,500 per month depending on member count and feature tier. Plus setup and ongoing community management.
Custom built member portal. $80,000 to $250,000 to build, plus ongoing maintenance. Almost never the right answer for Canadian associations. Off the shelf platforms do this better and cheaper.
What goes wrong with member portals
Patterns we see in portal projects that fail.
The portal is built but nobody runs the community. Members log in once, see empty discussion forums, and never come back. Within a year the portal is a ghost town. Whoever championed the portal has moved on or quietly retired the idea.
Members are forced to learn two interfaces. They have to remember whether they are renewing dues (website) or asking a question (portal). They lose track and stop using both.
The portal does not integrate with the AMS. Member status changes in the AMS take days or weeks to reflect in the portal. Members who have renewed are locked out. Lapsed members still have access.
Mobile usage is an afterthought. Most members access the portal from a phone during a commute or between meetings. If the portal is desktop first, usage drops by half.
The portal vendor changes pricing or sunsets the product. Migration is expensive and often partial. Member content from the previous platform is lost.
How to decide
A simple way to make the member portal vs website call.
If your members want to do things that are mostly transactions (renew, register, download), build a strong members only section of the website. Skip the portal.
If your members want to talk to each other and share content, you need community functionality. Use a third party community platform rather than building one.
If your members need to track learning, certifications, or compliance credits, you need a learning management system that connects to your AMS. This is often called a portal but is really an LMS.
In all cases, the question is not what other associations are doing. The question is what your specific members actually do and want to do online.
