Advice on creating user levels

I have a site where no payment is required so I had plugin created to give me a signup form similar to edublogs to create my sites and it works pretty well.

To make some premium content available to “premium” users I have to use “user role editor” plugin and change the users role manually.

I know its sometimes just personal preference and I need to try a few plugin but just wanted to ask some advice from others who may have done the same already.

I want users to signup and have 3 levels available.
So I know with pro-sites from wpmudev I think you can have different plugins available based on the membership level but I haven’t tried yet. I would like be able to add/remove plugins different plugins for each membership level and also be able to upgrade/downgrade users control access to plugins available to them.

Is something like that possible with paid membership pro & which would be easier to use?

Also can I use both plugins even if I DO NOT want to collect a payment when they register?

Opinions much appreciated ??

-George