Upluggit

Media Restriction is a lightweight and powerful WordPress plugin that gives site admins full control over who can see what in the Media Library. Restrict access by user role so that users only see their own uploads, exclude trusted individuals from the restriction, and keep a full audit trail of every upload, deletion, and library view — all from a clean, modern settings panel.
Whether you manage a multi-author blog, an online course platform, a membership site, or a client project — Media Restriction ensures your media library stays tidy, private, and secure.
What makes v2.0.0 different: 
Version 2.0.0 is a complete rebuild. The settings page has been redesigned with a tabbed interface and instant role toggles (no page reloads). A new Activity Log records every media event with user, file name, IP address, and timestamp. REST API protection closes the Gutenberg and headless bypass that most similar plugins miss entirely. And a critical bug affecting excluded users in the grid view has been resolved.
<h3>🌟 Features</h3>
Core restriction 
✅ Restrict media library access by user role 
✅ Works in both grid view (media modal) and list view (Media Library screen) 
✅ Administrators always have full access — no configuration needed 
✅ Exclude specific users from restriction — grant bypass access to trusted individuals regardless of their role 
✅ REST API protection — /wp/v2/media respects the same restriction rules, covering Gutenberg and headless setups
Settings & admin 
✅ Modern tabbed settings page — Roles & Users and Activity Log in one place 
✅ Instant role toggles — enable or disable restriction per role without a page reload 
✅ Live status badges on each role card showing user count and restriction state 
✅ Header summary showing how many roles are restricted and users excluded
Activity log 
✅ Tracks all upload, delete, and view events automatically 
✅ Records user, file name, IP address, and timestamp for every event 
✅ Displays the latest 30 entries in a clean admin table 
✅ One-click clear log with confirmation prompt
Compatibility & clean code 
✅ Works with default WordPress roles and any custom roles (LMS, membership, WooCommerce, etc.) 
✅ Compatible with Gutenberg block editor, classic editor, and headless setups 
✅ Restricted users can still upload and manage their own files — restriction is visibility only 
✅ No impact on existing media files — the plugin never modifies or deletes files 
✅ Clean uninstall — removes all plugin options and database tables on deletion
<h3>🧠 Use Cases</h3>
Online Learning Platforms (LMS): 
Prevent instructors from seeing or using each other’s uploaded course files. Exclude trusted course managers so they retain full access.
Client Sites & Freelancers: 
Limit clients to only their own media uploads, keeping your own assets private and the library uncluttered.
Multi-Author Blogs: 
Ensure each contributor only sees their own images and uploads. Exclude editors who need to manage all media.
Membership or Community Sites: 
Allow members to upload profile or content images but restrict them from browsing admin or other members’ uploads.
Agencies & Teams: 
Give designers and content editors restricted media access while allowing project leads or account managers full visibility.

Media Restriction

Restrict media library access by user role — with activity logging, and REST API protection.

Chad Butler

The original WordPress membership plugin with content restriction, user login, custom registration fields, user profiles, and more.
<h3>Membership Sites. Simplified.</h3>
You need a membership site, but you want to focus on your business, not mastering a plugin. WP-Members is simple to use, easy to set up, yet flexible in every way imaginable.
Simple to install and configure – yet customizable and scalable!
<h4>Features:</h4>
<ul>
<li>Restrict or hide posts, pages, and custom post types</li>
<li>Limit menu items to logged in users</li>
<li>User login, registration, and profile integrated into your theme</li>
<li>Create custom registration and profile fields</li>
<li>Integrate custom fields into WooCommerce checkout and registration (only supported by shortcode pages, not block editor version)</li>
<li>Create custom memberships and content restriction</li>
<li>Notify admin of new user registrations</li>
<li>Hold new registrations for admin approval</li>
<li>Create post excerpt teaser content automatically</li>
<li><a href="https://rocketgeek.com/plugins/wp-members/docs/shortcodes/" rel="nofollow ugc">Shortcodes for login, registration, content restriction, and more</a></li>
<li>Create powerful customizations with <a href="https://rocketgeek.com/plugins/wp-members/docs/filter-hooks/" rel="nofollow ugc">more than 120 action and filter hooks</a></li>
<li><a href="https://rocketgeek.com/plugins/wp-members/docs/api-functions/" rel="nofollow ugc">A library of API functions for extensibility</a></li>
</ul>
WP-Members allows you to restrict content as restricted or hidden, limiting access to registered users.
A full Users Guide is <a href="https://rocketgeek.com/plugins/wp-members/docs/" rel="nofollow ugc">available here</a>. The guide outlines the installation process, and also documents how to use all of the settings.
<h4>Support</h4>
There is <a href="https://rocketgeek.com/plugins/wp-members/docs/" rel="nofollow ugc">freely available documentation on the plugin’s support site</a>. Your question may be answered there. If you need assistance configuring the plugin or have questions on how to implement or customize features, <a href="https://rocketgeek.com/product/wp-members-plugin-support/" rel="nofollow ugc">premium support is available</a>.
You can get priority support along with all of the plugin’s premium extensions in one <a href="https://rocketgeek.com/product/wp-members-pro-bundle/" rel="nofollow ugc">cost saving Pro Bundle!</a>
<h4>Premium Support</h4>
Premium support subscribers have access to priority email support, examples, tutorials, and code snippets that will help you extend and customize the base plugin using the plugin’s framework. <a href="https://rocketgeek.com/plugins/wp-members/support-options/" rel="nofollow ugc">Visit the site for more info</a>.
<h4>Free Extensions</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://rocketgeek.com/product/stop-spam-registrations/" rel="nofollow ugc">Stop Spam Registrations</a> – Uses stopforumspam.com’s API to block spam registrations.</li>
<li><a href="https://rocketgeek.com/product/send-test-emails/" rel="nofollow ugc">Send Test Emails</a> – A utility to send test versions of the plugin’s emails.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Premium Extensions</h4>
The plugin has several premium extensions for additional functionality. You can purchase any of them individually, or get them all for a significant discount in the Pro Bundle.
<ul>
<li><a href="https://rocketgeek.com/plugins/wp-members-advanced-options/" rel="nofollow ugc">Advanced Options</a> – adds additional settings to WP-Members for redirecting core WP created URLs, redirecting restricted content, hiding the WP toolbar, and more! Also includes integrations with popular plugins like WooCommerce, BuddyPress, bbPress, ADF, Easy Digital Downloads, and The Events Calendar.</li>
<li><a href="https://rocketgeek.com/plugins/wp-members-download-protect/" rel="nofollow ugc">Download Protect</a> – Allows you to restrict access to specific files, requiring the user to be logged in to access.</li>
<li><a href="https://rocketgeek.com/plugins/wp-members-invite-codes/" rel="nofollow ugc">Invite Codes</a> – set up invitation codes to restrict registration to only those with a valide invite code.</li>
<li><a href="https://rocketgeek.com/plugins/wp-members-mailchimp-integration/" rel="nofollow ugc">MailChimp Integration</a> – add MailChimp list subscription to your registation form.</li>
<li><a href="https://rocketgeek.com/plugins/wp-members-memberships-for-woocommerce/" rel="nofollow ugc">Memberships for WooCommerce</a> – Sell memberships through WooCommerce.</li>
<li><a href="https://rocketgeek.com/plugins/wp-members-paypal-subscriptions/" rel="nofollow ugc">PayPal Subscriptions</a> – Sell restricted content access through PayPal.</li>
<li><a href="https://rocketgeek.com/plugins/wp-members-security/" rel="nofollow ugc">Security</a> – adds a number of security features to the plugin such as preventing concurrent logins, registration form honey pot (spam blocker), require passwords be changed on first use, require passwords to be changed after defined period of time, require strong passwords, block registration by IP and email, restrict specified usernames from being registered.</li>
<li><a href="https://rocketgeek.com/plugins/wp-members-text-editor/" rel="nofollow ugc">Text Editor</a> – Adds an editor to the WP-Members admin panel to easily customize all user facing strings in the plugin.</li>
<li><a href="https://rocketgeek.com/plugins/wp-members-user-list/" rel="nofollow ugc">User List</a> – Display lists of users on your site. Great for creating user directories with detailed and customizable profiles.</li>
<li><a href="https://rocketgeek.com/plugins/wp-members-user-tracking/" rel="nofollow ugc">User Tracking</a> – Track what pages logged in users are visting and when.</li>
<li><a href="https://rocketgeek.com/plugins/wordpass/" rel="nofollow ugc">WordPass Pro</a> – Change your random password generator from gibberish to word-based passwords (can be used with or without WP-Members).</li>
</ul>
Get support along with all of the plugin’s premium extensions in one <a href="https://rocketgeek.com/product/wp-members-pro-bundle/" rel="nofollow ugc">cost saving Pro Bundle!</a>

WP-Members Membership Plugin


Very good member plugin. Clean, good performance, easy to understand and very good documentation. Highly recommended!Finally arrived after some disappointments with other plugins.Thanks!Best regards


Perfect


I bought the WooPayments add-on to extend my usage of WP-Members on the strength of two things: (1) As I set up a revamped site and prepared it for subscriptions, I set up WooCommerce and WooPayments because it all seemed professional and efficient; (2) I decided on WP-Members based on Chad Butler's name recognition that I associate with many years of WordPress professionalism.



I have not been disappointed even though at one stage I wondered whether I should have gone for one of the bloated plugins that brag of multiple drag-and-drop form building and features that I did not see mentioned upfront in the WP-Members documentation. It seemed to me that everything I needed to implement would depend on "support".



Yes, you have to cut and past a lot of code snippets to perfect your implementation but the real problem in my view is the way the user manual is presented in pieces and not the basic possible functions of WP-Members. All the features in the heralded plugins are available, yet here seems to be a need for a good old time procedural manual in the style perfected by Microsoft: 



"This is the most popular or likely use case. To do so-and-so do:




X



Y



Z"




The plugin author knows his stuff, is patient with customers and lavish with his support.


Absolutely great functionality and support

The original WordPress membership plugin with content restriction, user login, custom registration fields, user profiles, and more.

Media Restriction vs WP-Members Membership Plugin