benlumley

Enable, set a user and PW via WP admin and users will be prompted via HTTP AUTH for a user/pw before being able to view the frontend.
Aim of the plugin is to protect staging sites from the prying eyes of search engine robots, and to keep out anyone who might stumble across it accidentally.
This isn’t particularly secure – password is in the database.

Password Protect Staging

So yeah - this does just what I needed, unsurprisingly seeing as I wrote it to do just what I need....



I made the plugin... it does what I need

Quickly and easily password protect a site to keep it from the prying eyes of google.

zoltanlaczko

Using the password protection will give you extra security layer of protection from brute force hacking attacks. Additionally, it’s also an easy way to password protect your entire site, without needing to create separate WordPress users for each visitor.
When you enable the password protection, the user won’t be able to see anything – not even see the protected page – until he/she inserts the username/password. You can password protect the whole website, including the administrator pages; you can password protect the administrator pages; or you can password protect the WordPress login page.
The plugin options include:
<ul>
<li>Enabling/disabling the password protection to wp-login.php, WordPress admin pages.</li>
<li>Modifying the existing users: you can change any .htaccess user’s password and remove the users.</li>
<li>Create/modify an unlimited number of .htaccess users;</li>
<li>Protect your whole site, making it accessible to only those who have the .htaccess user.</li>
</ul>
This plugin is originally was based on <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/htaccess-site-access-control/" rel="ugc">.htaccess Site Access Control</a>. That plugin was working fine but it was abandoned for years and not compatible with the latest WordPress. Most part of the plugin were refactored and translated.

htaccess protect

htaccess protect - Protect your wordpress login or admin pages with password.

Password Protect Staging vs htaccess protect