Freemius

Jory Hogeveen

Joachim Jensen

DEV Institute

<p><strong>Restrict User Access is a fast and simple Membership Plugin for WordPress. Restrict your content in minutes, NOT hours.</strong></p>
<p>Quickly set up a paid membership site where your users can get different levels such as Platinum, Gold, or Free. Then, grant those levels when a user purchases a product in WooCommerce.</p>
<h3>👥 Unlimited Access Levels</h3>
<p>Users can have multiple levels, and you control how long memberships should last. When unauthorized users try to access restricted content, you can redirect them to another URL or display a teaser.</p>
<h3>⚡ Level Membership Automations</h3>
<p>Automatically add levels to your users based on something they do (Triggers) or something they are (Traits):</p>
<ul>
<li>User Registration</li>
<li>User Roles</li>
<li>Logged-in or Guests</li>
<li>WooCommerce Purchases</li>
<li>Easy Digital Downloads Purchases</li>
<li>BuddyPress Member Types</li>
<li>GiveWP Donations</li>
</ul>
<h3>🔒 Contextual Content Protection</h3>
<p>Prevent unauthorized users from visiting your posts, pages, or categories. You can even combine the conditions: protect all posts tagged “Premium” written by a select author.</p>
<p>The following Access Conditions are available out of the box:</p>
<ul>
<li>Posts, Pages & Custom Post Types</li>
<li>Content with Tags, Categories, or Custom Taxonomies</li>
<li>Content written by select Authors</li>
<li>Page Templates</li>
<li>Blog Page & Post Type Archives</li>
<li>Author Archives</li>
<li>Taxonomy Archives</li>
<li>Front Page, Search Results, 404 Not Found Page</li>
<li>bbPress Profiles, Forums & Topics</li>
<li>BuddyPress Profile Sections</li>
<li>Languages (Polylang, qTranslate X, TranslatePress, Transposh, Weglot, WPML)</li>
<li>Pods Pages</li>
</ul>
<p>Note that Access Conditions do not apply to content displayed in lists.</p>
<h3>✅ Grant & Deny Capabilities</h3>
<p>The easy-to-use WordPress User Manager gives you full control over the capabilities the members should or shouldn’t have. Access Level Capabilities will override the permissions set by roles or other plugins.</p>
<h3>👁️ Hide Admin Bar & Nav Menu Visibility</h3>
<p>Disable the admin bar for select levels and control what menu items members can see. You can even hide any widget area created with <a href="https://dev.institute/wordpress-sidebars/?utm_source=readme&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=section&utm_campaign=rua" rel="nofollow ugc">Content Aware Sidebars</a></p>
<h3>🤖 Restrict Content from Other Plugins</h3>
<p>Restrict User Access autodetects Custom Post Types and Taxonomies created by any plugin or theme. Built-in support for some of the most popular WordPress plugins means that you e.g. can restrict access to bbPress forums or multilingual content.</p>
<ul>
<li>bbPress</li>
<li>BuddyPress</li>
<li>Easy Digital Downloads</li>
<li>Pods</li>
<li>Polylang</li>
<li>TranslatePress</li>
<li>WooCommerce</li>
<li>Weglot</li>
<li>WPML</li>
<li>and more …</li>
</ul>
<h3>🛡️ WordPress Security Enhancements</h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>WP REST API Content Protection</strong><br />
Enforces PoLA to minimize attack surfaces and stop threat actors from harvesting your data</li>
<li><strong>How to display content in lists</strong><br />
Display excerpts only or hide content when post types are displayed in blog, archives, search results, lists, etc.</li>
</ul>
<h3>📑 Restrict Content with Shortcodes</h3>
<p>Fine-tune content visibility in your posts or pages by adding simple shortcodes:</p>
<pre><code>[restrict level="platinum"]
This content can only be seen by users with Platinum level or above.
[/restrict]

[restrict level="!platinum"]
This content can only be seen by users without Platinum level or above.
[/restrict]

[restrict role="editor,contributor" page="1"]
This content can only be seen by editors and contributors.
Other users will see content from page with ID 1.
[/restrict]

[login-form]
</code></pre>
<h3>👋 Developer-friendly API</h3>
<p>Restrict User Access makes it super easy for developers to programmatically customize WordPress access control by adding a few lines of code to theme templates.</p>
<h4>Example – Add level to current user</h4>
<pre><code>rua_get_user()->add_level($level_id);
</code></pre>
<h4>Example – Check if current user has an active level membership</h4>
<pre><code>if(rua_get_user()->has_level($level_id)) {
    //show restricted content
} else {
    //show content if unauthorized
}
</code></pre>
<p><a href="https://dev.institute/docs/restrict-user-access/developer-api/?utm_source=readme&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=section&utm_campaign=rua" rel="nofollow ugc">View full RUA PHP API documentation here.</a></p>
<h3>🎛️ Premium Add-ons for Restrict User Access</h3>
<p>Complete your WordPress membership site with these powerful extensions</p>
<ul>
<li><strong><a href="https://dev.institute/products/category/restrict-user-access/?utm_source=readme&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=acf&utm_campaign=rua" rel="nofollow ugc">ACF Restriction</a></strong><br />
Restrict content that contain data from Advanced Custom Fields plugin</li>
<li><strong><a href="https://dev.institute/products/category/restrict-user-access/?utm_source=readme&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=date&utm_campaign=rua" rel="nofollow ugc">Date Restriction</a></strong><br />
Restrict content based on the time it was published</li>
<li><strong><a href="https://dev.institute/products/category/restrict-user-access/?utm_source=readme&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=metabox&utm_campaign=rua" rel="nofollow ugc">Meta Box Restriction</a></strong><br />
Restrict content that contain data from Meta Box plugin</li>
<li><strong><a href="https://dev.institute/products/category/restrict-user-access/?utm_source=readme&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=timelock&utm_campaign=rua" rel="nofollow ugc">Timelock</a></strong><br />
Determine when to enable or disable select Access Conditions</li>
<li><strong><a href="https://dev.institute/products/category/restrict-user-access/?utm_source=readme&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=url&utm_campaign=rua" rel="nofollow ugc">URL Restriction</a></strong><br />
Restrict content based on the WordPress URL, with wildcard support</li>
<li><strong><a href="https://dev.institute/products/category/restrict-user-access/?utm_source=readme&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=visibility&utm_campaign=rua" rel="nofollow ugc">Visibility Control</a></strong><br />
Hide content from blog, search results, archives, custom lists, WP REST API, and more</li>
</ul>


Restrict User Access – Ultimate Membership & Content Protection

Create Access Levels and restrict any post, page, category, etc. Supports bbPress, BuddyPress, WooCommerce, WPML, and more.

Silkalns

WP Chill

patrickposner

<h3>Password Protect Pages, Posts & Content in WordPress</h3>
<p>Passster is an all-in-one plugin to password protect pages, content, or your entire site in seconds—quick, secure, and easy to use.<br />
Passster offers three protection modes to cover every use case you may think of when it comes to password protecting your WordPress website.</p>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" title="How to protect a page with Passster" width="750" height="422" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kjYklVLVFD8?list=PLM2tOjfhVrZdo_H26CV2I-UfdqpDWxo3D" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<h3>Passster Pro – Even more protection features when making a purchase</h3>
<p><strong>Multiple Passwords & Password Lists</strong><br />
– Assign multiple passwords for different users.<br />
– Create and manage large password lists for easy control.</p>
<p><strong>Quick & Bulk Edit for Password Protection</strong><br />
– Use WordPress <strong>Quick Edit</strong> and <strong>Bulk Edit</strong> to protect multiple pages instantly.</p>
<p><strong>Unlock Content by User Role or Email</strong><br />
– Automatically grant access to specific users or email addresses.</p>
<p><strong>Password Expiration & Usage Limits</strong><br />
– Set passwords to expire after a number of uses, first use, or by a time limit (hours, days, weeks).<br />
– Track which passwords were used and when they will expire.</p>
<p><strong>Generate Unlock Links</strong><br />
– Create encrypted unlock links so users can access content without entering a password.<br />
– Automatically shorten links with <strong>Bit.ly</strong> for easy sharing.</p>
<p><strong>WooCommerce Protection & Sales</strong><br />
– Protect WooCommerce pages, products, and checkout with a password.<br />
– Sell access to protected content—generate and email passwords automatically after purchase.</p>
<p><strong>Detailed Password Usage Statistics</strong><br />
– Track when and how often passwords are used.<br />
– View first usage date, IP (optional), and browser details.</p>
<h3>Quick Comparison (Free vs. Pro)</h3>
<h3>Free Version:</h3>
<p>✔ Protect sections of pages using shortcodes or blocks.<br />
✔ Secure entire pages and posts.<br />
✔ Automatically protect child pages with a single click.<br />
✔ Lock down your entire site with a password.<br />
✔ Unlock protected content without refreshing the page.<br />
✔ Customize the design, labels, and descriptions of the password form.<br />
✔ Use cookies to grant access across multiple protected areas.</p>
<h3>Pro Version:</h3>
<p>✔ Everything in the free version, plus:<br />
✔ Protect content with <strong>multiple passwords</strong> or password lists.<br />
✔ Quickly set up password protection via Quick Edit or Bulk Edit.<br />
✔ Protect content using <strong>Google reCAPTCHA or hCAPTCHA</strong>.<br />
✔ Unlock protected content by <strong>user role or email</strong>.<br />
✔ Set passwords to <strong>expire</strong> based on usage limits or time intervals.<br />
✔ Generate encrypted <strong>unlock links</strong> for seamless access.<br />
✔ Track and prevent <strong>concurrent password sharing</strong>.<br />
✔ Secure <strong>WooCommerce products and store pages</strong>.<br />
✔ Sell access to protected content via <strong>WooCommerce integration</strong>.<br />
✔ Detailed statistics on password usage and lists.</p>
<p>Get it now on <a href="https://passster.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">passster.com/</a></p>
<h3>Documentation</h3>
<p>Learn more about this plugin <a href="https://passster.com/kb/" rel="nofollow ugc">in our official documentation</a></p>
<h3>Support</h3>
<ul>
<li>Free users: <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/content-protector/" rel="ugc">Ask in our forum</a></li>
<li>Pro users: <a href="https://passster.com/contact-us/?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=description&utm_term=contact+us" rel="nofollow ugc">Get priority help</a></li>
</ul>


Passster – Password Protect Pages and Content


I'm not sure that updating the plugin is the only cause, but it is a cause of this problem: the correct password ceases to unlock the content after an update and says "security check failed" or something when attempting to authenticate.  This causes a periodic freak-out of my customer.  To fix it I have to add and take away the whole-page lock...I think...  It's hard to pinpoint what I actually do that makes it start working again.


Periodically doesn't unlock. Buggy

Password Protect Pages, Posts & Content in WordPress

Restrict User Access – Ultimate Membership & Content Protection vs Passster – Password Protect Pages and Content