WindCodex

<p><strong>Country Restrictions for WooCommerce</strong> lets you control exactly which products customers can see and buy based on their country – using WooCommerce’s built-in geolocation engine. No API key. No third-party service. No code required.</p>
<p>Whether you need to comply with regional laws, manage export restrictions, honour licensing agreements, or limit shipping destinations – this plugin gives you precise per-product country control in minutes.</p>
<h4>Why store owners choose this plugin</h4>
<ul>
<li><strong>No more failed deliveries</strong> – Stop customers from ordering products you can’t ship to their country.</li>
<li><strong>Stay legally compliant</strong> – Block products restricted by local law (alcohol, supplements, age-restricted items, electronics).</li>
<li><strong>Honour licensing agreements</strong> – Restrict digital or licensed products to territories your agreement covers.</li>
<li><strong>Create country-specific catalogs</strong> – Show a tailored product selection to each market, automatically.</li>
<li><strong>Reduce chargebacks</strong> – Prevent orders you’d only have to cancel and refund.</li>
</ul>
<h4>3 Restriction Modes – Choose how to handle each restricted product</h4>
<p><strong>Hide completely</strong><br />
Product is removed from shop pages, search results, and category listings for restricted visitors. Direct product URL returns a 404 page. Optionally redirect restricted visitors to a custom URL instead.</p>
<p><strong>Hide from catalog, allow direct URL</strong><br />
Product is hidden from shop and search. The product page still loads via direct link – useful for distributors or partners in restricted regions. You can optionally allow full purchase via direct URL with a single toggle.</p>
<p><strong>Show restriction message</strong><br />
Product stays visible in the catalog. On the product page, the Add to Cart button and price are replaced with your custom HTML message. Perfect for explaining regional availability without making the product invisible.</p>
<h4>Key Features</h4>
<ul>
<li><strong>Per-product country rules</strong> – Set include or exclude rules on any product from the product edit screen. Searchable country selector with live rule summary.</li>
<li><strong>Include or Exclude mode</strong> – Whitelist specific countries (only they can buy) or blacklist countries (everyone except them can buy).</li>
<li><strong>Custom restriction message</strong> – Write your own HTML message. Supports links, bold text, and any markup allowed by WordPress.</li>
<li><strong>Configurable message position</strong> – Place the restriction notice above the title, below the title, after the description, or before product meta.</li>
<li><strong>Redirect on restriction</strong> – In Hide mode, redirect restricted visitors to any URL instead of a 404 page.</li>
<li><strong>Cart & checkout protection</strong> – Restricted products added to cart before a rule was applied are automatically removed at cart and checkout, with a clear notice.</li>
<li><strong>Server-side add-to-cart validation</strong> – Blocks direct POST, REST API, and AJAX add-to-cart attempts for restricted products. No client-side-only protection.</li>
<li><strong>Smart country detection (6 layers)</strong> – Shipping address -> billing address -> WC session -> transient cache -> MaxMind GeoLite2 -> store base. No manual input needed from shoppers.</li>
<li><strong>Cloudflare IP support</strong> – Reads <code>CF-Connecting-IP</code> automatically for sites behind Cloudflare.</li>
<li><strong>Force Geolocation option</strong> – Ignore saved addresses and always detect country from IP.</li>
<li><strong>Session & transient caching</strong> – Country detection results are cached per session for performance. Zero repeated geolocation lookups.</li>
<li><strong>Debug toolbar</strong> – Admin-only bar at the bottom of every frontend page showing detected country, IP address, detection source, and a direct link to settings.</li>
<li><strong>Shortcode support</strong> – <code>[geoblock_product_message]</code> renders the restriction message anywhere – page builders, custom templates, Elementor, Divi.</li>
<li><strong>HPOS compatible</strong> – Fully compatible with WooCommerce High-Performance Order Storage.</li>
<li><strong>Translation ready</strong> – Complete <code>.pot</code> file included. Fully translatable via Loco Translate or WPML String Translation.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Plugin Compatibility</h4>
<p>Built-in compatibility layers for 6 popular plugins – no configuration needed:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Price Based on Country for WooCommerce</strong> – Restriction message takes priority over country-based pricing on restricted products.</li>
<li><strong>WPML</strong> – Rules set on the original-language product automatically apply to all translated copies. No duplicate rules per language.</li>
<li><strong>WooCommerce Product Bundles</strong> – Restriction on the bundle parent blocks the entire bundle from being purchased.</li>
<li><strong>WooCommerce Subscriptions</strong> – Both <code>subscription</code> and <code>variable-subscription</code> product types are fully supported.</li>
<li><strong>WP Rocket</strong> – Product pages automatically excluded from page cache so every visitor gets the correct restricted/unrestricted version.</li>
<li><strong>Speed Optimizer by SiteGround</strong> – Product pages bypass SiteGround’s dynamic cache using <code>SGCACHENOCACHE</code> and <code>sgo_bypass_cache</code>.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Use Cases</h4>
<ul>
<li>Block alcohol or age-restricted products from countries where they’re prohibited</li>
<li>Restrict physical products to countries you can ship to</li>
<li>Limit digital downloads to licensed territories</li>
<li>Hide out-of-stock regional variants from other markets</li>
<li>Show a -contact us to order in your region- message instead of hiding the product</li>
<li>Create exclusive country-specific product catalogs</li>
</ul>
<h4>Shortcode</h4>
<p>Display the restriction message anywhere using:<br />
    [geoblock_product_message]</p>
<p><strong>Attributes:</strong><br />
* <code>id</code> – Product ID to check. Defaults to current product in the loop.<br />
* <code>class</code> – Extra CSS class(es) added to the message wrapper div.</p>
<p><strong>Examples:</strong><br />
    [geoblock_product_message id=123]<br />
    [geoblock_product_message id=123- class=my-notice highlight]</p>
<h4>How It Works</h4>
<ol>
<li>Install and activate the plugin.</li>
<li>Go to <strong>WooCommerce > GeoBlock Restrictions</strong> and choose a restriction mode.</li>
<li>Open any product and find the <strong>GeoBlock – Country Restrictions</strong> meta box.</li>
<li>Select Include or Exclude, choose your countries, and save.</li>
<li>GeoBlock automatically detects each visitor’s country and applies your rules in real time.</li>
</ol>
<h4>Requirements</h4>
<ul>
<li>WordPress 5.8 or higher</li>
<li>WooCommerce 7.0 or higher</li>
<li>PHP 7.4 or higher</li>
<li>WooCommerce Geolocation: <strong>WooCommerce Settings > General > Default customer location > Geolocate</strong></li>
</ul>
<h4>Privacy</h4>
<p>GeoBlock uses the visitor’s IP address solely to determine their country. No personal data is stored permanently. Detection results are cached in WooCommerce session storage and WordPress transients with a 1-hour TTL. No data is sent to external servers. This plugin does not collect, sell, or share any visitor data.</p>


WindCodex GeoBlock

Restrict WooCommerce products by country. Hide products, block purchases, or show a custom message using geolocation - no API key required.

wppropress

<p>Zero Budget Bot Shield is a WordPress security plugin that provides country blocking and 404 abuse protection without using external APIs or services</p>
<h3>Country Blocking Without External APIs</h3>
<p>Most geo-blocking plugins depend on third-party IP lookup services.<br />
Zero Budget Bot Shield does not.</p>
<p>Instead, it reads country codes directly from:</p>
<ul>
<li>Cloudflare IP country headers</li>
<li>Hosting provider GeoIP headers</li>
<li>Standard server-level GeoIP integrations</li>
</ul>
<p>This means:</p>
<ul>
<li>No API keys</li>
<li>No outbound IP lookups</li>
<li>No visitor data sent to external services</li>
<li>No privacy policy complexity</li>
</ul>
<h3>Features</h3>
<p>All features are available out of the box, with nothing locked behind a paywall.</p>
<ul>
<li>Country blocking using server-level GeoIP headers</li>
<li>No external APIs, IP databases, or paid services</li>
<li>Automatic detection and blocking of 404 abuse</li>
<li>Configurable rate limits and time windows</li>
<li>Admin dashboard with statistics and event logs</li>
<li>Exportable logs for auditing and analysis</li>
<li>Native WordPress admin interface</li>
<li>No front-end scripts or styles</li>
<li>Fully self-contained and privacy-friendly</li>
</ul>
<h3>How It Works</h3>
<p>
Zero Budget Bot Shield uses country codes provided by your server environment, such as:
</p>
<ul>
<li>Cloudflare IP country headers</li>
<li>Hosting provider GeoIP integrations</li>
<li>Standard server-level GeoIP modules</li>
</ul>
<p>
No outbound IP lookups are performed, and no visitor data is sent outside your WordPress installation.
</p>
<p>
For 404 protection, the plugin monitors repeated not-found responses per IP address and automatically applies temporary blocks when thresholds are exceeded.
</p>
<h3>Privacy and Performance</h3>
<ul>
<li>No user tracking</li>
<li>No storage of personally identifiable information</li>
<li>No external API calls or SaaS dependencies</li>
<li>No background cron jobs</li>
<li>No performance impact on normal visitors</li>
</ul>
<p>
All processing happens locally using infrastructure you already control.
</p>
<h3>Recommended For</h3>
<ul>
<li>Small businesses and personal websites</li>
<li>Non-profits and educational institutions</li>
<li>Shared hosting environments</li>
<li>Developers who want simple, dependency-free protection</li>
<li>Sites that require country blocking without paid services</li>
</ul>
<h3>About WPNatives</h3>
<p>WPNatives develops practical, security-focused tools for WordPress site owners who value stability, performance, and transparency.</p>
<p>Our plugins are designed to be lightweight, self-contained, and standards-compliant, with a focus on protecting WordPress sites without introducing unnecessary complexity, external dependencies, or recurring costs. We prioritize clean code, predictable behavior, and compatibility with common hosting environments.</p>
<p>Our goal is to help individuals, nonprofits, small businesses, and agencies improve their site security and resilience using solutions that are easy to understand and maintain.</p>
<p>Learn more at <a href="https://wpnatives.com" rel="nofollow ugc">wpnatives.com</a> and explore our latest plugins, guides, and support resources.</p>


Zero Budget Bot Shield

Free, lightweight WordPress plugin that blocks bots by country and prevents abuse via repeated 404 errors. Perfect for small organizations.

WindCodex GeoBlock vs Zero Budget Bot Shield