Comment blacklisting works well, but what if you actually want to stop someone from even reading your blog? This plugin will take care of that for you.
It uses .htaccess file modifications to deny access to your blog from particular IP addresses (Deny from) and then follows up with an ErrorDocument 403 redirect to a URL of your choice. It doesn’t hook into WordPress, which makes it a lot faster due to no database or PHP calls.

WP-BlockYou

A plugin that can be used to block or "ban" users via their IP address from viewing your blog, and then redirecting them to a URL of your ch …

Jeff Starr

<blockquote>
Banhammer: Protect your site against enemy hordes!
</blockquote>
Banhammer gives you full control over who and what may access your site. Visit the Armory to monitor traffic and review suspicious visitors. If you find some user or bot that is causing problems, you can ban them with a click. Or, if you just want to keep an eye on someone, you can flag them with a warning. Any banned users will be denied access to your site, until you restore access via the Tower. Check out the video and screenshots to get a better idea of how it works.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Banhammer - Intro" width="750" height="422" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0t4qBH0TuW0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<blockquote>
Important: Not yet compatible with WP Multisite!
</blockquote>
Core Features
<ul>
<li>Ban or Warn any WP user or IP address</li>
<li>Restore access to any banned targets</li>
<li>Monitor site traffic in the Armory</li>
<li>Monitor logged users in the Admin Area</li>
<li>Monitor all visitors on the front-end</li>
<li>Manage banned targets in the Tower</li>
<li>Complete Ajax-powered navigation</li>
<li>Useful tools like jump, sort, search</li>
<li>Complete documentation via Help tab</li>
<li>Automatically clear logged data</li>
<li>Sound effects for Ban, Warn, et al</li>
<li>NEW: manually block any IP address</li>
</ul>
Options Galore
<ul>
<li>Optionally ignore logged-in users</li>
<li>Optionally protect Login Page and Admin Area</li>
<li>Customize the banned response and status code</li>
<li>Display banned message or redirect the request</li>
<li>Choose the interval to clear logged data</li>
<li>One-click restore plugin default options</li>
<li>All collected data may be deleted easily</li>
</ul>
More Features
<ul>
<li>Easy to use</li>
<li>Clean code</li>
<li>Fast and secure</li>
<li>Built with WP API</li>
<li>Lightweight and flexible</li>
<li>Regularly updated and “future proof”</li>
<li>Works great with any WordPress theme</li>
<li>Comprehensive search of all logged data</li>
<li>Works great with other WordPress plugins</li>
<li>Works with or without Gutenberg Block Editor</li>
<li>Focused on usability, performance, and security</li>
</ul>
Banhammer is perfect for site owners, admins, and developers who want to keep an eye on traffic and block any unwanted visitors. It is a simple, flexible, and powerful security solution. Perfect for the best WordPress sites.
Exclusive Features in the Pro Version
<ul>
<li>Ban based on URI request, referrer, or user agent</li>
<li>Whitelist any IP address or user agent</li>
<li>View cookies, POST data, and FILES data</li>
<li>Email Alerts for banned & warned requests</li>
<li>Display custom message to each banned target</li>
<li>Add private notes to warned/banned targets</li>
<li>Customize target strings for user agents, IPs, etc.</li>
<li>Disable logging of banned, warned, and whitelisted targets</li>
<li>Smart bot detection</li>
<li>Paged results in Tower</li>
<li>User avatars in Tower</li>
</ul>
For complete documentation, visit the Help tab on any Banhammer screen.
+ <a href="https://plugin-planet.com/banhammer-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">Banhammer Pro now available »</a>
Privacy
User Data: Banhammer collects user data to “do its thing”. The collected data is temporary and automatically deleted every day, or at whatever time interval is specified in the plugin settings. The only time that any data is “remembered” is when you ban something. For each person/thing that you ban, the plugin stores either the IP address OR the username (never both). At any time, all saved data may be deleted permanently via the plugin settings and Armory Tools.
Cookies: Banhammer does not set any cookies for regular visitors, but does set a few simple cookies for admin-level users. These simple cookies enable dope effects and interactivity in the Armory and Tower UI. But no cookies are set or used for any other visitor/user or purpose.
Services: Banhammer uses a free lookup service for GeoIP information. This happens only for admin-level users when they are viewing data in the Armory or Tower. No other third-party services are used by this plugin.
Banhammer is developed and maintained by <a href="https://x.com/perishable" rel="nofollow ugc">Jeff Starr</a>, 15-year <a href="https://plugin-planet.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">WordPress developer</a> and <a href="https://books.perishablepress.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">book author</a>.
Support development
I develop and maintain this free plugin with love for the WordPress community. To show support, you can <a href="https://monzillamedia.com/donate.html" rel="nofollow ugc">make a donation</a> or purchase one of my books:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://wp-tao.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">The Tao of WordPress</a></li>
<li><a href="https://digwp.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">Digging into WordPress</a></li>
<li><a href="https://htaccessbook.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">.htaccess made easy</a></li>
<li><a href="https://wp-tao.com/wordpress-themes-book/" rel="nofollow ugc">WordPress Themes In Depth</a></li>
<li><a href="https://books.perishablepress.com/downloads/wizards-collection-sql-recipes-wordpress/" rel="nofollow ugc">Wizard’s SQL Recipes for WordPress</a></li>
</ul>
And/or purchase one of my premium WordPress plugins:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/bbq-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">BBQ Pro</a> – Blazing fast WordPress firewall</li>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/blackhole-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">Blackhole Pro</a> – Automatically block bad bots</li>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/banhammer-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">Banhammer Pro</a> – Monitor traffic and ban the bad guys</li>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/ga-google-analytics-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">GA Google Analytics Pro</a> – Connect WordPress to Google Analytics</li>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/head-meta-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">Head Meta Pro</a> – Ultimate Meta Tags for WordPress</li>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/simple-ajax-chat-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">Simple Ajax Chat Pro</a> – Unlimited chat rooms</li>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/usp-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">USP Pro</a> – Unlimited front-end forms</li>
</ul>
Links, tweets and likes also appreciated. Thank you! 🙂

Banhammer – Monitor Site Traffic, Block Bad Users and Bots

Because the info on this plugin says nothing about it, I feel obligated to do so: 
It does NOT work on MultiSite, unfortunately :-( 

It looked very promising, the author announcing it on his own website with the words "waaay too much fun". And I can imagine it is indeed, but not if you are running a multisite installation and find out your site has had no protection whatsoever, since installing this plugin. 

So, in this case: no, it's not waaaay too much fun, unfortunately...

Does not work on MultiSite!

Monitor traffic and ban unwanted visitors. Block any user or IP address so they can't access your site.

WP-BlockYou vs Banhammer – Monitor Site Traffic, Block Bad Users and Bots