Grade B

Hide Admin Bar Based on User Roles

Name: Hide Admin Bar Based on User Roles
Rating: 3.7 (20 reviews)
Author: Ankit Panchal

⤓ Download v7.2.1 on WordPress.org ↗

by Ankit Panchalupdated 2026-04-13🌿The Dependable Sort

It works well until it decides you are not the boss.

HealthyDecliningPoor rating

64/100

Users find it simple to set up but many report it accidentally hides the bar from administrators.

Loved15/40

Trustworthy10/15

Fair & Honest14/15

Maintained18/18

Momentum7/12

✂️

You might not need this plugin. Its core job is small enough to live in your theme's functions.php.

Show the snippet

add_action( 'after_setup_theme', function () {
    // Roles that should NOT see the admin bar.
    $hidden_roles = [ 'subscriber', 'customer' ];

    $user = wp_get_current_user();

    if ( empty( $user->roles ) ) {
        // Guest — hide the bar.
        show_admin_bar( false );
        return;
    }

    if ( array_intersect( $hidden_roles, $user->roles ) ) {
        show_admin_bar( false );
    }
} );

Keep in mind:Pro features such as device detection, page targeting, per-user overrides, time-based hiding, smart redirects, and inactivity auto-hide are not covered.

More plugins you can skip →

Active installs

~25,000

our estimate · wp.org shows 20k+

Rating

3.9★

20 ratings

Trend · vs a year ago

-5%

Declining

151 → 144 installs/day

What to watch out for

MINORverified rating is 3.72★

Downloads over time

real new installs per day · release spikes shown separately from the trend

2025-04-302025-08-082025-11-162026-02-232026-06-03

organicrelease spikerelease tailorganic trend · 14d rolling median

Declining · -5% in the last year

151/day a year ago→144/day today

Reviews

what people actually say

Hide Admin Bar Based on User Roles is a lightweight, easy-to-configure plugin that many users find straightforward and effective, but a recurring and serious flaw undermines its core promise: it frequently hides the admin bar for roles that were explicitly set to keep it visible, including Administrators.

What people like

+Simple, quick setup with a focused, single-purpose design×5
+Works correctly for role-based admin bar hiding when functioning as intended×4
+Compatible with other admin bar plugins

Common complaints

−Hides the admin bar for Administrator role even when Administrators are explicitly set to see it×3
−After an update, the admin bar appeared for all users on the front end by default, reversing the plugin's intended behavior without clear notice to users
−Cannot hide the admin bar for guest/logged-out users, limiting usefulness for some setups
−Does not block actual wp-admin access — only hides the visual bar, which is a misunderstood scope issue for some users

Review trustMostly organic

3.72★Verified rating — drops from 3.90★ once one-shot reviewers are removed
10%One-shot reviewers — most reviewers are active community members
past spikeReview timing — up to 67% of all reviews landed in a single month

Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower

2024-06-142025-06-092026-06-04

5★ reviews1–4★ reviews

All-time ratings · 20 total

5★

4★

3★

2★

1★

Latest reviews · 20 analyzed

2026-03-05★★★★★BEST OF THE BEST davidraudales
2024-06-02★★★★★Hides the admin bar even when I'm an administrator Norman Cates
2024-06-02★★★★★hide admin bar even though I’m admin syyymonsyy
2023-03-09★★★★★It's working very well after update mich08
2022-08-22★★★★★After an update, the admin bar appeared for all users.upwithit
2022-06-11★★★★★AWESOME ceef454
2022-01-21★★★★★Hidden but not hidden leolivenl
2021-12-06★★★★★Excellent plugin menzah
2021-09-21★★★★★Works as Described ellice909
2021-04-25★★★★★thank you wemnael

Releases

recent versions from WordPress.org SVN

2026-04-13v7.2.1
2026-03-16v7.2.0
2026-02-24v7.1.0
2026-01-31v7.0.3
2025-12-03v7.0.2
2025-11-29v7.0.1
2025-11-10v6.0.5
2025-08-27v6.0.4

For developers & the curious

the raw signals behind the grade — none of this is on the friendly summary above

Download signals

Baselines are computed on organic days only — release spikes and their tails are excluded, so they're not inflated by the auto-update wave.

128

Baseline · median of last 7 organic days

147

Prior 7-day baseline

104

Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days

747

Mean release-day peak (30d)

132

Latest day · 2026-06-03(organic)

-12.9%

Week-over-week organic trend

Review signals

Concentration and drive-by metrics drive the review-burst and fake-review flags. 30–40% solo reviewers is normal; we only flag the extremes.

67%

Max month share · biggest single 30-day window

3.59

Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty

70%

5★ share in analyzed sample

10%

Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity

—

Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo

3.85 → 3.72★

Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered