63
Login Lockdown & Protection
Strong brute force defense with a side of aggressive sales pitches.
HealthyDeclining
63/100
It blocks brute force attacks effectively but users feel burned by aggressive upselling and removed features.
Active installs
~150,000
our estimate · wp.org shows 100k+
Rating
4.3★
60 ratings
Trend · vs a year ago
-8%
Declining
400 → 368 installs/day
Downloads over time
real new installs per day · release spikes shown separately from the trend2025-04-302025-08-082025-11-162026-02-232026-06-03
organicrelease spikerelease tailorganic trend · 14d rolling median
Declining · -8% in the last year
400/day a year ago→368/day today
Reviews
what people actually sayLogin Lockdown & Protection is a straightforward brute-force login protection plugin that users have historically found effective, but it has drawn serious criticism for aggressive upselling, removal of core free features, and a handful of reliability and security concerns.
What people like
- +Effective at blocking brute-force login attempts and reducing server load×4
- +Easy to set up with minimal configuration required×3
- +Works quietly in the background without requiring ongoing attention×2
Common complaints
- −Free version has been heavily degraded with aggressive in-dashboard ads and upsells, making the interface difficult to use×2
- −Core functionality (such as admin unlock) was moved behind a paywall in a later update, with users calling it extortion×2
- −Lockout timer does not always respect configured settings — locks can persist indefinitely past the set duration
- −Captcha only appears on the login form, not on lost-password or WooCommerce comment forms
- −Two-factor authentication is limited to email only; no support for TOTP apps like Google Authenticator or Authy
- −One user reported suspicious 'Unknown' login attempts on multiple sites appearing only after installation
- −Plugin automatically adds its own links to the site footer without user consent
- −A past version exposed plaintext passwords in the failed-login log, visible to any admin (reportedly fixed)
- −Reported cases of the plugin locking out legitimate admins without failed login attempts
- −Plugin reported as non-functional on a fresh WordPress install by at least one user
Review trustMostly organic
- 4.27★Verified rating — holds steady vs the raw 4.30★
- 0%One-shot reviewers — most reviewers are active community members
- past spikeReview timing — up to 33% of all reviews landed in a single month
Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower
2023-07-202025-01-102026-06-04
5★ reviews1–4★ reviews
All-time ratings · 60 total
Latest reviews · 60 analyzed
- 2025-05-17★★★★★503 Service Unavailablereverseflash
- 2024-02-22★★★★★Free but total adwareFolioVision
- 2024-01-24★★★★★Awesome Plugin, Saved My Servers!jonahcoyote
- 2023-11-25★★★★★Things have started that aren't quite finishedjohnyyw
- 2023-07-20★★★★★“Unknown” login attempts after installationmarcioshibukawa
- 2023-06-24★★★★★Great security, updated with new features, responsive supportJim Krenz
- 2023-05-17★★★★★Extortion! Removed Unlock for admins!csgaraglino
- 2023-05-10★★★★★Great plugindw4y
- 2023-05-05★★★★★Great plugintatof
- 2022-09-26★★★★★Does one job and does it wellstrarsis
Releases
recent versions from WordPress.org SVNAlternatives to Login Lockdown & Protection
Top Security plugins, ranked by score.For developers & the curious
the raw signals behind the grade — none of this is on the friendly summary aboveDownload 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.
354
Baseline · median of last 7 organic days
346
Prior 7-day baseline
241
Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days
996
Mean release-day peak (30d)
354
Latest day · 2026-06-03(organic)
+2.3%
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.
33%
Max month share · biggest single 30-day window
2.65
Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty
78%
5★ share in analyzed sample
0%
Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity
—
Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo
4.27 → 4.27★
Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered