59
Password Protected — Lock Entire Site, Pages, Posts, Categories, and Partial Content
Expect a solid lock and a very loud sales pitch.
HealthyDeclining
59/100
The free version works for whole sites but uses misleading claims to drive Pro sales.
Active installs
~350,000
our estimate · wp.org shows 300k+
Rating
4.4★
139 ratings
Trend · vs a year ago
-9%
Declining
1,395 → 1,264 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 · -9% in the last year
1,395/day a year ago→1,264/day today
Reviews
what people actually sayPassword Protected is a functional site-locking plugin with responsive support, but its reputation is significantly undermined by a free version that is widely perceived as misleading — most advertised features require a paid Pro subscription that users find expensive.
What people like
- +Easy to install, configure, and use for basic whole-site password protection×4
- +Support team is responsive and technically capable, including custom fixes×5
- +Works well for staging environments or keeping an entire site private×2
Common complaints
- −Most advertised features (page-level protection, category protection, page exclusions, etc.) are locked behind the Pro version, which users find deceptive given the plugin's description×5
- −Pro pricing ($99/year) is considered expensive relative to what the free version offers×3
- −Free version is seen as little more than an upsell menu, with the UI described as cluttered and bloated with upgrade prompts×3
- −Default password protection notice/UI is visually outdated and unappealing
- −No way to keep even the homepage public on the free version, limiting usefulness for common use cases
Review trustReviews look organic
- 4.35★Verified rating — holds steady vs the raw 4.40★
- 14%One-shot reviewers — most reviewers are active community members
Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower
2023-07-202025-01-102026-06-04
5★ reviews1–4★ reviews
All-time ratings · 139 total
Latest reviews · 90 analyzed
- 2026-05-22★★★★★Simple and effective – just what I neededswisspaul1956
- 2026-05-18★★★★★Wish I could say moreDr Tyrell
- 2026-05-03★★★★★Super easy to use!hriepma
- 2025-11-24★★★★★Useless for meKindly Thrive Support
- 2025-09-25★★★★★Premium version is worth itKatherine Kern
- 2025-09-23★★★★★I appreciate the supportvibrantsystems
- 2025-08-22★★★★★Great Customer Supportalchambers
- 2025-08-06★★★★★Very basic free version, but decent.lightwavin
- 2025-07-21★★★★★A Very Useful Pluginrpm123abc
- 2025-06-20★★★★★Great WordPress plugindantheman550551-shot
Releases
recent versions from WordPress.org SVNFor 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.
1,712
Baseline · median of last 7 organic days
1,854
Prior 7-day baseline
1,010
Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days
26,516
Mean release-day peak (30d)
68,996
Latest day · 2026-06-03(spike)
-7.7%
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.
8%
Max month share · biggest single 30-day window
0.88
Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty
74%
5★ share in analyzed sample
14%
Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity
-57%
Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo
4.33 → 4.35★
Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered