Admin Safety Guard locks down the two places WordPress sites actually get broken into: the login form and the admin area. You don’t need to know what a firewall rule is to use it. Turn on a switch, pick a number, save. The plugin handles the rest and shows you, in plain words, what it blocked and wh
PricingFree downloadThe WordPress.org download is free. Pro versions, add-ons or external services may cost extra.
CompatibilityRequires WordPress 5.8 and PHP 8.0.
SourceWordPress plugins · Nov 7, 2026
01 / Source details
Aboutthistool.
Admin Safety Guard locks down the two places WordPress sites actually get broken into: the login form and the admin area.
You don’t need to know what a firewall rule is to use it. Turn on a switch, pick a number, save. The plugin handles the rest and shows you, in plain words, what it blocked and what still needs your attention.
If you have ever looked at your login log and seen hundreds of failed attempts for a user called “admin” that you never created, this plugin is for you.
How WordPress sites get broken into
Almost every automated attack follows the same three steps:
01A bot loads yoursite.com/wp-login.php , because that address is the same on every WordPress site in the world.
02It guesses usernames and passwords, thousands of times an hour, until one works.
03Once it’s in, it installs a backdoor, injects spam links, or quietly adds itself as an administrator.
Admin Safety Guard breaks that chain at every step, and every feature below is free.
Free features
Limit login attempts (on by default) Lock out an IP address after a set number of failed sign-ins. You choose how many attempts are allowed, how long the lockout lasts, and what the person sees. Keep failing and the address is blocked for a full 24 hours. This is the one feature that switches itself on when you activate the plugin, so your site is covered before you configure anything.
It doesn’t only watch wp-login.php . XML-RPC, application passwords and custom theme login forms all count towards the same limit, which is how most bots get around simpler login limiters.
Add your own IP to the trusted list so you can never lock yourself out. Single addresses, CIDR ranges ( 203.0.113.0/24 ), wildcards ( 203.0.113.* ) and IPv6 all work.
Custom login URL Move your sign-in page to an address only you know, like yoursite.com/office-door . After that, wp-login.php and wp-register.php return a 404 for everyone, so scanners find nothing to attack. It works on root installs, WordPress in a subfolder, and multisite. Reserved slugs that would break your site are rejected before you can save them.
Two-factor authentication by email After the password comes a one-time code, sent to the user’s inbox. A stolen password on its own becomes useless. You decide which roles need it (administrators and editors only, for example), how many digits the code has, how long it stays valid, and how many wrong guesses are allowed before it’s destroyed. The email is styled by default, and you can write your own subject and body if you’d rather.
Google reCAPTCHA (v2 and v3) Add reCAPTCHA to your login form to stop bots before they ever submit a password. Both the “I’m not a robot” checkbox and the invisible v3 score check are supported. Paste in your site key and secret key, pick a version, done.
Session security Everything above protects the sign-in. This protects what happens after it. WordPress keeps a session alive for two days, or fourteen if someone ticked “Remember Me” – however long the laptop sits open in a coffee shop.
Sign people out after a period of inactivity, shorten the maximum session length, end every other session when someone changes their password, and optionally tie a session to the IP address it started from so a copied cookie stops working elsewhere.
IP blocking Some addresses don’t deserve a second chance. Add them to the permanent block list and they never reach your login page again. You can also block an address in one click straight from the login log.
Login logs and activity tracking A real audit trail: every successful sign-in and every failed attempt, with username, IP address, browser, and timestamp. Search it, sort it, page through it, export it to CSV for a client report, or clear out old entries by date range.
You can also get an email the first time an administrator signs in from an address that account has never used before. That’s often the earliest sign that a password has leaked.
Threats blocked Every block the plugin performs is recorded in one place: lockouts, blocked addresses, failed reCAPTCHA checks, wrong two-factor codes, blocked XML-RPC requests, username-discovery attempts. The dashboard shows what was stopped and when, so “is anything actually happening?” has a real answer.
Security score The score grades your site, not the plugin. It checks the things that matter – HTTPS, whether core and PHP are current, whether an account is literally called “admin”, whether your usernames are public, whether file editing is still enabled – and weighs them against the protections you have switched on. Anything critical gets flagged at the top of your admin screen until it’s dealt with.
Privacy hardening Nine one-click switches that close the small leaks attackers use for reconnaissance:
Disable XML-RPC
Block username discovery through ?author=1 and the REST users endpoint
Show one generic error instead of telling people which half of the login was wrong
Hide your WordPress version from page source, feeds and asset URLs
Remove the RSD, Windows Live Writer and shortlink meta tags
Disable pingbacks so your site can’t be used to flood someone else’s
Disable the theme and plugin file editors
Send browser security headers (clickjacking, MIME sniffing, referrer leaks, camera and microphone access)
Disable application passwords
Password protect the whole site Put a password in front of everything. Handy for staging sites, client previews and coming-soon pages. Choose how long access lasts and which roles skip it.
Hide the admin bar by role Decide which roles see the toolbar on the front end. Hide it from subscribers and customers, keep it for editors and administrators.
Brand your login page Swap the WordPress logo for yours, set its size, where it links to, and its alt text. Change the page background (colour or image), the form background, text, link and button colours, round off the corners, hide the links you don’t want, tick “Remember Me” by default, or write your own CSS. Ready-made templates are included if you’d rather not fiddle.
Firewall and malware overview One screen showing your firewall status, with a link to our free Deep Malware Cleaner plugin for scanning and cleanup. If it’s already installed, the screen takes you straight to it.
Pro features
Admin Safety Guard Pro adds the tools agencies and busier sites tend to ask for.
Passwordless login (magic links) Users click a one-time link in their email instead of typing a password. The link works once and then expires.
2FA with an authenticator app Google Authenticator, Authy and anything else that speaks TOTP. Users scan a QR code once and generate codes on their phone from then on – no email delivery to wait for.
Social login Let people sign in with Google, Facebook or other accounts they already have, while you keep control of which providers are allowed.
Database prefix check The default wp_ prefix is known to every attacker and makes SQL injection easier to write. This finds your current prefix and walks you through changing it safely.
Strong password enforcement Set a minimum password strength. Weak passwords get rejected at the point they’re created, not after an incident.
Advanced web application firewall Inspect incoming requests and block SQL injection and cross-site scripting payloads before WordPress ever sees them. Run it in monitor-only mode first, whitelist trusted addresses, block user agents, and cap request size.
Malware scanning and cleanup Handled by our separate free plugin, Deep Malware Cleaner , rather than a second half-built scanner in here.
Upgrade to Pro to unlock all Pro features.
Who uses it
Bloggers and content creators – protection that runs in the background with nothing to maintain.
Small business owners – your site is your shopfront. A hack costs you customers and takes days to clean up.
WooCommerce stores – customer records, addresses and order history sit behind that login form. Lock it properly.
Freelancers and web designers – hand over a site that’s already hardened and branded, without a security bill attached.
Agencies – the same repeatable setup across every client site, with logs you can export when someone asks what happened.
Developers – every limit, message and redirect is configurable, and the features are built on standard hooks and filters you can extend.
What’s different about it
Light. Admin assets only load on the plugin’s own screens, and only the code for the screen you’re actually looking at. Nothing is added to your front end.
Useful straight away. Limit login attempts switches itself on at activation. You’re protected before you open the settings.
Honest about free vs Pro. Pro features are visible and clearly labelled. Nothing pretends to be free and then asks for a card.
Written to WordPress standards. Inputs sanitised, output escaped, nonces on every request, prepared statements on every query, and a real uninstall routine that removes its own data when you delete it.
Support
Free support is on the WordPress.org forum . For anything Pro-related or urgent, use our contact form .
External Services
This plugin uses the following third-party and external services:
1) Google reCAPTCHA (Google LLC)
Purpose: Used to protect forms from spam and automated abuse.
When it is used: – When reCAPTCHA is enabled in plugin settings – On login forms and support forms protected by reCAPTCHA
What data is sent: – User IP address – reCAPTCHA response token generated by Google – Browser information as required by Google reCAPTCHA
Service provider: Google LLC
Terms of Service: https://policies.google.com/terms
Purpose: Used for: – Collecting optional admin email addresses for plugin updates and notifications – Sending support requests from the plugin support form – Collecting optional feedback when a user attempts to deactivate the plugin – Managing plugin-related notifications (only if the user provides contact details)
When it is used: – When a user submits the built-in support form – When a user opts to send diagnostic info
See it in action
Screenshots & previews.
The dashboard leads with anything critical, like a site still running without HTTPS, then threats blocked, active users and failed sign-ins over the last 24 hours.Sign-in activity for the last 24 hours, next to a breakdown of how many of the plugin's features you actually have switched on.Security Core puts every protection in one grid, each marked Free or Pro and Active or Inactive. Limit Login Attempts is already on the moment you activate the plugin.Further down the same grid: Password Protection, Session Security, reCAPTCHA and Hide Admin Bar are free, while Passwordless Login and app-based 2FA come with Pro. Your score stays in view in the sidebar.Pro features are visible in the free version too, so you can see exactly what you would get before spending anything.Firewall & Malware shows the Pro web application firewall alongside Deep Malware Cleaner, our separate free plugin for scanning and cleanup, clearly labelled as a separate download rather than a bundled upsell.Monitoring & Analytics: failed sign-ins, current lockouts, blocked addresses and successful sign-ins at a glance, plus an optional email alert when an administrator signs in from a new location.Search any log, filter by date, page through it, export it to CSV, or delete old records when the tables get long.Privacy & Hardening: switch off XML-RPC, block username discovery through ?author=1, hide which login detail was wrong, and remove your WordPress version. Each switch explains what it does and when to leave it alone.The rest of the hardening list, covering pingbacks, the theme and plugin editors, browser security headers and application passwords.Login branding starts with your logo: set its size, point it at your own site instead of wordpress.org, and give it alt text for screen readers.Colour controls for the page, the form card, the text, the links and the Log In button, plus a full-page background image.Hide anything you do not want on the sign-in screen, from the logo to the lost password and registration links, or add your own CSS.Every point of the security score is explained: what failed, how serious it is, what it is worth, and a link straight to the fix.
02 / Source details
Gettingstarted.
From your dashboard (easiest)
01Go to Plugins → Add New .
02Search for Admin Safety Guard .
03Click Install Now , then Activate .
Uploading the zip
04Download the plugin zip from WordPress.org.
05Go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin .
06Pick the zip, click Install Now , then Activate Plugin .
Then what?
Limit login attempts turns itself on with sensible defaults (3 attempts, 15 minute lockout), so there’s nothing you have to do immediately. When you’re ready, open Admin Safety Guard in the menu, check your security score, and work down the list of suggestions.
If you plan to use a custom login URL, add your own IP to the trusted list first and bookmark the new address before you save.
03 / Source details
Frequently asked questions.
Is it really free?
Yes. Everything listed under Free Features works with no limits, no trial period and no account. Pro exists for magic links, app-based 2FA, social login, password policies and the web application firewall, but nothing in the free version is crippled to push you towards it.
Will it slow my site down?
No. The admin JavaScript and CSS only load on the plugin’s own screens, and even there only the bundle for the screen you’re viewing. Your front end gets nothing extra. The login checks themselves are a couple of indexed database queries.
Could I lock myself out?
That’s the risk worth taking seriously, so two things protect you. Add your own IP to the trusted list and login limiting will never apply to you. And if you change your login URL, bookmark the new address before saving, because wp-login.php will return a 404 afterwards.
If it does happen: wait out the lockout (15 minutes by default), or rename the plugin folder over FTP to switch everything off.
How does limiting login attempts actually work?
Each failed password is recorded against the IP address it came from. Hit your limit (3 by default) and that address is locked out for your chosen duration (15 minutes by default). If the same address collects several lockouts in a day, it’s blocked for a full 24 hours. Trusted addresses are skipped entirely, and everything is logged.
What if the attacker changes IP address?
Per-IP limiting stops the overwhelming majority of automated attacks, because most run from a small number of addresses. For anything more determined, a custom login URL is the stronger layer: a bot that can’t find the login form has nothing to attack. Running both is the usual answer.
What happens when I change my login URL?
The plugin points your new slug at the WordPress login system and makes wp-login.php and wp-register.php return 404 for logged-out visitors. Slugs that would collide with a real WordPress path are rejected. Permalinks are flushed automatically when you save.
Does the custom login URL work in a subfolder or multisite install?
Yes. Paths are resolved relative to the site’s own home path, so root installs, WordPress in a subfolder, and both subdomain and subdirectory networks all behave the same.
Do all my users need two-factor authentication?
Only the roles you choose. Leave the role list empty to cover everyone, or tick just Administrator and Editor so sign-in stays simple for customers and subscribers.
Can I change the two-factor email?
Yes. Edit the subject and the body in the Two-Factor Authentication settings. Use {otp} where the code should appear and {site_name} for your site name. Leave the body empty to use the styled default.
What is Session Security, and will it log people out constantly?
It controls how long a signed-in session stays valid, and every part of it is off until you turn it on. The idle timeout is the one most sites want: 30 to 60 minutes. Tying a session to an IP address is the strict option – it stops stolen cookies working elsewhere, but it will sign out anyone on a mobile connection whose IP changes, so it suits fixed office networks best.
How is the security score calculated?
It grades your site rather than counting switches. HTTPS, WordPress and PHP versions, whether an account is called “admin”, whether usernames are publicly listed, whether file editing is enabled, and how much of the plugin’s protection you’re using – each weighted by how much it actually matters. That’s why a fresh install doesn’t show 100%, and why turning on everything in the plugin won’t hide an outdated core.
What counts as a “threat blocked”?
Anything the plugin actively stopped: a lockout, a blocked IP trying to sign in, a failed reCAPTCHA, a wrong two-factor code, a blocked XML-RPC request, an attempt to discover usernames. Each one is recorded with the address, time and what was tried, and kept for 30 days.
Can I export the login logs?
Yes. Both the successful and failed login tables export to CSV, and you can clear out old entries by age or by date range. Handy for client reports and for keeping the tables tidy on a busy site.
Is disabling XML-RPC safe?
For most sites, yes. XML-RPC is an older interface that lets one request carry many login attempts, which is why brute-force tools love it. Leave it enabled only if you publish through the WordPress mobile app or use Jetpack or another service that needs it.
reCAPTCHA v2 or v3?
v2 is the visible checkbox: obvious to users, obvious in what it does. v3 is invisible and scores visitors on behaviour, which is smoother but means picking a threshold and occasionally reviewing it. Both are fully supported, so use whichever fits your audience.
Will password protection affect logged-in users?
Only if you want it to. Exclude specific roles, or all logged-in users at once, and they’ll browse the site normally while everyone else meets the password screen.
Does it work on multisite?
Yes. Tables are created for every site on the network, including sites added after activation, and each site keeps its own settings and logs.
What happens to my data if I delete the plugin?
It’s removed. Deleting the plugin (not just deactivating it) drops the plugin’s tables, options, transients and user meta, on every site of a network. Deactivating leaves everything in place so you can switch it back on.
Does it conflict with Wordfence, Solid Security or similar?
Generally no. Admin Safety Guard concentrates on login and admin protection and doesn’t touch other plugins’ firewall or scanning. The one thing to avoid is running two login limiters or two custom login URLs at once – pick which plugin owns that feature and turn it off in the other.
Is it WooCommerce compatible?
Yes. Login limits, 2FA, custom login URLs, IP blocking and the activity log all work alongside WooCommerce, including its own account pages.
Where do I get help?
Post in the WordPress.org support forum – it’s free and we read it. For priority email support and Pro, see themepaste.com/contact .
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