Restrict User Access – Ultimate Membership & Content Protection
Download Restrict User Access – Ultimate Membership & Content Protection 2.8.1Description
At a glance
Restrict User Access – Ultimate Membership & Content Protection v2.8.1 is a free WordPress plugin with 10K+ active installs, 4.3/5 rating from 94 reviews, updated August 27, 2026, requires WordPress 5.8+ & PHP 7.2+. Download the latest GPL version below — free, with live demo included.
Restrict User Access is a fast and simple Membership Plugin for WordPress. Restrict your content in minutes, NOT hours.
Quickly set up a paid membership site where your users can get different levels such as Platinum, Gold, or Free. Then, grant those levels when a user purchases a product in WooCommerce.
👥 Unlimited Access Levels
Users can have multiple levels, and you control how long memberships should last. When unauthorized users try to access restricted content, you can redirect them to another URL or display a teaser.
⚡ Level Membership Automations
Automatically add levels to your users based on something they do (Triggers) or something they are (Traits):
- User Registration
- User Roles
- Logged-in or Guests
- WooCommerce Purchases
- Easy Digital Downloads Purchases
- BuddyPress Member Types
- GiveWP Donations
🔒 Contextual Content Protection
Prevent unauthorized users from visiting your posts, pages, or categories. You can even combine the conditions: protect all posts tagged “Premium” written by a select author.
The following Access Conditions are available out of the box:
- Posts, Pages & Custom Post Types
- Content with Tags, Categories, or Custom Taxonomies
- Content written by select Authors
- Page Templates
- Blog Page & Post Type Archives
- Author Archives
- Taxonomy Archives
- Front Page, Search Results, 404 Not Found Page
- bbPress Profiles, Forums & Topics
- BuddyPress Profile Sections
- Languages (Polylang, qTranslate X, TranslatePress, Transposh, Weglot, WPML)
- Pods Pages
Note that Access Conditions do not apply to content displayed in lists.
✅ Grant & Deny Capabilities
The easy-to-use WordPress User Manager gives you full control over the capabilities the members should or shouldn’t have. Access Level Capabilities will override the permissions set by roles or other plugins.
👁️ Hide Admin Bar & Nav Menu Visibility
Disable the admin bar for select levels and control what menu items members can see. You can even hide any widget area created with Content Aware Sidebars
🤖 Restrict Content from Other Plugins
Restrict User Access autodetects Custom Post Types and Taxonomies created by any plugin or theme. Built-in support for some of the most popular WordPress plugins means that you e.g. can restrict access to bbPress forums or multilingual content.
- bbPress
- BuddyPress
- Easy Digital Downloads
- Pods
- Polylang
- TranslatePress
- WooCommerce
- Weglot
- WPML
- and more …
🛡️ WordPress Security Enhancements
- WP REST API Content Protection
Enforces Principle of Least Privilege to minimize attack surfaces and stop threat actors from harvesting your data - How to display content in lists
Display excerpts only or hide content when post types are displayed in blog, archives, search results, lists, etc.
📑 Restrict Content with Shortcodes
Fine-tune content visibility in your posts or pages by adding simple shortcodes:
[restrict level="platinum"]
This content can only be seen by users with Platinum level or above.
[/restrict]
[restrict level="!platinum"]
This content can only be seen by users without Platinum level or above.
[/restrict]
[restrict role="editor,contributor" page="1"]
This content can only be seen by editors and contributors.
Other users will see content from page with ID 1.
[/restrict]
[login-form]
👋 Developer-friendly API
Restrict User Access makes it super easy for developers to programmatically customize WordPress access control by adding a few lines of code to theme templates.
Example – Add level to current user
rua_get_user()->add_level($level_id);
Example – Check if current user has an active level membership
if(rua_get_user()->has_level($level_id)) {
//show restricted content
} else {
//show content if unauthorized
}
View full RUA PHP API documentation here.
🎛️ Premium Add-ons for Restrict User Access
Complete your WordPress membership site with these powerful extensions
- ACF Restriction
Restrict content that contain data from Advanced Custom Fields plugin - Date Restriction
Restrict content based on the time it was published - Meta Box Restriction
Restrict content that contain data from Meta Box plugin - Timelock
Determine when to enable or disable select Access Conditions - URL Restriction
Restrict content based on the WordPress URL, with wildcard support - Visibility Control
Hide content from blog, search results, archives, custom lists, WP REST API, and more
Frequently asked questions
What is Restrict User Access – Ultimate Membership & Content Protection?
Restrict User Access – Ultimate Membership & Content Protection is a free WordPress plugin available under the GPL license. The current version is 2.8.1. It is active on over 10K websites.
Is Restrict User Access – Ultimate Membership & Content Protection free to download?
Yes — Restrict User Access – Ultimate Membership & Content Protection 2.8.1 is a free GPL download with no hidden fees, no account needed, and no feature locked behind a paywall in this package. Users rate it 4.3 out of 5 based on 94 reviews.
How do I install Restrict User Access – Ultimate Membership & Content Protection 2.8.1?
Download the ZIP file from this page, then in your WordPress dashboard go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, choose the file, click Install Now, then Activate. The plugin works immediately after activation — no license key or extra setup is required for the core features.
What are the requirements for Restrict User Access – Ultimate Membership & Content Protection?
Restrict User Access – Ultimate Membership & Content Protection 2.8.1 requires WordPress 5.8 or higher and PHP 7.2 or higher. Most modern WordPress hosts already meet these versions. Running older versions may cause features to break, so update WordPress and PHP first if your site is behind.
When was Restrict User Access – Ultimate Membership & Content Protection last updated?
Version 2.8.1 was last updated on August 27, 2026. This page is refreshed automatically, so the download here always matches the newest version we have verified.
Is the Restrict User Access – Ultimate Membership & Content Protection download safe?
The file is sourced directly from the official WordPress.org repository — the same file the developer published. It is served unmodified, so what you install here is byte-identical to the official release.
Technical details
| Version | 2.8.1 |
|---|---|
| Last updated | August 27, 2026 |
| Active installs | 10,000+ |
| Rating | ★★★★☆ 4.3/5 (94 reviews) |
| Requires WordPress | 5.8 or higher |
| Requires PHP | 7.2 or higher |
| Author | Joachim Jensen |
| Tags | access-control, bbpress, capabilities, content-restriction, membership |
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