You’ve worked very hard to provide in-depth and useful content for users but somehow see it on other websites. How would you feel? Especially when you make an income from this content, you may suffer a huge loss in your income.
Thieves have various tricks to steal your valuable content. They can copy and paste it into their site or report it without your permission.
Instead of letting users callously take your content, then having to look for it and find ways to remove pirated posts, you’d better protect your asset beforehand.
There are numerous WordPress plugins assisting you in WordPress content protection. We’ve tried and compared the 7 best tools with their core features, pros, and cons for you to choose from. Some will safeguard your content while a few others focus on media file protection.
Before digging into the detailed review, we’ll briefly discuss who may need a WordPress content protection plugin.
Let’s hop in!
Who Needs to Protect WordPress Content
It doesn’t matter whether you own a personal blog or run a business website. If you have private content that serves yourself or certain types of users, you definitely need a solution to secure your WordPress content.
Here are some common scenarios for you to refer to.
- Intranet Networks
A WordPress intranet comes as a private network for only employees in a business or organization can access. It’s where you share your company’s internal documents, store training materials, and manage projects. It allows you to communicate with teammates with ease.
Since the intranet network is internally accessible, you must prevent them from public viewing or logging in. Not protecting them properly may result in risking your business’s confidential information.
- Personal Blog
You create a personal website, for instance, to write about your traveling experience. As if you were a starter and want to practice your writing style, you might want to hide it from the site audience.
The same thing goes for family blogs. Your uploaded family photos and events should be available to relatives and friends only. This site can be a family communication channel as well.
- Private Paid Content
Online courses, premium content, or digital products are something you should guard off. Just subscribers or paid members, for example, have the right to access them. You can block searching engines from indexing the private content, password-protect them, or create membership areas.
7 Best Plugins for WordPress Content Protection
Following are the top 7 plugins to secure your site content. It depends on your demands that you can choose one or several of these plugins at a time.
# 1 PDA Gold to Secure WordPress Files
Trusted by thousands of WordPress users, Prevent Direct Access (PDA) Gold comes as the most powerful plugin to protect your media files. It lets you secure your original file URLs, blocking unauthorized users from viewing or downloading them.
Digital asset sellers, online course providers, and even bloggers love the plugin. They can have their files of any format private to keep prying eyes at bay.
Out of the box, it helps disable right-click anywhere on your website, no matter it’s written content or images. 
Key Features
- Shield unlimited files of all types
- Assign roles to your protected files forcing users to log in before opening your files, such as logged-in users or paid members
- Create private download links for users to download your media
- Expire private download links based on time or clicks
- Block search engines from indexing your files and showing them up on search results
- Stop image hotlinking
- Auto-secure new file uploads
PDA Gold also comes with tons of extensions to extend the WordPress file protection function. You can secure folders with the Access Restriction extension, use Membership Integration and Amazon S3 Integration to protect files uploads on Amazon S3 or in membership sites, etc.
The plugin offers a free version for you to try out. However, it limits the file type protection or you can’t search and place protected file URLs in the content. The Gold version costs you $190.8 annually and it’s worth what you pay for.
#2 PWPP Pro to Password Protect WordPress Content
As its name suggests, Password Protect WordPress (PPWP) Pro lends you a helping hand in locking your WordPress content with passwords. They can be pages, posts, custom post types, categories, partial content, and the entire site.
Once protected, your content will be covered under a password form. Only those who have the correct passwords can unlock it.
It’s possible for you to grant users access to private content without having to enter passwords. This frees them from remembering too many passwords.
Key Features
- Create multiple passwords per page or post
- Auto-generate new random passwords or customize your ones
- Easily manage all passwords in a management popup
- Assign roles to your password
- Support any custom post type
- Create Quick Access Links (QALs) to bypass protected content
- Block search engines from indexing locked content
PPWP Pro seamlessly integrates with many page builders and plugins. For example, it adds a PPWP block to Elementor elements enabling you to protect sections or your page/post.
You can download the PPWP plugin for free in WordPress.org. Upgrade to the Pro version at $190.8 and you can access all of its advanced password protection capabilities.
#3 WP Protect Content
Another effective plugin to secure your WordPress site content is WP Protect Content which disables right-click. It blocks the copy function making it unable for users to copy and paste your content.
Similarly, options like F12 function, printing pages, saving pages, viewing page source, or saving images are forbidden. You don’t have to restrict the entire website but can pick any specific page to protect. However, visitors can still right-click links.
Key Features
- Prevent right-click and copy of your WordPress site content
- Block the f12 function (Inspect Element)
- Modern alert box popup
- Disable alert box message
- Enable debug mode to grant permission to logged-in users
In case you use a cache plugin on your site, bear in mind to clear cache once making any changes in the plugin setting page.
WP Protect Content doesn’t have a Premium version. Instead, it provides a lifetime add-on at $20 to style your alert box window and stop saving images via drag/drop. You’ll receive faster support as a premium user, of course.
#4 Watermark WordPress Files
If you sell PDF ebooks, you never want buyers to re-up or resell them somewhere else. Besides preventing direct access to the file links, consider adding a watermark to them. You can stamp the file with the company name or logo to prove that this file is your intellectual property.
Mentioning watermark solutions, we should not miss the Watermark WordPress Files. The plugin sheds light on watermarking your WordPress PDF files. You can watermark files right in the media library with just a few clicks.
It’s possible for you to build a list of watermark presets so you can display them in the content. This saves you time to reset individual watermarks anytime you intend to stamp your files.
Key Features
- Create both image or text watermarks
- Watermark file uploads via Ninja Forms on the fly
- Auto-stamp new PDF file uploads via Ninja Forms
- Support other file types such as JPEG & PNG
Apart from PDF file watermarking, the plugin assists you in exporting WordPress pages and posts to PDF files. This feature makes it easier for you to combine a series of related articles and create an ebook.
You can also embed files in WordPress content. In other words, your file will appear under a friendly UI popup.
Watermark WordPress Files’ price is $139.9 annually.
#5 Paid Membership Pro
Looking for a member management and membership subscription plugin? Paid Membership Pro is your way to go. The plugin centers on adding members, protecting content, and granting users access to member-only content.
You’re permitted to set membership levels at different pricing for users to choose from. They include free, trial, monthly payment, or one-time payment. Members can pay via Stripe, PayPal, and many other gateways.
Key Features
- Export and import members as well as their orders
- Control sale reports
- Cancel or expire orders
- Enable users to edit their profiles
- Come with multiple content protection capabilities such as drip feed, personalized content, and member directories
You can choose a plan to start your membership site among Standard, Plus, and Builder at $247, $397, and $699 per year respectively.
#6 Restricted Site Access
Receiving over 20K active installations with a 4.8/5-star review, Restricted Site Access would be a smart choice.
The plugin protects your site content by limiting access to non-logged-in users or users from specific IP addresses. Users will be redirected to a login page or see a message when attempting to view your content.
Key Features
- Allow numerous restriction options, e.i. send to log in or show a message
- Restrict users by IP addresses
- Whitelist your current IP
Restricted Site Access is completely free and available on the WordPress directory.
#7 Secure Copy Content Protection and Content Locking
Aiming at content plagiarism protection, Secure Copy Content Protection and Content Locking helps remove the right-click and text selection on your site. It’s similar to what the WP Protect Content plugin is doing.
It takes you only a few seconds to get started with the plugin. Simply install, activate, and let the plugin handle all the jobs.
Key Features
- Protect both text and images
- Improve your site SEO with no plagiarized content
- Password protect pages and posts using shortcodes
- Display the restricted content for a certain period
- Encourage users to subscribe before accessing the content
If you run a business or you’re a team of developers, try their Pro versions which cost $39 for 5 sites and $99 for unlimited sites.
Pick Your Ideal WordPress Content Protection Plugins
It’s crucial to secure your WordPress content, especially it’s your bread and butter. Besides, you can create an intranet for internal communication or publish personal blogs.
We’ve walked you through the top 7 plugins to make your content private. Looking for a plugin to shield media files? Give PDA Gold and Watermark WordPress Files a try.
In case you want to lock users from premium content, PPWP Pro, Paid Membership Pro, and Restricted Site Access are all perfect solutions. WP Protect Content and Secure Copy Content Protection and Content Locking, meanwhile, focus on disabling right-click and content copy.
What are your fitting plugins to protect site content? Share with us your choice and the reason in the comment section below.
