Banhammer – Monitor Site Traffic, Block Bad Users and Bots for WordPress Plugin Directory
By Jeff Starr
Banhammer – Monitor Site Traffic, Block Bad Users and Bots is a WordPress app, with a 4.4 average rating from 19 reviews, as of July 9, 2026.
Banhammer – Monitor Site Traffic, Block Bad Users and Bots is a WordPress Plugin Directory app by Jeff Starr. With a rating of 4.4★ from 19 reviews.
AppRanks verdict
Generated from live marketplace data — refreshed daily
Banhammer – Monitor Site Traffic, Block Bad Users and Bots is a well-rated WordPress app with a limited review volume. It is listed in the Security category on WordPress Plugin Directory, which AppRanks treats as the canonical taxonomy node for ranking and competitor comparison. 19 reviews put it in the early-traction tier — useful for early-stage stores willing to be on the leading edge. Early-traction review counts are sensitive to single launch periods or feature events, so a 30-day re-check before bigger commitments often resolves whether the trend is sustained. Paid-only pricing means evaluating fit on the marketplace listing or via the developer's documentation before installing. AppRanks tracks rating, review count, pricing tier, and category position daily — the figures on this page reflect the most recent scrape from the canonical WordPress Plugin Directory listing.
Pros
- +Published by Jeff Starr — established developer track record
Cons
- −Limited review base (19) — ratings can shift significantly with new feedback
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How Banhammer – Monitor Site Traffic, Block Bad Users and Bots works
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⚡ Banhammer: Protect your site against enemy hordes!
Banhammer gives you full control over who and what may access your site. Visit the Armory to monitor traffic and review suspicious visitors. If you find some user or bot that is causing problems, you can ban them with a click. Or, if you just want to keep an eye on someone, you can flag them with a warning. Any banned users will be denied access to your site, until you restore access via the Tower. Check out the video and screenshots to get a better idea of how it works.
👉 Important: Not yet compatible with WP Multisite!
Core Features
Ban or Warn any WP user or IP address
Restore access to any banned targets
Monitor site traffic in the Armory
Monitor logged users in the Admin Area
Monitor all visitors on the front-end
Manage banned targets in the Tower
Complete Ajax-powered navigation
Useful tools like jump, sort, search
Complete documentation via Help tab
Automatically clear logged data
Sound effects for Ban, Warn, et al
NEW: manually block any IP address
Options Galore
Optionally ignore logged-in users
Optionally protect Login Page and Admin Area
Customize the banned response and status code
Display banned message or redirect the request
Choose the interval to clear logged data
One-click restore plugin default options
All collected data may be deleted easily
More Features
Easy to use
Clean code
Fast and secure
Built with WP API
Lightweight and flexible
Regularly updated and “future proof”
Works great with any WordPress theme
Comprehensive search of all logged data
Works great with other WordPress plugins
Works with or without Gutenberg Block Editor
Focused on usability, performance, and security
Banhammer is perfect for site owners, admins, and developers who want to keep an eye on traffic and block any unwanted visitors. It is a simple, flexible, and powerful security solution. Perfect for the best WordPress sites.
Exclusive Features in Pro Version
Ban based on URI request, referrer, or user agent
Whitelist any IP address or user agent
View cookies, POST data, and FILES data
Email Alerts for banned & warned requests
Display custom message to each banned target
Add private notes to warned/banned targets
Customize target strings for user agents, IPs, etc.
Disable logging of banned, warned, and whitelisted targets
Smart bot detection
Paged results in Tower
User avatars in Tower
For complete documentation, visit the Help tab on any Banhammer screen.
⚡ Banhammer Pro now available »
Privacy
User Data: Banhammer collects user data to “do its thing”. The collected data is temporary and automatically deleted every day, or at whatever time interval is specified in the plugin settings. The only time that any data is “remembered” is when you ban something. For each person/thing that you ban, the plugin stores either the IP address OR the username (never both). At any time, all saved data may be deleted permanently via the plugin settings and Armory Tools.
Cookies: Banhammer does not set any cookies for regular visitors, but does set a few simple cookies for admin-level users. These simple cookies enable dope effects and interactivity in the Armory and Tower UI. But no cookies are set or used for any other visitor/user or purpose.
Services: Banhammer uses a free lookup service for GeoIP information. This happens only for admin-level users when they are viewing data in the Armory or Tower. No other third-party services are used by this plugin.
Banhammer is developed and maintained by Jeff Starr, 15-year WordPress developer and book author.
Support development
I develop and maintain this free plugin with love for the WordPress community. To show support, you can make a donation or purchase one of my books:
The Tao of WordPress
Digging into WordPress
.htaccess made easy
WordPress Themes In Depth
Wizard’s SQL Recipes for WordPress
And/or purchase one of my premium WordPress plugins:
BBQ Pro – Blazing fast WordPress firewall
Blackhole Pro – Automatically block bad bots
Banhammer Pro – Monitor traffic and ban the bad guys
GA Google Analytics Pro – Connect WordPress to Google Analytics
Head Meta Pro – Ultimate Meta Tags for WordPress
REST Pro Tools – Awesome tools for managing the WP REST API
Simple Ajax Chat Pro – Unlimited chat rooms
USP Pro – Unlimited front-end forms
Links, tweets and likes also appreciated. Thank you! 🙂
Category rankings
As of Jul 9, 2026See 90-day rank history for each category
Track daily rank changes, category shifts, and position volatility.
Keyword rankings
Banhammer – Monitor Site Traffic, Block Bad Users and Bots ranks for 2 keywords across WordPress Plugin Directory. Here are the top 2:
- 1.chat botRank #39
- Rank #953
Competitors & alternatives
Banhammer – Monitor Site Traffic, Block Bad Users and Botsdoesn't have curated competitor matchups yet. Other tracked security apps on WordPress:
Frequently asked questions
What is Banhammer – Monitor Site Traffic, Block Bad Users and Bots?
Banhammer – Monitor Site Traffic, Block Bad Users and Bots is an app for WordPress. It currently holds a 4.4-star rating from 19 merchant reviews, and AppRanks has been tracking its public marketplace data on a daily refresh cycle. It is listed under the Security category on AppRanks, where you can see its current category position, review-velocity trend, and how it compares against the top alternatives in the same space. Developed by Jeff Starr.
Who uses Banhammer – Monitor Site Traffic, Block Bad Users and Bots?
Currently around 1,000 active stores have installed Banhammer – Monitor Site Traffic, Block Bad Users and Bots. Its review base is still building, which usually maps to early-stage merchants and stores piloting a new workflow. It is part of the Security category on WordPress.