HTTP Basic Auth vs HTTP Digest — WordPress

HTTP Basic Auth vs HTTP Digest Authentication

Name: HTTP Basic Auth
Rating: 1 (1 reviews)

Side-by-side comparison · 24 data points

HTTP Basic Auth

1.0·1reviews·200+installs

wordpress

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1. Listing metadata

Field-level data

	HTTP Basic Auth	HTTP Digest Authentication
Tagline	—	—
Description	379 / 5000 chars8% used	2439 / 5000 chars49% used
Screenshots	—	—
Languages
Platforms	WordPress	WordPress
Developer	Grzegorz Rola	Jesin A
Listed	—	—
Last updated	—	—

2. Categories & rankings

Shared categories on the same row · in-category position inline

HTTP Basic Auth

HTTP Digest Authentication

Shared

At a glance

4 metrics · auto-computed

Feature comparison between HTTP Basic Auth and HTTP Digest Authentication
Metric	HTTP Basic Auth	HTTP Digest Authentication
Rating	1.0 ★	★ 4.0 ★
Total reviews	1	★ 5
Active installs	200+	10+
Free plan	—	—

3. App details

Long-form description · keyword frequency

HTTP Basic Auth

With this plugin you can protect your WordPress installation with Basic Auth. Basic Auth can use custom password or WordPress users login data. This plugin protects all dynamically generated content: posts, pages, archives, etc. Basic auth does not protect static content like images, scripts and CSS files. You can protect: admin area (wp-admin), login page and frontend area.

Top keywords

auth3×5.17%
basic3×5.17%
basic auth3×5.17%
protect3×5.17%
area2×3.45%
content2×3.45%
login2×3.45%
wordpress2×3.45%

HTTP Digest Authentication

This plugin adds an additional layer of protection for the wp-login.php page using HTTP Digest Authentication with the PHP header() function. So it doesn’t require configuring web server files like .htaccess or .htdigest and works on all web hosting environments. Important: If you already have a plugin which does HTTP Authentication please deactivate it before activating this plugin. Similarly if you have configured your web server to do HTTP authentication on the wp-login.php file please remove it before using this plugin. If you are using FastCGI PHP this plugin may keep prompting for the credentials even if you enter the right pair, in this case use the following in your .htaccess file SetEnvIfNoCase ^Authorization$ "(.+)" PHP_AUTH_DIGEST=$1 Advantages of HTTP Digest Authentication Digest Authentication is very much safer than HTTP Basic Authentication whose credentials can be easily decoded with a base64 decoder. From Wikipedia on HTTP Basic Authentication: The BA (Basic Authentication) mechanism provides no confidentiality protection for the transmitted credentials. They are merely encoded with BASE64 in transit, but not encrypted or hashed in any way. Digest Authentication on the other hand uses MD5 on the credentials making it “one way” Uses server and client nonces to prevent replay attacks Features of the HTTP Digest Auth plugin Works using PHP header() function and doesn’t require modification of service config files (like .htaccess, nginx.conf etc) Supports HTTP credentials for each WordPress user Clears the HTTP Digest credentials when the user logs out of WordPress (more on this in the FAQ) Verifies if both the HTTP and WordPress credentials are of the same user (this is the default behavior and can be changed) Works on all major Web Servers (Tested on Apache, Nginx and Lighttpd) Plugin Behavior When this plugin is activated for the first time all WordPress users will have the following Digest credentials Username: Password: password This can be changed from Users > Your Profile. After activating this plugin for the first time you’ll be prompted for HTTP credentials when you logout Similarly if you change your HTTP username or password you’ll be prompted for this when you logout Available languages English Serbo-Croatian by Borisa Djuraskovic The HTTP Digest Authentication Plugin official homepage.

Top keywords

http13×3.50%
authentication10×2.70%
credentials9×2.43%
digest9×2.43%
php6×1.62%
digest authentication5×1.35%
http digest5×1.35%
web4×1.08%
wordpress4×1.08%
basic3×0.81%
basic authentication3×0.81%
htaccess3×0.81%

Frequently asked

Common questions about this comparison

Which has better reviews, HTTP Basic Auth or HTTP Digest Authentication?

HTTP Digest Authentication has the higher average rating (4.0★ from 5 reviews) compared to HTTP Basic Auth (1.0★ from 1 reviews). Both are tracked daily by AppRanks, so the figures here update each refresh cycle.

Should I choose HTTP Basic Auth or HTTP Digest Authentication?

HTTP Digest Authentication holds the higher average rating (4.0★ vs 1.0★). That is the one dimension AppRanks can separate them on here — read both apps' detail pages for the feature breakdown and recent listing changes.

Which is faster to set up, HTTP Basic Auth or HTTP Digest Authentication?

Both apps are one-click installs from the WordPress Plugin Directory. HTTP Digest Authentication has the deeper published review base (5 vs 1), which often — though not always — accompanies better-tested setup docs. AppRanks doesn't measure setup time directly: read the recent reviews on each app's detail page for user-reported install experience.

Which works better for small vs large WordPress Plugin Directory site owners?

HTTP Basic Auth typically suits early-stage and growth-mode teams based on its published review base (1 reviews). HTTP Digest Authentication typically suits early-stage and growth-mode teams based on its published review base (5 reviews). A larger review base generally means the app has been exercised at scale — relevant if you are processing high volume or handling enterprise compliance requirements.

Can I migrate data between HTTP Basic Auth and HTTP Digest Authentication?

Migration support varies by app and category. HTTP Basic Auth and HTTP Digest Authentication both publish their export options on their marketplace listing pages (or in their support docs); some apps offer one-click import from competitors, others require CSV. The fastest check: search "import from HTTP Basic Auth" in each app's help center. AppRanks does not track migration tooling directly — this is a category-specific capability worth verifying before commitment.

HTTP Basic Auth vs HTTP Digest Authentication

HTTP Basic Auth

1. Listing metadata

2. Categories & rankings

HTTP Digest Authentication

At a glance

AppRanks verdict

3. App details

Frequently asked

Which has better reviews, HTTP Basic Auth or HTTP Digest Authentication?

Should I choose HTTP Basic Auth or HTTP Digest Authentication?

Which is faster to set up, HTTP Basic Auth or HTTP Digest Authentication?

Which works better for small vs large WordPress Plugin Directory site owners?

Can I migrate data between HTTP Basic Auth and HTTP Digest Authentication?

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