WPEPP – Essential Security, Password Protect & Login Page Customizer vs Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN

WPEPP best for Best Essential security, password protected content, block AI crawlers, limit login attempts, country restriction, CPU monitor & login customizer with live preview. Total site protection! WPEPP is the all-in-one WordPress essential security and login page customizer plugin. It combines everything you need to limit login attempts, block brute force attacks, hide the login page, password protect content, restrict by country, and customize the WordPress login page — all from a single, modern dashboard with real-time live preview. Stop installing five separate plugins. WPEPP replaces your login limiter, login page customizer, password form styler, content restriction plugin, country blocker, and AI crawler blocker with one lightweight solution that loads zero external scripts on the front end. View Details | View Pricing 🔐 Limit Login Attempts & Brute Force Protection Protect your WordPress login form from brute force attacks with built-in login attempt limiting and IP-based lockouts. Login Attempt Limiter — automatically block IP addresses after repeated failed login attempts Configurable lockout — set the maximum number of failed attempts and lockout duration in minutes Login Honeypot — invisible bot trap field catches automated brute force login attacks instantly Registration Honeypot — hidden spam trap on the WordPress registration form blocks fake signups Registration Rate Limiter — prevent mass registration spam with per-IP rate limiting IP-based tracking — every failed login is tracked by IP address for accurate blocking 🛡️ Hide Login Page & Custom Login URL (Pro) Move your default WordPress login page to a secret URL so bots and attackers can never find it. Custom Login URL — change wp-login.php to any URL you choose (e.g., /my-secret-login) Hide Default Login — the original wp-login.php returns a 404, invisible to attackers After-Login Redirect — send users to a specific page after successful login Auto-Login Links — generate secure one-time login tokens for specific users 🔑 Two-Factor Authentication – 2FA (Pro) Add an extra layer of security to every WordPress login with TOTP-based two-factor authentication. Authenticator App Support — works with Google Authenticator, Authy, Microsoft Authenticator, and any TOTP app QR Code Setup — users scan a QR code to set up 2FA in seconds Recovery Codes — 8 one-time backup codes in case a user loses their authenticator device Role-Based Enforcement — enable 2FA for specific user roles (administrators, editors, etc.) RFC 6238 Compliant — industry-standard time-based one-time password implementation 🤖 Google reCAPTCHA Integration (Pro) Add Google reCAPTCHA to your login and registration forms to stop bots before they even try. Login Form reCAPTCHA — prevent automated login attempts with CAPTCHA verification Registration Form reCAPTCHA — block bot signups on the WordPress registration page Easy Setup — just enter your Site Key and Secret Key to activate 📊 Login Activity Log (Pro) Monitor every login attempt on your WordPress site with a detailed activity log. Complete Logging — records every successful, failed, and locked-out login attempt IP Address Tracking — see which IPs are attempting to access your site User-Agent Detection — identify the browser or bot behind each login attempt Status Filtering — filter the log by success, failure, or lockout status Timestamp Records — exact date and time of every login event 🛑 Block AI Crawlers & Bots Prevent AI companies from crawling and training on your website content. Block GPTBot, CCBot, Google-Extended, and more. One-Click AI Blocker — toggle known AI crawlers on or off from a simple checklist robots.txt Rules — automatically generates and injects bot-blocking rules into your robots.txt User-Agent Blocking — returns 403 Forbidden to blocked AI crawlers at the server level Rule Preview — see exactly what rules will be added before saving 🔒 Lock Entire Site — Site Access Control Need to lock your entire WordPress site? WPEPP gives you two powerful ways to do it — no plugins or code required. Admin Only Mode — restricts the entire site to logged-in users only. Anyone who is not signed in is automatically redirected to the login page or shown a login popup. Perfect for intranet sites, staging environments, or member communities. Site Password Protection — lock the whole site behind a single shared password. Visitors must enter the password before they can view any page. Logged-in administrators always bypass it automatically. Set a cookie duration so returning visitors are not asked again. Admin-Only Mode — lock the entire front end so only logged-in users can view it Site Password — require a single password for all visitors to access the site Configurable Cookie Duration — set how many days the access cookie lasts before asking again Bypass for Admins — logged-in administrators always skip the password gate automatically Custom Access Message — show a branded message above the password form Login Popup Option — show a blurred login overlay instead of a redirect (Pro) Page Whitelist — keep login, register, and selected pages accessible while the rest is locked 🔐 Password Protect Pages & Content Lock (Pro) Lock any WordPress post, page, or custom post type so only authorized users can see the content. Per-Post Toggle — lock individual posts from the Gutenberg editor sidebar or Classic Editor meta box Multiple Lock Actions — choose from login link, inline password form, full-page popup with blur, or redirect Role-Based Locking — restrict content to specific user roles (subscribers, members, etc.) Auto-Expiry Unlock — automatically unlock content at a scheduled date and time Excerpt on Archives — optionally show a teaser excerpt on blog listing pages Works Everywhere — compatible with posts, pages, and all registered custom post types 📋 Conditional Content Display Show or hide any post or page based on smart conditions — without shortcodes. User Status — show content only to logged-in or logged-out users (Free) User Role — target administrators, editors, subscribers, or any custom role (Pro) Device Type — show different content on desktop, tablet, or mobile (Pro) Time & Date — schedule visibility by time range, date range, day of week, or recurring schedule (Pro) Browser Detection — target Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, or Opera users (Pro) URL Parameters — show content based on query string values like ?ref=email (Pro) Referrer Source — display content based on where the visitor came from (Pro) REST API Compatible — hidden content is stripped from API responses for headless WordPress setups 12 Conditions Total — the most flexible conditional visibility system available 👥 Member-Only Pages Create pages visible only to logged-in members — no membership plugin required. Dedicated Page Template — assign the “Member Only” template to any WordPress page Built-In Login Form — visitors see a login form; authenticated users see the real content Zero Configuration — works out of the box, no setup needed 🎨 Login Page Customizer with Live Preview Customize the default WordPress login page (wp-login.php) with a visual editor and real-time preview. Background Options — solid color, CSS gradient, background image, or background video with overlay Custom Logo — upload your own logo image, set its size, or use a text-based logo with custom font Form Styling — customize background, border, width, padding, and box shadow of the login form Field Styling — change input background, text color, border, padding, height, and focus state Button Styling — customize background, text color, font size, border radius, and hover state Heading & Links — style the form heading text and “Lost your password?” link Error Messages — customize the color, font, background, and padding of login error messages Register & Lost Password Pages (Pro) — same visual editor for wp-login.php?action=register and ?action=lostpassword Live Preview — every change is visible in real time before you save 🎯 Password-Protected Form Styling Replace the plain WordPress password form with beautiful, branded designs using a real-time visual editor. 4 Unique Form Styles — 2 free styles, 2 additional styles with Pro Custom Text — add header and description text above or below the password form Button & Label Text — change the submit button label, input placeholder, and error messages Social Media Icons — add links to Facebook, X (Twitter), YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Tumblr Icon Controls — set position (top, middle, bottom), alignment, and visual style 10+ One-Click Templates — import pre-built designs like Minimal, Modern Dark, Corporate, Nature, Gradient Wave, and more 🛡️ Security Hardening Reduce your WordPress attack surface with built-in hardening tools. Disable XML-RPC — shut down the xmlrpc.php endpoint used by bots for brute force and DDoS attacks Hide WordPress Version — remove the generator meta tag and version query strings from your source code Disable REST API User Enumeration — block the /wp/v2/users endpoint to prevent username discovery IP Blocklist & Allowlist (Pro) — manually block or allow specific IP addresses Disposable Email Blocker (Pro) — prevent registrations with temporary email addresses Email Domain Whitelist/Blacklist (Pro) — restrict or allow signups by email domain Admin Approval for Registrations (Pro) — require manual admin approval before new users can log in 📈 CPU Monitor & Site Health Dashboard Keep your WordPress site fast and healthy with a built-in performance monitoring dashboard. Real-Time CPU Usage — see current CPU percentage, core count, and 1/5/15-minute load averages Memory Overview — monitor PHP memory usage, peak usage, and configured limits System Health Score — instant green/yellow/red health badge based on CPU, memory, and cron status Slow Query Logger — automatically log database queries that exceed a configurable time threshold SAVEQUERIES Toggle — enable or disable WordPress query logging directly from the dashboard Cron Jobs Manager — view all scheduled WordPress cron events, run them manually, or delete stale entries Overdue Cron Detection — identify cron jobs that are past due and may be stuck Plugin Performance — see which plugins consume the most resources and deactivate sluggish ones Options Bloat Analyzer — inspect database options table size, autoloaded data, and top autoloaded options Transient Cleanup — clean expired transients with one click to reduce database bloat Error Log Viewer (Pro) — parse and display PHP and WordPress error log entries by type WP Config Manager — toggle WP_DEBUG, WP_DEBUG_LOG, and SAVEQUERIES without editing files ✅ Free vs Pro Comparison Login Security Limit Login Attempts & IP Lockout — Free & Pro Login Honeypot (Bot Trap) — Free & Pro Registration Honeypot — Free & Pro Registration Rate Limiter — Free & Pro Hide Login Page (Custom Login URL) — Pro Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) — Pro Google reCAPTCHA (Login + Register) — Pro Login Activity Log — Pro IP Blocklist / Allowlist — Pro Disposable Email Blocker — Pro Email Domain Whitelist/Blacklist — Pro Admin Registration Approval — Pro Security Hardening Disable XML-RPC — Free & Pro Hide WordPress Version — Free & Pro Disable REST API User Enumeration — Free & Pro AI Crawler & Bot Blocker — Free & Pro Content Protection Site-Wide Access Control — Free & Pro Admin-Only Mode — Free & Pro Site-Wide Password — Free & Pro Country Restriction (block or allow by country) — Free (2 countries) / Pro (unlimited) Content Lock (Per-Post) — Pro Auto-Expiry Unlock — Pro Role-Based Content Lock — Pro Conditional Display (Login Status) — Free & Pro Conditional Display (12 Conditions) — Pro Member-Only Page Template — Free & Pro Login Page Customizer Login Page Styling (Background, Logo, Form) — Free & Pro Login Page Advanced Styling + Custom CSS — Pro Register Page Styling — Pro Lost Password Page Styling — Pro Password Form Styling Password Form – Styles 1 & 2 — Free & Pro Password Form – Styles 3 & 4 — Pro Custom Text, Labels & Social Icons — Free & Pro Templates Gallery (3 Free / 10+ Pro) — Free & Pro Preview & Admin Real-Time Live Preview — Free & Pro Desktop Responsive Preview — Free & Pro Tablet & Mobile Responsive Preview — Pro React-Powered Admin Dashboard — Free & Pro CPU Monitor & Site Health CPU Usage & Memory Stats — Free & Pro Slow Query Logger — Free & Pro Cron Jobs Manager — Free & Pro Plugin Performance Monitor — Free & Pro Options Bloat Analyzer — Free & Pro Transient Cleanup — Free & Pro Error Log Viewer — Pro WP Config Manager — Free & Pro 🌐 Live Demos See WPEPP in action: Password-protected page demo 🏗️ Built for Performance WPEPP is designed to be fast and lightweight: No external scripts on the front end — zero impact on page load speed Conditional asset loading — CSS and JS load only on pages that need them Modern React admin — the settings panel is fast and responsive without slowing your site REST API powered — all settings are saved via the WordPress REST API, no page reloads 🌍 Translations English (default) Translation-ready — .pot file included for translators Privacy Policy WPEPP uses the Appsero SDK to collect telemetry data only after the user opts in via an admin notice. No data is collected by default. The SDK gathers basic diagnostic information (PHP version, WordPress version, plugin version, site URL) to help us troubleshoot issues and improve the product. It does not collect personal user data, passwords, or content. Learn more: Appsero Privacy Policy.

Compress images, optimize images, and enable image lazy load automatically with the powerful Smush image optimizer to keep your WordPress site fast, without losing quality. Smush makes it easy to optimize images, compress images, and deliver images faster across your entire WordPress site. This all-in-one image optimizer automatically reduces image file sizes, enables image lazy load, and serves modern formats like WebP and AVIF, all without breaking image quality or adding extra work. Whether you’re running a blog, store, or portfolio, Smush helps you optimize images at scale and keep your site fast with a trusted WordPress image optimizer. Trusted by 1+ Million Sites | 4.8/5 Star Rating Get everything you need to optimize images and speed up your site. Smush works out of the box with no complicated setup – just install and let it handle the rest. Compress images without losing quality Reduce image file size automatically while keeping your images sharp and clear. Smush is an easy-to-use image optimizer which let’s you compress images using both lossless and lossy compression, giving you the best balance of quality and performance without extra work. You can also compress images outside the media library using Directory Smush, making it easy to optimize images stored in theme folders, plugins, or other directories on your server. Lazy load images for faster pages Enable image lazy load across your site so images load only when needed. This image optimizer improves initial page speed and creates a smoother experience for visitors without extra configuration. Serve WebP and AVIF images automatically (PRO) Convert images to WebP and AVIF and serve them automatically to supported browsers. Smush helps you optimize images using next-gen formats to reduce file size and improve load times across your WordPress site. Deliver images faster with an Image CDN (PRO) Serve images through a global image CDN to reduce latency and improve load times for visitors around the world. 119 global CDN servers Up to 500 GB of bandwidth Faster image delivery based on visitor location Improved performance for image-heavy and high-traffic sites Automatically resize and fix image dimensions (PRO) Eliminate common PageSpeed warnings and improve layout stability with automatic image sizing. Smush dynamically resizes images to perfectly fit their containers, regardless of original size, helping fix the “Properly size images” warning in Google PageSpeed Insights. It also automatically adds missing width and height attributes to your images, improving rendering speed and reducing layout shifts. This helps you meet the “Ensure images have explicit width and height” recommendation without any manual work. Optimize your entire site, automatically Smush works across your whole site as a powerful image optimizer to optimize images as you upload them and maintain performance over time without manual work. Optimize images automatically on upload Compress images in bulk or individually Works with your existing media library No need to re-upload images Enable image lazy load across your site Convert images to WebP and AVIF Deliver images with an integrated image CDN Automatically resize and serve correctly sized images Optimize images outside the media library with Directory Smush Built for performance Smush improves page speed and overall performance by reducing image weight and improving how images are delivered. Reduce page load times Improve user experience Better performance for image-heavy pages Supports image lazy load and preload images (PRO) for faster perceived performance Works with your existing setup Smush is built to work with your current WordPress setup, including popular themes, page builders, and plugins. Compatible with Gutenberg, Elementor, WPBakery, and more Works with WooCommerce stores No need to change your workflow Easy to enable and configure Designed to be simple You don’t need to be a performance expert to optimize images with Smush image optimizer. Works out of the box Simple settings when you need them No technical knowledge required Safe to use on any site Why choose Smush? There are plenty of image optimization plugins, but Smush focuses on making it easy to optimize images, compress images, and improve performance without complexity. As a leading WordPress image optimizer, Smush gives you powerful optimization tools without the technical hassle. Trusted by over 1 million WordPress users Built specifically for WordPress Regular updates and improvements Backed by the WPMU DEV team Get started in minutes Install Smush, activate it, and start to compress images, optimize images, and enable image lazy load right away. This easy-to-use image optimizer helps most sites see improvements immediately without changing how they upload or manage images. About Us WPMU DEV is a premium supplier of quality WordPress plugins, services and support. Learn more here: https://wpmudev.com/ Don’t forget to stay up to date on everything WordPress from the Internet’s number one resource: WPMU DEV Blog Hey, one more thing… we hope you enjoy our free offerings as much as we’ve loved making them for you! Contact and Credits Originally written by Alex Dunae at Dialect (dialect.ca, e-mail ‘alex’ at ‘dialect dot ca’), 2008-11.