WPThumbs
Themes Plugins By purpose By industry Best-of lists Fix it guides
Free Plugin by Jeff Starr v3.5.3

Banhammer

Monitor traffic and ban unwanted visitors. Block any user or IP address so they can't access your site.

Banhammer

The facts

Rating
4.4★ from 19
Active installs
1k+
Price
Free
Last updated
9 Aug 2026
Added
Jan 2018
Requires WP
4.7
Tested up to
WP 7.1
Requires PHP
5.6.20
Downloads
52,792

Our analysis

AI-assisted

Banhammer is a WordPress plugin designed to help you monitor site traffic and manage access by blocking unwanted users and bots. It allows you to ban or warn users and IP addresses, monitor traffic through the Armory, and manage banned targets in the Tower. The plugin is suitable for site owners, admins, and developers looking to enhance their site's security and control over visitors.

With features like customizable banned responses, the ability to monitor logged users, and options to ignore logged-in users, Banhammer provides a flexible approach to managing site access. It is lightweight and works with any WordPress theme, making it a practical choice for various WordPress sites.

Best for: This plugin is best for WordPress site owners and administrators seeking to enhance site security and manage visitor access.

What it does well

  • Allows banning or warning of users and IP addresses
  • Monitors site traffic and logged users
  • Customizable banned responses and status codes
  • Lightweight and works with any WordPress theme
  • Regularly updated and built with WP API

Where it falls short

  • Limited feature set compared to the Pro version
  • No detailed information on user data retention policies

Verdict

Banhammer offers essential tools for monitoring and controlling site access, making it a useful option for those focused on site security. However, users may find limitations in features compared to the Pro version.

From the developer

Jeff Starr's own description of Banhammer, lightly tidied.

⚡ 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.

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.

Read the full description on the official page →

Tagged as

Alternatives

Other plugins for backups.

All-in-One WP Migration and Backup

Trusted by 60M+ sites: The gold standard for WordPress migration and backup. Migrate, backup, and restore your...

Free 5M+ installs 4.5★ (7,664)
Duplicator

The best WordPress backup and migration plugin. Quickly and easily backup ,migrate, copy, move, or clone your...

Free 1M+ installs 4.9★ (4,929)
WPvivid

WPvivid

93

All-in-one WordPress backup, migration and staging plugin — schedule automatic backups, restore in one click,...

Free 900k+ installs 4.9★ (1,536)
Disable Gutenberg

Disable Gutenberg Block Editor and restore the Classic Editor and original Edit Post screen (TinyMCE, meta box...

Free 500k+ installs 5★ (733)
WP STAGING

WordPress backup plugin: backups, restore & migration in minutes. Clone or duplicate your site, test updat...

Free 100k+ installs 4.8★ (2,464)