by bestwebsoft 4 (2 reviews)

Htaccess by BestWebSoft – WordPress Website Access Control Plugin

Name: Htaccess by BestWebSoft – WordPress Website Access Control Plugin
Rating: 4.0 (2 reviews)
Author: bestwebsoft

Protect WordPress website – allow and deny access for certain IP addresses, hostnames, etc.

Htaccess by BestWebSoft ranks #9,897 among WordPress.org plugins with 400+ active installations, is #592 of 5,058 in the Security category, a 4/5 rating from 2 reviews, and was last updated Apr 24, 2026. Data from WordPress.org, refreshed twice daily — see methodology.

Tested up to WP 7.0.8 (Current: 7.1.4)

v1.8.9 Current Version v1.8.9

Updated 6 months ago Last Update on 24 Apr, 2026

Refreshed 20 hours ago Last Refreshed on

#592 of 5,058 in Security Top 25% by installs Downloads -26% this week

View on WordPress.org

Rank

#9,897

— No change

Active Installs

400+

+3.6%

KW Avg Position

18.4

1.8 better

Downloads

43.4K

+5 today

Support Resolved

— No change

Rating

80%

Review 4 out of 5

4 (2 reviews)

Next Milestone 500

Total Progress 45%

400+ 500+

813

Ranks to Climb

Growth Needed

8,000,000

Active Installs

Pro

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Need 55 more installs to reach 500+

Rank Changes

Current #9,897

Change

Best #

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Active Installs Growth

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Active Installs 0,000,000+

Growth +0.0%

Peak 0,000,000

Downloads Growth

Downloads

Growth

Peak

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Reviews & Ratings

4.0

2 reviews

Overall 80%

1 (50%)

0 (0%)

1 (50%)

0 (0%)

Security History

Source: WPVulnerability

4 known vulnerabilities on record · 0 in the last 24 months · checked 3 months ago

Feb 1, 2020

Htaccess by BestWebSoft – WordPress Website Access Control Plugin [htaccess] < 1.8.2

CVE-2020-8658 · Fixed in v1.8.2
May 16, 2017

Htaccess by BestWebSoft – WordPress Website Access Control Plugin [htaccess] < 1.7.6

CVE-2017-2171 · Fixed in v1.7.6
Apr 14, 2017

Htaccess by BestWebSoft – WordPress Website Access Control Plugin [htaccess] < 1.7.6

CVE-2017-18496 · Fixed in v1.7.6
Htaccess by BestWebSoft – WordPress Website Access Control Plugin [htaccess] < 1.7.6

Fixed in v1.7.6

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Plugin Details

Version: 1.8.9
Last Updated: Apr 24, 2026
Requires WP: 6.2+
Tested Up To: 7.0.8
PHP Version: N/A
Author: bestwebsoft

Support & Rating

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ 4
Reviews: 2
Support Threads: 0
Resolved: 0%

Keywords

access allow directive control access deny directive directive block

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TL;DR

AI summary of the plugin's readme

This plugin is for WordPress site owners who want to control who can access their site. It solves the problem of restricting access by IP address, hostname, or IP range, and blocking hotlinking or xmlrpc.php access.

Allow/deny access order settings
Customize .htaccess file
Backup and restore .htaccess
Block by domain and User Agent
Limit wp-admin access by IP
Disable xmlrpc.php access
Enable/disable hotlinking
Multisite network configuration

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about Htaccess by BestWebSoft – WordPress Website Access Control Plugin

If the file exists and there is a Directive block in it, the plugin will add the settings of this block to the settings page and after saving the changes it will update only the Directive block in the existing .htaccess file.

The plugin will store the settings in the database and add all the necessary conditions of the directive block to the settings of WordPress automatically.

The plugin will get the data of the Directive block from .htaccess file automatically regardless of the previously configured settings.

The .htaccess is located in the site root. With your FTP program or via Сpanel go to the site root, open the .htaccess file and delete the necessary strings manually. Please make use of the following information: https://codex.wordpress.org/FTP_Clients

To find out about hotlinking and the ways you can prevent it, please check our article dedicated to the topic. In this article, you will find all the necessary data that will give you a heads up and help you avoid hotlinking on your website.

In Htaccess by BestWebSoft V1.7.2 we moved all IPs that have been added to .htaccess automatically via plugin`s interaction hooks to "automatically added" plugin options. Since this update, they won't be stored in the database but in the ".htaccess" file only. This was made in order to reduce the size of the database. If you use some plugins that interact with the Htaccess by BestWebSoft plugin (e.g. Limit Attempts or Limit Attempts Pro by BestWebSoft), please go the Htaccess settings page and make sure that all IPs from IP lists of this plugin have been moved to "Deny from (automatically added)" and "Allow from (automatically added)" correctly. If some IPs from that lists are still in the "Deny from" and "Allow from" options, please remove them manually and save changes.

Please make sure that the problem hasn't been discussed yet on our forum (https://support.bestwebsoft.com). If no, please provide the following data along with your problem's description: - The link to the page where the problem occurs - The name of the plugin and its version. If you are using a pro version - your order number. - The version of your WordPress installation - Copy and paste into the message your system status report. Please read more here: Instruction on System Status