by Sam 1 (0 reviews)

Zero Budget Bot Shield

Name: Zero Budget Bot Shield
Author: Sam

Free, lightweight WordPress plugin that blocks bots by country and prevents abuse via repeated 404 errors. Perfect for small organizations.

Zero Budget Bot Shield ranks #16,978 among WordPress.org plugins with 90+ active installations, is #1,009 of 4,589 in the Security category, a 1/5 rating from 0 reviews, and was last updated Jan 14, 2026. Data from WordPress.org, refreshed twice daily — see methodology.

Tested up to WP 6.9 (Current: 7.1.2)

v1.0.2 Current Version v1.0.2

Updated 8 months ago Last Update on 14 Jan, 2026

Refreshed 8 hours ago Last Refreshed on

#1,009 of 4,589 in Security Top 25% by installs

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Rank

#16,978

— No change

Active Installs

90+

+2.3%

KW Avg Position

3 worse

Downloads

181

+5 today

Support Resolved

— No change

Rating

20%

Review 1 out of 5

1 (0 reviews)

Next Milestone 100

Total Progress 10%

90+ 100+

5,222

Ranks to Climb

Growth Needed

8,000,000

Active Installs

Pro

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Rank Changes

Current #16,978

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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

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Peak

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Reviews & Ratings

1.0

0 reviews

Overall 20%

0 (0%)

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Plugin Details

Version: 1.0.2
Last Updated: Jan 14, 2026
Requires WP: 4.7+
Tested Up To: 6.9
PHP Version: 7.4 or higher
Author: Sam

Support & Rating

Rating: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ 1
Reviews: 0
Support Threads: 0
Resolved: 0%

Keywords

404 protection bots firewall geo blocking security

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Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about Zero Budget Bot Shield

Yes. Zero Budget Bot Shield blocks countries without using any third-party IP lookup or geolocation API. The plugin reads country codes directly from GeoIP headers already provided by your infrastructure, such as: Cloudflare IP country headers Hosting provider GeoIP headers Server-level GeoIP integrations No external requests are made, and no visitor IP addresses are sent outside your website.

Yes. If your site is behind Cloudflare, the plugin automatically uses Cloudflare’s country header to detect visitor location. There is no additional configuration required beyond having Cloudflare enabled on your domain.

Yes, provided your hosting environment supplies GeoIP country headers. Many managed WordPress hosts and VPS setups already expose these headers at the server level. If no GeoIP headers are detected, the plugin will clearly notify you in the admin dashboard.

If GeoIP headers are not present, country-based blocking will not activate. However: 404 abuse protection will continue to function normally No errors or site breakage will occur The plugin will display a clear status notice in the admin panel This ensures safe operation even on minimal hosting setups.

404 abuse protection defends your site against bots that repeatedly request non-existent URLs. Zero Budget Bot Shield monitors repeated 404 responses per IP and automatically blocks abusive requests when configurable thresholds are exceeded. This helps reduce: Unnecessary server load Log pollution Bot-driven crawling and probing

Yes. You can configure: Maximum allowed 404 requests Time window for detection These settings allow you to tune protection based on your traffic patterns.

Absolutely. Zero Budget Bot Shield is designed for minimal resource usage. It does not: Load front-end scripts or styles Run background cron jobs Query external services Use heavy JavaScript frameworks All logic executes only when relevant requests occur.

No. When configured correctly, the plugin adds negligible overhead. Because it relies on existing request headers and simple conditional logic, performance impact is minimal compared to API-based security plugins.

No personal data is stored. The plugin records aggregated block statistics by country and reason only. Individual IP addresses are not logged, stored, or exported. This makes the plugin suitable for privacy-conscious sites.

Yes. Because no personal data is transmitted to third-party services and no IP addresses are stored, the plugin aligns well with privacy regulations such as GDPR. Always consult your legal advisor for compliance requirements specific to your site.