Password protect any WordPress custom post type (in just 5 minutes)

A WordPress password protect custom post type plugin is a powerful tool to create and manage specific types of content on your WordPress site, while keeping them secure and private with password protection.

It's important to get new content up more quickly, and organize it effectively. However, you won’t always want all that custom content to be visible to everyone.

There are 2 ways to protect a custom post type WordPress. First, you can protect your custom post types with a password, so no one but approved visitors can see that content. Second, you can restrict content within specific post types to logged in users with particular roles. Both of these techniques can be applied to any post type – including the default ones that come with WordPress, post content types that you create yourself, and content types added by plugins or themes.

In this step-by-step beginners' guide, we’ll discuss what custom post types are and when you might want to keep them private. Then we’ll show you how to protect custom post type WordPress with the easy-to-use Password Protected Categories plugin. Let’s jump right in!

Not created your custom post types yet? Check out our tutorial on how to create custom post types using Pods.

An introduction to custom post types in WordPress

First, it’s important to understand that the term ‘post type’ is a bit of a misnomer. A better term might be ‘content type’ since it refers to the various kinds of content you can create for your WordPress site. The two most common and frequently-used post types are Posts and Pages, although there are a few other default options.

While you can do a lot with the post types WordPress supplies, sometimes you’ll want additional flexibility. For example, let’s say you use your website to run an e-commerce store. In this case, you could benefit from having a Products post type. This would be set up with all the features and information you need to create individual product pages for the entire site.

In fact, this is one of the things that popular e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce do for you:

The WooCommerce Products custom post type.

There are actually a lot of membership plugins that add new custom post type WordPress to your site. You can even create your own post types, both manually and using a plugin. Either way, this is a great method for expanding what you can do with WordPress and streamlining the process of creating new content.

Why you might need to password protect custom post types

WordPress password protected portfolio

Sometimes, you want any visitor to be able to view everything on your website. However, that’s not always the case. In some cases, you may need to restrict access to certain content on your WordPress site and only display it to approved or logged-in users. This can be achieved by setting permissions for specific users or user roles.

Here are just a few examples of scenarios when you might want to do this:

  • E-commerce websites If you’re running a wholesale store or something similar, you may want to restrict some or all of your products from public view.
  • Online portfolios You may not want just anyone to view your work – instead, you can keep it locked away from those you don’t trust.
  • Image galleries For photographers selling their work online, it can be useful to set up private galleries and hide them from everyone except specific clients.
  • Event-based sites Websites that feature events often want to restrict information, and display it only to people who have been invited to the event or who have paid for access.

In these situations, you can hide anything that needs to be kept private by password-protecting the relevant custom post types. If you have a custom Products, Portfolios, Galleries, or Events post type, for example, you can ensure that only those with a password you choose can view that content. Fortunately, doing this is easier than you might expect, as long as you have a WordPress custom post type plugin.

How to password-protect any custom post type in WordPress (2 methods)

If you do need to password-protect one or more post types in WordPress, all you need are the right tools and a little instruction. Below, we’ll present two ways to get the job done, using a WordPress custom post type plugin. Keep in mind that these techniques will work for all post types – including the default options.

1. Password-protect custom posts for all visitors

First up, let’s talk about how to hide specific content within a custom post type from anyone who visits your site – except those with the right password. To do this, you’ll need the Password Protected Categories plugin:

This WordPress custom post type plugin makes it easy to WordPress security on any type of content with passwords and to customize what is made private and what is kept public.

Install the plugin and configure its settings

To get started, install Password Protected Categories on your website. Then navigate to Settings > Protected Categories:

The Password Protected Categories plugin settings.

Here you can paste in your license key, in order to access the plugin’s full functionality. You can also customize how long passwords will be active, and what the WordPress login page form for password-protected content will look like:

The Password Protected Categories login form options.

Save your changes here.

Password-protect specific custom post type categories

Next, go to the Categories screen for the relevant custom post type (for example, Events > Categories):

The WordPress Categories screen.

If you select a specific category here and scroll down to the bottom of the password protected page, you’ll find a new post Visibility option section:

The Visibility section for the Password Protected Categories plugin.

Here, you can choose whether to make the category public or protect it with a password. In the latter case, simply enter whatever password you’d like and save your changes. You can also click on the plus icon to add multiple passwords to one category.

In practice, this means that if you add all content in a custom post type to a particular category, you can password protect the entire group. By adding all your events to an Events category, in other words, you can keep them private from everyone except approved visitors.

How to restrict only some of a custom post type's content

It’s also worth noting that you can protect only some of the content under a specific custom post type. For instance, let’s say you advertise both public and private events on your site. You want everyone to see the public events, but you want to restrict the private events to attendees only.

To do that, you can put all your events into one category, and then create two sub-categories: Private Events and Public Events. Then, simply password-protect the former, and leave the latter set to Public:

Private and public Events categories.

That's all you need to do!

Password-protecting the WooCommerce 'Products' post type

Finally, if you’re running a WooCommerce store, you’ll want to opt for the WooCommerce Password Protected Categories plugin instead:

This WordPress custom post type plugin has very similar functionality and can be used via the same process described above. However, it integrates fully with WooCommerce and supports its custom Products post type.


2. Restrict access only to specific user roles

The above process will work well in most cases. However, sometimes you’ll want to password-protect custom post types only for certain kinds of users. For instance, you might want to restrict access to an 'events' post type for random visitors but display them freely to subscribers.

You can achieve this using a simple 2-step process:

  1. First, mark the custom post type categories that you want to hide as 'Private'.
  2. Next, control which user roles can see private custom post type categories and their posts.

I'll tell you how to do this next.

a. Create private custom post type categories

In this case, you'll still need to start by installing and setting up the Password Protected Categories plugin (or WooCommerce Password Protected Categories if you're protecting WooCommerce products).

Instead of password protecting the custom post type categories that you want to hide, you need to mark them as User Role protected. To do this, go to the Categories page for whatever custom post type you want to edit. Choose the parent category that includes all of your custom post type content, select 'Protected' and select the user roles who should see the custom post type.

User and role protected categories

Save your changes. This will hide them from everyone except for logged in users whose role allows them to access the WordPress password protect custom post type category.

b. Create new user roles (optional)

If you are happy with the user roles that come with WordPress itself, then you can skip this section. Alternatively, keep reading to learn how to create custom WordPress user roles who can see the private custom post type categories and posts.

You need one additional tool for this – the free User Role Editor plugin:

The User Role Editor plugin.

With this plugin, you get a lot more control over the way user roles work on your WordPress site. You can create new roles, customize the existing ones, and much more. Plus, it’s completely free to use.

After installing the plugin, go to Users → User Role Editor in your WordPress dashboard:

The User Role Editor settings.

Find a role that has the general capabilities that you require for your new role. This will generally be Subscriber. You can then clone the role to create a new one, such as 'Staff'.

Finally, go back to the 'Edit Category' page for your custom post type category, and restrict it to your custom user role.

How to create custom post types in WordPress

You can use a plugin to create custom post types without the need for coding like CSS and PHP. At Barn2, we recommend using our free Easy Post Types and Fields plugin to create WordPress register custom post types with ease.

To get started, simply install and activate the Easy Post Types plugin:

  1. Go to Plugins → Add New in the WordPress admin.
  2. Search for 'Easy Post Types and Fields'.
  3. Install the plugin of this name by Barn2.
  4. Once activated, navigate to the Easy Post Types menu in your WordPress dashboard and click the "Add New" button.

From here, you'll be taken to a WordPress page where you can configure your custom post type settings. You can set the post type name, slug, labels, and even choose which post type features to enable, such as comments and revisions.

One of the standout features of Easy Post Types is its intuitive drag-and-drop interface. This allows you to easily create custom fields and taxonomies for your post type, without the need for any coding skills.

Once you've configured your WordPress register custom post type settings, click the "Create Post Type" button to save your changes. Your new custom post type will now be available in the WordPress admin menu, where you can begin adding and managing your content.

Create custom archive pages for custom post types with Posts Table Pro

If you're using WordPress to manage your website content, you may have encountered the need to create WordPress archive page for custom post types. These are essentially a way to organize your content in a more meaningful way, beyond just the standard blog posts and pages. Once you've created a custom post type, you'll likely want to create an archive page for it, which will display all of the posts within that type.

Fortunately, WordPress makes it easy to create WordPress archive page for custom post type. If you're not comfortable with coding or don't have the time to create a custom template, there is a solution. You can use the Posts Table Pro plugin to create an archive listing any custom post type.

This plugin is incredibly versatile and allows you to create WordPress archive page for custom post type tables. It dynamically generates lists of posts that can be filtered, sorted, and searched.

WordPress archive plugin

To get started with Posts Table Pro, simply install and activate the plugin. A setup wizard will launch automatically. This wizard will provide you with a step-by-step guide to help you create your first table. You'll be able to specify which custom post type you want to display, as well as choose which columns of information to include in the table.

After creating a table using the Post Table Pro plugin for WordPress, there are two ways to insert it into your website. The first method is to use the Post Table block in the Gutenberg block editor. The second method is to copy the shortcode from the table builder or the Post Tables section in the WordPress admin and paste it wherever you want the table to appear on your site.

Install a WordPress password protect custom post type plugin today!

If you use custom post types on your WordPress website, you’ll want to think carefully about who can access their content. There are many situations when you’ll want to restrict certain people from viewing particular post types. Fortunately, this is easy to do if you have a WordPress password protect custom post type plugin.

In this article, we’ve introduced two ways to password-protect any custom post type in WordPress:

  1. Password-protect content for visitors without an account.
  2. Restrict access to specific logged in users, or entire user roles.

You can do both of these with the easy-to-use Password Protected Categories plugin. Just install it, protect your custom post type categories, and you're done!

Do you have any questions about how to use this WordPress password protect custom post type plugin? Ask away in the comments section below!

Image credit: freeGraphicToday.

2 Comments

  1. Hi,
    I would appreciate if you could answer my questions.
    If I create private custom post type categories, they will be hidden from everyone except for logged in users, who will use their own passwords they choose during registration, right? As opposed to a password protected custom post type categories, where there is only one password chosen by me for everyone? Did I get this correctly?
    Is it possible with your plugin to have two restricted contents, one for all registered users (this is one restriction) and then another one only for paid subscribers?
    Best regards
    Ryszard

    • Hi, Ryszard.

      Thanks for your comment and interest in our Password Protected Categories plugin.

      "If I create private custom post type categories, they will be hidden from everyone except for logged in users, who will use their own passwords they choose during registration, right? As opposed to a password protected custom post type categories, where there is only one password chosen by me for everyone? Did I get this correctly?"

      Yes, you're right on both counts.

      "Is it possible with your plugin to have two restricted contents, one for all registered users (this is one restriction) and then another one only for paid subscribers?"

      Yes, you can choose between making a post password protected or private (for logged in users only) and have posts that use either type of restriction, but due to how WordPress works, you can choose/use only one of the two types and not both.

      Should you have any other questions, just let me know. You can also send us your questions via our dedicated Support Center.

      Best regards,

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