Possibly abandoned Tested up to 5.5.22 #3 in area

Private Area for WordPress

Q: Is Private Area for WordPress free?

Yes. Private Area for WordPress is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.

Q: How many websites use Private Area for WordPress?

Private Area for WordPress is active on 70+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 2,849 times since it launched in March 2020. It was downloaded 58 times in the last 30 days.

Q: Does Private Area for WordPress work with WordPress 7.1?

Private Area for WordPress is officially tested up to WordPress 5.5.22, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.

Q: What PHP version does Private Area for WordPress need?

Private Area for WordPress requires PHP 5.6 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.

Q: When was Private Area for WordPress last updated?

The latest version, 1.0.1, was released on September 4, 2020 (6 years ago).

Q: Who makes Private Area for WordPress?

Private Area for WordPress is developed and maintained by Evolve.

Q: What are the best alternatives to Private Area for WordPress?

The most popular alternatives to Private Area for WordPress are Shipping Zones by Drawing f… (600+ installs), Locations and Areas (100+ installs) and Simple Members Area (60+ installs).

👉 For more information about the plugin, visit the documentation website.

By Evolve · v1.0.1 · Updated 6 years ago

View on WordPress.org Download Compare alternatives →

Active installs70+10+ tier

Downloads · 30d58▲ +16% vs prev. 30d

Rating3/53 reviews

Health score26/100At risk

All-time downloads2.8KSince Mar 2020

Support resolved—No recent threads

RequiresWP 5.0.0PHP 5.6+

Downloads · 7d14▼ -26.3% week over week

Our verdict

Consider an alternative

Private Area for WordPress shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 70+ sites, is rated 3/5 and was last updated 6 years ago, and scores 26/100 on our health check.

Small user base (70+ active installs)
Low rating so far — 3/5 from only 3 reviews
No update in 6 years
Only tested up to WordPress 5.5 (latest is 7.1)

How does it stack up?

Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support

Private Area for Word… vs

Shipping Zones by Dra…

Private Area for Word… vs

Locations and Areas

Private Area for Word… vs

Simple Members Area

Private Area for Word… vs

Delivery Area with Go…

Daily downloads

Yesterday5

Daily average (1y)1

Peak day8Sep 10, 2026

Last 12 months489

Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.

Rankings

Where Private Area for WordPress stands today

Area #3 of 12 plugins → Members #33 of 143 plugins → Memberships #14 of 37 plugins → Private #21 of 86 plugins → Users #80 of 312 plugins →

WordPress.org search rankings

Live position in the plugin search, top 100

Keyword	Position	Competing plugins	Category
area	>100	10,000	Best area plugins →
members	>100	3,480	Best members plugins →
memberships	>100	1,990	Best memberships plugins →
private	>100	4,697	Best private plugins →
users	>100	10,000	Best users plugins →

Version adoption

Share of active sites per release.

1.0100.0%

Rating breakdown

★★★★★★★★★★ 3 from 3 reviews

5★33.3%
4★0.00%
3★0.00%
2★66.7%
1★0.00%

About Private Area for WordPress

From the official readme · v1.0.1

Description

👉 For more information about the plugin, visit the documentation website.

Create truly private pages.
Differentiate access based on user roles and exclude pages from search engines (supporting Yoast SEO, All in one SEO pack and Google XML Sitemaps).
Automatically customize redirect after login.
Disable the admin bar for non-administrator users.

👉 Want to know more? Read the plugin documentation! 👉 https://justevolve.it/documentation/private-area-documentation/

👉 1.0.1

Added a filter to the access rejection message being displayed in the page content.
Added feature suggestion link.

👉 1.0.0

Initial public release.

Installation

Upload the plugin files to the /wp-content/plugins/wp-private-area directory, or install the plugin through the WordPress plugins screen directly.
Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ screen in WordPress

Screenshots

For developers

Is this your plugin? Show off the numbers.

Add a live badge to your site, docs or GitHub README. It updates on its own — no account needed.

HTML

<a href="https://pageforge.pro/directory/plugins/wp-private-area/"><img src="https://pageforge.pro/directory/badge/plugin/wp-private-area/" alt="Private Area for WordPress active installs" height="22"></a>

Markdown

[![Private Area for WordPress active installs](https://pageforge.pro/directory/badge/plugin/wp-private-area/)](https://pageforge.pro/directory/plugins/wp-private-area/)

Health score

26At risk

Freshness0/25
Compatibility2/20
Rating9/25
Support11/15
Adoption4/15

Scored on update freshness, WordPress compatibility, ratings, support replies and adoption. How we score →

Version: 1.0.1
Last updated: Sep 4, 2020
Added: Mar 25, 2020
Tested up to: 5.5.22
Requires PHP: 5.6

DeveloperEvolve

Live data from WordPress.org · checked Sep 27, 2026

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Best Private Area for WordPress alternatives

All area plugins →

Alternatives
Rank	Plugin	Active installs	Rating	Updated	Health
1	Shipping Zones by Drawing for WooCommerce Shipping Zones by Drawing lets you create custom shipping areas in WooCommerce with an… by arosoft	600+	★★★★★★★★★★ 4.1 (24)	2 months ago	71
2	Locations and Areas – Leaflet Map with Region Tabs An awesome map with features like: multiple regions as tabs, no API keys needed, frontend… by 100plugins	100+	★★★★★★★★★★ 5 (3)	2 years ago	24
4	Simple Members Area A simple way to create and manage a members area in WordPress. by 3pointross	60+	★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 (2)	12 years ago	31
5	Delivery Area with Google Maps This plugin allows you create delivery areas in Google Maps and by a shortcode put it in… by gonzalesc	50+	★★★★★★★★★★ No reviews	7 years ago	25
6	Price Per Unit For WooCommerce Sell product price per unit with the easiest to set up and more configurable Plugin with… by apurbajnu	50+	★★★★★★★★★★ 5 (2)	4 months ago	53
7	MapHilight for WordPress MapHilight makes it easy to integrate the javascript needed to make your maps or images… by 510crew	40+	★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 (3)	14 years ago	30
8	Powie's TextBlox Create Textblocks and insert it into your pages using a shortcode. You can very simple… by PowieT	10+	★★★★★★★★★★ No reviews	8 years ago	23
9	CFF Area and Perimeter Operations Implements operations for calculating the figure areas and perimeters to use with the… by codepeople	10+	★★★★★★★★★★ No reviews	1 month ago	62
10	Restrict Role Login Allows administrators to restrict user login based on user roles. by konnektiv	10+	★★★★★★★★★★ No reviews	10 years ago	23
11	Delivery Area A WooCommerce extention that allows you to define one custom delivery area by drawing… by arnaudpf	<10	★★★★★★★★★★ No reviews	5 years ago	21

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