Don’t want anyone registering on your site?
Registration can easily be disabled in WordPress, and without installing any new plugins. Learn how in this quick tutorial.
How to disable new user registration
To disable new users from registering, login to your site and visit the General Settings page.
In the settings page, you’ll find the Membership option where you can uncheck the Anyone can register box to disable registration.
Uncheck the box and save your settings to disable anyone from registering on your site.
How it changes your site
Normally, the WordPress login form would display a Register link, but the Membership setting removes it.
Also, any visitors who attempt to access the registration form directly will now be redirected to the standard login form and shown an error message.
Stopping spam bot registrations
While the above technique should work for most situations, it is still possible to receive spam registrations from bots after disabling registration.
If this is happening to your site, install the Disable WP Registration Page plugin. It usually blocks these attempts entirely while still allowing any custom registration forms you may have to work.
Registration removed
WordPress handles basic membership options well. Through the settings menu, you can quickly enable or disable new user registrations.
However, if you have issues with bot spam, the Disable WP Registration Page plugin should be an adequate fix.
Have any questions about user registration with WordPress? Leave a comment below.
Yes, I’ve just started getting registrations one after the other from suspect email addresses. I wonder what the point is to send a spam bit to register?