Password protecting a WordPress site under development means locking your website behind a password so only approved users can view it. It’s an easy way to keep your unfinished site private until launch day.
I always protect my sites during development. Letting people see half-done pages or test content doesn’t leave a good impression. Keeping your site hidden helps your work look polished and professional from the start.
In this guide, I’ll show you the simplest way to secure your WordPress site while you build, using SeedProd to add a coming soon page with password protection, no coding needed.
Steps for Password Protecting WordPress Before Going Live:
Why Should You Password Protect a Site Under Development?
You should password protect a WordPress site under development to prevent visitors from seeing unfinished content, test data, or placeholder text.
It takes about 50 milliseconds for visitors to form a first impression of a website. An unfinished site with broken layouts or placeholder text can damage trust before you’ve had a chance to launch.
Password protection also stops search engines from indexing incomplete pages. Google can index new pages within hours of discovering them. If your site is publicly accessible, test content can appear in search results before you’re ready.
How to Password Protect WordPress Site While Under Development
WordPress does not include a built-in option to password protect an entire site at once. You can password protect individual pages, but there’s no native way to lock everything behind a single password.
To protect your full site during development, you need a plugin. SeedProd is a WordPress website builder and coming soon page plugin that adds full-site password protection along with a drag-and-drop page builder.
I use SeedProd because it does two things at once. It locks my site from visitors while giving me a visual builder to create a professional coming soon page. Clients see a polished holding page instead of a broken site or a generic “coming soon” message.
SeedProd also lets search engines crawl your site even while it’s protected. This means you can start building SEO authority before launch instead of waiting until the site goes live.
Step 1. Install and Activate SeedProd
The first step is to download the SeedProd plugin.
After downloading it, follow these instructions to install a WordPress plugin.
Once you install and activate the plugin, you’ll head to the license key page to verify your key. You can find your license key in the downloads section of your SeedProd account page.
After verifying your key, you can use the plugin to password protect your website while it’s still under development.
Step 2. Create a Coming Soon or Maintenance Page
SeedProd includes powerful access controls in the plugin settings that let you hide either your entire WordPress website or specific website pages.
To take advantage of these tools, you’ll need to create either a coming soon page or a maintenance mode page, the only types of landing pages with these specific controls.
First, to create your coming soon page, navigate to SeedProd » Pages from your WordPress dashboard and click the Set up a Coming Soon Page button under the Coming Soon Mode section.
You’ll see the coming soon page templates library to choose a new page template and customize your design. See this step-by-step guide to creating a coming soon page in WordPress for complete instructions on setting up your page.
Step 3: Activate Full-Site Protection
Protecting your entire WordPress site during development is simple with SeedProd. Once your coming soon or maintenance mode page is ready, you can turn on full-site protection in just one click.
Go to SeedProd » Pages from your WordPress dashboard, then switch the toggle under Coming Soon Mode from Inactive to Active.
That’s it! Your WordPress site is now password protected, and only authorized users can view it while you work behind the scenes.
Optional: Add a Password Field
If you want visitors to log in using a password, edit your coming soon page in SeedProd’s drag-and-drop builder. Scroll to the Advanced blocks, drag in the Custom HTML block, and enter . Save your changes, then preview your page to see the password input box.
This feature makes it easy to give clients, teammates, or testers private access without taking your entire site public.
Step 4: Protect Specific Pages
Sometimes you only need to hide a few pages or products instead of your entire site. SeedProd makes that easy too.
To password protect individual pages, open the page or post you want to hide, then click Edit. In the editor sidebar, find the Visibility option and choose Password Protected. Add your password and publish the page.
Each page you protect will display “Password protected” in your dashboard. Only people with the password can open it through your WordPress login page.
To combine this with your coming soon or maintenance page, go to SeedProd » Pages » Access Control. Scroll to the Include URLs section and list each page URL you want to restrict, one per line. Click Save Changes to apply protection.
Now, anyone who tries to view those URLs will see your coming soon page instead of the content. You can even limit access by IP address for extra control.
To see this in action, check out how Mustard Seed used SeedProd to launch client websites with private access for review.
What’s the Difference Between Full-Site and Single-Page Protection?
When protecting your WordPress site, you can choose between locking the entire site or securing only certain pages. The right choice depends on how you work and what you want to show or hide.
| Method | Best For | Limitations |
|---|---|---|
| Full-Site Lock | Keeping everything private while you build | Requires a password to view any part of the site |
| Single-Page Protection | Hiding drafts, products, or sensitive pages | Other areas stay visible to visitors |
If you’re building a brand-new website, full-site protection is usually best. For sites already live, single-page protection gives you more flexibility to work on updates without hiding the rest of your content.
Are There Other Ways to Keep a WordPress Site Private?
Yes. Four alternative methods exist for keeping a WordPress site private, each with different tradeoffs.
| Method | What It Does | Limitations |
|---|---|---|
| Search engine discouragement (Settings > Reading) | Tells search engines not to index your site | Does not block visitors. Anyone with your URL can still see everything. |
| Built-in page password protection | Adds a password to individual pages | Cannot protect multiple pages with one password. Each page needs its own. |
| Private visibility | Restricts pages to logged-in WordPress users | Requires everyone to have a WordPress account on your site. |
| Hosting-level protection (.htaccess) | Blocks the entire site at the server level | Requires technical knowledge. Blocks search engines completely. |
I’ve tried all of these. The main problem is that none of them combine full-site protection with a professional holding page. You either get security without design control, or design control without real security.
SeedProd handles all three: it locks the entire site, lets you customize what visitors see, and still allows search engines to crawl.
FAQs About Password Protecting WordPress
That’s it.
Now, anyone visiting those URLs will see you coming soon or under construction page.
Protect Your Website Under Development Today
I hope this guide has helped you learn how to password protect WordPress while under development.
With SeedProd’s powerful access controls and easy drag-and-drop page builder, you can create and protect WordPress landing pages without needing a developer.
If you’re searching for more help protecting your WordPress site, check out our top tutorials and guides:
- How to Password Protect a WordPress Site: The Ultimate Guide
- How to Customize a Password Protected Page in WordPress
- How to Password Protect a WordPress Page (Step by Step)
- 9 Best WordPress GDPR Plugins for Better Compliance
- 9 Best WordPress Security Plugins: Top Picks for Site Safety
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