Restricted Site Access vs Roles & Capabilities (2026)
Detailed side-by-side comparison of two WordPress plugins, based on real-time data from WordPress.org.
Restricted Site Access
20K+ active installs
Free
Quick Verdict
As of April 2026, Roles & Capabilities has a higher user rating (5/5 from 6 reviews) while Restricted Site Access leads in active installations (20K+ vs 1.0K+). Both are free WordPress plugins. Restricted Site Access has accumulated 1.1M+ total downloads while Roles & Capabilities has 30K+.
Detailed Comparison
| Metric | Restricted Site Access | Roles & Capabilities | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.8/5 | ► | 5/5 |
| Total Reviews | 62 | ◄ | 6 |
| Active Installs | 20K+ | ◄ | 1.0K+ |
| Total Downloads | 1.1M+ | ◄ | 30K+ |
| Support Resolution | 0% | N/A | |
| Last Updated | 2 months ago | ◄ | 3 months ago |
| First Released | 2009 | 2019 | |
| Age | 17 years | 7 years | |
| WP Requires | 6.6+ | 4.1+ | |
| PHP Requires | 7.4+ | 7.4+ | |
| Business Model | Free | Free | |
| Latest Version | 7.6.1 | 1.1.14 |
Rating Breakdown
Restricted Site Access
Roles & Capabilities
Download Trends
Over the past 30 days, Restricted Site Access averaged approximately 469 daily downloads while Roles & Capabilities averaged 21.
Recent Reviews
Restricted Site Access Reviews
Simple, effective and without unnecessary frills
I was looking for a plugin to enable access to a site only for registered users. A work site for editors, authors and contributors to a magazine. A site that only users with an account should be able
Does the job
I just need to restrict my whole WordPress site to certain IPs without messing with htaccess, and this plugin works perfectly for that.
Great Plugin for Intranet/Extranet
I have activated the plugin as a replacement for a maintenance plugin on a WordPress instance that I use as an extranet. It does exactly what I was looking for. The settings are absolutely sufficient
Roles & Capabilities Reviews
Simple and effective
This plugin is exactly in line with I think plugins should be: clear, one task only, well integrated without bloat meaningless UI elements that do nothing. That’s what I do with my plugins as well.
Simple and efficient
I just needed to add the capabilities for specific users to edit the pages they own, which is not possible with the default Author role. This plugin made it really easy: I could clone the Author role
The best plugin for delete unwanted capabilities
finally! Thank you so much for this! After testing several very complex and confusing user role plugins (which by the way just added more garbage to my wp_options table), I found “Roles & Capabilities
More Permissions Worth Comparing
Top alternatives in the same category as Restricted Site Access and Roles & Capabilities
The best WordPress membership and user role editor plugin. User Roles & Capabilities editor helps you restrict content in just a few clicks.
PublishPress Capabilities is the access control plugin. You can manage user capabilities, permissions, user roles, admin menus and more.
The permissions plugin for posts, pages, categories, tags and more. You can control permissions for roles, individual users, and even custom groups.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Restricted Site Access or Roles & Capabilities more popular?
Which has better ratings — Restricted Site Access or Roles & Capabilities?
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Plugin data sourced from WordPress.org. Comparison and analysis by PluginSift.