How to Moderate New User Registrations in WordPress

In our experience, building a community around your WordPress site is one of the most effective ways to get loyal readers and customers. But sometimes, you need a little more control over who gets access.

Dealing with spam registrations can be a real headache, especially for membership sites.

So, the big question is, wouldn’t it be nice to have a system where you could vet each new user?

With just a few tweaks, you can easily set up your WordPress site to moderate new registrations. That means you get to decide who’s in and who’s out.

In this article, we will show you how to take charge of your WordPress user registrations.

Why Moderate New User Registrations in WordPress

WordPress makes it super easy to let people create accounts on your site.

This is really handy when you want to offer premium content, sell products, or build a community, as people need a way to log in.

You can assign basic WordPress user roles, like ‘Subscriber,’ but sometimes your users need more control.

Think online courses and paid newsletters. You will need the MemberPress plugin to give members exclusive access to features like private forums and coupon codes.

If you’re looking to sell digital downloads like eBooks, music, software, and more, then you can use the Easy Digital Downloads plugin.

On the other hand, BuddyBoss can be a great option for creating a private community or social media website.

Alternatively, if you’re selling physical products on your site, then you would also want to require user registration as part of your WooCommerce online store so you can store their shipping details.

Now, the downside to opening up registration is the dreaded spam.

Similar to spam comments, there are bots out there looking for registration forms to target. While tools like ReCaptcha offer some protection, they can also make things clunky for non-bot users.

That’s where user moderation comes in handy.

So, instead of outright blocking everyone, you get to review each new registration and decide if it’s legit or spam. This gives you more control and helps keep your site free of those bots.

With this in mind, here’s a quick look at how to easily moderate new user registrations in WordPress and simply approve or deny sign-ups on your website:

• Method 1. Moderate User Registrations in WordPress with Custom Registration Form
• Method 2. Moderate User Registrations in WordPress with New User Approve (free)

Ready? Let’s get started.

Method 1. Moderate User Registrations in WordPress with Custom Registration Form

Most website owners like to use a custom user registration form in WordPress. This allows them to customize the styling to match their brand needs, automatically add users to their email newsletter, and more.

WPForms is the best drag-and-drop WordPress form builder used by over 6 million websites, and it comes with a powerful User Registration add-on.

The user registration add-on allows you to create completely custom WordPress user registration forms and login forms.

It also lets you turn on ‘Admin’ approval for new user registration.

Since WPForms integrates with all the popular email marketing services, you can use it to add all users to your email list automatically.

Their free Uncanny Automator integration also enables further no-code workflow automation to help you save time.

Method 2. Moderating User Registrations in WordPress with New User Approve

If you’re not using WPForms custom user registration form, then don’t worry. This method will cover how to moderate user registration for WooCommerce, MemberPress, and basically every other plugin.

First, you’ll need to install and activate the free New User Approve plugin. If you need help, you can see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, this plugin enables moderation for all WordPress user registrations. It’s compatible with WooCommerce, MemberPress, LearnDash, BuddyPress, Easy Digital Downloads, and other user registration plugins.

If you use the default WordPress user registration, then users will see the following message on the registration form.

After they complete and submit the user registration form, they will be informed that their account is pending review.

Here’s how the notification might look like:

You will also receive an email notification on your admin email address to approve or deny this user registration.

Apart from that, users will get an email on their account informing them that their registration awaits approval.

Approve or Deny User Registration in WordPress

The New User Approve plugin makes it super easy to manage the moderation queue for user registrations.

Simply login to your WordPress admin area and click the ‘New User Approve’ menu item in the admin sidebar.

You’ll see the list of user registrations awaiting moderation. You can then go ahead and approve or deny the user registration.

Users will then receive an email informing them whether their registration was approved or denied. If approved, they can log in to their account on your WordPress website.

Allow Specific Users to Bypass User Regisration Moderation

New User Approve also allows you to create invitation codes that users can use to register on your website and bypass the moderation queue.

To do this, you’ll want to go to New User Approve » Invitation Code and enter a unique code in the ‘Add codes’ box.

You can also set a usage limit for the invitation code and choose an expiry date. Once done, don’t forget to save your changes.

Next, you’ll need to switch to the ‘Settings’ tab and turn on the toggle to allow user registration using the invitation link without moderation.

Go ahead and click the save changes button to store your settings.

You can now give these invitation codes to users that you trust. They will be able to bypass the moderation queue and instantly register on your website.

Using User Moderation with Other Plugins

The New User Approve plugin works with popular WordPress plugins used for user registration and memberships.

However, it will not show the custom notices on the user registration form. You’ll have to do that manually in your plugin settings.

For instance, if you are using WPForms, then you’ll need to edit your user registration form. Inside the form builder, switch to the ‘Confirmations’ tab.

Here, you can write a custom message informing users that their account is pending review and that they will receive an email when it is approved.

Similarly, if you are using MemberPress, then you can go to the ‘Memberships’ page and edit one of your memberships.

Next, you’ll want to scroll down to the ‘Membership Options’ section.

From here, you can check the box next to the ‘Enable custom thank you page message.’

Then, feel free to add your own custom message informing users that their account is pending approval.

Now, you may need to repeat the process for other membership plans.

We hope this article helped you learn how to moderate new user registrations in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to show different menus to logged-in users and how to show personalized content to users in WordPress.

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