Launch windows, legal reviews, migrations, unpaid invoices — sometimes nothing may change on a site. WP Content Freeze locks exactly what you choose, for exactly as long as you choose, shows clients a branded notice with a live countdown, and logs every attempt.
FROM $49/YEAR · LIFETIME OPTION · 14-DAY GUARANTEE
“The launch is Thursday. On Wednesday night, someone with an admin login ‘just quickly’ swapped the homepage, broke the menu and deactivated a plugin.”— every agency, at least once
A shared WordPress admin is an open construction site. WP Content Freeze puts up the barriers — with your name on them — and writes down who tried to climb over.
Not a maintenance-mode curtain, not a role-editor puzzle. Pick the scopes, set the window, and the site holds still until you say otherwise.
Eight independent scopes — from a single custom post type to the entire admin: content, menus, widgets, WooCommerce settings, global site settings, plugins, users, and any option key you name. The full list is below.
Start immediately or at a scheduled date. End manually, at a set time, or after a duration — 1 minute, 60 minutes, a day, a month. Once armed, a live countdown shows on the dashboard, the admin bar, the lock screen and the banner, computed server-side so local clocks and server timezones can never disagree.
Exempt roles or named users edit as normal with a subtle “you are exempt” note. The person arming the freeze is always exempt — you cannot lock yourself out — and exempt accounts can't be deleted or demoted by anyone else while the freeze holds.
Blocked users see your logo, your accent colour, your words and your signature — plus when editing resumes and the countdown. It reads like stage management by professionals, because it is.
Timestamp, user, role, scope, what they tried and their IP — every blocked action lands in the log. Filter by scope, export to CSV. The “who changed it?” conversation ends before it starts.
Each scope is an independent switch. Tick one, tick all eight — enforcement is at the capability and database level, so it holds against the editor, quick edit, the Customizer, the REST API and the WordPress app alike.
Each registered post type gets its own tick box with a live content count — posts, pages, WooCommerce products, portfolios, any custom post type. Blocks the editor, quick edit, trash, the block editor and the REST API.
SCOPE 01 · PER POST TYPEBlocks the Menus screen and the Customizer's menus panel. Navigation stays exactly as you left it — no “helpfully” reordered headers mid-launch.
SCOPE 02 · NAVIGATIONBlocks the Widgets screen, the Customizer's widgets panel and widget option writes — sidebars and footers can't be quietly rearranged behind your back.
SCOPE 03 · SIDEBARS & FOOTERSBlocks every woocommerce_* option change — currency, tax, shipping, checkout, emails. Orders keep flowing and products stay editable unless you also tick their post type above.
SCOPE 04 · SHOP CONFIGTwenty core options guarded at the database layer: site title and tagline, WordPress & site URLs, admin email, registration, timezone and date formats, reading settings and homepage choice, permalink structure, search-engine visibility — and the active theme itself, so nobody switches templates mid-review.
SCOPE 05 · SETTINGS & THEMEBlocks the Plugins screen and every install, update, activation, deactivation and deletion. The freeze plugin protects itself while a freeze is active — switching it off is not the loophole.
SCOPE 06 · PLUGINSBlocks adding, editing, promoting and deleting users — so a co-admin can't remove the agency account the night before handover. Exempt users' accounts are always protected, whatever this switch says.
SCOPE 07 · ACCOUNTSName any option — a page builder's settings key, an SEO plugin's config, an API credential — one per line, and it's frozen in addition to the switches above. If a plugin stores it, you can freeze it.
SCOPE 08 · CUSTOM OPTIONSLogo, accent colour, heading, message and signature are all yours. It reassures instead of alarming.
Server-computed, timezone-proof. The client in Sydney and the server in London agree to the second on when editing resumes.
Who tried, what they tried, when, and from where. Filterable by scope, exportable to CSV. Nobody argues with a ledger.
An admin-bar chip and on-screen banners show the freeze state on every page — including a heads-up before a scheduled freeze starts.
There's no direct rival — teams improvise with a role editor, an activity log and crossed fingers. Here's how the improvisation stacks up.
| WP Content Freeze (us) | Role editor + activity log | |
|---|---|---|
| Time to lock a site for a launch window | ✓ Two minutes, one screen | ✗ Capability spelunking per role |
| Scheduled start & timed auto-unlock | ✓ Minutes to months, live countdown | ✗ Manual both ways — at midnight |
| Blocks option & theme changes at the database | ✓ Including WooCommerce & custom keys | ✗ Roles don't guard options |
| Blocks attempts (not just records them) | ✓ Blocked and logged, with IP | ✗ Logs watch it happen |
| Branded client-facing notice | ✓ Logo, colour, message, countdown | ✗ Cryptic permission errors |
| Self-protecting (can't be switched off mid-freeze) | ✓ And exempt accounts undeletable | ✗ Any admin deactivates it |
| Undo when the window ends | ✓ Everything back, automatically | ✗ Restore capabilities by hand |
| Deep audit history & integrations | ◐ Freeze-window log only | ✓ Full-time activity logs win here |
| Cost | From $49/yr · $299 lifetime | Two plugins to buy and babysit |
If you need a year-round audit trail of every change on the site, run a dedicated activity log — that's its job. If you need the site to hold still for a window, with proof and without the improvisation, that's us. Full comparison →
Every plan includes every feature — all eight scopes, timers, branding, the log, the lot. You're only choosing how many sites, and whether you'd rather never renew.
1 site · for freelancers
25 sites · for agencies & studios
Unlimited sites
Unlimited sites, forever
Prices in USD. Licence keys are domain-based — no accounts, no phoning home. VAT invoices available.
It enforces at the capability level. Edit rights are removed via WordPress's own permission system (map_meta_cap), option writes are intercepted before they reach the database, the block editor and REST API are guarded, the Customizer panels are unloaded, and the admin screens themselves refuse to load. Hiding a menu stops nobody; this stops everybody who isn't exempt.
Any post type (posts, pages, WooCommerce products, custom post types — each with its own tick box), menus, widgets, every WooCommerce setting, twenty core site settings including the theme itself, all plugin management, all user management, and any specific option key you name. Freeze one scope or all of them.
No. The person who arms the freeze is always exempt, automatically. You can also exempt whole roles or named users — exempt people edit as normal and see a subtle "you are exempt" note instead of the lock.
Start the freeze immediately or schedule it for a date and time. End it manually, at a set date, or after a duration — from 1 minute to months. Once armed, a live countdown shows everywhere. The countdown is computed server-side and sent as relative seconds, so the admin's local clock and the server's timezone can never disagree about when the freeze lifts.
A branded, courteous lock screen: your logo, your accent colour, your own heading and message, your signature, when editing resumes, and the countdown. It reads like professional stage management, not an error page.
Every blocked action is logged with the timestamp, user, role, scope, what they tried to change and their IP address. Filter the log by scope or export it to CSV — useful evidence when the "who changed the homepage?" conversation starts.
No. The front end is untouched and visitors notice nothing. Customers keep ordering as normal — WooCommerce orders are transactions, not settings. The freeze governs changes in the admin, not traffic.
Order through the form and your licence key and invoice arrive by email, usually within the hour. Keys are domain-based — no account, no phoning home, no lock-in.
14-day money-back guarantee, no questions. Email us and we refund you.
Order below and your licence key and invoice arrive by email — usually within the hour. Install the plugin, tick your scopes, set the timer, and the site holds still while you work.
14-DAY MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE · SUPPORT BY ACTUAL HUMANS