How to Moderate New User Registrations in WordPress

Allowing user registration on your WordPress website is a great way to build a loyal reader base and thriving communities. But here’s the thing: leaving your site open to anyone is like keeping your front door unlocked.

Before long, spammers, bots, and random users with no real interest can flood in. So, if you’re running a WordPress membership site or community forum, you’ll definitely need more control over who can join.

That’s where user registration moderation comes in.

Across many projects, we’ve seen this simple step dramatically improve engagement, content quality, and overall satisfaction. Although it may seem like extra work at first, it often saves you hours of cleanup later.

In this guide, we’ll show you easy ways to moderate new user registrations in WordPress—whether you prefer manual approval or automated screening. 🛡️

Why Moderate New User Registrations in WordPress

The main reason to moderate new user registrations is to prevent spam. Opening your WordPress site to signups without any checks can lead to a flood of bots and fake accounts, which hurts your site’s quality and security.

By reviewing each new user, you can keep your community clean and ensure that only legitimate members gain access. This gives you more control and helps protect your website from unwanted spam signups.

Of course, enabling user registration is incredibly useful for many types of websites.

For example, if you run a membership site, you can offer premium content, special offers, or even sell online courses and paid newsletters.

A plugin like MemberPress is perfect for this, as it gives members exclusive access to features like forums and limited coupon codes.

🎥 See it in action: WPBeginner’s video portal runs on MemberPress. It makes it easy to manage our free membership plan and give users access to exclusive videos.

Want to see what makes it so effective? Check out our complete MemberPress review.

If you’re selling digital downloads like eBooks or software, tools like WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads are essential. Requiring registration helps you store customer shipping and order details.

💻 Note: Easy Digital Downloads is our go-to solution for selling plugins and software. You can refer to our full Easy Digital Downloads review to see what it can do.

Building an online private community is another great reason to allow user registrations.

For creating private forums or social network-style sites where member moderation is key, a plugin like BuddyBoss is an excellent solution.

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 a Custom Registration Form
  • Step 1: Install WPForms and the User Registrations Addon
  • Step 2: Create the User Registration Form in WPForms
  • Step 3: Connect to Your Email Marketing Service (Optional)
  • Step 4: Embed Your WPForms User Registration Form
  • Step 5: Approve New User Registrations
• Method 2. Moderating User Registrations in WordPress with New User Approve
  • Step 1: Install and Activate a User Registration Plugin
  • Step 2: Approve or Deny User Registration in WordPress
  • Step 3: Allow Specific Users to Bypass User Registration Moderation
  • Step 4: Add a Pending Approval Notice in Other Plugins (Important)
• Bonus Tip: Display Recently Registered Users in WordPress
• FAQ About Moderating User Registration in WordPress
• More Guides to Personalize the User Experience in WordPress

Ready? Let’s get started.

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

Using a custom user registration form gives you more control over your site’s branding. Plus, it allows you to add new members to your email newsletter automatically.

For this, we recommend WPForms, a drag-and-drop form builder plugin for WordPress. It’s the best drag-and-drop WordPress contact form builder, used by over 6 million websites, and the paid WPForms Pro license comes with a powerful User Registration add-on.

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

💻 Note: We use WPForms on our sites to display our contact form and manage migration requests. With WPForms AI, form creation is easier than ever, which is why we highly recommend it to all users. To learn more, see our in-depth WPForms review.

Step 1: Install WPForms and the User Registrations Addon

To start, you can create a WPForms account on the WPForms website. Just click on ‘Get WPForms Now,’ pick a plan that includes the User Registration addon, and complete the checkout process.

With that done, you can download your zip file and access your license key inside your WPForms account dashboard.

Now, you’ll need to install the plugin on your WordPress website.

In your admin area, go to Plugin » Add Plugin.

On the next screen, click the ‘Upload Plugin’ button at the top.

Then, simply hit on ‘Choose File’ and upload your WPForms zip file.

After uploading, you can click ‘Install Now’ followed by ‘Activate.’ For step-by-step instructions, refer to our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

From here, head over to WPForms » Settings to activate your license key. In the respective field, enter your key and click ‘Verify Key’ to start the process.

If you ever lost your key, you can just log in to your WPForms account to find it.

Once verified, you’ll need to install the User Registration Addon.

Simply go to WPForms » Addons and use the search box to quickly find the addon. In the search result, go ahead and click ‘Install Addon.’

With the addon enabled, you can start building your user registration form.

Step 2: Create the User Registration Form in WPForms

With WPForms, you have three options to create your forms: using a blank canvas, AI-powered form builder, or ready-made template.

If you want to try out WPForms AI, all you need to do is enter a simple prompt and wait for the AI to finish generating your form.

For this tutorial, though, we’ll use the User Registration Form template. WPForms has more than 2,000 pre-made templates, making it easy to find a good one for any use cases.

To do this, let’s navigate to WPForms » Add New.

On the setup screen, start by naming your form something like “New User Registration.”

Then, head to the search bar on the left, look for the User Registration Form template, and click ‘Use Template.’

Once selected, WPForms will automatically generate a ready-to-use registration form for you.

It comes preloaded with all the essential fields, including Name, Username, Email, Password, and Short Bio.

From here, you can customize the form by adding new fields, editing labels, and making fields required before submission, among others.

You can also enable admin approval for new user registrations by going to Settings » User Registration.

Turn on the ‘Enable user activation’ option, and then choose ‘Manual Approval’ from the dropdown menu.

Next, it’s worth checking your form notifications.

WPForms sets up three default notifications:

• New user registration email to the admin
• Account information email to the user
• Activation email to the user

To edit any of these, click ‘Edit Template’ and update the ‘Email Subject’ and ‘Message’ fields to personalize your notification.

For details, see our guide on how to create custom WordPress user registration forms.

Step 3: Connect Email Marketing and Set Up Confirmations (Optional)

Since WPForms integrates with all the popular email marketing services, you can easily add an opt-in checkbox to your registration form.

Simply click on the ‘Marketing’ tab inside the form builder to connect your preferred provider, like Constant Contact, so users can voluntarily consent to joining your email list.

You can also connect WPForms to Uncanny Automator for free.

This lets you create automated workflows that connect your other apps and save you a ton of time.

Additionally, you might want to show a confirmation informing users that their account is pending review and that they will receive an email when it is approved.

To do this, go to Settings » Confirmations inside the form builder.

Next, select ‘Message’ as the confirmation type from the dropdown and then write the message you want users to see.

Alternatively, you can also redirect users to a thank-you page or send them to a custom landing page or your social media profiles.

Step 4: Embed Your WPForms User Registration Form

Now that your form is ready, the next step is to publish it on your website. WPForms makes this easy with its built-in embed feature.

To begin, click the ‘Embed’ button at the top of the form builder.

This will open a popup where you can choose to either add the form to an existing page or create a new one.

If you’re setting up a brand-new registration page, select ‘Create New Page.’

Then, enter a page name like “User Registration” or “Sign Up” – just make sure it’s clear for easier organization,

With that done, click ‘Let’s Go!’

WPForms will automatically create the page and insert your form for you.

From there, you can add any extra text and configure the form settings from the right-hand panel.

If you scroll down the form settings, you’ll also find a ‘Themes’ section.

Here, you can apply a theme to style your user registration form to match your site design.

When you’re happy with how it looks, you can preview the page and publish it.

Here’s what our user registration form looks like on a live WordPress site:

For details, see our guide on how to embed WordPress forms.

Step 5: Approve New User Registrations

Now that you’ve published your form, let’s run a test submission.

You can visit your user registration page in incognito mode and fill out the form as a new user would. You might also want to add a typo, skip a required field, or submit it with an invalid email to test the form validation.

Then, once you hit ‘Submit,’ check if your confirmation message shows up as expected.

Here’s what it should look like more or less:

Now, let’s approve the new user.

When someone registers through your form, they’ll appear in the Users » All Users list in your WordPress dashboard. From there, simply hover over the new user’s username and click ‘Approve’ to activate their account.

That’s it – you’ve successfully set up and moderated user registrations on your WordPress site using a custom user registration form.

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

For sites using the default WordPress registration or other plugins, the free New User Approve plugin is an excellent solution. It allows you to moderate all signups, regardless of which tool they come from.

Step 1: Install and Activate a User Registration Plugin

First, you’ll need to install and activate the free New User Approve plugin.

Head over to Plugins » Add Plugin your WordPress admin dashboard.

Then, you can use the search bar to quickly find the plugin.

Once you see it on the search result, click the ‘Install Now’ button and then ‘Activate.’

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 what the notification might look like:

You will also receive an email notification at 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.

Step 2: 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 log in to your WordPress admin area and click the ‘Approve New Users’ menu item.

You’ll see the list of user registrations awaiting moderation – 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.

Step 3: Allow Specific Users to Bypass User Registration Moderation

The New User Approve plugin also lets you create special invitation codes. Users with these codes can register on your website and skip the moderation queue entirely.

To do this, you’ll want to go to Approve New Users » 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.

Step 4: Add a Pending Approval Notice in Other Plugins (Important)

The New User Approve plugin handles moderation in the background, but it won’t update the confirmation messages on forms from other plugins.

To avoid confusing your users, you’ll need to manually add a note in your plugin’s settings to explain that new accounts require approval.

For example, 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, and we highly recommend thoroughly testing your registration and checkout flows after enabling moderation to ensure paying customers do not experience a disrupted buying process.

Bonus Tip: Display Recently Registered Users in WordPress

Showcasing your newest members is a great way to build a buzzing online community. It helps introduce them to the group and makes them feel like they truly belong.

Plus, when people see a site with new faces joining all the time, they’re more likely to jump in themselves.

The simplest way to do this is by adding a custom code snippet. If this sounds technical to you, don’t worry. You can use the WPCode plugin, the best custom code snippet plugin for WordPress.

This plugin eliminates the need to edit your theme’s functions.php file. So, you can safely add and manage custom code snippets on your site.

For more on this topic, see our guide on how to display recently registered users in WordPress.

FAQ About Moderating User Registration in WordPress

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions from our readers about moderating new user registrations in WordPress:

What happens when I deny a user registration in WordPress?

When you deny a user registration in WordPress using the New User Approve plugin, the user receives an email informing them that their request was not approved. Their account is marked as denied and they are blocked from logging in. The account remains in your system with a denied status, and you can change the status later if needed.

Does moderating users affect my site’s SEO?

Moderating user registrations does not directly harm your site’s WordPress SEO. In fact, it can be beneficial by preventing spam, which improves your site’s overall quality and trustworthiness in the eyes of both users and search engines.

How can I tell if a new user registration is spam?

To tell if a new user registration is spam, you’ll want to look for common red flags like gibberish usernames (e.g., jg8f9ds4), email addresses from suspicious domains, or generic names that don’t seem real.

However, we also recommend enabling spam protection to proactively block bots. You can use traditional CAPTCHA tools like Google reCAPTCHA or Cloudflare Turnstile, or try ActiveLayer, an AI-powered spam protection layer that works with WPForms and other form builders.

If a registration looks suspicious, it’s usually safe to deny it.

More Guides to Personalize the User Experience in WordPress

We hope this article helped you learn how to moderate new user registrations in WordPress.

Now, you can take your site to the next level by personalizing the experience for your members. Check out these guides for more tips:

• How to Show Different Menus to Logged-In Users in WordPress
• How to Run a Members-Only Event in WordPress
• How to Require a Login to View a Page in WordPress
• How to Show Personalized Content to Users in WordPress
• How to Restrict Content on WordPress to Patreon Members

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