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For WooCommerce stores

WooCommerce Protected Categories Plugin: build your own, pay once

Keep chosen categories behind a password or a user role. Describe it and Ora builds a WooCommerce protected categories plugin for your store.

Build mine · $1 trialSee what it does

Try it on a practice WooCommerce site for 7 days with 2 free changes. Pay from $9 once only if you keep it.

Example: your locked category
Private Orders
••••••••
This category is protected
Unlock
Illustration only. Your plugin follows your own rules.

What your Protected Categories plugin does

A focused WooCommerce protected categories plugin. A category can be locked with a password or limited to chosen users and roles.

Password or role
Protect a category with a shared password or limit it to a role.
Hide or show
Hide the category completely, or show it with a lock until unlocked.
Simple unlock form
A short form where the visitor types the password.
One settings page
Its own item in your WordPress admin menu, so options are easy to find and change.
Good to know: It protects product categories only. Protecting single pages or posts is a separate build.

Tell Ora what you need. Check the plan before you pay.

Describe your WooCommerce Protected Categories Plugin in your own words. Ora replies with a plan and a price. Nothing is built until you approve it.

Example request
I sell wedding stationery. Lock the Private Orders category with the password SAVE2027 for my clients. Hide it from the menu until they unlock it, and let my Wholesale role in without a password.
O
Ora
Here is the plan:
  • Private Orders category locked with a password
  • Category hidden from menus until unlocked
  • Wholesale role skips the password
  • A short unlock form with your own wording
  • A settings page in its own menu in your WordPress admin
Standard build · $19 once
In this build: Protection of individual products outside a category is not in this plan. Search results follow your visibility choice only.
Want more? Add it to your request:
  • Different password per category. Give each protected category its own password.
  • Remember unlock. Keep a visitor unlocked for 7 days after they enter the password.
Add these to my request and get a quote
Ora builds it together with the plugin and the quote goes up to match. You see the new price before you pay. One plugin never costs more than $39. If it needs more than one plugin, Ora quotes each one. Or add it later as a separate build.

How to set up Protected Categories

Here is how to get a Protected Categories from idea to working plugin on your site. Most of the work is a few decisions, and these steps walk through them.

1. Choose the categories
Which product categories need a password or a login.
2. Choose how people get in
A shared password, a role or a personal login, and what visitors see without access.
3. Describe it to Ora
Paste your own version of the example request on this page, or start from one of the examples, and change the details. Ora replies with a plan and a price, and nothing is built until you approve it.
4. Test on the practice site
Open a protected category on the practice site as a guest, with the wrong password and with the right one.
Common snags:

No yearly fee for your WooCommerce Protected Categories Plugin

Looking for an alternative to the paid WooCommerce Protected Categories extension from Barn2? It lists at $69 a year. Your own version is a one-off.

the paid WooCommerce Protected Categories extension from Barn2
$69 / year
After 1 year$69
After 3 years$207
Your own WooCommerce Protected Categories Plugin on Pluginora
$19–$39 once
After 1 yearthe same
After 3 yearsthe same
Includes5 free changes

Paid plugin price is the list price for one site, as shown on the seller's site in October 2026. The price of your build depends on its size. Ora quotes it before you pay. The paid product may do more than the plugin described above.

Start from an example

Pick one to open the builder with it filled in, then change anything you like.

Password category
Lock one category with a password and show an unlock form.
Role only
Show a category only to logged-in wholesale customers.
Hide from menu
Hide a protected category from my menu and widgets until unlocked.

Questions

Is there a free WooCommerce protected categories plugin?

Free ones may exist. Build your own when you want exact behavior and nothing extra.

Can I hide the category from the menu?

Yes. You choose whether protected categories are hidden or shown with a lock.

Do I need WooCommerce?

Yes. This plugin is built for WooCommerce stores and works with your categories and products. You don't need to buy the paid WooCommerce Protected Categories extension from Barn2.

Can I get a refund?

The trial fee is refunded automatically if a build fails. A purchased plugin can be refunded within 14 days if it doesn't do what the approved plan said and Ora can't fix it, as long as it hasn't been downloaded or installed.

Related WooCommerce plugins

WooCommerce Login Popup PluginWooCommerce User Role Editor PluginWooCommerce Block Customers and Orders PluginWooCommerce Back In Stock Notifications PluginWooCommerce Buy Again PluginWooCommerce Country Restrictions Plugin

Describe your Protected Categories plugin. See it working on a practice store.

$1 trial on a practice site. No yearly renewal.

Build mine · $1 trial