How to limit post views on WordPress

Decide whether the limit applies to anonymous visitors, logged-in users, members, or all three. Then choose the number of views and the reset period, such as 3 posts per day or 10 posts per month.

Also decide what happens when the allowance runs out. Common choices are a redirect to a membership page, a login prompt, or an upgrade message below an excerpt.

WordPress cannot do metered post access on its own. A developer must create a small custom plugin that identifies the visitor, records views for the current period, checks the current post, and blocks or redirects the request after the allowance is used.

Use a custom plugin rather than editing the theme, because theme updates can remove the code. Cookie-based tracking is easy to build but easy to bypass by changing browsers, clearing cookies, using incognito mode, or switching devices. Logged-in tracking is more consistent, but it still needs careful handling for resets, caching, bots and shared accounts.

For the faster route, install and activate Paid Memberships Pro, then install its Limit Post Views Add On from Memberships > Add Ons. The add-on requires Paid Memberships Pro and is designed for metered access to protected posts.

If your site already uses another membership plugin, check whether it has a metered-content feature. Do not install two systems that both count views, or visitors may be blocked earlier than expected.

Open Memberships > Limit Post Views. Set the allowance for non-members, then add limits for individual membership levels if members should receive different allowances. Choose the period, such as an hour, day, week or month, and select the page used after the limit is reached. Save the settings.

Keep the limit modest while testing. A visitor usually sees a redirect only after the system has counted enough protected-post views, so a high test number makes it look as though the feature is not working.

Apply membership protection to the posts that should be metered. The add-on tracks the standard post post type by default. Pages and custom post types need additional configuration, including the documented post-type filter and, where required, the companion post-type restriction add-on.

Do not protect every post by accident. Leave the membership, pricing, login and upgrade pages accessible, or visitors may be redirected in a loop or have no page where they can join.

Test as a logged-out visitor in a private browser window, then test each membership level in a separate account. Confirm that the counter increases only on protected posts, resets at the expected time, and sends the visitor to the correct page after the limit.

Check page caching, CDN caching and optimisation plugins before launch. A cached redirect or cached protected page can make different visitors share the same result. Also remember that the add-on uses cookies, so visitors can bypass the limit by changing browsers or devices; it is intended as a conversion prompt rather than high-security access control.