Secure Your WordPress Site by Limiting Simultaneous User Sessions

Maintaining strong security and user management in WordPress is vital for site administrators, especially when managing multiple users. One common security concern is users having multiple active sessions simultaneously across different devices or browsers. Limiting these sessions enhances security and helps you manage user behavior and access more effectively. Two useful plugins for managing and restricting active sessions in WordPress are Loggedin and Sessions. Here’s how to use them to gain control over user sessions on your WordPress site.

Why Limit Active Sessions?

Before diving into the tools, let’s understand the value of limiting active sessions:

• Security: Reducing simultaneous sessions minimizes the risk of unauthorized access.
• User control: Prevent account sharing or misuse of subscription-based content.
• Performance: Fewer active sessions can lead to improved performance on membership-heavy websites.
  

Loggedin

The Loggedin plugin allows administrators to control a user’s number of logins and how new logins are blocked or allowed using built-in login logic.

Key Features:

• Set the maximum number of active logins for a user.
• Block new logins when the login limit is reached.
• Allow new logins while logging out from other devices when the limit is reached.
• Force logout users from the admin.
• Prevent users from sharing their account.

How to Use Loggedin:

1. Install and activate the plugin via the WordPress dashboard under Plugins > Add New.
2. Go to Settings > General to change the number of active logins.
3. The default login logic is set to allow and not block, but it can be changed to use either of the login logics built into the plugin.
4. Allow: Allow new login by terminating all other old sessions when the limit is reached.
5. Block: Do not allow new login if the limit is reached. Users need to wait for the old login sessions to expire.
6. The LoggedIn plugin has built-in filters that allow you to set the login session by cookie, bypass the limit by user roles, and set the limit by user ID.

While Loggedin provides visibility and manual control, it offers little flexibility over active login control and blocking. That’s where the following plugin comes in.

Sessions

The Sessions plugin is designed to limit the number of simultaneous sessions a user can have. It allows multiple per-user role options to limit logins and is ideal for subscription sites or membership platforms.

Key Features:

• Automatically limits concurrent user sessions.
• Allows configuration of session timeout settings.
• Enables administrators to choose whether to log out the oldest or most recent session.

How to Use Sessions:

1. Install and activate the plugin.
2. Visit PerfOps > Control Center > Sessions > Settings to configure options.
3. Settings by role will allow you to set the active limits for users in several ways.
4. Choose the action when the session limit is exceeded — you can log out the oldest session or block a new login.
5. Save changes.
   

Best Practices

• Combine the Sessions plugin with the Device Detector plugin for more control over active login limits by device type.
• Inform users of login restrictions to avoid confusion.
• Regular audit sessions are conducted to detect anomalies on the site.

Limiting active sessions in WordPress with either the Loggedin or the Sessions plugins is a straightforward way to increase your site’s security and performance whether you’re running a membership site, an eCommerce platform, or a private blog, keeping tighter control over who’s logged in and from where is a smart move for long-term stability and user safety.

Useful Links

https://github.com/joel-james/LoggedIn?tab=readme-ov-file#frequently-asked-questions