Trusted WordPress tutorials, when you need them most.
Beginner’s Guide to WordPress
WPB Cup
25 Million+
Websites using our plugins
16+
Years of WordPress experience
3000+
WordPress tutorials
by experts

How to Add a Custom Login URL in WordPress (Step by Step)

Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on WPBeginner. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations. Learn more about Editorial Process.

Do you want to add a custom login URL in WordPress?

Adding a custom login URL in WordPress can help improve your WordPress security and offer your visitors a better experience.

In this article, we’ll show you how to add a custom login URL in WordPress, step by step.

How to add a custom login URL in WordPress (step by step)

Why Add a Custom Login URL in WordPress?

WordPress is the most popular CMS platform and powers over 40% of websites. Because it’s so popular, it’s often a target of hackers who use techniques like brute force attacks to try to log in to your dashboard.

Bots and hackers trying to get into your site know the common login URLs like wp-admin and wp-login and will try to get access to your site using these URLs first.

By changing the WordPress login page URL, you improve your site’s security and make it more difficult for hackers to get access to your WordPress website.

Sample login page

Another reason to add a custom login link in WordPress is to offer a better user experience. You can customize the URL and design of your login page so it matches your branding and existing WordPress theme.

With that said, let’s show you how to add a custom login URL in WordPress in just a few simple steps.

Video Tutorial

Subscribe to WPBeginner

If you’d prefer written instructions, just keep reading.

How to Add a Custom Login URL in WordPress Using SeedProd

The simplest way to add a custom login URL in WordPress is by using a WordPress plugin. This lets you simply change your WordPress login URL without editing any core WordPress files.

We recommend using the SeedProd plugin. It’s the best drag-and-drop WordPress page builder used by over 1 million sites. With this plugin, you can easily customize your SeedProd login page and change the URL.

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Note: There is a free version of SeedProd, but we’ll be using the premium version for this tutorial since it has the login page templates we need.

Upon activation, you need to go to SeedProd » Settings and enter your product license key.

Enter SeedProd license key

You can find your product license key under your account information on the SeedProd website.

After that, navigate to SeedProd » Landing Pages and click the ‘Set up a Login Page’ button.

Setup SeedProd login page

Then, you’ll be taken to a screen that has all of the login page templates.

You can choose one of the pre-made professional templates or select the ‘Blank’ template to build a login page from scratch.

Login page templates

For this tutorial, we’ll choose the ‘Geo Login Page’ template.

Simply hover over the template you want to use and click the check icon.

Select login page template

This brings up a popup where you can name your new login page and enter a custom login page URL.

Next, click the ‘Save and Start Editing the Page’ button.

Name login page and URL

This will take you to the page editor screen.

You can customize every element of the page with the drag-and-drop builder.

SeedProd page editor example

The left side has blocks and sections you can add to the page, and the right side shows a real-time preview of what it looks like.

When you click on any page element, it will bring up a menu to customize it further.

Customize login page

You can customize your login page as much as you want, but we’ll leave the default settings for this tutorial.

For more details on all the customization options, see our ultimate guide on how to create a custom WordPress login page.

Next, you need to click the arrow next to the ‘Save’ box and select ‘Publish’ from the drop-down.

Publish login page

Now, it’s time to change the default login URL to your new login page.

First, click the ‘Page Settings’ menu option at the top of the page.

Then, scroll down the page until you see the ‘Redirect the Default Login Page’ option. Simply click the ‘Enable’ toggle, and you’ll see it turn orange.

Enable login redirect

This will redirect the default WordPress login page to the new page you just created.

Don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button again to make sure all of your changes are now live.

Change WordPress Login Page URL With a Free Plugin

We recommend using the SeedProd plugin above because it also lets you easily customize your login page to match the design of your site.

However, some users will want to keep the default WordPress login page and only change the login page URL.

To do this, you can use the free plugin called WPS Hide Login. This plugin lets you simply change the login URL without customizing the page.

Once the plugin is installed and activated, navigate to Settings » WPS Hide Login.

Then, add your new login page URL in the ‘Login url’ box.

WPS Hide Login add redirect

You can also add a redirect URL in the ’Redirection url’ box.

This will redirect people to another page on your WordPress blog when they try to access the default wp-login.php page, and they aren’t logged in.

After that, click ‘Save Changes’.

Now, all visitors will automatically be sent to your new login page URL.

Expert Guides on Protecting the WordPress Login Page

Now that you know how to add a custom login URL in WordPress, you may like to see some other guides related to protecting the WordPress login page.

We hope this article helped you learn how to add a custom login URL in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to choose the best web design software and our expert pick of the best email marketing services for small businesses.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

Disclosure: Our content is reader-supported. This means if you click on some of our links, then we may earn a commission. See how WPBeginner is funded, why it matters, and how you can support us. Here's our editorial process.

Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff at WPBeginner is a team of WordPress experts led by Syed Balkhi with over 16 years of experience in WordPress, Web Hosting, eCommerce, SEO, and Marketing. Started in 2009, WPBeginner is now the largest free WordPress resource site in the industry and is often referred to as the Wikipedia for WordPress.

The Ultimate WordPress Toolkit

Get FREE access to our toolkit - a collection of WordPress related products and resources that every professional should have!

Reader Interactions

16 CommentsLeave a Reply

  1. Syed Balkhi says

    Hey WPBeginner readers,
    Did you know you can win exciting prizes by commenting on WPBeginner?
    Every month, our top blog commenters will win HUGE rewards, including premium WordPress plugin licenses and cash prizes.
    You can get more details about the contest from here.
    Start sharing your thoughts below to stand a chance to win!

  2. Ashfaq says

    there is a problem with these plugins.
    if we enter just LOGIN instead of wp-admin or anything else we redirected to the dashboard login page

  3. PseudoGeek says

    I got tired of getting hundreds of brute-force login attempts per day from around the world. WordFence blocked them, but I got tired of the constant barrage of notifications of blocked attempts. I installed a different plugin than what you’re recommending – WPS Hide Login – on all my sites, and changed the login location from the plugin’s default to something I made up. Now I get ZERO brute-force login attempts because the bad guys can’t find wp-admin any more – it just throws a 404 page not found error. Please tell me why you think this does not improve the security of my sites!

  4. Dan Wheeler says

    An Many of your posts you recommend plugins that are out of date. Login Lockdown is over a year old. You should keep your recommendations to plugins that have been tested and updated recently. Reader’s following your instructions may get undesired results following your recommendations.

  5. Shantanu Patil says

    Sir i am getting error in the Theme. I installed ColorMag theme and In the homepage the images of the post is not show my Blog link

    • WPBeginner Support says

      Try deactivating all your WordPress plugins, and then check to see if this resolves your problem. If it does, then this means that there is a plugin causing the issue. Activate each plugin one by one and test your website after activating each plugin until you find the culprit. If the plugins are not the issue then you may want to checkout our guide on fixing common image issues in WordPress.

      Admin

  6. Lars B says

    I would like to know more aboth this ….

    “…. a custom WordPress login URL will help them improve their website security, it’s not true at all.

    Changing the default login URL doesn’t improve your security at all. It’s just a matter of personal preference that’s all.”

    Could you please explain this in detail ?

    If the site’s login URL is strickly for the owner and administrator – and therefore there’s no public links to the custom login – Wouldn’t a custom URL to the login in this case be an improvement of the security?

      • Lars B says

        I use iThemeSecurity …. and I change the login-URL to something custom line …. if someone is trying to find /wp-admin they will find the “Page Not Found”-page

        …. or is there a way around this that I’m not aware of??

      • Dave says

        If you try to access wp-admin and it gives you the custom URL, the plugin isn’t doing a very good job of hiding the URL. Plugins like iThemes Security, as Lars mentioned, and Rename WP-Login will throw an error message if you try to access the admin area or default login URL in any way that isn’t the customized one.

        It does help the security because the attacker can’t find the form to attack it.

Leave a Reply to Shantanu Patil Cancel reply

Thanks for choosing to leave a comment. Please keep in mind that all comments are moderated according to our comment policy, and your email address will NOT be published. Please Do NOT use keywords in the name field. Let's have a personal and meaningful conversation.

WPBeginner Assistant
How can I help you?

By chatting, you consent to this chat being stored according to our privacy policy and your email will be added to receive weekly WordPress tutorials from WPBeginner.