Zero Budget Bot Shield

Zero Budget Bot Shield is a WordPress security plugin that provides country blocking and 404 abuse protection without using external APIs or services

Country Blocking Without External APIs

Most geo-blocking plugins depend on third-party IP lookup services. Zero Budget Bot Shield does not.

Instead, it reads country codes directly from:

• Cloudflare IP country headers
• Hosting provider GeoIP headers
• Standard server-level GeoIP integrations

This means:

• No API keys
• No outbound IP lookups
• No visitor data sent to external services
• No privacy policy complexity

Features

All features are available out of the box, with nothing locked behind a paywall.

• Country blocking using server-level GeoIP headers
• No external APIs, IP databases, or paid services
• Automatic detection and blocking of 404 abuse
• Configurable rate limits and time windows
• Admin dashboard with statistics and event logs
• Exportable logs for auditing and analysis
• Native WordPress admin interface
• No front-end scripts or styles
• Fully self-contained and privacy-friendly

How It Works

Zero Budget Bot Shield uses country codes provided by your server environment, such as:

• Cloudflare IP country headers
• Hosting provider GeoIP integrations
• Standard server-level GeoIP modules

No outbound IP lookups are performed, and no visitor data is sent outside your WordPress installation.

For 404 protection, the plugin monitors repeated not-found responses per IP address and automatically applies temporary blocks when thresholds are exceeded.

Privacy and Performance

• No user tracking
• No storage of personally identifiable information
• No external API calls or SaaS dependencies
• No background cron jobs
• No performance impact on normal visitors

All processing happens locally using infrastructure you already control.

Recommended For

• Small businesses and personal websites
• Non-profits and educational institutions
• Shared hosting environments
• Developers who want simple, dependency-free protection
• Sites that require country blocking without paid services