A custom WordPress registration form lets people sign up on a page that looks like your site, with the fields you choose, instead of WordPress’s plain sign-up screen. This guide builds one with the free WP User Manager plugin: choosing the fields and the role new users get, stopping spam, approving new members, and sending people to the right page afterwards. It says up front where a paid addon comes in.
Can you make a registration form without a plugin?
Partly. Tick Anyone can register in Settings > General, choose the New User Default Role, and WordPress shows a registration link on its login screen, wp-login.php. That form only asks for a username and email, looks like the WordPress dashboard rather than your site, and can’t collect anything else or take people anywhere afterwards. For anything more, you need a plugin or custom code.
Step 1: Install WP User Manager
Install and activate WP User Manager from wordpress.org. It creates a Register page with the registration form already on it, plus login, password reset, account and profile pages. Make sure Anyone can register is ticked in Settings > General, or the form tells visitors registrations are closed.
Then turn on Lock Access to wp-login.php under Users > Settings > General > Login Settings, so people (and bots) use your new form rather than WordPress’s old one.
Step 2: Choose the fields
Go to Users > Registration Forms and edit the default form. Drag fields from Available Fields on the right into Form Fields on the left, and drag them up and down to change the order. The free plugin includes the standard profile fields: username, first and last name, website, description, profile picture and cover image.
To collect anything else, such as a phone number, a company, a dropdown or a checkbox, add new fields with the Custom Fields addon (paid) under Users > Custom Fields. They then appear in Available Fields. See adding custom fields to the registration form.
Step 3: Set the role and the form’s options
Open the form’s Settings tab:
- Registration Role: the role new users get. Or turn on role selection and choose which roles people can pick from, which is useful when one site serves different kinds of member.
- Enable Terms & Conditions: makes people tick a box agreeing to your terms page.
- Login After Registration: logs new members in as soon as they register, so they don’t have to log in separately.
The Payment tab can charge for registration with Stripe: see accepting recurring payments with Stripe.
Step 4: Stop spam signups
Every WP User Manager registration form includes a hidden honeypot field that simple bots fill in and get rejected for. If spam still gets through, add a captcha with the reCAPTCHA or hCaptcha addon; our guide to adding reCAPTCHA to WordPress covers both. Locking wp-login.php in step 1 matters here too, because bots go straight to WordPress’s own form.
Step 5: Confirm emails or approve new users
The User Verification addon (paid) adds two options: new users confirm their email address before they can log in, or each new account waits for you, or a role you choose, to approve it. Our guide to verifying user signups walks through both.
Step 6: Send people somewhere useful afterwards
By default the form shows a success message. To send new members to a welcome page instead, choose it in Users > Settings > Redirects > After Registration. See how to redirect users on login and registration based on their role for per-role redirects.
Edit the welcome email itself, Registration confirmation, in Users > Emails, so it sounds like your site and tells people what to do next.
Step 7: Put the form where you want it
The form lives on the Register page, but you can add it anywhere: use the Registration Form block, or the [wpum_register] shortcode. Our shortcodes reference lists its options.
The form takes its look from your theme. If your theme doesn’t style forms, turn on Form Styles under Users > Settings > General > Misc Settings for full-width fields and a styled button.
More than one registration form
The free plugin has one registration form. The Registration Forms addon (paid) adds as many as you like, each with its own fields, role and settings, plus multi-step forms and HTML blocks between fields. Show a specific form with [wpum_register form_id="2"]. See adding different registration forms to the site.
Choosing a plugin rather than building the form? Our comparison of WordPress user registration plugins covers the alternatives.
Build your registration form
Install the free WP User Manager plugin, lock wp-login.php, and drag the fields you need into your form. When you need your own fields, approval or several forms, the addons are in our plans.
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