WordPress Age Verification Plugin

WordPress Age Verification That Actually Works

Most WordPress "age verification" plugins just show a popup asking users to confirm they're 18+. That doesn't meet the requirements in Texas, Louisiana, and other states now mandating actual verification for adult content.

Typical WordPress Plugins

"Click here to confirm you're 18+"
Enter your birthday (easily faked)
No actual verification
Doesn't meet Texas/Louisiana requirements
No regional differentiation

XY Zinc WordPress Plugin

Real liveness detection (proves a human is present)
Government ID verification when required
Privacy-first: no photos or PII stored
Meets Texas, Louisiana, and other state requirements
Different rules by region (skip verification where not needed)

Choose Your Plan

Start free with 100 verification credits per month. Upgrade to Pro when you need unlimited verifications and advanced features.

Free Plan

$0 /month

100 verification credits/month
Up to 15 regions
In-plugin region management
Verification history in WordPress
Test mode for simulating regions
Configurable fail-open or fail-closed
Additional credit packs — coming soon

Download Free Plugin

No credit card required

Recommended

Pro Plan

Pay per use

Unlimited verifications
Volume discounts at higher tiers
Full admin dashboard with 2FA
Custom verification hostname
CSS/Logo branding customization
Unlimited regions
Priority support & dedicated onboarding

Contact Us for Pro

Tier 1 from $0.05 · Tier 2 from $0.15 per verification

How It Works

The plugin has two components that work together to protect your site while keeping most pages fully cacheable.

MU-Plugin: The Gatekeeper

Runs before page cache

A must-use plugin that loads very early in WordPress—before most page caching systems. It checks the visitor's location (via Cloudflare geo headers) and verification status on every request.

→ Checks for verification cookie
→ Fetches your regional rules from XY Zinc API (cached)
→ Redirects unverified visitors to age gate page
→ Allows verified bots (Googlebot, etc.) through automatically

Plugin: The Verification UI

Handles the age gate page

The main plugin provides shortcodes for your age gate page. It creates verification sessions, displays the verification interface, and handles the return flow when users complete verification.

→ [xyz_age_verify] shortcode for age gate page
→ QR code for mobile verification
→ "Verify on this device" button
→ Validates return tokens and sets verification cookie

Verification Flow

🌍

Visitor arrives from Texas

🔍

MU-plugin checks cookie + region

📋

Redirected to /age-gate/

📱

User completes verification

✅

Cookie set, browsing freely

See It In Action

Visit our live demo site to experience the full verification flow. The demo uses test regions so you can see how different configurations work—Tier 1 (face only), Tier 2 (face + ID), and more.

Region-specific messaging (e.g., "Required by Texas Law")

Shows verification tier (face only vs. face + ID)

QR code for mobile verification from desktop

Built-in privacy reassurance messaging

Visit Live Demo

Plugin Screenshots

From registration to live verification—see what the plugin looks like at every step. Click any image to enlarge.

Free plan registration - enter your email

Getting started — register with your email

Confirmation — your one-time API key

Settings — fully configured free plan

Region admin — add regions with custom age thresholds

Recent verifications with detailed history

Verification history — detailed attempt data

Age gate — desktop view with QR code for mobile

Mobile verification — what the visitor sees on their phone

Simple Setup

Installation takes about 15 minutes. The free plan includes everything you need to get started—no credit card, no sales call.

1

Upload the plugin ZIP file

Upload the plugin via Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin in your WordPress admin. Then copy the included MU-plugin file to /wp-content/mu-plugins/.

2

Register for a free API key

In Settings → Age Verification, enter your email to register for a free plan. You'll receive a confirmation email—click the link to activate your API key. Then paste the key into the plugin settings.

3

Create your age gate page

Create a WordPress page at /age-gate/ and add the shortcode:

[xyz_age_verify]

4

Configure regions and test

Add your regions in Settings → AV Free Plan Admin. Then use test mode with ?reg=US-TX to simulate visitors from different regions without affecting real traffic.

✓

Go live

Disable test mode and your site is protected. Visitors from age-gated regions will be redirected to your age gate page automatically.

Technical Details

Page Caching Compatibility

The MU-plugin architecture is designed to run before most caching systems. However, aggressive page caching that serves static HTML files directly from disk (bypassing PHP entirely) will require configuration.

WP Rocket: The static file serving mode is not compatible. You'll need to disable page caching or exclude age-gated pages.

The plugin has been tested to be compatible with WP Super Cache, Jetpack Boost, and W3 Total Cache. We're testing compatibility with other popular caching plugins. Contact us for guidance on your specific setup.

Cloudflare Integration

Regional detection uses Cloudflare's geo headers (CF-IPCountry and CF-Region-Code). Your site should be proxied through Cloudflare for regional rules to work.

Cloudflare's verified bot detection is also respected—search engine crawlers are automatically allowed through without verification.

Read this article in the support forum to learn more about Why the XYZ Age Verification Plugin Requires Cloudflare

Multi-Domain Cookie Sharing

The verification cookie can be shared across subdomains. Set your cookie domain to .yourdomain.com (with the leading dot) and the cookie will work on www, shop, blog, etc.

This also enables sharing verification status with non-WordPress parts of your site (Classic ASP, PHP, etc.) that share the same domain.

Requirements

WordPress 5.0+
PHP 7.4+
HTTPS enabled (required for secure cookies)
Cloudflare proxying (required for regional rules)

Age Verification for WordPress