Evolution of Age Verification WordPress Plugins such as Vape, Marijuana, Alcohol & Adult sites – pt 1

The last thing you want to tell a new client is that you don’t have a solution for their problem! This was the challenge I was faced with about a year ago when an owner of a Vape shop called. Their site had been hacked and it needed to be cleaned up.

‘No problem, we fix Hacked WordPress sites!’ I said.
‘I might also need an upgrade later, but I need a new age verification tool first.’
(Crickets) That was me.

At that time I hadn’t worked with any websites that required age verification. It is a common enough thing with a brewery or anyone offering wine or beer or vapes in this case. It comes up with some night clubs, recreational or medical marijuana websites, and of course adult websites (porn).
Fast forward a year and there are a lot more options out there to choose from.
This article will share two plugins straight from the WordPress repository and in a future article will cover some additional options.
The first plugin I found is Age Verify (with a space). It is totally free and not freemium upgrades or hooks. As I write this it hasn’t been update in 11 months and looks just a bit basic, but it seems to work still.

1. 
2. 

The second plugin in the repository is AgeVerify (no space in the name). It is a freemium service and was last updated 2 weeks ago as I write this.

1. 

The upgrade or paid service is available at ageverify.co/. They offer a free, but ad supported option. Their premium services kick in at about $59 per year without personal branding options or a one time fee of $289 with a personal branding option.

This service looks slick and I’m not knocking it. However, my gut instincts tell me two things about the pricing levels. There’s a lot of complex things that they have solved and most clients will not appreciate the value of this service at these prices.
LOVE to hear of your experiences with it and especially any lessons learned trying it some other way and the lessons learned that would help make this a no brainer!
In the next installment in this series, we will delve into a couple more options to provide Age Verification solutions on WordPress sites with plugins and services… Follow, subscribe or check back soon!