How to Get a User's IP Address and Location in WordPress (2026)

Getting a visitor's IP in WordPress sounds like one line of code.

It is. Right up until your site goes behind Cloudflare. Or a caching plugin serves everyone the same page. Or you want the location, not just the number.

I have hit all three. So I built a plugin for it: User IP and Location, free on WordPress.org. Every tool I tried back in 2018 either broke my caching or cost too much for what it did.

The one line works. Getting it right behind a proxy, on a cached page, and inside the law is the actual job.

This guide covers all three honest routes:

• My plugin for the no-code path.
• Custom PHP for developers.
• WooCommerce's built-in class if you already run a store.

Then the things that trip people up: Cloudflare showing the wrong IP, localhost returning 127.0.0.1, and what GDPR means for storing an IP.

Why would you need a visitor's IP?

A quick reality check before the how-to, because the method depends on what you are doing with it.

• Personalisation: show location-specific pricing, currency, shipping, or offers.
• Fraud and spam checks: flag orders or sign-ups where the IP country does not match the billing details.
• Security: log and rate-limit suspicious IPs, or block abusive ones.
• Analytics: understand where your audience actually is.

The job decides the method. If you just need the raw number, code is fine.

Want IP plus location, browser, and content that changes by country? A plugin saves you a lot of work.

The three methods at a glance

Method 1

01

The User IP and Location plugin (no code)

Best for: Anyone who wants IP, location, and conditional content without writing PHP, on a cached site.

Full disclosure: this is my plugin.

I built User IP and Location to fix the exact problems I kept hitting: tools that broke my page caching, or cost too much for what they did.

I still run it on every site I manage. It is free, and actively maintained.

4.2/53,000+ installsFreeTested to 7.0on WordPress.org

It pulls the visitor's IP and full geolocation: city, country, ISP, timezone, currency, browser, OS. Any value prints through a shortcode.

The Your Info tab shows exactly what it detects for the current visitor:

How to set it up

1. Go to Plugins → Add New, search User IP and Location, then install and activate it.
2. That is it for defaults. It works out of the box on the free ip-api tier, no key needed.
3. Drop a shortcode wherever you want a value, for example [userip_location type="ip"] or [userip_location type="country"].

The shortcodes

There are 20+ shortcodes for every field, plus local time and date. The Shortcodes tab lists them all with copy-ready examples:

Value	Shortcode
IP address	[userip_location type="ip"]
Country	[userip_location type="country"]
City	[userip_location type="city"]
Currency	[userip_location type="currency"]
Browser	[userip_location type="browser"]
Local time	[userip_localtime]

Conditional content by location

This is the part I use most: show or hide content by country, region, or city.

[userip_conditional country="US"]
🇺🇸 Free shipping on US orders over $50!
[/userip_conditional]

[userip_conditional country="IN"]
🇮🇳 Free shipping on orders above ₹2,000!
[/userip_conditional]

Tip

Why it works with caching

The plugin renders through AJAX by default. So a cached page loads instantly, and the personalised value fills in a moment later.

Search engines see your static cached HTML. Visitors see the personalised version. Best of both.

Keep that cache on. It is the first lever in speeding up WordPress, and personalisation should never cost you it.

If a shortcode needs to sit inside a form or feed, switch that one to server-side rendering in the settings.

Get User IP and Location (free) →

function tgx_get_ip_basic() {
    return $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
}

function tgx_get_visitor_ip() {
    $keys = [
        'HTTP_CF_CONNECTING_IP', // Cloudflare
        'HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR',  // generic proxy / load balancer
        'HTTP_X_REAL_IP',
        'REMOTE_ADDR',           // direct connection
    ];

    foreach ( $keys as $key ) {
        if ( empty( $_SERVER[ $key ] ) ) {
            continue;
        }
        // X-Forwarded-For can be a list; the first is the client.
        foreach ( explode( ',', $_SERVER[ $key ] ) as $ip ) {
            $ip = trim( $ip );
            if ( filter_var( $ip, FILTER_VALIDATE_IP ) ) {
                return $ip;
            }
        }
    }
    return '';
}

$ip      = WC_Geolocation::get_ip_address();
$geo     = WC_Geolocation::geolocate_ip();
$country = $geo['country']; // e.g. "US"

Which method should you choose?

For most people, the plugin is the answer: IP, full location, and conditional content with no code, and it survives caching.

Use custom PHP when you are a developer who wants the raw IP inside your own logic. Use WC_Geolocation when you already run WooCommerce and only need the country.

Common issues that trip people up

• Cloudflare shows the wrong IP. A CDN or proxy sits in front of your server, so REMOTE_ADDR is its IP. Read CF-Connecting-IP (Cloudflare) or X-Forwarded-For, as in Method 2, or use a plugin that already does.
• Localhost returns 127.0.0.1. That is your own machine, and a private address cannot be geolocated. Test on a live, public site to see real values.
• Caching shows one visitor's data to everyone. If you print the IP server-side on a cached page, every visitor sees the first cached value. Render through AJAX (the plugin's default) so each visitor gets their own.

Final take

Getting a visitor's IP in WordPress is easy. Getting it right means handling proxies, caching, and privacy.

Want it without code? Install User IP and Location. It is free, I maintain it, and it is built for cached sites.

Writing code? Use the proxy-aware PHP above, and validate the result.

Either way, the IP is personal data. Treat it that way.