Password-protect a shared link.
Put a password in front of any link. The recipient sees a clean gate page, enters the password, and the file opens. The password is hashed, never stored as text.
- bcrypthash, never plain text
- Any filea PDF, a page or a site
- Pro, Studioset a password
What they see
A gate in front of the file.
Anyone who opens a locked link meets a password page first. The right password opens the file, and the link’s preview card gives nothing away.
- The password is stored as a bcrypt hash
- A refresh doesn’t ask again
- The preview card shows NudgeHost’s general image
How it works
Lock a link in three steps.
Open File settings
Open File settings on the link and switch on Password protection.
Type the password
Type it and save. The link is gated from then on, at the same address.
Send it
Send the link, and the password by another route, so one message alone doesn’t open the file.
What the lock covers
What a password does, and doesn’t.
The gate sits in front of the link rather than inside the file. This is what that means in practice.
- Every file type
A PDF, an image, a page or a converted Word document, all behind the same gate.
Covered - A zipped site
The password is entered on nudgehost.com, then a short-lived token hands the visitor to the site.
Covered - After the right password
A cookie keeps the file open when the reader refreshes.
Stays open - The preview card
Shows NudgeHost’s general image. The filename still appears as the title.
No contents - Wrong guesses
Rate limited per file and per network address.
Limited - Who the reader is
The gate asks for the password and nothing else, so it collects no names.
Not asked
After you send it
Manage the lock after it’s sent.
Change the password, lock a whole site, and see when the link was opened.
Change the password
Set a new one in the link’s settings. The URL stays the same, and the next visitor needs the new password.
Lock a site
A zipped site can be locked too. Changing the password invalidates any handoff token still waiting to be used.
See the opens
The link’s stats show the time and country of each open, with a CSV of the full history.
Plans
Passwords on each plan.
Setting a password is part of the paid plans. Removing one works on any plan.
| Without an account | Free | Pro, $12 a month | Studio, $29 a month | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Passwords | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| End dates | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Open tracking | None | Open counts | Time and country, CSV | Time and country, CSV |
| Largest file | 25MB | 25MB | 250MB | 1GB |
| Links live at once | 3 | 10 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Next to Tiiny.host
Tiiny.host figures from its own pages, checked on 1 September 2026.
Read the full comparisonPassword protection
Why lock a link.
Some links aren’t meant for whoever happens to find them, like a signed contract or a design that isn’t public yet. The gate sits in front of the link rather than inside the file, so it covers a Word document shared as a web page as well as a PDF or an image. For the general idea, the glossary has how a password gate works.
A zipped site can be locked the same way, which matters for a site on its own subdomain, since the site’s origin never sees your account’s cookies. A password also pairs well with a link that closes on a set date, which works on every account plan.
Setting a password comes with either paid plan, Pro or Studio. Removing one works on any plan, so a file you locked on Pro can still have its password removed after a move to Free.
Guides
Files people lock.
Frequently asked questions
What if I forget the password?
Set a new one in the link’s settings, on Pro or Studio. NudgeHost can’t show you the old one, since only its hash is stored.
Can I give different people different passwords?
No. A link has one password. To give two people separate access, upload the file twice and lock each link with its own password.
Can I lock a link without an account?
No. The password is set in a link’s settings in the dashboard, so the link has to belong to an account on a paid plan.
Does the password page carry my branding?
No. It’s a plain NudgeHost page with the filename, one password field and an Open file button.
Can search engines see a locked file?
No. Links on nudgehost.com already ask search engines not to index them, and a crawler can’t get past the password page.
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Related tools
Other things you can do on NudgeHost.
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