The most widely used platform for website management is WordPress. Roughly forty percent of websites use it globally. That is a big part of the reason there are a lot of cyberattacks on this platform each year. However, how can one strengthen WordPress security and keep their WordPress websites safe from hackers?
Thank goodness, the WordPress plugins directory contains WordPress security plugins. These can identify and eliminate files that have been tampered with by malicious software from your website. Using WordPress security plugins, you can protect your website from hackers, remove malware, and filter unwanted traffic.
We’ll demonstrate the top security plugins for WordPress in this post. Even if the majority of these are premium choices, they offer your website the highest level of security. Now, let’s get going.
WordPress Security Plugins: Why Use Them?
When it comes to the question of whether WordPress is secure enough to boost security, the WordPress security plugin is the only answer that addresses any safety concerns. It is more than just a standard plugin; it serves as the backup, firewall, and anti-virus software for your website simultaneously.
Furthermore, a malware scanner is included with security plugins. This gets rid of any harmful scripts and files that were inserted into the main files. Additionally, a firewall is in place and is actively watching over incoming traffic.
Additionally, it continuously checks the site’s themes and plugins to make sure no vulnerabilities are arising from them. Additionally, the security plugin makes sure that frequent site backups and SSL certificates are in place. You must install security plugins because of all these safeguards.
It’s possible, some might contend, that adding plugins slows down WordPress websites. Although it may be the case, it is more dangerous to not have any security plugins at all.
So let’s avoid making a rookie error and examine some of the top WordPress security plugins available for your website.
The Top 7 Security Plugins for WordPress
The WordPress plugin shop has more than 60000 plugins. It’s not simple to pick the top WordPress security plugin from such a large selection. This list can be useful in the situation. The top security plugins and the features they offer have been compiled by us.
Now let’s have a look at them.
- WordPress security from Sucuri
One of the best security plugins available for WordPress is called Sucuri. With more than 800,000 installations now in use, this is still a strong option for website security.
A Web Application Firewall is included to prevent malware and viruses. It is already protected from Brute Force and DDoS assaults. Because of its large database, it shields you from zero-day exploits.
You may increase the security of your WordPress Admin Panel by utilizing Sucuri’s 2FA authentication. In order to restrict access to authorized users, it can also prevent IP addresses from reaching the admin panel page.
Since they operate their own CDN server, any performance loss in page load time is minimized. They may examine incoming requests to your site, identify whether they are dangerous, and block them immediately using heuristic and signature-based detection.
Pricing for Sucuri: Sucuri offers both premium and free plans. A firewall is not included in the free plan. Plans that require payment begin at $200 annually for the Basic plan, from which users can upgrade to the Pro and Business plans.
Above all, Sucuri offers some of the best security features and walls to guard against threats and keep your website safe. Furthermore, even if your website has already been harmed by malware, they will still clean it up. They have everything needed to protect your virtual stronghold!
2. Wordfence Security
Leading the security category with over 4+ million active installations, Wordfence
is among the top security plugins for WordPress! The best WordPress security option for safeguarding your WordPress websites is this one.
For your WordPress website, Wordfence offers a true all-in-one security solution. A firewall in the free edition of the software can stop harmful codes and malware from operating on your website. You also receive real-time traffic monitoring and defense against brute force attacks.
The commercial version can perform site-wide audits and produce more useful security reports, even though the free version is still quite useful. It examines comments, themes, plugins, and site components. When malicious code is detected, Wordfence Security automatically eliminates it. Its smartphone app provides you with immediate notifications.
The premium Wordfence plan’s ability to eliminate spam comments is its strongest feature. Therefore, you can use this functionality without buying another plugin.
Wordfence Pricing: Wordfence’s premium plans start at $119 annually, however it is free to use.
Authy and Google Authenticator integration, as well as 2FA authentication, are features of the subscription plans. Country-specific IP addresses can be blocked and live traffic can be analyzed.
Above all, if you want a free firewall or are operating on a somewhat tighter budget, then Wordfence Security wins over Sucuri for sure!
3. All-in-One Security
All-in-One Security and Firewall
is the WordPress plugin directory’s most potent WP security plugin by a wide margin. It is inexpensive and has a ton of features and superb protection.
There are currently over a million active users of AIOS!
In terms of free WordPress tools, All-In-One Security (AIOS) — Security and Firewall is the standard. It has a firewall built in to shield you from harmful traffic.
You can change the WordPress admin page to make it more difficult for hackers to find it. It also offers strong protection against SQL injection. You can use All-in-One Security to lock down suspicious users and log them out of the site. Furthermore, it has a handy feature that lets you enforce copy protection, which prevents anyone from copying the site’s contents. All of these features are available in the plugin panel.
This is an excellent solution to increase the security of small websites and people with limited experience. The best part is that you can use all of these features for free!
Pricing for AIOS: The WordPress security plugin All-in-One Security and Firewall is available for free. It is fully functional and unrestricted. Still, there’s a premium plan with an annual starting price of $70.
In addition to the free features, the subscription edition offers comment spam eradication, database backups, clever 404 blocking, country blocking, malware scanning, and customizable two-factor authentication.
4. Solid Security
It was rebranded from iThemes Security, its previous name, to  Solid Security
created by the SolidWp group. It has more than 900,000 active installations right now and a sizable percentage of good ratings!
Various profiles are available for different kinds of websites from Solid Security. There are pre-built security policies for each of these. All it takes to immediately secure your website is to click on one of the designated templates.
Numerous features, like 2FA, password requirements, security against malicious IP addresses, SSL, and database backups, are included in the Free plan. You must enable toggles in order to access its extensive security features due to its user-friendly UI.
Additionally, File Change Detection, a feature of the Solid Security plugin, may check your site’s assets for modifications. To identify the specific virus or malware that is to blame for this, a malware scanner is also installed.
You get a comprehensive list of the user’s activities using the plugin. You have the option to log them from the site if you find any malicious conduct. Additionally, it can protect your WordPress admin page from hackers by hiding the wp-login.
Pricing for Solid Security: There is no cost for the Basic plan of Solid Security. It will set you back $99 a year to use the Pro features.
Advanced software patching and password-free logins are features of Solid Security’s premium service. This can fix serious plugin vulnerabilities. Furthermore, WordPress installations, plugins, and themes are automatically updated thanks to sophisticated version management.
5. NinjaFirewall
This well-liked firewall has cutting-edge technologies to safeguard your WordPress websites. At the moment , NinjaFirewall (WP Edition) — Advanced Security Plugin and Firewall possesses more than 100,000 operational installations.
Probably the only firewall-specific plugin on this list is Ninja Firewall. It is able to scan and identify HTTP requests made to the PHP scripts on your website. Even if they are not included in the WordPress installation, every script and asset is still secure.
On the other hand, Ninja’s File Guard feature can check your website to see whether a dangerous script or backdoor has been installed. A comprehensive report will be emailed to your email immediately. When it’s convenient for you, the File Check tool scans your website; the scan reports are available for viewing on the Live Log dashboard.
It continuously keeps an eye on the actions of the themes and plugins and modifies the security rules as necessary. You will receive notification if a vulnerability is discovered, and the patch should be available by then.
Ninja Firewall performs the checks on your server with a special emphasis on privacy. Native support is available for IPV4 and IPV6. Because this plugin is multisite compatible, it can safeguard several websites on a same hosting account.
Pricing for NinjaFirewall: The annual cost for a single domain with multisite support is $79 for Ninja Firewall. You can receive a discount of up to 60% off if you add multiple domains.
6. MalCare Security Plugin
MalCare WordPress Security Plugin — Malware Scanner, Cleaner, Security Firewall is a cloud-based utility that can clean your WordPress installation of viruses and malware.
It includes an intelligent malware scanner with the most recent threat definitions and heuristics specifically designed for WordPress websites. Within 60 seconds, the tool promises to completely remove viruses from your website.
In addition, you can see which files are impacted and examine them to make the website more resilient to attacks in the future. The gadget operates quickly since cloud scans are conducted by it. As a result, the server hardware is under less stress and your website keeps its responsiveness.
Malicious bot defense is included with MalCare Security. It has the ability to recognize and let through good bots. With its robust threat intelligence network, Firewall is a potent online application that always has the most recent information. Brute force assaults and other typical attacks on WordPress websites can be easily prevented by it.
To guard against hacking, a comprehensive site backup option is available. Moreover, you can strengthen the site’s security by implementing the suggested measures that are displayed to you. You may also use this plugin to block IP addresses from particular countries and keep an eye on the website’s uptime.
Pricing for MalCare: MalCare Security offers a free subscription that includes malware and firewall scanning. The annual cost of the Plus package is $149. Pro ($249/year) and Max ($499/year), the higher tier subscriptions, give you more malware scans and regular uptime monitoring.
7. BulletProof Security
is among the list’s more sophisticated WordPress security plugins. Setting it up for your WordPress website calls for some experience.
To make things easier, this program has a one-click setup wizard, even if it might not be suitable for everyone. This greatly simplifies matters. With the use of strong technologies like Auto Restore Intrusion Detection, you can quickly delete any alterations made to the WordPress assets from quarantine.
The robust malware scanner included in the Bulletproof Security WordPress plugin looks for viruses using pattern matching and hash comparison. The themes and plugins are quickly uninstalled if there are any modifications to any malicious scripts, which are continuously checked for.
Additionally, both automatic and manual backup choices are available. In the event of a site-wide hack, you can use these to take back control of the website. It offers defense against brute force attacks on the admin panel of your WordPress website. You have access to sophisticated technologies like HTTP error logging and FTP locking.
Bulletproof Pricing: Bulletproof Security offers a free plan that may be upgraded to a premium subscription for an unlimited number of websites at $69.95 per year.
Which WordPress security plugin is the best?
In this post, we’ve discussed a variety of WordPress security plugins. These all have various feature sets and are skilled at safeguarding your website. Which WordPress security plugin, though, would be the greatest if we had to choose only one?
Based on our experiments, we discovered Wordfence Security — Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security to be the top plugin for WordPress security. It has all of the features you would anticipate from a security solution. The best part is that there are no restrictions and you may perform a scan whenever you want. To swiftly get the site back up, you can quickly make the necessary corrections by using the file protection system to pinpoint the exact location of the changes.
A firewall, which is a pricey feature on many WordPress security plugins, is also included in the free plan. Therefore, even if you do not have the premium package, your website is safe against harmful visitors. That’s a simple victory!
Last Remarks
Now that your site is protected, go ahead and install the best WordPress security plugins. You are guaranteeing the highest level of security for your website and its crucial data as soon as you correctly install these. Your WordPress site is more secure overall since there is a lower chance of hacker intrusion and virus attack.
You still have work to do, though. You must continuously check the website for vulnerabilities and apply the necessary patches. Update the core software and perform security scans. Verify that you are using WordPress 6.4.1 and activate all available security features. That will keep your website operating at peak performance for many years to come.
