6 Best WordPress Security Plugins to Protect Your Website

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Post Updated March 2022

Before we jump into the details on the best WordPress security plugins here, it’s important to note that we will only be referring to WordPress.org here and not WordPress.com.

WordPress.org is one of the most popular content management systems on the Internet today. It powers millions of websites. WordPress.org CMS is free and open-source which makes it very popular. Unfortunately, for the same reason, WordPress is a juicy target for hackers. They are constantly looking for vulnerabilities they can exploit to break into websites. Therefore it’s vital to consider the various WordPress security plugins available today and how they can be one of the best investments for protecting your website this year.

 

What Are WordPress Security Vulnerabilities?

Keeping on top of updates is also vital, especially when WP has an update. Make sure you always have the latest version. Additionally, the following items are vulnerable to escalating security issues:

  • WordPress Plugins
  • WordPress Themes
  • Misconfigured File Permission Settings
  • Outdated & Unmanaged WordPress Security Plugins
  • Easy To Guess Passwords are usually the reasons most WordPress websites get compromised.

To compound the problem, web developers and those who own multiple websites can simply get overwhelmed with managing so many passwords and can easily forget to update them. It’s difficult enough with all our personal passwords.

Using various stings of characters and alphanumeric phrases that consist of both letters and numbers is one best practice. Probably the best way to manage all your passwords today is to use the highly recommended password manager application for both families and businesses which is without a doubt – Keeper Security.

Keeper Security Banner-1

Safe web development practices combined with one of these high-quality WordPress security plugins will help ensure that your WordPress website does not get compromised. You must always install WordPress plugins and themes from sources you completely trust.

Make sure your WordPress file permission settings are properly configured and keep your WordPress passwords difficult to guess. Using a password generator tool for your WordPress administrative password is also a good practice.

On this note please be careful to not over configure password and login settings. Some WordPress security plugins can be over-sensitive. More on this in a moment.

 

What Is Cybersecurity?

It’s said that what all people share are 2 things, death, and taxes. However, in this modern digital world, it’s accurate to say that we all share threats from sinister characters that mean to do us harm. This is the world we live in and it affects both businesses, individuals, governments, and WordPress.

A very good definition of what Cybersecurity is can be found on the well-known tech giant Cisco.com website and here’s a direct quote:

“Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting systems, networks, and programs from digital attacks. These [common] cyberattacks are usually aimed at accessing, changing, or destroying sensitive information; extorting money from users; or interrupting normal business processes.

Implementing effective cybersecurity measures is particularly challenging today because there are more devices than people, and attackers are becoming more innovative.”

Firewall & Login Settings That Create Problems

It may sound like a great way of making your site super secure, but be careful to not overuse your login settings and firewall settings to the point where it becomes almost impossible for users of your site to log in which would include your writers, staff, and administrators. We have experienced this first hand.

WordPress security plugins can be finicky and there is a balance to these powerful firewalls and login settings.

It’s important to work at finding the balance of having the most secure firewall and login security settings and between providing a good user login experience.

If you overturn too many dials at once on your password/login security features, this may create some headaches for you when trying to figure out what setting is the one causing the most security requirements. No one likes getting locked out and these settings, when overused, can force unnecessary lockouts multiple times.

 

WordPress Security Plugins vs Hosting Security

WordPress hosting providers will no doubt provide some security features to protect your site from hackers. However, it is important to understand that they can not cover everything. Sometimes a little help is needed with decreasing proxy and bot traffic. WordPress security plugins are a wise way of having extra protection and help with:

  • DDoS attacks
  • Blocking Bad IP Addresses
  • Website Auditing & Monitoring
  • Malware Scanning
  • Specialized Support

 

Editors Note

In this post, we won’t be compiling a price comparison on popular WordPress security plugins or what pros and cons each plugin may have, however, we will go over some benefits and features that each plugin comes with along with some installation facts and reviews.

The WordPress security plugins we personally use on this site and our other website, Line25.com, is the All-In-One WordPress Security and WordFence Security plugin.

Between these two WordPress security plugins the overall easiest for us to use, along with the simplest dashboard layout, is the AIO WordPress Security.

Doing due diligence here is the key to getting started, so look through each security plugin and you’ll most likely find the right features that are best for your unique situation.

 

1. Sucuri WordPress Security Plugin Scanner

www.sucuri.net

Sucuri Inc. is a famous web security company with expertise in securing WordPress websites. This is a free plugin that provides all the security features a regular WordPress website needs. With more than 900,000 active installations and regular updates, this plugin is certainly worth checking out for your WordPress website.

Dashboard Screenshot:

#1 -Sucuri WordPress Security Plugin Scanner: WordPress Security Plugins

Installations & Reviews

  • Installations: 900,000+
  • Ratings & Reviews:  Number of 5-Stars = 272
  • Ratings & Reviews:  Number of 1-Stars = 57

Sucuri Features

• Security Activity Auditing
• File Integrity Monitoring
• Remote Malware Scanning
• Blacklist Monitoring
• Effective Security Hardening
• Post-Hack Security Actions
• Security Notifications
• Website Firewall (premium)

 

2. WordFence Security

www.wordfence.com

One of the most used WordPress security plugins, WordFence Security is a firewall and malware scanning plugin. It has more than 3 million active installations at the time of writing this article and a 5-star rating. It has a free and a premium version.

Constant updates in this plugin ensure that it has access to the latest identified malware signatures and malicious IP addresses and uses this information to keep your WordPress website secure.

Additionally, WordFence is an end-point firewall that integrates with your WordPress to provide better protection than cloud firewalls.

Dashboard Screenshot:

#2 - WordFence Security: WordPress Security Plugins

Installations & Reviews

  • Installations:  4,000,000+
  • Ratings & Reviews:  Number of 5-Stars = 3,424
  • Ratings & Reviews:  Number of 1-Stars = 186

WordFence Features

• Web Application Firewall
• [Premium] Real-time firewall rule and malware signature updates
• [Premium] Real-time IP Blacklist
• Integrated malware scanner
• Protection from brute force attacks by limiting login attempts

 

3. iThemes Security

www.ithemes.com

iThemes Security formerly known as Better WP Security is one of the most widely used WordPress security plugins with more than 1 million active installations. It comes with a free and a paid version and is almost 5-star rated.

iThemes is a seasoned WordPress developer with an excellent reputation and is the developer of the popular BackupBuddy plugin. Some of their other plugins are iThemes Sync, Restrict Content Pro, and Kadence WP.

Dashboard Screenshot:

#3 - iThemes Security: WordPress Security Plugins

Installations & Reviews

  • Installations: 1,000,000+
  • Ratings & Reviews:  Number of 5-Stars = 3,361
  • Ratings & Reviews:  Number of 1-Stars = 264

The paid version iThemes Security Pro contains professional features for advanced WordPress users along with technical support from the iThemes team.

iThemes Security Features

• Monitors filesystem for unauthorized changes.
• Runs a scan for malware and blacklists on the homepage of your site
• Sends email notifications when someone gets locked out after too many failed login attempts or when a file on your site has been changed
• Prevents brute force attacks by banning hosts and users with too many invalid login attempts
• Changes the URLs for WordPress dashboard areas, such as admin section, login section, and others
• Removes plugin,  core as well as theme updates notifications from those users who don’t have permissions

 

4. All In One WP Security & Firewall

www.tipsandtricks-hq.com

Compared to the other WordPress security plugins listed above, this security plugin is easier to use. It provides a comprehensive grading system that measures how secure your WordPress website is based on the number of points you score. Points are determined by checking how many security features you have set up and activated on the website.

The security and firewall rules fall into three categories: ‘basic’, ‘intermediate’ and ‘advanced’. You can begin with ‘basic’ rules and move on to ‘advanced’ rules gradually. This is a good system to ensure you do not break your WordPress website by implementing all the rules in one go.

Dashboard Screenshot:

#4 - All In One WP Security & Firewall: WordPress Security Plugins

Installations & Reviews

  • Installations:  1,000,000+
  • Ratings & Reviews:  Number of 5-Stars = 1,006
  • Ratings & Reviews:  Number of 1-Stars = 44

All In One WP Security Features

• Protect against “Brute Force Login Attack” with the Login Lockdown feature
• Add Google reCaptcha or plain maths captcha to WordPress Login form
• Ability to remove the WordPress Version information from the JS and CSS file includes of your site
• Ability to disable the right-click, text selection, and copy option for your front-end
• Perform a Whois lookup of a suspicious host or IP address and get full details.

 

5. WP Cerber Security, Antispam and Malware Scan

www.wpcerber.com

WP Cerber security plugin is also a comprehensive security plugin that provides protection against spam, malware, and brute force attacks.

One of these WordPress security plugins tools is an Integrity checker that matches all WordPress files and folders with the files in the official WordPress repository and warns if there are any changes.

You can also configure automated scanning of all your WordPress files at regular intervals. This WordPress security plugin’s anti-spam engine provides invisible reCaptcha for all WordPress contact and registration forms and all WooCommerce forms.

Dashboard Screenshot:

#5 - WP Cerber Security, Anti-spam and Malware Scan: WordPress Security Plugins

Installations & Reviews

  • Installations:  200,000+
  • Ratings & Reviews:  Number of 5-Stars = 536
  • Ratings & Reviews:  Number of 1-Stars = 13

WP Cerber Security Features

• Create Custom login URL
• Automatically detects and moves spam comments to trash or denies them completely
• Two-Factor Authentication for WordPress
• Monitors file changes and new files with email notifications and reports
• Invisible reCAPTCHA for WordPress comments forms

 

6. Limit Login Attempts Reloaded

www.limitloginattempts.com

If you have a functioning WordPress website with no new developments to be made then chances are you’re not too worried about scanning new plugin files or theme files. In that case, a simple login protection plugin may serve you well without having to worry about other security settings.

Note: The WordPress security plugins we’ve covered in this post will include this feature. If you don’t want another heavy loading plugin and just need a login limiting feature, then this is the way to go.

‘Limit Login Attempts Reloaded’ is a good security plugin to have in such a situation. It has over 900,000 active installations and is one of the more popular plugins in the login security category. This plugin simply blocks login attempts into your WordPress admin dashboard after a set number of failed login attempts.

Dashboard Screenshot:

#6 - Limit Login Attempts Reloaded: WordPress Security Plugins

Installations & Reviews

  • Installations:  2,000,000+
  • Ratings & Reviews:  Number of 5-Stars = 827
  • Ratings & Reviews:  Number of 1-Stars = 12

Limit Login Attempts Reloaded Features

  • You can put a customizable limit on how many times a user can attempt to log in from their IP address.
  • It is possible to put a limit on how many times a user can attempt to log in using authorization cookies.
  • Each time a user attempts to log in incorrectly, they are informed of the number of attempts remaining for them to log in.
  • You also have the option to log all instances of successful and unsuccessful login attempts and receive a notification email.
  • If you find a set of IP addresses attempting unsuccessful login attempts, you can add them to a customized blacklist so as to prevent them from any login attempts. Similarly, you can also add known IP addresses to a whitelist to allow them to log in.
  • The plugin is compatible with Sucuri Website Firewall.
  • It also provides similar protection to WooCommerce login pages as well.

 

Conclusion

WordPress website security is now a lot easier with so many WordPress security plugins available. Sometimes you may need to use more than one plugin on your WordPress website to completely secure it. However, in most cases, one of the plugins from the list above will get the job done for you. Don’t wait – cybersecurity is a big problem and you need to be ready, prepared, and on top of this issue both personally and professionally. Secure your WordPress sites today!

Be sure to comment below and let us know which one you use or have chosen from this list.

Recap Of The Best WordPress Security Plugins For 2022

  1. Sucuri
  2. WordFence
  3. iThemes
  4. All In One WP Security & Firewall
  5. WP Cerber Security, Antispam and Malware Scan
  6. Limit Login Attempts Reloaded

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Author
Harsh Raval
HR is a skilled web developer, graphic designer, digital marketing consultant, and content creator. With more than 10 years of experience in content creation, HR has contributed engaging, thorough, and well-researched graphic and web design content for several years here at WebDesignDev.

2 thoughts on “6 Best WordPress Security Plugins to Protect Your Website”

  1. Great article on WordPress security plugins, firewall, cyber security, hosting security and all important module that help to make your WordPress site secure from unwanted users. WordPress is always the great choice for web design for any kind of user or client who need website easy to handle and customizable.

    Reply

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