12 Best WordPress Security Plugins to Protect Your Site

Are you looking for the best WordPress security plugins to keep your WordPress website safe from hackers? Then investing in WordPress security plugins is a good option to start.

WordPress is one of the most widely used content management systems (CMS) in the world, with over 43% of all websites on the internet using it. Hackers and other malware attacks can damage your online business by stealing vital information and hurting your reputation.

However, with a security plugin, you can protect your website against brute-force attacks, malware, and hackers.

In this article, we’ll explore some of the best WordPress security plugins to block those hackers.

Why Use a WordPress Security Plugin?

Every week, millions of websites are attacked with malware. Every day, an average website gets attacked 94 times, including both non-WordPress and WordPress websites.

And if any of these attacks succeed, it might be bad for your business.

Some of the negative things that can happen with a security breach include:

• Hackers can steal your data as well as the data of your users and customers.
• A hacked website can be used to spread dangerous code to unwary visitors and other websites.
• You might lose data, lose access to your website, lock yourself out, or have your data taken hostage.
• Your website may be damaged or defaced, negatively affecting your SEO rankings and brand reputation.

For all of these reasons, having a WordPress security plugin on your site is important.

Further, to avoid being hacked, you must follow security best practices to protect your website. Check our easy-to-follow step-by-step WordPress security guide for beginners.

That being said, let’s look at some of the best WordPress security plugins and how they may help you keep your website safe.

12 Best WordPress Security Plugins

Here are some of the best security plugins for WordPress to protect your website from malware.

1. Sucuri

Sucuri is the industry leader in WordPress security and one of the best WordPress security plugins available. They offer a free Sucuri Security plugin that helps you in hardening WordPress security and scans your website for common threats.

However, the true value comes in the paid plans, which include the best WordPress firewall security. A firewall prevents brute force and malicious assaults from accessing WordPress.

Sucuri website firewall screens out bad traffic before it reaches your server. They also offer static content from their own CDN servers.

Aside from security, their DNS-level firewall with CDN provides a significant performance improvement and speeds up your WordPress website.

Top Features:

• Malware scanning and removal
• Website hardening
• Scans for SEO spam
• Repairs and restores already hacked websites
• Login security, password protection, and user tracking
• Malicious traffic blocking
• Web Application Firewall (WAF)
• File Integrity Monitoring

Pricing:

Sucuri’s free version is available on the WordPress.org official repository. However, the premium version starts from $199.99 a year for the basic platform.

2. Wordfence

Wordfence is a free WordPress security plugin that offers amazing features that will prevent hackers from breaching your website. It also offers various paid plans with greater security measures.

It comes with a complete WordPress firewall and malware signatures and protects your website from bad IP addresses.

Top Features:

• Endpoint firewall
• Scans for file changes
• IP address blocking
• Threat assessment features
• Two-factor authentication for login
• Real-time malware signature update
• Schedule security scans

Pricing:

A free version is available on the WordPress.org plugin repository. The premium plan starts from $119 per year.

3. iThemes Security

iThemes Security is another well-known security plugin for WordPress. Along with the previous two, this plugin is one of the most widely used and trusted by WordPress users.

The plugin offers a user-friendly dashboard that displays all of the plugin’s features. From the dashboard, you may enable or disable the tools you wish.

iThemes Security lacks a website firewall and its own malware scanning. It uses Sucuri’s SiteCheck for malware scanning.

Top Features:

• Brute-force attack prevention
• 404 error detection
• Scheduled WordPress backups
• Email alerts
• Two-factor Authentication
• Ban bad bots & users
• Google reCAPTCHAs
• Control over user roles and file permissions

Pricing:

iTheme Security free version is available for free on the WordPress.org official repository. However, the premium version starts from $99 per year for a single site.

4. All in One WP Security

All In One WP Security & Firewall is not popular as the other first three WordPress security plugins on this list. However, it is still a high-quality option worth checking, especially if you want a free tool. It’s extremely user-friendly and divides information into three primary categories (Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced).

This plugin also has a number of useful and powerful features, especially given that it is free. This contains brute-force attack prevention, firewall protection, comment spam filtering, and other features.

Top Features:

• Offer Login Lockdown option to protect brute force attacks.
• File security, editing, backups, and restoration features.
• Website-level firewall.
• A file change detection scanner.
• Comment spam prevention.
• Front-end copy protection.

Pricing:

A free version is available on WordPress.org. The premium plan starts at $70 per year.

5. WPScan

WPScan is also the best WordPress plugin for security. It uses its own database to search your website for vulnerabilities.

It has approximately 43,222 known security threats in its database as of today and has been adding new vulnerabilities since 2014.

You won’t have to check your website for malware if you use WPScan manually.

The security plugin discovers and reports the most serious flaws in your website’s security.

WPScan also looks for debug file logs, weak passwords, backup files, and other things.

Top Features:

• Automated vulnerability scanning for WordPress plugins, themes, and core software.
• Their database of vulnerabilities is updated daily by community members and dedicated WordPress security specialists.
• Additional security checks.
• Email notification of security reports.

Pricing:

The plugin offers a free version that is suitable for most websites. However, for large websites, you can quote them to get a price.

6. BulletProof Security

BulletProof Security is another security plugin that offers tools to help secure your WordPress website from hackers.

However, It doesn’t have the most user-friendly interface, but it makes up for it in terms of its functionality.

Top Features:

• Login security and monitoring.
• MScan Malware Scanner.
• A security log.
• Database backups and restoring.
• Anti-spam and anti-hacking tools.
• Hidden plugin folders.
• Maintenance mode.
• A complete setup wizard.

Pricing:

BulletProof Security is available in both a free version and a premium version. The pro version starts from $69.95 for lifetime use and unlimited installations.

7. Jetpack

Next, Jetpack is one of the most popular and widely used WordPress plugins; therefore, you’ve most likely heard of it. It can be used for many features, from performance to marketing. However, a few features you may not be aware of make it one of the best WordPress security plugins.

This freemium program offers easy-to-use security solutions such as real-time backups, virus detection, and spam filtering.

Additionally, it helps with brute-force protection and uptime monitoring. Best of all, these features are available in the free plan. It’s also worth mentioning that this plugin was created by the team of WordPress.com, so you can feel confident that it’s safe, secure, and trustworthy.

Top Features:

• Automatic, real-time backups and restores
• Malware scanning
• Website firewall (WAF)
• Spam protection and blocking
• Brute-force protection
• Uptime and downtime monitoring
• Activity log

Pricing:

Jetpack’s free version offers some basic security protections for WordPress. The Security Daily plan costs $19.95 per month when paid annually.

8. MalCare Security

MalCare is a popular security plugin that focuses on malware scanning and removal, as the name suggests. It also includes several other standard WordPress security features.

They also protect your website against attacks from their own servers. As a result, your site will never slow down when they scan for malware.

Top Features:

• Automatic malware scans.
• It has one-click malware removal for any issues.
• A basic firewall.
• Offer a built-in activity log to detect suspicious events.
• Brute force protection.

Pricing:

There is a free version of MalCare that can scan your website. The premium plans start from $99/year for one site license.

9. WP Cerber Security

WP Cerber is a popular all-in-one WordPress security plugin similar to Wordfence. It protects WordPress against hackers, malware, and spam.

You may also create malware removal and file recovery policies using an automated malware scanner and integrity checker.

Top Features:

• A proactive firewall.
• Malware scans and file integrity monitoring.
• Offers lots of login protection like limited login attempts, two-factor, CAPTCHAs, and more.
• Anti-spam protection for registration and comment forms.
• IP blocklists, including blocking whole countries.
• An application-level web application firewall and real-time traffic log.

Pricing:

WP Cerber offers a free version that you can download from the official WordPress.org repository. However, the premium version starts at $99 per year.

10. Defender

Defender is a new yet promising WordPress security plugin with over a million installs. It simply takes a few clicks to install and configure the plugin, and it starts protecting your website right away.

Defender offers an incredible broadness of security capabilities at no cost. Like Wordfence, it provides a free firewall with IP filtering enabled. Malware scans, brute-force login protection, threat alerts, and two-factor authentication through Google are also included in the free edition.

Top Features:

• 2-Factor Authentication
• Brute force attack prevention
• Blacklisting features

Pricing:

Free, $2.89/mo for the pro version.

11. Anti-Malware Security and Brute Force Firewall

The next plugin on our list is Anti-Malware Security and Brute Force Firewall. It integrates well with WordPress websites and has a simple installation method.

Its major purpose is to prevent your website from becoming infected with malware. However, you may use its firewall to prevent brute-force attacks.

You may use the plugin’s complete website scan to automatically discover and remove website threats.

Top Features:

• Comprehensive website scanner.
• A strong firewall.
• It protects your login against DDoS and brute-force attacks.
• Download Definition Updates to protect against new threats.

Pricing:

Anti-Malware Security and Brute Force Firewall are completely free to use.

12. Security Ninja

Try the Security Ninja plugin for complete and easy-to-use vulnerability testing.

This plugin performs more than 50 security checks on your core files, themes, plugins, and password strength and then shows the safety status of your website in your dashboard.

Top Features:

• Check your website for security flaws, bugs, and holes.
• Check to see if WordPress core, plugins, and themes are up-to-date.
• Test file accessibility.

Pricing:

Security Ninja offers both free and premium versions. However, the premium version starts from $39.99 a year.

Verdict: Best WordPress Security Plugin

You’ve finally reached the end of our list of the best security plugins for WordPress websites.

If you are searching for a complete solution that will prevent your site from hackers and other vulnerabilities such as malware, DDoS attacks, brute force attacks, etc, then we recommend Sucuri.

Its firewall is one of the most powerful defenses you can install on your website. Plus, Sucuri is a powerful tool for monitoring and preventing attacks in real-time.

We hope this article helps you find the best WordPress security plugin to block hackers.

For more, check out these other helpful resources:

• The Ultimate WordPress Security Guide
• 12 Best WordPress Backup Plugins

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