5 Best WordPress Security Plugins

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WordPress is the most popular content management system in the world. That popularity also makes it a top choice for hackers.

At its core, WordPress is incredibly secure. But the massive ecosystem of plugins and themes makes it vulnerable to security issues.

To protect your WordPress website against these security risks, it’s always a good idea to use a WordPress security plugin. Below we look at five of the best WordPress security plugins for you to install today. 

Why You Need a WordPress Security Plugin

WordPress has solid security measures in place, but if you’re looking to take that security even further, you’ll want to utilize a security plugin. You’ll get access to additional features that WordPress doesn’t have right out of the box, including:

• Site, file, and malware scanning
• Protection from brute force attacks
• Regular security scans, monitoring, notifications
• Site firewalls

Sure, you can get by without having these in place, but why would you risk it? Sadly, a lot of site owners don’t think about security for their WordPress website until it’s too late.

Once your WordPress site has been compromised, there’s not a lot you can do besides notify your visitors and clean up the mess. If only there was something you could’ve done to prevent this. There is!

The good news is you can implement preventative measures. It all starts with using a WordPress security plugin.

The Best WordPress Security Plugins

For anything related to WordPress, you’ll find dozens of popular plugins to install. Going through every plugin yourself can be tedious. To save you time, we created this list.

Below you’ll find five of the top WordPress security plugins to protect your site against security vulnerabilities.

1. All In One WP Security & Firewall

All In One WP Security & Firewall is one of the most popular WordPress security plugins. You can configure this plugin pretty easily, even if you don’t have any tech skills.

It’s equipped with a unique dashboard for you to monitor which areas of your WordPress site are protected and which areas need improvement. Its security and firewall rules allow you to progressively add security measures without breaking your site’s functionality.

The plugin protects your site against brute force login attacks, secures your user accounts, adds Google reCaptcha, and even allows you to blacklist specific IP addresses. Plus, the built-in security scanner alerts you if any files have changed in your WordPress database.

All In One WP Security & Firewall is a completely free plugin for you to download here.

2. iThemes Security

iThemes Security is a feature-packed WordPress security plugin. It helps repair common WordPress vulnerabilities, stop automated attacks, and strengthen user credentials.

In just a few seconds, this plugin scans your site, reports vulnerabilities, and then fixes them. It bans troublesome user agents and bots, while also enforcing strong passwords for all accounts. You’ll get email notifications when someone gets locked out after too many failed login attempts.

With the Pro version of this security plugin, you get access to two-factor authentication, malware scan scheduling, and password expiration. The temporary privilege escalation feature is convenient when you need to give a contractor temporary admin access to your site because the password will automatically reset itself. You get dedicated professional support, too.

Test drive the free version, or upgrade to the Pro version here.

3. Wordfence Security

Wordfence Security excels at protecting your site from brute force attacks, offering real-time security monitoring, and blocking malware requests. The malware scanner checks your core files, themes, and plugins for bad URLs, backdoors, SEO spam, and malicious redirects.

This plugin also compares your core files to the WordPress.org repository, checks their integrity, and reports any changes to you. You can get detailed security findings without leaving your dashboard.

With its Live Traffic feature, you can monitor visits and hack attempts in real-time. You can even block attackers based on advanced rules, like IP range, hostname, and referrer.

Download the free version, or you can purchase the premium version.  

4. Sucuri Security

Created by a team of WordPress security experts, the Sucuri Security plugin offers security activity auditing to ensure hackers can’t steal your sensitive data.

Once installed, it will automatically scan your website for any infected files or known security weaknesses. You then have the option to restore or repair your site.

This plugin also includes regular website monitoring and malware scanning. Plus, if your site is ever compromised, the tool will walk you through three post-hack security actions to get your site back up and running. 

Get this plugin for free here, or try the premium version with virtual patching and advanced DDoS mitigation.

5. SecuPress

SecuPress is a GDPR-compliant plugin that protects your WordPress site with malware scans, firewalls, and security alerts. Its intuitive interface makes it incredibly easy to set up.

The built-in security scanner detects any issues and then sends a detailed report to your inbox, outlining your next action steps. This WordPress security plugin also comes with seven anti-disclose security modules to ensure your sensitive data is not accessible to hackers.

The Pro version offers additional features like anti-spam protection, automated website backups, and automated website scans.

You can download the free version here, or install the Pro version.

Secure Your WordPress Website

Website security is complex. It’s continually evolving, and what kept your site secure a year ago probably won’t do the trick today.

Instead of trying to understand every security threat, the best course of action is to install one of the expert-level security plugins mentioned above. If you have a smaller site and don’t get a ton of traffic, then you can probably get away with a free WordPress security plugin. But, as your site grows, it’s probably a good idea to upgrade to a paid option and look into implementing a website security checker.

You also can improve the security of your site without having to lift a finger. Upgrade to our managed WordPress hosting now, and our WordPress experts will monitor your site for threats and take care of security for you. So, you never have to worry. 

With your site’s security taken care of, you can focus on more important things, like running your online business and growing your traffic.

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