The Best WordPress Security & Firewall Plugins Compared

WordPress Security Plugins Compared

To help you choose the best plugin, we’ve compiled a list of the top WordPress security plugins and highlighted their most important features.

1. Sucuri

The Sucuri WordPress plugin is available for free from the WordPress repository. This plugin is bundled with hardening features, malware scanning, core integrity file checking, post-hack hardening features, and email alerts to notify you of any important changes or security issues.

The paid version of the Sucuri WordPress plugin allows you to connect the Sucuri Firewall for advanced protection against brute force, automated attacks, and DDoS along with signficant site speed and performance improvements through caching.

Features include:

• WordPress hardening features with secure configuration verification
• Malware scanning to detect malicious injections, iframes, spam and other malware threats
• Security activity auditing to monitor your website for indicators of compromise
• Blacklist monitoring to identify if you’re being flagged by Google, Norton, AVG, or other search authorities
• File integrity monitoring to alert you to any changes to website files including edits, uploads, and removals
• Premium version includes web application firewall to deter hackers and prevent brute force and DDoS attacks

2. WordFence

The WordFence plugin offers login features and a dashboard to give you important insights into traffic trends and hack attempts to help you secure your WordPress website. It periodically searches for malware to detect threats.

Features include:

• Monitor live traffic by viewing login activity, bot, human traffic and Google crawl activity
• Scan website files for malware
• Password auditing and cell phone sign-in

3. iThemes

The iThemes WordPress plugin, formerly known as Better WP Security, allows users to run basic malware scans to identify issues on their website. The Pro version is more expensive but offers a more robust feature set, including scheduled malware scanning and email alerts.

Features include:

• Monitor website for suspicious activity and malware
• Prevents brute force attacks
• Scans for vulnerable plugins and themes

4. Cerber Security

The Cerber Security plugin includes a number of features to protect WordPress from malware and keep a website secure.

Features include:

• Limited login attempts and login monitoring to prevent and detect unauthorized access
• Malware scanning to detect malicious behavior
• Scheduled scans with file recovery features

5. All in One WP Security

The All in One WP Security plugin offers an easy-to-use interface great for beginner webmasters. Reports are provided with explanations for website security related metrics.

Features include:

• Blacklisting tool and comment spam security
• Website vulnerability scanning
• Highly visual plugin to help beginner website owners understand security landscape
• Completely free plugin with no upsells