With the growing number of people adopting WordPress for creating a website, it is susceptible to malware and hacking attacks that can easily harm your website.
Building a website is now one click away. Lets suppose, you have built a good website with help of WordPress but you just need a guard to secure the premises of the website from harm. At this point, you need to use WordPress security plugins to protect your website from malicious harm.
It can can push back your website. Again and again and again.
WordPress has developed a robust content management system (CMS) for less tech savvy individuals who struggle to deal with all nuts and bolts of programming.
WordPress security plugins have made it easier in helping you protect your website from harm. As you install and activate these plugin, your website becomes less prone to successful hacking attempts.
In this post, we’ll walk you through all the best WordPress security plugins and comparisons between the top 3 plugins.
Let’s jump right in.
What is the Best WordPress Security Plugin?
The most powerful thing about WordPress is its plugins.
The problem is there are so many of them out there, how do you choose?
Here are a few things that all good and reliable plugins have.
- Good rating
- Regular & frequent updates
- A good number of downloads
- Support
Therefore, one should always look at four things before you go ahead and download a plugin.
Let me jot down some of the best WordPress security plugins.
1- Sucuri
Sucuri is a great security plugin to secure your website from all kinds of attacks.
Who else is using Sucuri?
- Godaddy
- Yoast SEO
- WPbeginner
- iThemes
Features
- DNS level Firewall.
- Removes malware from your website.
- helps you regain access to your hacked website.
- Takes you off the blacklist.
- Protects you from future hacks and malware attack.
- Monitors your file for security.
- Hardens your website security.
- Keeps you in the loops with security notifications.
- Comes with complete documentation and support.
- Post-Hack Security Actions.
2- iTheme Security
iTheme is a remarkable addition in WordPress security plugins, used to secure your website from malware and hacking attacks.
Features
- Incorporates 30+ ways to secure and protect your WordPress site.
- Used to prevent automated attacks.
- Two-Factor Authentication.
- Password expiration option.
- Brute force attack protection for banning users who try to get access to your website.
- WP-CLI Integration where you can manage site security with command line.
- Makes regular backups of WordPress database.
- Makes updating your WordPress keys and salts easy.
- Creates Google reCAPTCHA to protect your site against spammers.
- Advanced features to strengthen user credentials.
- Temporary Privilege Escalation for temporary access to the editor.
3- Wordfence Security
Wordfence security plugin goes the extra mile to protect your website with a built-in malware scanner. It also includes an endpoint firewall that paints an extra layer of security on your website.
Endpoint firewall that paints an extra layer of security on your website.
Features
- Threat Defense Feed is used for malware signature updates.
- Allows deep integration with WordPress by protecting website at the endpoint.
- Incorporates Web Application Firewall for identification of malicious traffic.
- Used Login CAPTCHA to prevent spammers.
- Wordfence Central is used to control the security for multiple sites.
- Malware scanner blocks malicious content.
- Regularly scans posts, file contents, and comments for suspicious content.
- Two-factor authentication.
- Compares themes and plugins with available in WordPress.org repository, and reports any changes to you.
- Gives alerts for when a certain plugin faces any issue.
- Premium version gives an option for country blocking.
4- Jetpack
Jetpack gives site performance audit, security, and management updates all in one package. You are doing WordPress wrong without this plugin.
Features
- Protects website against unauthorized logins and brute-force attacks.
- Do downtime monitoring and spam filtering.
- Optional two-factor authentication.
- Customization tools for matching the website to your brand.
- Records every change in website for simplifying troubleshooting.
- Web Images and static files are served from their servers with elastic search-powered related content.
- Incorporates PayPal buttons for easy payment.
- It provides a faster mobile experience.
- Content delivery network for unlimited and high-speed video.
- Advanced site stats for understanding potential audience.
- Professional themes for every niche.
- Powerful SEO tools for social media to boost your reach.
- WordPress mobile app option for managing a website on the fly.
5- Vaultpress
VaultPress is a security scanning service developed by Automattic. It is, no doubt, a real-time backup option powered by Jetpack.
Features
- Backs up every media file, post, comment, and dashboard setting.
- Open-source software.
- Supports Multisite installs with an individual subscription for every site.
- Protect website against malware, hackers and accidental damage.
- Supports 5.1 WordPress version or higher.
6- All in One WP Security & Firewall
All in one WP is a user-friendly security plugin developed by Tips and Tricks HQ. It generates extra security website protection with a firewall to avoid malware and suspicious attacks.
Features
- Reduces security risk by regularly checking website vulnerabilities.
- The point grading system to audit a website, indicating how well you are protected against security attacks.
- Lockdown IP addresses that try to login with an invalid username.
- Force logout all users after a certain time period.
- Login Lockdown feature to guard against “Brute Force Login Attack”.
- Password strength tool for generating strong passwords.
- Detects identical login and display names, if any.
- Supports manual approval of WordPress user accounts.
- Can backup original wp-config.php and .htaccess files.
- Blocks comments submitted from another domain.
- Apply firewall rules with a basic, intermediate and advanced option without hurting site functionality.
7- BulletProof Security
BulletProof Security plugin is another option to protect your website against suspicious attacks and minimize the risk of compromising website data.
Features
- .htaccess security protection.
- HTTP error logging.
- Idle session logout.
- Data comparison tool.
- Plugin Firewall for IP address updating and automated whitelisting.
- Dashboard Status Display.
- PHP Error Logging.
- Auto-Restore Intrusion Detection.
- Maintenance mode with both front end and back end option.
- One-Click Setup.
8- Anti-Malware Security
Anti-Malware Security plugin is a very handy tool used to run a complete website scan for removing common security threats.
Features
- Firewall to protect against known vulnerabilities and Brute-Force attacks.
- Regularly audit the authenticity of WordPress Core files.
- Prevents exploiting Revolution Slider.
- Effortlessly removes backdoor scripts and database injections.
- Download Definition Updates to guard against suspicious threats.
9- Security Ninja
Security Ninja has been around for the last 10 years and is one of the best options to secure website data. It has an elusive ability to run 50+ security tests at a time for threats detection of the website.
Features
- Protects your site for potential vulnerabilities and security issues.
- Used to optimize and accelerate website database.
- Debug & auto-update modes.
- Takes preventive measures against malicious threats.
- Apache and database configuration test.
- Every test is presented with how to fix known issues.
- Detects if WordPress core is up to date.
10- Hide My WP
Hide My WP is a security plugin best developed to protect your website against hacker’s bots.
Features
- Hides the authentication paths like wp-login, wp-admin, wp-login.php for protection against hacking attacks.
- It supports custom permalinks. You can activate it on WordPress at Settings > Permalinks.
- Compatible with Jetpack, W3 Total Cache, Yoast SEO, Contact Form 7 and other major WordPress plugins.
- Powerful protection against SQL Injection Attacks, Brute Force Attacks, and Cross-Site Scripting (XSS).
Top Three WordPress Security Plugin Comparison
In this section, we do an honest comparison between the top three WordPress security plugins that help you make a better decision before picking one for your website.
Sucuri Security
The Sucuri comes with Firewalls used for malware detection and removal.
It also supports DNS level firewall services for blocking suspicious attacks like SQL injections.
And it is equally valuable for preventing potential attacks like Brute Force, DDoS, and other known vulnerabilities.
Even though it guarantees unprecedented website security, it is expensive and a little bit complex to use for beginners.
iTheme
iTheme plugin has 900,000+ active installations until now which indicates it is the right fit for website security.
It prevents suspicious bots from accessing your site. Two-Factor authentication is another robust feature for website security
Although, it offers protection against Brute Force Attacks, it doesn’t guarantee full website protection like partial spam protection.
Wordfence
Wordfence has a firewall to prevent potential attacks.
It supports the firewall in a learning mode, giving you the flexibility to get familiar with the plugin.
It also protects your website against known IPs of attackers by tracking down and blocking them ultimately.
Expert support is only available for paid members. During an active website scan, it can overload your server.
Conclusion
Sucuri is one of the best options to start with, but it is expensive. If you can afford, we’d highly recommend going with this plugin.
Similarly, iThemes Security comes with advanced features like protection against Brute Force and guarantees the security of user credentials.
Wordfence is a remarkable option for those coming from a technical background as it requires technical expertise to set up and handle this plugin effectively.
FAQs
Stuffing your website with multiple security plugins will make your site difficult to load. It is wise to use minimum – yet necessary — plugins to maintain site speed.
A good hosting plan is a key to a secure website. Give site access to those you trust. By limiting login access and implementing two-step authentication can keep your site secure without using a bunch of plugins.
Not all plugins are created equal. Some are better than others. Even though most of them are safe, it is preferred to look for reviews and active installation before setting them up.
Source: https://wpsupportdesk.com/blog/wordpress-security-plugins/
