WordPress security plugins are essential for your website. Just think about it–if you secure your home, business, and vehicles, why wouldn’t you secure your website?
The answer is simple, you absolutely should! (WordPress Security Statistics 2020, n.d.)
There are a lot of ways to secure your site, and I mean a lot. But, you need to know which are the best WordPress security plugins?
With so many options available, there isn’t any reason to not be using some of them.
In this article, we’ll look at how to secure your WordPress website and break down the beneficial features of each option.
I’m going to start with two that I use.
Table of Contents
A well-known name among security plugins for WordPress, iThemes Security is one of the most trusted, popular, and well-regarded security measures for WordPress users. iThemes offers:
- 404 error detection
- Brue-force attack prevention
- Strong password enforcement
- Malware scanning
iThemes also uses two-factor authentication, Google reCAPTCHAs, malware scans, and much more!
An easy and accessible security measure, Duo adds two-factor authentication to your website.
Passwords can be phished and even guessed. You can’t just rely on one layer of protection.
There are multiple ways to authenticate with Duo:
- One-time passcodes generated by Duo’s mobile app or an OATH-complain hardware token and can be delivered by SMS.
- One-tap authentication via Duo’s mobile app.
- Phone callback to any phone.
Now, for some more of the best security plugins for WordPress.
An easy and accessible security measure, Duo adds two-factor authentication to your website.
Passwords can be phished and even guessed. You can’t just rely on one layer of protection.
There are multiple ways to authenticate with Duo:
- Chat and email customer service.
- Advanced DDoS protection with some plans.
- Instant notifications when something is wrong.
- Multiple SSL certificate variations. (Only in certain packages)
- Blacklist monitoring, security hardening, malware scanning, and file integrity monitoring.
Now, for some more of the best security plugins for WordPress.
- Scan fights off span, malware, and real-time threats.
- Scans all files for malware, not just WordPress.
- The free version is great for small websites.
- Comment spam filter included.
- Alerts users when plugins have been removed or abandoned.
- Password auditing.
- Monitors live traffic.
- Firewall suite with tools for brute-force protection, country blocking, manual blocking, real-time defense, and more.
- Free Plugin with no upsells.
- Backup .wp-config and .htaccess files.
- Backlist tool to set requirements to block users.
- Easy visualization of your website and security issues with graphs.
- Downtime monitoring.
- Jetpack manages plugin updates entirely through its system.
- The premium plan is more like a suite and offers security scanning, backups, and spam protection.
- Features for site optimization and customization, email marketing, and social media.
- Stats tab to track most popular visiting times and show threats during those times.
- Clean and easy to understand dashboard.
- Better pricing than most.
- VaultPress has experts on standby to help you with things like backups and restores.
- Log comments to stop spam.
- Integrate with CloudFlare proxy servers.
- Hard or soft blocks.
- Logs information about user enumeration, span, and pingbacks.
- Create a shortcode to block users immediately.
- Log users, hackers, bots, and other suspicious activities.
- Permit or restrict access with IP Access Lists.
- Monitors logins from auth cookies, login forms, or XML-RPC.
- Detects spam comments and moves them to trash or denies them.
- Stops user enumeration.
- Verifies integrity of WordPress files, themes, and plugins.
- No unnecessary notifications due to smart features that work in the background.
- Scans delivered six times to fully protect your website.
- Offers three Two-Factor Authentication types for free.
- Can restrict access to Shield Security settings for certain users.
- 404 limiter to block vulnerability scans.
- Login screen masking.
- IP lockout reports and notifications
- Google 2-step verification.
- Unlimited file scanning.
- WordPress core repair and file scanning.
- Timed Lockout brute-force attack shield.
- IP Blacklist logging and manager.
- Can hide individual plugin folders.
- BPS Pro ARQ Intrusion Detection and Prevention System encryption.
- The free version offers database backups.
- Maintenance mode.
- Scheduled crons.
- Curl Scans.
- Folder locking.
- WordPress core scanning. Keep the integrity of your files.
- Auto-fixer can resolve issues for people less knowledgeable about the tech.
- Schedule regular scans.
- Scans plugins and themes for malware and suspicious code.
- Logs all events that happen on your WordPress site.
- Security tester can perform over 50 security tests.
- Anti-spam.
- WordPress firewall protects from brute-force attacks.
- Scans system files, plugins, and themes for malware, SEO spam, backdoors, invalid URLs.
- Smooth and easy to use interface.
- Background checkmarks and hides spam comments.
- Change WordPress login URL to prevent bots from finding it.
- Premium checks 35 security points in five minutes.
- Detects vulnerable plugins and themes or ones that have malicious code.
- Easy to use interface.
- Additional security checks.
- Schedule scans for specific times.
- Has it’s own vulnerability database that is updated constantly.
- Option to receive emails about vulnerabilities.
- Can upgrade vulnerable versions of timthumb scripts.
- Complete scan to remove known security threats, database injections, and backdoor scripts.
- Firewall to block SoakSoak and malware to prevent exploiting Revolution Slider and other plugins.
- Can download Definition Updates for new threats.
- Allows selection of which user types go through the authentication process.
- Almost completely eliminates login area vulnerabilities.
- Shortcode for custom login pages.
- Can choose which Two-Factor Authentication method you want to use.
- Block any direct folder access to completely hide the structure.
- Rewrite WP, plugins, uploads, comments, and more.
- Hides WP core files, login page, theme, and plugin paths from the front side.
- Doesn’t change files or directories.
WordPress Security Plugin Conclusion
As you can see, I wasn’t lying when I said there are a lot of options! Each of these plugins will give you the best WordPress security practices.
Knowing that your site is secure and being able to check it at a moment’s notice is essential.
We live in the tech age now, and threats come from every corner of the internet.
Side Note (You need to have a secure website host. I recommend BlueHost and SiteGround
For WordPress security plugins, I personally like iThemes Security Pro and Duo Two-Factor Authentication. But, you basically can’t go wrong with any of these. They’re all great options.
Naturally, some plugins are better than others. For instance, Sucuri and iThemes are some of the most popular because they offer a wide range of features and are easy to use.
WordPress Website security is not something to mess around with. If your site becomes vulnerable you could lose everything you’ve done on it. There’s nothing worth taking that risk over.
If you want to shop around and try some out before you commit to a package, which I highly suggest doing, then you’re in luck.
Almost all these WordPress security plugins offer free versions.
My best advice would be to use a few of the plugins and see which ones work the best for you.
Not all interfaces are the same, and some people will like different layouts. Interactivity is just as important and features and security.
Find the one that works the best for you and get your WordPress site secure!