WordPress security has become a topic of huge importance for every WordPress user. According to WPBeginner, Google blacklists around 50,000 WordPress websites for phishing and 20,000 for malware every week.
To help you keep your WordPress website secure, we’ve compiled seven WordPress security plugins that will help you protect your site. These 7 picks where chosen by evaluating user ratings on Wordpress Plugins. To ensure the quality of each plugin, we’ve only listed plugins with over 500 five star ratings. Plus, we excluded plugins that haven’t been updated within the last three months.
1. Wordfence
Wordfence comes equipped with an endpoint firewall and malware scanner which have both been built from the ground up. The plugin provides real-time monitoring of visits and hack attempts. The premium version comes with real-time malware signature updates, country blocking and two-factor authentication.
Requires WordPress Version: 3.9
Tested up to: 4.9.7
Requires PHP Version: 5.2
Price: Free / Prices for Wordfence Premium version starts from $99 a year for a single license
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2. All in One WP Security & Firewall
The All in One WP Security plugin uses a security point grading system that assesses how well your site is protected based on what security measures you have in place. Following the assessment, the plugin then enforces the latest recommended WordPress security practices and techniques. The plugin also offers an extensive range of security and firewall features including blacklist functionality, database security, file system security and brute force login attack prevention.
Requires WordPress Version: 3.5
Tested up to: 4.9.7
Requires PHP Version: N/A
Price: Free
3. iTheme Security (Formerly WP Security)
iThemes Security protects your WordPress site by obscuring common WordPress security vulnerabilities to prevent hackers from learning too much about your site. The plugin prevents brute force attacks from happening by banning hosts, bots and users who have repeatedly made numerous failed login attempts. A premium version is also available and comes with a number of additional features including Google reCAPTCHA, two-factor authentication and automated malware scanning.
Requires WordPress Version: 4.7
Tested up to: 4.9.7
Requires PHP Version: 5.2
Price: Free/$197 a year for iTheme Security Pro
4. Shield Security
Shield Security comes with an easy-to-use guided wizard that assists you with configuring the plugin and running security scans. This security plugin has an extensive range of features including reCAPTCHA, automatic IP blacklisting and two-factor authentication. The premium version includes a plugin vulnerability scanner and a theme hack detection scanner. The pro version costs as little as $1 a month.
Requires WordPress Version: 3.5
Tested up to: 4.9.7
Requires PHP Version: 5.2.4
Price: Free/$1 per month for Shield Security Pro
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5. Jetpack
Developed by Automattic, Jetpack has been dubbed as the all-in-one plugin that helps you with design, marketing and security. The security features that are available in Jetpack include brute force protection and spam filtering. Jetpack’s premium version provides real-time automated backups.
Requires WordPress Version: 4.7
Tested up to: 4.9.7
Requires PHP Version: N/A
Price: Free/$8 a month for Premium/$25 a month for Professional
6. Akismet
Akismet is another plugin developed by Automattic. Akismet checks over your comments and contact form submissions against their global database of spam. Any comments which have been found to contain spam are filtered for you to review via the “Comments” admin section. It is free to use for personal blogs, but for businesses and commercial sites, you need to pay a monthly subscription.
Requires WordPress Version: 4.0
Tested up to: 4.9.7
Requires PHP Version: N/A
Price: Free/$50 a month for enterprises
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7. CleanTalk
CleanTalk is an all-in-one anti-spam WordPress plugin that protects logins, comments, contact forms and WooCommerce forms. The plugin provides detailed stats of any incoming comments or logins. You can also download a free mobile app to check these stats on the go. Cleantalk offers a free trial for you to tryout the plugin, after that, you will have to pay a yearly subscription.
Requires WordPress Version: 4.7
Tested up to: 4.9.7
Requires PHP Version: 5.2
Price: Free/$8 a year for 1 website
