Using a security plugins for WordPress can protects your site not only from malware, brute force attacks, but also reduces the chances of hacking attempts. There are hundreds of WordPress Security Plugins WordPress Official marketplace and other websites.
Why You Should Use Security Plugins in WordPress?
WordPress is the most popular content management (CMS) platform in the world. Millions of websites, blogs, including various big e-commerce players, are using WordPress as their online channel. So, hackers may also be more interested in hacking WordPress based websites. WordPress usually pushes updates to patch all the known vulnerabilities, but third party themes and plugins make WordPress vulnerable. As WordPress is open-source, everybody aware of code. Sometimes hackers also find vulnerabilities in WordPress that allow them to hack the whole server. Yes, it is possible.
A security breach can be severe damage to your business and data. Hackers can steal your customer, subscriber personal information, a website can be destroyed and which may lead to damage to your SEO ranking and Brand reputation. Ideally, the website should have a firewall, as you have in your personal computer. You can scan your site regularly, but to find out vulnerability before the damage, is difficult for a non-technical person without professional help. So, but thanks to all developer community around, who has a solution and available as a WordPress security plugin. This plugin works as Antivirus for your WordPress website and WooCommerce.
In this article, we have hand-picked the top 4 best WordPress security plugins (Free + Premium) that you can use to protect your website or blog immediately.
Note: You should use one plugin for security purpose; multiple plugins can create a bug in your website.
1: Sucuri
Sucuri is the market leader in WordPress security Plugins. It is one of the best WordPress security plugins on the market. They offer an essential free Sucuri Security plugin which helps you harden WordPress security and scan your website for most common threats. But the high value of Sucuri is in the paid plans, which come with the best WordPress firewall protection.
A firewall helps you block brute force and malicious attacks from accessing WordPress. It also filters out lousy traffic even before it reaches your server because you can host static contents on their CDN servers.
Most importantly, they offer to clean up your WordPress site if it gets affected by malware at no additional cost. You can even take a website already affected by malware, and they will clean it up for you.
Cost: Free Plan, and Paid version starts from $199/yr
2: iThemes Security (Formerly Better Better WP Security)
iThemes has been developing WordPress tools since 2008. Backupbuddy is also a trustworthy and popular WordPress backup plugin by iThemes. So if you install iThemes Security, you know you are in safe hands because the plugin is maintained and supported by iThemes itself.
iThemes, to begin with, bans users who have already tried to attack other sites from accessing your website. It means that your website has tighter protection against brute force attacks. It will automatically report IP addresses of failed login attempts and blocks them so that your website is protected.
Some more features include:
- Scans your site and instantly reports vulnerabilities and fixes them
- Bans troublesome user agents, bots and other hosts
- Enforces strong passwords for all accounts
- Strengthens server security
The pro version provides an extra layer of protection to your WordPress website. Two-factor authentication, for example, allows you to generate a code through a mobile app such as Authenticator. The code will be emailed to you upon generation
It comes with file integrity checks, security hardening, limit login attempts, strong password enforcement, 404 detections, brute force protection, and more. iThemes Security does not include a website firewall. It also does not include its own malware scanner and uses Sucuri’s Site check malware scanner.
Cost: Free Plan, and Paid version starts from $90/yr
3: Wordfence – WordPress Security Plugins
Wordfence is another popular WordPress security plugin. They offer a free version of their plugin, which comes complete with a powerful malware scanner, exploit detection, and threat assessment features.
The plugin will automatically scan your website for common threats, but you can also launch a full scan at any time. You will be alerted if any signs of a security breach are detected with the instructions to fix them.
Some more features include:
- The free version is powerful enough for smaller websites.
- It has a full firewall suite with tools for country blocking, manual blocking, brute force protection, real-time threat defense, and a web application firewall.
- The scan portion of the plugin fights off malware, real-time threats, and spam. It scans all your files for malware, not just WordPress files.
- The plugin monitors live traffic by viewing things like Google crawl activity, logins and logouts, human visitors, and bots.
- The comment spam filter removes the need to install a separate plugin for this.
Cost: Free Plan, and Paid version starts from $99/yr per user license (discount on multiple user licenses)
4: All In One Security & Firewall
All In One WP Security & Firewall is one of the most popular WordPress security plugins. It’s straightforward to use, and you can configure this plugin pretty quickly, even if you don’t have any tech skills.
It’s equipped with a unique grading system, so you can see which areas of your WordPress site are protected, and what you need to improve upon. Since it’s visually based, it’s easy to understand and correct any areas of your website that might be weak.
The main ways this plugin will improve your security are by protecting against blue force login attempts, securing your user accounts, creating a website firewall, protecting your WordPress databases, and even allowing you to blacklist specific sites or IP addresses.
Plus, it also comes with a basic website level firewall which can detect some common patterns and block them for you. However, it is not very efficient, and often you will be required to blacklist suspicious IPs manually.
We hope this article helped you find the best WordPress security plugin for your website. You may also want to see our list of best WordPress plugins to speed up your website.
You can also watch best WordPress security plugin short video to get information immediately.
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