There are many security plugins (antivirus, antimalware and antispam) in WordPress, adapted to different types of projects and companies on the Internet, and in this post, we help you choose the best plugin for your website.
Many important things depend on the security of your website: the reputation of your brand, your positioning in Internet search engines, the proper functioning of your website, and, of course, your peace of mind.
Although there are many factors that make a page secure, plugins are one of the easiest and most effective ways to increase the security of your website, especially when it comes to WordPress.
Therefore, here we have compiled 22 excellent plugins to help you decide which ones are ideal to improve the security of your WordPress website.
Table of Contents
Why install a security plugin on your WordPress website?
Security is one of the most critical points of your WordPress website. On average, there is an attack every 39 seconds on the Internet. Hackers can take advantage of WordPress vulnerabilities like themes and plugins to find a hole in your security.
WordPress allows you to scan your site at any time to check for an attack, but preventing a hack on your website is much preferable to dealing with the consequences.
On the Internet, there is a new pirated website (hacked) every 39 seconds, often taking advantage of WordPress vulnerabilities.
Those responsible for hacking your website can obtain personal information from your customers, including their credit card data. They can also distribute viruses and malware to your users without their knowledge. If you are an online or eCommerce store, an attack can leave your credibility as a business on the ground.
An attack on your security can also block your access to your own website, but that is only the beginning of the problems. An event like this can affect your SEO rankings very negatively and damage the efforts you have made for your branding.
There are plenty of reasons to install a good WordPress security plugin. These strengthen the security of your website to minimize breaches and also make it more resistant to brute force attacks.
There are many components to a secure website, but a WordPress security plugin is a great place to start. Here I have gathered everything you need to know to make a good decision.
How to choose the best WordPress security plugin?
WordPress security plugins can be quite heavy. Like any other plugin, they can affect the loading speed of your WordPress page, and the heavier it is, the greater the effect.
The speed of your website is a factor that you do not want to neglect too much in favor of other things. Loading speed is one of the criteria that makes up the user experience, which significantly affects your ranking on the results pages. A slow website seriously harms your SEO and web positioning.
For this reason, consider precisely what you need from a WordPress security plugin. Many hosting services offer tools like backups, firewalls, malware scans, and updates. Check if your hosting service offers any of these features to choose plugins that do only what you need.
Also, choosing a premium plugin with all kinds of features can be inefficient in terms of cost. If you pay for a plugin that does things that your hosting service already takes care of, you would be spending money unnecessarily.
Your hosting company may already be offering you many security measures; choose the security plugin that does only what you need.
Another important limitation is the budget. The most complete plugins are also the most expensive, and that expense may not fit into your business plan. But don’t worry: that doesn’t mean you can’t protect your website.
There is a wide variety of free or very low-cost plugins, and paying for several of these can be cheaper than investing in a Premium option or spending countless hours trying to protect your WordPress without plugins, there is no need!
In short, there are three questions you should ask yourself when choosing a WordPress security plugin:
- What will be the impact of this plugin on the loading speed of my website?
- Exactly what features do I need from a security plugin?
- How much budget can I dedicate to a security plugin?
Knowing the answer to these three questions will help you understand your priorities and what type of plugin will best meet them.
If you have enough budget, the optimal option may be a full plugin. If you have a small budget but your priority is to take care of your buyers’ information, you may want to pay for a specialized plugin that does just that.
Analysis of the 20 best security plugins for WordPress
WordFence WordPress Security plugin
WordFence is one of the most powerful WordPress security plugins out there and with 1 million downloads it is also the most downloaded WordPress security plugin.
Thanks to its variety of functions, it is extremely complete:
- WordPress firewall
- IP blocking
- security scan
- Extra security at log in
- Security throughout your web pages
- Support of the main themes and plugins
- IPv6 support
WordFence has a free version with limited functionality, but more than enough for most web pages.
If you want to access all of WordFence’s tools like IP blacklisting and real-time firewall updates, you’ll need to subscribe to the Premium version for $99 per year.
Sucuri Security WordPress plugin
Sucuri is another of the most recognizable names among WordPress security plugins. It offers website activity auditing, file monitoring, malware scanning, security notifications, and a firewall in the form of a web application.
Many of these features are in the free version, but you’ll need to sign up for a paid Sucuri account to access things like the firewall, server scans, SSL support, and more. You can pay $9.99 per month for the firewall or 199.99 per year for all Sucuri features.
iThemes Security (formerly Better WP Security)
iThemes Security offers a variety of basic and advanced features for different types of users. It is designed so that anyone can secure their website in less than 20 minutes. You can choose from 6 predefined setup templates for different types of web pages to save you setup time.
iThemes security features cover logging in for you and your users, blocking bots and users, monitoring your website, and other advanced options.
You can use the free version or subscribe to iThemes Security Pro. Plans start at $80 per year.
All In One WP Security & Firewall
All In One WP Security & Firewall is capable of auditing, monitoring, and protecting your website with a firewall. It is a simple way to apply basic security measures to your website.
It has features like IP filtering, file and user account monitoring, suspicious patterns, and more. However, their firewall is not very effective and you may have to manually point to suspicious IPs. This plugin is available for free.
Astra Web Security
Astra Web Security is one of the most complete plugins on this list. It has an intuitive interface and protects your website from spam, malware, and more than 100 threats.
Astra also analyzes the security of your website and allows you to remove malware with one click. The Pro plan starts at $19 per month.
Defender Security
Defender Security is an easy-to-install and configures WordPress security plugin. The free version comes with essential security features like 2FA, file scanning, brute force attack protection, and suspicious IP blacklisting.
The Premium version is more powerful and includes a variety of reports, scans, and audits. It has a monthly cost of $49 for unlimited web pages, but it does not have a cheaper option to install on a single website.
Shield Security: Protection with Smarter Automation
Shield Security contains all the features of a great WordPress security plugin. What sets Shield Security apart is its emphasis on being as quiet and stealthy as possible.
This plugin has minimal installation and automates most of its functions so you don’t have to bother with notifications. Essential features are free, but pay $79 a year for Shield Security Pro to get extra features and personalized support.
Bulletproof Security Plugin
Bulletproof Security Plugin protects your website with a powerful firewall and a variety of features such as malware scanning, login monitoring, and detailed reporting of various aspects of your website.
You can install the free version or pay a one-time amount of $69.95 for the Pro version.
WebARX
WebARX is a highly rated plugin that protects your website from all kinds of malware, spam, and brute force attacks with its advanced firewall. This firewall updates automatically to prevent vulnerabilities in your themes and plugins.
The basic plan starts at $12.74.
Acunetix – WordPress Security Plugin
Acunetix is a simple free plugin that finds and reports vulnerabilities on your website.
However, the feature that makes it stand out is that it hides crucial data about your website that is normally visible, such as the WordPress version number, from hackers.
SiteLock
SiteLock automatically scans your WordPress themes for vulnerabilities and notifies you about them immediately. With this information, you can take action to remove the virus and malware from the website. The plugin also has Antispam, antimalware, and firewall features.
The basic plan starts at $14.99 per month.
MalCare Security and Firewall
MalCare is a plugin that allows you to clean up your website after it has been attacked with malware.
It has extremely useful tools like one-click malware removal, scans that don’t overload your servers, Firewall protection, and other more advanced options like white labeling.
You can do the scan with the free version, but you will need to subscribe for $99 to access the malware remover and other features.
Anti Malware Security
Anti-Malware Security is a plugin that has actively maintained up-to-date malware definitions. It allows you to easily scan your website files for malware, malicious code, backdoors, and other attack patterns.
The plugin is free, but you must register on its website. If you make a donation, you can gain access to premium features like brute force attack prevention.
Quttera Web Malware Scanner
Quttera Web Malware Scanner is a free plugin that does a deep scan of your website for all kinds of malware. It can even detect unknown malware through heuristic processes.
The best part is that it also allows you to remove all the malware it finds with ease.
WPScan Security
WPScan has a database of over 21,000 security vulnerabilities in WordPress themes, plugins, and software. This is manually updated by security experts.
With the free plan, you can make up to 25 API requests per day, which is usually enough for most WordPress pages. If your website is large or has many plugins, paid plans start at €5 per month.
WP Security Audit Log
WP Security Audit Log does deep and detailed audits of all suspicious actions that can be performed by users on your website. It’s a great way to track down suspicious patterns before they become a problem.
The cheapest plan starts at $99 a year.
Cerber Security, Antispam & Malware Scan
Cerber Security is a plugin capable of checking the integrity of your files and limiting the number of possible logins. This way you can avoid Spam attacks and track down suspicious users.
Cerber Security also includes other types of protection like IP blocks and malware scans. This plugin is free, but there is a paid version with more features for $99 per year.
security-ninja
Security Ninja is capable of doing more than 50 different security tests on your website to find vulnerabilities. This free plugin doesn’t fix the problems it finds, but determining how secure your website is is the first step to improving its security.
Security Ninja has a Pro version for $29/year with several standard security features.
VaultPress – Security scanning
VaultPress is a plugin that scans and backs up every post, media file, configuration, and review on your website. If you suffer a hacker attack, you will be protected against data loss.
These backups occur daily and can be restored with a single click. The cheapest plan is $4.77 per month.
Jet Pack Backup
Jetpack Backup is another plugin specialized in making automatic backup copies of your website.
With Jetpack Backup’s $4.77 plan you get daily backups. However, with the $23.97 plan, you have access to real-time backups; that is, updated with each change made on the website and with one year’s worth of files.
Chosen your best WordPress security plugin, let’s talk about your strategy?
Choosing a WordPress security plugin will depend on what features you need, what your budget is, and how many plugins you want to load on your website.
But plugins are only part of the security of your website. You have to make sure that these are integrated with your web development and SEO strategy. If not, they can be more of a hindrance than a benefit and hence the importance of having the support of a good WordPress maintenance service.
If you need help integrating your plugin and taking deeper security measures, you’ve come to the right place. Harmonweb has a diverse team of web developers who can help turn your website into a fortress without sacrificing an iota of SEO in your WordPress. Contact us!