12 Best WordPress Security Plugins to Secure Your Website

WordPress is the most popular Content Management System (CMS) and now it powers over 30% of websites in the world. While it is growing rapidly, hackers mostly target WordPress websites. As a site owner, you don’t want hackers to ruin your website. No websites are 100% safe, but you can always tighten up your site security, for instance, you can follow up WordPress security guidelines and use WordPress security plugins to monitor what’s happening on your site.

WordPress itself is a secure platform and developers continuously push updates for enhancing its security and adding extra features. But installing 3rd party plugins or themes make WordPress vulnerable. According to Wordfence, the most common way hackers gain unauthorized access to a WordPress site is through plugins.

Image source: WordFence

If somehow hackers gain access to your website, they can easily view your website files, database and can ruin other thousands of websites on the web server. A few days back, Securi discovered SoakSoak malware which compromised over 100,000+ WordPress websites by exploiting the vulnerability in a plugin. Once a website is hacked, hackers usually leave their footprint so that they can easily re-enter to your website which is impossible to detect.

Fortunately, there are various kinds WordPress security plugins available which can help you to detect and eliminate all the vulnerable present in your WordPress site. Not only that, those security plugins can also protect your WordPress site from hackers, check for malware on your website, stop brute-force attack, watch your site viewers behaviors in real time, block spammy IP addresses, and much more. 

In this article, we will discuss 12 best WordPress security plugins that will help you to protect your website from hackers.

12 Best WordPress Security Plugins

There are many WordPress security services and plugins available but we choose the best ones. These security plugins offer a wide range of features that will keep your WordPress site secure from hackers.

Some of the security plugins are free and some are paid. Free version plugins come with very limited features and for using their full functionality, you need to upgrade to the paid version. It will take a couple bucks to upgrade, but you know security is the most important thing of a website. If you are really serious about your blog and online business, you should utilize any of these security plugins today.

1. Securi Security

Securi is one of the best security plugins available for WordPress. This plugin offers a variety type of security features which will help you to prevent malware from damaging your website, such as: security activity auditing, file integrity monitoring, blacklist monitoring, post-hack security actions and much more.

Is your site hacked? Don’t worry. Securi is there for you. They will clean your hacked website and restore your site in just a couple of hours. If your site has been blacklisted by Google or any antivirus companies, Securi will help you to remove blacklist warnings. Their powerful malware detection tool will remove all the malicious code injections in your website and database also.

Best Features of Securi:

• Securi removes website malware and prevents future website hacks
• If your site has been blacklisted on Google, Securi will help you to remove blacklist warning
• It will stop brute force attack and DDoS attack on your site
• When their system detects a malicious bot or hacker tool trying to attack your site, it blocks them automatically
• You will receive an instant email notification if Securi detects something wrong in your website
• If your site is highjacked, Securi will help to recover your site
• Securi offers free SSL certificate to make sure all the sensitive data are safe
• With their Security tools, they also provide high-performance CDN service
• Their customer support is available 24×7 through live chat, phone, and email

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2. iTheme Security

iTheme Security formerly known as Better WP Security is another great WordPress security plugin. iTheme security plugin provides 30+ security features to protect your WordPress site from malicious attacks. Using iTheme security plugin, you can add limit login attempts in WordPress, so if someone tries to log in by guessing your password, they will be automatically blocked. It’s a good example of preventing brute force attacks.

If someone able to access your site and tries to modify or delete any file, this plugin will instantly notify you through an email that something has changed on your site. Sometimes bad bots check our site for vulnerabilities and create tons of 404 error pages which is bad for your site SEO, iTheme security plugin will automatically block those spammy IP addresses.

iTheme security plugin enforces WordPress users to use a strong password. You can change default WordPress login URL so that attacks wouldn’t know where to look. Besides, you can take backup of your site using iTheme Security.

This plugin is freemium and you can download it from WordPress.org plugin directory. You can get the iTheme Security Pro if you want to use all the essential security features that are needed for your site. Pro version plugin costs $80 for 2 sites and it would be a great investment for enhancing your site security.

Best Features of iTheme Security:

• iTheme security monitors your website for malware every day
• You can add Google reCaptcha to your login, registration page to protect your site from spammers
• You can harden your login page by adding two-factor authentication system
• You can track when users edit content, log in and log out
• iTheme security prevents brute force attack by banning users with too many failed login attempts
• Enforce all users accounts to add a strong password
• You can use turn on “away mode” that means within a given time, users wouldn’t able to log in your site
• It removes RSD header information and renames “admin” account
• and much more…

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3. Malcare Security

MalCare is a complete WordPress Security Solution that took over 2 years to build. It was developed after analyzing more than 240,000 WordPress website and uses this collective intelligence to protect a WordPress site from malware, hackers and the rest. The best part – it’s built on AI technology that is always learning and improving.

MalCare comes with a range of features which goes to show it was designed to be an all-in-one security solution. It’s two most important features are the Scanner and the Cleaner. MalCare’s automated Scanner detects the most complicated and under-the-radar malware. It used over 100 signals to ensure no malware bypass its watch. The Cleaner removes malware as soon as they are identified.

Best Features of Malcare Security:

• A powerful Scanner that detects new and complex malware.
• An easy-to-use Cleaner that annihilates all trace of malware.
• A Firewall that bans bad IP addresses and prevents malicious login attempts made by bots.
• Manage Users and Update Plugins, Themes, WordPress Core of several websites from a single dashboard.
• White-labelingMalCare allows you to showcase our service under your own brilliant brand. Client Reporting helps generate detailed security reports.
• And regular Backups (powered by BlogVault) offers you access to up to 365 days of backups.

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4. SecuPress

SecuPress is newly launched WordPress security plugin that has over 10,000 active installs and continues growing. Like other WordPress security plugins, it has a bunch of useful features. This plugin comes with a clean and beautiful UI that shows you all kinds of security details.

SecuPress is a freemium security plugin for WordPress and the free version plugin includes Protection of security keys, Blocked IPs, Change Database Prefix, Basic Firewall, Anti Brute Force Login etc. The premium version plugin comes with more awesome security features. If you have no time to run weekly scans, you can schedule the scan with SecuPress Pro.

Using SecuPress you can run a security audit of your WordPress site and the plugin can fix the issues for you. It checks almost all kind of security points and asks you what action to take. It also adds two-factor authentication to your login page. It detects your installed WordPress themes and plugins that are vulnerable or include malicious code. If it finds anything malicious, it will send you an email alert.

Best Features of SecuPress Security Plugin:

• SecuPress scans your site on a regular basis
• It has powerful Firewall that stops all kind of incoming requests
• It protects your security keys and blocks bad bots
• It detects your WordPress themes and plugins for malicious code
• You can create your own security audit and fix those issues that are important
• You can add 2FA to your login page
• This plugin allows you to backup your database and files and lets you download them
• You can schedule Malware scan and backup

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5. Wordfence Security

Wordfence is the most popular WordPress security plugin. It has over 2+ million active installs and highest rated plugin. Like other WordPress security plugins, Wordfence adds web application firewall which detects and blocks malicious traffic. Their powerful malware scanner tool checks your site’s core files, theme, and plugin files and if it detects any malicious code in your side, it instantly sends you an email notification.

With Wordfence, you can monitor live traffic of your site, hack attempts including their origin, IP address, what and how much time they spend on your site etc. Their free version Wordfence plugin comes with comment spam filter feature like Akismet has. It also protects your site from brute force attacks by limiting login attempts.

Wordfence is a freemium plugin. With free version plugin, you will get web application firewall, malware scanner, view blocked intrusion attempts and some other features. The premium version plugin will cost $8.25 per month and you will get more powerful security features like real-time thread defense feed, country blocking, two-factor authentication etc.

Best Features of Wordfence Security:

• Their web application firewall blocks malicious traffic
• You can see real-time malware signature updates from the thread defense feed
• If someone made any changes to your site, Wordfence checks all the files including plugins and themes with the original version and let you know via email
• It monitors your site every day for known security issue and sends you an alert if something suspicious
• You can check whether your site has been blacklisted for malicious activity
• If any site IP gathering spam, you can get detailed IP information and ban the IP address

Try Wordfence Security Plugin

6. All In One WP Security & Firewall

All In One WP Security is another great WordPress security plugin and it’s completely free. Although it’s 100% free but offers many advanced security features. All In One Security plugin uses a security points grading system and let you know what security function you need to turn on. Their security firewall is categorized into 3 levels and you can apply any of this firewall rule based on your needs. 

This plugin detects if a user uses the default “admin” username and helps you to change to a value you want. Like iTheme security, their password strength tool allows you and your users to use a strong password. When users reach a number of failed login attempts, this plugin instantly locks out those IP addresses and you will be notified. From your WordPress dashboard, you can view a list of locked out users in detail. If you don’t want your users to be logged in, you can force log out all users. You can even monitor the activity of all your users.

If a hacker gets unauthorized access to your WordPress site and changes something, their file detection scanner tool will alert that a file has been changed by someone. Then you can log in to your site and can see what was the changes.

Best Features of All In One WP Security & Firewall

• Their security and firewall uses multi-level security layer, so you can apply any level firewall rules without breaking your site
• This plugin detects if a user uses a very common username and password that is easy to guess
• Their login lockdown feature bans all the IP addresses that are causing brute force attacks
• Add captcha to login page, and forgot password form
• You can change the default WP prefix
• It adds an extra layer protection to your PHP code by disabling file editing option from WordPress dashboard
• If you want to protect your content from content stealing, you can easily disable the right mouse click
• and much more…

Try All In One Security Plugin

7. Google Authenticator – Two Factor Authentication

By using two-factor authentication, you are adding an extra layer of protection to your WordPress login from attackers. If your WordPress security plugin doesn’t provide two-factor authentication, then I recommend you to this plugin.

If you have used any other Google services that require two-step verification, then you already know how this process works. After installing Google Authenticator WordPress plugin, you need to set it up and select any two-factor authentication method you want to use. After that, logout from your WordPress admin dashboard and from the next login, you will be asked to use Google authenticator mobile application for signing in. 

The free version Google authenticator plugin comes with different authentication methods like Google Authenticator, QR code, push notification, soft token, security questions, OTP over SMS etc. You can set multiple login options and you can redirect users after logging in.

The premium version plugin comes with more useful features and you can use it for your multisite. You can choose different authentication methods for users.

Best Features of Google Authenticator

• This plugin adds two-factor authentication during login
• Different authentication methods available
• Multiple login options available
• Multi-site supported
• You can choose any specific authentication method for users
• OTP over email, OTP over SMS, email verification available

Try Google Authenticator Plugin

8. BBQ: Block Bad Queries

Block Bad Queries is a great WordPress security plugin that protects your site from malicious URL requests. BBQ scans incoming traffic and automatically blocks all the malicious requests like eval(, base64_, and other long request strings. 

Unlike other WordPress security plugins, it doesn’t require any further setup. That means after installing this plugin, it will start its own work. This plugin is available in both free and premium version. The paid version plugin gives better security and control. Using BBQ pro version plugin, you can fully customize your website firewall, disable BBQ for logged in users, set own status code, easily add/edit/ remove any rules etc. 

The Pro version plugin costs only $20 and it includes all features and you will get lifetime updates and basic support.

Best Features of Block Bad Queries

• This plugin is easy to use and doesn’t require any configuration
• It scans all incoming traffic and blocks bad requests
• It also blocks SQL injection attacks
• It uses 5G, 6G advanced firewall protection
• Compatible with other WordPress security plugins

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9. IP Geo Block

As your site grows, there are many ways hackers try to conflict with your site to gain unauthorized access to your website. Hacker usually uses different IP addresses to run brute force attack and normally it’s hard to detect. So here comes IP Geo Block WordPress plugin.

This plugin protects your site from the attack on your site’s login form, XML-RPC, and admin area. It also blocks comment spam, trackbacks, and pingbacks spam, severe attack from undesired counties.

If you sell online products in a local area and don’t want any other countries visitors, then you can block other countries using this plugin. This plugin uses “WordPress-Zero Day Exploit Prevention” function that means if the plugin detects any malicious access to your site, it will block them even from the permitted countries. This plugin has also functionality to block certain types of attack such as CSRF, SQLi and also detects if your plugin contains vulnerability.

Best Features of IP Geo Block

• Protects your login form and XML-RPC against brute force attacks
• It uses WordPress-Zero Day Exploit Prevention function and can block any malicious access even from permitted countries
• You can block any certain countries
• It also blocks bad bots and crawlers

Try IP Geo Block Plugin

10. Hide My WordPress

Login page is one of the important parts of a website as hackers mostly target it. To secure your login page, you can hide WordPress admin login URL so attackers wouldn’t able to find where to check.

Hide My WordPress is a good WordPress security plugin that protects your website by hiding WordPress admin and login URLs against bots. The free version plugin comes with very limited features and doesn’t work for multisite. The Pro version plugin costs $23 and includes many more security features.

Using this plugin, you can change your plugin and theme name. You can create a custom path of your WordPress includes, content, uploads etc. This way hackers wouldn’t able to find whether you are using WordPress or not. It is also undetectable on WordPress theme and plugin checkers tool.

Best Features of Hide My WP:

• You can change wp-admin and wp-login URLs
• You can randomly change plugins and themes name
• You can create custom path of your WordPress plugins, themes, uploads, category
• It can hide wp-image and wp-post classes
• It disables WLW manifest scripts, Rest API access
• It prevents your site from brute force attacks, SQL injection attacks, and cross-site scripting

Try Hide My WordPress PRO

11. WPS Hide Login

Many time hacker uses our login page to run brute force attack where they try different combinations of “username” and “password” to gain access to our site. If your password is weak and using the default “admin” username, then your site can get hacked easily. First of all, you should change your default admin username and use a complex password. Another way you can secure your login page is by hiding it. 

By changing or hiding your WordPress login page, attackers wouldn’t able to find your login page. The default WordPress login address is “domain.com/wp-admin” and you can change the URL to anything you want, for example, “domain.com/my$$site6”. But you always need to remember the new WordPress login URL or you can write it somewhere else.

Best Features of WPS Hide Login:

• You can easily change WordPress login URL
• It stops your site from brute force attacks

Download WPS Hide Login

12. HTTP Headers

Conclusion

Security plugins are essential when it comes about WordPress security. By using a WordPress security plugin, it monitors our site all the time and detects if something wrong in our site. It also prevents most common attacks such as brute force attacks, DDoS attacks, XML-RPC attacks etc. We don’t know which plugin or theme contains vulnerable and normally we can’t detect it. But a security plugin can easily detect it and lets you know through an email notification.

Besides, if you are running a multi-author blog or business site where authors or editors have the privilege to publish, edit or delete articles. You can’t understand if a user attempting to hack your site or what’s their activity. But a good WordPress security plugin can easily monitor everything what is happening on your site.

In this article, we have discussed 12 Best WordPress security plugins that can help to secure your site. You don’t need to use all the plugins. But you can try any of them and if you like, stick with the plugin. It will be better if you switch to premium version plugin because they provide more security features and support.

[thrive_text_block color=”note”] If you really want a secure environment for your site, the first priority should be a good managed WordPress hosting. They are a bit expensive but they do their job and they always make sure your site is always safe. If you are on a budget, try switching to managed WordPress hosting instead of shared hosting. [/thrive_text_block]

Using WordPress? What WordPress security plugins you are using? Did I miss a plugin to mention? Let us know in the comment section. If you find this article helpful, do share it with your friends.