10 Best WordPress Security Plugins To Protect Your Website Data [IMP]

Having a website is a piece of real estate in the cyber world and like a valuable asset. You always want to ensure that it remains safe from intruders, hackers, and thieves. If you’re into the virtual real estate, you can relate to the fact that there are a plethora of ways in which your website could become a victim of a security breach. Be it unsupported and updated plugins and themes, weak password rules, unfettered access to WordPress, or any other non-serious attitude towards your website, can treat the wave for hackers to intrude into your site. Sometimes hackers get into the hosting server you are using. But here you're going to be WordPress security expert after reading this page.
Best WordPress Security Plugins To Protect Your Website —
Many WordPress security expert always look to find out about; how do you secure WordPress site? What is the best security plugin for Wordpress? Which is best WordPress malware removal plugin to protect from attack? What are the plugins to secure WordPress hosting from hackers? How to setup best website firewall settings?

Security is the huge issue especially for those who work online. If something goes on, it could directly affect your business and livelihood. Your website is the first point of contact with customers, and imagine if your site is unsafe than there’s a possibility that you lose your brand reputation and income.

Be it a small business or a large organization; both are equally targeted - you need to get on your feet to keep your online business safe. There are multiple ways in WordPress multisite security to ensure your virtual protection including secure passwords and updates, but we recommend you to use plugins to keep your digital property safe. There are various all in one WordPress security and firewall plugin compatible for different security needs and to get the right plugin, you need to define your requirements so that you pick the most-suited plugin easily.

Otherwise, you can select the generic plugin that performs most of the tasks. We have drafted a list of 10 most popular comprehensive, simple to work, stable and compatible WordPress security plugins that suit the basic security needs of your website.

{tocify} $title={Table of Contents}

Top 10 Best WordPress Security Plugins To Protect Your Website & Data

We don’t recommend you to install all the plugins mentioned in this reference guide as unnecessary plugins slow down the performance of your website.

To compare we will look at the following things apart from the main features of the plugins:

• Number of Downloads
• When the plugin was updated recently
• Price
• Positive & negative Reviews
• Level of support

Check out top 10 best WordPress security plugins that will help you to keep Your website super-secure:

1. Sucuri Security

One of the most popular and feature-rich security plugins for WordPress. This powerful plugin cleans and scans the entire system to prevent brute-force attacks, DDoS attack, Zero-Day Disclosure Patches, viruses, and malware infections and keeps monitoring for any ongoing malicious activities.

This is a single click process that asks you to get the API code and registration, and as soon as you get registered, the plugin starts testing your site.

You don’t need to be a tech-geek to use the plugin with the beautiful yet easy-to-understand interface. Enabling/disabling security options is just a single click function, but you need to pay to get the firewall as it’s not available in the freemium version - it’s justified as it offers so many other security protocols freely.

The provider provides three plans;

• Basic - scan every 12 hrs in just $199.99/year
• Professional - Scans every 6 hrs in just $299.99/year
• Business - Scans every 4 hrs in just $499.99/year

All plans include unlimited malware and hack clean up, continuous scanning, firewall, attack prevention, blacklist removal and DDoS protection.

You can also buy SSL certificate separately in just $80. The best thing about this plugin is that it updates all the security keys in case your website compromised for any reason - hackers won’t be able to access anything with the old security keys.

In short, Sucuri offers;

• WordPress Integrity Diff Utility
• Scheduled Tasks
• Website Firewall Protection
• Ignore Files And Folders During The Scans
• Default Admin Account
• Setting up alerts
• Block PHP Files Upload in particular directories
• Plugin and Theme Editor
• Updating security keys

DOWNLOAD & MORE INFO: https://wordpress.org/plugins/sucuri-scanner/

You may also like to know more about; 6 Best Ways To Protect An eCommerce Shopping Site [Online Store] Against Hacks & Frauds | Best Security Practices

2. Defender

WPMU DEV’s Defender plugin is now freely available in the WordPress repository and a part of the WPMU DEV membership pack. This plugin is amazingly easy! Layered security with no longer hideously complex settings to get virtual security.

Defender adds all the security and hardening tweaks that you need, in minutes. Defender begins with a list of single-click hardening techniques like; disabling trackbacks and pingbacks, preventing PHP execution and information, hiding error reporting, updating security keys and what not.

With Defender, you can scan to identify suspicious code and to compare the Wordpress install with the directory, report changes and also lets you restore the original version. Now you can quickly join a million users with 2-step verification - activate and protect your WP account with a password and with your phone.

Defender’s simple IP manager keeps your site safe by allowing you to manually block specific IPs, import lists of banned IPs, and x to set automated time with permanent lockouts. Defender makes it easy to block and unblock specific locations.

Here’s why this is the ultimate bodyguard for your WordPress site:

• Recommended security fixes
• Automated and customized security scans
• Two-factor authentication at login
• Updated security keys
• Code and file scanning for unauthorized changes
• Limited login attempts
• 10GB of Snapshot backup included
• Bot and IP lockout in case you suspect they’re out to harm you
• Online monitoring to check if your site was blacklisted or not

DOWNLOAD & MORE INFO: https://wpmudev.com/project/wp-defender/

3. JetPack

Plugin users are familiar with Jetpack because this plugin has so many features and its made by WordPress.

JetPack is filled with modules to strengthen your site speed, social media, and spam protection. There are so many features in Jetpack, and that’s worth exploring.

There are several security tools are involved with Jetpack, making it the most preferable plugin for an affordable yet reliable solution. The protect module is free that prevents the suspicious activity from occurring.

Brute force attack protection and whitelisting come under the basic functionality of Jetpack. This plugin offers WordPress themes, unlimited image CDN, downtime monitoring, and email support, in the free version. You can get more unlimited services in paid versions.

Best Features of Jetpack:

• The premium plans turn the plugin into more like a suite, with benefits like spam protection, backups, and security scanning.
• Plugin updates are managed entirely through Jetpack.
• You also get downtime monitoring.
• Jetpack eliminates the need for other plugins. It has features for email marketing, site customization, social media, and optimization.

DOWNLOAD & MORE INFO: https://wordpress.org/plugins/jetpack/

You may also like to read; Top 10 Ways To Secure WordPress Websites Like A Pro | WordPress Security Best Practices

4. All In One WP Security

If you haven’t used any plugin so far and looking to have one, we recommend you to go with All In One WP Security so that your website never invites malicious codes and brute force attack, and no one can easily steal your information.

This is the famous WordPress security plugin to detect and prevent vulnerabilities with its easy-to-use interface and other security practices.

It notifies you with an email notification in case somebody gets locked out due to failed login attempts. It also detects if a user tries to set a weak password and enforce it to use a strong password. It also monitors the account activity and keeps track of username, IP, and login date time.

This plugin allows you to schedule an automatic backup with email notifications. It secures PHP code by blocking admin area editing. It installs a web application firewall in your website hosting that allows 5G blacklist to stop multiple attacks.

It also rejects bad query strings, prevents CSRF, XSS, SQL injection, malicious bots and related security threats.

The security scanner of this plugin keeps track of files and notifies you about each change to your WordPress. Mostly it is preferred for WP Hosting migration purposes too.

It also blocks and protects your blogs from spam commenting. It is compatible with most plugins without any problem.

This plugin offers these features in a free plan:

• Taking Backup of .htaccess file
• Protect default user admin name and password
• Database security and backup
• Limited login attempts
• Secure Filesystem
• Blacklisting IPs
• Protection against brute force
• Spam protection

Overall, it’s the best choice for people who have a tight budget to spend on security plugins.

DOWNLOAD & MORE INFO: https://wordpress.org/plugins/all-in-one-wp-migration/

5. iThemes Security

Yet Another giant in the security world, iThemes Security - keeps you safe in 30 ways. This provides a full-featured and popular login; that is arguably the most comprehensive option on the list.

Again if you’re new to WordPress or general site security then this is the most appealing one. The iThemes protection allows you to change the default admin username and immediately block the IP addresses of known hacker websites or servers.

You will be secured from brute force attacks, database backups, banned users, and more. The plugin informs you whenever there is an unauthorized change in your file system. You’ll also get a free malware scan that takes care of all questionable activity before you even understand it. You can rely on the protection of this security plugin easily.

It tracks registered users’ activities with two-factor authentication, you can easily import/export settings, password expiration, malware scanning, and various other things. It also scans the entire website and finds if there is any potential vulnerability in it. It bans IP addresses which try to brute force.

It also encourages users to use secure passwords and also forces SSL for admin area in the server support. Unlike others, the GeoIP banning feature is not available. It also integrates Google reCAPTCHA that prevent comment spam.

iThemes has a lot of options in their free version.

DOWNLOAD & MORE INFO: https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-wp-security/

Check out; Wildcard SSL Certificates & Its Importance to Business | PR | DA | SEO | Security Certification

6. Shield Security

Shield Security is the first line of defense for your website. It lets trusted yet non-harmful traffic go through and blocked other malicious traffic.

This plugin is ‘sandboxed,’ as it essentially protects itself from an attack. What’s more? An access key is required to unlock the plugin before the changes can be made — a neat failsafe. It shows that the developers take your website’s security very seriously.

The best thing about this plugin is the developer’s commitment to automating the protection process and security monitoring. When you look at the easy usage of this and how its features tick off on your security audit checklist, you will witness that the service provider take this mission to heart.

Shield Security will do:

• Included Off-site security key
• Audit activities
• Firewall protection
• Two-factor authentication
• Spam-blocker
• Brute force protection
• Block IP address
• Automatic core, plugin, and theme updates

Unfortunately, this WP security plugin does not provide a malware scanner. The main mission is to stop malicious threats to act, rather than examining for risks that are already started to work. Though, focusing the functionality added, it’s more than deserves a place on this top security plugins list for your WordPress site.

DOWNLOAD & MORE INFO: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-simple-firewall/

RECOMMENDED: 8 Best Blogging Safety Tips to Make Your Blog Safe & Secure

7. WPS Hide Login

This is a great plugin that you can add to your security plugins set when none of the others will help you especially in renaming and hiding the wp-admin directory or your wp-login.php page.

Furthermore, this works with multisite - with this you can change your entire network admin URL easily.

This plugin is an easy-to-use that changes the standard WordPress login URL to a custom one of your choice. Hackers often use bots to seek out sites using the default URLs, this plugin finds and attacks such hackers.

WPS Hide Login Key Features:

• Provides an easy-to-use, simpler interface.
• Prevents brute force attacks - to change the default login URL.

DOWNLOAD & MORE INFO: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wps-hide-login/

While using social networking sites; you must know: 10 Ways How To Secure Facebook Account From Hackers | Security Tips

8. WordFence Security

WP plugin has over 1 million installs to date, providing free protection from malware and hacks. It’s the most popular WordPress security plugin, which pairs simplicity with powerful protection tools, including robust login security features and the tools to recover incidents.

With this Wordfence security plugin, you can obtain insight into overall traffic trends and attempts trying to attacks. It has powerful free solutions, with varying from firewall barriers to prevent the brute force attacks. However, a premium version is available at around $99 per year for a single site. It is one of the best WordPress multisite security plugins since it is cheaper for web developers, providing steep discounts upon sign up for multiple site keys. For example; opting for 25 keys cuts the price to $29 per year for an individual site.

Overall, Wordfence is considerable if you’re developing multiple websites and want to protect all of them.

In short, WordFence Security offers;

• The free version is good for smaller websites.
• Developers can save money
• It offers a firewall suite with tools for country blocking, real-time threat defense, manual blocking, brute force protection, and a web application firewall.
• The scan option fights off malware, real-time threats, and spam.
• The plugin monitors live traffic like Google crawl, logins and logouts, visits, and bots.
• You can also sign in with your cell phone and password auditing.
• The built-in comment spam filter naturally eliminates the need to install a separate plugin for this.

Furthermore the features like, two-step authentication, user security hardening and preventing brute force attacks, it also provides scanning features that will help you to check if the site is already infected.

DOWNLOAD & MORE INFO: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordfence/

You may also require to read; Top 12 Best Ways To Identify & Protect Against Phishing Scams | Email Phishing Prevention

9. Security Ninja

Security Ninja is the strongest security plugin that gives you almost full control security features implementation. The plugin’s USP (unique selling point) is the number of tests you can conduct — around 50 with a single click.

Sadly, the free version does not come equipped with a malware scanner. However, this can be purchased. Apart from the malware scanner, you also get a WordPress core file scanner with an event logger, to schedule your scans.

WP Security Ninja is a super fast (or in this case – ninja fast ) to scan your website for any threats. This security plugin takes less than a minute to scan and then show you all viable security concerns with links for a detailed explanation of the problem and as well as suggest measures you can take to fix them.

The plugin is also very user-friendly especially, in the context of website security, some of the things are simple while others are quite complex, but with Security Ninja, just press “Scan now, ” and all will be taken cared of.

You can rest assured as the plugin run over fifty different security tests which include; brute-force attacks- to make your site more secure.

It also keeps you protected from wannabe hackers or the “script kiddies.” The sites with Ninja pro installed can get the features like the "Core Scanner", Scheduled Scanner, Events Logger, Malware Scanner and Auto Fixer;

In short, this is a fastest and light plugin with a considerable list of features that are there to keep your site safe from hackers & some threats.

The plugin automatically blocks brute force attacks and the strength of your password. You can also hide the version of your WordPress from the sights of intruders.

Some of the solutions are not compatible with shared web hosting. The plugin has five other option tabs, but all are not available in the free version;

• Core Scanner
• Auto Fixer
• Event Logger
• Malware Scanner
• Scheduled Scanner

The free version only shows you the issues and a recommended solution. To fix the issues automatically and protect your website from imminent threats then you have to go with a paid version.

However, Security Ninja worth trying to see how many errors are detected by the plugins.

DOWNLOAD & MORE INFO: https://wordpress.org/plugins/security-ninja/

Recently I have published some but important steps for the security of all your computing systems; 7 Actionable Tips To Protect Against Petya/GoldenEye Ransomware | Online Security

10. Akismet

Part of the automattic family of plugins, Akismet deals with all that nasty comment spammers that often comes through on blogs.

Being a super simple plugin, it moderate comments or links from malicious entities that you want to spare your readers from. Akismet analyze your comments and contact submissions against our global database of spam to keep your site away from publishing malicious content.

You can easily review the comment spam that catches on your blog’s “Comments” admin screen.

Features in Akismet include:

• It checks all comments and filters that look like spam.
• Each comment has a status history; you can easily see which comments were caught and/or cleared by Akismet and their spamming potential
• URLs are shown in the comment section to uncover the hidden or misleading links.
• Moderators can see the approved comments for each user.
• A discard feature that blocks the worst spam outrightly, it saves your disk space and speeds up your site.

PS: Akismet.com API key is essential to use.

The free keys are suitable for personal blogs while paid subscriptions are good for professional and commercial websites.

DOWNLOAD & MORE INFO: https://wordpress.org/plugins/akismet/

Which Security Plugin is Best for You?

We’ve walked through the best security plugins, making it easier for you to select one or two plugins without testing every single one out. Remember, depending on what your host already offers, security plugins may not be needed.

The following suggestions hone in certain situations where you might choose one security plugin over another.

• Best value – Sucuri Security, Jetpack, or iThemes Security.
  
  
• Free Security plugin – All In One WP Security or Wordfence Security.
  
  
• A security plugin for beginners – All In One WP Security or iThemes Security
  
  
• Plugin with a beautiful interface – Sucuri Security or WPS Hide Login

Of course, we can’t cover all the plugins out there. We have recommended these based on our experience with users.


If you see, it is really hard job to build entirely safe website, as the online threats are continuously spreading to test your defenses. However, You can do many things, including using a combination of the security plugins and/or switching to a reliable web host, to avoid potential security threats and also to prevent any long-lasting damage.

Now, time for your input;
Now we’re throwing the baton over to you: what are your best security plugins? If you use and love your security plugins, please share it with us in the comment section below!