If you have a WordPress website, you need to add security plugins to protect it from attacks. These are essentially software that add more protection to your website from hackers, malware injection and more.
Security plugins monitor the traffic of your site and check if there are any suspicious or malicious requests that may be trying to hack into your site or break in some other way.
They can also track the activity of users who visit your site as well as all the different devices they may be using too.
These plugins will help protect you against Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks which is a common hacking tactic used by hackers on websites today.
Choosing the right WordPress security plugin is a daunting task, considering there are over hundreds of security plugins available in the market.
If you've been using WordPress for some time now, chances are you have come across terms such as "WP Security" or "WordPress Security Plugin". This article will discuss these topics and answer your question on how to choose the right one.
This article will primarily focus on what you should look for when choosing the best WordPress security plugin. It will also highlight some of the best plugins available in 2022.
Let's get started.
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Best WordPress Security Plugins
1. Sucuri
What is Sucuri?
Sucuri is one of the most popular security plugin for WordPress with more 900000+ active installation.
It offers complete security features that include- Security Activity Auditing, File Integrity Monitoring, Remote Malware Scanning, Blocklist Monitoring, Effective Security Hardening, Post-Hack Security Actions, Security Notifications and more.
Sucuri is available in free as well as premium version.
You can download and install the free plugin from WordPress.org. The free plugin offers almost all the security features except Website Firewall. To get this feature, you need to subscribe to the premium plan.
Key Features of Sucuri
Sucuri Pricing
Sucuri offers the three main pricing plans-
- Basic Platform: It would cost you $199/year for protecting a single website and includes all the security features as explained above including website security scan every 12 hours. This plan is perfect for bloggers and small business websites.
- Pro Platform: It covers all the features under the Basic Platform and would cost you $299/year. Under this plan, Sucuri scans your website for security threats every 6-hours. This plan is best for small and medium size business websites.
- Business Platform: This plan is best for big business website that requires frequent security scans and fast response time for site cleanup. Sucuri scans your website every 30-minutes for any known security threats. It would cost you $499/year.
In a Nutshell: If you're a first time website owner, I would recommend you to try with the free plugin and once your site grows big you can subscribe to the paid plans. For big website owners, I would recommend to start with either the Pro Platform or the Business Platform as they come with some of the most advanced features like website security firewall, malware removal and high-frequency security scan.
Sign up with the link given below.
2. Malcare
What is Malcare?
Malcare is another very popular WordPress security plugin that secures your website against malware attack. It automatically scans your website files and database for any malware injection and offers a one-click malware removal solution.
If also offers a real-time Web Applicatioin Firewall (WAF) to prevent any type of hacking attempt like brute force attack on your site.
Apart from the advanced security features, it also scan your WordPress site for any vulnerable plugins or themes that you may be using. If it detects any such vulnerabilities, it automatically alerts you to take remedial action.
Key Features of Malcare
Malcare Pricing
Malcare offers the following paid plans - Basic Plan, Plus Plan and Pro Plan.
Basic Plan: For single site, it would cost $99/year and offers features like automatic malware scans, instant malware removal, web application firewall, bot protection and more. For 5 website license, it would cost you $349/year.
Plus Plan: For single site, it would cost you $149/year and include all the features covered under the Basic Plan. Additional features include - daily automatic backups, integrated staging site, activity logs, visual regression testing and more. For protecting 5 websites, you would have to pay $449/year.
Pro Plan: For single site, you need to pay $299/year and cover everything under the Plus Plan. Additional features include - 6-hour frequency scan, 4 backups daily, priority support and more. For 5 site, it would cost $999/year.
Similarly, Malcare also offers paid plans for up to 20 websites - Basic Plan ($799/year), Plus Plan ($999/year) and Pro Plan ($2999/year).
In a Nutshell: Affordable plans together with advanced security features make Malcare one of the best WordPress security plugins. I would recommend you to try the Basic Plan for single website, it would give you best return for your money. Join Malcare using the link given below.
3. Wordfence
What is Wordfence?
Third WordPress security plugin on our list is Wordfence. It is one of the most popular WordPress Security Plugin with more than 4 million active installs and 3000+ 5 star rating on WordPress.org.
Like other security plugin I have covered in this article, this security plugin also protects your website from hackers trying to do malicious things like entering your site without permission, deleting files, or modifying data.
With Wordfence, you can also get alerts that notifies you when someone has access to your site.
It also offers a free plugin that gives you basic security features like malware scanner, brute force attack protection and more.
Subscription to premium plan offers more advanced security features like real-time firewall rule and malware signature, real-time IP blocklist and more.
Key Features of Wordfence
Wordfence Pricing
Wordfence offers the following plans - Wordfence Free, Wordfence Premium, Wordfence Care and Wordfence Response.
Wordfence Free: If you're a beginner not willing to spend on a premium security plugin for your newly launched blog or website, can still be able to protect their site with Wordfence free. It offers basic security features and a 30-day delay on firewall rules and malware signatures.
Wordfence Premium: If you already have an established website, you can subscribe to Wordfence Premium at $99/year that gives you features like real-time firewall rules, malware signatures, country & IP blocking and also includes premium customer support.
Wordfence Care: Business website looking for a dedicated solution to their security need, can subscribe to Wordfence Care at $490/year. Under this plan, Wordfence will install, configure, optimize, and monitor Wordfence for your site. Other feature include - unlimited incident response and hands-on support.
In a Nutshell: New website can start with the Wordfence Free plugin that gives you basic level security features. For medium to large website, Wordfence Premium and Wordfence Care can be a good option. Get started with Wordfence WordPress security plugin with the link given below.
How to Choose the Right WordPress Security Plugin
Choosing the best WordPress security plugins can be difficult. There are many factors that you need to keep in mind while choosing the right one.
Here are some tips that can help you pick the right security plugin:
- Choose a plugin that has been well-tested and is frequently updated. It's also important to make sure that it's compatible with your other plugins, and that it doesn't slow down your site or cause any other errors.
- After installation, the plugin should be immediately activated on your server. This plugin should also have an option where you can turn on automatic updates so it will always remain up-to-date with the latest security updates from WordPress, without having to manually update it each time there is an update.
- The security plugin should be able to perform a full website scan that include all the files and databases for any at least once a day to look for any security vulnerabilities.
- It should also be able to clean your website if it has been infected with malware. Many popular security offers a one-click instant malware removal features to protect your site.
- Hacking attempts to gain access to a website is at an all-time high. A secure Web Application Firewall (WAF) to protect any kind of login attempt to gain unauthorized access is a must.
Wrapping Up
WordPress is a powerful and intuitive platform that has seen its popularity grow in recent years. In fact, it's estimated that over 1 billion websites are powered by WordPress, making it one of the most popular content management systems in use on the internet today.
Whether you're running a small blog or managing a large enterprise website, WordPress will likely make up a significant part of your content management system.
As such, keeping WordPress secure is an essential part of maintaining the security of your website.
Unfortunately, WordPress has been targeted by an increasing number of hackers and cyber-criminals due to its popularity as an open source CMS.
The best way to keep your WordPress installation secure is to install effective security plugins for protecting against vulnerabilities and exploits that may exist in the CMS itself or the plugins that you are using.
I hope that this article will help you choose the right security plugins for your WordPress website.
If you want to share something related to website security or security plugins, feel free to use the comment section below.
