WordPress powers over 28% of the websites on the internet and has over 60 million downloads of its software packages daily. As this number continues to grow, so does the need to keep WordPress and its users safe from malicious threats. Luckily, there are plenty of free plugins that can help you do exactly that. Here are 10 must-have WordPress security plugins to protect your site from hackers and malware.
WordPress security plugins are the most important tools in your digital toolkit if you run your site on WordPress. After all, there’s no such thing as over-protection when it comes to keeping your site safe from malicious attacks and unexpected crashes but finding the best WordPress security plugin can be difficult. To help you find the perfect WordPress security plugin, we’ve compiled a list of 10 essential tools every website owner should use.
The well-preferred content management system (CMS) WordPress powered millions of websites and blogs worldwide. While WordPress is a very secure platform, it is also essential to take extra steps to secure your site. One of the best ways to do this is to install a security plugin. In this article, we will share a list of the best WordPress security plugins that you can use to secure your site. We will also explain why you need a security plugin and how it can help protect your site from hackers.
There are lots of WordPress security plugins out there, and it can be hard to decide which ones to use over the others. The wrong plugins can slow down your site, or maybe not even work as intended. To help you pick the right security plugin for your WordPress site, we’ve compiled a list of our 10 favorites here, along with some links to further read about each one so you can determine which ones are best suited to meet your needs.
10 Must-Have WordPress Security Plugins to Keep Your Site Safe in December 2024
A common mistake people make when installing a new plugin is not scanning the files for viruses first. If you don’t scan the files, you could end up infecting your site with malware. When it comes to WordPress security, it’s always best to be safe rather than sorry. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of 10 must-have plugins that will keep your site safe and secure: The following are some great tools to help you keep your WordPress website secure
- An excellent free solution that includes many features including blocking spam and hacker attacks.
- Protects against any kind of hack attacks by tracking system changes and reporting any anomalies. It also monitors WordPress websites 24/7 so you can relax while they do all the hard work!
- Automatically scans file uploads, checks links on your site for malware or phishing schemes blocks brute force login attempts, and has additional features.
BulletProof Security WordPress Plugin
BulletProof Security is a plugin that alerts you if there are any security issues with your site, recommends fixes for those issues, and automatically installs updates. The plugin also alerts when you have plugins or themes installed that are known security risks. BulletProof Security is the perfect way to make sure your site is safe and secure. It checks your site against over 10 million WordPress sites every day and sends an email notification if it finds anything that might be compromising the security of your website. It’s free so I recommend installing this one first!
BulletProof Security Features
- Hidden Plugin Folders|Files Cron (HPF)
- Login Security & Monitoring
- Security Logging
- HTTP Error Logging
- FrontEnd|BackEnd Maintenance Mode
- Extensive System Info (System Info page)
- WordPress Automatic Update Options
- One-Click Setup Wizard
- Setup Wizard AutoFix (AutoWhitelist|AutoSetup|AutoCleanup)
BulletProof Security Pricing
- $69.95 for unlimited websites
Limit Login Attempts WordPress Plugin
Limit Login Attempts is one of the most popular security plugins for WordPress. It limits login attempts by locking out users after a set number of failed login attempts. This plugin also blocks users from attempting to log in using an incorrect password and sends them a notification email with instructions on how they can reset their password. It’s highly customizable, allowing you to specify the number of allowed login attempts, which email address notifications should be sent to, whether IP addresses should be blocked, and more.
Limit Login Attempts Features
- Safelist/Blocklist of IPs and Usernames (Support IP ranges).
- Sucuri compatibility.
- Wordfence compatibility.
- XMLRPC gateway protection.
- Limit the number of retry attempts when logging in (per each IP).
- Configurable lockout timings.
- Informs the user about the remaining retries or lockout time on the login page
Limit Login Attempts Pricing
- Premium: $8/month
- Premium Plus: $11/month
- Professional: $16/month
- Agency Plan: $299/month
Hide login pages WordPress Plugin
If you run a website, it’s crucial that you take steps to protect your website from being hacked and your data from being stolen. One simple way of doing this is by using the Hide Login Pages plugin. This plugin will show only the login form on your site so that users can’t just enter any URL into their browser and access any pages they want. They have to enter the username and password in order to get onto your site. In addition, when someone enters their credentials wrong three times in a row, the plugin automatically locks them out for five minutes before letting them try again.
Hide login pages WordPress Plugin Features
- Hide wp-login.php, and wp-signup.php and block access
- Hide the wp-admin directory and block access
- Allows you to rename login URL
- Works with permalinks and without
- There is an opportunity to restore access to the hidden login page.
SecuPress WordPress Plugin
SecuPress is a WordPress security plugin that helps you protect your site from hackers and other threats. It doesn’t require any configuration but offers a few different ways to manage your site’s security. For example, you can control access to certain pages or set up password protection on sensitive data. There are also options for restricting file uploads, blocking email spamming campaigns, and more. Overall, it’s an excellent way to keep your site secure with minimal effort.
SecuPress Features
- 35 security checks are performed by the plugin.
- The premium edition significantly improves value with security alerts, a thorough malware check, and the possibility to geolocate ban countries.
- To prevent bots from locating your WordPress login page, you may alter the URL.
- It aids in detecting themes and plugins that are weak points or have been modified to include malicious code.
- bans questionable IPs and finds them.
- stops brute-force login attempts.
- generates security reports that you may print or save as PDFs.
SecuPress Pricing
- Enterprise
- Small Business
WPScan – WordPress Security Scanner
A different method of security is used by the WPScan WordPress security plugin. It makes use of a manually curated vulnerability database that is regularly updated by devoted security professionals and the general public. The database, sponsored by Automattic, contains more than 21,000 identified security flaws. The WPScan plugin can check your WordPress core version, plugins, and themes for known security vulnerabilities using that database. Other security checks included in the plugin include searching for exposed debug log files, backups of wp-config.php files, users with weak passwords, and more. Most WordPress websites should be able to use WPScan’s Free API plan. For those who might want more API calls, there are also premium options available.
WPScan – WordPress Security Scanner Features
- You can schedule scans to run at specific times.
- It uses its own constantly updated vulnerability database.
- Run regular scans to check core files, debug.log files, database files, and more.
- The plugin lets You are urged to update your weak passwords because you are aware of them.
- Download and see reports.
- Get risk scores to have a better understanding of the susceptibility of your website.
- Observe with the security scanner what a hacker sees when trying to attack your site.
Sucuri Security WordPress Plugin
The Sucuri plugin helps you clean up malware, protects your site with a firewall, and monitors potential hacking threats. It’s an all-in-one package that makes it easy for you to keep your site safe. While there are other features in this plugin, those three are its main purposes. It is not just one more thing on top of everything else—it’s an entirely new product that does not do anything else besides these three things. If you’re looking for simplicity and efficiency, this is the way to go!
Limit Remote File Uploads WordPress Plugin
Limit Remote File Uploads is a new plugin that was developed by the Sucuri security team. It prevents remote file uploads on your site, and it also blocks any attempts to change your robots.txt file remotely. The only downside is that you have to have PHP enabled in order for this plugin to work. There are many hosting companies out there who can help you with this. The second option would be to install something called a WAF (web application firewall) which will basically block all traffic on your site other than what comes from an approved IP address. You can get these WAFs through the Sucuri website or Cloudflare and they work like an extra layer of protection around your entire website.
Wordfence Security & Firewall: Wordfence has been around for over 10 years, which means they have plenty of experience protecting sites from various types of attacks. They also have their own proprietary firewall system that blocks most malicious attacks before they reach your website.
Sucuri Security Features
- It provides a variety of SSL certificate options. These are offered in the packages, but they are not free.
- Customer support is offered by live chat, email, and a ticketing system around the clock.
- You are immediately informed if there is a problem with your website.
- Some plans come with advanced DDoS protection.
- You still get useful tools for blocklist monitoring, malware scanning, file integrity monitoring, and security hardening even if you don’t wish to spend any money.
- Post-cleanup reports, SLA to remove hardware, blocklist monitoring, hack patching, and more features are available on the premium platform.
Sucuri Security Pricing
- Basic Firewall: $9.99 per month
- Pro Firewall: $19.98 per month
WP Limit Login Attempts plugin
One of the most common types of attack is brute-force hacking, which occurs when a hacker attempts to log in using various username and password combinations. To combat this, you can use the WP Limit Login Attempts plugin, which blocks any login attempt after three unsuccessful attempts. Additionally, you can use the Limit Login Attempts Pro plugin if you want to lock down wp-admin. This limits access by IP address and restricts it to only one user account at a time. You can also add two-factor authentication for additional security.
In addition, you can install plugins like Brute Force Stop WordPress Plugin or Pretty Link Lite that will prevent hackers from targeting your site with specific words or phrases (stop words) in their usernames and passwords. Lastly, you should ensure your plugins are up to date because many of them contain security updates for cross-site scripting vulnerabilities or denial of service attacks.
WP Limit Login Attempts Features
- Limit login attempts and keep track of user login attempts using login security
- Verification of Captcha
- a compact plugin
- Slowing down a brute force assault mechanism
- When a strange request comes in, redirect to the home page (It will stop hacking tools)
- conforming to GDPR.
SSL Cloudflare WordPress Plugin
SSL is a way of encrypting your site’s data so that only authorized users can access it. SSLs are usually used by e-commerce websites and other sites with sensitive information, but they work just as well for blogs and other personal sites. The SSL plugin ensures that when someone visits your website, their connection is encrypted, and any data passing between the visitor’s computer and your server is hidden from eavesdroppers. It also protects against man-in-the-middle attacks, where someone could intercept a visitor’s request and inject malware into your site before sending it back.
SSL Cloudflare Features
- Guaranteed uptime
- Built-in compliance
- Prioritized support
- Ultra-fast content delivery
- Minimal load times
- No-code performance tools
- Around-the-clock DDoS protection
- Enhanced cyber security
- Reliable bot management
SSL Cloudflare Pricing
- Free: $0/month
- Pro: $20/month
- Business: $200/month
iThemes Security WordPress Plugin
iThemes Security is one of the most popular WordPress security plugins out there, and with good reason. It’s a comprehensive security plugin that includes everything you need to keep your site safe from attackers and hackers. iThemes Security has various tools for preventing attacks on your website, including an anti-spam tool that helps reduce the risk of being inundated by malicious emails and fake signups. Some tools allow you to protect sensitive data like passwords and credit card information from being compromised. And if someone does manage to get through all of your security measures, iThemes will help you restore any lost data or content with its backup plugin.
Hide wp-config.php WordPress Plugin
This plugin will conceal your wp-config.php file; consider adding the Hide wp-config.php plugin to your list of must-haves. It encrypts the file and hides its location from both crawlers and potential attackers, making it harder for hackers to find your password information. The plugin is written in JavaScript, so it’s fast and lightweight, which is ideal for sites with more significant amounts of traffic or those who don’t have many plugins installed. Other plugins may not be as secure because they can be accessed by code injection methods like SQLi or XSS, but the Hide wp-config.php plugin ensures this cannot happen since the file is encrypted on page load.
iThemes Security Features
- Trusted Devices
- with Session Hijacking Protection
- intelligent Settings Import/Export
- Two-Factor Authentication
- Passwordless Logins
- Breached Password Protection
- Brute Force Protection
- File Change Detection
- Bot Traffic Protection with reCAPTCHA
- Site Scanner with Automatic Vulnerability Patching
iThemes Security Pricing
- Basic: $80/year
- Plus: $127/year
- Agency: $199/year
Wordfence Security
One of the most well-liked WordPress security plugins is Wordfence Security and for a good reason. This gem combines straightforwardness with strong security measures, such as the tools for recovering from security incidents and strong login security elements. You may learn more about general traffic trends and hacking attempts using Wordfence, which is one of its key advantages. One of the most amazing free security options is Wordfence, which offers everything from firewall blocks to defense against brute force assaults.
Wordfence Security Features
- Web Application Firewall
- brute force attacks.
- built-in two-factor authentication (2FA)
- social capital
- real-time updates.
- monitors your site’s reputation
- country blocking
Wordfence Security Pricing
Over to You
As you can see, there are many ways your site could be compromised. It’s not enough just to install a security plugin; it needs continual maintenance and monitoring. These Plugins will help protect against hackers, spammers, and brute-force attacks.
Not only will they make your website more secure, but they’ll also make it faster and safer. You won’t have to worry about things like XSS vulnerabilities or clickjacking with any of these plugins in place.
With the proper security measures in place, you should never have to worry about your site being hacked again! these are a List of the best WordPress security plugins to keep your site safe. While no security plugin is perfect, these plugins will give you an excellent foundation to start with.
