10 Best WordPress Security Plugins to Protect Your Website

With 60% of the websites built on WordPress, it is certainly a popular CMS among website developers. Following this popularity, there are around 90000 hacking attacks per minute on these WordPress websites. So, in order to prevent these attacks, we bring you the 10 best WordPress security plugins to protect your website.

Apart from data loss and financial setbacks, these security breaches impact the SEO and authority of the website. One popular way is to install a security plugin to protect your WordPress sites. There are numerous best WordPress security plugins available. These plugins include features like:

• Monitoring changes
• Scanning malware
• Limiting the total number of login attempts

All these protect your website from malicious malware attacks. So, let’s start with our article on the 10 best WordPress Security plugins to protect your website.

WordPress Security Plugins to Protect Your Websites – Factors to Consider

When you decide to choose a wp security plugin, you need to make this decision by looking at all the features their pros and cons. Most plugins make false claims about their services, so do your own research and do not let your website fall prey to marketing stunts. This is what you need to look into WordPress security plugins:

1. Malware Scanner
2. Malware Cleaner
3. Best WordPress Firewall protection

These are the must-have features for any wp security plugin; without having a great scanner, it cannot be called the best malware plugin for WordPress. Malware removal is like a first-aid kit for a WordPress website; you never use it but need to have it for when the time comes. Firewall protection keeps most of these attacks at bay, preventing malware detection altogether. If any security plugin has all three features, all the rest are just additional benefits.

WordPress Security Plugins – Why is it Important?

It is not a hidden fact that more than half of websites on the internet are built on WordPress, making it a well-known CMS. This means that it gets not only good attention but also malicious ones. Hackers mostly attack WordPress websites as they get more out of such websites. These hackers attempt to infiltrate these websites by sending in malware.

There are quite a few ways to secure a WordPress website, but the most cost-effective is to get the best WordPress anti-malware plugin. Check our list for the 10 best WordPress security plugins to protect your website, choose one as per your budget.

Top 10 WordPress Security Plugins in 2024

MalCare – Best WP Security Plugin

MalCare is certainly one of the best WordPress security plugins, winning over its competitors on every account of security. Its built-in scanner scans every database entry to detect the malware and flag it. The one-click cleanup setup allows malware removal within a few minutes. This doesn’t slow down your website, as is the issue with many other wp security plugin. As for the Firewall, it was keeping all the malicious requests and bots away, as seen in the real-time logs.

Pros:

• Efficient Malware Scanning
• Quick Malware Detection
• Thorough Cleanup
• No load on the server
• Timely Alerts

Cons:

• Free Version comes with a Firewall & a Scanner, but not the Cleaner
• Free Scanner only scans but does not show the malware’s location

Price:

🟠 Free trial with Starting price @ $99/year

WordFence – Best WordPress Security Plugin

WordFence security plugin is also a great option for WordPress security as evident from its brand name. The installation and follow-up configuration is smooth. Initial malware scanning takes a little bit of time but after a while, it becomes faster. It comes with a malware scanner and an end-point firewall. Login protection is one of its features further improved by the two-factor authentication.

Pros:

• Possess a comprehensive malware database for detection
• Easy installation and configuration
• Priority support for Paid members
• Repair option for free members

Cons:

• Malware detection via File matching – an inefficient mechanism
• False positive for malware scans
• Scanning puts a load on the WordPress hosting server

Price:

🟠 Free trial with Premium version starting at $119 per year

Sucuri Security

Sucuri is the best malware plugin for WordPress sites, with plenty of features to assist. Its free scanner is recommended for first-level diagnostics. You get the server-side scanner with built-in firewall protection against brute force attacks. The activity log gives you a report for the malware detections with unlimited methods for malware cleanups.

Pros:

• Easy to navigate installation and configuration
• Manual cleanup is fast and accurate

Cons:

• Malware scanner is ineffective
• Scanning puts the load on the shared hosting server
• Manual cleanups only

Price:

🟠 Free version available with paid starting at $199 per year

Jetpack

Jetpack has its place in the list of best WordPress security plugins, and it’s all thanks to its creators ‘’Automatic’’. It was previously named as VaultPress and acted only as the WordPress Backup plugin. However, now it includes features like migration, performance enhancement, and security. You get a rapid malware scanner with a real-time activity log. Automatic brute force protection is a helpful feature as vulnerabilities are detected early on.

Pros:

• Detailed Activity Log
• Maintenance Features
• External Dashboard
• Official integration with the WordPress.com account

Cons:

• Free plan doesn’t offer malware scanning except for vulnerabilities and dangerous plugins
• Manual cleanups only
• No firewall protection

Price:

🟠 Free trial with paid plan starting at $150 per year

All-In-One Security

All-in-one security is another one that is known for being the best WordPress anti-malware plugin. One main reason is that it is completely free, and most WordPress developers know about it. You can host your website on either a VPS hosting server or a VDS Hosting server but this plugin integrates seamlessly into your WordPress domain.  It is lightweight and doesn’t put a burden on server resources. It offers the best WordPress security by checking for spam and its built-in firewall protection. Security is critical here, so the user’s account security is paramount.

Pros:

• An easy-to-access interface
• Blocklist malicious IPs
• Charts and graphical data display
• File backups

Cons:

• No auto cleanups
• Plugin can interfere with the Search engine indexing of the site

Price:

🟠 Free to use

Astra Security Suite

Astra Security is one of those plugins that offer the best WordPress firewall protection for your site. The primary focus is making the UI better. Its dashboard is aesthetic, and one can navigate with ease. The reason why it is so costly in the premium plan is its Firewall protection. It is undeniably the best WordPress firewall provider among all the plugins here.

Astra offers malware scanning with bot protection and firewall protection. Denylists and blocks all malicious IPs.

Pros:

• Firewall customization options
• In-depth testing
• Regular Security audits
• User-centric Dashboard

Cons:

• Difficult to use first time
• Doesn’t offer malware removal, only scanning
• Excessive notifications
• Complex features

Price:

🟠 Only premium plan starting at $249 per year

Defender Security

Defender Security is a great wp security plugin for those who are in a tight financial spot. Even if you are using a umetered hosting server or a shared hosting service, Defender Security is the right one for you. Its many features include efficient malware scanning, a helpful web application for firewalls, and bot protection.

Pros:

• One-click setup for configuring the dashboard
• Reliable customer support
• User-intuitive dashboard

Cons:

• Malware detection is of medium grade at its best
• Too many notifications and alerts
• Doesn’t provide malware cleanups

Price:

🟠 The free version is available with the Paid version at $60 per year

iThemes Security

No list of the 10 best WordPress security plugins is complete without a theme Security plugin. But it cannot be called the best malware removal plugin because the company avoids the term Malware Scanner in a clean manner. It is only a Site scanner, checking your WordPress website if it is on the official Google blocklist. However, it does provide the best security for WordPress websites with brute force protection, IP blocking, and offering database backups.

Pros:

• 2-factor Authentication security
• Ease of Use

Cons:

• No malware scans
• No malware cleanup
• No firewall protection

Price:

🟠 The paid plan starts at $58 per year

Security Ninja

By far on this list of 10 best WordPress security plugins to protect your website, Security Ninja is the best malware removal plugin for WordPress sites. It comes with all, firewall protection, malware scanning, and automatic fixes and cleanups. It’s also reasonably priced, so now you can just put your resources into a fast and reliable hosting server for better indexing.

Pros:

• Best malware plugin for WordPress sites
• Great customer service
• Ease of access

Cons:

• It affects the hosting server’s performance
• No automatic scanning

Price:

🟠 The paid plan is available for $49.99 per year

BulletProof Security

We conclude our list of 10 best WordPress security plugins to protect your website with BulletProof Security. BulletProof security, as its name suggests, is the best malware removal plugin for WordPress sites. It offers lots of features, but one needs to know them before using them efficiently. It comes with an efficient malware scanner, giving you the best WordPress security. The high-grade firewall protection coupled with security logs and database backups are just some of its amazing features.

Pros:

• Has a maintenance mode
• Customization options
• Easy configuration method

Cons:

• UI is not beginner-friendly

Price:

🟠 Paid plan offered for $69.95

Conclusion

Having the best malware plugin for WordPress not only offers malware attack protection of your sites in real time but also gives protection for future attacks. As for which one to choose, it depends on your specific WordPress requirements and overall budget. We scoured through all the WordPress plugins to make this list of the 10 best WordPress security plugins to protect your website. We listed down all their features, pros, cons, and their pricing plans to make your final decision-making easier.  

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