Are you looking to strengthen the security of your WordPress website? We have put together a list of the Best WordPress Security Plugins (2023) for you to keep your site safe from hackers.
WordPress is considered to be the most popular CMS system around today. More than 30 percent of all world websites are based on this powerful CMS. That said, like any other software, WordPress is vulnerable to various types of attacks. Some security technology companies have estimated that less than 25 percent of WordPress powered websites on the Internet are secure, all other sites can very easily become the target of hackers.
Websites that use “nulled” WordPress themes and plugins stand a greater chance of being attacked. Inside the files of files of “nulled” themes or plugins, malicious code is injected which gives potential attackers complete control over a website. The second most common reason for attacks on a website is as a result of a hosting company that does not take security seriously. Today we have many hosting companies but a few of them do not meet basic security standards. We advise you to choose proven hosting providers, almost all of them have hosting plans designed specifically for WordPress sites.
Imagine not using “nulled” software and having your WordPress site hosted by a very good hosting provider. Even that is not a sufficient guarantee that your site will not be attacked by hackers. While there is no complete and 100% protection against hacking attacks, there are some tools to help keep your site secure. Some of these tools will make it harder for attackers to do their job, and some tools will completely eliminate common attacks and ensure that your site stays secure and functional.
We have listed below the best WordPress security plugins (2023)
1- Wordfence Plugin
Wordfence is one of the best security tools available on the market. It is actively used by just under 5 million websites. Sometimes you need several different plugins for different types of protection, but Wordfence has several integrated tools so you can do almost anything with just one plugin.
Some of the most important features of this great plugin are:
– WAF (web application firewall) that will proactively block any type of threat;
– Malware Scan tool that will scan your WordPress files for malicious code;
– Login and brute force protection which will detect an attempt to log in to your site to gain administrator access and steal your site;
– Ability to block attackers by IP address or geographic location (individually or in combination).
The user interface is great, it is very clear and absolute beginners will be able to cope.
It is important to emphasize that this plugin has integrated several tools that perform different functions. As mentioned earlier, you need a few plugins for certain tasks, but using Wordfence you can do anything. The malware database is updated on a regular basis so your site is safe from the latest threats.
If you want to try Wordfence, you can get the free version within the WordPress repository. The premium version brings many more options and more levels of proactive protection, and you can get it for $99 (USD) per year. There are 2 more premium packages, namely Wordfence Care which costs $490 (USD) per year and Wordfence Response for which you will pay $950 (USD) per year. For more details and differences between these packages visit the official website of the plugin.
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2- Hide My WP Plugin
Another in a series of great security plugins is Hide My WP plugin. This plugin does not have any advanced protection mechanisms, its work is based on a completely different system. As its name suggests, this plugin will hide that your website is running on WordPress. Even some of the most advanced CMS detection services cannot detect which CMS it is. The fact that the attacker does not know which CMS is your site based on is enough to make his job and potential attacks much more difficult. This plugin basically gives you security by obscurity. As well as other security measures on your site, a smoke screen around what it’s running on will surely further bolster its security.
This plugin is completely secure and claims to be compatible with all themes and plugins. After activation it will hide the active theme name, it will hide the plugins, and the wp-admin and login link will be changed. Within the excellent and clear interface there is a possibility to monitor potential attacks and the time of suspicious activities on your WordPress website according to the IP address. What’s great about this plugin is its ability to blacklist individual IP addresses.
This plugin comes in two commercial versions. The first membership package is called ”Regular” and costs only $29 (USD). You can use it on 1 site. The second package is ”Extended” and costs $99 (USD) and you can use it on 5 sites. There is no difference in functionality between these 2 membership packages, the only difference is in the number of sites where you can install the plugin.
Due to the excellent functionality and very low price, we advise you to add this plugin to your collection.
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3- All In One WP Security & Firewall Solution Plugin
This security plugin is great and brings many fantastic options to keep your WordPress website secure. It’s worth mentioning that this is a free plugin, but it does contain some tools that are only offered by many premium plugins out there.
This free plugin offers a lot of great options such as:
– Brute force protection and limiting the number of failed logins, and there is a possibility to force users to use strong passwords otherwise they cannot join or log-in;
– If your site allows public registrations then you can enable registration page protection.
– Ability to add IP addresses to the blacklist or whitelist.
– Application firewall that does a great job.
– Checking the permissions of files within core WordPress files, but also checking the permissions of theme and plugins.
Users who use this plugin state that the biggest advantage is that it is completely free, the user interface is great and very clear, there is a wizard that will help you adjust the basic security settings on your WordPress pages.
The only tool this plugin doesn’t have is a malware scanner, but it is a free plugin after all and can’t take this as a big complaint. We recommend that you try this plugin and its WordPress security tools.
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4- Jetpack Security Plugin
The Jetpack Security plugin is one of the best security solutions available for WordPress websites . The only downside might be that there is no free version. Being an only premium plugin means that you can’t try the plugin before you decide to buy it. However, when you know that behind this plugin is ”Automattic” – the company behind WordPress.com and WooCommerce, then you know that it must be one of top security plugins for WordPress.
This plugin boasts three very powerful tools that will keep your site constantly healthy and functional. The first option is “Jetpack Backup” and this is a tool that will automatically back up your pages to Jetpack’s servers. Backup is done on a daily basis. Probably because of this option there is no free version of the plugin because the backup consumes resources and space on the server. Another option is “Jetpack scan” and its task is to scan the backed-up version of your site in search of malicious code, and if that code is found you can eliminate it with just one click. The third important option is “Jetpack Anti-spam” and its task is to keep your contact forms and comment fields from SPAM.
There are some other options you can use, and these are brute force protection, activity logging and monitoring of different types of activities to prevent any kind of threats or attacks.
There are three commercial versions of this plugin.
The first is “Backup” and as the name suggests you can back up your pages with it. This version costs $3.93 (USD) per month and is charged annually.
The second version is “Security” which includes options for backup, malware scan and SPAM protection. This version costs USD 9.93 / month and is charged once a year.
The third version is “Complete” and costs $39.93 (USD) per month, is charged once a year and offers absolutely all the options available within this plugin.
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5- WP Activity Log Plugin
The WP Activity Log is another great WordPress plugin, and as its name suggests it is intended to track all types of activities on your WordPress sites. It doesn’t matter if it’s user activity or your administrator activity, WP Activity Log keeps track of absolutely all the actions on your website. You can track actions such as if someone installs or edits a plugin, if someone creates or edits some post or if someone changes any settings on your WordPress installation. This plugin simply logs every action that gets executed on your website.
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Some of the best features of this plugin are:
– Ability to tune notifications and be notified of changes to the site at the same time as they occur;
– Very easy troubleshooting, you no longer have to guess what happened, check activities within the plugin and solve any kind of problem;
– Option to generate any reports with user activities.
– Rapid identification of suspicious behavior to prevent possible attacks or unauthorized activities. If you act proactively, you will most likely thwart the attack at the very beginning.
As we mentioned earlier, this plugin can track absolutely all activities. However, this can be exhausting and you can be overwhelmed with logs and statistics. Therefore, it is best to follow some of the important activities such as:
– Registration of new users.
– Changes to WordPress files, no matter if they are core files or theme and plugin files.
– Changes to the user profile such as permissions, password, email, contact details, profile photos and so on.
– Install, modify or delete any plugin or theme.
– Changes to options on the WordPress dashboard that should only be changed by the site administrator.
– Number of failed login attempts.
– Non-existent or 404 pages.
– Changes of user permissions or roles.
– Database activities such as adding or deleting certain tables and many other useful logs.
After installing and activating this plugin you will have a wizard that will guide you through the basic configuration. You will be able to immediately adjust all the options you think you’ll need.
Since this is an activity tracking plugin on WordPress sites and has no security options, it is best to use it in combination with some of the plugins we have listed above on this article.
Conclusion
We have already said that WordPress is the best CMS of today, but it is still susceptible to different types of attacks. Although WordPress developers spend a lot of time on security, there is always a chance that you install a plugin that has vulnerabilities and that will make it easy for your site to be hacked. We have listed some of the best security tools currently available, and it is up to you to find the one that suits you best and provides the level of protection you need.
We hope our list of the Best WordPress Security Plugins (2023) will help bolster the security of your website.
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