In this blog post, you will know the 6 best WordPress security plugins to make your WordPress blog/website safe from hackers in 2022.
Security plugins make it extremely easy to enhance the security of a WordPress website. The best thing about these WordPress security plugins is that most of them don’t even require you to have any prior technical knowledge.
If you are looking for best security plugins for WordPress, then you will love this article.
Let’s get started.
The 6 Best WordPress Security Plugins 2022
1. Sucuri Security
Link: https://wordpress.org/plugins/sucuri-scanner/
Sucuri is one of the most popular WordPress security plugins on the internet. It offers both paid and free versions. However, the good thing is that the free version of Sucuri offers all the essential features, and the majority of WordPress users will never need to go for the paid version in their lifetime.
For example, free users can do security activity auditing, file integrity monitoring, remote malware scanning, blocklist monitoring, and more. Even if your WordPress website has been hacked, you can use Sucuri to take all post-hack measures and actions, making Sucuri one of the best free WordPress security plugins out there.
One of the major differences between the free and the premium version is that the paid one lets you enable a website security firewall. Using this feature adds an additional layer of security that makes it almost impossible to hack your website.
To be frank, most web admins will never feel the need for such type of security. However, if your WordPress website helps you make more than four to five-figure income, then you can think about investing in such an additional layer of security.
Additionally, the premium plan has some other advantages, such as more frequent website scans, advanced protection, and more. At $199 per year, I don’t think Sucuri will be costly for bloggers and business owners who are using their WordPress websites to generate an income.
Notable features that make Sucuri a great WordPress security plugin
- A bunch of great security features such as activity auditing, file integrity monitoring, remote malware scanning, security hardening, and more are available completely for free.
- Sucuri offers different variations of SSL certificates that can take the encryption and security of your website to the next level. Note that SSL certificates are only available with paid plans.
- Security firewall function makes it almost impossible to hack your website.
- Real-time traffic monitoring allows you to see the traffic source and let you block unwanted, malicious-looking traffic right away.
- It boasts a strong DDoS and brute force attack prevention algorithm that keeps your website up and safe from these common attacks.
- You can set up a login limit along with captcha security to prevent attacks such as brute force or bot login.
- The free version of Sucuri is good enough for most WordPress websites.
2. WordFence Security
Link: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordfence/
WordFence is another popular WordPress security plugin on the internet with over 4 million active WordPress installations. One of the main reasons behind such immense popularity of this tool is its simplicity and robust website protection features.
The login security feature of WordFence Security is pretty robust. It lets you set login limits, captcha, whitelisted IP addresses, two-factor authentication, and more to make sure that hackers cannot access your WordPress admin dashboard in any way.
Along with this, the security tools offered by WordFence are also great. The live traffic feature lets you monitor the real-time data, including the origin of the traffic, IP addresses, how much time they are spending on your website, and more.
You can use this data to block malicious traffic by their IP addresses or by creating advanced page rules based on IP range, hostname, the origin of the traffic, and more. You can also block traffic geographically, but for that, you will need to opt for WordFence premium.
If you own multiple WordPress websites, then WordFence Central makes it extremely easy to keep an eye on the security of all of them. You can see the security status, configurable alerts, important security events such as administrator logins, breached password usage, and more right from the WordFence Central dashboard.
Notable features that make WordFence Security a great security plugin
- The free version of WordFence Security is powerful enough for most small to midsize websites.
- The website firewall suite is pretty powerful and offers tools such as country blocking, brute force protection, manual blocking, real-time threat defense, web application firewall, and more.
- The scan feature of WordFence lets you scan WordPress files for malware, real-time threats, and spam.
- There are a bunch of options to secure your WordPress admin login page using captcha, login limits, 2FA, password auditing, brute force protection, and more.
- The comment spam feature eliminates the need to use a separate plugin for that.
- You can also use WordFence to repair files and restore them to default.
3. iThemes Security
Link: https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-wp-security/
Formerly known as Better WP Security, this plugin from iThemes is another excellent choice for improving the security of WordPress websites. The onboarding experience and quick security setup allow you to secure your websites from all the basic threats in less than 10 minutes.
This quick security setup follows over 30 common security measures that can compromise your website’s security, making your website safe like never before. The plugin has a strong focus on recognizing and preventing plugin vulnerabilities, obsolete software, and weak and compromised passwords.
Like other WordPress security plugins, iThemes Security also boasts both free and premium versions. Even though the free version is suitable for taking basic security measures, we highly recommend you to go with the iThemes Security Pro if you are using your WordPress website to generate an income.
For example, the free version lets you enable two-factor authentication and create a strong password policy. But if you want to enable reCAPTCHA, passwordless login, or set up trusted devices, you will need to go for the Pro version.
On the other hand, the Pro version at $80 a year for two websites offers highly intuitive features. For example, it comes with a Privilege Escalation feature that lets you temporarily provide admin-level access to other users. Plus, you also get a thorough site scanner, magic links, and other features with the premium version of the plugin.
Notable features that make iThemes Security a great security plugin
- The file change detection feature of iThemes Security lets you easily monitor the changes that have been made recently in the file. This is a great feature to identify messed-up files and repair them.
- The WordPress login security feature is pretty robust and lets you add multiple layers of security such as 2FA, reCAPTCHA, passwordless logins, trusted devices, and more.
- You can go for thorough scans that will also let you compare WordPress core files with the current version of files. You can further scan these files for malicious codes and threats.
- If you are traveling and you are the only admin of your WordPress website, then you can enable “Away Mode” to lock your WordPress dashboard completely for all users.
- It protects your site from many known attacks such as brute force, DDoS, and more.
- Advanced security tools include identifying server IPs, changing database prefix, server configuration rules, wp-config.php rules, changing WordPress salts, and more.
4. All In One WP Security & Firewall
Link: https://wordpress.org/plugins/all-in-one-wp-security-and-firewall/
AIO WP Security & Firewall is one of the best free WordPress security plugins on the internet. The best thing about this plugin is that it is an open-source tool, meaning that it is 100% free, and you will not have to compromise on any feature because of the premium tier or something.
Despite being a free WordPress security plugin, it has dozens of next-level security features that add multiple layers of security to protect your WordPress website from online threats. This plugin is quite easy to use and understand, making it an excellent choice for everyone.
The plugin checks for all common WordPress vulnerabilities to reduce the security risks and help you implement and enforce all the essential WordPress security measures to take your website’s security to the next level.
One of the best things about AIO WP Security & Firewall is its users and account security features. This plugin protects your admin page from brute force attacks, adds Google reCAPTCHA, allows you to whitelist IP addresses of admins, monitor failed login attempts with their IP addresses, and more.
Despite being a free plugin, it gives you access to firewall functionality. You can set firewall rules to protect your website from malicious attacks with this function. If you are not a techy person, you can activate the firewall settings ranging from basic, intermediate, and advanced in one single click.
Notable features that make All in One WP Security & Firewall a great security plugin
- The user account security feature is pretty strong and keeps an eye on default admin usernames, similar user accounts with identical login names or passwords, a powerful password strength tool, and stops user enumeration to protect user info.
- Multiple options to improve the security of the login page such as protection against brute force login attack, Google reCAPTCHA integration, whitelisting author and admin IPs, automatically blocking IP addresses that attempt to login with invalid usernames, and more.
- It allows you to enable Google reCAPTCHA for all comments, user registrations, and logins to protect your website from spam.
- The database security option lets you change the default WP prefix to a different value of your choice very easily. You can also schedule automatic database backups or create a backup manually whenever you want.
- It protects your website’s PHP code by disabling the file editing option from the WordPress admin dashboard.
- You get access to firewall functionalities which only can be seen as a premium feature on other WordPress security plugins.
- You can disable front-end text selection, right-click option, and copy option for your website’s content.
5. Hide My WP
Link: https://codecanyon.net/item/hide-my-wp-amazing-security-plugin-for-wordpress/4177158
If you are willing to spend on a good WordPress security plugin but have a tight budget, then Hide My WP can be a good option for you. At $31 per year, Hide My WP is arguably the most affordable premium WordPress security plugin you will find on the internet.
Hide My WP is the number one selling WordPress security plugin on CodeCanyon with over 28K+ purchases and a superb 4.5+ user rating. One of the coolest and most intuitive features of this plugin is that it hides the fact that you are using WordPress CMS.
Along with that, it also hides WordPress login pages, names of themes and plugins, and permalinks of author feeds, profiles, and more. Basically, after installing this plugin, you can go all stealth mode, and none of your competitors or attackers will ever know that you are even using WordPress.
Hide My WP also features an intelligent IDS firewall that monitors potential harmful requests, blocks attacks like brute force, SQL injection, XSS, CSRF, and more. It also automatically blocks flagged IP addresses that can potentially harm your website.
The thing that makes it a must have WordPress plugin is its trust network. When you activate this plugin, it connects with the Trust network that automatically starts protecting your website from the IP addresses that have already been identified as hackers or bots by the Trust network.
Notable features that make Hide My WP a great security plugin
- Hide My WP connects your website to the Trust network to block all the harmful traffic coming from hackers and bots.
- It features a powerful firewall that protects your website from several popular attacks that include SQL Injection, CSRF, brute force, XSS, and more. Plus, it gives you detailed information about the attacker, including their username, IP addresses, page, timing, attack value, etc.
- Hide My WP hides your WordPress website from the popular theme and plugin detection tools very easily.
- Creates a dynamic list of bad IP addresses to prevent future attacks.
- Extremely easy to use and compatible with all types of WordPress themes and plugins.
6. Jetpack
Link: https://wordpress.org/plugins/jetpack/
Jetpack is one of the best WordPress plugins of all time, with over 5 million active installations. The best thing about Jetpack is that this plugin is not only limited to WordPress security. Instead, it is a plugin with so many great features that can reduce the need to use multiple plugins for things such as optimizing website speed, creating backups, and more.
The more plugins your website will have, the more time it will take to load. That is one of the direct benefits of using Jetpack on your WordPress website, making Jetpack one of the must have WordPress plugins for your website.
Even though Jetpack features a free tier, I would not recommend using it if your website’s security is your primary concern. Even though Jetpack’s features that come in the free version are reliable, these are very basic. Instead of using the free version of Jetpack, I would recommend using AIO WP Security & Firewall if you want a free WordPress security plugin.
But if you have the budget to invest in a good plugin, Jetpack would be a powerful contender. One of the main reasons for this is Jetpack’s powerful and reliable security features. The automatic scanner thoroughly scans the database and files for malware and other threats and fixes them right away.
Along with that, Jetpack offers a free CDN that takes the speed of your WordPress website to the next level. Jetpack is also very capable of preventing brute force attacks, spam comments, and more. Plus, you can enable two-factor authentication to add an additional layer of security.
Notable features that make Jetpack a must have WordPress plugins
- Jetpack backs up your website automatically in real-time and allows you to restore from any point in just a few clicks.
- It gives a detailed list of changes made to the site and who made it with the activity log. This can be very helpful for debugging, troubleshooting, and maintenance.
- The thorough malware scanner automatically performs scans to find a corrupted database, harmful threats, and malicious codes.
- The anti-spam feature powered by Akismet blocks all the spam comments and form responses.
- Brute force attack protection and two-factor authentication make it almost impossible to penetrate the login page.
- It helps you get the live information about the website’s uptime, downtime, and modifications directly to your email inbox.
Closing Comments
There you have a list of the best security plugins for WordPress.
So, this was the list of best WordPress security plugins 2022 that you can use to take your website’s security to the next level. We know that it is not easy to pick just one plugin, even from the list of just six. So, here is our recommendation.
If your WordPress website has been compromised or you are not sure about it, install Sucuri Security’s free plugin right away. That is the best plugin to repair a hacked website, and the free version will be more than sufficient for you.
On the other hand, if you are looking for the best free WordPress security plugin, there is no better choice than All in One WP Security & Firewall.
With that said, here I am wrapping up this article. If you have any questions, feel free to shoot them in the comment section below. Our team will try to respond ASAP.
