8 Best WordPress Security Plugins

A lot of webmasters have some real problems with security issues on their websites.  There are some WordPress security plugins that you can use to help tighten up your security settings.  Over the years I have tried a lot of security plugins for WordPress.  Some of these plugins are free and others have a premium settings.  These are all the top security plugins that you can use for your WordPress websites.  It’s up to you to decide which security plugin you want to install on your site.

Wordfence

Protect your website from malware and hacks using Wordfence.  It is a WordPress security plugin that gives free enterprise-class security.  It has gained the highest number of WP security plugin downloads.

It works by scrutinizing your website if it’s infected or not. Then it secures your site and increases its level of speed and performance. This plugin is an open source and it’s totally free for download. It deeply scans your source code paralleling it to the origin official WordPress repository for themes, plugins and core.

After activating Wordfence, it gives you two important functions. First, it monitors your site consistently securing it from robots and humans. Second, it scans your website every 60 minutes.

Wordfence understands how plugins and themes are exposed to risks, so it monitors bots and humans who want to harm your site. Once it detects a threat, Wordfence blocks automatically the IP address.  Wordfence also blocks unreal Google crawlers.  I would recommend you read this post I wrote on Wordfence to show you more details about this plugin.

BulletProof Security

WordPress BulletProof Security plugin protects your .htaccess as well as the other files in your WordPress site. The security status portion of BulletProof plugin lets you keep track of the File Permission for files and folders security.  Examine the security options in place including the data checks status on your server; then you’ll see specifics of the security measures of your .htaccess file.

The available Security Log allows you to activate error logging on your site.  This error logging, by default, is turned on. If logging takes it too long, then it can be deleted through the security log portion.   Be careful enough when using this error logging because it consistently fills up resulting to a major file for error login.  Use it only to diagnose security problems; otherwise, it may cause harm to the server and crash it eventually.

The System Information section is also available to enable you to check the specs of the server like Opcode Cache, Server, IP details, Accelerators, Database and more.  It lets statistics to analyze security risks.

Sucuri Security

Use Sucuri WP Security plugin as your best security tool.  It provides systematic security monitoring, security hardening and detection of malware. Globally, this plugin is an acknowledged authority on matters that deal with site’s security, focusing mainly on securing WordPress sites.

Free to download and use, Sucuri Security is designed to match your current security position. It has 4-key security features, and each is used to get a positive effect on your site’s ultimate protection.

This special security plugin has a security activity monitoring, which means it monitors all activities related to security inside your WP install. What makes an activity secured for your site? With Sucuri Security, all changes that take place in the application are categorized as events in security.

This security plugin is so important as it allows the owner to monitor the multiple changes taking place in the WordPress environment. It allows you to know who logs in, including the changes being done.

iThemes Security (formerly Better WP Security)

With iThemes Security plugin, you’ll see how easy it is to protect your entire site. Experience the best WordPress security plugin that secures your WP website. You don’t need to be a security expert to use this plugin, because iThemes Security makes it easier to find your own protection. Some security features that simplify your WP protection include: file change detection, lock out bad users, strong password application, 404 detection, database backups, hide login and admin, email notifications and more.

iThemes Security works efficiently with Sucuri SiteCheck to further enhance the malware scanning feature. It uses the ten-point site checking in scanning WP site against out-dated software, malware, website errors and blacklist status. Day-to-day, malware scanning is at work sending you notification email for possible problems.

This security plugin is integrated with iThemes Sync, providing security measures to release remotely the security lockouts. When activated, “Away mode” feature in your WP site stops the access to dashboard.  And with Sync, the “Away Mode” can be distantly turned on or off.  I would recommend you read this post on iThemes Security if you want more detailed information about this plugin.

All In One WP Security & Firewall

All In One WP Security & Firewall plugin is an in-depth tool for making the most of WordPress security.  It gives a comprehensive and user-friendly plugin every site should have. While WordPress itself is a protected content management system, still it is wiser to add additional firewall and security for a 100% trouble-free WordPress site.
Take your own site’s highest degree of protection and reduce security risks.  It checks vulnerabilities and enforces current security techniques and practices.

It offers the following features: user accounts security, login user security, registration security, database security, file system security, firewall & blacklist functionality, security scanner, comment spam security, plugin support and more.

It can stop anyone from accessing the license.txt, readme.html, and wp-config-sample.php files. It enables your system to temporarily lock down your site’s front end from being accessed by visitors while doing backend tasks.

Login Lockdown

Stop the unauthorized and external access to your site using Login Lockdown security plugin.  It restricts the number of login attempts from an IP range at a particular period of time. Login Lockdown monitors and records the IP address of each unsuccessful login request. If several attempts are identified, using identical IP address, then it deactivates the login function for all requests.

It stops the access to brute force password.   The length of time locked out is adjustable, from the plugin settings portion.  This effective plugin is a simple way of discouraging brute force login attempts.

Those who attempt to login with mask login errors and invalid usernames can also be locked out using Login Lockdown.  You can find the list of all people who attempted access but were locked out.  It provides the easy technique of keeping track unauthorized login requests on your website.

It takes only a few seconds to setup Login Lockdown plugin and starts downloading.  You are encouraged to give it a try to secure your WordPress website.

WP-DB Manager

With WP-DB Manager Database plugin, you can properly manage your WordPress database. This plugin lets you optimize, repair, backup, restore and delete database. It also supports automatic backup schedules of database.   It’s irritating to have needless tables in WP database, so you can use WP-DB Manger plugin to maintain the tidiness and neatness of all your databases.

WP-DB Manager has the user interface intended for non-technical people.  These people can work on things without being challenged with multiple technical options.  It provides different features you will need from time to time. Once you have activated WP-DB Manager Database plugin, settings become accessible and you can begin using it on the left panel of your WP dashboard.

Some quality features to use are the following: database, backup DB, Manage Backup DB, repair & optimize DB, run SQL Query, empty drop tables, and DB options.

Antivirus Site Protection

Antivirus Site Protection protects your website of blog against spams and exploits. It is an easy-to-install security tool to harden WP website against malware and abuses. This plugin is configurable to do daily automated scan of database tables and theme files.  If there are doubtful code injections, automatically it will send you an email notification to a configured email address.

If your website was hacked, Antivirus Site Protection helps you to know the trouble right away and cause you to do quick action.

WordPress Antivirus Site Protection detects, prevents and gets rid of doubtful codes and malicious viruses. This plugin scans not just the theme files but analyzes as well all your WP files: theme files, plugin files, upload folder files and others. It works consistently in regularly scanning your website for identified vulnerabilities.

WP Antivirus Site Protection can detect the following: JavaScript, MySQL, Trojan horse, social engineering attacks, spyware & adware script, and more.