Top 5 WordPress Security Plugins

Investing online is one of the most popular business strategies of the 21st Century. It is no surprise to see thousands of millennials every year forgoing their 9-5’s to aggressively start an online company and reap the benefits of an ever-growing internet audience.

One of the essentials of having a solid internet business is starting an e-commerce website or blog. As with all business models, one requires money in order to make money.

Indeed, such a venture requires capital to invest in features such as website development, hosting, plugins, marketing, and HR.

Unfortunately, one integral part that most startups overlook is website security.

Usually, WordPress comes with a set of default security measures in place. However, these measures are negligible compared to what a reputable WordPress security plugin does for you.

For example, you’re guaranteed of features such as:

  • Instant Alerts when a security threat occurs.
  • Protection against aggressive attackers attempting to hack your website
  • State-of-the-art firewall protection
  • Protective measures put into place even after a hack takes place.
  • Effective scans for detecting malware

That being said, we have compiled a candid review of the top 5 security plugins to use with your WordPress blog or website. So, without further ado, let’s begin.

Whether you’re a novice or have been running your website for a number of years now, the Sucuri Security plugin gives you the option of selecting either the free or paid version for use.

There are a few differences between the freemium and premium, but not to the level where most webmasters feel the need to purchase the premium option.

As for the elements of the freemium, the plugin comes with advanced security features such as regular auditing to determine how effective the plugin is when it comes to safeguarding your website.

Other advanced features that enhance your website’s protection include security hardening, instant alerts to notify you of any threats, blacklisting of spammers or suspicious websites, and monitoring the integrity of users on your site.

Essential perks of Securi Security

Here are some of the most notable features of selecting Sucuri Security.

  • Provides users with a myriad of variations when it comes to SSL certificates. What’s even better is that you don’t have to pay for them because they are made available with Sucuri’s availed packages.
  • You can stay in constant communication with the support team either via email or instant chat.
  • The support team further notifies you the instant something goes wrong.
  • In some of the plans, the software provides you with cutting-edge DDoS protection.
  • If you move from the premium to the freemium plan, you can still receive some of the essential perks you were receiving before such as security hardening and blacklist monitoring.

This is no doubt one of the most essential ways of ensuring that your website remains protected, and it comes with more than 30 vital features to safeguard your website against unscrupulous hackers and intruders.

Its strongest elements focus on reinforcing weak passwords, cleaning obsolete software, and highlighting any potential plugin vulnerabilities.

If the freemium does not suit your preferences, and you’re looking for a more hands-on user experience, the premium option comes with essential perks such as ticket support and regular updates for a period if one year to keep your content secure.

Other essential features of the premium version include moderating and banning spammers and reinforcing your password strength.

Essential Perks of iThemes Security

Here are some of the most notable features of selecting iThemes Security:

  • Because most webmasters can rarely detect if one of their files has been tampered with, iThemes offers the added perks of file change detection.
  • iThemes takes password security a notch further by integrating Google recaptcha.
  • To ensure that nothing malicious is lurking in your files, the iThemes plugin compares your previous WordPress core files with the current version of WordPress you’re using.

iThemes also comes with added essential protections such as detecting 404 errors and enforcing brute force safeguards in the event of an imminent hack.

This is considered one of the most high-performing WordPress security plugins in the market. And one of the primary reasons why is because of the high-quality protection tools that it possesses. From incident recovery features to sturdy login protection, your WordPress features remain safe and secure.

It is highly recommended for individuals who are developing multiple websites because it gives a developer a killer discount if they request for a number of site keys.

  • The developers created a free version that caters to the needs of websites with a small budget.
  • The software also comes with a well-packaged suite endowed with features such as web firewall, country blocking and real-time protection.
  • Protects your blog from all forms of spamming.
  • It comes with an additional filter to regulate spam comments so that you don’t need to install the plugin separately.

With this plugin, the company opted to take a unique approach as compared to other security plugins on this list.  Their focus was on safeguards against brute protection attacks; however, the suite also provides other essential features such as implementing bans against spammers and an advanced login authorization process.

Essential perks of WP fail2ban

  • You can seamlessly select either soft or hard blocks.
  • The plugin can be integrated to your respect proxy server as well as synchronized with Cloud Fare
  • With WP fail2ban, you can craft your own shortcodes that block users from attempting to login immediately even before they can arrive at the login procedure.

All in One WP Security & Firewall

This plugin boasts one of the easiest-to-use interfaces with high-end support services. With this plugin, you have the opportunity to select three primary categories; Advanced, Intermediate, and Basic. Nevertheless, the plugin comes with features such as enhanced security during registration, blocking aggressive login attempts, and safeguarding your user accounts against spammers.

Essential Perks

  • The presence of the blacklist tool enables you to set certain requirements to limit spammers and hackers.
  • A series of visual graphs enable you to easily determine areas in your website that need analysis and enhanced protection.

Now you know what the best plugins are to protect your website you should also consider picking a safe hosting company. Ideally, you want to go with a company that offers an SSL certificate such as SeekaHost. An SSL certificate enables an encrypted connection making your site that extra bit safer.

Article by:

Joshua George is the founder of ClickSlice, an SEO Agency based in London, UK.

He has eight years of experience as an SEO Consultant and was recently hired by the UK government for SEO training. Joshua also owns the best-selling SEO course on Udemy, and has taught SEO to over 100,000 students.

His work has been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, AgencyAnalytics, Wix and lots more other reputable publications.