13 Best Security Plugins for WordPress 2019

Are you looking for the best WordPress security plugins to protect your site?

As we all know WordPress is the world's most popular CMS and there are many popular WordPress users who are using it as a content publishing platform.

Most importantly, do you know that 32% of the sites have been developed on WordPress? Due to its popularity, Hackers prefer it more than other platforms.

But thankfully there are plenty of best security plugins available for WordPress, which helps to protect your site from bad guys and hackers.

In this article, I'm going to share 13 the best security plugins for WordPress site.

Why should Use WordPress Security Plugin

Security plugin is very important to avoid security breach. Here are some points,

• Hackers can degrade your site ranking and brand reputation by installing malware or malicious code on your site. So, a security plugin is very important to avoid this. These plugins notify about changes in your core file.
• Protects your site data from hackers.
• Secures your login page. When someone tries to access your site via your login page, the WordPress security plugin blocks them.
• Add two-factor authentication to secure your WordPress site's login page.

Keeping in mind the many benefits of security plugins, let's look at the best security plugins for WordPress, how they help you protect your website.

Best WordPress Security Plugins

1. Wordfence

Wordfence is one the best security plugins for WordPress. It is available in both free and premium versions. Its free version is also very powerful and comes with firewalls, malware scanners and many other features.

It runs an automatic scan to keep your site safe. The plugin identifies and blocks malicious traffic, protect from brute force attacks by limiting login attempts. Also, checks core files, themes and plugins for malware, bad URLs, backdoors, SEO spam, malicious redirects and code injections.

If you use its premium version, you can make your site more secure by using even more powerful features such two factor authentication, Real-time firewall rule etc.

Key features

• Web Application Firewall blocks malicious traffic.
• Protects from Brute force by limiting login attempts.
• Add two-factor authentication
• It checks core files, themes and plugins for malware, bad URLs, backdoors, SEO spam, malicious redirects and code injections.
• Repairs files with a single click that have changed.
• Block attackers by IP Hostname, User Agent and Referrer

If you are looking for the best WordPress security plugins, Wordfence is the most comprehensive WordPress security solution out there. Here is a guide - How to Configure Wordfence Security Plugin

2. Sucuri

Sucuri is also a very popular WordPress security plugin available in the market. It scans your site for malicious code, iframes, links, and suspicious activity.

You can download it for free from WordPress.org, which offers very limited features. If you want to take advantage of its powerful features, you will have to spend money on premium version.

Sucuri paid plan adds best firewall protection to your WordPress site. Premium plans start at $199.99/year and all plans include,

• Unlimited Malware & Hack Cleanup
• Website Firewall (WAF)
• Blacklist Removal
• Continuous Scanning
• Malware & Attack Prevention
• DDoS Protection
• 24/7/365 Support

3. iThemes Security

iThemes Security is an another very popular and best security plugins for WordPress site. The plugin scans your WordPress site for malware and adds over 30+ layer to protect your WordPress site.

It scans your WordPress site and reports instantly, where vulnerabilities exist and fix them in seconds. In addition, disables file editing feature from WordPress dashboard.

This plugin is available in both free and paid versions. Pro version implements the best security in your site such as,

• Two-Factor Authentication
• Malware Scan Scheduling
• Password Expiration means you can set a password age and force users to choose a new password.
• Google reCAPTCHA to protect your site from spammers.
• wp-cli Integration
• Temporary Privilege Escalation
• Track users when they editing content, login or logout.

4. All In One WP Security & Firewall

As the name suggests, what is this plugin doing?

All In One WP Security & Firewall completely free and add great security and firewall to your site. The plugin offers tons of security features such as brute force login protection, password strength, built-in captcha, database prefix options, file permissions, .htaccess/wp-config backups and firewall protection. Its scanner alerts you if a file has changed in your WordPress system. Also scans your WordPress database tables.

Key features

• Detect default “admin” and allow to easily change.
• With Password strength tool, you can create very strong passwords.
• Protect against Brute Force Login Attack.
• Monitor failed login attempts and show the user’s IP address.
• Add Google reCaptcha or plain maths captcha.
• Ban bad users.
• You can change default WP prefix with a single click.
• Disable file editing from WordPress dashboard.

5. BulletProof Security

BulletProof Security plugin is available in both free and premium versions. If you buy its premium version, you can use it on unlimited site for a lifetime by giving a one-time fee.

Its free version is enough for a small or average site. The plugin includes Malware scanner, Firewall, Login Security, DB Backup, Anti-Spam & much more to protect your site from security breach.

Key features

• One-Click Setup Wizard.
• Database backups and restoring.
• MScan Malware Scanner.
  
• Hidden Plugin Folders.
• .htaccess Website Security Protection.
• DB Table Prefix Changer.
• Security Logging.
• Idle Session Logout.
• Maintenance mode.

BSP comes with a setup Wizard AutoFix that make it little easier.

6. Anti-Malware Security

Anti-Malware is a free WordPress security plugin which scans your WordPress site for malware and malicious code. You can download it from WordPress.org.

The plugin runs a complete scan and protect your site from known security threats and backdoor scripts. But when it scans your site, it takes some time and depending on how large is your site.

7. Quttera Web Malware Scanner

Quttera Web Malware Scanner is also a great free WordPress security plugin for scanning your WordPress site for malware, trojans, backdoors, worms, viruses, shells, spyware, malicious code injection and other threats. The plugin also checks if your website is blacklisted by Google.

Key features

• One Click Scan
• Malware Detection
• Blacklist Status
• Detection of files infected by PHP malware
• Detection of injected PHP shells
• Great Support

8. VaultPress

VaultPress offers real-time backup and security scanning service developed by Automattic (the people behind WordPress.com).

VaultPress is powered by Jetpack, which backs up your site on its own server. And also protect against hackers, malware, accidental damage, etc. But you can not use it for free.

9. WPS Hide Login

WPS Hide Login is a great plugin that changes your WordPress login URL to custom and protects from brute force attacks. It is very easy to use. Without touching code snippet, you can change your login URL to a custom login URL. Just login to your WordPress dashboard and click on Settings >> WPS Hide Login.

10. WP Hide & Security Enhancer

WP Hide & Security Enhancer is a very good plugin to hide WordPress core files, login page, theme and plugins paths from being shown on the front side. The plugin allow to clean up HTML by removing all WordPress fingerprints.

Key features

• Change to a custom Admin Url.
• Removes the WordPress version number.
• Block XML-RPC API.
• Minify Html, CSS, JavaScript.
• Disable the emoji.
• Remove rsd_link Meta.
  
• Remove wlwmanifest Meta.

11. Security Ninja

Security Ninja runs 50+ security tests on your site & discover issues you didn’t even know existed. The plugin is very easy to use.

Key features

• Perform 50+ security tests with one click.
• Check your site for security vulnerabilities, issues & holes.
• Hides your WordPress version number.
• Test file permissions.
• Check the PHP version
  
• Check the MySQL version and many more.

Here are more plugins that add 2-factor authentication to your WordPress login page and protect from hacker's Brute force attacks.

Two-factor authentication (2FA) add an additional security layer. When you enter the username and password on the login page, it will ask for additional secret codes.

12. Google Authenticator

It is the most popular WordPress plugin for two-factor authentication and available in free. It is very easy to use. Install the plugin on your site and click on Users >> Profile then scroll down to Google Authenticator section. Once you’re done configuring the settings, hit on Update Profile button.

13. Google Authenticator – WordPress Two Factor Authentication (2FA)

Google Authenticator is another good security plugin developed by miniOrange. It is used to add two-step verification to the WordPress site. The plugin's setup is very easy and takes a few minutes.

Key Features

• It offers Two Factor Authentication (2FA) for 1 User lifetime
• Authentication Methods – Google Authenticator, QR Code, Push Notification, OTP Over SMS and many more
• Multiple Login Options
• It also provides Add-on for customizing.

These are some top security plugins, which take your site security to a new level and protect your site from hackers or bad guys.

We're done, and it's now your turn! Find this plugins helpful? Don't forget to share!