Seven Free and Paid WordPress Security Plugins List
Over 810 million websites are built on WordPress, which makes up 43% of all websites on the internet, with thousands of new WordPress websites emerging every day. Your WordPress site is more than just a collection of pages; it’s a digital hub for your business, blog, e-commerce store, or personal brand.
But without the right security measures, it’s also an easy target for hackers. Cyberattacks, malware infections, and brute force login attempts are growing threats, and thousands of sites are hacked every day. Once your site is compromised, the damage can be devastating—stolen data, damaged reputation, or even permanent loss of your website.
Businesses have faced bankruptcy after their websites were hacked, and hackers have targeted mostly small- to medium-sized businesses.
This is why having a reliable WordPress security plugin is crucial. WordPress security plugins act like digital bodyguards and protect your website from threats.
A good security plugin offers features like malware scanning, firewall protection, core files and content protection, brute force attack prevention, and even alerts for suspicious activities.
Here are the 7 best free and paid WordPress security plugins that millions of website owners trust for their sites’ security.
1- Wordfence Security
With over 5 million active installations and a record-breaking over a million downloads in a day, Wordfence has been protecting websites and blocking billions of attacks since its launch in 2012 by Defiant Inc.
Its stellar performance has earned it 3,900+ 5-star ratings, making it one of the most trusted WordPress security plugins in 2025. Wordfence comes with powerful tools to secure your site:
- Web Application Firewall (550 Rules): Think of it as a shield that blocks suspicious or harmful traffic before it even reaches your site. The “550 rules” are pre-set filters that identify and stop common hacking techniques.
- Malware Scanning: This feature searches your site for harmful code or viruses and alerts you if it finds any, helping you fix issues before they cause damage.
- Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Adds an extra layer of protection by requiring a verification code (sent to your phone) along with your password during login for solid security.
- File change detection: Monitors your WordPress site’s files for unauthorized modifications. If discrepancies are found, Wordfence alerts you, enabling you to identify and address potential security breaches and even fix them.
- Rate limiting: Controls how many pages visitors and automated bots can access on your website within a specific timeframe. By setting thresholds, you can prevent excessive requests that may indicate malicious activity, such as scraping or brute force attacks.
- Firewall protection: Defends your site against DDoS and brute force attacks, which are automated attempts to guess login credentials by limiting the number of login attempts within a specific timeframe. This prevents unauthorized access and potential security breaches
However, the Wordfence-free version delays updates for new threats by 30 days, meaning your site may be vulnerable to the latest risks during this period. Additionally, support is available through community forums, where responses may take a few days.
Is Wordfence Best For You?
Wordfence is a fantastic option for new and experienced website owners with small blogs, personal portfolio websites, or small service-based websites. It’s designed to be user-friendly with a simple dashboard.
What Premium Version offers:
But For serious website owners, especially those who own multiple websites, the premium plans start from ($119/year) to USD 1250 per year and include:
- Real-Time Updates: Receive immediate updates to firewall rules and malware signatures, ensuring real-time protection against the latest threats.
- Advanced Malware Protection: Detects and blocks sophisticated malware attacks with enhanced scanning capabilities.
- IP Blocking: Block access from known malicious IP addresses to prevent attacks before they reach your site.
- Country Blocking: Restrict access to your site from specific countries to mitigate region-based threats.
- Reputation Checks: Monitor your site’s reputation to ensure it isn’t blacklisted or associated with malicious activity.
- Priority Support: Access dedicated, ticket-based support for prompt assistance with any security concerns.
WordPress Compatibility:
Wordfence supports the latest version of WordPress (6.71) as of January 2025, with support for PHP version 7.0 or higher.
Download the Wordfence official plugin for free.
2- All-In-One Security (AIOS)
All-In-One Security (AIOS) was developed by the developers of “UpdraftPlus,” which is one of the most popular WordPress backup and migration plugins and is used by over 3 million websites.
It was launched in 2013. AIOS has over 1 million active users and 1400+ 5-star ratings. All-In-One Security’s free version includes:
- Login Security: Includes two-factor authentication and brute force protection.
- Firewall: IP and user agent blocking and more to block harmful and malicious visits to your site.
- File Protection: To protect your WordPress core files from modifications and weakening.
- Content Protection: To protect your website from content theft.
Is All-In-One Security best for you?
The free version is great for basic protection for beginners, and it’s very beginner-friendly with an easy-to-use dashboard that shows the security strength percentage of your website. It also has tabs, including the toggle button to turn on and off the features.
What Premium Version offers:
The premium version, on the other hand, comes with more advanced features like:
- Malware scanning: To stop any virus, malware, or spyware from entering your site.
- 404, Bot detection and blocking: Permanently blocking bots by hackers from generating 404 errors and finding weaknesses in your website.
- Country Blocking: Protecting brute force attacks from specific countries.
- Support: Get a response within 24 hours from customer support.
The premium version costs $70 per year for one website with a 10-day refund guarantee if you don’t like it.
WordPress Compatibility:
All-In-One Security is tested on the latest version of WordPress (6.71) as of January 2025 with support for PHP version 5.6 or higher.
Download the All-In-One Security plugin by clicking here.
3- Patchstack
Patchstack is a comprehensive security solution with a different approach. It monitors your WordPress core, plugins, and themes for vulnerabilities with their advanced technology. A vulnerability is a weakness in your website’s software, such as WordPress core, themes, or plugins, that hackers can exploit to gain unauthorized access and even hack your site completely.
Patchstack offers virtual patching, which means it can protect your site from known vulnerabilities of plugins and updates even before official fixes are released by developers. This proactive approach ensures your site remains secure against emerging threats. However, Patchstack is not beginner-friendly and requires technical knowledge.
The free version of Patchstack will let you:
- Detects security issues in your WordPress setup.
- Get real-time email alerts if problems are found.
- Manage up to 10 websites from one dashboard.
Is Patchstack best for you?
Unfortunately, Patchstack isn’t beginner-friendly and requires technical knowledge to use, so you will have to learn more about how it works. Overall, it’s an essential security tool for every kind of website.
What Premium Version offers:
The free version doesn’t fix those issues automatically and doesn’t protect from attackers either. The paid version for personal websites starts from $5 per month for each website.
Patchstack also provides a centralized dashboard for managing the security status of all your sites, which makes it a valuable tool for developers and agencies.
The prices for them start from the Developer plan of $99/month for 50 websites and an Enterprise plan for unlimited sites starting from $1,499.
WordPress Compatibility:
Patchstack is tested on the 6.6.2 version of WordPress as of January 2025 with support for PHP version 5.6 or higher.
Click here to download the free version of the Patchstack plugin.
4- Solid Security (formerly iThemes Security)
Over 800,000+ websites use Solid Security, and it has a rating of 3400+ 5-star. It offers over 30 ways to protect your WordPress site, including two-factor authentication, malware scanning, and brute force protection.
It’s user-friendly, making it suitable for beginners, and offers both free and premium versions.
Free versions give you:
- Two-Factor Authentication
- Local & Network Brute Force Protection through IP and user agent blocking
- Free Patchstack Vulnerability Scan
- Firewall with the freedom to set custom rules
- Strong password enforcement so that all users on your WordPress site create and use strong, secure passwords
- File permission checks to ensure that your WordPress site’s files have the correct permissions, preventing unauthorized access and potential exploitation.
- Reduce spam comments to prevent spam comments on your site.
Is Solid Security best for you?
Yes, it’s designed to be beginner-friendly with a dashboard that gives actionable tips, and given that you’re getting many security features, including Patchstack vulnerability checker, it’s a great option for new and experienced website owners.
What Premium Version offers:
Premium plans go beyond with additional advanced security features like biometric admin login for WordPress with bot login protection and even integration with Patchstack for advanced vulnerability checks and fixes that make it a great security solution for your WordPress, and it’s worth it. Solid Security costs $99 a year per website.
WordPress Compatibility:
Solid Security is tested on the 6.7.1 version of WordPress as of January 2025 with support for a PHP version 7.3 or higher.
You can download Solid Security from here.
5- Sucuri Security
Sucuri Security is a robust WordPress plugin with over 700,000+ websites using it to safeguard and protect their sites from various threats. Developed by Sucuri Inc., a leader in website security, this plugin offers both free and premium features to cater to diverse user needs.
Free Features:
- Security Activity Auditing: Monitors and logs all security-related events within your WordPress site, helping you detect unauthorised changes.
File Integrity Monitoring: Checks core WordPress files to ensure they haven’t been altered, alerting you to potential compromises.
Remote Malware Scanning: Utilizes Sucuri’s SiteCheck to scan your site for malware, blacklist status, and other security issues.
Blacklist Monitoring: Notifies you if your site is blacklisted by security authorities like Google Safe Browsing, McAfee and more.
Security Hardening: Offers recommendations and tools to strengthen your site’s defences against attacks.
Post-Hack Security Actions: Provides guidance on steps to take if your site is compromised, aiding in recovery.
- Security Notifications: Sends alerts for any suspicious activity or potential security breaches.
Is Sucuri Security best for you?
Sucuri offers a lot of free and great security features, which makes it a good choice for beginners, but the issue is that the firewall is available in the free plan,n which makes the premium version a good choice. It gives you the automated setup option and a little complicated dashboard; it may take you a bit of time to understand all the features.
What Premium Version offers:
- Website Firewall (WAF) with Content Delivery Network: This one comes with advanced protection against threats like DDoS attacks, brute force attempts, malware injections, and support. The firewall filters malicious traffic before it reaches your server, enhancing site performance and security.
- Malware Removal: In the event of a security breach, Sucuri’s team provides professional malware removal services to clean your site.
- Performance Optimization: The firewall includes a content delivery network (CDN) that speeds up your site by caching content and delivering it from servers closest to your visitors.
Sucuri’s DNS level firewall with CDN plans starts at $9.99/month, and the Security Platform plan, which includes Sucuri’s experts themselves removing malware from your website, starts at $229/year.
WordPress Compatibility:
Sucuri Security is tested on the 6.7.1 version of WordPress as of January 2025 with support for a PHP version 7.3 or higher.
Download the Sucuri Security WordPress plugin here.
6- Defender Security
Defender Security is used by over 90,000+ websites and offers a suite of tools to protect your WordPress site. Here are some of the crucial free features of it:
- Antivirus Scan: Detects active security threats, viruses, and other malware.
Firewall: Blocks or allows specific IP addresses to protect against attacks.
Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Adds an extra layer of security by requiring a second form of verification during login, including biometrics.
Login Protection: Limits login attempts to prevent brute-force attacks.
404 Detection: Blocks IPs that repeatedly hit non-existent pages, which can be a sign of a bot attack.
The paid version includes advanced features for more security. Defender Security integrates with Patchstack to provide real-time vulnerability information, ensuring you’re always informed about potential threats.
Is Defender Security best for you?
With essential security features, Defender Security is an excellent choice for small websites and advanced ones. It has an easy and beginner-friendly interface.
What Premium Version offers:
Here are some of the great features of Defender Security Pro:
- Scheduled Malware Scanning: This allows you to set up regular scans to detect malware.
Safe Repair for Suspicious Files: Replaces suspicious files with clean versions from the official WordPress repository.
Audit logging: This allows you to monitor user activities.
Comprehensive Audit Logging: Keeps detailed logs of all security-related activities on your site.
- Known Vulnerability Detection: Identifies known vulnerabilities in your plugins, themes, and WordPress core.
Hosted Web Application Firewall (WAF) Integration: Provides advanced firewall protection.
- Pwned Password Check: Checks if user passwords have been exposed in data breaches.
The paid versions have a usual price of $15/m, but they are currently on sale, starting from $3/per month with a basic plan and going all the way to an unlimited plan for $ 20/month.
WordPress Compatibility:
The paid versions have a usual price of $15/m, but they are currently on sale, starting from $3/per month with a basic plan and going all the way to an unlimited plan for $ 20/month.
Click here to download the Defender Security plugin from WordPress’ official repository.
7- MalCare
MalCare is used by over 200,000+ websites. It’s designed for beginners and gives solid real-time malware scanning and one-click malware removal features, which makes it a user-friendly option for both beginners and experienced users.
MalCare’s free plan gives you generous basic features:
- Daily scan for malware detection
Advanced malware scanning of files and database
Firewall to block bad traffic and attacks with 7-day rules update
- Firewall to block bad traffic and attacks with 7-day rules update
Vulnerability scanner to look for weak spots in your site’s plugins, themes, and core files
Centralized updates to manage all your site’s updates from one place
Bot protection to block unwanted bots that can slow down your site
Assistance from customer support
Is MalCare best for you?
Malcare offers good basic security features to scan your website for vulnerability issues, a basic firewall, and bot protection; it’s also good for beginners but has received some negative reviews, so you should use the free version for a while to see if you’re satisfied.
What Premium Version offers:
The free version will not remove malware; the premium version gives advanced protection, monitoring with malware removal, real-time firewalls, backups, and faster customer support. Premium plans start from $149 to $499 a year.
WordPress Compatibility:
MalCare is tested on the 6.7.1 version of WordPress as of January 2025 with support for a PHP version 5.6.0 or higher.
Click here to download the MalCare plugin.
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Free vs Paid WP Security Plugins: What’s Best For You?
Free plugins often offer essential tools like firewalls, login protection, and basic malware scanning. They’re great for beginners or smaller sites.
However, free versions come with many limitations, like delayed updates for new threats or lack of advanced features like real-time IP blocking or customer support and advanced malware scanning and detection.
Paid plugins, on the other hand, go the extra mile. They offer real-time updates, faster threat response, premium support, and advanced features like two-factor authentication or deep malware cleaning.
While free plugins can work for many, paid options are a smart choice for high-traffic, business-critical, or e-commerce sites where downtime isn’t an option.
So the question isn’t just “free or paid?” But what level of security does your website need? A free plugin might be enough for a small personal blog, but for businesses or growing websites, investing in premium security is worth every penny.