Welcome to Plugged In, where we take a look at some of the most popular WordPress plugins in various categories. This week, we look into the best plugins to help harden the security of your WordPress site. (For more information on WordPress plugins, download our ultimate guide.)
Security is a huge issue for anyone who works online. If something goes wrong, it could be detrimental to your business and livelihood. There are ways to ensure your protection, such as diligent updates and secure passwords. But plugins are also a great way to keep your assets safe.
We have compiled a few of the most popular from the WordPress Plugin Repository. With these, you can rest easy knowing your site is secure.
Akismet
You can’t mention security plugins without talking about Akismet. With over one million active downloads, it is a leader in the field. The plugin automatically checks comments for spam or malicious behavior, detects the history of the commentator, and more. Your site can be vulnerable from many different sides, and running your comments through Akismet will keep you safe on that front.
Not only will this plugin keep your site secure, but it will speed up your site by eliminating spam. It’s a great full-featured option for anyone who gets a lot of user engagement.
Sucuri
Sucuri Security is a powerful plugin that cleans and scans your website of any malware threats. With Sucuri you can choose to clean a hacked site of viruses or protect your site from future attacks.
The toolset for security integrity monitoring will harden your site and make you feel more at ease with activity monitoring, integrity monitoring, malware scanning, blacklist monitoring, and more.
iThemes Security
Another giant in the security world, iThemes Security offers over 30 ways to keep you safe. Go through and choose to enable or disable any of the features you want. The plugin offers brute force protection, database backups, banned users, and more. Click on each one to get a description.
You’ll also receive a free malware scan that will take care of any suspicious activity before you even know about it. You can rest easy with this security plugin.
What are your favorite security plugins? Let us know by leaving a comment below. And check out our list of the 10 most popular plugins our customers use on our platform.
This is informative but also a bit confusing. Doesn’t WP Engine offer a lot of the security as part of its hosting? Will there be conflicts created if security plugins are used too?
Hi Mike – none of the listed plugins in this article are on WP Engine’s disallowed plugin list, so they shouldn’t conflict with one another (see the list here: https://wpengine.com/support/disallowed-plugins/).
While WP Engine does offer security features, it’s never a bad idea to further harden the security of your site with a plugin.
I’m missing one of the newer players from the Team behin WP Rocket – https://secupress.me/
There is a disclaimer with Ithemes that states it significantly alters your site and can cause problems. Is this a normal issue with this plugin?
Wordfence is also the best plugin for wordpress,
No doubt, Ithemes security is superior to others. Very user-friendly.