In this tutorial we will list and discuss 20 best WordPress Firewall Plugins.
It costs money to set up a blog, an e-commerce website, or a small business website, including hosting, themes, plugins, and website development. You don’t need to hire customer service representatives or salespeople in addition to that.
Investing in your website from the very beginning is enough to safeguard it. However, what is more significant is protecting the money you may make in the future.
Due to the time, effort, and expense involved in cleaning up your WordPress website, prevention is the best defense against hackers. Also, you lose customers and reputation as a result of downtime brought on by hacking.
You can prevent hacking your site most efficiently by installing a WordPress firewall plugin.
Firewalls in WordPress keep malicious traffic out, stop malicious bots from accessing the site, and prevent hackers from hacking into it.
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What is a WordPress firewall plugin?
Plugins like WordPress firewall (also called web application firewalls or WAFs) protect your site from incoming web traffic. Many common security threats are blocked before they reach your WordPress site by web application firewalls.
In addition to enhancing your WordPress security, these firewalls can improve your website’s performance and speed.
WordPress firewall plugins are divided into two categories.
- Website Firewalls at the DNS Level — These firewalls transport your website visitors through cloud proxy servers. As a result, they can only deliver legitimate users to your web server.
- Application Level Firewall — These firewall plugins inspect traffic once it reaches your server, but before most WordPress scripts are loaded. In addition to minimizing server load, this solution is not as effective as a DNS level firewall.
What should firewall plugins deliver?
WordPress comes with certain security features by default, but they pale in comparison to what a trustworthy security plugin can accomplish for you. The best WordPress security plugins, for example, provide the following:
- Active security surveillance
- Scanning files
- Malware detection
- Monitoring of the blacklist
- Hardening of security
- Actions to be taken after a hack
- Firewalls
- Protection against brute force attacks
- When a security threat is found, you will receive notifications.
20 best firewall plugins
Let’s have a look at some of the top WordPress firewall plugins for website security. Of course you can also always contact the CyberPanel support team for any issues regarding your WordPress sites.
Wordfence
Wordfence is a WordPress security plugin that comes with a slew of capabilities for safeguarding WordPress sites.
The site is monitored for viruses, SQL injections, file changes, updates, and much more via a built-in web application firewall.
Wordfence is a firewall that works at the application level. Before the pages are loaded, the firewall stops spam traffic and harmful requests before they reach the server. Because Wordfence doesn’t really filter requests at the network level, the server bears a major portion of the burden.
Wordfence security scans, on the other hand, are incredible. You can do these manually or have them scheduled with email reports.
Wordfence has the following features:
- WAF.
- A malware scanning is run.
- Defending against brute force attacks
- Repairs to WordPress files.
- By scanning the contents of files, you can ensure their protection.
- CAPTCHA on the Login Page
- Block attackers based on their IP address.
BBQ Firewall
The simplest and lightest Firewall plugin is BBQ Firewall. It can defend your WordPress site from a variety of dangers.
BBQ filters all requests in the backend at the network level, blocking problematic requests.
The plugin is popular because it is lightweight and claims to be the fastest WAF for WordPress, with over 100,000 installations. It has no effect on the page’s speed.
Despite the fact that it is a little plugin, it is extremely effective in blocking spam traffic and bots.
BBQ Firewall features include:
- SQL injection attacks are a common occurrence.
- Uploads of executable files.
- Attacks that traverse directories.
- Character requests that are not safe.
- Requests that are excessively long.
- Execution of PHP code from a remote location or from a file.
- XSS, XXE, and other similar attacks
- Defends against malicious bots.
- Bad referrers are guarded against.
Sucuri
Sucuri is another prominent WordPress website security company. DNS level firewall, brute force protection, malware eradication, and blacklist removal services are among their offerings.
Every request is scanned by the sucuri proxy servers, which handle all website traffic. Only normal traffic is allowed to flow through, while all infected and malicious requests are blocked.
Sucuri minimizes the strain on a web server by combating spam and bot attacks. The performance of the website is improved via caching improvements, website acceleration, and CDN.
Sucuri protects your website from SQL Injections, XSS, RCE, RFU, and all other known threats.
Sucuri’s features include:
- Auditing of security activity
- Monitoring the integrity of files.
- Malware scanning over the internet.
- Monitoring of the blocklist
- Security hardening that works.
- Security measures taken after a hack.
- Notifications about security.
- Firewall for the website.
All in One WP Security & Firewall
All in One WP Security and Firewall is a WordPress security plugin that takes care of everything. It’s a free plugin with a lot of useful features for both beginners and experts.
Beginner, intermediate, and advanced features are divided into three sections by the plugin. The AIO WP Security plugin is simple to use for anyone with any degree of WordPress understanding.
AIO WP allows you to safeguard your website with a firewall. It makes use of the .htaccess file to keep harmful programs and junk traffic out of the WordPress code.
All in One WP Security & Firewall has the following features:
- WAF.
- Strengthen your passwords with this tool.
- Enumeration of users must come to an end.
- Attempt to log in through brute force.
- IP address that is locked out
- Add Google Recaptcha to the mix.
- Keep your PHP code safe.
- Allow faulty or malicious query strings to pass through.
NinjaFirewall
NinjaFirewall acts as a firewall between WordPress and the server, reducing server load. It intercepts requests before they reach the webserver, saving a significant amount of bandwidth.
Before WordPress reaches WordPress, the plugin scans and sanitizes all HTTP/HTTPS requests and secures all folders, files, and subdirectories.
The Ninja Firewall plugin, like BBQ Firewall, is designed exclusively for firewalls.
NinjaFirewall also employs policies and rules to block harmful scripts. Rule sets are individually adjustable, with various parameters and the ability to enable and disable them.
Ninja Firewall has the following features:
- WAF.
- Monitoring the integrity of files.
- Detection in real time.
- Notification of upcoming events.
- This is a live log.
- Compatibility with IPv6.
Defender Security
WPMU DEV, a powerful WordPress development company specializing in producing plugins, produced the Defender Security Plugin.
Defender Security is a simple and easy-to-use plugin that makes security a breeze. The security functions are simplified thanks to the simple user interface and dashboard.
The Defender security plugin begins scanning files and sites as soon as you enable it, and it presents the first issues and fixes.
Defender security includes a firewall function that guards against brute-force assaults in the event that hackers try to get access to the website by flooding it with wrong credentials.
Defender Security has the following features:
- WAF.
- Authentication with two factors.
- Pingbacks and trackbacks are disabled.
- Turn off the file editor.
- Error reporting is disabled.
- Prevent PHP from running.
- Manager of IP Blocklists.
Security Ninja
Security Ninja is a company that has been in operation for more than seven years. It began as one of the first security plugins offered on CodeCanyon (with four add-ons available), and in 2016 it transitioned to a freemium model. There are no more add-ons, and there are only two versions: free and premium. The primary module (the only one that is free) runs over 50 security tests, ranging from file and MySQL rights to PHP settings.
To screen out accounts with weak passwords, Security Ninja performs a brute force check on all user credentials. This aids in the security education of users. It includes an auto fixer module, but for those that want to understand what’s going on, there’s a full explanation of each test, as well as code to manually address the security issue. If you don’t want plugins interfering with your site, Security Ninja is a viable substitute to the standard “simply click here to fix it” method.
Features of Security Ninja are as follows
- Over 50 security tests are performed across your site by the security tester module.
- You don’t know how to use technology? No worry, the auto fixer module will take care of any issues that are discovered.
- Scan the WordPress core files for integrity by comparing them to a safe and up-to-date copy from wordpress.org.
- Look for unusual code and viruses in plugins and themes.
- Make use of a large list of known malicious IPs and ban them automatically.
- From people entering into settings being modified, keep track of everything that happens on your WordPress site.
- You can schedule scans on a regular basis.
Jetpack
Although Jetpack includes a firewall, it is not a security plugin. It has a lot of features for marketing, security, design, performance, and so on, and one of them is WordPress security.
It is also a highly heavy plugin, yet it can be used in place of many other plugins.
Jetpack, like Wordfence, works at the application level to restrict malicious traffic. As a result, it doesn’t do anything to relieve the server’s stress.
The most serious flaw is the pricing. Firewall advanced features are expensive, and you don’t require all of Jetpack’s extra capabilities.
Jetpack is really not advised or recommended because it slows down the website’s loading speed.
Jetpack has the following features:
- WAF.
- Backups of the website.
- Spam filtering is a feature that allows you to filter out unwanted messages.
- Protection against brute force attacks.
- Keep an eye on your website’s uptime.
- Site statistics that are more advanced.
- Processors of payments.
MalCare
The one-click malware cleanup application is MalCare’s best feature. It keeps an eye on the site and removes viruses on a regular basis.
MalCare provides a complete website management module that covers all of a WordPress site’s security concerns from a single dashboard.
The website’s speed is unaffected by the clever scanning technology. MalCare’s cloud-based WAF is free and filters out fraudulent traffic in real-time, protecting you from hackers.
MalCare has the following features:
- WAF.
- Blocking IP addresses on a worldwide scale.
- Login security based on CAPTCHA.
- The uploads folder should be kept safe.
- Malicious traffic is detected and blocked.
- Allows users to secure their websites.
MaxCDN (Not a WordPress plugin)
MaxCDN (which is now part of the StackPath family) is a renowned CDN security and web apps firewall provider. On all levels, their strong platform includes Layer 3 and 4 DDoS protection by default.
The StackPath WAF protects the domains it protects using Layer 7 DDoS protection. This is a DNS-level firewall, similar to Sucuri, that not only speeds up your website but also protects it from harmful attacks.
Because StackPath does not have a WordPress plugin, they are ranked second after Sucuri in our list of application-level firewalls.
Features of MaxCDN
- Entry-level customers can take advantage of low-cost options.
- SSL choices that are adaptable.
- Servers from the United States that are extremely powerful.
- Sharding of domains.
- Extra storage space can be purchased.
- Video files are supported.
- Analytical tools for websites.
- Reports about security.
BulletProof security
Another well-known WordPress security plugin is BulletProof security. It protects your website with a built-in application level firewall, login protection, database backup, maintenance mode, and other security adjustments.
BulletProof security doesn’t even have a great user interface, and many beginners may struggle to figure out what to do. It does, however, come with a setup process that updates your WordPress .htaccess files and turns on firewall protection.
It lacks a file scanner for scanning your website for suspicious code. The plugin’s commercial version adds features to monitor your WordPress uploads folder for infiltration and harmful files.
Features of BulletProof security
- Wizard of Setup (AutoWhitelist|AutoSetup|AutoCleanup) AutoFix
- MScan Malware Scanner. .htaccess Protection for your website (Firewalls).
- Files Cron|Hidden Plugin Folders (HPF).
- Security & Monitoring of Logins
- JTC-Lite (BPS Pro JTC Anti-Spam|Anti-Hacker in a limited form).
- Logout from an idle session (ISL).
- Full|Partial Database Backups | Manual|Scheduled Database Backups | Email Zip Backups | Cron Delete any previous backups.
- DB Table Prefix Changer is a programme that changes the prefix of tables in a database.
- Maintenance Mode (FrontEnd|BackEnd).
- Information on the System in Extensive (System Info page).
WP Cerber
WP Cerber is a premium security plugin that includes a malware scanner as well as a file integrity checker. The firewall, which we’re interested in for this essay, is only available to paid subscribers. The feature is known as the Traffic Inspector, which is a reasonable description. That’s a clever name for a security system.
WordPress is protected from hacker attacks, spam, trojans, and malware. Limits the number of login attempts using the login form, XML-RPC / REST API calls, or auth cookies to prevent brute-force attacks. With configurable email, mobile, and desktop notifications, it keeps track of user and bad actor activities. Spammers are stopped with the use of a sophisticated anti-spam engine. To protect registration, contact, and comment forms, Google reCAPTCHA is used. IP Access Lists are used to limit access. With a powerful malware scanner and integrity checker, it keeps track of the website’s integrity. With a set of customizable security rules and powerful security algorithms, it improves the security of WordPress.
- When logging in by IP address or full subnet, limit the number of login attempts.
- Logins made using login forms, XML-RPC requests, or auth cookies are tracked.
- IP Access Lists can be used to allow or deny access to a particular IP, IP range, or subnet.
- Make a unique login URL (rename wp-login.php).
- Cerber anti-spam engine for contact and registration forms protection.
- Automatically detects spam comments and either transfers them to the trash or rejects them entirely.
- From a single dashboard, you can manage many WP Cerber instances.
- WordPress Two-Factor Authentication.
- Users, bots, hackers, and other questionable activity are all recorded.
- The integrity of WordPress files, plugins, and themes is checked by a security scanner.
- With email notifications and reports, it keeps track of file changes and new files.
- With a set of customizable filters, you can get mobile and email notifications.
- Sessions manager for advanced users
SiteLock
SiteLock offers a web application firewall that purports to keep hackers and malicious bots at bay. According to their website, the firewall blocks all of OWASP’s top ten cyber risks. That’s a bold claim.
SiteLock is website security good for low businesses that are hosted in the cloud. It serves as an early warning system for common online threats such as malware injections and bot attacks. It not only defends websites from cyber threats, but it also fixes security flaws.
Some of the features are
- Website scans to look for harmful malware or security flaws
- Any identified harmful code/malware/ malware is automatically removed.
- A simple firewall
- surveillance of a website’s reputation
- CDN to improve site speed and, as a result, search engine rankings
iThemes Security
With over 30 features to avoid problems like hackers and unwanted intruders, the iThemes Security plugin is among the most amazing solutions to safeguard your website. It focuses heavily on detecting plugin vulnerabilities, outdated software, and data theft.
Although the free version includes some basic security capabilities, we strongly advise subscribing to iThemes Security Pro for only $80 per year. This includes ticketed assistance, one year of plugin upgrades, and two websites of help. You might choose to upgrade towards a more expensive plan if you want to secure additional sites.
Some features of iThemes Security are:
- The security plugin includes file prediction, which is useful because most webmasters are unaware when a file is changed.
- Use the Google reCAPTCHA assimilation to add an extra layer of security to your login.
- The plugin analyzes your WordPress core files to the most recent version of WordPress, allowing you to see if there is anything malicious in those files.
- To add an extra level of sophistication to your authentication keys, update your WordPress salts and keys.
- When you’re not making frequent updates to your site and wish to entirely shut down your WordPress dashboard from all users, you can enable “Away Mode.”
- 404 error detection, brute force prevention, and robust password enforcement are also required.
WP fail2ban
WP fail2ban only has one function, but it’s a critical one: it protects against brute force attacks. The plugin uses a unique approach than many security suite plugins described above, which many people believe is more successful. LOG_AUTH is used by WP fail2ban to log all login attempts, irrespective of the type or success, to the syslog. You can choose between a light and a severe ban, as opposed to the more typical technique of just choosing one.
In terms of WP fail2ban plugin configuration, there isn’t much to know. All you have to do now is install it and wait for it to work its magic. Furthermore, the brute force security plugin is entirely free, so you won’t have to pay anything. Users constantly say that this plugin works wonderfully, making it a true standout.
Some features of WP fail2ban are mentioned below
- You have the option of using hard or soft blocks.
- CloudFlare and proxy servers can be integrated.
- To prevent spam or harmful remarks, keep track of your comments.
- In addition, the plugin keeps track of spam, pingbacks, and user enumeration.
- You may also construct a short code that prohibits users from accessing the login procedure before they have an opportunity to do so.
Shield Security
Shield Security‘s primary function is to relieve you of the growing load of site security. We all have limited time, therefore we need better defenses and a security plugin that can respond to attacks without bombarding you with emails. Shield begins scanning and defending your site the instant you activate it, making it more suitable for both newbies and advanced users. All options are clearly documented, allowing you to delve further into the security of your website at your leisure.
Shield Security’s core is always free. Business owners and professionals who need comprehensive protection can sign up for Shield Pro for just $12/site for hands-on 24-hour support. Shield Security is dedicated to making Pro-Grade security accessible to every website, not just the wealthiest few. In addition to higher scan speeds, more frequent scans, user password policies, bigger audit trails, support for WooCommerce, traffic monitoring and other security features, Pro offers more features that simplify security policies for its users.
Some of the features of Shield Security are listed below
- One of the few security plugins that allows only specified users to view its own settings.
- Smarter protection with tools that work in the background and don’t bother you with pop-ups.
- The only security plugin with three methods of free two-factor authentication and the ability to choose which users can use it.
- Everyone gets a pro upgrade for $12 per site — bulk pricing without the bulk purchase.
- Pro provides 6x more powerful scans to detect issues across your entire site.
Hide My WP
Hide My WP is a popular WordPress security plugin that hides the fact that you’re using WordPress as your CMS from attackers, spammers, and theme detectors such as Wappalyzer and BuiltWith.
This security plugin includes a solid art intrusion detector (IDS) that detects and blocks real-time security threats such as SQL injection, XSS, and other types of assaults. Hide My WP is a premium WordPress security plugin that costs $24 and can be downloaded here.
The following are some of the features that make Hide My WP a great choice:
- Hides the theme’s name, plugins, permalinks, wp-admin, and login URL, among other things.
- Direct access to PHP files is blocked, WP class names are cleaned up, and directory listing is disabled.
- Notifies you of any potential bad conduct, including the attacker’s username, IP address, and date.
- Includes a “trust network2” that bans traffic from bad source IP addresses automatically.
- Choose from a variety of pre-made setups for one-click deployment.
- Multi-site, Apache, Nginx, IIS, premium themes, and additional security plugins are all supported.
SecuPress
SecuPress is a younger security plugin on the market (it was first introduced as a freemium option in 2016), but it’s quickly gaining traction. It was created by Julio Potier, one of WP Media’s initial co-founders, who you may know from their work on WP Rocket and Imagify. There is a free edition as well as a paid version with a lot of extra features.
SecuPress is the plugin to use if you want a security plugin with a great UI and simple to use interface. Anti-brute force login, blacklisted IPs, and a firewall are all included in the free edition. It also protects your security keys and prevents bad bots from accessing your site.
SecuPress has the following features that make it a great choice:
- SecuPress has one of the nicest user interfaces! This makes it incredibly user-friendly, even for novices.
- The premium edition unquestionably provides a significant amount of value. In 5 minutes, you can check 35 security issues, get a lovely report, and then protect your WordPress site.
- It also gives you the option of changing your WordPress login URL so that bots can’t locate it.
- Aids in the detection of vulnerable themes and plugins that have been altered with to add malicious code.
VaultPress
It’s also worth mentioning VaultPress, which works similarly to iThemes Security Pro and Sucuri Scanner.
The operation’s bread and butter are daily and real-time backups, with a lovely calendar view for determining when you’d like to complete your backups. You can also accomplish site restorations with a single mouse click. Furthermore, the restoration files are registered in the dashboard, and multiple of them are saved so you can select the one you want. The best thing about VaultPress backups is that they’re incremental. This is fantastic in terms of performance.
The main security tools keep an eye on suspicious behavior on your site, with tabs for monitoring your history and identifying which threats have been dealt with and which have been ignored. From the comfort of a tidy dashboard, you can also review metrics and manage your whole security detail.
VaultPress has the following features that make it a great choice:
- Almost all other premium WordPress security plugins are more expensive.
- For all users, the dashboard appears to be tidy and simple to use.
- A calendar can be used to make real-time or manual backups.
- The stats page displays information on your site’s most frequent visiting hours as well as any threats that have happened during those times.
- You can reach out to the specialists at VaultPress for assistance with things such as site restores and backups.
WPScan (Not a WordPress Plugin)
WPScan is another excellent WordPress website security solution. This user-friendly application, which has been around since 2012, can maintain the backend of your website safe and secure. It works by cataloging a large number of distinct known dangers and alerting you to the most essential ones so you can avoid security problems.
WPScan has the following features:
- An open-source tool with unique features for scanning remote WordPress installations for security flaws.
- Their vulnerability database is updated on a daily basis by members of the public and WordPress security experts.
- Automated scans are run on a daily basis to check for malicious programs.
- Notifications via email
- Helps by inspecting a database of known flaws with things like WordPress plugins, WordPress core, and WordPress themes that will affect you.
Conclusion
Picking a WordPress firewall plugin might be a difficult undertaking because you won’t know if it works until it fails to prevent a malware assault. Furthermore, a firewall is simply one aspect of your website’s anti-hacker defense. A malware analyzer and cleanup are also required components. It’s far easier to discover a single plugin that handles all of these things than it is to find a collection of security plugins.
WordPress is a secure platform in and of itself, but it is so popular that it attracts a lot of hacking attempts.
You must have a firewall in place to keep WordPress secure, as automated bots travel the internet looking for vulnerable sites to attack.
