Are you looking for the best WordPress firewall plugin to install on your website?
A WordPress firewall plugin helps protect your website against brute force, DDoS attacks, traffic spams and many other web threats.
In this article, I will show you the best WordPress firewall plugin.
Best WordPress Firewall Plugin
I have used many firewall plugins on different websites. So each plugin on the list is tried and tested. For me these 10 WordPress Firewall Plugins performed amazingly in one thing or another.
- Cloudflare
- BBQ Firewall
- Sucuri
- Wordfence
- All in One WP Security
- Jetpack
- Ninja Firewall
- Astra
- MalCare
- Defender Security
#1 CloudFlare (free)
Cloudflare is a popular CDN provider available in the market used by lots of users to speed up WordPress websites. Beside CDN, Cloudflare packs a suite of powerful security features.
One of the features is a DNS level firewall.
As the CDN manage your DNS, it enables a firewall to filter the traffic. DNS level firewall reduces bandwidth usage and decreases downtime during high traffic. According to Cloudflare, the website using its service saves up to 60% in bandwidth, 65% fewer requests, and a level up in site security.
Cloudflare has many security features:
- Mitigate DDoS Attacks
- Prevent Bot Abuse
- SSL/TLS
- WAF
Cloudflare does not have application-level security scans, and it works on the network level. The plugin will not monitor or scan your website for any WordPress threat. Nor will it send you any alert.
Plans: Free plans are enough for bloggers. There are small plans for small businesses.
#2 BBQ Firewall (free)
BBQ Firewall is the simplest and lightweight Firewall plugin. It can protect your WordPress website against a wide range of threats.
BBQ filters all the requests and blocks the bad requests like base 64 and long request strings in the background at the network level.
With more than 100,000 installations, the plugin is popular due to its lightweight and claim to be the fastest WAF for WordPress. It does not impact page speed at all.
Despite being a tiny plugin, it is immensely powerful to block spam traffic and bots.
Features of BBQ Firewall:
- SQL injection attacks
- Executable file uploads
- Directory traversal attacks
- Unsafe character requests
- Excessively long requests
- PHP remote/file execution
- XSS, XXE, and related attacks
- Protects against bad bots
- Protects against bad referrers
Price: There is a free version that you can use. Pro version comes with more features.
#3 Sucuri (paid)
Sucuri is another popular website security company for WordPress. Their products include DNS level firewall, brute force prevention, malware removal and blacklist removal services.
All the website traffic goes through the sucuri proxy servers that scan each request. Only the legitimate traffic pass through, and all the infected and malicious request are filtered out.
By blocking the spams and bot attacks, Sucuri also reduces the load on a web server. Caching optimizations, website acceleration, and CDN improves the website’s performance.
Sucuri firewall protects your website against SQL Injections, XSS, RCE, RFU and all known-attacks.
Features of Sucuri:
- Security activity auditing
- File integrity monitoring
- Remote malware scanning
- Blocklist monitoring
- Effective security hardening
- Post-hack security actions
- Security notifications
- Website firewall
Price: Sucuri WAF is a paid service; however, other Sucuri features are free.
#4 Wordfence (free)
Wordfence is a comprehensive WordPress security plugin with a plethora of tools to protect WordPress websites.
A built-in web application firewall monitors the site for malware, SQL injections, file changes, updates, and much more.
Wordfence is an application-level firewall. The firewall blocks the spam traffic and malicious requests when they reach the server before loading the pages. This way server takes a significant amount of the load because Wordfence does not filter the request at the network level.
However, Wordfence security scans are amazing. You can do them manually or schedule them with reports sent to you by email.
Features of Wordfence:
- WAF
- Malware scanner checks
- Protection from brute force attacks
- WordPress file repairs
- Content safety by scanning file contents
- Login Page CAPTCHA
- Block attackers by IP
Pricing: Wordfence basic is free and enough for small sites. The premium version includes more functions.
#5 All in One WP Security & Firewall (free)
All in One WP Security and Firewall is a WordPress plugin that handles everything related to website security. It is a free plugin with many features that are useful for beginners as well as experts.
The plugin divides the features into three parts: Beginner, intermediate and advance. A person with every level of WordPress knowledge can use the AIO WP Security plugin easily.
AIO WP allows you to add firewall protection to your website. It uses the htaccess file to stop malicious scripts and spam traffic from reaching the WP code.
Features of All in One WP Security & Firewall:
- WAF
- Password strength tool
- Stop user enumeration
- Brute force login attack
- Lockout IP address
- Add Google Recaptcha
- Protect your PHP code
- Deny bad or malicious query strings
Price: The plugin is free.
#6 Jetpack (paid)
Jetpack has a firewall, but it is not a security plugin. It comes with many features for marketing, security, design, performance etc.., and WordPress security is one of them.
Also, it is a very heavy plugin, though you can use it as an alternative to many other plugins.
Jetpack works similarly to Wordfence and blocks harmful traffic at the application level. Which means it does not do much to reduce the pressure from the server.
The biggest downfall is the pricing. Advance features for Firewalls are paid, and you don’t need all the extra features Jetpack offers.
Jetpack is also not recommended because it affects the loading speed of the website.
But if you are okay with the paid version and will use all its function, then it is a robust option for a WordPress firewall.
Features of Jetpack:
- WAF
- Site backups
- Spam filtering
- Brute force attack protection
- Monitor your site uptime
- Advanced site stats
- Payment processors
Price: Free app comes with a core feature. The firewall and security features are in the premium version.
#7 Ninja Firewall (free)
NinjaFirewall stands in front of WordPress and reduces server load. It intercepts the request before they hit the webserver and saves lots of bandwidth.
The plugin scan and sanitise all the HTTP/HTTPS request before WordPress reaches WordPress and protects all the directories, files and sub-directories.
Similar to BBQ Firewall, the Ninja Firewall plugin is specifically for firewalls.
Moreover, NinjaFirewall uses policies and rules to filter out malicious scripts. Rule sets are configurable, include many options, and can be enabled and disabled individually.
Features of Ninja Firewall:
- WAF
- File integrity monitoring
- Real-time detection
- Events notification
- Live log
- IPv6 compatibility
Price: The free version of Ninja Firewall is more than enough. For extra features, there is paid version.
#8 Astra (paid)
Astra is a relatively new but powerful website security suite.
The WordPress plugin takes care of any malware, comments spam, brute force, DDoS, Credit card hacks, SQLi, XSS and other web threats.
Astra WAF protects the website in real-time, with an on-demand machine learning-powered malware scanner and immediate malware cleanup. Machine learning adapts to overcome new web threat challenges and keep the site secure even from the latest exploitation methods.
The intuitive dashboard makes the plugin navigation super easy. It takes less than 10 minutes to set up the plugin and Astra to start securing the website.
However, there is no free plan. You have to buy the complete Astra security suite to get this plugin. The suite has many features. But if you only want WAF, then Astra is not for you.
Features of Astra:
- Web Application Firewall (WAF)
- Robust community-powered security engine
- Installs as an extension in your website (No need to change DNS settings)
- Real-time SQLi, XSS, LFI & 100+ threats protection
- Malware scanning & removal
- Bad bots blocking
- Country blocking/whitelisting
- IP range blocking/whitelisting
- IP profiling & tracking
Price: No free version. Only premium.
#9 MalCare (free)
MalCare’s strongest feature is its one-click malware removal program. It monitors the site regularly and removes the malware consistently.
MalCare has an integrated website management module covering the multiple security prospect of a WordPress site from a single dashboard.
The intelligent scanning algorithm does not affect the speed of the website. MalCare’s cloud-based WAF is free and provides real-time protection from hackers by filtering out spammy traffic.
Features of MalCare:
- WAF
- IP blocking on a global level
- CAPTCHA-based Login Protection
- Protect the uploads folder
- Identifies & blocks malicious traffic
- Enables users to harden their sites
Price: Free version has WAF. Versions with the advance feature is paid.
#10 Defender Security
Defender Security Plugin is created by WPMU DEV, a popular WordPress development company that specialises in building plugins.
Defender Security is a user-friendly plugin that does not make security a difficult task. The easy to use user interface and dashboard streamline the security functions.
From the moment you activate Defender security, the plugin starts scanning the files & sites and displays the initial issues and fixes.
Defender security has a firewall feature that protects force attacks in case hackers attempt to steal access to the site by bombarding incorrect credentials.
Features of Defender Security:
- WAF
- Two-factor authentication
- Disable trackbacks and pingbacks
- Disable file editor
- Hide error reporting
- Prevent PHP execution
- IP Blocklist manager
Price: The free version has WAF. Extra features are in the paid version.
FAQ
Does WordPress have a firewall?
WordPress does not have an inbuilt firewall. You have to use a plugin and third-party services to stop the spam traffic and bot attack. There is plenty of quality WAF plugins.
Which is the best WordPress Firewall Plugin?
Cloudflare slows down the website but is the best for beginners. BBQ and Defender Security is an amazing WAF for the new websites.
Wordfence is best for bloggers that use quality hosting servers, as it offers lots of monitoring tools.
Sucuri and Jetpack are best for large websites that require premium firewalls.
Also Read:
- Top 10 Best WordPress Plugins for Event Registration
- How to Disable PHP Execution in WordPress Directories?
- How to Disable Directory Browsing in WordPress?
- How to Disable Remember Me in WordPress Login Page?
Wrap Up
WordPress is itself a secure platform, but it is so popular that it attracts many hacking attacks.
To keep the WordPress secure, you have to have a firewall up, as automatic bots roam on the internet, waiting to find the unprotected site and attack it.
In this article, I mentioned the best WordPress firewall plugins that you can use.
I hope this blog post helped you. If you have more questions regarding WordPress firewall plugins, you can comment it down.
