Activity Guard – Security Scanner, Activity Log with IP blocking vs ShieldUp – Bad Bots, Scrapers, Attackers

Activity Guard is a free WordPress plugin that covers four things most plugins charge separately for: a complete activity log, an IP-based security firewall, a plugin vulnerability scanner, and WooCommerce abandoned cart analytics. Alerts go out in real time to Slack, Telegram, or email, all from one dashboard. Most activity log plugins stop at logging. Most security plugins don’t touch WooCommerce. Plugins like WP Activity Log, Simple History, and Stream do logging well — Activity Guard adds real-time Slack and Telegram alerts, an IP firewall with emergency shutdown, CVE vulnerability scanning, and WooCommerce abandoned cart recovery analytics, all at no cost. No paid tier required for any of it. No other free plugin on WordPress.org combines these four in one place: a complete audit log, an IP security firewall, a multi-database vulnerability scanner, and WooCommerce analytics with cart recovery tracking. Activity Guard Website | Documentation | Pro Support WordPress Activity Log Activity Guard records every meaningful change on your site, including the IP address, username, timestamp, and the exact change made. The audit log covers: User logins, logouts, and failed login attempts User registrations, role changes, and profile edits Pages, posts, and custom post types: create, edit, delete, status changes Plugin and theme activations, deactivations, updates, and deletions WordPress core settings and configuration changes Menu, widget, and sidebar modifications Email delivery tracking via a full email log Form submissions from Contact Form 7, SimpleForm, and others Admin settings changes and debug log events Cron job scheduling and background process tracking Script modification and file change detection Visitor traffic monitoring with an on/off toggle Visual charts summarize your audit log at a glance. No need to scroll through raw log tables to understand what’s happening on your site. Security Firewall and IP Blocking Activity Guard actively blocks threats rather than just recording them. IP blocking by manual entry, CIDR range, or conditional rule Emergency Shutdown: force-logout every active session on your site with one click Cloudflare Turnstile login protection against bots and brute force attacks Login rate limiting to stop credential-stuffing Bot detection and automatic IP blocking Restrict or fully disable XML-RPC access Core file integrity scanner to detect unauthorized file changes File integrity monitoring across plugins and themes Block TOR network access Block vulnerability scanner user agents HTTP security headers: custom, logged, and enforced WordPress version hiding 404 error tracking and suspicious HTTP request alerts Admin dashboard visitor tracking Cron job failure and site downtime monitoring The Emergency Shutdown feature is specific to Activity Guard: one click and every logged-in session on your site ends immediately — useful when you detect a breach in progress and need everyone out now. Plugin Vulnerability Scanner Activity Guard scans every installed plugin and theme against multiple vulnerability databases before problems develop: Detect plugins with known CVEs across NVD, WPVulnerability.net, and the WPAzleen private API Flag outdated plugins not compatible with your WordPress version Identify abandoned plugins not updated in over a year Warn about plugins with low install counts or poor ratings No other free activity log plugin on WordPress.org includes a built-in multi-database vulnerability scanner. WooCommerce Activity Log and Analytics Activity Guard logs every WooCommerce event and adds analytics built specifically for store owners. Order tracking covers status changes, payments, refunds, and cancellations. You also get stock level changes and low-stock events, coupon creation and usage, product pricing edits, billing and shipping address updates, customer registration changes, and real-time shipping status updates. The abandoned cart and incomplete-order analytics go further than basic logging. The dashboard shows checkout drop-off rates, recovery potential, recovery rate, and how customers interact with their carts before leaving. This tells you where revenue is being lost, not just that it was lost. WooCommerce abandoned cart analytics with recovery rate tracking is included free. No competing free activity log plugin on WordPress.org provides this. Slack and Telegram Notifications Activity Guard sends alerts the moment a critical event occurs, across four channels: Slack: route alerts to any channel, tag specific users or groups with @mentions Telegram: real-time activity and security alerts direct to your Telegram chat Email: configurable per event type Admin dashboard: in-panel notification view Events that trigger alerts include core file changes, plugin and theme updates (with the username that triggered the update), WooCommerce orders, payments, coupon usage, incomplete order follow-ups, product edits, stock changes, login and registration events, page and post changes, form submissions, and admin settings changes. A daily digest and weekly plugin download summary are also available. You can schedule notifications for specific times and control exactly which events send alerts. Admin and Developer Tools Maintenance mode toggle from the dashboard Menu and widget change tracking Plugin and theme activation and deactivation logs Script modification detection HTTP security header change logging Debug log and fatal error detection Email log: full delivery history for all outgoing WordPress emails Contact Form 7 and SimpleForm integration alerts Who Uses Activity Guard WooCommerce store owners use it to track every order, coupon, product change, and shipping event, and to recover revenue with abandoned cart analytics. Site administrators use it to know exactly who changed what, instantly log out suspicious users, and maintain a clean audit trail. Agencies and developers use it to monitor plugin updates, configuration changes, fatal errors, and debug logs across client sites. Security-focused admins use it to block IPs, scan for CVEs, monitor file integrity, and trigger emergency shutdowns. Multi-author sites use it to hold contributors accountable with full user activity logging and role-change tracking. Join us: Facebook | YouTube | X / Twitter Competitor Analysis Search the WordPress plugin directory for an activity log plugin and a handful of names come up again and again, so it is worth being clear about where Activity Guard actually fits among them. WP Activity Log is the biggest name in the category, with the broadest event coverage of any activity log plugin and support for tracking third-party plugins like ACF, Gravity Forms, and LearnDash. It is a genuine alternative to Activity Guard for pure logging depth, but Slack and SMS alerts sit behind WP Activity Log Premium, and there is no IP firewall, no vulnerability scanner, and no WooCommerce analytics at any tier. Activity Guard includes Slack and Telegram alerts, an IP firewall, vulnerability scanning, and WooCommerce abandoned cart analytics in the free version, with a narrower focus on the WordPress admin rather than enterprise SIEM exports. Activity Log Pro is the closest match on structure. Its free tier also adds real security-adjacent value beyond plain logging, with Login Flood Guard and severity-tagged events, so anyone comparing the two is comparing like for like on ambition. Where Activity Guard pulls ahead is in what ships free versus what is gated: Activity Log Pro’s Slack and webhook routing live behind its Premium “Log Channels” feature, while Activity Guard’s Slack and Telegram alerts, IP blocking, vulnerability scanning, and WooCommerce cart recovery analytics are all included at no cost. Beyond those two, most of the other names that show up nearby are lighter tools solving a narrower slice of the same problem, or a different problem entirely. Activity Log – Monitor & Record User Changes (Aryo) is a lightweight, beginner-friendly logger with email-only notifications and no Slack, Telegram, IP firewall, or vulnerability scanning. Activity Logs, User Activity Tracking, Multisite Activity Log from Logtivity is built for agencies managing many client sites and does send Slack alerts, but it works by connecting each site to Logtivity’s hosted service with an API key rather than running standalone, and it has no IP firewall, no vulnerability scanner, and no WooCommerce analytics. Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal is a genuinely strong free WAF and malware scanner, but it is not an activity log at all: it does not track content edits, role changes, or WooCommerce events, and its alerts are email-only through the CleanTalk cloud account it requires. Error Log Viewer by BestWebSoft has nothing to do with user activity either, it is a PHP and WordPress error log reader with email notifications, useful for debugging but unrelated to security monitoring or audit trails. So of the plugins that show up in a “wordpress activity log” or “wp activity log alternative” search, only WP Activity Log, Activity Log Pro, Aryo Activity Log, and Logtivity are actually built for the same job as Activity Guard: tracking what changed on a WordPress site and who changed it. Among those four, Activity Guard’s combination of free Slack and Telegram alerts, an IP firewall with emergency shutdown, a CVE vulnerability scanner, and WooCommerce abandoned cart analytics, all in the free version with no external account required, is what sets it apart. External Services Slack Webhook Integration Activity Guard sends notifications to your Slack workspace using a Slack incoming webhook URL that you provide. To set one up: Create a Slack app or use an existing one Enable Incoming Webhooks in the app settings Add a webhook to your workspace Paste the webhook URL into Activity Guard settings No data is stored by Slack beyond what you configure in your own Slack workspace. See Slack’s privacy policy for details. Cloudflare Turnstile Activity Guard uses Cloudflare Turnstile for login bot protection. When Turnstile is enabled, your login page communicates with Cloudflare’s verification servers. See Cloudflare’s privacy policy for details. Plugin Vulnerability Scanner – Data Sources WordPress.org Plugin API: retrieves plugin metadata including latest version, last updated date, rating, and active install count. Privacy Policy WPAzleen API: private endpoint for known vulnerabilities by plugin and version. No sensitive data is transmitted. Privacy Policy WPVulnerability.net: public API for CVE-based vulnerability data. Privacy Policy National Vulnerability Database (NVD): official CVE data from NIST. Privacy Policy All scans run locally using public metadata and vulnerability feeds. Activity Guard does not collect, store, or transmit any personal information during scans. Freemius Activity Guard uses the Freemius SDK for optional telemetry. No data is collected by default. Data collection only starts after you explicitly confirm in the admin notice. See the Freemius privacy policy for details. WPAzleen Settings API Loads display settings for the Pro upgrade modal in the plugin admin area. No personal data is transmitted. WPAzleen Privacy Policy Source Code The source files for all compiled/minified JavaScript and CSS in this plugin are publicly available at: https://github.com/wpazleen/activity-guard Build instructions: Clone the repository or visit the src directory directly. Run npm install in the root to install dependencies. Run npm run build to compile JavaScript and CSS assets. Compiled files output to build/. Contributions, bug reports, and pull requests are welcome.

Tired of bad bots, scrapers, attackers and sluggish website performance? By providing real-time monitoring of accessing IPs, HTTP codes, URLs, and user agents, organized analytics, customizable timeline and visualizations, ShieldUp will help you indentify and combat threats like bad bots, scrapers, malicous attackers. Which will improve website security and performance by reducing the load on your server resources for a snappy website and great user experience. Key Features 🛡️ Advanced Security: ShieldUp protects your site from malicious bots, scrapers, attackers and hackers, shielding your website from potential threats. 🚀 Optimized Performance: Improve website speed and user experience by eliminating unnecessary requests from scrapers, bad bots and brute force attackers 🗃️ Comprehensive Data Collection: ShieldUp logs and archive accessing IPs, HTTP response codes, URLs, user agents, timestamps, etc. 📊 Detailed Data Insights: ShieldUp will analyze, organize and displays IP data based on IP ranges, request counts, details, offering a comprehensive view of your traffic within user-friendly tables. 📅 Custom Time Period: Select specific time ranges through an intuitive calendar feature for in-depth data analysis. 📈 Visualize Data: Easily visualize traffic trends and patterns with our user-friendly graphs. 🛠️ IP Tools: Helps you with actions like retrieving detailed IP information from DB or third-party tools. 🌐 Cloudflare Integration (Pro): Seamlessly connect your website to Cloudflare, enhancing security and performance even further by leverage Cloudflare’s powerful features. ⚙️ Advanced IP Management (Pro): Take control with a click. Manage IPs and IP ranges effortlessly, with actions like blocking, JavaScript challenges, whitelisting, or remove rules using Cloudflare’s firewall through the plugin. 💼 Centralized IP Database (Pro): Keep all IPs controlled by your WP plugin and Cloudflare in a centralized database for efficient management and tracking. 📝 User Activity Logging (Pro): Maintain detailed logs of all IP controls by users, ensuring accountability and providing a historical record of security actions. 🏆 Priority Support (Pro): Pro members get priority support, so you can expect quick help with any questions or issues. Please Note: Yes, the Pro version is undeniably impressive. However, the free version is really what you need and will get the job done. How it works 1. Installation and Activation Start by downloading and installing the ShieldUp plugin. Once activated, it seamlessly integrates with your WordPress, ready to work its magic. 2. Data Collection ShieldUp starts by collecting crucial data about the traffic to your website. It keeps a record of accessing IPs, including HTTP response codes, URLs, user agents, and timestamps. This data is organized into user-friendly tables and presented through interactive graphs, allowing you to gain valuable insights into your website’s traffic patterns. 3. Select, Organize and Display Data You can choose a specific time frame, making it easy to identify which IPs are accessing your site the most. It also groups IPs into /16 and /24 ranges and along with graphical representation helps you visualize trends, spot unusual activity and potential security threats. 4. Cloudflare Integration (Pro) ShieldUp seamlessly integrates with Cloudflare in PRO version, enhancing your website’s security even further. Using the Cloudflare API, you can manage IPs and IP ranges right from your WordPress dashboard. Implement blocks, JavaScript challenges, whitelist entries, or remove rules with just a few clicks. 5. IP Tools & IP Management Each IP listed in the user-friendly interface comes with action buttons, enabling you to ban IPs in your website’s firewall or CloudFlare, retrieve detailed IP information from third-party tools, and perform other custom actions. 6. Enhanced Security ShieldUp employs advanced security measures to protect your website from a wide range of threats. It identifies and blocks malicious bots, scrapers, attackers, and hackers, ensuring that your website remains secure. 7. Optimized Website Performance In addition to security, ShieldUp optimizes your website’s performance. It achieves this by filtering out unnecessary requests from bad bots, scrapers and other unwanted traffic. This optimization reduces the load on your server resources, resulting in a snappy and responsive website and great user experience. Firewalls, What we recommend? One of the best options would be a hardware-type firewall, but we wouldn’t be in this situation if we had one. The next best option for managing HTTP and HTTPS traffic is a cloud-based firewall, such as CloudFlare, especially when it is available for free and offers a wide range of excellent features. In addition to that, we also use CSF for other security solutions and to manage traffic and ports related to services like mail and SSH. So, why do we think CloudFlare is a better solution for HTTP and HTTPS trafic, than “Traditional” Server/Software-Based Firewall (CSF) especially Plugin-Like Firewalls (WordPress Plugins)? Traditional firewalls, while valuable, have limitations when compared to Cloudflare’s robust security and performance capabilities. These firewalls primarily protect your server or website by consuming server resources, leaving them vulnerable to large-scale attacks, among other things. In contrast, Cloudflare operates a global network that defends against threats at the network edge, providing superior DDoS protection and accelerated content delivery. By choosing Cloudflare, you gain a comprehensive, cloud-based solution that strengthens your website’s resilience and speed, effectively surpassing the capabilities of traditional local firewalls when it comes to HTTP and HTTPS trafic. Here are some of the main features of CloudFlare: Global Network Security: Cloudflare operates a vast global network that acts as a protective shield for your website, filtering out malicious traffic and threats before they even reach your server. This distributed approach ensures that attacks are mitigated at the network edge, preserving your server resources. Content Caching: Cloudflare’s caching infrastructure stores copies of your website’s content at data centers around the world. This means visitors experience faster load times as they access cached content from a server nearest to them, reducing server load and improving website responsiveness. Web Application Firewall (WAF): Cloudflare offers a comprehensive Web Application Firewall that can be finely tuned to your specific needs. It provides a robust defense against common web application attacks, such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting (XSS), without the need for additional on-site firewall plugins. IP Control and Access Management: Cloudflare’s firewall allows you to control and manage IP access with precision. You can easily set rules to block or allow specific IPs, IP ranges, or countries, giving you granular control over who can access your website. DDoS Protection: Cloudflare’s network is designed to withstand large-scale DDoS attacks, providing a shield against volumetric threats that would overwhelm on-site firewalls. This ensures uninterrupted website availability. Performance Optimization: Cloudflare’s content delivery network (CDN) optimizes the delivery of your website’s assets, including images, scripts, and stylesheets, resulting in reduced latency and faster load times for your visitors. Scalability and Reliability: Cloudflare’s infrastructure is highly scalable and redundant, ensuring that your website remains available even during traffic spikes or server failures. By integrating Cloudflare with your WordPress site, you not only enhance security but also optimize performance, reduce server load, and simplify IP access control, all while benefiting from Cloudflare’s global network and advanced security features. It’s a comprehensive solution that takes your website’s protection and performance to the next level. This is why we use it on all our websites, including the Pro version of this plugin as well. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you use it for your website if you haven’t already, whether you intend to use this plugin or not. Please note that we still use and recommend that you use a ‘Traditional’ server/software-based firewall like CSF, in conjunction with CloudFlare, to cover various security aspects such as traffic/ports for mail, FTP, SSH, etc.