Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security vs Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning

THE MOST POPULAR WORDPRESS FIREWALL & SECURITY SCANNER WordPress security requires a team of dedicated analysts researching the latest malware variants and WordPress exploits, turning them into firewall rules and malware signatures, and releasing those to customers in real-time. Choose the right protection for you: Wordfence Free, Premium, Care or Response Wordfence is widely acknowledged as the number one WordPress security research team in the World. Our plugin provides a comprehensive suite of security features, and our team’s research is what powers our plugin and provides the level of security that we are known for. At Wordfence, WordPress security isn’t a division of our business – WordPress security is all we do. We employ a global 24-hour dedicated incident response team that provides our priority customers with a 1 hour response time for any security incident. The sun never sets on our global security team and we run a sophisticated threat intelligence platform to aggregate, analyze and produce ground breaking security research on the newest security threats. Wordfence Security includes an endpoint firewall, malware scanner, robust login security features, live traffic views, and more. Our Threat Defense Feed arms Wordfence with the newest firewall rules, malware signatures, and malicious IP addresses it needs to keep your website safe. Rounded out by passkeys, 2FA, and a suite of additional features, Wordfence is the most comprehensive WordPress security solution available. 🔥 WORDPRESS FIREWALL Web Application Firewall identifies and blocks malicious traffic. Built and maintained by a large team focused 100% on WordPress security. Real-time firewall rule and malware signature [Premium] updates via the Threat Defense Feed (free version is delayed by 30 days). Real-time IP Blocklist [Premium] blocks all requests from the most malicious IPs, protecting your site while reducing load. Protects your site at the endpoint, enabling deep integration with WordPress. Unlike cloud alternatives, it does not break encryption, cannot be bypassed and cannot leak data. Integrated malware scanner blocks requests that include malicious code or content. Protection from brute force attacks by limiting login attempts. 📡 WORDPRESS SECURITY SCANNER Malware scanner checks core files, themes and plugins for malware, bad URLs, backdoors, SEO spam, malicious redirects and code injections. Real-time malware signature updates [Premium] via the Threat Defense Feed (free version is delayed by 30 days). Compares with WordPress.org repository your core files, themes and plugins, checking their integrity and reporting any changes to you. Repair WordPress core, theme, and plugin files that have changed by overwriting them with a pristine, original version. Delete any files that don’t belong easily within the Wordfence interface. Malware Removal Tools “Delete File” and “Delete All Deletable Files” options allow for efficient malware removal. Remember to investigate the scan results and backup files first! Checks your site for known security vulnerabilities and alerts you to any issues. Also alerts you to potential security issues when a plugin has been closed or abandoned. Checks your content safety by scanning file contents, posts and comments for dangerous URLs and suspicious content. Checks to see if your site or IP have been blocklisted [Premium] for malicious activity, generating spam or other security issues. 🔒 LOGIN SECURITY Passkeys let users sign in with touch, facial recognition, a device password, or a PIN as a simple and secure alternative to a password and two-factor credentials. Two-factor authentication (2FA), one of the most secure forms of remote system authentication available via any TOTP-based authenticator app or service. Login Page CAPTCHA stops bots from logging in. Passkey and 2FA management for WooCommerce and custom integrations allows users to manage credentials on custom account pages. XML-RPC options including disabling or adding 2FA. Password Security: Block logins for administrators using known compromised passwords. 📋 SECURITY AUDIT LOG [Premium] The Audit Log monitors all changes and actions in security-sensitive areas of the site. Remote tamper-proof data storage via Wordfence Central. Monitor events and actions ranging from user creation and editing to plugin/theme installation and updates to post and page changes. Configurable to log all events or significant events only, which includes all authentication, site configuration, and site functionality events. 🌐 WORDFENCE CENTRAL Wordfence Central is a powerful and efficient way to manage the security for multiple sites in one place. Centralized management: Efficiently assess the security status of all your websites in one view. View detailed security findings without leaving Wordfence Central. Powerful templates make configuring Wordfence a breeze. Highly configurable alerts can be delivered via email, SMS or Slack. Improve the signal to noise ratio by leveraging severity level options and a daily digest option. Track and alert on important security events including administrator logins, breached password usage and surges in attack activity. Free to use for unlimited sites. 🛠️ SECURITY TOOLS Live Traffic monitors visits and hack attempts not shown in other analytics packages in real time; including origin, their IP address, the time of day and time spent on your site. Block attackers by IP or build advanced rules based on IP Range, Hostname, User Agent and Referrer. Country blocking available with Wordfence Premium.

Most security plugins hand you a dashboard full of alerts and expect you to know what to do next. Shield works differently. It blocks threats automatically, repairs what it can on its own, and then shows you exactly what still needs your attention — ranked by impact, not volume. Less noise. More action. 🤖 Security That Runs Itself The most powerful thing Shield does is what it handles without you: Automatic IP Blocking — every visitor is quietly scored as they interact with your site. Failed logins, firewall blocks, silentCAPTCHA failures, and other signals accumulate into a reputation score. When a visitor’s score crosses the threshold, Shield blocks them — automatically, without you lifting a finger Automatic File Repair — when a file integrity scan finds a changed WordPress core file, Shield pulls the original from WordPress.org and restores it. Detected and fixed, without waiting for you to act Automatic Bot Recognition — Shield identifies legitimate crawlers (Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yandex, Apple) and known services (ManageWP, Pingdom, Stripe, CloudFlare) and never blocks them. Your SEO and monitoring tools keep working 🧭 Guided Security, Not Just a Dashboard Shield organises your security into four focused areas so you always know where to look: Queue — things that need your attention, ranked by priority. Not everything at once — just what matters right now Investigate — dig into blocked IPs, security events, and the specific signals that triggered each one Configure — guided setup for each protection area, with clear recommendations matched to your site Reports — a clear view of what Shield has blocked, detected, and repaired over time The goal: guide you quickly towards action, not bury you in data. 🛡️ Free Protection Bot Blocking & Firewall silentCAPTCHA — blocks bad bots on login, registration, lost password, and comment forms using passive signals invisible to real visitors. No CAPTCHA keys. No external requests. No JavaScript that breaks your forms. Everything runs on your server (GDPR friendly). Firewall rules blocking common WordPress attack patterns — SQL injection probes, known exploit signatures, suspicious request parameters XML-RPC protection — disable or restrict entirely, including pingbacks and trackbacks REST API firewall — block unauthenticated requests Fake crawler detection — identifies bots spoofing legitimate search engines Login & Account Security Two-factor authentication (2FA) — email codes, Google Authenticator, or YubiKey OTP for all users Brute force protection with configurable login attempt limits and cooldown Session locking — tie sessions to a browser or IP to stop account theft after a successful login User enumeration blocking — closes off ?author= probes used to harvest usernames before an attack Scanning & Integrity Core file scanning — compares WordPress core against official checksums and repairs changed files automatically Suspicious PHP detection — flags PHP files in locations where they have no business being Abandoned plugin detection — identifies unmaintained plugins most likely to carry unpatched vulnerabilities Visibility & Control Security Admin PIN — lock Shield’s own settings so other administrators cannot quietly weaken your configuration Security activity log — logins, user changes, plugin and theme events, post edits, and suspicious requests: Everything in one clear view IP Rules — automatic & manual block and bypass rules, CIDR range support, full per-IP request history 🤝 CrowdSec Integration Shield is the only WordPress security plugin with a native CrowdSec integration. CrowdSec aggregates threat signals from millions of sites into a shared IP reputation network — your site blocks known attackers before they ever probe you, using intelligence far beyond your own traffic history. ✨ ShieldPRO Passkeys — phishing-resistant, passwordless login for users Backup login codes — emergency 2FA access when a device is lost AI-based malware scanner — detects known and unknown PHP malware Plugin & theme file scanning — compares installed files against WordPress.org originals, flagging unauthorised changes Vulnerability scanning — active checks across all installed plugins and themes Broader spam protection — WooCommerce, EDD, Contact Form 7, Ninja Forms, Elementor, and more Traffic rate limiting — cap request rates per IP to absorb high-volume bot floods User suspension — manual or automatic suspension of idle accounts MainWP integration White Label — rename and rebrand Shield for client sites Who It’s For Shield suits site owners, agencies, and MSPs who want protection that runs itself — not a plugin that demands constant attention to be useful. If you have been burned by security plugins that generate more noise than protection, or dashboards that tell you everything is wrong without telling you what to fix, Shield was built to be the alternative.