Top 6 WordPress Plugins for Increased Website Security and Speed

Do you know that every 22 minutes, a WordPress site is attacked? Yes, you heard it right. With WordPress powering more than 40% of the websites out there, these numbers mean a lot. Again, it becomes an easy target for attackers as its code is available for free.??

To tackle these issues, a lot of WordPress security plugins are made available in the market to safeguard the websites as well as to improve their performance.??

To simplify things for you, we have sorted out a list of 6 WordPress plugins that we deem to be the best choices for your WordPress site.??

1. Wordfence?

Wordfence is quite a popular WordPress security plugin that is known for its user-friendly interface and comprehensive protection features. It comes with robust security measures that can help you protect your website from different threats.??

The free version of this plugin comes with key features like firewall protection and a malware scanner. Apart from that, the plugin also includes advanced options like fixing file changes that are unauthorized.??

The premium version of the plugin includes features like country blocking and real-time IP blacklisting, making it the best choice for vivid security requirements.??

Features:?

• Malware scans?

• Web Application Firewall (WAF)?

• Live traffic monitoring?

• Advanced manual blocking?

• Repair files?

• Real-time threat defense feed?

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2. Sucuri?

Another important WordPress security plugin is Sucuri, which comes with advanced security features. It comes with an intuitive dashboard that offers insights on the security status of the site and provides actionable insights.??

Its cloud-based protection that provides performance optimization and server-side security enhancements is what sets it apart from its competitors. This way, threats will be taken care of before they can impact the WordPress site. It goes well against plugins that depend on local resources.??

Features?

• File integrity monitoring?

• Malware detection?

• DDoS protection?

• Blacklist monitoring?

• Security activity auditing?

• Firewall??

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3. Smush??

Smush is a powerful image optimization plugin that can compress images while maintaining their quality. This helps in improving website loading speed while reducing page size. It can compress images in your media library in bulk and also automatically optimize the images once they are uploaded. Smush offers enhanced site performance and delivers a better user experience, all the while maintaining the visual quality.??

Features?

• Bulk image compression?

• Image compression by maintaining integrity?

• Automatic image optimization through integration with media library?

• Integration with cloud storage services?

• Faster page load times with lazy load images?

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4. Cloudflare?

Cloudflare is one of the key solutions for website performance optimization and security. You can turn your website fast and secure by configuring the WordPress plugin of Cloudflare it. Once your site is connected to the Cloudflare account, Cloudflare will start improving its speed by using its Automatic Performance Optimization (APO).??

It becomes possible to host your website on the cutting-edge servers of Cloudflare with APO. It is also possible for your website to get an automated cache purge without APO. This will help in ensuring that your visitors who visit your site will always see the updated static content.??

Features?

• One-click activation?

• Minification, compression, and browser caching?

• DDoS protection and web application firewall?

• Automatic cache purge for new published content?

• DNS management?

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5. Lazy Load by WP Rocket?

Lazy Load is a free plugin from WP Rocket that can be used to improve the performance of the site by delaying the loading of iframes and images till they are visible in the viewport of the user. This reduces the bandwidth usage and initial page load times significantly. The plugin is lightweight and easy to set up and is compatible with most of the plugins and themes out there. This makes it ideal for media-heavy websites.?

Features?

• Lightweight and fast?

• Lazy loading of images, iframes, and videos??

• Compatible with different media types?

• SEO-friendly and easy to use?

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6. Jetpack?

Jetpack is a powerful WordPress plugin developed by Automattic to boost site functionality, performance, and security. It safeguards the site from attacks by offering malware scanning, real-time backups, and protection against brute force attacks. Apart from the above features, it also offers spam protection, site analytic, and social media integration.??

Features?

• Malware scanning and real-time backups?

• Advanced site analytics?

• Brute-force protection?

• Anti-spam filtering?

• Downtime monitoring?

• Website backup?

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Conclusion?

The right WordPress plugins can make a significant difference to your site in terms of both performance and security. A fast-loading, well-protected website will offer a better user experience, improved overall functionality, and higher search engine rankings. By integrating these plugins into your WordPress site, you will be able to enhance its speed and safeguard it from different threats.??