10 Best DefendWP Firewall Alternatives in 2026
Updated October 22, 2026 · Ranked by how closely each plugin matches, from WordPress.org data · How this works
DefendWP Firewall has 3,000+ active installs on WordPress.org. These 10 plugins share its category or its tags on WordPress.org, are actively maintained, and each has at least 100 active installs. They are ordered by how closely they match, not by our opinion.
The 10 closest alternatives to DefendWP Firewall
- 1
Security Ninja
Closest matchSecurity Ninja – WordPress Security & Firewall
4.7 (100) 7,000+ active installsWordPress security plugin: free 8G firewall/WAF, 50+ tests, vulnerability/core scanning, events logging, AI reports.
Shares the malware, security, vulnerability tags on WordPress.org. About 2.3 times the installs, last updated today.
- 2
4.1 (23) 30,000+ active installsSecurity plugin to protect your blog or website against exploits and spam injections.
Shares the malware, vulnerability tags on WordPress.org. About 10 times the installs, last updated September 20, 2026.
- 3
4.2 (95) 8,000+ active installsIt blocks spam posts, login attempts and malicious access to the back-end requested from the specific countries, and also prevents zero-day exploit.
Shares the security, vulnerability tags on WordPress.org. About 2.7 times the installs, no update since January 22, 2019.
- 4
5.0 (20) 10,000+ active installsGet WordPress vulnerability alerts from the WPVulnerability Database API.
Shares the security, vulnerability tags on WordPress.org. About 3.3 times the installs, last updated August 23, 2026.
- 5
NinjaScanner – Virus & Malware scan
4.0 (36) 30,000+ active installsA lightweight, fast and powerful virus scanner for WordPress.
Shares the malware, security tags on WordPress.org. About 10 times the installs, last updated August 16, 2026.
- 6
Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner…
5.0 (23) 3,000+ active installsPremium WordPress Security - 100% FREE: Firewall, 2FA, Security Headers, Login and Malware Protection, File Monitor, Security Audit & more
Shares the malware, security tags on WordPress.org. A similar number of installs, last updated 2 days ago.
- 7
Plugin Check (PCP)
4.5 (36) 10,000+ active installsPlugin Check is a WordPress.org tool which provides checks to help plugins meet the directory requirements and follow various best practices.
Shares the performance, security tags on WordPress.org. About 3.3 times the installs, last updated August 16, 2026.
- 8
Simply Static – The Static Site Generator
4.5 (195) 30,000+ active installsConvert WordPress to static HTML. Boost performance 3-5x. Eliminate security vulnerabilities. Deploy anywhere.
Shares the performance, security tags on WordPress.org. About 10 times the installs, last updated 6 days ago.
- 9
Staatic – Static Site Generator for WordPress
4.4 (21) 2,000+ active installsUse WordPress as your CMS, then publish a fast, lower-exposure static version of your site.
Shares the performance, security tags on WordPress.org. About half the installs, last updated 6 days ago.
- 10
Patchstack – WordPress & Plugins Security
4.9 (61) 70,000+ active installsPatchstack automatically identifies and mitigates security vulnerabilities in WordPress plugins, themes, and core.
Shares the security, vulnerability tags on WordPress.org. About 23 times the installs, last updated July 28, 2026.
Switching from DefendWP Firewall: common questions
What is the best alternative to DefendWP Firewall?
Security Ninja is the closest match: it shares the same WordPress.org tags and has 7,000+ active installs with a 4.7 out of 5 rating.
Which DefendWP Firewall alternative has the most users?
Patchstack, with 70,000+ active installs reported by WordPress.org.
Which DefendWP Firewall alternative is rated highest?
Patchstack, rated 4.9 out of 5 by 61 reviewers. Only plugins with at least 50 reviews are counted.
Are these DefendWP Firewall alternatives free?
Every plugin listed here is free to install from WordPress.org. Where WordPress.org marks a plugin as commercial, the developer also sells a paid version or add-ons, and that is shown on each plugin.
How are alternatives chosen?
Automatically, from WordPress.org data: plugins that share a category top 10 with DefendWP Firewall score highest, then plugins that appear in the same WordPress.org rankings, then plugins with the same tags, weighted so rare tags count more than common ones. Plugins by the same author and plugins rated under 4.0 are left out.
How we choose these alternatives
Nothing on this page is picked by hand. Every day we walk the whole WordPress.org directory, then score every plugin against DefendWP Firewall on three signals: sharing a category top 10 counts most, then appearing in the same WordPress.org rankings, then carrying the same tags, with rare tags counting for more than common ones like "wordpress". Plugins by the same author are excluded, so an author's own add-ons cannot fill the list, and so is anything rated below 4.0 or with fewer than 100 active installs. The ten highest scores are what you see, in that order. Full methodology.
The bottom line
Security Ninja is the closest match to DefendWP Firewall by the data we track, and Patchstack has the widest reach with 70,000+ active installs. Security Ninja shipped the most recent release, on October 21, 2026. The list is rebuilt every day from WordPress.org, so a plugin that stops being maintained drops out on its own.
Weekly · free
What moved this week
One email a week, built from the same daily snapshots these rankings come from: the plugins that climbed, what launched, and one ranking worth a look.