10 Best Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP Alternatives in 2026
Updated September 7, 2026 · Ranked by how closely each plugin matches, from WordPress.org data · How this works
Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP has 90,000+ 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 Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP
- 1
WP Hide & Security Enhancer
Closest match4.4 (274) 50,000+ active installsProtect your website by concealing vulnerable WordPress traces, plugins, themes, login/admin url. 2FA, Captcha, Firewall, Security Headers etc.
Shares the headers tag on WordPress.org. About half the installs, rated 4.4 against 4.9, last updated 25 days ago.
- 2
BackWPup
Paid version availableBackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin
4.0 (1,321) 400,000+ active installsBack up, restore, and protect your WordPress website with automated backups, cloud storage, one-click recovery, and AI-assisted backup management.
About 4.4 times the installs, rated 4.0 against 4.9, last updated 4 days ago.
- 3
Simply Static – The Static Site Generator
4.5 (194) 30,000+ active installsConvert WordPress to static HTML. Boost performance 3-5x. Eliminate security vulnerabilities. Deploy anywhere.
About a third of the installs, rated 4.5 against 4.9, last updated 10 days ago.
- 4
EWWW Image Optimizer
Paid version available4.8 (1,838) 1 million+ active installsComprehensive image optimization with WebP, AVIF, Lazy Load, and more. Optimize images automatically for Faster Sites and Happy Visitors.
About 11 times the installs, rated 4.8 against 4.9, last updated 6 days ago.
- 5
4.7 (1,428) 800,000+ active installsAutoptimize speeds up your website by optimizing JS, CSS, images (incl. lazy-load), HTML and Google Fonts, asyncing JS, removing emoji cruft and more.
About 8.9 times the installs, rated 4.7 against 4.9, last updated 18 days ago.
- 6
4.4 (5,420) 900,000+ active installsSearch Engine (SEO) & Performance Optimization (WPO) via caching. Integrated caching: CDN, Page, Minify, Object, Fragment, Database support.
About 10 times the installs, rated 4.4 against 4.9, last updated 3 days ago.
- 7
4.5 (288) 700,000+ active installsUser Role Editor WordPress plugin makes user roles and capabilities changing easy. Edit/add/delete WordPress user roles and capabilities.
About 7.8 times the installs, rated 4.5 against 4.9, last updated 13 days ago.
- 8
Kadence Security
Paid version availableKadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection
4.6 (3,990) 700,000+ active installsHarden your site security with Login Security, Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), Vulnerability Scanner, Firewall, and more. Formerly iThemes Security.
About 7.8 times the installs, rated 4.6 against 4.9, last updated July 27, 2026.
- 9
MainWP Child
Paid version availableMainWP Child – Securely Connects to the MainWP Dashboard to Manage Multiple Sites
5.0 (70) 700,000+ active installsMainWP Child establishes a secure link between your WordPress sites and your self-hosted MainWP Dashboard, simplifying site management.
About 7.8 times the installs, rated 5.0 against 4.9, last updated 13 days ago.
- 10
4.9 (2,631) 900,000+ active installsGoogle Reviews Widget for WordPress. Display Google reviews in 1 minute with 45 professional layouts. Build trust, boost SEO, and increase sales.
About 10 times the installs, last updated 3 days ago.
Switching from Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP: common questions
What is the best alternative to Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP?
WP Hide & Security Enhancer is the closest match: it shares the same WordPress.org tags and has 50,000+ active installs with a 4.4 out of 5 rating.
Which Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP alternative has the most users?
EWWW Image Optimizer, with 1 million+ active installs reported by WordPress.org.
Which Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP alternative is rated highest?
MainWP Child, rated 5.0 out of 5 by 70 reviewers. Only plugins with at least 50 reviews are counted.
Are these Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP 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 Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP 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 Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP 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
WP Hide & Security Enhancer is the closest match to Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP by the data we track, and EWWW Image Optimizer has the widest reach with 1 million+ active installs. Widgets for Google Reviews shipped the most recent release, on September 4, 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.