67
Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection
A security heavyweight currently tripping over its own new identity.
HealthyGrowingPoor rating
67/100
Powerful security tools are currently undermined by a messy rebrand and serious reliability concerns.
Active installs
~1.1 million
our estimate · wp.org shows 700k+
Rating
4.6★
3,987 ratings
Trend · vs a year ago
+29%
Growing fast
3,053 → 3,946 installs/day
What to watch out for
- MINORverified rating is 3.83★
Downloads over time
real new installs per day · release spikes shown separately from the trend2025-04-302025-08-082025-11-162026-02-232026-06-03
organicrelease spikerelease tailorganic trend · 14d rolling median
Growing fast · +29% in the last year
3,053/day a year ago→3,946/day today
Reviews
what people actually sayKadence Security (formerly Solid Security, formerly iThemes Security) carries a strong feature set for login protection and brute-force defense, but the abrupt, unannounced rebrand from Solid Security to Kadence Security has triggered a wave of user backlash, and recurring reports of the plugin corrupting wp-config.php and .htaccess files represent a serious reliability concern.
What people like
- +Login security features — including passkeys, magic links, and trusted devices — are praised as best-in-class
- +Support team is described as helpful and responsive when engaged×4
- +Long-term users report no security breaches over years of use×2
- +Works well as part of a broader WP management stack (backups, sync)
Common complaints
- −Rebrand from Solid Security to Kadence Security was done with no advance communication, causing widespread confusion and distrust among existing users×5
- −Plugin has corrupted or completely wiped wp-config.php and .htaccess files, taking sites down (since 10)×3
- −Caused repeated, unexplained site breakage including 404 errors on all pages except the homepage
- −Conflict with third-party plugins (e.g. Vimeo Gallery) reported, requiring full site restore to resolve
- −Database bloat reported — logs can grow rapidly and destabilize the site if not cleaned daily
- −Full-featured security now requires purchasing a bundle rather than a standalone subscription, seen as a forced upsell on existing paying customers
- −Support is limited to paid PRO customers; free users report no support access
- −Setup and onboarding are described as confusing, with incomplete documentation and missing step-by-step guidance×2
Review trustReviews look organic
- 3.83★Verified rating — holds steady vs the raw 4.60★
- 11%One-shot reviewers — most reviewers are active community members
Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower
2023-08-192025-01-102026-06-04
5★ reviews1–4★ reviews
All-time ratings · 3,987 total
Latest reviews · 90 analyzed
- 2026-05-29★★★★★Rebrand b.s.Tekguild
- 2026-05-29★★★★★Yet another Liquidweb mess up / rebrandCharles
- 2026-05-29★★★★★Terrible Rebrandingupdesignme
- 2026-05-19★★★★★Broke many sitesEvan Mullins
- 2026-05-14★★★★★Nonsense RebrandZubair
- 2026-03-27★★★★★Crashes Website, No Support For Free Version.michaelpd
- 2026-02-23★★★★★Solid Security Breaks Vimeo Gallery Portfolionoa2noa
- 2025-12-17★★★★★Excellent plugin, looking forward to PHP 8.4 compatibilityReponse Studio
- 2025-10-12★★★★★CSS problemIlya
- 2025-10-07★★★★★from happy to VERY disappointedjongveronique
Releases
recent versions from WordPress.org SVNAlternatives to Kadence Security
Top Security plugins, ranked by score.For developers & the curious
the raw signals behind the grade — none of this is on the friendly summary aboveDownload signals
Baselines are computed on organic days only — release spikes and their tails are excluded, so they're not inflated by the auto-update wave.
3,448
Baseline · median of last 7 organic days
3,520
Prior 7-day baseline
6,510
Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days
129,935
Mean release-day peak (30d)
10,663
Latest day · 2026-06-03(spike)
-2.0%
Week-over-week organic trend
Review signals
Concentration and drive-by metrics drive the review-burst and fake-review flags. 30–40% solo reviewers is normal; we only flag the extremes.
11%
Max month share · biggest single 30-day window
0.93
Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty
63%
5★ share in analyzed sample
11%
Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity
+14%
Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo
3.83 → 3.83★
Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered