67
Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security
The digital bouncer who keeps trying to sell you a membership.
DecliningReview burst
67/100
It offers powerful free protection despite annoying dashboard banners and performance issues.
Active installs
~5.5 million
our estimate · wp.org shows 5.0M+
Rating
4.7★
4,926 ratings
Trend · vs a year ago
-6%
Declining
24,852 → 23,284 installs/day
Warnings
- Reviews concentrated in a single month — usually a marketing push or paid wave.
What to watch out for
- MAJOR54% of reviews in one month (2026-06-04)
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
Declining · -6% in the last year
24,852/day a year ago→23,284/day today
Reviews
what people actually sayWordfence is widely trusted as a capable, free-tier security plugin for WordPress that reliably blocks attacks and detects threats, but it draws meaningful criticism for an intrusive upsell banner, 2FA enforcement bugs, false update alerts, and a noticeable performance cost.
What people like
- +Effectively blocks real attacks, including brute-force login attempts, bot networks, and sophisticated traffic spikes×5
- +Free version provides meaningful protection, including firewall and malware scanning×4
- +Useful alerts about outdated and unpatched plugins
- +Easy to install and configure
- +2FA functionality valued as a login security feature
- +Premium version offers deeper attack insight and more advanced protection
Common complaints
- −Persistent, intrusive admin dashboard banner pressuring users to complete premium setup, described as a dark pattern
- −2FA enforced on all users regardless of role exemptions, breaking login flow for non-admin users like subscribers or students
- −Repeated false alerts about plugins needing updates when they are already up to date; issue acknowledged but unresolved over years
- −Plugin feels heavy and slows down the WordPress dashboard
- −2FA implementation considered outdated compared to passkeys and WebAuthn; development perceived as stagnant
- −Paid version considered too expensive for some users
Review trustMostly organic
- 4.71★Verified rating — holds steady vs the raw 4.70★
- 19%One-shot reviewers — most reviewers are active community members
- past spikeReview timing — up to 54% of all reviews landed in a single month
Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower
2026-04-052026-05-052026-06-04
5★ reviews1–4★ reviews
All-time ratings · 4,926 total
Latest reviews · 90 analyzed
- 2026-06-04★★★★★Brute Force? Handled.chandra891-shot
- 2026-06-03★★★★★Great Pluginlarkinslair1-shot
- 2026-06-03★★★★★Good Securityjamilbhatti
- 2026-06-03★★★★★Great Security Pluginsupakarn
- 2026-06-03★★★★★Wordfence FREElarrykenemorejr
- 2026-06-02★★★★★Blocks hackersslizottelatendresse1-shot
- 2026-06-01★★★★★Solid site shieldtyler30
- 2026-06-01★★★★★Great Security Plugin!sean4fsu777
- 2026-06-01★★★★★WordFence Saved My Site, but I Waited Too Long to Upgradeplanewryter
- 2026-06-01★★★★★Using free version : powerfulIshko
Releases
recent versions from WordPress.org SVNAlternatives to Wordfence 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.
43,101
Baseline · median of last 7 organic days
35,653
Prior 7-day baseline
37,067
Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days
41,307
Latest day · 2026-06-03(organic)
+20.9%
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.
54%
Max month share · biggest single 30-day window
0.56
Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty
83%
5★ share in analyzed sample
19%
Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity
—
Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo
4.74 → 4.71★
Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered