Sucuri Security
by Sucuri
Free auditing, malware scanning, and hardening — paired with a paid cloud WAF that filters traffic before it reaches WordPress.
- Last release
- July 7, 2026 v2.7.4
- WP.org rating
- 4.2
Sucuri splits into two products that people often confuse. The free Sucuri Security plugin is a monitoring and hardening tool: it logs security events, checks core-file integrity against WordPress.org, runs a remote malware scan, and applies hardening recommendations. What it does not do is block attacks — that job belongs to the paid Sucuri Platform, a cloud-based Web Application Firewall that runs as a DNS-level proxy, filtering and caching traffic at the edge before it ever reaches your server. The Platform also bundles a malware-cleanup guarantee. If you want Sucuri's actual protection, you are buying the Platform; the plugin alone is visibility, not defense. Owned by GoDaddy since 2017.
Pros
- Free plugin is a solid audit trail and integrity monitor
- Cloud WAF filters and caches at the edge, taking load off your origin (unlike plugin-level firewalls)
- Malware-cleanup service with a guarantee — closer to a managed service than a tool
- Backed by a serious security research team and a large threat dataset
Cons
- The free plugin does not block attacks — it only detects and reports
- Real protection requires the paid Platform, priced per site and billed separately from the plugin
- Edge WAF means routing your DNS through Sucuri, which is a bigger commitment than installing a plugin
- Overkill for a small personal site that just needs basic hardening
Pick Sucuri when you want managed, edge-level protection and cleanup rather than a self-managed plugin — especially for a business or agency site where an incident is expensive and a cleanup guarantee is worth paying for. The DNS-level WAF is the right model if you are not already on Cloudflare.
Avoid if you only need free, self-managed hardening — All-In-One Security or Wordfence give you an actual firewall for free. Also skip the WAF if you already route traffic through Cloudflare's edge firewall, since the two overlap.
Frequently asked questions
- Is the Sucuri Security plugin free?
- Yes — the Sucuri Security plugin on WordPress.org is free and GPL. But it is a monitoring, auditing, and hardening tool, not a firewall: it detects and reports problems, it does not block attacks. Sucuri's actual protection — the cloud Web Application Firewall and malware cleanup — is the separately-priced Sucuri Platform.
- Does the free Sucuri plugin block hackers?
- No. The free plugin monitors file integrity, logs security events, and can scan for malware, but it cannot stop an attack in progress. Blocking happens at Sucuri's cloud firewall, which is part of the paid Platform. If you install only the free plugin, treat it as an alarm system, not a lock.
- How is Sucuri different from Wordfence?
- Wordfence runs its firewall at the plugin level — inside WordPress, after the request has already reached your server — and its free tier includes that firewall. Sucuri runs its firewall at the edge as a DNS-level proxy that filters traffic before it reaches your server, but that firewall is paid-only. Sucuri leans managed-service (cleanup guarantee, edge WAF); Wordfence leans self-managed power tool with a capable free tier.
- Do I need Sucuri if I already use Cloudflare?
- Probably not for the firewall. Both Sucuri's Platform and Cloudflare filter traffic at the edge, so running both is largely redundant. Sucuri's distinct value in that case is its malware-cleanup guarantee and WordPress-specific monitoring — worth it if you want managed incident response, not just edge filtering.
| Product | Category | Price | Lighthouse |
|---|---|---|---|
| | Security | Free, Pro from $199 | — |
| | Security | Free, Pro from $149 | 88 |
| | Security | Free, Pro from $70 | — |
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Performance testing
Lighthouse scoring methodology lands soon. Until then, treat the score as provisional.
Vulnerability tracking
Open and recently closed CVE counts pulled from Patchstack and Wordfence Intelligence on every build. Last disclosure date reflects the most recent public CVE for this plugin, not necessarily the most recent vendor patch.