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Every website owner faces risks from brute-force hacking attempts and other security issues. This is especially true for open-source platforms such as WordPress.

Although the open-source nature of WordPress makes life easier for developers and users, it also makes WordPress-based websites prone to security risks. That’s why professional WordPress development services providers emphasize addressing security issues to ensure their clients’ data safety.

You can ensure website security by addressing vulnerabilities, installing the latest security patches, using plugins with brute force and malicious login attempt protection, and using other methods.

In this post, however, we will focus on the plugins that prevent malicious login attempts and evaluate the most popular solutions:

1. Jetpack with 5+ million users and a rating of 3.9. 
2. Limit Login Attempts Reloaded with 1+ million users and a rating of 4.8. 
3. Login LockDown has 100,000+ users and a rating of 4.6. 
4. WPS Limit Login has 60,000+ users and the highest rating of 5/5. 
5. SecuPress with 40,000+ installations and a rating of 4.

What is brute force hacking, and why should you limit login attempts?

WordPress, by default, allows unlimited login attempts. That means a user can try logging in by typing numerous username and password combinations.

While enabling unlimited login attempts might benefit users who have forgotten their passwords, it also leaves websites prone to brute-force hacking. 

If hackers discover no login attempt limit, they can create automated scripts that attempt to log in by generating and using numerous username and password combinations.

Evaluating Popular WordPress Brute Force Attack Protection Plugins: 

As protection from brute-force hacking attempts is an integral part of website security, we will determine the features, pros, and cons of the most popular WordPress plugins that prevent brute-force login attempts:

Jetpack

Jetpack is a plugin containing modules that provide websites with various features, including brute force protection. It has over five million active installations. 

Jetpack offers a login attempt limiter and numerous other features, including spam filters and downtime monitoring. It also tracks the number of deleted spam comments and blocked malicious login attempts and stores them on the settings page(Brute force attacks & malware protection – On-demand backups and restores).

Jetpack also seamlessly integrates with various login methods, enhancing security and user experience. Making social login simple for your users reduces friction during sign-in while maintaining robust protection against unauthorized access.

As a comprehensive plugin, Jetpack also includes performance optimization tools and tracks your site’s stats and analytics.

Pros:

• Two-factor authentication
• Numerous features apart from security

Cons:

• A more expensive, “Complete” plan is required to use advanced features
• Sometimes, it can slow down the WordPress website

Limit Login Attempts Reloaded

Compared to Jetpack’s comprehensiveness, Limit Login Attempts Reloaded is a simple plugin targeted at resolving one issue. It does as its name suggests: it limits the number of login attempts.

Limit Login Attempts Reloaded tracks the number of login attempts from a singular IP address and temporarily blocks access to an IP address if the limit is exceeded. If the particular user exceeds the limit and continues attempting to log in, their account will be temporarily banned.

Limit Login Attempts Reloaded is convenient for both site owners and users. It is easy to install and use. On the other hand, it notifies users about remaining login attempts, preventing users from accidentally getting banned.

Pros:

• Easy-to-use
• Notifies users of remaining login attempts
• Protects WooCommerce pages

Cons:

• No Two-factor authentication is available.

Login LockDown

Apart from blocking the IP address after the chosen number of login attempts, Login LockDown tracks each login attempt by its time, IP address, and the number of logins. It enables website owners to set the number of login attempts and block the login for IP addresses if a user exceeds the number of attempts.

Additionally, Login LockDown offers various captcha options, while its Pro plan includes two-factor authentication and Cloud protection.

Pros:

• It logs all login attempts
• Easy to use
• You can configure various settings
• Email notification on each IP blocked

Cons:

• Some features are only available in the Pro version.

SecuPress 

SecuPress is a comprehensive WordPress security plugin similar to Jetpack that offers features besides login security and brute force hacking prevention. 

SecurePress other features include a firewall and malware scanner. However, when compared to Jetpack, SecurePress functionalities are more challenging, and the official documentation does not explain how to use the scanner function.

On the other hand, SecurePress provides an intuitive and well-designed interface.

However, due to subpar documentation and a lack of cleanup options, we recommend opting for Jetpack if you are looking for a comprehensive security plugin.

Pros:

• Excellent interface
• Security reports

Cons:

• No cleanup option
• Difficult to configure
• Unreliable support

WPS Limit Login

Like other plugins from our list, WPS Limit Login secures the website by limiting the number of possible logins per IP address.

WPS Limit Login enables admins to set the number of login attempts per IP address, track login attempts, and blacklist particular IP addresses.

WPS Limit Login tracks and logs failed logins and reset failed login attempts. This tracker enables admins to detect suspicious activity from particular IP addresses, investigate them further, and take action.

WPS Limit Login also enables site admins to customize failed login response pages.

However, despite its popularity and rating, we recommend avoiding WPS Limit Login due to its irregular updates.

Pros:

• Two-factor authentication
• Highly customizable
• Detailed log

Cons:

• Irregular updates
• Difficult to configure

Conclusions

As WordPress does not include security measures to protect sites from malicious login attempts, it is essential to install a plugin that limits the number of login attempts per IP address to avoid compromising website security.

This post evaluated the five most popular WordPress plugins that provide brute-force hacking protection.

Although giving a general recommendation on which login protection plugin to use is impossible without knowing your particular needs, we can recommend our choices depending on whether you need a comprehensive security tool or simple malicious login attempt protection.

When simple login protection is concerned, we recommend Limit Login Attempts Reloaded or Login LockDown, depending on your preferences, and avoiding WPS Limit Login, as it is challenging to configure and irregularly update.

As for more advanced tools, we recommend using Jetpack, which provides all the features in SecuPress while offering better support and easier-to-use functionalities.