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We recently noted that the developer of the 1+ million install WordPress security plugin Security Optimizer, SiteGround, was saying that you shouldn’t use the Wordfence Security plugin and instead use their plugin. They didn’t cite any evidence that their plugin is more effective. What would be most important to know is if it did a better job of protecting websites from vulnerabilities in other plugins. We have done just such testing.
Since 2021, we have done 16 tests of a large group of WordPress security plugins to see if they would protect against real vulnerabilities that had existed in other plugins. In those tests, Security Optimizer provided no protection in any of the tests. Wordfence Security did somewhat better, providing protection in six. The reason why Security Optimizer didn’t provide any protection is that the plugin doesn’t contain a firewall. The developer in some places makes it seem like it does and falsely claims to offer protection that would come from a firewall. [Read more]