Find this best WordPress malware removal Plugins?
Malware or malicious software is specifically developed to infect a website and jeopardize its functionality. It poses a threat to every website on the Internet. If your website is attacked, you need to take quick action to remove the malware.
At IsItWP, we run a trusted, high-traffic website with a quality audience. Therefore, it is the perfect type of website to target by malicious people. They may attempt to collect data, infect user devices, launch phishing attacks, perform SEO poisoning, and more.
That’s why we always make sure we properly protect our website from malware attacks using software and plugins we trust. We have therefore tested and used numerous security plugins to find what works best for us.
In this article, we highlight some of the best WordPress malware removal tools and plugins that we have used or tested ourselves. This ensures you get first-hand experience from an unbiased perspective.
This list article is about pricing, features, pros and cons, and more. We also offer insights into the best free malware removal software for WordPress.
How does malware work and how to remove it?
Malware attacks are either random or specifically aimed at stealing your information and damaging your website’s files. These attacks can trigger the theft of money from e-commerce stores. Various types of malicious software can invade your website and exploit your vulnerabilities.
A hacked WordPress site can result in a drop in traffic and an error appears on your website. Sometimes you will also receive a warning from your web hosting provider about bandwidth overuse.
In these cases, it’s best to stay calm and come up with a quick plan of action. If you run a WordPress website, Several security plugins and tools help remove malware and Restore your website.
As mentioned earlier, we take WordPress site security very seriously. So, before proceeding, you need to make sure that it is a malware attack or something else. To help with this, you can use our free WordPress security scanner scan tool IsItWP to identify malware and hacks on your website.

You need to enter your website URL and click the Scan Website button. The scanner takes a few minutes to find malware or hacks and display the complete details. It will help you understand the attack so you can find the best way to remove malware from WordPress.
Now let’s take a look at some of the best WordPress malware removal plugins.
Best WordPress Malware Removal Plugins
If you suspect you have a hacked website, we recommend using a malware removal plugin. You could try finding infected files and removing them manually. However, there is a high risk of the situation getting worse.
You need to access your core WordPress files and folders, such as: B. on the “wp-content” folder and the “wp-config.php” file. You must use an FTP or file manager (via cPanel). You also need to access your database using phpMyAdmin.
These are important files and folders. You risk downtime and data loss if you make even a small mistake.
Instead, it is much easier and safer to rely on a trusted security plugin.
Before we start our list, here is a table that can help you quickly compare them if you don’t have the time to go through them all in detail.
Below are paid and free WordPress malware removal plugins. Each plugin has a unique approach to removing malware and keeping your website functioning normally.
1. Sucuri

Sucuri is the most popular website security and WordPress malware removal plugin. It protects your website from potential attacks and monitors it to detect threats.
If your website is attacked, Sucuri will diagnose all types of malware infections and show you the threat level. Malware, other malicious code and backdoors are then completely removed from your website’s files and database. It also corrects your SEO and removes any link injections to make your website look good on search engines.
Constant security alerts will cause your website to lose traffic, which can negatively impact your sales. Sucuri submits blocklist removal requests on your behalf and helps you restore your website to normal.
One area that we really like about this security software is its eCommerce protection features.
It is designed to protect online stores from a variety of threats such as credit card skimmers, Magecart attacks and other types of malware. Through automated malware scanning, it detects potential infections and malicious scripts before they can impact your store.
In addition, you can rely on Sucuri’s Web Application Firewall. It filters malicious traffic, blocks attackers, and prevents data breaches. The plugin also monitors the uptime of eCommerce stores to ensure your business remains accessible. This will help you protect your brand’s reputation and maintain the trust of your customers.
It also offers additional security measures and a robust firewall that blocks future attacks and keeps malicious traffic away from visiting your website. This layer of security helps improve the performance and speed of your website.
Advantages:
- Continuous website monitoring helps us identify and address security vulnerabilities before they impact our website.
- Sucuri submits blocklist removal requests on our behalf, helping to restore our website’s visibility on search engines such as Google.
- The cloud-based firewall provides strong protection by filtering malicious traffic and blocking potential attackers.
- Uptime monitoring prevents interruptions and ensures that our website is always accessible.
- We like that Sucuri supports websites built on any platform.
- Optimizing website speed with Sucuri CDN.
- Malware removal by experienced security experts.
Disadvantages:
- Beginners may experience a learning curve, especially when setting up firewalls.
- The free version of Sucuri offers limited features. You must upgrade to access all features.
Check out the latest Sucuri review here.
Start here with Sucuri.
Prices: Offers a free plugin. The basic plan costs $299.99 per year for 1 website. It runs malware and hack scans every 12 hours.
2. Wordfence

Wordfence is a powerful WordPress malware removal service and website security plugin. It quickly scans your website for malware, infected files and malicious threats and activates the firewall to protect it from attacks.
The malware scanner checks your WordPress core files, theme files and plugin files for broken URLs, malicious redirects and link injections. It has built-in security templates that help configure the plugin.
Additionally, Wordfence tracks irrelevant logins, attack activity, password violations, and spambots. It notifies website administrators of security issues via SMS, email, or Slack. This allows website owners to act quickly.
Advantages:
- We like that the powerful malware scanner checks everything on our website. It scans core WordPress files, themes and plugins.
- Wordfence provides real-time updates on firewall rules and malware signatures so we can respond quickly to emerging security threats.
- It protects us from a wide range of malware attacks such as brute force attacks, XMLRPC abuse and spambots.
- The ability to receive notifications via SMS, email and Slack ensures we are always quickly informed of potential attacks.
- It has the largest WordPress-specific malware database in the world
- reCAPTCHA and two-factor authentication added a layer of password protection.
- IP access control makes it easier to manage who has access to the website.
Disadvantages:
- Comprehensive scanning can be resource intensive and slow down the website during malware scans.
- Important features such as real-time malware signatures, premium IP blocklists and country blocking are only available in the paid version.
- Wordfence sometimes flags harmless activity as a threat.
Check out the latest Wordfence review here.
Get started with Wordfence here.
Prices: It’s FREE. Wordfence offers a paid version with higher security levels starting at $199 per year.
3. MalCare

MalCare is a plugin for instant WordPress malware removal. It has an automatic cleanup feature that detects and removes any malware attack without waiting for approval from the website owner.
It scans your website without putting a strain on your server’s resources. MalCare WordPress plugin provides real-time protection against malicious threats and hackers by adding a smart firewall to your website.
We like how MalCare offers tailored, location-specific protection.
This ensures your website is protected with rules tailored to its unique setup. The firewall feature is continually updated and adapts to changes on your website. This helps prevent conflicts and avoid emerging vulnerabilities, including zero-day attacks.
Additionally, it offers intelligent bot blocking technology. This prevents brute force attacks and prevents malicious bots from slowing down your website or deleting your content. You can also use this security WordPress software as a backup plugin. Its incremental backups protect your data and ensure quick recovery in the event of an attack. Setup and configuration is easy in just a few minutes.
Advantages:
- The automatic cleanup feature quickly removes malware without our consent, ensuring peace of mind during security incidents.
- Effective intelligent bot protection blocks spambots that attempt brute force attacks or attempt to scrape our content. This reduces our server load and protects our SEO.
- MalCare’s incremental backup feature allows us to quickly restore our website after an attack, with minimal performance impact and no downtime.
- It was great to learn that MalCare offers personalized security rules tailored to each website.
Disadvantages:
- Despite the ease of installation, configuring MalCare allows for site-specific security rules and firewall experience with the plugin.
- Manual malware scanning is only available in the Pro version. This may be necessary if we suspect imminent threats.
Prices: Offers a free plugin. Pricing for the basic plan starts at $149 per year for 1 website.
4. SecuPress

SecuPress is a free WordPress malware scanning and removal plugin. It comes with a WordPress security toolkit that you can use to scan your website for malware, bots, and traffic from suspicious IP addresses.
It performs a security audit and highlights dozens of security points in just a few minutes. If necessary, the plugin will ask for your permission to take action and fix the problems. SecuPress Pro has additional features including white label options, PHP malware scanning, alerts and notifications, advanced user protection, PDF reports and two-factor authentication.
Advantages:
- SecuPress carries out a thorough check of up to 35 security points, provides a detailed analysis of our website’s vulnerabilities and offers solutions to fix them.
- The plugin’s guided security fixes make it easier to fix vulnerabilities even if we aren’t security experts.
- The ability to block traffic from specific countries based on geolocation helps us prevent unwanted access from high-risk regions.
- SecuPress generates security reports in PDF format so we can easily review and share findings with our team or customers to provide transparency.
Disadvantages:
- Advanced features like two-factor authentication and white label options are only available on the Pro plans.
- Sometimes the country blocking feature can restrict legitimate traffic.
Prices: Offers a free plugin. The SecuPress Pro plan starts at $69.99 per year for 1 website.
5. Bulletproof security

Bulletproof security is a free WordPress malware scanner and website security plugin. It has a firewall, login security, database backup, anti-spam and other website protection features.
It features a 1-click setup wizard and monitors your website for malware attacks, suspicious activity, and more. With full website and database backups, you can quickly restore your website in the event of hacks and attacks.
Advantages:
- The 1-click setup wizard is practical and allows us to quickly configure the plugin.
- BulletProof Security automatically resolves over 100 known plugin conflicts.
- It offers robust .htaccess protection and provides an additional layer for critical website files.
- The built-in idle session logout feature increases login security.
Disadvantages:
- In the free version, it does not offer comprehensive real-time monitoring.
- The interface is less modern, making it difficult to navigate.
Start here with BulletProof Security.
Prices: FREE. However, you can get the Pro version for a one-time fee of $69.95
6. CleanTalk security and malware scan

CleanTalk security and malware scan is a professional WordPress security plugin. It runs automated malware scans on your website daily and protects against brute force attacks.
The plugin creates security audit logs to monitor malicious activity on your website. It prevents malware attacks and checks plugin files and themes with heuristic analysis to protect your website.
Advantages:
- Includes a wide range of security tools such as firewalls, malware scanning and brute force protection.
- All of our security logs are stored in the cloud for 45 days, giving us the flexibility to review past activity and stay up to date.
- It has real-time traffic monitoring and malware scanning.
- We can customize settings such as the login URL and firewall rules.
- Can hide the login page.
Disadvantages:
- This can lead to a cloud dependency, an external service that can limit security control over your website.
Start here with CleanTalk Security and Malware Scan.
Prices: offers a free plugin. The pro version of the plugin starts at $12 per year.
7. Astra Security Suite

Astra Security Suite is a high-quality, free WordPress malware removal plugin. It has a web application firewall, machine learning malware scanner, instant malware cleanup, vulnerability assessment, and more.
It has an intuitive dashboard for managing your website security. The plugin offers malware scanning and removal, blocking malicious bots, preventing malicious file uploads, brute force protection, blocking fake search engine bots, automatic blocking for known hackers, and more.
Advantages:
- Real-time protection against over 100 types of threats including SQLi, XSS and SEO spam without the need for multiple plugins.
- As an extension, it installs quickly without changing the DNS settings, making it easier for us to set it up without affecting the performance of the website.
- Provides on-demand, machine learning-based malware scanning and instant malware cleanup.
- It has an easy-to-use dashboard that provides comprehensive threat analysis, IP tracking, and admin activity logs.
Disadvantages:
- Compared to other malware software on this list, it is quite expensive.
Start here with Astra Security Suite.
Prices: Offers a free plugin. The premium version starts at $199 per month.
That’s all for now. If you have additional questions, check out the following frequently asked questions.
FAQs: Best WordPress Plugins for Malware Removal
What is the best tool to scan a WordPress site?
Free online security scanner IsItWP is the best online WordPress malware scanner. This free tool allows you to quickly check your website for malware and potential hacks by simply entering your URL and clicking the “Scan Website” button. It provides a detailed report of any malicious code or vulnerabilities and helps you take immediate action to remove threats and secure your website.
Which is the best free malware removal software?
Sucuri is the best free malware removal software for WordPress. The free version offers important security features such as malware scanning and post-hack cleanup. For advanced protection, the premium version includes features such as e-commerce protection, continuous monitoring, and blacklist removal to protect your website from future threats.
Which WordPress websites are commonly attacked by malware?
WordPress websites that process sensitive information, such as: E-commerce websites, membership platforms, or high-traffic blogs are often targeted by malware. Hackers are attracted to websites with valuable data such as payment information, user credentials and email lists. Websites with outdated themes, plugins or weak security measures are also common targets.
What are the most common WordPress malware attacks?
The most common WordPress malware attacks include SQL injections, cross-site scripting (XSS), and malicious redirects. These attacks can result in data theft, website vandalism, or the introduction of malicious code that impacts visitors. Additionally, brute force attacks and SEO poisoning are often used to compromise WordPress websites with the aim of manipulating rankings or stealing confidential information.
Congratulations! We hope this article helped you find the best WordPress malware removal tool to protect your website from malware and hacks.
For an extra layer of security, we recommend regular backups of your WordPress site. You can use Duplicator – It is a free WordPress backup plugin. You can safely store backup files and restore them when needed.
Additionally, here are other articles you may want to read.
The first article takes you through a detailed but beginner-friendly guide to WordPress security. The next post will focus on helping you enter maintenance mode to maintain your SEO and security when your website is down. While the last article lists the 10 best plugins for user login and registration.