10 Essential WordPress Plugins for Speed and Security

When it comes to WordPress website maintenance, speed and security are two aspects that should never be overlooked. A slow site decreases the chances of customers using your website by bouncing off the site and security incidents create a negative image to the company. Fortunately, there are numerous WordPress plugins explicitly built to increase both speed and security. Following are the top 10 WordPress plugins that will surely enhance the functionality and security of your blog.

Why Website Speed and Security Matter

Before we proceed any further with the plugins it is worth briefly discussing why speed and security are such issues wherein lies the rub. Well optimized website loads faster, enhances user satisfaction, considers the SEO factors, and can boost the number of conversions. On the other hand, there is safety of your data and data of your users that would be safe from potential hackers and threats. It is imperative that both speed and the security measures are employed to mean that the website performs to the expected standards while at the same time being secure.

1. WP Rocket (Speed)

 WP Rocket is a plugin that you install on your website to help you in optimizing your website on factors such as speed. It is very simple and has nice toppings such as page caching, lazy loading and GZIP compression. Together these aspects will serve to enable we the user to reduce the loading time of our WordPress website. WP Rocket also has some other features, the biggest of which is the compatibility with most of the hosting environments.

Features:

• Page caching
• File optimization
• Lazy loading for images
• Database optimization

Learn more about WP Rocket here.

2. Sucuri Security (Security)

When it comes to website security, Sucuri security is among the most recommended plugins. This type of security program gives the features of malware protection, firewall, and monitoring of all the site activities. Sucuri assists to prevent such misfortunes as DDoS attacks, brute force attacks, and other dangers to your web presence.

Features:

• Malware scanning
• File integrity monitoring
• Firewall integration
• Security hardening

Learn more about Sucuri Security here.

3. WP Fastest Cache (Speed)

If WP Rocket doesn’t suit your needs, WP Fastest Cache is the second best caching plugin for WordPress optimization. This plugin creates html copies of dynamic wordpress blog posts, which serves a useful purpose for decreasing the work load of the wordpress blog server for creation of the webpage and enhances the time it takes a page to load.

Features:

• Minification of HTML, CSS, and JS
• Browser caching
• GZIP compression
• CDN integration

Learn more about WP Fastest Cache here.

4. Word fence Security (Security)

Word fence is a great recommendation for the plugin which offers security for a website with features such as a firewall and malware scanner. It also has real-time features which enable one to know if there is any threat, risk or attack is going to be made. The plugin has the ability to generate report of various activities that take place in your site.

Features:

• Web application firewall
• Malware scanner
• Brute force protection
• Login security

Learn more about Word fence Security here.

5. Autoptimize (Speed)

Autoptimize is a great plugin which helps to speed up your website by minifying and caching your site scripts, styles and html. This cuts down on the amount of information that your server has to extract and this means that your page load times are greatly enhanced.

Features:

• Minifies CSS, JavaScript, and HTML
• Aggregates and caches files
• Lazy loading of images
• Google Fonts optimization

Learn more about Autoptimize here.

6. iThemes Security (Security)

iThemes Security is another great plugin that helps in protecting your WordPress site. Many binary plug-ins are geared towards preventive measures like two-factor identification, use of strong password, and regular site backup with a view to avoiding common adversarial operations like brute force penetration.

Features:

• Two-factor authentication
• Malware scanning
• Enforces strong passwords
• 404 detection

Learn more about iThemes Security here.

7. Smush (Speed)

Big images are mainly instrumental in slowing down the website since they occupy a larger size in the disk. Using smush, your images are optimized and compressed but not in a way that the quality of the images is affected while your site loads faster and uses less bandwidth.

Features:

• Lossless image compression
• Bulk image optimization
• Lazy loading
• Compresses all image formats

Learn more about Smush here.

8. All In One WP Security & Firewall (Security)

This plugin provides a simple interface for adding additional levels of security to the WordPress websites. All In One WP Security & Firewall they secure your site through dynamic file & folder monitoring, user & administrative account monitoring at login sessions, and active blocking of any known or suspicious attacks.

Features:

• Brute force attack prevention
• IP filtering
• File change detection
• Built-in firewall

Learn more about All In One WP Security & Firewall here.

9. LiteSpeed Cache (Speed)

LiteSpeed Cache is the most suitable choice for those who seek a strong caching plugin that integrates seamlessly with LiteSpeed servers. It has server level caching, which is more effective in improving the speed of the pages as opposed to other caching plugins.

Features:

• Server-level cache
• CSS and JavaScript minification
• Image optimization
• Object cache

Learn more about LiteSpeed Cache here.

10. Updraft Plus (Security)

Website backup is one of the best protective actions one can take towards the Website. Updraft Plus makes the backup process easier by enabling the user to set time limits for the backups and backup to cloud services such as Google Drive or Dropbox among others. It is very easy, in case of an attack you are able to restore your site with the simple push of buttons.

Features:

• Automated backups
• Cloud storage integration
• One-click restoration
• Database encryption

Learn more about Updraft Plus here.

Final Thoughts

Optimizing WordPress plugins for speed and security is a crucial action that is necessary for any webmaster. If you own a simple personal blog or a complex internet shop, these plugins will assist you in making a user-friendly and fast site and minimizing possible risks. Remember that plugins are a useful tool, but you need to update them and follow WordPress security tips and guidelines to keep your site safe and performing well.

At WP Machina we focus on helping anyone owning a WordPress website make the right choice regarding plugins and overall site performance. If you require any help related to your WordPress site, please do not hesitate to contact us.