Malcare’s Review of Wordfence Recommends Malcare Instead Without Disclosing They Make It
Those looking for useful security advice for WordPress websites are often running across biased information, where the bias isn’t disclosed. While looking for some information for a post we were writing, we ran across what was claimed to be a review of the Wordfence Security plugin. It was from a competitor, Malcare. That was never disclosed in the review. You only have to get to the fourth paragraph before they are recommending Malcare instead already:
WordFence’s free version is a really good security plugin for website owners with zero budget for security. However, there are a bunch of downsides, including some security lacuna. I strongly recommend MalCare, which is far more reliable and effective at blocking threats and protecting your site against malware.
Of course, Malcare recommends their own plugin. But that they were not upfront that it is their plugin makes them look shady (nothing new there).
They could provide useful information about a competitor, but they don’t. Take this claim:
This page also explains the difference between the free and premium versions. For starters, the free version of the plugin loads as a regular plugin after WordPress has loaded, which is only somewhat effective. Ideally, a firewall should load before WordPress to block out all malicious traffic.
That claimed limitation of what is offered for free isn’t true. Something they would know if they had configured the plugin.
As has always been the case with Malcare, they make claims that don’t’ really make sense. For example, they claim it offers better protection, but are citing things that are not protection, but instead come in to play after protection has failed:
MalCare is the best alternative to Wordfence, especially in terms of offering superior protection for your site. The MalCare scanner is more accurate than Wordfence, and the auto-cleanup is much easier to use.
No Testing
Speaking of protection, Malcare goes on to claim their “firewall is also more reliable” than Wordfence Security, but doesn’t actually back that up. If you look at the results of our testing of security plugins, Malcare’s plugin hasn’t provided any protection, as it doesn’t contain a firewall. Apparently a paid service does, but Malcare isn’t even releasing results against other options, like Wordfence Security, for that.
The Sucuri Plugin Doesn’t Offer Any of That
Malcare suggests that the Sucuri plugin is a better alternative to Wordfence Security. They link to the Sucuri plugin, but everything they say about it, isn’t about the plugin, but an unrelated service (this is a common issue with recommendations of that plugin):
- Sucuri: Sucuri is a heavyweight in the WordPress security space. If you’re looking for unlimited malware removal, Sucuri has got you covered; all of their paid plans come with it. The thing is the scanner isn’t that great, so you’ll need to know there’s malware on your site before you can make use of the removal feature. On the plus side, the pricing is way better than Wordfence, so that’s definitely a bonus.
Plugin Security Scorecard Grade for MalCare
Checked on September 21, 2024See issues causing the plugin to get less than A+ grade
Plugin Security Scorecard Grade for Sucuri Security
Checked on August 8, 2024See issues causing the plugin to get less than A+ grade