The short version
- Choose Wordfence if you want a mature, WordPress-only security plugin with an endpoint firewall and malware scanner, and optionally hands-on incident response from its team.
- Choose Webforta if you want outside-in scanning and monitoring that an attacker on the server cannot switch off, an edge firewall, uptime and certificate alerts, and reports for clients.
What Wordfence offers (from its official listing)
- An endpoint firewall that runs inside WordPress rather than as an outside service. Wordfence says it "cannot be bypassed and cannot leak data".
- Firewall rules and malware signatures in real time for Premium customers; in the free version they are delayed by 30 days. Premium also adds premium support, country blocking and more frequent scans.
- A malware scanner that checks core files, themes and plugins for malware, bad URLs, backdoors and SEO spam, compares them with the wordpress.org versions, and can repair core files, themes and plugins on compromised sites.
- Two-factor authentication with TOTP apps, and passkeys.
- Wordfence Care: hands-on support, including help with security incidents and a yearly security audit.
- Wordfence Response: 24/7/365 support from its incident response team with a 1-hour response time and a maximum of 24 hours to resolve a security issue.
- Wordfence Central, free for managing security across unlimited sites.
The listing names four tiers (Free, Premium, Care and Response) and links to Wordfence's pricing page for prices. We could not load that page when checking, so we do not quote prices here.
What Webforta offers
A Free plan (1 website, 4 on-demand scans a month and hourly uptime and certificate checks) and paid plans at Starter €9, Pro €29 and Business €79 a month (or €90, €290 and €790 a year), before any VAT.
- Outside-in security scans of verified websites on any platform, with evidence, risk and fix for each finding, and cloaking checks that load the page as Googlebot and as a search visitor.
- Uptime, response time, certificate and domain expiry, DNS, header and content-change monitoring with alerts (minimum intervals: Free 60 minutes, Starter 30 minutes, Pro 10 minutes, Business 5 minutes).
- Webforta Shield, an edge reverse-proxy WAF on Pro and Business that filters requests before they reach your server.
- The free Webforta WordPress Security plugin for the inside: firewall, login limits, 2FA, file integrity, malware signatures, hardening, activity log and updates with rollback.
- Daily vulnerability watch, "safe to update" advice, reports, a client portal and white-label branding.
Endpoint firewall or edge firewall?
An endpoint firewall like Wordfence's understands WordPress from the inside, for example which user is logged in, and does not depend on DNS changes. An edge firewall like Webforta Shield stops requests before they reach your server, which saves server resources during floods, but traffic passes through Webforta and the origin should be protected from direct access. Many sites benefit from login protection inside WordPress plus filtering at the edge. Read more in what is a web application firewall.
Where Wordfence is stronger
- Incident response. Wordfence Care and Response include help with security incidents, and Response offers a 24/7/365 team with stated response times. Webforta has no 24/7 security team and does not clean sites.
- Maturity and depth on WordPress: a long-established firewall rule set and scanner, with real-time updates on paid tiers.
- Passkey support for WordPress logins.
Where Webforta may suit you better
- You want checks from outside the server, which keep working even if the site is compromised.
- You need uptime, certificate, domain and DNS monitoring with alerts in the same tool.
- You want to filter traffic at the edge rather than on your server.
- You manage sites on several platforms, or report to clients.
Can you use both?
Webforta's scanning, monitoring and Shield run alongside Wordfence without conflict, since they work outside WordPress. Inside WordPress, run one firewall plugin: if you keep Wordfence, you do not need the Webforta plugin's firewall as well.
Sources
Competitor details on this page come only from the competitor's own public pages below, last checked on . Plans, prices and features change; check the competitor's site before deciding. All trademarks belong to their owners, and Webforta is not affiliated with or endorsed by the companies named. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.