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Best Free WordPress Plugins for Bot Protection

8 plugins compared · Updated August 2026 · Bot Protection

All 8 Free only Premium only

Choosing a WordPress plugin for bot protection comes down to a few things: whether it is still actively maintained, whether real users rate it well, and whether it does the specific job you need without dragging the rest of the site down.

We ranked 8 plugins using our WPScore, which weighs the user rating (adjusted for how many people actually rated it), how many sites run it, how recently it was updated, and which WordPress version it is tested against. 8 of them have enough public data to be scored; the rest are listed below the ranked block, clearly marked, rather than being given a number we cannot justify.

How this list is funded. Some links here earn us a commission if you buy. It costs you nothing extra, and it does not move anything up the list — the order comes from the WPScore, which is calculated from public ratings, install counts and update history. See the method.

At a glance

  1. 1. Checkout Shield for WooCommerce Best overall 78/100
  2. 2. ARCaptcha 78/100
  3. 3. SiteFort Security 76/100
  4. 4. CaptchaFox for WordPress 75/100
  5. 5. ClickCease Click Fraud Protection 72/100
  6. 6. Bot Protection with Turnstile 68/100
  7. 7. Spambargo: Anti-Spam for Forms & Comments 68/100
  8. 8. CHEQ Essentials 62/100
3 SiteFort Security
Free by securewpteam

SiteFort Security

Prevention-first WordPress security with malware scanning, firewall, bot protection, 2FA, vulnerability scanning, and security hardening.

5★
from 5 ratings
70+
active installs
Updated
Aug 2026
Tested to
WP 7.1
76

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
4 CaptchaFox for WordPress
Free by Scoria Labs GmbH

CaptchaFox for WordPress

CaptchaFox is an easy-to-use and GDPR compliant bot protection service. Protect your WordPess forms from malicious bot traffic!

3.7★
from 3 ratings
100+
active installs
Updated
Aug 2026
Tested to
WP 7.1
75

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
6 Bot Protection with Turnstile
Free by mra13 / Team Tips and Tricks HQ

Bot Protection with Turnstile

A lightweight plugin that protects core WordPress forms and selected third‑party plugins from spam and bot attacks using Cloudflare Turnstile CAPTCHA.

100+
active installs
Updated
Aug 2026
Tested to
WP 7.1
68

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
8 CHEQ Essentials
Free by eranfl

CHEQ Essentials

Protect, analyze & block threats in real time your website from bots, click fraud, and invalid traffic with CHEQ Essentials.

600+
active installs
Updated
May 2026
Tested to
WP 6.6.7
62

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org