wpsecscan v2.3.0
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/ compare

vs Wordfence · WPScan · Sucuri

Honest comparison. Where another tool does something better — say, Wordfence's live WAF or Sucuri's malware-removal service — that's marked too. Different tools, different strengths.

Updated 2026-06 for WPSecScan v2.3.0. Sources at the bottom of this page.

Feature WPSecScan Wordfence (free) Wordfence (premium) WPScan CLI Sucuri (free)
License AGPL-3.0 GPL-2.0 Proprietary GPL-3.0 Proprietary
Cost (single site) $0 $0 $119/yr $0 $0 (basic)
Runs locally ✓ — (plugin) — (plugin) ✓ — (SaaS)
Source-code auditable ✓ ✓ — ✓ —
Total distinct checks 189 ~120 ~120 ~80 unpublished
Active exploit verification ✓ (consent-gated) — — — (passive) —
Continuous monitors 10 (CT/DNS/WHOIS/RBL/honeypot) — ✓ live traffic — ✓ (paid)
CVE database sources 8 (NVD/GHSA/Mitre/OSV/Wordfence/WPVulnerability/CIRCL/Patchstack) 1 (Wordfence) 1 (Wordfence) 1 (WPVulnerability) 1 (internal)
CVE feed refresh cadence Nightly Hourly Real-time On-demand Real-time
Threat-intel providers 10 1 1 0 internal
SLSA Level 3 attestation ✓ — — — —
Sigstore keyless signing ✓ — — — —
CycloneDX SBOM ✓ — — — —
Reproducible-build verify ✓ (documented) — — — —
OpenSSF Scorecard published ✓ — — ✓ —
Web Application Firewall — ✓ ✓ — ✓
Login brute-force blocking — (audit only) ✓ ✓ — ✓
Real-time malware removal — — (paid) ✓ — ✓ (paid)
Cloud-managed dashboard ✓ (self-hosted) ✓ ✓ — ✓
SSO (OIDC + SAML) ✓ — (paid agency) ✓ — ✓ (Enterprise)
RBAC ✓ — ✓ — ✓
Multi-tenant ✓ — ✓ (agency) — ✓
Audit log ✓ (HMAC-chained) — ✓ — ✓
Approval workflow ✓ (2-person) — — — —
Report formats 12 3 3 3 (JSON/CLI/HTML) 2 (HTML/PDF)
SARIF output ✓ — — — —
SDK languages Python / JS / Go — — (REST only) Ruby (lib) — (REST only)
OpenAPI 3.1 spec ✓ — ✓ — ✓
Compliance frameworks mapped 15 — — (PCI badge) — ✓ (PCI)
Distribution channels Docker, K8s, Homebrew, Snap, Flatpak, winget, AUR, Choco, pip, .exe WP plugin WP plugin gem, Docker, .deb WP plugin / SaaS
ARM64 + Apple Silicon support ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
AI-assisted remediation ✓ (BYO key, opt-in) — — — —
Web3 / NFT / payment checks ✓ — — — —
WCAG 2.2 AAA accessibility ✓ — — — —
Opt-in usage analytics ✓ (local-first) ✓ ✓ — ✓
Telemetry on by default ✗ (off) ✓ ✓ ✗ ✓
Bug bounty program ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Which tool should you use?

Use WPSecScan if you want…

  • Local-first auditing (your scan data stays on your machine)
  • The widest possible vulnerability source coverage (8 CVE sources, deduped)
  • Cryptographic verification of every release
  • Self-hostable enterprise mode (SSO + RBAC + audit log + multi-tenant)
  • Defensive-only — no firewall, no malware removal
  • To pay $0 forever

Use Wordfence if you want…

  • An always-on WAF blocking attacks live at the WP layer
  • Real-time malware quarantine (premium)
  • Active login brute-force blocking
  • The largest WP-only CVE feed (their Intelligence DB)
  • WordPress-plugin-based install (no CLI required)

Use WPScan CLI if you want…

  • Ruby ecosystem integration
  • The longest-running WP-focused CVE database
  • Minimal install footprint
  • The most cited tool in pentest reports historically

Use Sucuri if you want…

  • A managed service (you don't run anything)
  • Incident-response / malware-removal as a paid add-on
  • CDN + WAF in one product
  • SOC2 / PCI compliance reporting bundled

Use multiple together. WPSecScan auditing the configuration + Wordfence blocking live attacks is a strong combo. They don't conflict.

Sources for these claims