Wordfence is a firewall, malware scanner, and security plugin for individual WordPress sites. WP Triage scores risk across your entire portfolio and tells you what to fix first. They are complementary, not competing.
| Capability | Wordfence | WP Triage |
|---|---|---|
| Web application firewall | Yes | No |
| Malware scanning | Yes | No |
| Per-site security hardening | Yes | No |
| Portfolio risk score (0–100) | No | Yes |
| Cross-site prioritization | No (per-site) | Yes |
| CVE matching with exploit status | Vulnerability alerts | Yes (ranked) |
| Top 3 issues + fix order | No | Yes |
| PHP EOL / unmaintained plugin detection | Limited | Yes |
| Published price | Free, or Premium $149/site/year | From $9/month |
Wordfence is for people who want protection on one WordPress install. Their pricing page splits that by how much help you want: Free for basic firewall and scanning, Premium for self-administered sites that want rules and malware signatures as they ship, Care for owners who want Wordfence to install and monitor the plugin, and Response for mission-critical sites that need incident response within an hour.
Prices checked 24 September 2026 on the vendor’s public pricing page. Plans change. The linked page is the source of truth.
From Wordfence’s pricing page, each paid plan is licensed per site, per year:
At list price, 10 Premium sites are $1,490 per year, 25 sites are $3,725, and 50 sites are $7,450. WP Triage pricing is per account, not per site: Starter $9/month (1–5 sites), Pro $29/month (6–25), Agency $49/month (26–50). Those dollars buy a score and a fix order. They do not buy a firewall, so they do not replace a Premium license on a site that needs one.
Wordfence answers “is this site being attacked or infected?” The dashboard, including Wordfence Central, is still organized site by site. A 0–100 score is the better tool when the retainer question is which of 25 installs gets the next hour.
Twenty-five Premium licenses list at $3,725 per year and still leave you to read each scan. WP Triage Pro is $29 per month for up to 25 sites: one score, a top three, and a fix order that includes CVEs, end-of-life PHP, and plugins with no maintainer. Keep Wordfence on the sites that need blocking. Open the score before you decide which of those sites to patch.
If you are deciding whether to leave Wordfence, the Wordfence alternative page covers the switch, the bill at 10 and 25 sites, and what to keep.
Use Wordfence on each site when you need a web application firewall, malware scanning, login protection, and real-time threat blocking at the site level.
Use WP Triage when you manage many sites and need a portfolio-wide view of which installs are most exposed — especially when deciding where to deploy patches and upgrades first.
Wordfence answers “is this site being attacked or infected?” WP Triage answers “which of our fifty sites should we harden or patch first this week?” A common agency pattern:
Wordfence email and dashboard noise is still per-site. WP Triage deliberately limits alerts to critical vulnerabilities and sudden score drops so the portfolio signal stays readable. For the weekly retainer loop, see for agencies.
If those are the jobs you need done, Wordfence (or similar) remains the right tool. WP Triage will not pretend to replace them.
No. Wordfence protects an individual site with a firewall, malware scanner, and login security. WP Triage scores risk across a whole portfolio and ranks what to fix first. Most agencies keep Wordfence (or another WAF) on the site and add WP Triage for triage.
Yes. A common pattern is Wordfence on each site for perimeter defense, then WP Triage to sort the portfolio by score so maintenance hours go to Critical and At Risk installs first.
No. WP Triage does not block requests or scan disks for malware. It is a decision engine: a 0–100 score, top three issues, and a recommended fix order per site.
As of 24 September 2026, Wordfence Premium is $149 per site per year, Care is $590 per site per year, and Response is $1,250 per site per year. Twenty-five Premium licenses list at $3,725 per year. WP Triage Pro is $29 per month for up to 25 sites and does not include a firewall. Keep Wordfence where you need blocking. Add WP Triage when the job is choosing which site to fix first.
WP Triage is a decision engine — it complements tools like Wordfence rather than replacing them.