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Patchstack – WordPress & Plugins Security
Version: 2.3.3
Description
Patchstack is a powerful tool that helps identify security vulnerabilities within your websites’ plugins, themes, and WordPress core. It is powered by the WordPress ecosystem’s most active community of ethical hackers. Patchstack is trusted by leading WordPress experts such as Pagely, Cloudways, GridPane, Plesk, and others!
Patchstack is a security plugin for WordPress that finds WP core, plugin and theme vulnerabilities in your websites.
The free version includes up to 48-hour early warning for new vulnerabilities found by our security research community. It also allows you to automatically update vulnerable software, manage updates remotely, and get snapshot reports on your sites’ security status.
The paid version includes automatic vulnerability protection. Patchstack deploys highly targeted rules on a per-site basis, only when a specific vulnerability is detected on a site.
This prevents vulnerable components from being exploited without modifying website code, or impacting site performance or functionality. Patchstack’s paid version includes access to 12,000+ individual protection rules (vPatches).
Patchstack paid version also includes other preventive security features, such as 2 factor authentication, WordPress specific hardening rules, a Community IP blocklist for malicious IP addresses, advanced security settings, and custom protection rules.
Post-hack cleanups vs attack prevention in WordPress security
Unlike the standard approach to WordPress security (malware scanning and infection cleanups), Patchstack is focused on preventing infections in the first place.
Thanks to its big WordPress security research community and partnerships with nearly one thousand plugin vendors and developers, Patchstack is regularly among the first to identify new vulnerabilities.
Who is Patchstack’s WordPress security plugin for?
Patchstack’s vulnerability management works extremely well for:
- Agencies with WordPress care/maintenance plans for their customers’ websites
- WooCommerce websites to protect their revenue and customers from attacks
- Hosting companies that want to deliver highly targeted vulnerability protection easily and at scale
Website owners
You don’t have to be highly technical to use it. Install the plugin, connect it with the Patchstack App, and stay safe!
What features are included in the Patchstack Personal (Free) plan?
Patchstack’s Personal plan is a free security service for WordPress that lets you find and manage vulnerabilities in your websites. It includes access to a central security dashboard via the Patchstack web App for more visibility and control over your sites’ security:
- Be the first to know about new vulnerabilities.
- Receive notifications if any installed plugins or themes have security issues.
- Detect the latest security vulnerabilities in WordPress plugins.
- Detect the latest security vulnerabilities in WordPress themes.
- Detect the latest security vulnerabilities in WordPress core.
- Receive real-time alerts via email if any security vulnerabilities are found.
- Manage core, plugin and theme updates from a single dashboard.
- [Optional] Enable automatic updates for vulnerable plugins only.
- Generate snapshot reports about the security status of your website.
What features do Patchstack paid subscriptions have?
Patchstack’s paid subscriptions include automatic protection for WordPress vulnerabilities, as well as other protection modules.
- Virtual patching to prevent vulnerable components from being exploited
- Advanced hardening module for added WordPress security
- Remote hardening settings (including .httacess, login protection and reCAPTCHA)
- Community IP Blocklist of known attacker IP addresses
All of these features are included in the Developer and Enterprise plans.
Additionally, Developer and Enterprise plan users have access to custom protection rule creation, periodical security reports and report scheduling.
Personal (Free) plan users can enable these features on a per-site basis for $5 / site per month.
Important Resources
See what our customers say about our paid plans:
- “An excellent and valuable service that’s backed by a company that contributes a significant number of resources and money directly back to the WordPress ecosystem.” – John Blackbourn
- “Patchstack is like CrowdStrike, but for websites!” – Ryan McCue, HumanMade
- “The service here is superb! And they are always right on it with the best solution to solve the problem or question at hand. The tool itself speaks for itself. I am very satisfied with this project and the service they offer.” – Daniel Canup
- “This is a security plugin everyone needs to install. The Patchstack team are incredible at what they do. We have been using them for years and have not been disappointed!” – @craniumstudio
- “We’ve been with Patchstack for a LONG time (even before they were Patchstack). It has always done its job seamlessly and without fail. Ongoing innovation and updates to the Patchstack product mean this plugin is a winner. 5 stars all the way.” – @guapx
(*Comparisons are made by evaluating paid versions.)
Sucuri vs. Patchstack
Wordfence vs. Patchstack
Malcare vs. Patchstack
Sitelock vs. Patchstack
Installation
Simply install the Patchstack plugin by searching for “Patchstack” on the plugin management page of WordPress, or install it manually by following these steps:
- Download the plugin from the WordPress.org Patchstack plugin download page.
- Unzip the
.zip
file. - Upload the entire
patchstack
directory to the/wp-content/plugins/
directory. - Activate Patchstack through the “Plugins” menu in WordPress.
Screenshots
Patchstack security - be the first to receive notifications of new plugin vulnerabilities
Patchstack security - automatic protection against ongoing attacks
Patchstack security - level up your WordPress hardening and tweak the security rules
Patchstack security - security analytics, detailed periodic reports and activity monitoring
Faq
A worrisome website hacking statistic is that well over 90% of WordPress vulnerabilities are related to plugins or themes. One report found that up to 98% of WordPress vulnerabilities are due to plugins, while another study reported that 95% were caused by plugins and themes.
To stay secure, always keep your WordPress plugins, themes, and core updated and monitored. Be aware of which plugins you’re using and remove any that are no longer needed.
When choosing a WordPress security plugin, it’s important to understand how the WordPress security ecosystem works.
Look for a tool that offers vPatching (see Patchstack’s features).
The Patchstack Personal (Free) plan alerts you if vulnerabilities are present in the plugins, themes, or WordPress core installed on your site.
By staying informed, you can reduce the time and resources spent fixing WordPress security issues and avoid costly clean-ups.
You can detect security vulnerabilities in your WordPress plugins, themes, and core. You’ll receive email notifications if vulnerabilities are found, and access a central security overview for up to 3 websites using the Patchstack App.
You can optionally enable vPatching for individual sites for $5/month.
With the Patchstack Developer plan, you can protect your sites against known plugin and theme vulnerabilities through automatic virtual patches — non-intrusive firewall rules that block exploit attempts.
You also gain access to advanced hardening options, 2FA, CAPTCHA, security reports, and various alert types.
- Plugin vulnerability detection (also included in free)
- Theme vulnerability detection (also included in free)
- WordPress core vulnerability detection (also included in free)
- Logs and analytics (also included in free)
- Snapshot PDF security reports (also included in free)
- Email alerts (also included in free)
- vPatches for WordPress plugins
- vPatches for WordPress themes
- Unlimited custom firewall rules
- Unlimited custom alert triggers
- Weekly/monthly PDF reports
- Slack alerts
- Unlimited Patchstack App API usage
No external checks are performed. The plugin matches the installed plugins, themes, and WordPress core on your site with our vulnerability database to identify vulnerable versions.
With the Personal (Free) plan, you’ll receive alerts via email. Slack alerts are available in the paid Developer plan.
We have not encountered any conflicts. However, we recommend using as few security plugins as possible and avoiding overlapping features to prevent potential issues.
If you encounter problems, contact our support team for assistance.
No, the free version does not include a firewall. It focuses on vulnerability detection and notifications.
The free version only runs scheduled tasks, with no noticeable impact on your site speed or server load.
The paid version runs tasks on each page load to filter traffic, but our tests and customer feedback confirm minimal performance impact.
Yes. After installation, you can activate Patchstack per site within the network. Each subsite must be added individually to your Patchstack account and will take one site slot.
Visit our website and blog for more information.
Patchstack provides chat support via patchstack.com and documentation through our Help Center.
To access chat support, click the green chat bubble in the bottom right corner (note: some ad blockers may hide this).
Setup takes just a few minutes. Install the plugin, register at Patchstack App, add your site, and paste the API key into the plugin.
See our Getting Started guide for help.
Upgrade through your dashboard at the Patchstack App or directly at app.patchstack.com/setup.
No, support is free. However, free plan users may receive replies within 1 business day, while paid users typically get responses in under 30 minutes.
We take privacy seriously. We sync and store data such as your domains, installed software, and activity logs.
For details, see our Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, and DPA.
- Terms & Conditions: patchstack.com/terms-and-conditions
- Privacy Policy: patchstack.com/privacy-policy
- DPA: patchstack.com/data-processing-agreement-dpa
We offer an AI-powered code review tool for plugin audits. Start by joining our mVDP program.
You can also request a manual audit here: patchstack.com/auditing.
Report security bugs through the Patchstack Vulnerability Disclosure Program. Our team will assist with verification and CVE assignment.
Reviews
Smart extra layer of protection for WordPress
By robertozoll on June 6, 2025
Patchstack has been a great tool for keeping my WordPress sites secure. I really like the early vulnerability alerts and the virtual patching feature—it gives me peace of mind knowing that known issues are blocked even before plugins are officially updated.
It’s lightweight, doesn’t slow down the site, and the dashboard makes it easy to monitor multiple installations.
That said, it’s not a complete security suite—so I still use it alongside a firewall. But as a vulnerability monitor and patching layer, it works very well.
Highly recommended.
Best support
By Playzare on February 13, 2025
Was talking to their AI support and it automatically switched to human who solved my issue by herself. Never saw this ! perfect support, perfect tool for security combined with CF
Plugin and support is awesome!
By Sculley on January 23, 2025
Patchstack is a must have for security. Their support is awesome too!
Excellent service
By John Blackbourn (johnbillion) on January 8, 2025
An excellent and valuable service that's backed by a company that contributes a significant amount of resources and money directly back to the WordPress ecosystem.
Amazing Plugin & Service with an Equally Amazing Team!
By Jeff Mankini (jeffmankini) on September 23, 2024
I've been using Patchstack for a while now, and the service has been absolutely outstanding. I recently had the chance to meet the team at WCUS Portland, and they were just as impressive. It's clear they are genuinely passionate not only about their product but also about the community they serve. I'm really looking forward to seeing how Patchstack continues to evolve into something even more remarkable.
Peace of mind
By diffler on September 22, 2024
Patchstack gives me 100% peace of mind. With virtual patches I don't need to worry about plugin vulnerabilities of unupdated sites. Patchstack feels light. I previously used WordFence, which really bogged down my sites.
I have switched to paid version of Patchstack because it's a small price to pay for not having to worry about anything.
Protect your website now!
By AnnaVanessa on September 20, 2024
best security solution on the market with an amazing team. Our Crocoblock team is proud to use it and to be sure our plugins are secure!
Amazing!!
By craniumstudio on September 20, 2024
This is a security plugin everyone needs to install. The Patchstack team are incredible at what they do. We have been using them for years and have not been disappointed!
Fantastic!
By guapx on September 11, 2024
We've been with Patchstack for a LONG time (even before they were Patchstack). Has always done its job seamlessly and without fail. Ongoing innovation and updates for the Patchstack product means this plug-in is a winner. 5 star all the way
Best Security Option Currently Available
By vagtarap on September 10, 2024
I have used them all and so far these guys go it right and good support too!
Changelog
To view the plugin changelog, go here.