LP7 Part 1-Comparing and Contrasting Ithemes Security and Password Policy Manager plugins
The names of the password manager tools I reviewed are called Password Policy – Password Manager (url https://plugins.miniorange.com/password-policy-manager) and Ithemes Security (url https://ithemes.com/security/wordpress-password-security/). Password Policy Manager offers a free version, while Ithemes Security does not. Ithemes Security is a bit more costly, coming in at $99+ monthly or $749+ per year, while Password Policy Manager ranges from $70+ monthly or $540+ yearly.
Ithemes Security and Password Policy Manager have many positive aspects to them. Both Ithemes Security and Password Policy Manager focus on security breaches and password protection in WordPress. Password Policy Manager has 3,000+ active installations, is compatible with my version of WordPress and updated 2 months ago. Ithemes Security has a larger audience with 1+ million active installations, is also compatible with my version of WordPress, but last updated 2 weeks ago making this plugin a better choice as a password management tool. Password Manager makes it easy to create and enforce strong and secure password features like forcing password changes, resetting the password, password security/strength and user password manager. Simply put, Password Manager only focuses on securing your website against weak passwords which can lead to cyber attacks. Ithemes Security offers broader protection by using a security dashboard which defends against brute force attacks and actively banned users. It also has an active lockout system, daily site scan results, scans vulnerable plugins, blocks bad bots, reduces spam and will automatically take action based on suspicious activity.
All plugins come with their own drawbacks. Ithemes Security’s user interface has had many complaints since its recent update. There are concerns about it being overly confusing and overly spammy – having the tendency to place large emails into spam even if it is not spam. Another concern is that it doesn’t interact well with certain web host providers. On the other hand, one of the biggest concerns about password managers is that there is the risk of an attacker gaining access to all of your passwords with one hack because all of the passwords are protected by a single strong password. Password Policy Manager would fall into this category. It would make for a better investment to use a plugin that focuses more on a wide range of security breaches.
Password Policy Manager prides itself on ease of use and that a majority of it’s functions are self-explanatory. While some of the complaints about Ithemes Security is that it is not user friendly and that the technical jargon is complex and difficult to understand for everyday users. Since there are a variety of user interface levels, I would not make a determination on the ease of use until you give them both a try.
