WordPress powers around 43% of all websites on the internet. That fact alone prompts a reasonable question: is a platform this ubiquitous actually safe to run a business on? The short answer is yes — with a caveat that matters. WordPress core, the software itself, is actively maintained by a dedicated security team and is generally well-secured. The risk doesn’t come from the platform; it comes from the ecosystem around it — plugins, themes, hosting choices, and how diligently the site is kept up to date.
That caveat isn’t a disclaimer buried at the bottom of a reassuring article. It’s the actual answer. This post explains what the security picture for WordPress really looks like, where the genuine risks sit, and what “secure” means in practice for a site like yours — so you can make an informed judgement rather than accept a verdict either way.
(If you’re reading this because you think your site may already be compromised, start with Has Your WordPress Site Been Hacked? Here’s How to Tell — that’s the right place for a current-situation check.)
WordPress Core — What the Security Picture Actually Looks Like
When people ask whether WordPress is secure, they often mean one of two different things: is the platform itself secure, or is the whole WordPress ecosystem secure? These are separate questions with different answers, and conflating them is where most “is WordPress safe?” content goes wrong.
On the platform question, the case is solid. WordPress is maintained by a dedicated security team of over 50 researchers and developers. When a vulnerability is identified in core — whether through responsible disclosure by an external researcher or internal discovery — the team patches it, often within hours for critical issues. Those patches are then distributed automatically to every WordPress installation that has auto-updates enabled, which most well-maintained sites do.
It’s worth being specific about what “core” means here. WordPress core is the base software: the files that ship when you download WordPress from wordpress.org. It does not include the plugins and themes you install on top of it. That distinction is important, because the security story changes considerably once you step outside core.
Core is also open-source, which is sometimes cited as a risk — the thinking being that anyone can read the code and look for flaws. In practice, the opposite tends to be true. Open-source code is scrutinised by thousands of developers worldwide, which means vulnerabilities are found and reported faster, not slower. The WordPress security team benefits from that scrutiny in a way that proprietary platforms do not.
What all of this means, practically, is that a WordPress site running an up-to-date core version is not running on insecure software. The entry points attackers actually exploit are in the ecosystem around it — and that’s where the picture gets more complicated.
The Real Risks — Where WordPress Sites Actually Get Compromised
According to Patchstack’s 2025 State of WordPress Security report, 97% of WordPress vulnerabilities originate in plugins and themes — not in core. The ecosystem around WordPress is vast. There are over 60,000 plugins in the official WordPress directory alone, plus thousands more sold through third-party marketplaces. The quality varies enormously — from well-funded plugins maintained by dedicated teams to single-developer projects that haven’t been updated in three years. A single vulnerable plugin can expose an otherwise well-maintained site, and this is, in practice, the most common way WordPress sites get compromised.
Plugin and theme vulnerabilities aren’t the only factor. WordPress’s market share — roughly 43% of the web — makes it a uniquely attractive target for automated attacks. Scanning tools used by bad actors are built and optimised specifically for WordPress installations. That scale is a double-edged sword: it’s why the security team is well-resourced and the community is large, but it also means that when a vulnerability is discovered in a popular plugin, exploitation begins fast. Sites running the affected version are targeted within hours, not days.
The third factor is user behaviour. Slow updates, weak passwords, abandoned staging sites left publicly accessible, and hosting environments that haven’t been reviewed in years — these are the conditions that turn a manageable risk into an actual incident. The platform isn’t the variable; the maintenance standard is.
None of this is unique to WordPress, and none of it is inevitable. These are manageable risks, not structural flaws. But they do require active management — the kind that doesn’t happen by default. For more detail on how these vectors work in practice, The Anatomy of a WordPress Hack covers the mechanisms specifically.
What “Secure” Actually Means for a WordPress Site
Security isn’t a feature you switch on — it’s a maintenance standard you sustain. A WordPress site that meets the following baseline is a genuinely secure one:
- Core, plugins and themes kept updated — the single highest-impact habit; most successful attacks exploit known vulnerabilities in outdated software
- Strong authentication — unique passwords, two-factor authentication on admin accounts
- Reputable hosting — a host that runs current PHP versions, provides server-level firewalling, and takes security seriously at the infrastructure level
- Regular backups — held off-site, tested periodically, so that a worst-case scenario is recoverable
- Ongoing monitoring — malware scanning and uptime alerts that catch problems early rather than after a customer emails to say something looks wrong
If the maintenance question is the one you want to hand off, our security cover includes daily malware scanning, a web application firewall, and incident response — so if anything is ever found, it’s dealt with as part of the plan.
Is WordPress More or Less Secure Than the Alternatives?
It’s a fair comparison to make. Hosted platforms — Squarespace, Wix, Shopify — handle security at the platform level. Updates happen automatically, plugin-equivalent integrations go through an approval process, and the user has limited scope to introduce vulnerabilities through third-party code. That’s a genuine advantage, and it’s worth saying so plainly.
The trade-off is control. Self-hosted WordPress gives you far more flexibility — in functionality, data ownership, integrations, and how the site is built — but that flexibility comes with responsibility. The same openness that makes WordPress extensible also means the maintenance burden sits with the site owner, not the platform.
Neither model is objectively safer. They have different risk profiles. A well-maintained WordPress site and a well-configured Shopify store are both secure. A neglected WordPress site is more exposed than a hosted platform, because there’s no safety net — no automatic updates, no platform-level enforcement of good practice.
The question isn’t really “which platform is safer?” It’s “who is responsible for maintenance, and are they actually doing it?” On a hosted platform, the answer is built in. On WordPress, the answer depends on you — or whoever looks after your site.
The Honest Verdict
WordPress is a secure platform when it’s properly maintained. The platform itself is well-built and actively developed. The risks are real, but they’re in the ecosystem — and they’re manageable with the right level of ongoing care. For most businesses, a well-maintained WordPress site is a sensible, secure choice.
The reader’s real question is usually something like: “Can I trust my business to a WordPress site if it’s being looked after properly?” The honest answer is yes.
Two places to go from here, depending on where you are:
If you’re not sure whether your current site is already compromised, Has Your WordPress Site Been Hacked? Here’s How to Tell is the right starting point — it walks through the signs and what to do if you find them.
If the maintenance question is the one you want to hand off, our WordPress care plans cover the ongoing monitoring, updates, and incident response that keep a WordPress site secure without it becoming your problem to manage.
Yes, when properly maintained. WordPress core is actively developed with a dedicated security team, and a site running current core, plugins and themes — with strong authentication and reputable hosting — is a secure foundation for a business website. The risk comes from neglect, not from the platform itself.
The main risks sit in the ecosystem rather than the platform: outdated plugins and themes, weak or reused passwords, and hosting environments that aren’t kept current. WordPress core is rarely the entry point for attacks — it’s the software installed on top of it, and the habits of the people managing the site, that determine how exposed a given installation actually is.
The more useful question is who carries the maintenance responsibility, and whether they’re meeting it. Hosted platforms like Squarespace and Wix keep that responsibility at the platform level — updates happen automatically, and there’s less scope for third-party code to introduce vulnerabilities. WordPress puts that responsibility with the site owner. Both models can be secure; the difference is where the work sits.
The baseline is: keep core, plugins and themes updated; use strong, unique passwords with two-factor authentication on admin accounts; choose reputable hosting; maintain regular off-site backups; and monitor for malware and uptime issues. If you’d like someone to run through those checks for you, the Security & Malware Removal service (wpcarepros.co.uk/services/security-malware-removal/) is the right starting point.
