Is WordPress Secure? A Straight Answer for Business Owners

Maybe it was a headline about a "critical" WordPress flaw. Maybe your hosting company emailed to say your site runs an unsupported version of PHP, and you had to look up what PHP is. Or maybe a friend's site got hacked last month and you've been quietly wondering whether yours is next.

There are two ways out of that worry. You can keep WordPress and keep up with it, or move to a platform where there's nothing for you to patch, which is why we built Mondovo. I'll walk you through both, starting with a straight answer.

The short answer

WordPress itself can be secure. The core software runs millions of websites, a large team looks after it, and security fixes come out quickly. It isn't immune, though. In July 2026, two flaws in WordPress itself (nicknamed "wp2shell") were being attacked within days of the fix coming out. That's why updates can't wait.

The catch is that your website isn't just WordPress. It's WordPress plus a theme, a pile of plugins, the PHP software it runs on and your hosting company's server. Your site is only as safe as the weakest of those pieces, and only as safe as its last update.

So: WordPress can be secure, but a WordPress site is only secure if somebody keeps looking after it. If you'd rather nobody had to, a Mondovo site has no core, theme, plugins or PHP to keep updated.

Where the real risks come from

It's mostly not WordPress that lets attackers in. It's everything bolted onto it. Patchstack's State of WordPress Security in 2026 counted 11,334 new security flaws in WordPress sites in 2025, 42% more than the year before. 91% were in plugins and 9% in themes. Only a handful were in WordPress itself. Nearly half (46%) had no fix available when they were made public, and the most dangerous ones were typically being attacked within about five hours.

Five hours. Most business owners don't look at their own site that often.

• Plugins and themes. This is where most of the trouble starts. A typical site uses lots of plugins, each from a different company or a lone developer. Some were abandoned years ago, and a flaw in one of those can stay open forever.
• Missed updates. Most attacks use flaws that already have a fix. The site gets hacked because nobody installed it.
• Old server software. WordPress runs on PHP, which your host provides. In October 2026, two critical PHP flaws let attackers take over servers without any password. Sites on old, unsupported PHP versions may never get a fix. (I wrote up what that PHP scare means for your site separately.)
• Weak or reused passwords. Automated tools try common passwords on WordPress login pages all day.
• Cheap or unmanaged hosting. On some low-cost shared hosting, one hacked site can affect the others on the same server.

Is your site at risk? A two-minute check

If you answer "no" or "I don't know" to any of these, your site needs some attention.

1. Do you know who is responsible for updating your website?
2. Have WordPress, your theme and your plugins been updated in the last month?
3. Do you know how many plugins your site uses, and does it still need all of them?
4. Do you have a recent backup, and do you know where it is?
5. Does every person with a login use a strong, unique password?
6. Has your hosting company confirmed your site runs on a supported version of PHP?

How to keep a WordPress site secure

If you're staying on WordPress, these habits prevent most problems:

• Update every month, and straight away for security fixes. WordPress, the theme and every plugin. Turn on automatic updates where you can.
• Remove what you don't use. Delete unused plugins and themes, don't just switch them off.
• Only install well-supported plugins. Check when a plugin was last updated and how many people use it.
• Keep automatic backups stored away from the website, so a problem with the site can't take the backups with it.
• Use strong passwords and two-step login for everyone with access, and remove old accounts.
• Use a security plugin or firewall service to block known attacks.

Or skip the job entirely. Everything on that list, apart from good passwords, is upkeep a Mondovo site doesn't need: no core, theme, plugin or PHP updates, no security plugin, no backups to store somewhere safe. If you'd like to see your own business there first, try Mondovo free: paste your current address and it builds three designs from your own pages.

What to ask your hosting company

A good host does a lot of the heavy lifting. Copy this into an email:

Which version of PHP is my site running, and is it still supported? Do you apply security updates to the server automatically? How often do you back up my site, and how do I restore it? Do you monitor for malware, and what happens if my site is hacked?

Vague answers are a reason to act.

With Mondovo there's no separate host to email. Hosting and SSL come with Pro, and the server and its security updates are ours to look after.

The real cost of WordPress is the upkeep

None of this is a reason to panic. With good care WordPress works well. But it comes with a standing job: someone has to keep it updated, backed up and watched, every month, for as long as the site exists.

For a publisher with a developer on staff, that's fine. For a bakery or a two-person accounting firm that just wants a website that brings in customers, it's a job nobody signed up for. If that's you, there are three realistic ways out:

• Pay for fully managed WordPress hosting, so the host handles updates and monitoring.
• Move to an all-in-one website builder, where the platform handles security for you.
• Choose a platform that publishes finished, "static" pages, with nothing running behind the scenes for attackers to poke at.

Why we built Mondovo this way

Mondovo is built around that third option, because a bakery shouldn't spend its weekends on plugin updates. The Patchstack numbers above are almost all about plugins and themes, and a Mondovo site has none. Every page is published as a finished file from a global network, with no WordPress-style login on your public site for bots to guess at. Hosting, SSL and platform security are handled for you, and there are no backups to manage. When the next WordPress or PHP alert hits the news, there's nothing you need to do.

No website is ever completely risk-free, but the fewer moving parts your site has, the less there is to go wrong. Mondovo is also younger than WordPress, with no plugin directory, so if you rely on a niche plugin, check that what you need is built in.

And you don't have to start over. Paste your current web address and Mondovo reads your pages, posts, images, logo and brand colours, shows you the plan, then builds three designs with your own content for you to pick from. Every old page address, including WordPress-style links, is redirected (301) to the closest new page, so links in Google keep working. Anything that didn't match exactly is flagged for you.

Forms, bookings and payments are set up fresh in Mondovo rather than copied from old plugins, and a shop's order history doesn't come across. The WordPress migration page lists what moves. Building your new site is free. Going live is $20 a month on Pro, with hosting and SSL.

See how moving to Mondovo works → or start building free.

Already dealing with a hacked site? Start here: WordPress site hacked? What to do in the next hour.

Figures and incidents checked on 22 October 2026. Security news moves fast, so check the linked sources for the latest.

Frequently asked questions

Is WordPress safe for a small business website?

It can be, as long as someone updates WordPress, the theme and every plugin promptly and keeps backups. The trouble is that on many small business sites nobody owns that job.

What makes WordPress sites get hacked most often?

Plugins and themes, by a long way. Patchstack found 91% of new WordPress flaws in 2025 were in plugins and 9% in themes. Missed updates, old PHP and weak passwords cover most of the rest.

How often should I update my WordPress site?

At least monthly, and immediately when a security fix comes out. The most dangerous flaws were typically attacked within about five hours of going public, so automatic updates are worth turning on.

Is there a website platform that doesn't need security updates?

No platform is risk-free, but some take the updates off your hands. On Mondovo there's no core, theme, plugin or PHP to update and no backups to manage, pages are static files on a global network, and platform security is our job.

Can I move off WordPress without losing my Google rankings?

Keeping old links working is the big one. When you move to Mondovo, every old page address is redirected (301) to the closest new page, and anything that didn't match exactly is flagged for you to check.