WebSentry for WordPress
Your site’s security grade, in the WordPress dashboard you already open. A free WebSentry account is enough.
What it adds to your admin
A grade on your dashboard
An A–F grade for the site the plugin is installed on, with the checks that got worse or were fixed since the previous scan, and a link to the full report.
It tells you when it is stale
Without a monitor keeping it current, a grade is only as new as your last check. The widget says so once it passes a week, instead of showing an old grade as if it were today’s.
A notice when the grade drops
Administrators see a dismissible notice when the grade falls, and it comes back for a later drop rather than staying hidden once dismissed.
A badge in the admin bar
The current grade, colour-coded, on every admin page. Administrators only, and nothing is added to your public pages.
What the free account covers
The plugin itself holds nothing back. The difference is whether WebSentry is watching the site for you or waiting for you to ask: free checks when you press the button, Pro scans on its own schedule and emails you when something slips.
| Free | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Security grade in your dashboard | Yes | Yes |
| How it moved since the last check | Yes | Yes |
| When the grade is checked | When you press Check | On a schedule, by itself |
| Checks per month | 20 | Unmetered |
| Told when the grade drops | Next time you look | Emailed when it happens |
| Which checks changed | How many | Exactly which ones |
| Sites | 1 key, shared allowance | Up to your plan’s monitors |
Checks are counted against your WebSentry account, not per site, so the widget shows how many you have left before you spend one. See full pricing.
Setting it up
- 1
Install the plugin
In your WordPress admin go to Plugins → Add New and search for WebSentry, or get it from the WordPress plugin directory.
- 2
Create a free WebSentry account
It includes a WordPress plugin key and 20 checks a month, which is all the plugin needs.
- 3
Make a WordPress plugin key
In your dashboard under API Keys, create a key of type WordPress plugin. It can read a site’s grade and start a check, and nothing else, so a key sitting in your WordPress database cannot reach the rest of your account.
- 4
Paste it into Settings → WebSentry
Press Test Connection, then open your dashboard and press Check this site now. Your grade appears in the WebSentry Security widget.
WebSentry scans from the internet, so a site on localhost or a private network cannot be checked. Install the plugin on the live site, or point it elsewhere with the websentry_site_url filter.
What the plugin sends
What: your WebSentry API key and your site’s address. Nothing else, and nothing before you enter a key.
When: to fetch the grade when an administrator opens the dashboard and the stored result is over an hour old, and when someone presses Test Connection, Refresh or Check now.
Where: the WebSentry API at websentry.dev. Nothing is sent from your public pages, and the plugin runs only in the admin.
Start with a grade
Scan the site first if you would rather see what WebSentry reports before installing anything.