Title: WebSentry Security Monitor Author: Websentry Security Published: October 16, 2026 Last modified: October 18, 2026 --- Search plugins ![](https://ps.w.org/websentry-security-monitor/assets/banner-772x250.png?rev=3749505) ![](https://ps.w.org/websentry-security-monitor/assets/icon.svg?rev=3749505) # WebSentry Security Monitor By [Websentry Security](https://profiles.wordpress.org/websentrysecurity/) [Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/websentry-security-monitor.1.3.2.zip) * [Details](https://wordpress.org/plugins/websentry-security-monitor/#description) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/plugins/websentry-security-monitor/#reviews) * [Installation](https://wordpress.org/plugins/websentry-security-monitor/#installation) * [Development](https://wordpress.org/plugins/websentry-security-monitor/#developers) [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/websentry-security-monitor/) ## Description [WebSentry](https://websentry.dev) is a website security scanning service. It checks a site’s SSL certificate, security headers, cookies, DNS and other settings, and grades it from A to F. This plugin shows that grade, when the site was last checked, and a link to the full report, inside your WordPress admin. **A free WebSentry account is enough.** It includes a WordPress plugin key and 20 checks a month, which is all this plugin needs. You press “Check now” in the dashboard widget and the grade updates. Nothing is checked unless you ask, so an unused install costs nothing. A paid plan adds scheduled monitoring: the site is scanned on its own schedule whether or not you are looking, you get an email when the grade drops, and the widget names the checks that moved rather than counting them. See [WebSentry pricing](https://websentry.dev/pricing). **What it shows:** * The site it is installed on: no address to type * A dashboard widget with your security grade (A to F), and whether it went up or down since the previous check * How many checks got worse or were fixed since the previous scan. On a paid plan, which ones * When the site was last checked, and a note when that grade has gone stale * A link to your full WebSentry report * A colour-coded grade in the admin bar, for administrators * A notice when your grade drops, which each administrator can dismiss. A later drop shows it again * “Check now” in the widget, which runs a fresh check and spends one of your monthly checks * On a plan with monitors, one button adds the site to your account and scans it on a schedule Nothing is added to your public pages, and nothing runs outside the admin. ### External services This plugin connects to the WebSentry API to fetch your site’s security grade and to check the site when you ask. It is needed for everything the plugin shows. * **What is sent:** your WebSentry API key and your site’s address. * **When:** to fetch the grade, when an administrator opens the dashboard and the stored result is more than an hour old, and when someone presses Test Connection or Refresh. To check the site, only when an administrator presses Check now. To add the site to your account, only when an administrator presses Start monitoring this site. Nothing is sent before an API key is entered, and nothing is sent from public pages. * **Where:** https://websentry.dev/api/plugin/status to fetch the grade, https:// websentry.dev/api/scan to check the site, and https://websentry.dev/api/monitors to add the site as a monitor. WebSentry [terms of service](https://websentry.dev/terms) and [privacy policy](https://websentry.dev/privacy). ## Screenshots [⌊Your site's security grade on the WordPress dashboard, with a link to the full report and a button to check it again.⌉⌊Your site's security grade on the WordPress dashboard, with a link to the full report and a button to check it again.⌉[ Your site’s security grade on the WordPress dashboard, with a link to the full report and a button to check it again. [⌊Settings: paste a WordPress plugin key, and the plugin reads the grade for the site it is installed on.⌉⌊Settings: paste a WordPress plugin key, and the plugin reads the grade for the site it is installed on.⌉[ Settings: paste a WordPress plugin key, and the plugin reads the grade for the site it is installed on. [⌊The current grade in the admin bar, on every admin page, for administrators only.⌉⌊ The current grade in the admin bar, on every admin page, for administrators only .⌉[ The current grade in the admin bar, on every admin page, for administrators only. ## Installation 1. Create a free account at [websentry.dev](https://websentry.dev/register) if you do not have one. 2. Install and activate the plugin. 3. Go to **Settings, WebSentry**. 4. In your WebSentry dashboard, under API Keys, create a key of type **WordPress plugin**. Paste it into the plugin’s settings and save. 5. Press **Test Connection**. 6. Open your dashboard and press **Check this site now** in the WebSentry Security widget. On a plan with monitors, press **Start monitoring this site** instead and it is scanned on a schedule from then on. ## FAQ ### Do I need a paid WebSentry plan? No. A free account includes a WordPress plugin key and 20 checks a month, which is enough to see your grade and recheck it after a fix. A paid plan adds scheduled monitoring, so the grade stays current without you asking, an email when it drops, and the names of the checks that changed rather than a count. ### How often is the grade updated? On a free account, when you ask. Press **Check now** in the widget and it runs a fresh check. The widget tells you when the grade is more than seven days old. On a plan with monitors, the site is scanned on the monitor’s schedule and the widget shows the latest result. The plugin keeps that result for an hour before fetching it again. ### Does it scan my site in the background? No. On a free account nothing is checked unless an administrator presses the button, so an install nobody looks at never scans and never spends your allowance. Scheduled scanning is what a monitor adds, and monitors run on WebSentry’s servers rather than through this plugin. ### Can I use it on several sites? Yes. Install the plugin on each site with the same API key. On a free account every site shares the same monthly allowance of checks. On a plan with monitors, press Start monitoring this site on each one and each uses one of your plan’s monitors. ### Which kind of API key do I need? A **WordPress plugin** key. 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 WebSentry account. A free account includes one, separately from the CI key, so installing this plugin does not cost you a key you were using elsewhere. A full-access key also works, but there is no reason to put one on a WordPress site. ### What does a check cost me? One scan from your account’s monthly allowance, which the widget shows next to the button. Free accounts get 20 a month; paid plans are unmetered. ### Which address is monitored? The WordPress site’s own address, from Settings, General. A site on your own computer or a private network, such as localhost, cannot be monitored, because WebSentry scans from the internet. For an unusual setup, such as a staging copy that should show the live site’s grade, a developer can set the address with the `websentry_site_url` filter. ### Does it slow down my site? No. The plugin only runs in the WordPress admin. It loads nothing on public pages. ## Reviews There are no reviews for this plugin. ## Contributors & Developers “WebSentry Security Monitor” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin. Contributors * [ Websentry Security ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/websentrysecurity/) * [ Abimbola Omoyola ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/abimbolaomoyola/) [Translate “WebSentry Security Monitor” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/websentry-security-monitor) ### Interested in development? [Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/websentry-security-monitor/), check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/websentry-security-monitor/), or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/websentry-security-monitor/) by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/websentry-security-monitor/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss). ## Changelog #### 1.3.2 * The widget says when a grade came from a partial scan. If bot protection blocks our checks, the grade only covers what we could reach, so the widget now names the firewall and links to the fix instead of showing the letter on its own. * Fixed: a partial grade no longer counts as a change. A blocked scan is measured on fewer checks, so it scores higher than a complete one — it was becoming the baseline, which made the next full scan look like a drop and showed a decline notice for something that never happened. Partial grades are no longer compared or remembered, and no trend arrow is drawn against one. #### 1.3.1 * Fixed: a plan that includes monitoring can now start it from the plugin. The button sat in the branch shown before a site’s first scan, so anyone who had already fetched a grade, which is everyone who has used the plugin, could never reach it after upgrading. It now appears beside the grade and on the settings page whenever the plan allows monitors and this site has none. #### 1.3.0 * Works with a free WebSentry account. A free key and the account’s monthly allowance of checks are enough to see a grade, so a paid plan is no longer required. * Check now, in the dashboard widget: runs a fresh check and spends one of your monthly checks. The widget shows how many are left. * The widget says when a grade has gone more than seven days stale, for a site with no monitor keeping it current. * How many checks got worse or were fixed since the previous scan. On a paid plan, which ones. * A site with no monitor says so, instead of reporting a schedule it does not have. * Nothing is scanned in the background: an install nobody opens never spends your allowance. * Folder and main file renamed to match the directory slug, and a translation template added. #### 1.2.0 * The plugin monitors the site it is installed on. The Site URL setting is gone; developers can still set an address with the `websentry_site_url` filter. * Start monitoring this site: adds the site to your WebSentry account and runs the first scan, from the dashboard widget or the settings page. * The grade-drop notice shows only when the grade drops, not when it improves, and shows again for a later drop after an earlier one was dismissed. It disappears when the grade recovers. * The refresh button now shows the new result after refreshing. * Removed the hourly scheduled task, which only cleared the stored result. The result now refreshes when it is more than an hour old. * The admin script is a separate file, and all text can be translated. * The text domain is now websentry-security-monitor. #### 1.1.0 * Added admin bar badge showing security grade on every admin page. * Added per-user dismissible admin notice on grade drop. * Added AJAX refresh button in the dashboard widget. * Added uninstall.php: all plugin data removed cleanly on delete. #### 1.0.0 * Initial release. ## Meta * Version **1.3.2** * Last updated **2 days ago** * Active installations **Fewer than 10** * WordPress version ** 6.0 or higher ** * Tested up to **7.1.3** * PHP version ** 7.4 or higher ** * Tags * [dashboard](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/dashboard/)[monitoring](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/monitoring/) [security](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/security/)[Security Headers](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/security-headers/) [ssl](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/ssl/) * [Advanced View](https://wordpress.org/plugins/websentry-security-monitor/advanced/) ## Ratings No reviews have been submitted yet. [Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/websentry-security-monitor/reviews/#new-post) [See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/websentry-security-monitor/reviews/) ## Contributors * [ Websentry Security ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/websentrysecurity/) * [ Abimbola Omoyola ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/abimbolaomoyola/) ## Support Got something to say? Need help? [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/websentry-security-monitor/)