The 2026 Security Benchmarks
Performance testing is the only way to prove a security plugin doesn't break your site. We rigorously tested the top WordPress firewalls on identical servers. Here is the raw data.
Time to First Byte (TTFB)
TTFB measures how long the server takes to respond to a visitor's initial request. Because Nexura uses a Pre-Boot WAF (`auto_prepend_file`), it inspects traffic before WordPress even loads. Application-layer firewalls like Wordfence require the entire WP Core to initialize before they can run, severely slowing down response times.
Average TTFB (ms)
Database Queries Per Request
Security plugins often bloat your database by logging every blocked request to the `wp_` tables. During a DDoS attack, this constant writing crashes the MySQL server. Nexura avoids this entirely by logging to memory and flat files.
DB Queries (Per attack request)
Malware Scan Duration (50,000 files)
Traditional regex-based scanners read file contents sequentially and match against massive lists of text signatures. Nexura's AST (Abstract Syntax Tree) engine builds a logical map of the code, drastically reducing the search space and time required.
Nexura (AST Scanner)
Avg CPU Load: 15%
Wordfence (Regex Scanner)
Avg CPU Load: 85%