How Much Does WordPress Malware Removal Cost in 2026?
Quick answer
WordPress malware removal costs $97 to $397 one-time at Blogrator: $97 for an emergency cleanup of one site, usually within 48 hours, with a backdoor hunt, database cleanup, reversible quarantine and a written report; $197 adds hardening, updates, salt regeneration, Google "site may be hacked" and blacklist removal requests, and a report on how it got in; $397 cleans up to 5 sites on one hosting account together with cross-site infection mapping and a 14-day re-check. Every tier includes a free re-clean within 30 days. Nothing is deleted. Security companies commonly charge several hundred per site, or an annual subscription, for the same job.
Malware removal prices at a glance
| Tier | Price | Sites | Includes | Turnaround |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emergency Cleanup | $97 | 1 | Full malware and payload removal, backdoor hunt (.htaccess, .user.ini, mu-plugins, drop-ins), database injection cleanup, reversible quarantine, external verification and written report | Usually 48 hours |
| Cleanup and Hardening | $197 | 1 | Everything above plus salt regeneration (kills forged sessions), Google review and blacklist removal requests, exposed backup sweep, hardening and updates to current, vulnerability report on how it got in | Usually 48 hours |
| Multi-Site / Shared Account | $397 | Up to 5 | Everything above across all sites, simultaneous account-wide cleanup, cross-site infection mapping, shared-user isolation review, host abuse-team documentation, 14-day re-check | 3 to 5 days |
All tiers: nothing deleted, free re-clean within 30 days, and the site is tested before and after and restored automatically if anything breaks.
What each price actually buys
$97: clean, and prove it
The payload and every backdoor we can find are moved to a timestamped quarantine with a manifest, database injections are removed, the site is checked from outside with independent scanners, and you get a written report of what was found and where. This is the tier when you need the site working today.
$197: clean, then close the door
Adds the work that stops the next infection: regenerated WordPress salts so any stolen sessions die, hardening and updating everything to current, a sweep for exposed backup archives that leak credentials, and a report on the vulnerability that let them in. We also file the Google Search Console and Safe Browsing reviews so the "this site may be hacked" warning goes.
$397: the whole hosting account
On shared hosting one infected site reinfects its neighbours. This tier cleans up to five sites at once, maps which infected which, reviews user isolation between them, documents everything for the host’s abuse team, and re-checks the account after 14 days.
Why cheap cleanups come back
A scanner removes what it recognises. It does not read the one-line prepend in .user.ini that reloads the malware on every request, the must-use plugin that WordPress never lists in the plugins screen, the database option holding encoded code, or the backdoor whose timestamp was forged to look three years old. Those are the persistence layer, and they are why a site cleaned twice by a plugin is infected a third time. Our four-file backdoor case study shows what that looks like in practice.
What it costs to stay clean
- Updates, backups and scanning every month: the website care plan at $50 a month covers core, plugin and theme updates, daily backups, hardening, malware scanning and uptime monitoring, plus unlimited small edits.
- Or do it yourself: update weekly, remove unused plugins and themes, use unique passwords and two-factor login, keep a backup somewhere other than the hosting account, and run a reputable security plugin.
What makes a cleanup cost more
- Number of sites. Each site is cleaned and verified separately; the account-wide tier is priced for five.
- Blacklists and Google warnings. The review submissions and follow-up are the $197 tier.
- How long it has been infected. Older infections spread further and hide deeper.
- Hardening. Closing the hole is more work than removing the payload, and it is what keeps the price a one-time one.
Plugin scan vs host cleanup vs specialist
| Security plugin | Hosting company cleanup | Blogrator cleanup | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free to a yearly subscription | Often an add-on fee or a required upgrade | $97 to $397 one-time |
| Finds persistence | Rarely | Sometimes | Yes: prepends, mu-plugins, drop-ins, forged timestamps |
| Database cleanup | Limited | Varies | Yes |
| Deletes files | Often | Often | Never; reversible quarantine |
| Google warning removal | No | Rarely | Yes, from $197 |
| Report on how it got in | No | Rarely | Yes, from $197 |
| Re-clean guarantee | No | Varies | 30 days, free |
Pricing red flags
- "We deleted the infected files." Without a quarantine, a mistaken deletion is a broken site with no way back.
- No report. If you do not know how they got in, they will get in again.
- A yearly subscription to fix a one-time problem. Pay once to clean; pay monthly only for maintenance you want.
- No external verification. "It looks clean in the dashboard" is not evidence.
Clean, hardened and verified, from $97
Usually within 48 hours. Nothing deleted, written report, free re-clean within 30 days. Pay by card and send access.
Emergency Cleanup — $97 Cleanup + Hardening — $197 Multi-Site — $397
Read the malware removal service page, the case study, or book a free call.
Frequently asked questions
At Blogrator, $97 for an emergency cleanup of one WordPress site, usually within 48 hours; $197 for cleanup plus hardening, salt regeneration, Google "site may be hacked" and blacklist removal requests, and a report on how it got in; $397 for up to 5 sites on one hosting account cleaned together with cross-site infection mapping and a 14-day re-check. Every tier includes a free re-clean within 30 days.
Because something survived and rebuilt it. That is the most common pattern and it is almost never a fresh break-in: a prepend directive in .htaccess or .user.ini, a must-use plugin, a database drop-in, or a backdoor with a forged timestamp. Scanners look for known payloads; we hunt the persistence layer specifically, which is why the re-clean is free.
No. Everything removed goes into a timestamped quarantine with a manifest, so any step is exactly reversible. The site is tested before and after and restored automatically if anything breaks.
Yes, from the $197 tier. Once the site is verifiably clean we submit the Search Console and Safe Browsing review requests; Google usually clears it in one to three days.
It helps with prevention and it catches known payloads. It does not reliably find the persistence that reinfects sites, and it cannot clean a database injection or a hosting-account-wide infection. Use one after the cleanup as part of hardening, not instead of it.
Hardening and updates, which the $197 tier includes, then keeping them current. Our website care plan at $50 a month does the updates, daily backups, security hardening and malware scanning every month.
Book a free call and we will quote it. Our largest engagement of this kind covered 67 WordPress sites on a single hosting account.