by Sean Fisher 5 (2 reviews)

REST API Guard

Name: REST API Guard
Rating: 5.0 (2 reviews)
Author: Sean Fisher

Restrict and control anonymous access to the WordPress REST API, with optional JSON Web Token (JWT) authentication.

REST API Guard ranks #12,512 among WordPress.org plugins with 200+ active installations, is #293 of 1,659 in the Authentication category, a 5/5 rating from 2 reviews, and was last updated Oct 13, 2026. Data from WordPress.org, refreshed twice daily — see methodology.

Compatible with WP 7.1.4

v1.5.0 Current Version v1.5.0

Updated 3 weeks ago Last Update on 13 Oct, 2026

Refreshed 1 week ago Last Refreshed on

#293 of 1,659 in Authentication Top 25% by installs Downloads -23.7% this week Actively maintained

View on WordPress.org

Rank

#12,512

— No change

Active Installs

200+

+6.4%

KW Avg Position

69.3

34.3 worse

Downloads

4.8K

+7 today

Support Resolved

— No change

Rating

100%

Review 5 out of 5

5 (2 reviews)

Next Milestone 300

Total Progress 30%

200+ 300+

1,526

Ranks to Climb

Growth Needed

8,000,000

Active Installs

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Rank Changes

Current #12,512

Change

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Active Installs Growth

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Active Installs 0,000,000+

Growth +0.0%

Peak 0,000,000

Downloads Growth

Downloads

Growth

Peak

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Reviews & Ratings

5.0

2 reviews

Overall 100%

2 (100%)

0 (0%)

Security History

Source: WPVulnerability

No known vulnerabilities on record for REST API Guard. Checked 3 months ago.

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Plugin Details

Version: 1.5.0
Last Updated: Oct 13, 2026
Requires WP: 6.5+
Tested Up To: 7.1.4
PHP Version: 8.3 or higher
Author: Sean Fisher

Support & Rating

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5
Reviews: 2
Support Threads: 0
Resolved: 0%

Keywords

authentication jwt privacy rest-api security

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TL;DR

AI summary of the plugin's readme

This plugin is for WordPress site administrators who want to control access to their site's REST API. It solves the problem of the REST API being open to anonymous users by default, letting them restrict, allowlist, denylist, or require authentication (including JWT) for API requests.

Disable anonymous REST API access
Restrict access by namespace or path
Block anonymous user info access
Restrict index and namespace browsing
Allowlist specific namespaces/routes
Denylist specific namespaces/routes
JWT authentication support
CLI command to generate JWTs

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about REST API Guard

No. The restrictions only apply to anonymous requests. Logged-in users have the same REST API access WordPress normally gives them.

The block editor makes REST API requests as the logged-in user, so it isn't affected by the anonymous access rules.

Yes. Configure the plugin in code and disable the settings page: add_filter( 'rest_api_guard_disable_admin_settings', '__return_true' );

Not by default, since browsers send them as CORS preflight requests without credentials. To check them too: add_filter( 'rest_api_guard_check_options_requests', '__return_true' );