Jeff Starr

This plugin does one thing: disables the WP REST API for visitors who are not logged into WordPress. No configuration required.
This plugin works with only 22 short lines of code (less than 2KB). So it is super lightweight, fast, and effective.
Note: This plugin completely disables the WordPress REST API. So it is not recommended if you need the WP REST API for any functionality.
<h3>Features</h3>
<ul>
<li>Disable REST/JSON for visitors (not logged in)</li>
<li>Disables REST header in HTTP response for all users</li>
<li>Disables REST links in HTML head for all users</li>
<li>100% plug-and-play, set-it-and-forget solution</li>
</ul>
The fast, simple way to prevent abuse of your site’s REST/JSON API
How does it work? That depends on which version of WordPress you are using..
WordPress v4.7 and beyond
For WordPress 4.7 and better, this plugin completely disables the WP REST API unless the user is logged into WordPress.
<ul>
<li>For logged-in users, WP REST API works normally</li>
<li>For logged-out users, WP REST API is disabled</li>
</ul>
What happens if logged-out visitor makes a JSON/REST request? They will get only a simple message:
“rest_login_required: REST API restricted to authenticated users.”
This message may customized via the filter hook, <code>disable_wp_rest_api_error</code>. Check out <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/topic/not-entirely-for-non-techies/#post-12014965" rel="ugc">this post</a> for an example of how to do it.
Older versions of WordPress
For WordPress versions less than 4.7, this plugin simply disables all REST API functionality for all users.
More information available below in the FAQs section.
<h3>Privacy</h3>
This plugin does not collect or store any user data. It does not set any cookies, and it does not connect to any third-party locations. Thus, this plugin does not affect user privacy in any way. If anything it improves user privacy, as it protects potentially sensitive information from being displayed/accessed via REST API.
Disable WP REST API is developed and maintained by <a href="https://x.com/perishable" rel="nofollow ugc">Jeff Starr</a>, 15-year <a href="https://plugin-planet.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">WordPress developer</a> and <a href="https://books.perishablepress.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">book author</a>.
<h3>Support development of this plugin</h3>
I develop and maintain this free plugin with love for the WordPress community. To show support, you can <a href="https://monzillamedia.com/donate.html" rel="nofollow ugc">make a donation</a> or purchase one of my books:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://wp-tao.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">The Tao of WordPress</a></li>
<li><a href="https://digwp.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">Digging into WordPress</a></li>
<li><a href="https://htaccessbook.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">.htaccess made easy</a></li>
<li><a href="https://wp-tao.com/wordpress-themes-book/" rel="nofollow ugc">WordPress Themes In Depth</a></li>
<li><a href="https://books.perishablepress.com/downloads/wizards-collection-sql-recipes-wordpress/" rel="nofollow ugc">Wizard’s SQL Recipes for WordPress</a></li>
</ul>
And/or purchase one of my premium WordPress plugins:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/bbq-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">BBQ Pro</a> – Blazing fast WordPress firewall</li>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/blackhole-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">Blackhole Pro</a> – Automatically block bad bots</li>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/banhammer-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">Banhammer Pro</a> – Monitor traffic and ban the bad guys</li>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/ga-google-analytics-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">GA Google Analytics Pro</a> – Connect WordPress to Google Analytics</li>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/head-meta-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">Head Meta Pro</a> – Ultimate Meta Tags for WordPress</li>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/simple-ajax-chat-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">Simple Ajax Chat Pro</a> – Unlimited chat rooms</li>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/usp-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">USP Pro</a> – Unlimited front-end forms</li>
</ul>
Links, tweets and likes also appreciated. Thank you! 🙂

Disable WP REST API

while the plugin si deadsimple and very low resource impact, keep in mind that there are plugins that need the rest to work with no auth (ex. contact form 7).

dead simple and efficient, but be aware

Disables the WP REST API for visitors not logged into WordPress.

Daniel Bachhuber

Ryan McCue

Jonny Harris

Joe Hoyle

Rachel Baker

This plugin uses the OAuth 1.0a protocol to allow delegated authorization; that is, to allow applications to access a site using a set of secondary credentials. This allows server administrators to control which applications can access the site, as well as allowing users to control which applications have access to their data.
This plugin only supports WordPress >= 4.4.
The latest stable version is also available from the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/rest-api-oauth1/" rel="ugc">WordPress Plugin Directory</a>.
<h3>New to OAuth</h3>
We strongly recommend you use an existing OAuth library. You’ll be best off if you understand the authorization process, but leave the actual implementation to well-tested libraries, as there are a lot of edge cases.
Start reading from <a href="docs/introduction/README.md" rel="nofollow ugc">the Introduction</a> to get started!
<h3>For OAuth Veterans</h3>
If you already know how to use OAuth, here’s the lowdown:
<ul>
<li>The plugin uses OAuth 1.0a in</li>
<li>We use the three-legged flow</li>
<li>To find the REST API index, apply the <a href="http://v2.wp-api.org/guide/discovery/" rel="nofollow ugc">API autodiscovery process</a></li>
<li>The endpoints for the OAuth process are available in the REST API index: check for <code>$.authentication.oauth1</code> in the index data.
<ul>
<li>The temporary credentials (request token) endpoint is <code>$.authentication.oauth1.request</code> (typically <code>/oauth1/request</code>)</li>
<li>The authorization endpoint is <code>$.authentication.oauth1.authorize</code> (typically <code>/oauth1/authorize</code>)</li>
<li>The token exchange (access token) endpoint is <code>$.authentication.oauth1.access</code> (typically <code>/oauth1/access</code>)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Your callback URL must match the registered callback URL for the application in the scheme, authority (user/password) host, port, and path sections. (Subpaths are not allowed.)</li>
<li>The only signature method supported is HMAC-SHA1.</li>
<li>OAuth parameters are supported in the Authorization header, query (GET) parameters, or request body (POST) parameters (if encoded as <code>application/x-www-form-urlencoded</code>). OAuth parameters are not supported in JSON data.</li>
</ul>

WP REST API – OAuth 1.0a Server

Hello, I have made an adapter for Parse Server under Node.js with which you can link the login of any installation of wordpress in Parse Server, for that I have used your plugin, which is the one that gives us access_token and allows us to verify the authenticity Of the user registered in the server.

https://github.com/enriquecerda/parse-server-wordpress-login

Links with Parse-server Node.js

Got this working after some good amount of work! Thanks for bringing this and making API calls secure.

Worked like a charm!

Really Useful And Good Plugin
But Please
1- Reply on The Support Forum
2- Update it To Work Good With Last WordPress Verison
3 – No Clear Docs
4 - not work with localhost

Good But

Connect applications to your WordPress site without ever giving away your password.

Disable WP REST API vs WP REST API – OAuth 1.0a Server