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JSON API Auth

by Ali Qureshi · Login & Users

Also makes 3 other plugins · 1.8K+ installs across the portfolio →

Extends the JSON API Plugin for RESTful user authentication

How scoring works →
87 Health · A
Maintenance 100/100
Rating quality 83/100
Support 70/100

87 health vs 59 average across 1,442 Login & Users plugins

Directory ranking optimization

How it's scored →

How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.

90 / 100

Excellent listing optimization

Biggest win: Rating quality

Update recency 100/100
WP compatibility 100/100
Rating quality 65/100
Listing tuning 92/100

To rank higher: Too few reviews to rank on quality — nudge happy users to leave one.

Get the full rank-higher report →

Daily downloads

Since 2022-10-05 · 1,425 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive

-32% vs prior 30d
11Downloads · Aug 26

30-day downloads

Rolling 30-day volume · peaks are release surges

389

now · peak 3.2K

38430d downloads · Aug 26

Directory rank vs rivals

wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you

JSON API Auth · #8168 you WP Consent API · #214 Disable REST API · #508 Make Connector · #559

Rating trend

Star average over time · dips mark rough releases

4.7Stars · Aug 26

Update activity

How busy the existing users are, measured as downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites. A spike means a new release everyone's pulling; a long, slow decline means an aging user base that updates less.

640per 1k installs · Aug 26

Release cadence

Occasionally updated
from wp.org release tags

How often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.

2

releases in the last 12 months

1mo ago

latest release · v3.1.1

31

tagged releases on record

Recent releases

3.1.1 · 1mo ago3.1.0 · 2mo ago3.0.0 · 1.1y ago2.9.1 · 2.8y ago2.9.0 · 3.5y ago2.8.0 · 4.0y ago2.7.1 · 4.6y ago2.7.0 · 5.1y ago2.6.0 · 5.5y ago2.5.0 · 5.8y ago2.4.0 · 6.7y ago2.3.0 · 7.0y ago2.2.0 · 7.0y ago2.1.0 · 7.0y ago

What its installed base runs

via wordpress.org

Share of active installs on each version of this plugin · 24% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.

v3.1 24%
v2.9 21%
v3.0 18%
v2.7 6.2%
v1.9 5.6%
v2.4 5%
Older / other versions 20%

Estimated active installs

The public count shows “600+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.

modeled estimate
600–700 ≈670

Modeled within the band wp.org reports; tightens as we track daily.

Install history · since 2016-01-07 · 1,430 observations

600Installs · Aug 26

Estimated value

What this plugin might earn a year, and what it might sell for. Modeled from public signals; we don't see anyone's books.

Est. annual revenue

N/A

Est. acquisition value

N/A

No paid tier is visible, so we don't put a figure on revenue or sale value: that would be guessing. The install base is a real asset to an acquirer, just not one public data lets us price. A small install base leaves thin data to model from. A declining trend compresses what a buyer would pay.

Details

Version
3.1.1
Last updated
1mo ago
Added
2013-12-17 · 12 yrs old
Requires WP
3.0.1
Tested up to
7.0.4
Requires PHP
7.4

Recent reviews

All reviews on wp.org ↗
  1. Sarankumar
    9.3y ago

    Working perfectly

    Read on wp.org ↗
  2. metaeditor
    9.9y ago

    Great piece of Cake, but incompatible to the Jsone APi Plugin Authentication only for “new” own Controller This topic was modified 9 years, 7 months ago by metaeditor.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  3. mainsufian
    10.5y ago

    Hi, I am using the awesome JSON API plugin. it was a nice experience. really thankyou

    Read on wp.org ↗
  4. thinkerman
    10.7y ago

    Hi, I am using the awesome JSON API plugin. I read I can’t have access to the posts postmeta unless I’m authenticated and I thought maybe your plugin is the solution to that. I have installed your plugin but not entirely sure how to use it in my application.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  5. necro_txilok
    11.7y ago

    I think this plugin is very good as complement of json-api but I miss some funtionality very important to make the plugin works well. I’ve tested this plugin with json-api but I think that modify the plugin json-api as you propose in this threat https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-you-need-to-login-with-a-user-that-has-edit_posts-capacity?replies=6 Error: You need to login with a user that has ‘edit_posts’ capacity. is not a good solution because you are asking people to modify another plugin that works well itself. I’ve made my own solution by modifing this plugin with the next lines: 1 – Add a new action after “add_filter(‘json_api_auth_controller_path’, ‘setAuthControllerPath’);” in json-api-auth.php: add_action('init', 'checkAuthCookie', 100); 2 – Add a new function at the end: function checkAuthCookie($sDefaultPath) { global $json_api; if ($json_api->query->cookie) { $user_id = wp_validate_auth_cookie($json_api->query->cookie, 'logged_in'); if ($user_id) { $user = get_userdata($user_id); wp_set_current_user($user->ID, $user->user_login); } } } This modification set current user if we pass a valid auth cookie in the request enabling features of json-api for that user. I was checking the ‘clear_auth_cookie’ method too and it doesn’t work. The call ‘wp_generate_auth_cookie’ in this method generates a new cookie but the cookies generated before with “generate_auth_cookie” still working. I’ve tried to use the WordPress method ‘wp_clear_auth_cookie’ to clear all cookies, but the generated string still working again because the method from WordPress does not validate if the cookie exists, only if the string is valid. This could be a security problem because someone can steal the cookie string and authenticate as that user using this method. However this problem must be fixed in WordPress core. I hope this could help you to improve this plugin or another developers that need this functionality working at 100%.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  6. bperney
    12.4y ago

    Hello, First, thank you for your plugin, it seems useful. However, before trying to use it, I would like to know if it could solve my problem. I am using the plugin restricted site access : https://wordpress.org/plugins/restricted-site-access/ I want to access the JSON from a phonegap app. If the user is connected, then it can access the content of my website. Is it possible to use your add-on in order to let the user connect from the mobile app, and then access to the content thanks to the cookie ? Will it go through the plugin “Restricted Site Access” ? I don’t know exactly how to use it, but if I can do it, then I will try, but first I want to know if it’s possible. Thank you, Benjamin.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  7. kisekicyd
    12.4y ago

    Thank you for this.. My only problem is that I dont know how to used it.. any tutorial you can give me?.. I mean step by step tutorial.. BTW thanks for this, because im building a native app that will use wordpress website as a content management only and the app will just pull the data on it…

    Read on wp.org ↗
  8. SOGO
    12.5y ago

    thanks for sharing

    Read on wp.org ↗

Behavioral tests

via WP Hive

Automated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 7.0

Low memory footprint
Low page-speed impact
Runs on latest PHP + WP
No PHP errors
No JS errors
Activates cleanly
No resource errors
No external HTTP errors
Optimized database use
Frequently updated

Growth timeline

Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow

  1. 2026-08-22 700+ → 600+ down after 2 days in tier
  2. 2026-08-20 600+ → 700+ up after 2 days in tier
  3. 2026-08-18 700+ → 600+ down after 129 days in tier
  4. 2026-04-11 800+ → 700+ down after 4 days in tier
  5. 2026-04-07 700+ → 800+ up after 1 days in tier
  6. 2026-04-06 800+ → 700+ down after 134 days in tier
  7. 2025-11-23 900+ → 800+ down after 202 days in tier
  8. 2025-05-05 1K+ → 900+ down after 1 days in tier

Competes with

The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).

Compare head to head →

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JSON API Auth: 600+ active installs, 4.7★ (11 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-08-29. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/json-api-auth