How to get started with WordPress on Zapier

Connect to WordPress on Zapier

1. Download Zapier WordPress plugin

Before you get started creating a Zap with WordPress, you’ll need to install the Zapier WordPress plugin.

  1. First, navigate to Add New in the plugin dashboard in WordPress.
  2. Search for Zapier for WordPress.
  3. Click Install Now.
  4. Activate the plugin on the plugin dashboard.

More details are available on the plugin Installation instructions.

2. Creating a user account for Zapier (optional)

Before connecting your WordPress account, Zapier suggests creating a dedicated user for Zapier. For this user, choose Editor to grant sufficient access or choose Admin if you need Zapier to perform all actions on your website.

3. Connecting WordPress to Zapier

WordPress uses session authentication to authenticate your account on Zapier.

Required authentication fields

  • Base URL
  • Username
  • Password

About WordPress's app

Are self-hosted or cloud-hosted accounts supported? Both self- and cloud-hosted accounts  
Is a paid WordPress plan required? It depends
  • You must be on a Creator plan on Wordpress.com in order to install the Zapier plugin. However, the Zapier plugin in Wordpress.org is free to install.
Are any special account permissions required? Yes
  • You must have the Zapier plugin installed.
  • Your website must be launched
  • Zapier recommendations:
    • Create a user for Zapier in your WordPress login credentials.
    • Use SSL with your website to ensure the safety of your WordPress login credentials.
Are there usage limits? No  
Are there pagination limits? No  
Do trigger samples use real data from your account or generic data? Real trigger samples  
Are custom fields supported? No  
Do update actions overwrite or append to existing data? Overwrite existing data  
Is there any additional info? Yes

 

WordPress settings that may affect your connection to Zapier

As WordPress is highly customizable, depending on how your WordPress account is set up, this may impact how you use Zapier with WordPress.

Plugins

Certain plugins may interfere and block Zapier’s attempts to connect to WordPress, causing various errors. Here are some plugins known to potentially cause errors – however, it’s not an exhaustive list:

  • Jetpack
  • WordFence Security
  • iTheme Security
  • WP Rocket
  • JWT Authentication
  • WP-Content Copy Protection & No Right Click
  • Limit Login Attempts Reloaded
  • SiteGuard WP Plugin
  • IP Geo Block
  • WPS Hide Login
  • reCaptcha by BestWebSoft
  • ProfileBuilder

If you are getting errors and know you have plugins installed, Zapier recommends the following steps:

  1. Adjust your plugin settings. Depending on the plugin you are using, you may have settings to allow access to Zapier. This may look like adding Zapier to an allowed list. Learn more about can’t access or use Zapier with other apps.
  2. If after adjusting your plugin settings, that doesn’t resolve the issue, try disabling the plugin. If you have multiple plugins, you may need to do this one at a time to isolate which is causing this issue.

Cloudflare

If you use Cloudflare, you may need to create an allowlist rule to allow requests from Zapier. You can do this by creating a firewall rule to allow requests with a specific user-agent.

Screenshot of how to set up a firewall rule for Zapier in Cloudflare.png

Firewall or hosting provider

Firewall or hosting provider settings may block traffic from Zapier, leading to errors. To resolve this, add Zapier to your allowed list

Site SSL certificate

If your WordPress site’s SSL certificate expires, it can cause issues. To check your website, you can use this tool at https://www.sslshopper.com/ssl-checker.html.

Permalink structure

The default “plain” permalink structure (e.g. https://yourwebsite/com/p=123) in WordPress can cause authentication issues. Try switching to an alternative structure such as “post name” to resolve this issue.

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