Title: Plugin vs the WordPress REST API
Last modified: August 22, 2016

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# Plugin vs the WordPress REST API

 *  [sean2078](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sean2078/)
 * (@sean2078)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-vs-the-wordpress-rest-api/)
 * Hello,
 * Could someone please describe for me the main differences between this plugin
   and the REST API seemingly provided by WordPress at [https://developer.wordpress.com/docs/api/](https://developer.wordpress.com/docs/api/)?
 * Perhaps the WordPress REST API is new, while WP-API has been supported for a 
   longer period? Any high-level pros / cons would be appreciated.
 * Thank you
 * [https://wordpress.org/plugins/json-rest-api/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/json-rest-api/)

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

 *  [TC McCarthy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tcmccarthy1/)
 * (@tcmccarthy1)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-vs-the-wordpress-rest-api/#post-5573476)
 * Looks to me like the API you found at developer.wordpress.com is for wordpress.
   com sites only. This plugin gets installed into a self-hosted wordpress instance(
   wordpress.org).
 *  [jezza101](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jezza101/)
 * (@jezza101)
 * [11 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-vs-the-wordpress-rest-api/#post-5573487)
 * You can make use of the WordPress.com API via the JetPack plugin.
 * As to what the difference between the two is, I don’t know. The two implementations
   of what seems largely the same concept seems to be confusing a lot of people.
 * I guess this plugin is good for those that don’t want to use JetPack. And Im 
   sure there are pros and cons to both.
 * This plugin was supposed to be added to the core which would be useful as you
   can know your app / theme etc will work with any (up to date) WP install and 
   not just JetPack enabled ones.
 * But the JSON Rest API development seems to have gone very quiet or perhaps Im
   looking in the wrong place? 🙂
 * If someone who has a good idea of the overall architecture could reply that would
   be great. I’ve seen this question asked many times but only ever replied by people
   having a guess!
 *  [mistermchem](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mistermchem/)
 * (@mistermchem)
 * [11 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-vs-the-wordpress-rest-api/#post-5573493)
 * The difference is that the WordPress Rest API has to make three API calls: one
   from your app to the Rest API, then another to your website, and then a response
   to your app. The plugin runs directly on your database, meaning you only have
   to call to your database and then get a response. The result is improved performance
   by using the plugin. It’s not drastic, but for large amounts of data it’s noticeable.
 *  [dleeward](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dleeward/)
 * (@dleeward)
 * [11 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-vs-the-wordpress-rest-api/#post-5573497)
 * This plugin is actively being updated at [https://github.com/WP-API/WP-API](https://github.com/WP-API/WP-API)
   in anticipation of going into core. Unfortunately the docs for this plugin have
   some errors in them and the contributors are putting their efforts to the new
   version and don’t seem to be monitoring this support forum.
 *  [jezza101](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jezza101/)
 * (@jezza101)
 * [11 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-vs-the-wordpress-rest-api/#post-5573501)
 * There was a lot of talk about this plugin going into core a couple of versions
   ago, but now it’s all gone quiet :(. I think I’d rather use this than the Jetpack
   API (I don’t want my app to be dependent on a non core plugin).

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

The topic ‘Plugin vs the WordPress REST API’ is closed to new replies.

 * ![](https://s.w.org/plugins/geopattern-icon/json-rest-api_2e3641.svg)
 * [WP REST API (WP API)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/json-rest-api/)
 * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/json-rest-api/#faq)
 * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/json-rest-api/)
 * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/json-rest-api/active/)
 * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/json-rest-api/unresolved/)
 * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/json-rest-api/reviews/)

 * 5 replies
 * 5 participants
 * Last reply from: [jezza101](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jezza101/)
 * Last activity: [11 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-vs-the-wordpress-rest-api/#post-5573501)
 * Status: not resolved