Skip to main content

How to Connect Your WordPress Site to Opinly

This guide walks you through connecting Opinly to your WordPress site step by step. It takes around 5 minutes. You don't need to be technical to do this — just follow each step exactly as described.

Written by David McGuckin
Updated today

Step 1 — Enter Your Site URL

In Opinly, type in the address of your website — for example https://yoursite.com. This is the same address you'd type into a browser to visit your site.

Click Continue.


Step 2 — Create a New WordPress User

Opinly needs its own WordPress user account to publish posts on your behalf. This keeps your main admin account secure — and if you ever want to disconnect Opinly, you can simply delete this user.

Click the orange "Open WordPress Admin" button. This will open your WordPress admin panel in a new tab, directly on the Add New User page.

You'll see a form that looks like this:

Fill it in as follows:

  • Username — type anything you like, for example opinly-publisher. Make a note of it — you'll need it in a moment.

  • Email — use any email address. It doesn't have to be real or connected to anything.

  • Password — WordPress will generate one for you automatically. You don't need to remember it or write it down.

  • Role — this is the important one. Click the Role dropdown and select Editor. Do not leave it as Subscriber or choose Author — Editor is required for Opinly to be able to publish posts.

Once you've filled everything in, click Add New User at the bottom of the page.

Then come back to Opinly and type the username you chose (e.g. opinly-publisher) into the Username field, and click Continue.


Step 3 — Create an Application Password

This is the step that confuses most people, so read this carefully before you start.

What is an Application Password?

An Application Password is not your WordPress login password. It's a completely separate password that WordPress generates specifically to let outside tools — like Opinly — connect to your site. Think of it like a spare key cut specifically for Opinly. It can be deleted at any time without affecting your regular login.

WordPress generates this password for you. You don't choose it, create it, or need to remember it. You just copy it and paste it into Opinly.


Go back to your WordPress admin panel and navigate to the Users list. You can use the direct link Opinly shows you, or in WordPress go to Users → All Users in the left menu.

You'll see a list of users. Find the one you just created — it'll be listed by the username you chose — and click on their name.

This opens their profile page. Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page until you see a section called Application Passwords.


You'll see a text box labelled something like "New Application Password Name". Click into that box and type any name you like — for example Opinly. This name is just a label so you can recognise it later. It is not the password. WordPress will generate the password when you click the button.

Click Add New Application Password.

WordPress will show you a long password that looks something like this:

AbCd EfGh IjKl MnOp QrSt UvWx

Copy this password immediately. WordPress will only show it once. If you close the page without copying it, you'll need to delete it and generate a new one.


Now come back to Opinly and fill in the three fields:

  • WordPress Username — the username you created in Step 2 (e.g. opinly-publisher)

  • Application Password — paste the password WordPress just generated. Spaces are fine to leave in.

  • WordPress Site URL — your website address (already pre-filled from Step 1)

Click Complete Integration.


If the Connection Fails

If Opinly can't connect, it's always one of two things:

1. The credentials were entered incorrectly. The most common mistake is pasting your regular WordPress login password instead of the Application Password. The application password looks like AbCd EfGh IjKl MnOp QkSt UvWx — 24 characters in six groups of four. If what you pasted doesn't look like that, go back and generate a new one from the Application Passwords section.

2. A security plugin is blocking Opinly Many WordPress sites have a security plugin installed that can block outside tools from connecting. If your credentials are definitely correct but the connection still fails, your security plugin may be the cause.

The most common plugins that do this are:

  • Wordfence — go to Wordfence → Firewall → Allowlisted IPs, and add Opinly's IP addresses

  • Solid Security (formerly iThemes Security) — go to Security → Settings → Network Brute Force, and check that REST API access is not being blocked

  • All In One WP Security & Firewall — go to WP Security → Firewall and check REST API settings

  • Sucuri Security — go to Sucuri → Firewall → Access Control and whitelist Opinly's IPs

  • WP Cerber — go to WP Cerber → Access Lists and add Opinly's IPs to the White IP Access List

  • Shield Security — go to Shield → Firewall and check REST API restrictions

Opinly's IP addresses are shown on the connection screen — click the Copy button next to each one, and add them to your security plugin's whitelist or allowlist. If you're not sure how to do this in your specific plugin, search for "[plugin name] whitelist IP address" and you'll find instructions.

If you're not sure which security plugin is installed on your site, ask whoever set up your WordPress site for you — they'll be able to check.


What Happens After You Connect

Once connected, Opinly will automatically import your existing WordPress data in the background:

  • Your categories will appear as Folders in Opinly

  • Your authors will be available to assign to posts

  • Your existing posts will be imported so you have a full picture of your content

This usually takes a couple of minutes. Once it's done, you're ready to start generating and publishing content from Opinly directly to your WordPress site.

Did this answer your question?