Web of Trust

Overview

Web of Trust (WOT), established in 2006 and owned by GAMECY LLC, offers tools and services designed to assess website reputation and identify potential online threats. Its primary function is to provide users and developers with information about the trustworthiness and safety of websites, aiming to mitigate risks associated with phishing, malware, and other malicious content. WOT achieves this through a combination of community-sourced ratings and automated analysis, which includes scanning for suspicious patterns and known threat indicators.

The service is primarily delivered through its WOT Browser Extension, which provides real-time warnings and ratings directly within the user's browsing experience. This extension can display a site's reputation score and category, such as 'safe', 'unverified', or 'caution'. For mobile users, the WOT Mobile Security application extends similar protections to smartphones and tablets. For developers and organizations, the WOT API allows programmatic access to its extensive database of website reputation data. This enables the integration of WOT's threat intelligence into custom applications, security platforms, and content filtering systems. The API can be used to query individual URLs or domains and retrieve reputation scores, safety categories, and other relevant metadata, facilitating automated decision-making regarding website access or content display.

WOT is primarily utilized by individuals seeking enhanced browsing safety and by developers looking to embed website security checks into their applications. It is particularly effective for scenarios requiring immediate feedback on URL trustworthiness, such as email link scanning, content moderation, or network perimeter defense. The platform aims to provide a proactive layer of security, helping to prevent users from interacting with harmful websites before potential damage occurs. While WOT focuses on user-contributed and automated reputation analysis, other services like Google Safe Browsing also play a role in identifying and warning about dangerous websites across the internet.

Key features

• Website Reputation Scoring: Provides a numerical score and color-coded indicator (green, yellow, red) for websites based on safety and trustworthiness.
• Phishing Prevention: Identifies and warns users about known or suspected phishing websites that attempt to steal personal information.
• Malware Site Detection: Flags websites identified as hosting malware, ransomware, or other malicious software.
• Scam and Fraud Detection: Helps to recognize and alert users to websites associated with online scams or fraudulent activities.
• Community Ratings: Incorporates user feedback and ratings to enhance the accuracy and breadth of its reputation database.
• Real-time Protection: Offers immediate alerts and warnings when users attempt to access potentially unsafe websites.
• WOT API: Provides programmatic access to website reputation data for integration into third-party applications and services.
• Browser Extension: Delivers security warnings and site ratings directly within popular web browsers.
• Mobile Security App: Extends reputation checks and threat warnings to mobile devices.

Pricing

As of May 2026, Web of Trust offers a free tier for its basic browser extension, with a premium subscription providing additional features. API pricing is available upon contact with sales.

For detailed and up-to-date pricing information, refer to the official WOT pricing page.

Common integrations

The WOT API is designed for developers to integrate website reputation data into various applications and systems. Key integration points include:

• Security Platforms: Embedding WOT data into SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) systems or threat intelligence platforms to enrich existing security alerts.
• Content Filtering: Integrating with web proxies or firewalls to filter access to potentially malicious or untrustworthy websites based on WOT scores.
• Email Security: Scanning URLs in incoming emails to warn users about phishing or malware links before they are clicked.
• Application Development: Incorporating URL reputation checks directly into applications that process user-submitted links or display external content.
• Browser Extensions (Custom): Building custom browser extensions or add-ons that leverage WOT data for specific organizational needs.

Developers can find documentation and API specifications on the WOT API section of their website.

Alternatives

• Google Safe Browsing: A service that identifies unsafe websites across the web and notifies users and webmasters of potential harm.
• Sucuri: Offers a suite of website security services including malware detection and removal, firewall, and DDoS protection.
• URLhaus: A project that collects, processes, and shares URLs that are used for malware distribution.
• Cloudflare Radar: Provides insights into internet traffic patterns, including threat landscapes and attack trends (Cloudflare Radar documentation).
• Microsoft Defender SmartScreen: Protects against phishing and malware websites and malicious downloads.

Getting started

To get started with the WOT API, developers typically query an endpoint with a URL and parse the JSON response. The following Python example demonstrates a basic API call to retrieve reputation data for a given URL. This example assumes you have an API key, which is required for authentication.

import requests
import json

def get_wot_reputation(url, api_key):
    base_url = "https://api.mywot.com/0.4/public_query"
    params = {
        "hosts": url,
        "key": api_key
    }
    try:
        response = requests.get(base_url, params=params)
        response.raise_for_status()  # Raise an HTTPError for bad responses (4xx or 5xx)
        data = response.json()
        
        # The API returns data keyed by the host. Extract the first one.
        host_data = next(iter(data.values()), None)
        
        if host_data:
            # '0' is trustworthiness, '1' is child safety. Both are 0-100 scores.
            # '2' is categories (list of integers).
            trust_score = host_data.get('0', {}).get('0')  # Trustworthiness score
            safety_score = host_data.get('0', {}).get('1') # Child safety score
            categories = host_data.get('2')             # Categories list
            
            print(f"Reputation for {url}:")
            print(f"  Trustworthiness Score: {trust_score if trust_score is not None else 'N/A'}/100")
            print(f"  Child Safety Score: {safety_score if safety_score is not None else 'N/A'}/100")
            print(f"  Categories: {categories if categories else 'N/A'}")
        else:
            print(f"No reputation data found for {url}")
            
    except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
        print(f"API request failed: {e}")
    except json.JSONDecodeError:
        print("Failed to decode JSON response.")

# Replace with your actual WOT API key and the URL you want to check
MY_API_KEY = "YOUR_WOT_API_KEY"
TARGET_URL = "example.com"

if __name__ == "__main__":
    get_wot_reputation(TARGET_URL, MY_API_KEY)

This Python script queries the WOT public API for the reputation of example.com. It parses the JSON response to extract the trustworthiness score, child safety score, and associated categories. Developers can then use these scores and categories to implement custom logic within their applications, such as blocking access, displaying warnings, or logging potential threats. For production environments, error handling and rate limiting considerations are important.