Verify your account ownership

If you cannot reset your WordPress.com password through the standard email reset, you may be able to prove ownership of your account so that we can restore your access. To prove your ownership, you will need at least one of three things: a transaction ID, an activation URL or key, or a two-step authentication code.

Visit the Account Recovery form and fill out as much information as you can:

Once you submit the form, we will contact you with a response or a request for additional information. After we review the proof verifying you are the account owner, we will help you reset your password and regain access to your WordPress.com account.

Account security matters. These verification steps stop bad actors from trying to access your account.

You need at least one of the following pieces of information:

A transaction ID is a unique alphanumeric code generated for a payment you made. If you bought an upgrade on WordPress.com with a credit card, PayPal, or another method, you can use this transaction ID as proof that you are the owner of the account you’re trying to access.

Learn how to retrieve a transaction ID from your bank, PayPal statements, or a past WordPress.com receipt sent to your email address.

Once you have the transaction ID, follow these steps:

1. Copy the transaction ID from a receipt or your financial statement.
2. In the Account Recovery form, check the box next to Do you have a transaction ID?
3. Paste the transaction ID into the available field.

When you created your WordPress.com account, you received an activation email with a button or link to confirm your email address, like this:

The link in that email is your Activation URL. Only the creator of the account has access to this URL, so it proves your ownership of the account you’re trying to access.

To submit the activation URL in the Account Recovery form:

1. Copy the link, or right-click the button and select Copy Link Address (the wording may vary slightly depending on your browser).
2. In the Account Recovery form, check the box next to Do you have an activation URL or key?
3. Paste the link into the available field.

If you set up two-step authentication (an extra security layer that requires a code in addition to your password) for your account, you can use a code or backup code in the Account Recovery form:

1. Open your authenticator app (the app you use to generate security codes, such as Google Authenticator or Authy) and get a code, or copy one of the backup codes you saved when you set up two-step authentication.
2. In the Account Recovery form, check the box next to Do you have two factor authentication codes?
3. Paste the code into the available field.

If we cannot verify your identity, we cannot grant access to the account. The following options are available:

• If your website contains personal information, you can ask our support team to set it to private so search engines and the public can’t access it.
• If your site is set to private but still shows up in Google search results, you may need to wait until your results drop in the search engine. You can also request that Google remove a website from its index through the website removal request tool.
• You can opt out of seeing ads personalized based on your visits to sites in the WordPress.com network.

If you want to start over, you can create a new WordPress.com account.