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How to Add the WordPress Logout Link to Navigation Menu

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Do you want to add a WordPress log out link to your site?

If you run a membership site, bbPress forum, eCommerce store, or a learning management system (LMS) using WordPress, having a visible and accessible log out link is helpful for your users.

In this article, we will show you how to add the WordPress logout link to your navigation menu, as well as to other areas of your site.

Adding a logout link in WordPress navigation menu

The Log Out Link for WordPress

Normally, you can log out of your WordPress site by clicking on the ‘Log Out’ link. This link is located below your profile picture in the top right corner of the WordPress admin bar.

All you have to do is take your mouse over to your username, and it will appear in the dropdown menu.

Log out link in WordPress admin bar

If you or your site administrator have disabled the WordPress admin bar, then you will not be able to see the WordPress log out link.

The good news is that the WordPress log out link can be directly accessed to log out of your current WordPress session.

The log out link for your WordPress site looks like this:

http://example.com/wp-login.php?action=logout

Don’t forget to replace example.com with your own domain name.

You can access this link directly in your browser window to log out of your WordPress site.

When you click on this link, it will take you to a warning page. You will need to click on the ‘log out’ link to confirm that you really want to log out.

Logout confirmation

You can also manually add this log out link anywhere on your WordPress website. Let’s take a look at how to do that.

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Adding the Log Out Link in WordPress Navigation Menus

Adding the WordPress log out link in your site’s navigation menu will make it easily accessible from any page on your website.

Simply head over to the Appearance » Menus page in your WordPress admin. After that, you need to click on the ‘Custom Links’ tab to expand it and add the log out link in the URL field.

Logout link in navigation menu

Once you are done, click on the ‘Add to menu’ button, and you will notice the link appear in the right column. You can adjust its position by simply dragging it up or down.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save Menu’ button to store your changes.

You can now visit your WordPress blog to see the log out link in your navigation menu.

Logout link in the navigation menu

The problem with adding the log out link in the menu is that it is visible to all users (both logged-in and logged-out). It only makes sense to show the log out link to users who are actually logged in.

You can do that by following our instructions on how to show different menus to logged-in users.

Add WordPress Logout Link in the Sidebar Widget

WordPress comes with a default widget called Meta. This widget shows a bunch of useful links, including a log out or log in link to users.

Meta widget in WordPress

Some people find the other links in the Meta widget are not quite as useful.

As an alternative, you can also add a plain text or custom HTML widget with the logout link in plain HTML. Here is the HTML code you will need to add:

<a href="http://example.com/wp-login.php?action=logout">Logout</a>

Logout HTML widget

Adding a Dynamic Log In / Log Out Link in WordPress

If you manually add a log out link in WordPress, then the problem is that it doesn’t change based on the user’s login status.

To fix that, you can use a plugin to dynamically display the log in or log out link based on the user’s session.

First, you will need to install the Login or Logout Menu Item plugin. For details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

After you install and activate the plugin, you must go to Appearance » Menus in your WordPress admin and add the ‘Log In/Log Out’ link to your menu.

Login Logout menu WordPress plugin

After you hit ‘Save Menu’ and check your WordPress website, you will see the link in your menu.

It should look like this.

Login link in menu

When you click on it, it will take you to a page to log in, or if you are already logged in, it will log you out.

This method also works with WooCommerce, MemberPress, and other WordPress eCommerce platforms.

We hope this article helped you find the direct WordPress log out link and add it to your navigation menu. You may also want to see our guide on how to add a call button in WordPress or our expert picks for the best social media plugins for WordPress.

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Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff at WPBeginner is a team of WordPress experts led by Syed Balkhi with over 16 years of experience in WordPress, Web Hosting, eCommerce, SEO, and Marketing. Started in 2009, WPBeginner is now the largest free WordPress resource site in the industry and is often referred to as the Wikipedia for WordPress.

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Reader Interactions

26 CommentsLeave a Reply

  1. Syed Balkhi says

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  2. Jiří Vaněk says

    A highly visible logout button largely eliminates security concerns such as users not logging out of the system because it’s complicated for them to find where to do it. So from a security point of view, this is a great solution.

  3. Trevor Blackmore says

    Amazing plugin and love it. Just wondering am I able to point the link to login/register page that I created?

  4. Alvise says

    Hi,
    thank you for your guide, it works for me on desktop and tablets
    but either I put the logout to the top menu or primary navigation menu (the three horizontal line) the logout doesn`t show on the menu.
    Any suggestions?

    • WPBeginner Support says

      You would want to clear your cache or check with your theme’s support for the most common reasons and solutions for that specific issue.

      Admin

  5. MauricioC says

    In the confirmation page when someone click the logout link in the navigation menu, the page title is “something went wrong”. How can I change that?

  6. Jessica says

    Unfortunately doesn’t work for me.
    I get a 403 forbidden when I click on the link and that is caused by a plugin from my theme – so no way to avoid this I guess?
    Any other solution what can work for people that can log in and out but without the admin bar?

    • WPBeginner Support says

      While we do not have an article on a beginner friendly plugin or method at the moment, we will certainly take a look into that for a future article or update :)

      Admin

  7. Sam Gallo says

    Doesn’t work if the login is redirected to a custom login page. How would you create a custom menu link that will logout without being redirected? In other words the logout cannot have “login” in is address to logout.

  8. Hawk says

    Great article on adding the logout link. It is possible to allow actions through htaccess if the URI is blocked?

    For example I am using your “How to Limit Access by IP to Your wp-login.php file in WordPress” tip.

    order deny,allow
    Deny from all
    # whitelist IP address
    allow from xx.xxx.xx.xx

    Can I allow “wp-login.php?action=logout” while still denying access to the base wp-login.php, and what would that htaccess code look like?

  9. Dipak Gajjar says

    Alternatively you can use wp_logout_url() hook to get the job done (for advanced users / developers).

    • Jim says

      I tried making a function in function.php and add a short-code of it so i can ‘call’ it where i want. I used the wp_logout_url(home_url()) but every-time i press the link the login gets stuck and does not redirect to the homepage. Suggestions ?

      I check the link for post data and if the post data isset (isset($_GET[‘name’])) the user will logout with the function you mention. Any suggestions ?

      • Dipak Gajjar says

        Are you getting any error? Something like the below should work without any issue:

        <a href="”>Logout

        • Dipak Gajjar says

          `<a href="”>Logout`

          Could you share the function you’ve added under function.php?

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