WooCommerce REST API per_page limit inconsistent between local and production

Direct answer

WooCommerce core enforces a maximum of 100 items per page on the standard /wp-json/wc/v3/products route, regardless of whether the site runs locally or in production. If your local instance returns more than 100 products when you request per_page=150, the excess is coming from outside WooCommerce core—most likely a caching layer, CDN edge cache, or a plugin that modifies the REST response before WooCommerce clamps the argument.

Confirmed facts and assumptions

• WooCommerce 7.x or newer registers per_page with a maximum of 100 for product list endpoints.
• The assumption of no custom REST route overrides means core pagination logic should be identical in both environments.
• Server configuration alone does not normally raise the WooCommerce core limit; PHP timeouts or memory limits may truncate responses, but they do not reliably inflate them beyond 100.

Likely explanation

A performance plugin, reverse proxy, or CDN active in only one environment is the most probable cause. It may serve a stale local response that was generated before clamping, alter the per_page argument before WooCommerce validates it, or normalize headers such as X-WP-TotalPages so they no longer match the actual payload.

Can X-WP-TotalPages be trusted?

Not without verification. The header reflects the page count calculated from the effective per_page used in the query. If a plugin changes that value before WooCommerce clamps it, the header can describe a different page size than the one you requested. Calculate pages from X-WP-Total and the per_page you actually sent only after confirming the effective limit.

Verification steps

1. Run the same raw request on both environments and compare headers and body count:

curl -i 'https://example.local/wp-json/wc/v3/products?per_page=150'

curl -i 'https://example.com/wp-json/wc/v3/products?per_page=150'

Record HTTP status, X-WP-Total, X-WP-TotalPages, and the number of JSON objects returned.

1. Temporarily disable caching, CDN, and performance plugins on both sites, or bypass the CDN by calling the origin directly. Repeat the request. If the local count drops to 100, the cause is external.
2. Inspect active plugins for hooks into rest_api_init, woocommerce_rest_pre_get_product_object, or rest_post_dispatch that could adjust per_page.

Missing diagnostic detail

Are any caching, optimization, or CDN plugins active on the local development instance? The answer changes whether you should first disable local plugins or investigate server-level proxy behavior.