About this plugin
DataPrune is a bulk-deletion and database-cleanup plugin for WordPress.
It lets you remove any type of content — posts, pages, media, comments, users, taxonomy terms, and metadata — with precise filters and conditions, without ever risking a 503 timeout thanks to its AJAX batch processing engine.
g. WP Automatic / ValvePress), a high-traffic blog, or a large e-commerce store, DataPrune gives you full control over what stays and what goes.
✨ Key Features
8 deletion modules, each with dedicated filters:
- 📄 Posts / Pages / CPT — filter by status (published, draft, private, pending, scheduled…), date range, categories, tags, authors, post type. Option to also delete associated media in one click.
- 🖼️ Media & Attachments — delete orphaned media (not linked to any post and not used as featured image), filter by MIME type, minimum file size, and upload date range. Protected media (site logo, favicon, header/background image) are never deleted.
- 🔁 Revisions — delete all post revisions or only those older than a specific date range.
- 🗑️ Trash — permanently empty the WordPress trash, by content type.
- 💬 Comments — delete spam, pending, approved or trashed comments with date filter.
- 👤 Users — delete users by role, registration date, and activity (users with no published posts). Administrators and the currently logged-in user are always protected.
- 🏷️ Taxonomy Terms — delete empty terms (no associated posts) for any taxonomy.
- 🔑 Post Meta & User Meta — delete metadata records by key and optional value.
⏱️ Scheduled Auto-Deletion
Create automatic deletion tasks that run on a recurring schedule (hourly, twice daily, daily, weekly, monthly):
- Choose deletion type, filters, and frequency
- Enable/disable each task independently
- Run any task manually on demand
- Option to also delete associated media when auto-deleting posts
- Ideal for sites that auto-publish content (WP Automatic, RSS importers, etc.)
♻️ Recovery System
Every permanent deletion is saved in a dedicated database table before being executed:
- Visual grid with thumbnail previews for media and posts
- Text search by title
- Filters by type (post/media), deletion date range, restoration status
- One-click restore — posts are restored as drafts with all meta and taxonomy terms
- Activity log with user, timestamp and item count for every operation
🔒 Security Features
- Safe mode (Trash) — move items to trash instead of permanent deletion (recoverable)
- Confirmation dialog — JavaScript confirmation before every bulk operation
- Protected media detection — automatically excludes site logo, favicon, header image, background image, WooCommerce placeholder, and any media protected via the wbdp_protected_media_ids filter
- Admin protection — administrators and the current user can never be deleted
- Nonce verification on every request
- manage_options capability check on every action
- Activity log with configurable retention period
⚡ No More 503 Timeout
All deletion operations use AJAX batch processing: the browser sends small batches of 50–100 items at a time, showing a real-time progress bar. No single request ever exceeds the server timeout, even with tens of thousands of items.
🌐 Multilingual
- Default language: Italian
- Full English (en_US) translation included
- Ready for any language via standard.po /.mo files
🤝 WP Automatic / ValvePress Integration
DataPrune is specifically optimized for sites using WP Automatic by ValvePress:
* Auto-generated images are stored as WordPress attachments linked to posts
* The “Delete associated media” option removes both the article and its generated image in a single operation
* Orphaned images left by previously deleted articles are detected and cleaned up automatically
* Scheduled tasks can be configured to delete posts + media on a recurring basis
❤️ Support the Project
DataPrune is free and open-source software, released under the GPL v2 license.
If it saves you time and keeps your database healthy, please consider making a small donation to support its continued development and maintenance.
Donate via PayPal