WordPress helps people build and manage websites. You can easily delete your site through your account dashboard, or you can make your site private to prevent people from seeing your posts. WordPress can recover deleted sites within 30 days if you contact customer service.
WordPress lets you build and manage websites through one platform. If you need to delete your site, you'll have to log into your account and complete the process through your account settings page. You can also make your site private if you just need to prevent new visitors from accessing it. Here's how to get started.
Permanently deleting your WordPress site blocks access forever. You won't be able to reuse your WordPress.com address. If you change your mind, you can recover a deleted site by contacting WordPress within 30 days.
To start the deletion process, log into your account and click on Settings on the left side of your dashboard.
Scroll to the bottom of the Settings page and look for Delete your site permanently.
You'll be asked to export your website's content before deleting it. All your content will be saved as a .zip file that can be used to rebuild your site in the future.
After exporting, click Delete Site. You have to confirm the deletion request by typing your site's address, then click Delete this Site.
After deleting your site, anyone who tries to access it will see a message stating that the owner removed it.
If you have an account upgrade, you'll have to cancel your membership before deleting your website. During the deletion process, WordPress will prompt you to Manage purchases.
Clicking Manage purchases brings you to the Purchases page. Choose the relevant upgrade and confirm your cancellation.
Now you can complete the remaining site deletion steps.
You can also make your site private instead of deleting it. This prevents anyone from accessing it unless they have your permission.
To make your site private, go to the Settings page on your dashboard, then scroll down to Privacy.
You'll see a few privacy options:
Select Private and save your selection.
Remember that private sites are still accessible. Users can visit the address, but they won't be able to see any posts. However, visitors can ask permission to see your posts. You can approve or deny access requests from your account's dashboard.
GetHuman has been working for over 10 years on sourcing information about big organizations like WordPress in order to help customers resolve customer service issues faster. We started with contact information and fastest ways to reach a human at big companies. Particularly ones with slow or complicated IVR or phone menu systems. Or companies that have self-serve help forums instead of a customer service department. From there, we realized that consumers still needed more detailed help solving the most common problems, so we expanded to this set of guides, which grows every day. And if you spot any issues with our How Do I Delete My WordPress Site? guide, please let us know by sending us feedback. We want to be as helpful as possible. If you appreciated this guide, please share it with your favorite people. Our free information and tools is powered by you, the customer. The more people that use it, the better it gets.