How to Delete a WordPress Blog (WordPress.com vs. Hosted)

WordPress blogs come in two flavors:

1. Those launched from the commercialized, fully hosted, free platform: WordPress.com
2. Those hosted by a web host with the open-source WordPress software installed

For more information on the differences between the two, click here. In this article, we’ll go over how to delete both, as well as how to remove the database of your WordPress blog. Feel free to jump to the how-to section that applies to you:

• Delete a WordPress.com Blog
• Delete a Self-Hosted WordPress Site via cPanel
• Delete a Self-Hosted WordPress Site Manually
• Optional Extra: Database Removal

It’s important to note that if you are unhappy with your current WordPress web host, or you aren’t getting what you need from the free WordPress.com platform, you have options.

You can find fantastic site-building solutions, as well as WordPress-specific hosting packages, with some of our favorite web hosts. These guys will give you the functionality you want at a cost you can afford, and they’ll make transferring your existing WordPress site to their services easy.

Deleting a WordPress.com blog can be done directly from the dashboard. Log in to begin.

Step 1: Click “Settings” in the Dashboard

Given the sample site, example.wordpress.com, the WordPress dashboard would be found here:

https://wordpress.com/stats/day/example.wordpress.com

Open the “Settings” menu to access the deletion option.

Step 2: Click “Delete Site”

Scroll down. You’ll find a button labelled “Delete Site,” as shown below. Click!

Once you click on the “Delete Site” button, you will first be asked to enter your blog password. Confirm the deletion by entering your password, and your WordPress.com site is gone for good.

NOTE: This action cannot be undone. Clicking “Delete Site” will remove all content, including any domain references, from the WordPress.com site.

If you installed WordPress via cPanel’s convenient auto-install system, follow these steps to delete your blog.

Step 1: Log Into Your cPanel Dashboard and Navigate to the “Hosting” Tab

In your cPanel dashboard, click on the “Hosting” tab. The URL for cPanel will vary between web hosting providers, but it should look similar to this example:

http://cpanel.mywebhosting.com/

Step 2: Click “Switch” to Go to the Configuration System for Your Domain

Find the domain for which WordPress is installed and click “Switch” to enter the configuration system for that domain.

Step 3: Select the “WordPress” Option in cPanel’s Auto-Installer Tool

Open cPanel’s auto-install tool. Choose the “WordPress” option.

Step 4: Click “Uninstall”

Click “Uninstall,” and shortly thereafter the following message should appear:

“Software has been uninstalled.”

The blog is now deleted, but can of course be installed again using the cPanel auto-installer tool.

If your WordPress blog was installed manually on your web server, you need to remove it manually as well. Depending on the type of file-system access that you have to your web server, you may have a few options: SSH-based console access, (S)FTP access, or access via some web-based file manager.

In all cases, you’ll simply be removing the main WordPress directory and optionally the WordPress MySQL database. Before doing these steps, you might want to back up the files and data. Often the WordPress directory is called “blog” and is installed in the /var/www/ directory. If this isn’t the case, this directory could be in the public_html file in your home directory.

1. Deletion via Console Commands

To remove the blog directory via SSH access, you would input something similar to the following:
[crayon-5f16fe2b82ad3606552467/]

2. Deletion via FTP

Open your FTP client (e.g., FileZilla) and log into your FTP server. The username, password, and server should be provided by your hosting provider. If needed, check your FTP settings on your web hosting panel for more information.

Find the WordPress directory, right-click on it, and select the “Delete” option (or select the directory using the CTRL key and then press the DELETE key).

3. Deletion via Web-Based File Manager

Log into your web hosting dashboard and find the file manager application. Then find the WordPress directory and delete it.

Optionally, you can choose to remove your WordPress site’s database as well.

Database Removal with PHPMyAdmin

The WordPress MySQL database, wordpress, can easily be removed using PHPMyAdmin.

Open the PHPMyAdmin tool in your web hosting server panel. Open the “wordpress” database, navigate to the “Operations” tab, and select the “Remove Database” action.

Database Removal with the mysql Command

The WordPress database can also be removed with the following mysql command. Modify the username and password options as needed.
[crayon-5f16fe2b82ad9453488336/]

Whether you’re done with your free and easy-to-use WordPress.com blog or are looking to remove your self-hosted WordPress.org site and its database, you now have all the know-how to eradicate your blog’s presence from the web. Delete with caution!

Remember, if instead you’d like to move to a web host that specializes in WordPress websites, we’d recommend these top WordPress hosting services. If you’d like a web host with easy-to-use website builder tools included, these are the top hosts for website building.