Delete Site

This guide explains how to delete your WordPress.com website.

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Permanently Deleting Your Site

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Deleting a site permanently removes it and you’ll never be able to re-use its WordPress.com address (such as yourgroovysite.wordpress.com).

If that’s not what you want to do, you can instead try any of the Alternative Options located later in this guide.

If you’re sure you want to permanently delete your site, here’s how to do it.

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If you have any upgrades on your site, such as a paid plan or domain, you will need to remove them before the site can be deleted. See the Deleting a Site with Upgrades section for more details.

Step 1 – Visit your site’s settings page by clicking on Settings in the left sidebar of your site dashboard.

Step 2 – Scroll to the bottom of the General tab, and select Delete your site permanently
Note that site deletions are permanent!

Step 3 – On the following screen, you will first be presented with the option to export your content. Once you delete your site, this content won’t be recoverable, so we advise exporting the content to a .zip file before taking any further steps. You can do so by clicking the Export Content button.

Step 4 – Once you have exported your content, scroll down to find the Delete Site button. If you have multiple sites on your account, be sure to confirm that the correct site address is listed in the yellow alert bar

Step 5 – Confirm the deletion. Enter the address of the site (shown in red) into the provided field, then click the Delete this Site button

This is the final step – once you click Delete this Site your site will be permanently deleted.

At this point, anyone who attempts to visit your site will see a message stating that your site is no longer available and has been deleted by the authors.

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Deleting a Site with Upgrades

You may see the following message during the deletion process:

This means your site has paid upgrades associated with it. Before you can delete your site, you’ll need to remove them. This prevents you from losing access to your paid upgrades.

Click on the Purchases button to be taken to the Purchases page. Once there, use the links provided on that page to cancel your upgrades, or contact support to help you transfer them to another site on your account.

If you are unable to cancel any of the upgrades, you can also contact support for help.

Once your upgrades have been removed from the site, you can click on Settings and start again.

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Alternative Options

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Reverse a Site Deletion

It is possible to reverse a site deletion for the first 30 days after a site is closed. If you realize you closed your site in error, please contact us immediately. We will be able to assist you in restoring your site during this 30 day window. Once the 30 days have passed, all of your site data is purged and cannot be restored, and the site address is deleted and cannot be reused.

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Account Closure

If you want to fully shut down your WordPress.com account, please see the Close My Account page for more information.