WP-Optimize
Free all-in-one plugin from TeamUpdraft combining page caching, image compression with WebP, database cleanup and minification.
80
Advanced Database Cleaner
Freemium WordPress database cleaner with previews, keep-last-X-days rules, scheduled tasks and table tools; Premium adds orphan detection.
Free installs100K+WordPress.org, active
Est. Pro installs~12KLikely 6K–24K
Rating4.9/51,962 reviews
Price from$39/yrFreemium
Last updated20 Aug 2026Version 4.2.0
Overview
Advanced Database Cleaner (ADBC) by SigmaPlugin is one of the most established database housekeeping plugins on WordPress.org. Version 4, released in late 2025, rebuilt it around separate modules for general cleanup, tables, options, transients, cron jobs, post meta, user meta and post types, each with a sortable list you can inspect before you delete anything.
What the free version covers
The free plugin removes revisions, auto-drafts, trashed posts, spam, pending and trashed comments, pingbacks and trackbacks, orphaned and duplicated meta, unused term relationships, expired transients and oEmbed caches. Each cleanup type shows a preview table and an estimate of the space it will free, and you can limit a cleanup to data older than a set number of days. The tables module lists sizes and row counts and can optimise, repair, empty, delete or convert tables to InnoDB. The options and transients modules flag large autoloaded entries and let you switch autoload on or off. Unusually for a free tool, it also includes scheduled cleanup, optimisation and repair tasks (up to five), and a few WooCommerce extras such as expired sessions and orphaned variations.
What Premium adds
The main reason to upgrade is orphan detection: Premium scans plugin and theme files, backed by a cloud lookup it calls Remote SmartScan, to label which plugin owns each table, option, transient, cron job and meta key, and flags the ones left behind by removed add-ons. It also adds Action Scheduler cleanup for completed, failed and cancelled actions and their logs, keep-last-X-items rules, advanced filters, unlimited automation tasks, growth analytics and a timeline of plugin activations and uninstalls. Licences start at $39 a year for one site, with lifetime options.
Limitations
- No built-in backup; the FAQ says you must back up yourself first.
- No WP-CLI commands are documented.
- Ownership scans use daily remote-scan credits that vary by plan.
- Sharded set-ups such as HyperDB or SharDB are not supported.
Who should pick it: site owners who want a broad free cleaner with previews and scheduling, and agencies that need to identify and remove leftovers from uninstalled plugins on many sites.
Best for: Site owners who want a capable free cleaner with scheduling, and anyone needing to find leftovers from removed plugins.
Advanced Database Cleaner offers the most complete free toolkit in this group, with previews, age rules, table repair, InnoDB conversion and scheduled tasks all at no cost. Premium earns its price if you need to know which plugin created each table or option, but take your own backup first because none is built in.
Pros
- Free version previews every item and estimates space saved before cleaning
- Scheduled cleanup, optimise and repair tasks included free (up to five)
- Table tools cover optimise, repair, empty, delete and InnoDB conversion
- Autoload size warnings with per-option autoload switching in the free plugin
- Premium identifies which plugin owns tables, options, cron jobs and meta
- Inexpensive lifetime licences from $78
Cons
- Orphaned table/option/cron detection, the most useful part, is Premium-only
- Action Scheduler cleanup requires Premium
- No built-in backup or WP-CLI commands
- Ownership scans are rationed by daily remote-scan credits per plan
Key features
What Advanced Database Cleaner highlights on its WordPress.org page and its own website, split by version.
Free version WordPress.org
- Revisions, auto-drafts and trash cleanup
- Spam, pending and trashed comments
- Orphaned and duplicated meta removal
- Expired transients and oEmbed caches
- Preview items before deleting
- Keep last X days rule
- Optimise, repair and empty tables
- Convert tables to InnoDB
- Autoload size warnings and toggles
- Cron job list and cleanup
- Up to 5 scheduled tasks
- WooCommerce sessions and orphaned variations
- Network cleanup from main site
Pro / paid adds From $39/yr
- Orphaned tables, options and cron detection
- Remote SmartScan ownership lookup
- Action Scheduler actions and logs cleanup
- Keep last X items rules
- Advanced filters in every module
- Unlimited automation tasks with logs
- Database size growth analytics
- Plugin and theme activity timeline
- Per-site multisite filtering
- Lifetime licence options
Feature checklist
19 of 22 features we track in Database Optimization, feature score 89/100
Cleanup 8/8
Post revisions Key
Delete old post and page revisions.
Deletes post revisions with a preview, optionally only those older than X days.
Included
Auto-drafts & trashed posts
Remove auto-drafts and emptied trash.
Cleans auto-drafts and trashed posts; trashed-post cleanup limited to core post types for safety.
Included
Spam & trashed comments
Delete spam, trashed and unapproved comments.
Removes pending, spam and trashed comments plus pingbacks and trackbacks.
Included
Expired transients Key
Remove expired (or all) transients.
Cleans expired transients and lists all transients, flagging large ones for deletion.
Included
Orphaned & duplicate metadata Key
Remove post, comment, user and term meta with no parent.
Removes unused and duplicated post, comment, user and term meta; Premium adds owner-based orphan detection.
Included
Leftover plugin tables Key
Find and delete tables left behind by removed plugins.
Premium scans to find tables left by removed plugins; free only flags invalid-prefix tables.
Paid version Starter
Leftover options & cron jobs
Find options and scheduled tasks left by removed plugins.
Premium detects orphaned options and cron jobs; free flags cron jobs with no valid action.
Paid version Starter
Action Scheduler logs
Clean WooCommerce Action Scheduler completed actions and logs.
Premium cleans completed, failed and cancelled actions, their logs and orphan logs.
Paid version Starter
Optimisation 4/5
Optimise tables Key
Run OPTIMIZE TABLE to reclaim space and defragment tables.
Optimise tables manually or on a schedule to reclaim space.
Included
Repair tables
Repair corrupted or crashed tables.
Repairs corrupted tables and highlights ones needing repair.
Included
Autoloaded options control Key
See the size of autoloaded options and switch heavy ones off.
Shows large autoloaded options and lets you set autoload yes/no per option or transient.
Included
Convert to InnoDB
Convert MyISAM tables to InnoDB.
Action to convert table engines to InnoDB, added in version 4.1.0.
Included
Limit future revisions
Cap how many revisions WordPress keeps from now on.
Cleans existing revisions only; no setting to cap future revisions is listed.
Not included
Automation & safety 4/5
Scheduled cleanup Key
Run cleanups automatically on a schedule.
Free allows up to 5 scheduled cleanup/optimise/repair tasks, hourly to monthly; Premium is unlimited.
Included
Preview before deleting
Shows counts or the exact items before anything is removed.
Sortable preview tables list the exact items and estimated space before cleaning.
Included
Keep recent data
Keep the last X days or revisions when cleaning.
Keep last X days is free; keep last X items (per parent or global) is Premium.
Included
Backup before cleanup
Built-in or integrated backup before running a cleanup.
No backup feature; the FAQ tells you to back up before cleaning.
Not included
Exclusions
Exclude specific tables, options or items from cleanup.
Core items are protected from deletion by default; no general user-defined exclusion list documented.
Partial
Insights & admin 3/4
Database size report
Shows table sizes and how much space a cleanup will save.
Shows database size, table sizes, row counts and estimated space each cleanup frees.
Included
Identify table & option owners
Shows which plugin or theme created each table or option.
Premium labels which plugin or theme owns each table, option, cron job and meta key.
Paid version Starter
Multisite support
Clean and optimise across a multisite network.
Main site can clean the whole network in free; Premium adds per-site filtering.
Included
WP-CLI
Run cleanups from the command line.
No WP-CLI commands are documented on WordPress.org or the vendor site.
Not included
Pricing
Free
$0On WordPress.org
Free
Freeper yearUnlimited
WordPress.org version: general cleanup, table tools, autoload controls and up to 5 scheduled tasks.
Starter
$39per year1 site
10 daily remote-scan credits, standard support. Lifetime option $78.
Standard
$59per year5 sites
30 daily remote-scan credits, priority support. Lifetime option $118.
Agency
$119per yearUnlimited
500 daily remote-scan credits, premium support. Lifetime option $238. A multisite network counts as one activation.
Prices are list prices from the vendor's site, checked 14 Oct 2026. Many vendors discount the first year.
How many sites use Advanced Database Cleaner?
Free installs from WordPress.org, the vendor's own claim, and our estimate of paid installs.
Free version (WordPress.org)
100K+
Active installations reported by WordPress.org.
Vendor claim
—
The vendor does not publish a total.
Estimated Pro / paid installs
~12K
Our estimate, see method below.
How we estimated this: About 150K free installs x 8% (the usual share of free sites that also run the paid version when some key features are paid) gives 12K. Likely range: 6K to 24K. This counts sites running the paid version, including sites whose licence has lapsed. Estimates are rough and based on public figures as of 14 Oct 2026.
Stats & health
Weekly downloads
4,816 downloads last week, 3M all time
Rating breakdown
| Version | 4.2.0 |
|---|---|
| Last updated | 20 Aug 2026 (75 days ago) |
| Tested up to | WordPress 7.1.4 |
| Requires | WordPress 5.0.0+, PHP 7.0+ |
| Support threads (2 months) | 1 of 2 resolved |
| On WordPress.org since | 18 Sep 2015 |
Company & policy
| Refund policy | 30-day money-back (source, 11 Oct 2026) Full refund, no conditions, per the product page. |
|---|
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FAQ
Is Advanced Database Cleaner free?
Yes. Advanced Database Cleaner has a free version on WordPress.org. Paid plans start at $39/yr.
How many sites use Advanced Database Cleaner?
WordPress.org reports 100K+ active installations of the free version. We estimate around 12K sites run the paid version.
Does Advanced Database Cleaner have post revisions?
Yes: included. Deletes post revisions with a preview, optionally only those older than X days.
Does Advanced Database Cleaner have expired transients?
Yes: included. Cleans expired transients and lists all transients, flagging large ones for deletion.
Does Advanced Database Cleaner have orphaned & duplicate metadata?
Yes: included. Removes unused and duplicated post, comment, user and term meta; Premium adds owner-based orphan detection.
Does Advanced Database Cleaner have leftover plugin tables?
Yes: paid version (Starter). Premium scans to find tables left by removed plugins; free only flags invalid-prefix tables.
Does Advanced Database Cleaner have optimise tables?
Yes: included. Optimise tables manually or on a schedule to reclaim space.
Does Advanced Database Cleaner have autoloaded options control?
Yes: included. Shows large autoloaded options and lets you set autoload yes/no per option or transient.
Does Advanced Database Cleaner have scheduled cleanup?
Yes: included. Free allows up to 5 scheduled cleanup/optimise/repair tasks, hourly to monthly; Premium is unlimited.
Is the free version of Advanced Database Cleaner enough?
For routine cleanup it usually is: revisions, comments, transients, orphaned meta, table optimisation and repair, autoload controls and up to five scheduled tasks are all free. Premium is mainly needed to identify and remove tables, options and cron jobs left by uninstalled plugins, and to clean Action Scheduler data.
Does it back up the database before cleaning?
No. The plugin's FAQ says a backup is required before you run cleanups, so use your host's backups or a dedicated backup plugin first.
How much does Premium cost?
Annual plans are $39 (1 site), $59 (5 sites) and $119 (unlimited sites); lifetime licences cost twice the annual price. Higher plans include more daily remote-scan credits and there is a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Does it work on multisite?
Yes. The free version can clean the whole network from the main site; Premium adds filters by site ID. A network counts as one licence activation.
Last updated 11 Oct 2026. Spotted something wrong? Suggest an edit.