Delete your account

Closing your account deletes all sites you own and all their contents. After 30 days, the data will be entirely purged from our system and cannot be reversed.

To permanently delete your WordPress.com account, follow these steps:

1. Consider if you need to close your account by reviewing these alternatives first.
2. Cancel any active subscriptions in your account (you cannot close an account with active purchases.)
3. Click on your profile at https://wordpress.com/me
4. In the options on the left, select Account Settings.
5. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click the “Delete your account permanently” link:

6. Once you delete your account you will receive an email to your account email address with the option to Restore your account. Retain this email in case you change your mind and want to restore a closed account.

Deleting your account will also delete all your sites and their content.

You will not be able to open a new WordPress.com account using the same email address for 30 days. After 30 days, this data will be entirely purged from our servers, and the process cannot be reversed.

You will not be able to log in to any other Automattic services that use your WordPress.com account as a login. This includes WooCommerce.com, Crowdsignal.com, IntenseDebate.com, and Gravatar.com. Once your WordPress.com account is deleted, these services will also be deleted and you will lose access to any orders or support history you may have.

Therefore, please be certain you want to cancel your entire WordPress.com presence before proceeding.

Consider that you may wish to use WordPress.com again in the future. Instead of deleting your account, consider these less drastic steps that may suit your situation:

• Cancel your purchases to ensure no future charges from WordPress.com.
• Delete a site in your account, but keep your account.
• Reset your site for a fresh start and continue using the same address.
• Create a new site in your existing account.
• Transfer your site to another WordPress.com account.
• Change your username if you are unhappy with it. Closing an account will not release the username to use with a new account.
• Change your email address. When you close your account, your email address remains in our system for 30 days. Therefore, you cannot immediately use your account’s email address to sign up for a new WordPress.com account.
• Unsubscribe from WordPress.com email notifications by going to your subscription settings and checking the box that says “Pause all email updates from sites you’re subscribed to on WordPress.com.“

If you have a WordPress.com plan or other upgrade, such as a domain, you must cancel all active purchases before closing your account. This can be done in the Purchases area of your account.

Visit our Manage purchases guide for step-by-step instructions on how to cancel your active purchases.

WooCommerce.com purchases

WordPress.com accounts also manage WooCommerce.com purchases, tickets, and subscriptions. Therefore, closing your account may close off your access to WooCommerce assets. You can check the information in your WooCommerce.com dashboard for your account before you close to ensure you are not unintentionally deleting something you want to keep.

Gravatar.com

WordPress.com accounts are also used to manage your Gravatar at Gravatar.com. Therefore, closing your WordPress.com account will also result in the removal of your Gravatar.com account. As a result, any Gravatar images currently displayed with your profile or comments you have made in the past will be removed.

Akismet

Akismet uses WordPress.com account infrastructure for its accounts, so when you close your WordPress.com account, you are closing the Akismet account as well.

Jetpack

WordPress.com accounts are also used to manage a self-hosted WordPress site’s Jetpack connection, features, and any paid plans you may have. When you close your WordPress.com account, your self-hosted WordPress site is disconnected from Jetpack. Approximately 30 days after Jetpack disconnects, your data will be removed from our servers. For some features like Jetpack’s Site Accelerator feature, your images and/or static files may be removed from our CDN sooner to free up server space. If you have a Jetpack plan that includes backups, you can download a backup.

VaultPress

WordPress.com accounts are also used to manage your VaultPress backups and security scans. When you cancel your VaultPress subscription and close your WordPress.com account, you will also be closing your VaultPress account. If you wish to have a copy of the last backup that was made on your site before you cancel your WordPress.com account, please download the backup using these instructions for WordPress.com-hosted sites or these instructions for self-hosted sites.

If you closed your WordPress.com account in error, you can restore the account within 30 days. After 30 days, the account and all of its associated data is purged from our system and cannot be recovered.

To restore a closed account:

1. When you deleted your account you received an email with the subject: “Your account [username] has been deleted”.
2. Open this email, and click the “Restore account” button in the email.
3. Click the “I made a mistake! Restore my account” link in the “Your account has been deleted” screen.
4. On the next screen, log into your restored account.
5. Optionally, visit https://wordpress.com/sites to restore any sites that were deleted when you deleted your account.

If you are unable to locate the email or restore your account, please contact us immediately. We will assist you in reopening your account during this 30-day window. However, once the 30 days have passed, all your sites and account data are purged and cannot be restored.