SweepPress: Website Cleanup and Optimization

SweepPress is an easy-to-use WordPress plugin built around 42 different Sweepers for database cleanup (the Pro version has 45), support for WP-CLI, and WP REST API to perform the cleanup operations. The plugin also features a powerful WordPress Options database table management panel.

Options Management

The WordPress Options database table holds settings for WordPress Core, all the plugins, and themes. This table can grow significantly, especially since records are not auto-deleted when removing a plugin or theme. SweepPress has Sweepers that deal with transient cache records (stored in this table), and now, since version 3.0, it has a full Management panel where you can see all the records in the Options table, detect source for the record and status to help you decide if you should delete the record or not.

SweepPress has two methods to detect the source of the record, and it will mark all the recognized records. This panel doesn’t show transient records (used for cache) or WordPress options (deleting these options is a terrible idea).

SweepPress Pro It also has advanced management panels for all the WordPress metadata and multisite Sitemeta database tables.

Options deletion process is not automatic! No matter how precise options usage detection is, you need to verify and confirm that you want to delete one or more records.

Modes of Sweeping

• Auto Sweep: available on the dashboard, running many (not all) sweepers without user input.
• Quick Sweep: available on the dashboard, allowing the sweepers to be selected.
• Full Sweep: available on its panel, with detailed information about sweepers and no limit run.
• CLI Sweep: the plugin supports WP-CLI and adds commands to run all the sweepers with the command line.
• REST API Sweep: the plugin supports WP REST API and allows sweeping via the new REST endpoints.

All sweepers use optimized SQL queries to find the data for removal, which is also done using SQL queries. This is the fastest and most efficient way to remove a large amount of data quickly.

Quick Video Overview

List of Sweepers

• Posts: Auto Drafts
• Posts: Spam Content
• Posts: Trashed Content
• Posts: Posts Revisions
• Posts: Posts Orphaned Revisions
• Posts: Draft Posts Revisions (v2.1)
• Posts: Postmeta Locks
• Posts: Postmeta Last Edits
• Posts: Postmeta Oembeds
• Posts: Postmeta Old Data (v2.1)
• Posts: Postmeta Orphans
• Comments: Spam Comments
• Comments: Trashed Comments
• Comments: Unapproved Comments
• Comments: Orphaned Comments
• Comments: Comments User Agents
• Comments: Commentmeta Orphans
• Comments: Pingbacks Cleanup
• Comments: Trackbacks Cleanup
• Comments: Akismet Meta Records (v1.1)
• Terms: Terms Orphans
• Terms: Termmeta Orphans
• Users: Usermeta Orphans
• Options: Expired Transients
• Options: RSS Feeds
• Options: All Transients
• Options: CRON Jobs
• Options: Unhooked CRON Jobs (v2.4)
• Network: Expired Transients
• Network: All Transients
• Network: Inactive Signups (v2.0)
• Database: Optimize Database Tables
• Database: Repair Database Tables (v1.6)
• ActionScheduler: Log Entries (v2.2)
• ActionScheduler: Orphaned Log Entries (v2.2)
• ActionScheduler: Failed Actions (v2.2)
• ActionScheduler: Completed Actions (v2.2)
• ActionScheduler: Canceled Actions (v2.2)
• BuddyPress: Activity Meta Orphans (v2.4)
• BuddyPress: Groups Meta Orphans (v2.4)
• BuddyPress: Messages Meta Orphans (v2.4)
• BuddyPress: Notifications Meta Orphans (v2.4)

WP-CLI and WP REST API Support

The plugin registers new CLI commands for running sweep operations from the command line (WP-CLI is required). It also registers the REST API endpoint for the same purpose: running remote sweep operations (only for the administrator role!). CLI and REST API support can be enabled through plugin settings.

Action Scheduler Support

The plugin can clean up the ActionScheduler tables. These tables are used by the Action Schedule plugin and components developed for WooCommerce but also in many other WordPress plugins, including WP Rocket and Rank Math. For these sweepers to be visible, at least one plugin using those tables needs to be active.

Special Notice

The plugin will show the backup reminder notice by default (and it can be disabled) on every page. It is essential to understand that once the plugin deletes data, it can’t be restored. So, if you change your mind later, it is important to make the backup before the data removal. The sweepPress plugin is not responsible for any data loss — ensure backups!

Plugin Home Page

• Learn more about the plugin: SweepPress Home Page
• Plugin knowledge base: SweepPress on Dev4Press
• Support for the Lite version: Support Forum on Dev4Press

SweepPress Pro

SweepPress Lite edition, available on WordPress.org, is a fully functional plugin with no limits to its operations. But SweepPress Pro contains a lot of additional features not available in the Lite version:

• Management for ALL the WordPress Metadata tables: supports postmeta, termmeta, commentmeta, usermeta and blogmeta.
• Management for the WordPress Multisite Sitemeta table: this table is equivalent of the Options table, but for all the blogs in the multisite.
• Create and manage Sweeper Jobs: create custom background sweeper jobs to run at a specific date or as a recurring job.
• Control and track WordPress CRON jobs: list all the WordPress CRON jobs, track and display the source, and more.
• Sweeper Monitor: monitor the website for cleanup daily or weekly, and send notifications when the sweeping limit is reached.
• Database Tables: an overview of all tables in the database with source information and various actions for better control.
• Sweeper File Log: log every sweeper execution into a log file with all sweeper/removal SQL queries executed by each used sweeper.
• GravityForms Support: three additional sweepers to remove all trashed forms, spammed, and trash entries by form.
• CLI Command to list CRON jobs: list all registered WP CRON jobs via the command line

Future updates will include more exclusive Pro features. Upgrade to SweepPress Pro.