Database cleanup questions for WordPress.com free tier

  • ddgwpc · Member ·

    I was wondering, when I delete a post on the free tier of WordPress.com, do all of the database rows consumed by that post’s associated revision history also get discarded? Or do they linger around in an orphaned state?

    I’m trying to just write my posts locally in markdown and then paste them into WordPress.com so I don’t have tons of “revision” rows in the database. Moreover, if I still then later feel I need to update a post, I wondered if I could just delete it, then recreate it with the same title/URL and not get penalized by the database.

    I’m not not overlooking something am I — there are no direct database controls in the admin UI on the free tier, right?

    What is the maximum number of rows I can consume on the free tier?

    Thanks!

  • therefoiam · Member ·

    Hi @ddgwpc

    The Free plan has 3GB storage and you can read more about space usage here: https://wordpress.com/support/space-upgrade/ .

    The system does not work like a database where you count rows and columns, especially if you are on a free plan.

    Deleted posts are kept in the trash for 3 days and after that, they are no longer on the system.

    I don’t see a problem with using your local computer for drafts if your goal is to avoid accumulating stacks of revisions. It’s also good to note the system on the free plan keeps up to 25 revisions per post or page hence at some point some of the versions will get purged.

    Please let us know what you mean by being penalized by the database so that we can better answer your question of whether or not you are overlooking some database controls especially since I understand WordPress.com to be very flexible and the only limits in place have to do with what a plan allows or offers.

    You can read more about the plans here: https://wordpress.com/support/plan-features/

    I hopeI answered you enough . Let us know of further questions.

  • ddgwpc · Member ·

    In the context above, after I deleted my original post, I would consider it being penalized by the database if any bit of that original post (e.g., revisions) still lingered in the database even after I tried to delete every trace of it. In the context above, the whole reason for me to delete the post, then recreate it manually would be to only have a single instance of the post in the database (no revisions, drafts, autosaves, etc).

    So I’m still not clear on whether other items relation to a post (revisions) are also deleted when the post itself is deleted.

    I believe I’ve read in the past that if I were to self-host WP, then I’d be able to use plugins that would actually give me more fine-grained controls, in the admin UI, over what the database does and does not keep (how many revisions to store, etc).

    I mean I know underyling all of this is a MySQL database (or PostgreSQL if you really have time to burn in trying to make a non-db-agnostic app like WP behave in a modern, db-agnostic way), so I don’t understand how row count would not be relevant.

  • staff-totoro · Staff ·

    Hi @ddgwpc

    W do not actually provide database access on free sites. It is possible to access the database (as well as upload plugins or themes) if you upgrade to our Business plan, but for a “free” site there is no such access.

    With this in mind, we’re not able to answer your specific DB questions. Free sites do not work like self-hosted sites, so there are no database concerns or “penalties” of any kind.

    If you wish to have a “self-hosted” experience, but with the advantages of our managed WordPress-dedicated hosting you will not want a free site but instead a site upgraded to our Business hosting.

    Learn more about PHPMyAdmin and MySQL access (under the Business Plan) here: https://wordpress.com/support/phpmyadmin-and-mysql/

    You can learn more about our WordPress.com Business Plan itself here: https://wordpress.com/pricing/

    Hope that helps. Please let us know if you have any more questions.

  • ddgwpc · Member ·

    So then on the free plan, I could theoretically write 1 million posts, with say 5 revisions each, and it wouldn’t matter? Or does it somehow count toward the disk space quota?

  • staff-totoro · Staff ·

    Correct, you can have as many pages, blog posts, comments, and other text based content as you wish. There is no limit there, even for free sites. Bandwidth and traffic is also not capped, so if your site has a sudden spike in traffic (internet famous?) that will also be no issue and our system is designed to handle that without issue.

    The storage space limitations for accounts refers only to the media library itself, and the kinds of files you can upload there. On free sites you have 3GB of media storage, and that storage space would count only images and documents you upload, but does not track other content on the site.

    Hope this helps!

  • ddgwpc · Member ·

    Good to know, this was counterintuitive to me. Thanks!

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