Closing your account deletes all sites you own and all their contents. After a few weeks, the data will be entirely purged from our system, and at this point, the process cannot be reversed.
In this guide
You can permanently close your WordPress.com account from the bottom of your Account Settings screen:
This not only shuts down your username but also deletes all the WordPress.com sites you own and all their contents. After a few weeks, this data will be entirely purged from our servers, and the process cannot be reversed. Therefore, please be certain you want to cancel your entire WordPress.com presence before proceeding.
If you do not see the “Close your account permanently” option, this means you have an active plan or domain on your account. You can cancel/delete these through the Purchases section of your account.
You may also consider less drastic steps:
- Change your username if you are unhappy with it. Closing an account will not release the username for use later.
- Empty a site of its posts, pages, and media.
- Delete an individual site.
- Unsubscribe from WordPress.com email notifications, by going to your subscription settings and checking the box that says Block all email updates from blogs you’re following on WordPress.com.
If you have a WordPress.com plan or other upgrade, you will need to cancel active purchases before you can close your account. This can be done on the Purchases of your account. Additionally, some plugin-enabled sites may need to contact support to complete an account closure.
Learn more about managing purchases as well as cancelling and removing subscriptions from your account here.
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, you will disconnect your self-hosted WordPress site 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 and would like to have a copy of the last backup made before you cancel your Jetpack subscription, please download the backup using these instructions.
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 VaultPress subscription, please download the backup using these instructions.
While all data associated with an account is removed during the closure, the username is blocked from being used again to prevent impersonation.
When you close your account, your email address remains in our system for 30 days. This means that you cannot use your account’s email address to sign up for a new WordPress.com account. However, once the 30 days have passed and your account is purged, your email will be free to use with a new account.
Each WordPress.com account must have a unique email address. If you change the email address on your account to something else, it will free up the email address for you to use with a new account.
It is possible to reverse an account closure during the first 30 days after an account is closed. If you realize you closed your account in error, 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.
