Unbloater

by christophrado

View on WordPress.org

79 Quality Score

Active Installs

17/30

At roughly 5,000 active installs it is a niche utility, which is reflected in the modest 55/30 popularity component.

Update Freshness

25/25

It was updated on 2026-06-12 and is tested against WordPress 7.0, which keeps the maintenance score at a perfect 100/25.

User Rating

15/15

A perfect 100/100 from 17 ratings is impressive, though the small sample size means the rating is not yet statistically battle-tested.

Support Health

8/15

Only one support thread exists, and it is resolved, which is solid but leaves the support health component at 50/15 because there is not enough volume to judge responsiveness under load.

WP Compatibility

15/15

With a minimum of WordPress 4.2 and PHP 7.2 and explicit testing against WordPress 7.0, the compatibility component earns a full 100/15.

Scores higher than 72% of indexed plugins

About

Remove unnecessary code, nags and bloat from WordPress core and certain plugins.

Active Installs 5k+

Rating ★★★★★ 5/5

Last Updated 2026-06-12 9:48am GMT

Requires WordPress 4.2+

Tested Up To 7.0.4

Requires PHP 7.2+

✓ No known vulnerabilities

What It Does

Unbloater strips WordPress core of dashboard widgets, footer credits, update nags, and other interface clutter, and it extends similar cleanup to compatible plugins. It works through a toggle-based admin screen so you can enable or disable each removal individually without editing code. The result is a quieter admin and a marginally smaller code footprint on the frontend.

Who It's For

This plugin is best for developers and agency builders who maintain multiple WordPress sites and want a quick way to silence repetitive nags and unneeded core widgets without writing custom mu-plugins. It is also useful for client sites where the admin should look tidy and on-brand rather than full of WordPress promos. Hobbyists running a single personal blog with no client deliverables will see limited benefit.

Who Should Skip It

If you only run one small site and do not mind the default WordPress admin, the plugin adds another settings screen to manage for very little payoff. Sites that depend on specific core widgets or update reminders for security patching should also avoid it, because disabling those reminders can leave non-technical administrators unaware of pending updates.

The Bottom Line

Unbloater is a tidy, well-maintained utility that does one thing well, and its 79.07/100 quality score reflects solid engineering held back by a small user base. It is worth installing on agency or developer-managed sites that need a clean admin, but casual site owners will not notice enough difference to justify another plugin. Keep it on a short list if you build or maintain WordPress sites for others.

Choose this when your priority is GDPR cookie compliance banners rather than general admin cleanup.

Advanced Database Cleaner 85/100

Pick this if the real bloat problem is in your database (revisions, transients, orphaned tables) instead of the admin interface.

WP-Sweep 84/100

Pick this for a focused, well-known database sweeper with a much larger install base.

Media Cleaner 83/100

Choose this when unused media files in the Media Library are the clutter you actually need removed.

Simple Banner 83/100

Pick this if you want to add announcement bars rather than remove existing ones, making it a complementary tool.