Andreas Ostheimer

<p><strong>Delete & Disable Comments</strong> gives WordPress administrators a focused screen for comment cleanup and comment shutdown tasks. Open it under <strong>Tools <span aria-hidden="true" class="wp-exclude-emoji">→</span> Delete & Disable Comments</strong>.</p>
<p>Many older sites collect spam comments, unused discussion threads, or imported comment data that no longer belongs on the site. This plugin keeps those maintenance actions in one place without asking you to edit the database manually.</p>
<h4>Why use it?</h4>
<ul>
<li>Delete all comments marked as spam after confirmation.</li>
<li>Delete all comments after confirmation.</li>
<li>Download a CSV backup before deleting all comments.</li>
<li>Disable comments site-wide with a single toggle.</li>
<li>Close comments and pings on existing posts when disable mode is active.</li>
<li>Use a standard WordPress admin screen available only to administrators.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Common use cases</h4>
<ul>
<li>Remove accumulated spam comments from a site.</li>
<li>Prepare a site that no longer accepts discussion.</li>
<li>Clean comments before a redesign, migration, or client handover.</li>
<li>Download a CSV copy of comment data before permanent deletion.</li>
<li>Close open comment status on existing posts without triggering <code>save_post</code> hooks.</li>
</ul>
<h4>What Disable Comments does</h4>
<p>The <strong>Disable Comments</strong> toggle changes the site’s comment behavior. When enabled, it sets WordPress defaults for new content to closed, prevents new comment and ping submissions, hides front-end comment output, removes comment-related UI, blocks comment REST endpoints, unregisters comment-related blocks, and removes the recent comments widget.</p>
<p>It does <strong>not</strong> delete existing comments. It also does not run a scheduled cleanup. If existing posts still have open comment or ping status, the admin screen shows a maintenance notice with a <strong>Close all comments now</strong> button. That button performs one direct SQL update to close those fields and avoids per-post <code>save_post</code> hooks, which is useful for sites using WPML, Yoast SEO, Polylang, or other plugins that listen to post updates.</p>
<h4>Translations</h4>
<p>The plugin ships with gettext translation files for broad EU language support, including German and additional EU locales. WordPress loads the matching <code>.mo</code> file automatically based on the site language. Text domain: <code>delete-disable-comments</code>.</p>


Delete & Disable Comments

Clean up spam, delete all comments with CSV backup, or disable comments site-wide from one admin screen.

Themeisle

Alexander Kovalev

Creativemotion

webcraftic

<p><strong>Disable comments</strong> across your entire site or only for selected post types. This removes comment forms from the front end, hides comment-related menus and widgets in the dashboard, and disables pingbacks and trackbacks.</p>
<p><strong>Delete comments</strong> in bulk with a simple cleanup tool. You can remove all comments at once or filter them by post type or comment status.</p>
<p><strong>Manage links in comments</strong> by disabling the website field from the comment form for cleaner, safer comment submissions. Replace external links in comments with safe span tags so they no longer act as real, followable links.</p>
<h3>Key Features</h3>
<p><strong>Disable comments</strong><br />
– Disable comments globally or by post type<br />
– Hide all comment-related admin menus, dashboard widgets and settings<br />
– Disable pingbacks and trackbacks<br />
– Disable comments in RSS/Atom feeds</p>
<p><strong>Delete comments</strong><br />
– Delete all comments in WordPress at once<br />
– Delete comments by post type<br />
– Delete comments by comment status (spam, unapproved, trash)</p>
<p><strong>Manage links in comments</strong><br />
– Replace all external comment links with span tags via JavaScript, removing their SEO impact while keeping the text visible to users.<br />
– Remove the website/URL field from the comment form</p>
<p>All features can be enabled or disabled safely, and comment disabling does not remove existing comments unless you choose to delete them.</p>
<h3>Why use this plugin?</h3>
<p>WordPress still loads comment features even when you don’t use them, which can clutter your dashboard, expose unused functionality, and create unnecessary moderation work. This plugin gives you complete control over WordPress comments, whether you want to disable comments globally, bulk delete comments, or just manage them more efficiently.</p>
<h3>Advanced Configuration</h3>
<p>To prevent the plugin from replacing your theme’s comment template, define the following constant:</p>
<pre><code>define('DISABLE_COMMENTS_REMOVE_COMMENTS_TEMPLATE', false);
</code></pre>
<p>You can add this definition either to your <code>wp-config.php</code> file or to your theme’s <code>functions.php</code> file.</p>
<h3>Support</h3>
<p>We’re here to help. Feel free to open a new thread on the <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/comments-plus/" rel="ugc">Support Forum</a>.</p>
<h3>Useful Resources</h3>
<ul>
<li>If you like this plugin, you’re sure to love <a href="https://themeisle.com/wordpress-plugins/" rel="nofollow ugc">our other plugins</a> as well.</li>
<li>Our blog is a great place to <a href="https://themeisle.com/blog/" rel="nofollow ugc">learn more about WordPress</a>.</li>
<li>Get the most out of your website with our helpful <a href="https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmRasCVwuvpSep2MOsIoE0ncO9JE3FcKP" rel="nofollow ugc">WordPress YouTube Tutorials</a>.</li>
</ul>


Disable Comments & Delete All Comments

Disable comments globally on all posts or certain post types. Delete all comments at once, by post type or comment status. Manage links in comments.

Delete & Disable Comments vs Disable Comments & Delete All Comments