Media Cleaner
Media Cleaner: Clean your WordPress!
by Jordy Meow · WordPress.org page · Website
Media Cleaner has 90,000+ active installs on WordPress.org and 5,006,455 downloads all time. We have tracked it since September 4, 2026; download trends appear after 30 days of data. The last update was on August 17, 2026, tested up to WordPress 7.0.4.
Media Cleaner at a glance
Is Media Cleaner well maintained?
Features
The feature list from the plugin's own readme on WordPress.org, trimmed to the essentials.
- Filesystem Analysis: Scans your physical /uploads directory and matches it against the Media Library
- Extra support for complex plugins, such as ACF, Metabox, Divi Builder, Fusion Builder (Avada), WPBakery Page Builder, Visual Composer, Elementor, Beaver…
- Live Site Scan: Analyzes the online version of your website, potentially improving accuracy in some cases
- WP-CLI support: Allows you to run the plugin at a higher speed or automatically with direct server access (via SSH)
Media Cleaner reviews and ratings
769 reviews on WordPress.org, with the most recent ones as their authors posted them.
769 reviews
- 5★
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656
- 4★
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34
- 3★
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18
- 2★
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12
- 1★
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49
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Super efficient and to the point
Not that I wouldn't be comfortable running SQL queries... not... The trash feature is bonus and the plugin works as advertised
alex1savu -
Great plugin and great support
It's one of the few WP plugins worth paying for! Keep up the great work, Meow team!
mauriciojaramil -
did the job
I sell numerous one-off items, with lots of photos. This app cut out the pics of the sold items, clearing memory for fresh stock. It worked great. A request for the developer - it would be very useful if it could label photos in the Wordpress/Woocommerce media library when they have been linked to a product. As there are a lot of photos it would make it easier to pick out the relevant ones when uploading new products.
stillworking -
Amazing
Does exactly what it purports to....and does it really well
frisby67 -
Miles Ahead of the Other Solutions!
The user interface is very intuitive and miles ahead of the other solutions we tested. It has a level of polish that brings confidence in the plugin. It provides a plethora of warnings and notifications to keep you from shooting yourself in the foot. Always make a full backup first. The free version isn't aware of media references outside of the content field in the database, but I can't really knock it because that's what the pro version is for. This kind of software is essential to a long lived WordPress site, but it is very complex to build and maintain. If you use a third party page builder or have media in custom media boxes, you need this plugin. What I liked most was that the plugin doesn't just delete the files, it moves the files to a trash bin, and all actions can be undone easily. But always make a full backup first.
techiniku -
Saved Me From a Media Library Nightmare
Media Cleaner has been a huge help on my WordPress site. One of my other image optimization plugins went haywire while trying to improve CDN caching and serve different image formats for desktop and mobile browsers. It created around 20 extra image files for every image on my site. What started as an image performance tool turned into an exponential media library nightmare that was chewing through storage on my VPS. I was honestly dreading the alternatives. I thought I would need to open an SSH terminal, write custom database queries, manually sort through upload folders, or make a full backup and use third party tools to purge and restore everything. That process can get risky fast, especially on a site with a large media library. Media Cleaner saved my butt. It helped identify unused media entries, broken entries, and unnecessary files without making me blindly delete everything. The internal trash is one of the best parts because it lets you review the cleanup before anything is permanently removed. That safety net matters when you are dealing with thousands of images and do not want to accidentally remove something still in use. I also appreciate the smart scanning and compatibility support for WordPress content, WooCommerce, builders, galleries, image formats, thumbnails, WebP files, and more. The ability to see references and investigate why an item was flagged makes the process much less stressful. The Pro features, especially filesystem analysis, are very useful when your uploads directory contains files that no longer properly match the WordPress Media Library. I own the AI Engine lifetime license from Meow Apps as well, and I have used AI Engine Pro for a long time. I have consistently had a great experience with their plugins. Jordy and the Meow Apps team keep their products updated, add useful features, and respond quickly to security concerns with patches when needed. I completely trust this development team. Media Cleaner is powerful, so make a good ba
renegadez
Media Cleaner alternatives
Plugins that solve the same problem, ranked by how closely they overlap with Media Cleaner.
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Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900,000+ installs · 4.9 -
CleanTalk 200,000+ installs · 4.8 -
Google Language Translator 100,000+ installs · 4.7 -
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WP STAGING 100,000+ installs · 4.8
Details
Clean your WordPress! Eliminate unused and broken media files. For a faster, and better website.
The full description, screenshots and every review live on the WordPress.org page.
Tags
- clean
- files
- images
- library
- media
More from Jordy Meow
-
AI Engine 100,000+ installs -
Perfect Images 60,000+ installs -
Media File Renamer 40,000+ installs -
Gallery Custom Links 30,000+ installs
- Version
- 7.2.6
- Last updated
- Aug 17, 2026
- First published
- May 15, 2016
- Requires WordPress
- 6.0
- Tested up to
- 7.0.4
- Requires PHP
- 8.1
- Pricing
- Free on WordPress.org
Media Cleaner FAQ
What does Media Cleaner do?
According to its WordPress.org readme, Media Cleaner offers Filesystem Analysis: Scans your physical /uploads directory and matches it against the Media Library, Extra support for complex plugins, such as ACF, Metabox, Divi Builder, Fusion Builder (Avada), WPBakery Page Builder, Visual Composer, Elementor, Beaver, Live Site Scan: Analyzes the online version of your website, potentially improving accuracy in some cases and WP-CLI support: Allows you to run the plugin at a higher speed or automatically with direct server access (via SSH).
How many active installs does Media Cleaner have?
WordPress.org reports 90,000+ active installs for Media Cleaner as of September 7, 2026.
Is Media Cleaner still maintained?
Yes. The last release was on August 17, 2026 and it is tested up to WordPress 7.0.4.
Does Media Cleaner have good support?
On the WordPress.org forum, 3 of 5 recent support threads for Media Cleaner are marked resolved. That is the developer's free support; a paid version usually comes with its own channel.
Is Media Cleaner free?
Media Cleaner is free to install from WordPress.org. Many plugins also sell a paid version or add-ons.