How to Reset a WordPress Site (With or Without Plugin)

At some point in your WordPress journey, you may find yourself needing a fresh start. Maybe your site’s performance is lagging, a redesign didn’t go as planned, or your website has been compromised. Whatever the reason, resetting your WordPress site can return it to its default state—just like restoring a smartphone to factory settings.

In this guide, we’ll explore why and when you might want to reset WordPress, when not to reset it, and how to do it safely using a plugin or manually.

Why Reset a WordPress Site?

Here are a few common scenarios where resetting your WordPress site might make sense:

1. Repurposing the Website
   Planning a full overhaul repurposing your site? Rather than deleting elements one by one, resetting WordPress can be quicker to get things rolling.
2. You’re Experimenting or Practicing
   If you’ve been testing themes, plugins, or page layouts on a sandbox site, and things got messy, a reset can give you a clean slate. This is especially useful for developers or learners who want to start fresh without undoing every change manually.
3. You’ve Been Hacked
   If your site has been compromised and potentially contains malicious code or spammy content, a reset is a safe and fast way to regain control and start over however this does delete all data so consider security tools and/or services first.

When Not to Reset WordPress

Resetting WordPress isn’t always the right move. Here are some cases where you might want to reconsider:

1. Redesigning Site or Section
   If you just want to change your theme or tweak parts of your site, there’s no need to reset everything. You can switch themes, optimize content, and clean up plugins without losing your existing structure.
2. Migrating to a New Server or Domain
   Website migrations involve moving files and databases instead of resetting. Consider taking a backup, either utilizing a tool or manually moving files and database, which you can use to restore at your new destination.
3. Deleting Entire Site
   If you want to delete your website completely, you’d instead want to delete all data from your hosting server to ensure no one else can browse or gain access.

Back Up Your Website First

Important: Resetting your site will erase everything—posts, pages, themes, plugins, and settings. Before doing anything, back up your WordPress site using a plugin like UpdraftPlus or manually through your hosting provider or cPanel. Review our article on How to Backup WordPress for a guide on taking a auto or manual backup.

How to Reset WordPress (With a Plugin)

For most users, resetting with a plugin is the easiest and fastest method. One of the best tools for this is the WP Reset plugin.

Install and activate WP Reset

• In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins >> Add New, search for “WP Reset,” and install then activate it.
• Navigate to “Tools” >> WP Reset
• Scroll to the “Site Reset” section
  
  
  
• Type “reset” into the confirmation field
• Click “Reset Site” and confirm the reset in the popup that appears

Once the reset complete, your dashboard will reload and your site will be reset to default.

(Optional) Delete Themes and/or Plugins:

WP Reset only deactivates themes and plugins by default. To remove them completely:

• From your dashboard left side meun, go to “Tools” >> WP Reset then go to the “Tools” tab
  
  
  
  
• For themes: click “Delete Themes” then confirm
• For plugins: click “Delete Plugins”, then confirm

You now have a completely blank WordPress installation ready for a fresh build.

How to Reset WordPress Manually (Without a Plugin)

If you prefer more control, or just want to learn how things work under the hood—you can reset your WordPress site manually by deleting the database and deleting the folder containing all user files.

Manual Reset Steps:

Delete the Database via cPanel:

• Log in to your hosting cPanel
• Go to MySQL Databases
• Find your WordPress database and click Delete
• Under Create New Database, make a new one with the same name or a new one

Assign your existing user to the new database and apply all privileges

Delete Files via File Manager or FTP:

Access your website’s file space, whether its through your web hosting provider’s file manager tool within their dashboard or through FTP:

• Go to File Manager >> public_html (or htdocs, where your site lives
• Delete the “wp-content” folder (this completely removes all themes, plugins, and media)

Rerun WordPress Installation:

• In your browser, visit: yourdomain.com/wp-admin/install.php (replace yourdomain.com with your own URL)
• Fill out the form with your new site details
• Click Install WordPress and log in

Your site is now reset and ready to rebuild.

Starting Fresh With WordPress

Resetting your WordPress site can be the cleanest way to fix problems, overhaul your design, or start from scratch. Whether you use a plugin like WP Reset or go the manual route, make sure you back up your site first.

This process gives you a fresh foundation to rebuild your website just the way you want it—with optimized performance, modern design, and a clean setup.