Clean unused shortcodes
Scan your site for orphaned shortcodes and remove them safely from post content and excerpts.
The facts
- Rating
- 4.4★ from 7
- Active installs
- 300+
- Price
- Free
- Last updated
- 21 May 2026
- Added
- Sep 2022
- Requires WP
- 5.8
- Tested up to
- WP 7.0.4
- Requires PHP
- 7.4
- Downloads
- 3,481
Our analysis
AI-assistedClean Unused Shortcodes is a WordPress plugin designed to help you identify and remove leftover shortcode tags from deactivated plugins, themes, or page builders. It allows you to scan your content by public post types and provides a clear overview of unused, used, and registered shortcodes.
The plugin features a user-friendly interface under Tools → Clean unused shortcodes, where you can review results, preview changes, and perform both individual and bulk cleanups. It is particularly useful for site administrators and editors looking to tidy up legacy content and ensure a clean, functional site.
Best for: This plugin is suitable for WordPress site administrators and editors who need to clean up shortcode remnants from deactivated plugins.
What it does well
- ✓Identifies and removes unused shortcode tags
- ✓Scans various public post types
- ✓Provides dry-run preview before changes
- ✓Allows for bulk cleanup with progress tracking
- ✓Gutenberg-aware, removes empty shortcode blocks
Where it falls short
- •Requires PHP 7.4 or higher
- •Limited information on specific compatibility with themes/plugins
Verdict
Clean Unused Shortcodes offers a practical solution for managing leftover shortcodes, making it a useful tool for maintaining a tidy WordPress site.
From the developer
Amr Abdelkarem's own description of Clean unused shortcodes, lightly tidied.
Clean unused shortcodes helps you find and remove shortcode tags left behind by old plugins, themes, or page builders — without hunting through posts one by one.
The tool lives under Tools → Clean unused shortcodes. Choose which public post types to scan, review the results, preview changes, then clean individual shortcodes or run a bulk cleanup.
Highlights
- Scan by post type — posts, pages, and other public types (media/attachments excluded).
- Three result tabs — unused (unregistered) shortcodes, used (registered and found), and registered but unused.
- Content and excerpts — scans both fields and shows where each shortcode appears.
- Batched operations — scan and clean large sites in chunks with a progress bar and cancel option.
- Incremental scan — optionally rescan only posts modified since the last run.
- Dry-run preview — see before/after snippets per post before saving.
- Protected shortcodes — allowlist tags you never want removed (e.g.
caption,embed). - Skip on clean all — exclude specific shortcodes from bulk cleanup.
- Gutenberg-aware — removes empty
wp:shortcodeblocks after the inner shortcode is stripped. - Hyphenated names — detects shortcodes like
[my-slider]as well as[gallery].
Who is this for?
- Sites that deactivated plugins but still have
[shortcode]tags in content. - Editors who want a clear list of where each tag appears before deleting.
- Administrators cleaning up legacy content on staging before going live.
Always back up your database (or test on staging) before running bulk clean operations.