Find and safely remove unused media files from your WordPress Media Library. 100% free with no paywalls. Quarantine-first approach, page builder support, WooCommerce, and custom fields scanning included.
Files move to quarantine before deletion. Restore any file with one click within 30 days. No permanent deletions without your explicit approval.
Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder, WPBakery, and Bricks support included in the free version. Unlike competitors who charge $39+/year for this.
Scans product images, galleries, variation images, and category thumbnails. Built-in WooCommerce HPOS and Blocks compatibility declared.
Images, videos, audio, and documents. Filter by type, sort by size, set minimum file size threshold to find only large unused files.
Everything you need to find and remove unused media files safely. 100% free, no paywalls.
Scans post content, post meta, options table, widgets, and serialized data. Finds media references in Gutenberg blocks, shortcodes, and HTML.
Files move to quarantine folder instead of immediate deletion. 30-day retention (configurable). One-click restore. Auto-cleanup after retention period.
Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder, WPBakery, Bricks - all free. Detects images in widgets, backgrounds, templates, and dynamic content.
Product featured images, galleries, variation images, category thumbnails. Respects HPOS and Cart/Checkout Blocks compatibility.
Filter by type (images, videos, audio, documents). Sort by size, date, or name. Set minimum file size threshold. Per-type storage breakdown.
Export list of unused files to CSV. Share with clients, create reports, or review offline before cleanup.
ACF, Meta Box, Pods, JetEngine, Toolset field detection. Scans image, gallery, file, and repeater fields for media references.
Find media references hardcoded in theme PHP and CSS files. Prevents false positives from theme-specific images.
Run scans via WP-Cron so you can leave the page while scanning. No need to keep your browser open for large libraries.
Most media cleanup plugins lock essential features behind paywalls. Tidy Media includes everything free.
| Feature | Tidy Media Free | Media Cleaner Free | Media Hygiene |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Scanning | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Quarantine System | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Elementor Support | ✓ Free | Pro Only ($39/yr) | ✗ |
| Divi Support | ✓ Free | Pro Only ($39/yr) | ✗ |
| Beaver Builder | ✓ Free | Pro Only ($39/yr) | ✗ |
| WooCommerce | ✓ Free | ✓ | Pro Only ($24/yr) |
| Video/Audio Support | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Per-Type Breakdown | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Min File Size Filter | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| CSV Export | ✓ | Pro Only | ✗ |
| Custom Fields (ACF, etc.) | ✓ Free | Pro Only ($39/yr) | Pro Only ($24/yr) |
| Background Scanning | ✓ | Pro Only | ✗ |
| Theme Files Scanning | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
Everything included. No pro version, no feature gating, no upsells. What competitors charge $39/yr for, we give away.
Everything you need to know about cleaning your Media Library safely.
The scanner works in two phases. First, it collects every media reference across your entire site: post content, featured images, page builder data, WooCommerce products, custom fields, widgets, site options, and theme template files. Then it compares every file in your Media Library against that list. If a file was not found in any scanned location, it is flagged as unused.
No. Tidy Media uses a quarantine-first approach. Files are moved to a protected quarantine folder — never permanently deleted directly from scan results. Every destructive action (quarantine, delete, empty quarantine) requires explicit confirmation through a styled modal dialog. Permanent deletion warnings clearly state "This action CANNOT be undone."
When you quarantine a file, the original file and all its thumbnails are moved to wp-content/uploads/tidy-media-quarantine/. A metadata file is saved alongside it with everything needed for a full restore. The quarantine directory is protected with .htaccess rules. Files stay in quarantine for 30 days (configurable, 1-365 days) before automatic cleanup. You can restore any file with one click at any time before it expires.
The file and all its thumbnails are moved back to their exact original location. If the WordPress attachment post still exists, the quarantine marker is removed and the file reappears in the Media Library. If the attachment post was deleted while the file was quarantined, a new one is automatically created with the original metadata. For unregistered files, the file is simply placed back on disk.
Yes! Tidy Media includes full support for Elementor (widgets, backgrounds, templates, global widgets), Divi (modules, backgrounds, Theme Builder templates), Beaver Builder (modules, row backgrounds, saved templates), WPBakery (shortcode elements), and Bricks (elements, templates). All free — unlike competitors who lock this behind a $39/yr paywall.
Yes. Tidy Media scans product featured images, product gallery images, variation images, category/taxonomy thumbnails, downloadable product files, attribute images, brand images, bundle images, and the WooCommerce placeholder image. HPOS and Cart/Checkout Blocks compatibility is declared.
Yes. Tidy Media supports five custom field plugins: ACF (image, file, gallery, post object fields — including repeaters, groups, flexible content, and option pages), Meta Box (image, file, video fields), Pods (relationship table and postmeta), JetEngine (media/gallery fields), and Toolset Types (image, file, audio, video fields). Media in post meta, term meta, user meta, and options are all checked.
The Theme Files scan source walks your active theme (and parent theme) PHP and CSS files looking for hardcoded URLs pointing to wp-content/uploads/. This catches images referenced directly in templates that would not appear in the database. Useful for catching references that other cleanup plugins miss entirely.
Deep Scan searches inside serialized data in post meta and site options. Many plugins (especially page builders) store media references in serialized arrays that a basic scan would miss. It's enabled by default and adds minimal scan time. Recommended for all sites, especially those with page builders or custom field plugins.
Unregistered files exist on disk in wp-content/uploads/ but have no entry in the WordPress Media Library database. They're invisible to WordPress and take up space silently. Common sources: backup plugins (UpdraftPlus, BackWPup), image optimization backups (ShortPixel, Smush), WooCommerce logs, form uploads, cache files, and files left by uninstalled plugins. Each file is tagged with its detected origin to help you decide what to do with it.
When you upload an image, WordPress generates multiple sizes (thumbnail, medium, large, etc.). Tidy Media tracks the original — if the original is used anywhere, all its generated thumbnails are automatically considered used too. When quarantining or restoring, the original and all thumbnails are always moved together. Thumbnails are marked with a green "safe" indicator since they can be regenerated.
It depends on the number of media files and posts on your site. A site with 1,000 media files typically takes 1-3 minutes. Large sites with 10,000+ files may take 10-30 minutes. The scan runs in small batches and monitors server resources (memory, execution time), automatically pausing if limits are approached. You can pause/resume at any time, or run in the background via WP-Cron.
Yes. The scanner runs in small batches with resource monitoring — it will not crash your server. The quarantine system ensures no file is permanently deleted without explicit action. All destructive operations require confirmation through modal dialogs. Permanent delete confirmations are extra prominent, stating clearly that the action cannot be undone. We recommend a backup before your first cleanup as standard practice.
Yes. The scanner cannot detect: images referenced only in custom plugin code (only theme files are scanned, not plugin files), media in external CSS or JavaScript files, images loaded dynamically via custom PHP or AJAX, media used in email templates or external systems, and Open Graph images set by SEO plugins (Yoast, RankMath). This is precisely why quarantine exists — always quarantine first and verify your site before permanently deleting.
Quarantined files remain safely on disk when the plugin is deactivated — nothing is deleted. If you uninstall (delete) the plugin and have "Delete all data" enabled in Settings, quarantined files and all plugin data will be permanently removed. If that option is off, your quarantined files stay intact even after uninstall.
The plugin scans the current site only. On multisite installations, activate it per-site and run scans on each site individually. Each site's scan and quarantine operate independently.
Yes. No pro version, no paywalls, no feature gating, no upsells. Everything is included: all 5 page builders, WooCommerce, all 5 custom field plugins, theme file scanning, background scanning, quarantine with restore, unregistered file detection, CSV export, and resource monitoring. What Media Cleaner charges $39/yr for, Tidy Media gives you free.
Media Cleaner (90,000+ installs) locks page builder support, WooCommerce, and background scanning behind a $39/yr Pro paywall. Tidy Media includes all of these for free, plus custom fields support (ACF, Meta Box, Pods, JetEngine, Toolset), unregistered file detection with origin tagging, server resource monitoring, and styled confirmation dialogs for every destructive action.
Download Tidy Media free and start reclaiming storage today. No credit card required.