Learn how to disable or limit WordPress revisions to improve performance and save database space. This guide provides easy steps to modify your wp-config.php file for better WordPress optimization.
Every time you save a post, WordPress quietly stashes a full copy as a revision. That’s the safety net that lets you undo a bad edit. But on a busy site those copies pile up in the database, and after a few hundred posts you’re carrying thousands of rows you’ll never look at again.
You can control that with one line in wp-config.php. Here’s how to disable revisions entirely or, better for most people, cap them at a sane number.
Step 1: Open your wp-config.php file
It lives in the root of your WordPress install. Reach it over FTP/SFTP, your host’s file manager, or cPanel. Back up the file before you touch it, and add your change above the line that reads /* That's all, stop editing! */ so it takes effect before WordPress loads.
Step 2: Disable WordPress revisions
To stop WordPress saving any new revisions at all, add this:
// Disable WordPress Revisions define( 'WP_POST_REVISIONS', false );
Honest warning: this throws away your undo button. If you paste over a paragraph and hit save, the old version is gone. We don’t recommend disabling revisions outright unless you have another versioning workflow in place.
Step 3: Limit the number of revisions instead
The better middle ground for most sites is to keep a few and drop the rest. Set the constant to a whole number:
// Limit WordPress Post Revisions - recommended settings ( minimum: 2 | maximum: 5 ) define( 'WP_POST_REVISIONS', 3 );
Now WordPress keeps the three most recent revisions per post and prunes older ones as you save. A value between 2 and 5 keeps a real undo history without letting the table balloon.
One thing this won’t do
Changing the constant only affects revisions going forward. Revisions already sitting in your database stay there. To clear those out you need to delete them separately, either with a query against the wp_posts table or a WP-CLI command like wp post delete targeting the revision post type. Take a full database backup first.
That’s the whole job: one constant decides whether WordPress hoards every draft or keeps a tidy few.
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