Database Cleaner is a plugin designed to clean your WordPress server database. Databases only contain textual entries created by WordPress or third-party plugins. If you are looking to clean files or media from your server, you may be interested in Media Cleaner instead.

With WordPress, a lot of data needs to be stored — including posts, user information, and plugin-generated data. This results in a large amount of textual content, which can occupy significant space on your database disk. Database Cleaner helps you understand which elements are using space, enables automated cleaning, and lets you manage your database efficiently.

There are two modes you can use: Easy and Expert mode, which you can toggle from the header in the plugin settings.

While using Easy mode, you will be presented with less information. You will be able to check the WordPress Core data and the Tables tab, which shows the different tables declared across your database. In Expert mode, you will also be able to access Options, Metadata, Cron Jobs, and set up custom queries.

You can see the Auto Clean button next to the toggle. By default, you should be all set, you just need to click it!

Across the different tabs (see Cleaning Sections), you have the option to change the mode for each item. This influences how the Auto Clean feature works. For instance, you could set a specific post type to Auto so it gets emptied automatically. Then, simply click the Auto Clean button, and it will process everything set to Auto.