Uninstalling and Deleting a WordPress Plugin Manually

Uninstalling a WordPress plugin manually using FileZilla (or any FTP client) or a file manager plugin involves accessing the plugin’s directory and deleting the corresponding plugin folder. Here’s how to do it:

1. Uninstalling a Plugin via FileZilla (FTP)

Step 1: Connect to Your Website via FTP

  • Download and install FileZilla if you don’t already have it.
  • Open FileZilla and connect to your WordPress site using the FTP credentials provided by your hosting provider (hostname, username, password, port).

Step 2: Navigate to the Plugin Directory

  • Once connected, go to your WordPress installation’s root directory. This is usually in the public_html folder or a similarly named folder.
  • From there, navigate to the plugin folder by following this path:bashCopy codewp-content/plugins/

Step 3: Delete the Plugin Folder

  • Inside the plugins folder, you will see a list of all installed plugins. Each plugin has its own folder named after the plugin (e.g., contact-form-7, woocommerce, etc.).
  • Find the folder of the plugin you want to uninstall, right-click on it, and choose Delete.

Step 4: Verify Plugin Removal

  • Go back to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins. The plugin you deleted should no longer be listed there.

2. Uninstalling a Plugin via File Manager Plugin (cPanel or WordPress Plugin)

If you prefer to use a file manager within WordPress or through your hosting provider’s cPanel, you can follow these steps:

Step 1: Access the File Manager

  • If using cPanel: Log in to your hosting account and go to File Manager (usually found under the “Files” section).
  • If using a WordPress file manager plugin: Install and activate a file manager plugin (like “WP File Manager”). Once installed, navigate to it from the WordPress dashboard.

Step 2: Navigate to the Plugin Directory

  • In the file manager, navigate to the following path to find your plugins:

    wp-content/plugins/

Step 3: Delete the Plugin Folder

  • Find the plugin folder you wish to remove and delete it. This will immediately deactivate and uninstall the plugin. Example: For uninstalling and deleting WP Staging you would need to delete the folder /wp-content/plugins/wp-staging/

Step 4: Verify Removal

  • Go back to your WordPress dashboard to ensure the plugin has been successfully removed.

Important Notes:

  • Backup your site: Before deleting any plugin, it’s a good idea to create a backup of your website in case something goes wrong.
  • Residual Data: While deleting the plugin folder will remove the plugin, some plugins leave behind data in the database or other folders. To fully remove all traces of the plugin, you may need to clean up the database manually or use a plugin designed to handle database optimization.

Author: Rene Hermenau

I'm René Hermenau, founder of WP STAGING. I've been building WordPress infrastructure software since 2013 and writing code on GitHub since 2011. My repos live at github.com/rene-hermenau. WP STAGING started as a small developer project solving the same problem I kept hitting on client work: there was no fast, safe way to clone a WordPress site for staging or migration without breaking serialized data, file paths, or media references. Today we are a team of more than 10 people. The free plugin runs on hundreds of thousands of WordPress installations, and the Pro version powers backup, migration, and staging workflows for agencies, hosting platforms, and ecommerce stores. I'm still hands-on with the codebase and technical architecture. Our releases are built as a team, but many of the core architectural decisions are ones I helped design, test, and evolve over the years: how we handle large database exports, how we keep memory usage flat on multi-GB sites, and how we make migrations atomic against partially written tables. "When you touch code, leave it 10% better than before and write a test." If you're stuck on a WP STAGING question, the docs are at wp-staging.com/docs. If you hit a bug, file it on GitHub at github.com/wp-staging. Our team reads everything that lands there.