As of April 2026, WP Core Update Cleaner is a WordPress core plugin with 900 active installations and a 4.5/5 rating from 4 reviews. It has been downloaded 9.3K+ times in total. Requires WordPress 3.3+ and PHP false+. Available on WordPress.org since 2014. Last updated 2 years ago — may have compatibility concerns. Downloads are down 42% this week. Top alternative: WP Downgrade | Specific Core Version.
When WordPress is updated, it re-installs wp-config-sample.php, readme files, and license files even though you may have deleted them before. This plugin automatically removes these files when WordPress is manually or automatically updated. It also removes these files when activating the plugin for the first time. Removing these files is not mandatory, but you may want to if you don’t want them to expose your WordPress version or if you just like to keep things neat and clean.
Files that are removed:
You may not want to install this plugin if you’re using a plugin or service to scans your site to verify checksums on the core files. When the removed fil…
It makes life much easier by doing it’s job perfectly.
Thank you for your plugin development.
This plugin does what it says. Was using a read.me plugin remover on my sites. This is even better.
Second the thought of a future update to add removal install.php.
Glad I found this! It’s so annoying to have to remember to take these little steps every time WordPress core updates. It’s a real time-saver, so long as automatic updates are disabled. This plugin works perfectly with manual updates. However, with automatic updates, the readme.html file isn’t removed.
Clean code which does what it says it does.
Needs one improvement for 5 out of 5: removal of wp-admin/install.php
An added star if they gave it a UI with a customizable list of files
and directories to remove.
| WordPress | 3.3+ requiredTested up to 6.5.8 |
| PHP | false+ required |
Plugin data sourced from WordPress.org. Analysis and metrics by PluginSift.