Content Cleaner
The Content Cleaner plugin is an all-in-one tool for automatically removing non-printable characters from content and title fields. After building WordPress sites for many years, one problem that consistently plagues my…
Consider an alternative
Content Cleaner shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 40+ sites and was last updated 10 years ago, and scores 24/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (40+ active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
- No update in 9 years
- Only tested up to WordPress 4.7 (latest is 7.1)
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Content Cleaner stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| clean | >100 |
| non-printable characters | #36 |
| sanitize | >100 |
| unicode | >100 |
| utf-8 | >100 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
About Content Cleaner
From the official readme · v1.0Description
The Content Cleaner plugin is an all-in-one tool for automatically removing non-printable characters from content and
title fields. After building WordPress sites for many years, one problem that consistently plagues my clients (especially
the less tech-savvy ones) is non-printable characters in their content or in their titles. This plugin works by running
a regular expression find and replace to clean up post content, post titles, and even Advanced Custom Fields. It’s
extremely lightweight and works without any setup required.
Installation
- Upload the plugin files to the
/wp-content/plugins/content-cleanerdirectory, or install the plugin through the WordPress plugins screen directly. - Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ screen in WordPress
For developers
Is this your plugin? Show off the numbers.
Add a live badge to your site, docs or GitHub README. It updates on its own — no account needed.
Best Content Cleaner alternatives
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FAQ
Content Cleaner: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Sep 28, 2026
Is Content Cleaner free?
Yes. Content Cleaner is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Content Cleaner safe to use in 2026?
Content Cleaner shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 40+ sites and was last updated 10 years ago, and scores 24/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Content Cleaner?
Content Cleaner is active on 40+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 1,632 times since it launched in February 2017. It was downloaded 79 times in the last 30 days.
Does Content Cleaner work with WordPress 7.1?
Content Cleaner is officially tested up to WordPress 4.7.37, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
When was Content Cleaner last updated?
The latest version, 1.0, was released on February 15, 2017 (10 years ago).
Who makes Content Cleaner?
Content Cleaner is developed and maintained by colin3440.
What are the best alternatives to Content Cleaner?
The most popular alternatives to Content Cleaner are Advanced Database Cleaner (100K+ installs), Media Cleaner: Clean your W… (90K+ installs) and Advanced WordPress Reset (10K+ installs).
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