WordPress Limit Revisions: Speed Up Your Site in Under 5 Minutes

Those helpful WordPress revisions have a quiet downside that can sneak up on you.

With every saved draft, your database gets a little heavier, and your site gets a little slower. Before you know it, you’re left wondering why everything feels so clunky.

But that sluggishness isn’t something you have to live with; a simple WordPress limit revisions setting is the key to keeping your site light and fast.

TL;DR: Use a plugin like Companion Revision Manager to limit your WordPress revisions. If you prefer not to install an extra plugin, you can edit the wp-config.php file instead. Both options offer effective ways to manage revisions based on your preferences. 

You might be wondering why WordPress doesn’t just combine small edits automatically. It’s a great question, and if it worked that way, we wouldn’t need this guide.

As it stands, it saves a new copy with every click, which means we have two straightforward methods to manage it: tweaking your wp-config.php file or using a plugin. We’ll walk you through both right now.

A) Use a plugin

Let’s start with the simplest and safest route. If you’d rather not touch any code, using a plugin is the best way to manage post revisions. Before you begin, it’s always a good idea to have a recent backup of your site, just in case.

A great, no-fuss plugin for this is Companion Revision Manager.

First, install and activate the plugin. You’ll need to install and activate the Companion Revision Manager plugin from your WordPress dashboard to get started.

Next, locate the plugin’s settings. Once the plugin is active, find its settings page. You can usually find this in the menu on the left side of your dashboard. This is the control panel for all your revision settings.

Finally, set your limit and save your changes On the settings page, enter the number of revisions you want to keep for each post in the limit box. A number between 3 and 5 is a great starting point.

This plugin also lets you delete existing revisions. Note that this action is irreversible. Once you decide to delete those old revisions, they’re gone for good. Make sure this is what you want before taking the plunge.

B) Edit your wp-config.php file

If you’re comfortable editing your site’s files, you can set a revision limit directly in your wp-config.php file. This is a powerful method that doesn’t require a plugin.

⚠️ Note: This method is for more advanced users. A small mistake in the wp-config.php file can crash your website. Please proceed with caution and always create a full backup of your site before you begin. A backup ensures you can quickly restore everything if something goes wrong.

First, you’ll need to connect to your server via FTP. Use an FTP client like Cyberduck or FileZilla to connect to your site. You can get your FTP login credentials from your hosting provider. Once connected, navigate to your site’s root directory, which is usually named public_html or www.

Next, locate and open the wp-config.php file. Inside the root directory, you will find the wp-config.php file. Download a copy to your computer as an extra precaution, then open the file on the server using a text editor like Visual Studio Code or Notepad++.

If WordPress revisions are disabled, you can easily enable WordPress revisions by adding the following line of code to your wp-config.php file: define('WP_POST_REVISIONS', true);

Now, add the revision limit code snippet. Scroll down to the bottom of the file until you find the line that says, “That’s all, stop editing! Happy publishing. Just above this line, add the following code: define('WP_POST_REVISIONS', 5);

This simple line tells WordPress to save only the last 5 revisions for any post or page. You can change the number 5 to whatever works best for you. If you find that revisions are disabled entirely, you can turn them back on by using this code instead: define('WP_POST_REVISIONS', true);

Then, save the file and upload it back to the server. Save your changes in the text editor. Your FTP client will then ask if you want to upload the modified file back to the server. Click yes to overwrite the original file with your updated version.

Finally, verify that the changes are working To confirm everything is working correctly, go to an existing post and edit it a few more times than the limit you set. You should see that WordPress now only stores your specified number of revisions.

Keep in mind this method only limits revisions going forward; it does not delete the revisions already stored in your WordPress database. To clean up old revisions, you can use a database cleanup plugin like Advanced Database Cleaner. Just remember to take another full site backup before running any cleanup tools.

You can nip this problem in the bud by tweaking your wp-config.php file. 

⚠️ Warning: Please be aware that we do not recommend this method because it carries the risk of completely crashing your website if something goes wrong. Edit the wp-config file with extreme caution. Always backup your site before making any edits to core WordPress files for easy recovery.

Note that this method only limits future revisions. This change will not delete existing revisions.

The case for WordPress revisions

WordPress’s revision or version history lets you revert to earlier edits. Think of it like an activity log for your posts. Every time you make a change to a post or page, WordPress saves a complete copy of the content as a revision. Therefore WordPress revisions enable you to revert to previous versions of a post when needed. 

WordPress limit revisions. Why do it?

WordPress revisions are helpful for restoring older content, but the system has a significant downside. It saves a full copy of your post with every minor change, from fixing a typo to adding a sentence. Over time, these copies pile up, creating a bloated database that slows your entire site down.

By adjusting your revision limits, you keep your database lean. This directly enhances site performance, simplifies your content management, and makes WordPress backups far more efficient. Ultimately, it ensures a faster, smoother experience for everyone using your site.

If you want a detailed history of every change without the database clutter, a dedicated backup plugin is a better choice. A tool like BlogVault, for example, gives you secure backups, so your content is always protected without leading to a slow site.

Parting thoughts

Effectively managing revisions on WordPress is crucial for optimizing your site’s performance and user experience. By limiting the number of revisions, you can prevent database bloat and maintain a lean, responsive website.

While having a track record of all edits ever made is great, most sites will not require that level of a paper trail. For those that do, use a backup plugin like BlogVault instead—all the pros and none of the cons. 

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