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WordPress database size and tables

WordPress keeps everything except files in a database: posts and pages, settings, users, comments, and the data of most plugins. The database size is how much space all of that takes up, the data itself plus the indexes that help the database find entries quickly.

Why it matters

Section titled “Why it matters”

The size matters for backups, for moving the site and for the limits of your hosting plan. A large database isn’t automatically slow: a well-indexed table with a million rows can answer quickly. But a database that grows fast, or a single table that keeps growing, is a sign that something is collecting data, and some queries on very large tables get slower.

Which tables are the largest says more than the total. WordPress’s own tables hold the content; tables added by plugins often hold logs, statistics or form entries.

What influences it

Section titled “What influences it”

WordPress: The most common cause of an unexpectedly large database is a plugin that keeps a log or statistics, such as visitor counts, security events, emails sent or form entries, and never deletes old rows. Shops store orders and their details. Page builders and post revisions store large copies of content. Settings and temporary data in the options table, including expired transients, add to it, as do plugins that leave their tables behind when they’re deleted.

Server: How the database server stores tables and indexes affects the reported size. Space that was freed by deleting rows isn’t always given back right away; see database overhead.

In Permo

Section titled “In Permo”

The Database size card is in System info, tab Database, under Database server, with the note Tables of this site and a line of the last 3 months below it, one value per day. The card gives context; Permo doesn’t rate it. The list under Tables shows the largest tables with their rows and size, once you select Check tables; the number of tables has a card of its own, see database tables.

Permo records the size once a day: the data and indexes of all tables that start with this site’s table prefix, including those of plugins and of Permo itself. That’s not necessarily the whole database, which can hold other sites too. One limit: if a second installation uses a prefix that starts with this site’s prefix, such as wp_shop_ next to wp_, its tables count as well.

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