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Smart Archive Page Remove

By Peter Raschendorfer

Site Administration & Utilities / URL Redirects & 301 Management

Reviewed by Omar Dabbas

Trusted WordPress expert with 20+ years of experience evaluating plugins for the WP ecosystem.

Smart Archive Page Remove Review - In-Depth Analysis

Remove unwanted Archive Pages from your blog. This plugin helps manage and delete automatically generated archive pages in WordPress.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

6.9/10

User Rating

4.9/5 (based on 59+ reviews)

Active Installations

6,000+

Update Frequency

Below Average It is calculated using the weighted average of same category plugins.

Security Score

1 / 10 (Very Low Risk) It is calculated using the weighted average of all versions.

What It Does

The Smart Archive Page Remove Plugin allows you to remove Archive Pages automatically generated by WordPress.

Development, maintenance, and support of this plugin has been retired in October 2023. You can use this plugin as long as it works for you.

There will be no more updates, and the developer will not answer any support questions. Thanks for your understanding.

Feel free to fork this plugin.

WordPress automatically generates Author-based, Category-based, Tag-based, and Date-based (daily, monthly, and yearly) archives for your posts. Even if you do not want to use these pages, they exist and can be accessed by their automatically generated URL.

The Smart Archive Page Remove Plugin adds an item 'Archive Pages' in the 'Settings' section of your WordPress Admin. Here you can select which Archive Pages you want to remove. Removed Archive Pages are no longer accessible and cause a 404 page not found error. They can be restored anytime.

This plugin does not set cookies, collect or store any data, or send any data to external servers.

Comparing to Alternatives

Smart Archive Page Remove is a focused plugin designed to disable various archive pages in WordPress, with several alternatives available that offer similar functionality.

Top alternatives

Strengths

Simple and intuitive slider-style interface for enabling/disabling archive pages
Supports disabling author, category, tag, daily, monthly, and yearly archives independently
No coding required, suitable for users unfamiliar with PHP
Lightweight and reduces unnecessary page indexing to improve SEO
No known security vulnerabilities and a very low risk score

Weaknesses

Does not remove disabled archive pages from sitemaps generated by default WordPress
Requires theme modifications to avoid broken links after disabling archives
Limited to disabling archives only, lacks broader SEO or sitemap management features
No pro version available for extended functionality

User Sentiment Analysis

With an overwhelmingly positive rating of 4.9 out of 5 from 59 users, the plugin is highly regarded for its ease of use and effectiveness in disabling archive pages.

Positive highlights

"Easy to use via the slider-style on/off switches and very simple to get up and going." - martymcleod
"Very useful" - jola1212
"Does what it says on the tin" - plutopian
"Great plugin. I do nothing with php code on my sites. This works!" - hummelsonline
"Do what I need very well." - colfer

Common complaints

Weaknesses

Does not remove disabled archive pages from sitemaps, requiring additional manual fixes
May cause broken links unless theme is adjusted accordingly
Limited scope focusing only on archive page removal

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Users who want a straightforward, no-code solution to disable various WordPress archive pages to reduce site bloat and improve SEO without dealing with complex settings.

Not ideal for

Users seeking comprehensive sitemap management or SEO plugins, or those unwilling to modify their theme to handle disabled archive pages properly.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version includes all core features to disable author, category, tag, daily, monthly, and yearly archive pages independently with a simple interface.

Final Verdict

Smart Archive Page Remove excels as a lightweight and user-friendly plugin for disabling unwanted archive pages in WordPress, helping reduce unnecessary indexing and potential SEO issues. Its clean interface and no-code approach make it accessible to a wide range of users, and it maintains a strong security record with no known vulnerabilities.

However, users should be aware that it does not handle sitemap updates or broken link prevention automatically, which may require additional manual adjustments or theme modifications. Despite these limitations, it remains a valuable tool for those specifically needing archive page control without extra complexity.