WP Basic Elements is a WordPress plugin that simplifys your WP Admin and makes it cleaner.
WP Basic Elements gives you full control over the features WordPress loads by default. Disable what you don’t need, clean up the front-end markup, and streamline the admin interface — all from a single, modern settings page.
Every option is off by default. You choose exactly what to disable, nothing more.
What you can do
- Admin Bar — Remove individual items like the WP logo, New Content, Customize, Updates, Comments, Search, and more
- Dashboard Widgets — Hide Welcome Panel, At a Glance, Activity, Site Health, Quick Draft, WP Events & News, WooCommerce and Yoast widgets
- Admin Footer — Replace or hide the left and right footer text
- User Profile — Hide profile fields (Rich Editing, Color Scheme, Application Passwords, etc.) and remove individual contact methods (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, and more)
- Comments — Disable the entire comment system with a single toggle
- Gutenberg Editor — Turn off Welcome Guide, Fullscreen Mode, Focus Mode, Distraction Free Mode, and Top Toolbar
- Meta Tags & Head Cleanup — Remove the generator tag, oEmbed links, shortlinks, WLW manifest, adjacent post links, REST API links, RSS feeds, emojis, and pingbacks/trackbacks
- REST API — Restrict access for non-logged-in users with a configurable whitelist
Why WP Basic Elements?
- Lightweight — no bloat, no frameworks, no external dependencies
- Opt-in only — safe to activate on any site without side effects
- Modern UI — clean settings page with sidebar navigation and toggle switches
- Translatable — ships with 10 languages out of the box
- Secure — all output escaped, all input sanitized
Translations
WP Basic Elements plugin can be translated to any language. Currently available translations are listed below.
- English
- Swedish (sv_SE)
- Norwegian Bokmål (nb_NO)
- Serbian (sr_RS)
- Danish (da_DK)
- Croatian (hr)
- German (de_DE)
- Polish (pl_PL)
- Italian (it_IT)
- Spanish (es_ES)
- French (fr_FR)
FAQ
Will this break my site?
No. Every option is off by default. Nothing changes until you explicitly enable a feature.
Where are the settings?
Go to Settings > WPBE Elements in your WordPress admin.
Can I use this with WooCommerce?
Yes. WooCommerce REST API endpoints and dashboard widgets are handled separately so you can safely disable what you don’t need without affecting your store.
How do I report a bug or request a feature?
Use the support forum on wordpress.org.
ChangeLog
6.0.0
- Complete rewrite of plugin
- New modern settings UI with sidebar navigation, toggle switches, and per-section cards
- “Toggle All” button in each section to quickly enable/disable all options
- Active tab persisted via localStorage across page loads and saves
- All translation strings escaped with esc_html__ or esc_attr__
- All output properly escaped (esc_html, esc_attr, wp_kses_post)
- $_SERVER[‘REQUEST_URI’] sanitized with sanitize_text_field(wp_unslash())
- JSON in inline scripts hardened with JSON_HEX_TAG | JSON_HEX_AMP flags
- wp_redirect changed to wp_safe_redirect for internal redirects
- Added option to hide Right Footer Text Entirely: removes the right side completely
- Improved whitelist field for custom REST API endpoints accessible to non-logged-in users
- Made a default whitelist displayed in collapsible details section
- Added, Danish, Croatian, German, Polish, Italian, Spanish, French languages
- Modified English, Swedish, Norwegian and Serbian languages
5.4.5
- Tested with WordPress 6.8.2
- Escaped all translatable text
5.4.4
- Tested with WordPress 6.7.0
5.4.3
- Tested with WordPress 6.4.0
- Small fix of comments in code
5.4.2
- Added GZIP compression option in Core section
- Fixed variable bug on wpbe_disable_wp_file_mods option
- Fixed a whitelist check for wpbe_disable_wp_rest_api namespaces
- Small design fixes for input fields
- Update of language files
5.4.1
- Fixed some styling of the settings in admin
5.4.0
- Major redesign and refactoring of code
- Improvements of Code documentation
- Added the ability to disable updates of Core, Plugins and Themes in the WordPress Admin via DISALLOW_FILE_MODS
- Added the ability to disable Gutenberg Top toolbar mode
- Added the ability to disable Gutenberg Distraction free mode
- Added the ability to disable Gutenberg Spotlight mode
- Removed option to add a menu sidemenu option of the plugin
- Removed option for disabling WP notifications in Admin
- Modified and improved the Gutenberg JS to be non-dependent on jQuery
- Modified and improved the Profile JS to be non-dependent on jQuery
- Update of language files
- Tested with WordPress 6.2.0
5.3.0
- Tested with WordPress 6.1.1
- Fixed CSRF injection vulnerability
- Update of language files
5.2.15
- Added more options to remove from the user profile in admin
- Fixed bug with website url not removing from user profile
- Modified the functionality for removing elements from admin profile page
- Update of language files
5.2.14
- Fixed better check of WP Rest API namespaces that needs to be whitelisted when disabling Rest API for non-leogged in users
5.2.13
- Fixed bug with JS and CSS files
5.2.12
- Comp check with WordPress 5.7.2
- Added possibility to whitelist WP Rest API namespaces for specific reasons
- Update of language files
5.2.11
- Made sure that the unserialize function gets data to prevent Warnings
5.2.10
- Small redesign and better user experience
- Added possibility to disable auto updates of plugins and themes
- Fixed code comments to macth functions what they really do
5.2.9
- Made sure that comments stylesheet properly gets disabled
5.2.8
- Added Gutenberg options
- Added removal of generator tag for Product Filters plugins
- Fixed better translations
- Comp check with WP 5.5
5.2.7
- Added donation link for patreon
- Modified readme.txt
- Fixed translations
5.2.6
- Tested with WordPress 5.4.0
- Fixed so xmlrpc_rsd_apis is disabled in with other Rest API links
- Fixed so WP Rest API is disabled for non loggedin users due to security
- Fixed better translations of some settings
- Changed minimum required WP version to 4.7 due to Rest API filter function
5.2.5
- Bug: Fixed a bug where wp_mail() would break if the plugin was active and no email was set in the options
5.2.4
- Added option to the Core section to disable WP Cron
- Added option to the Core section to disable automatic updating of WordPress and plugins
- Added option to the Core section to enable removal of image edits to save space on the server
- Fixed so Disable pings also inlcudes disabling of self pinging
- Updated translations
5.2.3
- Fixed Bug with WP languages not beeing removed on backend on profile page
- Fixed simple WP Editor’s to the admin footer section
5.2.2.1
- Bumped a quote sign that may have caused some issues on some installs
5.2.2
- Redesigned the interface
- Fixed Emoji filter callback
- Fixed javascript improvements
- Fixed styling improvements
- Fixed better html in admin
- Cleaned the html output
- Improved naming and translations
5.2.1
- Fixed language bug where languages would not load correctly
5.2.0
- Made index file silenced
- Created a new main index file
- Major redesign of the code and improvements programatically
- Created new section Gutenberg (will be supported in the near future)
- Created new section Plugins (will list options for major plugins only)
- Removed ability for shortcode support in text widgets due to new WP HTML Widget support by default
- Removed WP Editor for textareas shortly (will be back in the near future)
- Improved shortcode support to excerpts
- Improved disabling of Emoji’s
- Added more WordPress options
- Updated Swedish translation
- Added Norwegian translation
5.1.2
- Simplified the code and reduced calls against WordPress functions
- Added more options to WP Users section
- Fixed a styling bug with tables
5.1.1
- Wrapped within due to unexpected behavior in some cases
5.1.0
- Removed unnecessary code
- Removed GZIP compression (it would break sites on some servers and it should not be neccessary if the server is configured properly)
- Removed plugin checkups, want to keep it simple to WordPress deafult and to major plugins only
- Removed Jabber, AIM checks from WP Users section (Non deafult wordpress)
- Added disabling of website url on users profile
- Improved registering of settings
- Major redesign of the layout
- Moved disabling of Emojis to WP Head section
- Updated text domain for langauges
- Updated Swedish, English language
- Tested on latest WordPress 5.1
5.0.4
- Enqueue of style
- Tested on latest WordPress 4.9.1
5.0.3
- Added option in WP Core to remove REST API links in header
- Added option in WP Core to remove WP Oembed discovery links in header
- Added option in WP Users section to disable Facebook url
- Added option in WP Users section to disable Twitter username
5.0.2
- Added ABSPATH to check if the files are called directly or not
- Small bug fixes
5.0.1
- Fixed a bug with translation files
- Fixed some misspelling in the code
- Fixed a properly preparation for localization of languages
- Added Swedish translation
5.0.0
- Added WP Editors for changing admin footer texts
- Restyled the interface
- Better optimisation of plugin code
- Refactored the uninstall process so all the options are deleted in the DB on uninstall
- Merged some options into one for better optimisation
4.0.3
- Added option in WP Users section to disable WordPress language chooser
4.0.2
- Improvement of Emoji disabling
4.0.1
- Bug fix of WP-Zoom dashboard removal
4.0.0
- Added option in WP Dashboard to remove WP-Zoom dasbhoard latest reviews
- Major refactoring of the code for better optimisation
3.0.8
- Added option in WP Dashboard to remove WooCommerce latest reviews
- Tested on latest WordPress 4.4
- Removed unused code snippets
3.0.7
- Added option in WP Core to remove q-Translate-X generator meta tag
3.0.6
- Small text changes
- Added option in WP Admin Toolbar section to remove WP Customize
- Added option in WP Admin Toolbar section to remove WP Edit
3.0.5
- Font color change
- Added option in WP Core to disable Emoji icons if not in use
- Added option in WP Dashboard to remove Yoast SEO Posts overview
3.0.4
- Small renaming of labels
- Added option in WP Core section to add shortcode capability for manual excerpts
- Added option in WP Core section remove Plugin, WordPress and Themes update notifications for non-admins
- Added option in WP Admin Toolbar section to remove WP Sitename
- Added option in WP Admin Toolbar section to remove WP New Content
3.0.3
- Added option in WP Dasboard section do remove BuddyPress Right Now meta-box
- Removed plugin image at plugins section
3.0.2
- Added new section WP Dashboard
- Update of POT file for translations
3.0.1
3.0
- Major redesign of the interface
- Corrections of the comments in the code
- Corrections of the english language in interface
- Added the possibility to remove NextGen Gallery link in the admin toolbar
- Added serbian translation thanks to Ognjend Djuraskovic
- Added icon on plugins section
- Update to Readme.txt
2.1.9
- Added new section WP Mail
- Added new tool in WP Admin Toolbar / Plugins section
- Removed unused code snippet
- Update on Readme.txt file
2.1.8
- Removed WPB Elements from admin sidebar and put it in the Settings region
- Added an option to display the WPB Elements in the main admin menu instead
- Update on Installation text
- Small optimisation of code
2.1.7
FIX: Plugin URI was wrong
2.1.6
- Added new section WP Users with new cool tools
2.1.5
- Added ability to remove Yoast SEO from admin toolbar
2.1.4
- New WP Optimisation tools added
- New WP Toolbar tools added
- Added Plugins sub category for WP Toolbar tools
- Readme.txt updated
2.1.3
- Updated tags
- Updated information
- FAQ section updated
- New WP Optimisation tools added
- Information button added
2.1.2
- Better version control in code
- Removed unused code snippets
- Interface improvement
- .POT file added to language folder
2.1.1
- Changelog improvement
- License URI added
- Version number incremented
2.1
- Small update to interface
2.0
- New interface
- Uninstall file added
- Description update
- Tags update
- Donation Link added
1.0
