How to Remove “Proudly Powered by WordPress” From Your Footer

Want to remove “proudly powered by WordPress” from your site’s footer? 🤔

WordPress is great, but there’s really no reason to keep the default disclaimer there. Luckily, it’s fairly simple to get rid of it. In this tutorial we will cover four different ways to do so, and show you the exact steps you need to take to get it done.

What are we actually removing? 🤔

Before we get started, let’s just make sure we’re all on the same page on what it is exactly we’re going to be removing.

When you first log into a website that has a freshly installed version of WordPress on it, you’ll most likely also have the default WordPress theme installed (from the Twenty-X family). Some hosting providers give you the option to pick a different theme during the installation process, but most people don’t even notice this, much less take advantage of it.

In practice, this means you’re going to see the default WordPress settings that come with the default WordPress theme. This includes the “Proudly powered by WordPress” message in the footer of your new site:

If you decide to install a different theme, then the message might be replaced with whatever generic text the theme developer chose to put there instead. But that doesn’t really help you, because they’ll still be something there that you don’t want.

Which means you need a solution to remove it.

And that’s exactly what we’re going to show you how to do.

How to remove “proudly powered by WordPress?”

In the following section, you will learn not just how to remove the text but also modify it as per your needs. There are four main ways to do that. They are:

We advise on sticking to either method one or method two. The former is applicable to sites using a modern block theme, while the latter is for sites using a classic WordPress theme.

💡 How do I know if I’m using a block theme or a classic theme? When you’re in the WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance on the lefthand side menu. If you see Customize in the submenu, then you are using a classic theme. If you see Editor instead, then you are using a block theme.

The third method is okay and will get the job done, but generally speaking, if you can do something without having to install an extra plugin on your site, then it’s better to do it that way. Too many plugins on your site can cause it to get bloated, and in turn, it will slow down your loading speeds.

Finally, the fourth method is effective and won’t cause any bloating, but it requires you to tinker with your site’s code. If you’ve never worked with code before, it can feel intimidating. Plus there’s always the possibility you might accidentally break something. Therefore, to reiterate what we said above – it’s best to stick to either of the first two methods.

1. Removing the text through the Full Site Editor

If you’ve determined that you are using a block theme that supports full site editing (FSE), then the first step is to enter the editor. From the WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance → Editor.

Please note that each block theme interacts with the editor slightly differently, but the general principles are the same. However, to avoid any confusion, we will take the most straightforward path to our destination, which begins as soon as you enter the editor.

You’ll be shown a menu on the lefthand side. Ignore it and simply click directly onto the page to begin editing:

This will bring you into whatever your theme’s homepage template is. In some themes it’s called “Front Page,” while in others it’s called “Blog Home” or “Home Page.” In short, multiple variations exist for the name, but all of them will make it clear that the template represents your site’s homepage.

Access the footer template

Once you’re in there, scroll to the bottom until you see the footer area. Then click anywhere in that footer area to highlight the Footer template. Click on Edit in the pop-up menu to begin editing it:

At this point, things get very straightforward, but you have a few options.

You can either highlight the “proudly powered by WordPress” text and delete it like you would any other piece of text:

Alternatively, you can type over it and write whatever you want:

However, what about that site title on the lefthand side there? What if you don’t want it?

You can delete it. There’s one important caveat though, and this also goes for if you want to delete “proudly powered by WordPress” rather than replace it with some text of your own.

When you delete any piece of text from these blocks, the blocks will still remain – they’ll just be empty. In order to delete them completely, you need to click on the three dots on the far right of the pop-up menu. This will open up a submenu, where you’ll need to scroll to the very bottom choice, which is Delete:

Adjust position of footer text

The final aspect of this that you might be interested in tweaking is the positioning of the text. For example, many website owners like to have their footer copyright notice positioned in the middle of the page. To do that, click on the text to highlight it, and then tap the far left icon to select the parent block (Row):

Then click on the icon that looks like a thick horizontal bar with a thin bar running vertically through it. This will open up a submenu where you can choose where you want the footer text to be located:

And that’s it! When you’re done with everything, simply click Save on the top right and your website will be updated.

2. Removing the text through Customizer

Every theme has a customization option. You can access it from the WordPress admin. Go to Appearance → Customize. In the Customizer, you are likely to find a footer section with an option to modify or remove the footer text.

For instance, Neve has a Footer section in the Customizer where you can change the default “proudly powered by WordPress” text, and replace it with anything you wish. To access this option, go to the Footer subsection and click on Change Copyright.

You’ll see a text field with the default text inside. You can remove this text entirely or replace with something else.

Click on Publish to save your changes.

Not all themes make removing the “proudly powered by WordPress” text this easy. In case your current theme doesn’t come with this customization, you might have to try the plugin method that we’ll describe next.

3. Removing the text using a plugin

Before you start using any plugin that modifies your site’s appearance, we recommend taking a backup of your entire website.

There’s a couple of plugins that will remove the “proudly powered by WordPress” text for you. However, the one we like best is aptly titled Remove “Powered by WordPress.”

The reason why we love this one is because it’s arguably the easiest plugin you will ever install and use in your life. In fact, all you have to do is install it:

From the WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins → Add New Plugin. Use the search bar to find it, then click on Install Now. Wait a few seconds. The button text will change to Activate. Click it again.

That’s it. You’re done. The plugin automatically removes the “proudly powered by WordPress” text upon activation.

As easy as it is to use, the one downside to this plugin is that there’s no option to replace the text, only to remove it. If you want to actually write something of your own, then we recommend another plugin called Remove Footer Credit.

Remove Footer Credit

Author(s): WPChill

Current Version: 1.0.14

Last Updated: July 18, 2024

remove-footer-credit.1.0.14.zip

94%Ratings 100,000+Installs WP 5.9+Requires

Let’s see how this one works:

Install and activate the plugin. Go to Tools → Remove Footer Credit.

Once there, you can do two things:

First, in Step 1, enter the exact text that you want to have removed from the footer. If your site has the standard “proudly powered by WordPress” note, then enter:

Proudly powered by <a href="http://wordpress.org" rel="nofollow">WordPress</a>

In Step 2, you can add custom text to replace the default one. That’s it. Save your changes when you’re done.

4. Removing the text by editing the footer.php file

This method is best suited for people who have some basic coding knowledge. Non-techie people can give it a try, but make sure you back up your website before proceeding.

The footer.php file of your current theme contains instructions on what the footer can display. We will show you how to access the file and remove the “proudly powered by WordPress” text from there.

To access the footer.php file, you will need an FTP client like FileZilla. Here’s a guide on how to install FileZilla and then how to connect to your site.

Next, go to public_html → wp-content → themes. Then select the theme that is active on your website. In that active theme folder, you should find the footer.php file.

Right-click and select Edit.

Now comes the tricky part. Find the code that outputs the “proudly powered by WordPress” text and delete it. In the Twenty Nineteen theme, the code looks like this:

printf( __( 'Proudly powered by %s.', 'twentynineteen' ), 'WordPress' );

After removing this code, save the file and then check your website’s footer.

💡 Important: You may have come across tutorials telling you to add the following code snippet to your theme’s CSS file: #site-info {display:none}. This won’t remove the text, it’s only going to hide it from plain view. Using methods like this is generally not good practice.

Can you legally remove the text? ⚖️

This is a common question that people have. To give you a quick answer:

Yes, you can remove the text.

WordPress is a free website-building platform. Keeping the “proudly powered by WordPress” text is a gesture of appreciation to the community that drives the software. But you are not legally bound to keep the text on your site.

WordPress is licensed under the GPL (General Public License). This means that you have the freedom to use, modify, and even redistribute the software. So legally, you have the right to do whatever you please, including editing or removing the text from your site’s footer.

Final thoughts 💭

That’s it folks! With that, we have come to the end of the article.

⚙️ We’ve covered four distinct methods to removing the “proudly powered by WordPress” text. No matter the situation you’re in, at least one of them will work for your site.

Ideally, you’ll want to use the first method (if you’re using a block theme) or the second method (if you’re using a classic theme).

If, for whatever reason, those don’t seem to work for you, then you can look into the plugin solutions.

As a last resort, you can attempt to modify your theme’s footer.php file to get the job done. However, unless you have some background working with code, this is also the riskiest option because you can potentially “break things.” Therefore, we generally discourage this option, but we’ve included it because it is a viable solution if all else fails.

Do you have any questions about how to remove the “proudly powered by WordPress” text? Ask away in the comments section below!