As a WordPress expert with over 5 years of experience building and optimizing WordPress sites, I often get asked: "Do you really need all the blog features in WordPress?"
The answer is often no.
While WordPress powers over 43% of all websites, the majority are not blogs:
| Type of Site | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Blogs | 37% |
| Business/Ecommerce Sites | 22% |
| Portfolios | 12% |
| Membership Sites | 8% |
| Other (Directories, etc.) | 21% |
(Statistics from: WP Engine‘s The Future of WordPress Report 2022)
Although most WordPress sites are not blogs, the platform is optimized for blogging out of the box. All those blog-centric modules like Posts, Categories, and Comments can clutter up your admin dashboard and potentially confuse non-blogger site owners.
By disabling blog features in WordPress, you can:
Pros:
- Simplify the admin experience for clients & non-blogger users
- Remove unnecessary menu items and settings
- Improve site performance by reducing database overhead
- Future-proof site in case blog never gets used
Cons:
- Cannot easily re-enable blog features later without a plugin like Disable Blog
- Could limit flexibility if decide to add a blog down the road
Overall, disabling blog features makes WordPress less confusing for the majority of sites that don‘t actually need blogging functionality. It streamlines the authoring environment to only show what‘s needed.
Let‘s look at step-by-step how to disable blog options in WordPress.
Step 1: Change Homepage to a Static Page
By default, WordPress displays blog post excerpts on home page. To disable the blog, you first want to switch this to display a static page instead:
- Create or edit page to use as new homepage
- Go to Settings → Reading
- Under Front Page Displays:
- Select A static page
- Set Front page to the page you want
- Click Save Changes
Example: If building an ecommerce site, you‘d create a "Shop" page showcasing products as your new site homepage.
By assigning a static page as the homepage rather than blog posts, you can now hide the blog features without impacting what visitors see when landing on your site.
Step 2: Hide Blog Features with Disable Blog Plugin
The easiest way to disable blog functionality in WordPress is by using the Disable Blog plugin. After installing & activating it:
✔️ Post post type removed
✔️ Default post widgets disappear
✔️ Post menu items hidden
✔️ Categories, tags, + other taxonomy hidden
✔️ Previously published blog content is preserved but hidden
The plugin essentially hides all traces of blogging modules, while keeping your WordPress core intact. I‘ve used it on dozens of client sites over the years to create a clean, blog-free admin area and improve the authoring experience for non-blogging sites.
Example: WordPress dashboard clutter removed after disabling blog modules with Disable Blog plugin
If you ever did want to revive blog capabilities down the road, deactivating Disable Blog would bring back posts, comments, and related content.
Step 3: Allow Comments on Specific Pages
One thing Disable Blog doesn‘t handle is fully disabling comments. This is actually a good thing, because you may want to allow commenting on some pages.
To enable user comments on a page:
- Edit the page
- Expand Discussion settings
- Check box to Allow Comments
Conversely, if you want to completely disable comments across everything, see my guide on how to fully disable comments in WordPress.
Simplifies WordPress for Your Clients & Editors
As a WordPress professional working with small business clients and their internal teams, disabling blog modules has been a game changer.
It removes the complexity of posts vs pages, categories vs tags, and simplifies the authoring process for non-technical users.
Instead of seeing this:
Editors see this:
The WordPress dashboard transforms into a streamlined, modular content management system focused only on the core components a particular site actually requires.
Whether you‘re looking to simplify WordPress for clients or create a cleaner authoring experience for yourself, disabling blog capabilities can be a great solution for 75%+ of sites.
I hope this deep-dive walkthrough has helped explain how and why to disable blog options in WordPress. As always, feel free to contact me with any WordPress questions!
