Remove Category URL strips the /category/ base from your category URLs, turning something like /category/my-category/ into simply /my-category/.
- Installs
- 40,000+
- Rating
- 4.3 (61)
- Updated
- 12 days ago
No Category Base (WPML)
This plugin removes the mandatory 'Category Base' from your category permalinks. It's compatible with WPML.
- Active installs
- 100,000+
- #381 of 1,000
- Downloads, all time
- 1.1M
- 1,120,772
- Downloads, 30 days
- 17.4K
- 4.3K in the last 7
- Rating
- 4.5 / 5
- 34 reviews
- Last updated
- 1 day ago
- Oct 30, 2026
- Version
- 1.5.8
- 12 releases
Upkeep and compatibility
| Last updated | October 30, 2026Updated in the last 3 months |
|---|---|
| Tested up to | WordPress 7.1.4Covers WordPress 7.1.4, the current release |
| Needs WordPress | 5.0 or newer |
| Needs PHP | Not stated |
| First published | December 2, 2011 |
| Support, last two months | No threads opened |
Reviews
4.5 / 5 from 34 reviews
| 5 stars | 29 |
|---|---|
| 4 stars | 1 |
| 3 stars | 0 |
| 2 stars | 1 |
| 1 star | 3 |
Downloads, last 30 days
What the author says it does
The Cleanest WordPress Category URL Plugin
WordPress adds a mandatory /category/ prefix to all your category URLs by default. No Category Base removes it completely — no setup, no code changes, no broken links.
By DigitalME
What It Does
Turn URLs like this:
mysite.com/category/my-category/
Into this:
mysite.com/my-category/
The plugin works automatically the moment you activate it. No settings to configure, no WordPress core files to modify. It also handles 301 redirects from old URLs so your SEO is never impacted.
Who Is It For?
No Category Base is ideal for bloggers, store owners, agencies, and anyone who wants cleaner, more professional WordPress URLs.
It is especially useful for:
- Stores using WooCommerce product categories
- Content sites with deep category structures
- Multilingual sites running WPML
- Agencies managing multiple WordPress installations
Main Features
- Removes /category/ base from all category permalinks automatically
- No setup required — works out of the box
- Handles 301 redirects from old category URLs
- Compatible with subcategories and nested structures
- Works with WordPress Multisite
- Compatible with sitemap plugins
- Zero overhead — barely affects site performance
Admin Settings Page
The plugin adds a settings page under Settings → No Category Base with the following tabs:
The opening of the plugin's own description. The full text, installation notes and changelog are on its WordPress.org page.
Questions the author answers
Why should I use this plugin?
Use this plugin if you want to get rid of WordPress’ “Category base” completely. The normal behavior of WordPress is to add ‘/category’ to your category permalinks if you leave “Category base” blank in the Permalink settings. So your category links look like ‘mysite.com/category/my-category/’.
Will it break any other plugins?
As far as I can tell, no. We have been using this on several sites for a while and it doesn’t break anything.
Won’t this conflict with pages?
Simply don’t have a page and category with the same slug. Even if they do have the same slug it won’t break anything, just the category will get priority (Say if a category and page are both ‘xyz’ then ‘mysite.com/xyz/’ will give you the category). This can have an useful side-effect.
Do I need WPML to use it?
No, you can use this plugin without having WPML installed.
Can you add a feature X?
Just ask on the support forum. If its useful enough and we have time for it, sure.
I get 404 errors when I deactivate the plugin. What can I do?
When you deactivate the plugin, you need to tell WordPress to refresh its permalink rules. This is easy to do.
Go to Settings -> Permalinks and then click on Save Changes.
Latest changelog entry
- Updated: Cleaned up plugin description and links
- Maintenance and stability improvements
Screenshots
Look Ma, No Category Base!
Tagged
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Where this page's numbers come from
Read from the WordPress.org plugin API on , when WordPress 7.1.4 was the current release. WordPress.org rounds active installs into buckets. These are the directory's figures, not my verdict, and I haven't tested this plugin.