How to delete your DeviantArt account permanently

By Otabek Mamadaliev · Sources last reviewed 21 August 2026 · What this means

Download your gallery first — including the full-resolution files. For a lot of artists DeviantArt holds the only surviving copy of work made years ago, sometimes on computers that no longer exist. Deletion is permanent, and this is the loss people write about afterwards.

What deletion cannot reach

Art reposted to other sites, saved by other users, or picked up by scrapers stays where it is. Deleting removes your copy and your attribution — it does not remove the work from the internet. If your goal is stopping reuse, deletion may make it harder, since the original with your name on it disappears while the copies remain.

Before you delete

• Download every deviation at full resolution.
• Save your comments and journals if they matter — there is no export for them.
• Cancel Core so billing stops.
• Withdraw earnings if you sell prints or commissions.

Deactivate your account — there is no delete

DeviantArt offers deactivation only. It behaves like a delete on a timer.

1. Hover over your avatar in the navigation bar (tap it on mobile) and choose Settings.
2. Open the Deactivation section of Account Settings.
3. Click Yes, deactivate my account and enter your password. If you signed up through a social login there is no password step.
4. Open the verification email and click Deactivate Account, then confirm again on the page it sends you to.
5. Give a reason to finalise it.

You cannot undo it for the first 48 hours. Reactivation is blocked during that window, then available from 48 hours up to 21 days after deactivation. Miss the 21 days and the account is permanently deactivated — DeviantArt says neither you nor their support team can undo it.

What deactivation actually does

• Your deviations and posts: hidden from public view at once, scheduled for deletion after 21 days if you do not come back.
• Your profile: marked deactivated and not viewable.
• Comments you left elsewhere: they stay, with a line through your username.
• Your username: not released — nobody else can take it after you deactivate.
• Logging in during the grace period: allowed, but only to view past purchases or reactivate. You cannot comment.

Deactivating just to reuse the email address on a new account? DeviantArt suggests changing the email on the old account instead — otherwise the address is only freed once the 21 days are up.

Reactivate within the window

1. Log in to the deactivated account.
2. Open Settings from your avatar.
3. Click Reactivation in the left column.
4. Enter and confirm your password, then click Reactivate my Account.

Downloading a gallery is a manual job

There is no export-my-whole-gallery button, and for an account with a decade of work this is the step that actually takes the time. Budget an evening rather than ten minutes.

• Download originals, not the page images. Right-clicking the preview on a deviation page saves a resized, sometimes watermarked version. Use the download option on each deviation where you enabled it.
• Check your own download settings first. If you disabled downloads on your deviations years ago, you may need to re-enable them on your own work before you can pull the full-resolution files.
• Do not forget Sta.sh and anything unpublished — works in progress and drafts are still files you made.
• Save the descriptions. For a lot of artists the commentary under a piece is part of the piece, and it is not in any image file.
• Screenshot journals and important comment threads. There is no export for either.

Verify the files before the 48-hour lock starts. Deactivation cannot be undone for two days, and the deletion completes at 21. If you discover a corrupt download on day one, you cannot log back in to fix it — so check the folder opens and the images render before you deactivate at all.

Loose ends that outlive the account

• Open commissions or print orders. Finish or refund them first; a buyer left with no artist and no account has no route to you.
• Core subscription does not cancel itself. Stop it before you deactivate, or it bills against an account you cannot log into.
• Groups you founded lose their founder. Hand them over rather than stranding the members.
• Your username is not released, which is unusually decent — nobody can impersonate you later by taking the name. It also means you cannot reuse it on a new account.