Managed WordPress Plugin Updates

Sit back, relax and stay up-to-date with WPhost Managed Plugin Updates and free Infection Insurance!

Keeping plugins up-to-date is one of the best ways to ensure your site is secure and running great! However, we know that managing plugin updates is time consuming and distracts from other valuable work that can grow your business. Now you can offload the tedious task of plugin updates and take advantage of free Infection Insurance at the same time!

WPhost Managed Plugin Updates takes the best of AI technology and adds a layer of real WordPress experts. It’ll detect even the slightest difference to your site that the human eye might’ve missed, and then will roll back the update and tag in our support team of WordPress experts to troubleshoot. You can get back to more important work, and relax knowing that your site will always be up-to-date and online.

Infection Insurance now bundled free with Plugin Updates

Infection Insurance is now bundled free with Managed Plugin Updates so in the unlikely event that your site is hacked or compromised, our team of WordPress experts will quickly and carefully remove the malware and fix it for you – for free! Without Infection Insurance, the cost for WPhost engineers to remove malware and clean your site is $179 + GST.

Weekly or daily plugin update frequency

You can choose between a weekly or daily plugin update frequency and if something goes awry, we’ll roll the update back. What’s more, all managed plugin updates will be run outside of New Zealand business hours.

Get your time back, we’ll update your plugins for you.
You can choose to exclude specific plugins from being updated.
If an update fails, we’ll research why, and start troubleshooting!

Here’s how it works:

A backup is taken of the site and the plugin folders.
Screenshots of up to 20 pages (including the home page) are taken prior to updates.
Plugin updates are run on the site via our automated service.
Another set of screenshots are taken of the same pages.
AI technology checks for these 3 things:
– Are there any critical site issues like PHP or 50X errors?
– Did anything change on the site? (We compare the screenshots pixel-by-pixel!)
– If yes to either, we run the site through a machine learning model and determine if the site is in fact different from the previous version.
If the Machine Learning model detects any problems, we revert the changes to the site and our support team of WordPress experts will be notified to try to resolve the issues.
We’ll schedule another round of updates on your chosen plugin update cycle (weekly or daily frequency).

Frequently Asked Questions

Have peace of mind and check one more thing off your to‑do list

	Bronze Plan	Silver Plan	Gold Plan	Platinum Plan	Agency Plan
Weekly update frequency	$20/month	$20/month	Included free	Included free	$19/month
Daily update frequency	$30/month	$30/month	$10/month	$10/month	$24/month

Prices listed are in NZ dollars and exclude GST.

Shorten your to-do list while keeping your WordPress site up-to-date and extra safe!

Advanced AI technology & visual regression testing

After updating your plugins, AI technology scans your site to identify any differences. Thanks to visual regression testing, we can quickly identify any hiccups, roll back the update, and tag in our support team of WordPress experts to start troubleshooting.

Automatic backups before updates begin

We keep your site secure during every stage of the update process. Before we begin, we'll run a backup of your site so we can roll back to the previous version if we find any issues. If everything goes according to plan, you can rest easy knowing your plugins are up-to-date!

WordPress hosting experts you can trust

While other plugin services keep your sites updated, when something goes wrong, you’re stuck troubleshooting all on your own while your site is left in a broken state. With WPhost's Managed Plugin Updates, if there are any issues or errors, it's WPhost who start troubleshooting!

Have questions about Managed Plugin Updates? You've come to the right place!

How do Managed Plugin Updates work?

Once your site is enrolled in our Managed Plugin Updates service your plugins will start updating within that first week you sign up.

We can also toggle your managed updates on or off per plugin – just contact our support team if you wish to exclude any plugins from managed updates.

We’ll update all of the public WordPress repository plugins that have updates available and premium plugins that have their license keys available in WordPress. Before the update process begins, we take a backup of your site and plugin files. Only then are the updates completed. If any issues are found during the live site update process, we’ll revert the suspect plugin or restore back all changes. The site will never be left down or broken!

If there are any errors or issues, our support team start investigating to help you troubleshoot.

What is visual regression AI technology?

The software we use for visual regression testing uses a sophisticated model that has been run millions of times on sites to be trained to detect even the smallest changes before and after updates.

First, we check for any critical errors, if there is a critical error we rollback the changes. Next, we take screenshots of up to twenty pages of your site and do an image comparison to look for changed pixels. If there are changed pixels, we run the data through our machine learning model to see if the pixel changes are substantial enough to roll back the site. In the scenario of a site rollback, our Support Team steps in to troubleshoot.

How do I enable Managed Plugin Updates?

First, login to your Client Area.

Next, click on Services and then My Services. Your existing Products & Services will be displayed.

Select the current package that you would like to enrol in our Managed Plugin Updates service by clicking on the Product/Service.

Here you can view and manage your existing package. Click on Upgrade/Downgrade Options.

Select either Weekly updates or Daily updates and click Continue.

Enrolling your site in our Managed Plugin Updates service will automatically calculate any amount to pay and generate an invoice.

Watch our video guide as we show you how to upgrade your WPhost plan:

What happens if my site has an issue after plugin updates?

Once updates are complete, WPhost performs an automated site inspection using artificial intelligence to compare the visual appearance of the site before and after the updates.

If we detect any issues, we’ll revert the site to a pre-update backup and our support team will troubleshoot the issue directly, updating plugins manually if possible. Any errors our team can’t resolve will be shared with you.

How often to you perform plugin updates?

You can choose between a weekly or daily plugin update frequency. You can change your preferred scheduling setting on a per-site basis.

We work in the New Zealand time zone and all managed plugin updates will be run outside of business hours.

How do I switch between Weekly and Daily Managed Plugin Updates?

First, login to your Client Area.

Next, click on Services and then My Services. Your existing Products & Services will be displayed.

Select the current package enrolled in our Managed Plugin Updates service by clicking on the Product/Service.

Here you can view and manage your existing package. Click on Upgrade/Downgrade Options.

Here you can switch between Weekly updates or Daily updates. Select your update frequency and click Continue.

Changing your site’s update frequency will automatically calculate any amount to pay and generate an invoice.

Watch our video guide as we show you how to upgrade your WPhost plan:

Why wouldn’t I use automated updates or something similar?

This isn’t your typical plugin update tool. We leverage the power of AI to visually spot even the smallest differences in your site post-update, and if we detect an issue we can quickly roll back to the latest working site version. Then, our support team begins troubleshooting immediately – this effectively means little to no downtime and no broken site layouts.

Tools like ManageWP and auto-updates in WordPress are great for speeding up the process of updating your plugins, however, they still require manual intervention and management by you. With our Managed Plugin Updates service, WPhost’s advanced AI and our WordPress experts combine efforts to ensure updates are timely and smooth!

Can you perform my plugin updates outside of business hours?

We work in the New Zealand time zone and all managed plugin updates will be run outside of business hours.

Can you exclude specific plugins from managed updates?

Yes, we can toggle your managed updates on or off per plugin – just contact our support team if you wish to exclude any plugins from managed updates.

Are there any plugins you don’t update?

We can’t update any premium plugins that are missing an up-to-date license key in the WordPress admin.

We can also toggle your managed updates on or off per plugin – just contact our support team if you wish to exclude any plugins from managed updates.

Will you update premium plugins?

Yes! If your site contains premium plugins, we simply require that the license for the plugin is current.

Keep in mind, WPhost doesn’t manage license files on your behalf, you are required to keep the license keys up-to-date for any premium plugins installed on your site. Check your plugin’s documentation for more details.

Will you update my site’s theme?

We do not currently offer theme updates.

Theme updates are much more complex, with increased potential for breaking your site’s visual layout. We recommend these updates be performed by your site’s developer or someone who knows your site best. It’s common practice to update themes a few times a year at most, so it’s not as big of a concern as keeping plugins up-to-date.

Does Managed Plugin Updates support Multisite?

Yes, WPhost Managed Plugin Updates are compatible with WordPress multisite!

Keep in mind, Managed Plugin Updates works best when plugins are activated network-wide or when all plugins are active on the main site.

Plugin Updates

Managed Plugin Updates