What to Check After a Plugin Update
After updating plugins, check your homepage, your most important forms, your checkout if you sell online, the WordPress login and the site on a phone. Most update problems show up in one of those places within a few minutes.
The five-minute check
- Open the homepage and one or two key pages, and look for missing sections or broken layouts
- Submit your contact form and make sure the email arrives
- If you sell online, add a product to the cart and go as far as the payment step
- Log in to WordPress and open the dashboard and one editor screen
- Load the site on a phone, where layout problems often show up first
Signs an update broke something
- A white screen or a “critical error” message
- Forms that submit but never send email
- Buttons, menus or sliders that stop working
- Styling that suddenly looks wrong
- An editor screen that won’t load
What to do if something broke
Roll back the plugin you just updated, or restore the backup you took before updating. Then find the conflict on a staging copy before trying the update again. Our guide on what to do when an update breaks your site walks through each step.
How to make updates safer
- Take a backup before every round of updates
- Update one plugin at a time on important sites
- Read the changelog before a major version jump
- Run updates when you have time to check the site afterward
Frequently asked questions
How often should I update plugins?
Check for updates at least weekly, and apply security releases as soon as they’re available.
Should I turn on automatic plugin updates?
For small, well-maintained plugins it can be fine. For big ones, like page builders or ecommerce plugins, controlled updates with a backup and a check afterward are safer.
Rather not do this every week? On the Manage plan we run updates weekly, check key pages afterward, and fix or roll back anything that breaks.
