UpdateGuard – WordPress Update Manager
Main settings - default update level, notification email, and log options.
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UpdateGuard – WordPress Update Control Plugin
Need to disable automatic updates WordPress applies without warning? UpdateGuard is a free WordPress site maintenance plugin that helps you manage WordPress plugin updates safely using semantic versioning.
As a WordPress update control plugin, it lets you allow patch and minor updates while blocking major releases that can break your site. It is a safe WordPress updates tool for agencies, developers, and site owners who want to prevent automatic plugin updates WordPress runs by default.
Who Is It For?
- Site Administrators – Manage WordPress plugin updates with clear major, minor, patch, and hold policies.
- Agencies – Apply the same update rules across client sites.
- Developers – Test updates safely before production changes.
- Business Owners – Keep security patches applied without surprise breaking changes.
How It Works
- Set a global update policy (Major, Minor, Patch, or Hold).
- Optionally set per-plugin rules in a sortable table.
- UpdateGuard intercepts WordPress update checks every 12 hours.
- Allowed updates apply automatically. Blocked updates stay pending and are logged.
- Email alerts summarise applied, blocked, and pending updates.
Semantic Versioning Levels:
- Major (e.g. 3.0.0 to 4.0.0) – Breaking changes, blocked by default
- Minor (e.g. 3.1.0 to 3.2.0) – New features, backwards compatible
- Patch (e.g. 3.1.1 to 3.1.2) – Bug fixes and security patches
- Hold – Block all updates for a specific plugin
Key Features
Update Control
- WordPress Update Manager Plugin – Control plugin updates with semantic versioning
- Prevent Automatic Plugin Updates WordPress – Block major updates that exceed your policy
- Per-Plugin Rules – Set Major, Minor, Patch, or Hold for each plugin individually
- Manual Update Blocking – Blocks bulk and manual updates from the Plugins page that violate your policy
- Test Update Workflow – One-click “Check and Update Plugins Now” with a separate test level
Monitoring & Notifications
- Pending Updates Dashboard – Green for auto-apply, red for blocked updates
- Email Notifications – Alerts for applied, blocked, and pending updates with changelog links
- Comprehensive Logging – Track version changes with configurable log retention
- Custom Admin Email – Send notifications to any address
Site Maintenance
- Theme Auto-Updates – Enable or disable automatic theme updates
- Translation Auto-Updates – Enable or disable translation file updates
- Lock Settings – Prevent other users from changing update policies
- Multisite Support – Network admin menu and network-wide settings
- Clean Uninstall – All options removed on uninstall
- Lightweight – No external API calls, fast batch processing