How Does Pagely Handle WordPress Core & Plugin Updates?

Pagely performs automatic updates of WordPress core and plugins. Our system is uniquely designed to keep thousands of WordPress sites updated, secure, and running smoothly. Our upgrade process happens in the background without any user intervention or downtime. Core files are updated as new releases come out (see below) and plugins are updated daily. 

The WordPress core will be upgraded to maintain security throughout the service. In the event the WordPress core files we manage are overwritten, we'll revert that and perform any upgrades as needed.

If you wish to modify/manage the WordPress core files/directories, that won't be possible on our platform.

Deployment of WordPress Core Releases

We do not push major WordPress releases immediately. Major releases are typically feature enhancements whereas minor releases are security and bug related.

Major releases are typically pushed within a 2-5 week window or at the first minor release the tag.

Minor releases are pushed out the same day they are released.

We delay for a couple reasons: Give plugin and theme authors more time to update their code to work with the new major releases, and it is the nature of software that a major release may have some bugs that are soon corrected in the next minor release.

If you'd like to expedite an update, feel free to reach out to our support team. We'll be happy to apply it for you.

Deployment of WooCommerce Plugin Updates

While Pagely's default behavior is to automatically update all plugins automatically, the WooCommerce plugin is an exception to that default.

When WooCommerce plugin updates are available, Pagely will automatically apply patch updates, but will avoid full releases. This ensures that your site still gets critical security updates, while avoiding potential breakage from upgrades. To update to the next minor or major version of WooCommerce, you'll need to manually perform the update from within WordPress.

For example, if you're running WooCommerce version 1.3, our automated systems will update your WooCommerce version to 1.3.3, but updating to WooCommerce version 1.4 would require manual intervention.

Can I Opt Out of WordPress Core Upgrades?

While not recommended, VPS customers can place a version hold as a short term fix should there be any site issues. Legacy Shared customers do not have the same option.

All plugins within the official WordPress repository will also be updated. If you customize a plugin and do not want it overwritten at the next cycle, you will need to change the plugin folder and file name, as well as change the plugin name comment header in the plugin file.

Can I Opt Out of Automatic Plugin Updates?

We can temporarily disable plugin updates for our shared and VPS customers. Please note that this is only a temporary hold and will be removed after 45 days for security purposes.

We will send out a reminder at the 30 day mark in case you have not tested/updated by that time.

Once you have reached the 45 day threshold auto plugin updates will resume as normal.

Are There Rollback Options?

We make nightly backups of everything, so we can always rollback if need be. However, 99% of the time the issue would be with an older plugin not compatible with a newer version of WordPress. In these cases we have a handy self-service WhiteScreen Eliminator that allows you to reset your plugin and/or theme back to Pagely defaults. Nothing is deleted, only de-activated.