Drazen

<p>Update Compass is a decision-first WordPress admin plugin that helps you evaluate plugin and theme updates before installing them.</p>
<p>Instead of only showing that an update is available, Update Compass adds a local analysis layer and recommends what to do next based on version changes, compatibility metadata, changelog signals, and release timing.</p>
<p>It keeps the native WordPress update workflow. Updates are still performed through standard WordPress update mechanisms.</p>
<h3>How It Works</h3>
<p>WordPress already detects updates. Update Compass reads that data and adds decision guidance such as:</p>
<ul>
<li>Update Ready</li>
<li>Stage & Test</li>
<li>Watch & Wait</li>
<li>Hold Off</li>
<li>Needs Review</li>
</ul>
<p>Each status includes a short explanation and next-step guidance. For higher-risk updates, users can open status details for deeper analysis and reminder scheduling.</p>
<h3>Key Features</h3>
<ul>
<li>Pre-update risk analysis for plugins and themes</li>
<li>Clear status badges with explanations and next steps</li>
<li>Version jump analysis (major, minor, patch deltas)</li>
<li>WordPress compatibility checks (<code>requires</code> / <code>tested</code>)</li>
<li>Changelog keyword detection (best effort)</li>
<li>Changelog links (WordPress.org modal/external links when available)</li>
<li>Reminder dates for monitoring and re-check workflows</li>
<li>Bulk update selection with caution confirmation for non-ready updates</li>
<li>Local-first workflow, no external account required</li>
</ul>
<h3>Who Is This For</h3>
<ul>
<li>WordPress developers</li>
<li>Agencies maintaining multiple sites</li>
<li>Site owners managing complex plugin/theme stacks</li>
<li>WooCommerce or multilingual sites where update risk is higher</li>
</ul>
<h3>Decision Logic (Summary)</h3>
<p>Update Compass uses local rules to assess update risk, including:</p>
<ul>
<li>Version delta analysis (major/minor/patch jumps)</li>
<li>WordPress compatibility metadata checks</li>
<li>Changelog keyword signals (when changelog text is available)</li>
<li>Release recency and stale-project checks</li>
<li>Changelog availability (flags manual review when missing)</li>
</ul>
<h3>External Services</h3>
<p>Update Compass is local-first and does not require an account.</p>
<p>To improve changelog-based reasoning, it may make server-side requests to publicly available changelog/metadata endpoints when available (for example WordPress.org plugin/theme metadata and changelog pages, or vendor-provided changelog URLs exposed in WordPress update data).</p>
<p>This is best-effort only and used to enrich analysis. Core update detection still relies on WordPress native update transients.</p>


Update Compass

Stop guessing when to update. Analyze plugin and theme updates before installing them with clear status guidance and next steps.

Scott Cariss

<p>Automatic upgrades on live sites are, we think most people would agree, a Bad Idea. You can’t test them before they go live; they’ll play havoc with your version control system, if you’re using one; and if they fail or screw up, your live site is broken. Bad. Idea.</p>
<p>Enter Staunch. Staunch makes you stick to best practice for upgrades, by preventing even admins and superadmins from running WordPress’s automatic upgrade processes on your live site.</p>
<p>When you want to upgrade WordPress, you can do so on a local or development install of your site; after you’ve tested it and made sure everything’s okay, you can then deploy the site as you usually would — through version control, FTP, or something else.</p>


Staunch

A WordPress plugin to prevent automatic updates on your live sites.

Update Compass vs Staunch