I think it won’t be a secret for anyone when I say that there isn’t any single WordPress driven website or blog that wouldn’t be using at least a couple of plugins. Indeed, plugins for WordPress are extremely helpful and necessary if not inevitable things for they extend WordPress core functionality. Of course, it is possible to create a WordPress website, but it’s hardly likely to be managed efficiently without plugins. It is they that facilitate our WordPress life. But it’s not all that simple.
Being a dynamic mechanism, WordPress offers constant updates for its plugins that can be used for all occasions, beginning with managing graphic elements and ending with SEO. Furthermore, abundance and diversity of plugins being used causes another problem – how to remain aware of all those updates let alone managing them?
Eventually, you can set automatic updating and WordPress will download the new package, extract it and replace the old files. Still it is not so efficient as it may seem, for updates for different plugins are not released simultaneously, moreover, they can conflict with one another. Luckily, there are several plugins developed for updating WordPress core and existing plugins with no trouble, and in this article I’m going to give a short review of them.
Fortunately or not, but the list of these “plugins for updating plugins” (a funny wordplay, isn’t it:)), of course, really worth talking about, can be limited by three ones, namely, Automatic Updater by Gary Pendergast, Automatr by Mike Grant, and Updater by BestWebSoft.
Advanced Automatic Updates
Undoubtedly, the most popular plugin of the given category is Advanced Automatic Updates with more than 70,000 downloads. According to the WordPress community it’s average rating makes up 4.7 out of 5 points. Still, let’s come into details.
Advanced Automatic Updates is supposed to keep your WordPress install up to date with the latest releases automatically, as soon as the update is available. It supports updating stable releases, nightly releases, or even regular SVN checkouts.
Pros:
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updates WordPress core, plugins and themes, SVN checkouts;
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you can remove any plugins or themes that you don’t want to be included in the automatic update;
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any update can be safely aborted.
Cons:
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it is not recommended to use the automatic update plugin on important sites, but on sites that are smaller or less important;
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it is not advisable to apply this plugin to the sites with custom themes or plugins.
Summary:
To sum it up, Advanced Automatic Updates is a good way to keep your website up-to-date without much time and trouble involved, still there are some restrictions as to applying this plugin to the website with custom themes and plugins.
Automatr
This plugin is also intended to update your WordPress automatically, however, it is not downloaded as frequently as the previous one (only 301 downloads), that’s why it can’t be appropriately rated by the WordPress community. It is compatible up to 3.6.1.
Pros:
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updates WordPress core, plugins and themes;
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if you’ve made some modifications to your plugins or themes manually and don’t want to lose them, it is possible to exclude them from the automatic update process.
Cons:
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it is scheduled to make updates only twice a day;
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the plugin itself is not frequently updated (last update – 2013/8/20).
Summary:
All in all, Automatr is not bad to maintain your WordPress sites updated, still, it lacks frequency both in updating the plugin itself and tracking updates of WordPress plugins used on your website.
Updater
Updater by BestWebSoft is the last plugin under analysis, but not the least. With its more than 7,000 downloads within half a year it is rather functional to update plugins and WordPress core. According to the WordPress community it’s average rating makes up 3.5 out of 5 points.
Pros:
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you can update your plugins and WordPress core;
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you can choose the plugin mode and its periodicity;
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it can send email notification when new versions are available;
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it can send email notification after update;
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you can add email notification;
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sending test email is available.
Cons:
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it doesn’t support themes updating.
Summary:
Despite the fact that the given plugin does not update WordPress themes, it is the best solution to the problem of updating WordPress core and plugins. Moreover, BestWebSoft allows a paid, but much more functional pro version of this plugin, allowing to update plugins and WordPress core. It can make backup of all your files and database before updating. You can also use the auto mode or manual mode for updating and set email notifications.
Still, it is only up to you to decide which plugin to choose for your personal needs. I sincerely believe that this article has somehow assisted you in finding the best solution.