How to stop auto update plugins in wordpress: 3 Pro

Why Controlling Plugin Auto-Updates Matters for Your Business

Learning how to stop auto update plugins in wordpress is crucial when automatic updates threaten your site’s stability. While designed for security, these updates can break your website at the worst possible moment, leading to downtime and lost revenue.

This guide covers the three main methods to regain control:

1. WordPress Dashboard: Disable auto-updates for individual plugins (WordPress 5.5+).
2. Code Snippets: Add filters to your functions.php or wp-config.php files.
3. Update Management Plugins: Use third-party tools for granular control.

The core dilemma for any site owner is balancing security with stability. You need updates to protect against hackers, but you also need to control when they happen to prevent compatibility issues. Some updates patch critical vulnerabilities, while others can break existing functionality. Knowing which to apply and when is key.

I’m Kevin Gallagher, and since founding wpOncall in 2013, I’ve managed updates for over 2,500 websites. Mastering how to stop auto update plugins in wordpress has saved our clients from costly downtime, giving them stable and secure websites.

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Understanding WordPress Automatic Updates: The Good, The Bad, and The Risky

Since version 3.7, WordPress has used automatic updates to apply security patches and minor core updates, keeping sites secure with minimal manual intervention. However, a WordPress site is a complex ecosystem. It’s not a single piece of software but a collection of components—the WordPress core, a theme, and numerous plugins—often created by different developers with varying coding standards and update schedules. When these components update automatically without supervision, the results can be unpredictable and, at times, catastrophic. This complexity is why learning how to stop auto update plugins in wordpress is so important for maintaining site stability and protecting your business.

The Benefits of Automatic Updates

Automatic updates exist for good reasons and have protected countless websites from cyber threats.

• Immediate Security Vulnerabilities Patching: Hackers use automated bots to constantly scan for sites with known vulnerabilities. Research from Sucuri shows 49% of all compromised WordPress sites were running obsolete versions. Auto-updates apply critical security patches the moment they are released, closing the window of opportunity for attackers.
• Essential Bug Fixes: Beyond security, updates regularly fix functionality bugs. These fixes can resolve issues that could break contact forms, disrupt e-commerce checkouts, cause layout problems, or create other poor user experiences that damage your brand’s reputation.
• Performance and Code Improvements: Many updates include optimizations that make your site faster, more efficient, and more stable. This can lead to better server response times and improved Core Web Vitals, which are important for SEO.
• Access to New Features: Plugins and themes often add improved functionality, better user interfaces, and new capabilities through updates. Auto-updates ensure you get these enhancements without having to manually check for them.
• Hands-Free Maintenance: For site owners without the time or technical expertise for manual updates, auto-updates handle the process for you, providing a baseline of security and functionality with no effort required.

The Risks of Automatic Updates

Despite the benefits, automatic updates can create serious problems, which is why you might need to disable them.

• Plugin and Theme Conflicts: This is the most common issue. An update to one plugin can introduce code that conflicts with another plugin or your active theme. Since developers can’t test their updates against every possible combination of the 60,000+ plugins available, your unique setup might trigger a conflict that breaks layouts, disables features, or even introduces new security holes.
• Broken Critical Functionality: For a business, this is the most damaging risk. An automated update can occur at any time, and if it fails, it can break critical functions like e-commerce checkouts, membership logins, lead generation forms, or API integrations. This can lead to immediate and significant revenue loss.
• The White Screen of Death (WSOD): A severe conflict, often a fatal PHP error, can cause your entire site to become inaccessible, displaying only a blank white page. This locks out not only your visitors but also you from the admin dashboard, making it difficult to diagnose and fix the problem without FTP access.
• Loss of Custom Code: If you or your developer have made direct modifications to a plugin or theme’s files (which is not a best practice), an automatic update will overwrite those files, instantly erasing all your custom work. This is why using a child theme for theme customizations is critical.
• Unwanted Feature or UI Changes: Updates can alter a plugin’s user interface or change its functionality in ways that disrupt your established workflow. A feature you rely on might be moved, changed, or even removed, forcing you to adapt unexpectedly.
• Data Loss or Corruption: While rare, a flawed update to a plugin that heavily interacts with your database (like an e-commerce or booking plugin) could potentially corrupt data tables, leading to a loss of orders, user information, or other critical data.

How to Stop Auto Update Plugins in WordPress: 3 Core Methods

Regaining control over plugin updates is key to managing your website’s stability. Here are three primary methods to how to stop auto update plugins in wordpress, each offering a different level of control and technical comfort, from simple clicks to powerful code snippets.

Method 1: Using the WordPress Dashboard (The Easiest Way)

Since WordPress 5.5, you can manage auto-updates for individual plugins and themes directly from the dashboard. This is the most user-friendly and recommended method for most users as it provides granular control without touching any code.

To Disable Plugin Auto-Updates:

1. Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard.
2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins.
3. You will see a column labeled “Automatic Updates.” For any plugin with auto-updates enabled, you’ll see a link that says “Disable auto-updates.” Click this link.
4. To disable auto-updates for multiple plugins at once, use the checkboxes to select the desired plugins, choose “Disable Auto-updates” from the “Bulk actions” dropdown menu at the top of the list, and then click the “Apply” button.

To Disable Theme Auto-Updates:

1. Navigate to Appearance > Themes.
2. Click on the theme you wish to manage to open its details view.
3. Below the theme’s name and version, you will see a link to “Disable auto-updates.” Click it.

This method is ideal for selectively disabling updates for specific, complex plugins (like page builders or e-commerce solutions) while allowing simpler, less critical plugins to update automatically. For more details, see our guide on Plugin Updates WordPress.

Method 2: How to Stop Auto Update Plugins in WordPress Using Code Snippets

For more powerful, global control, you can add code snippets to your WordPress files. This method is for more advanced users comfortable with editing code.

Important: Always create a full backup of your site before editing core files. Always have automatic backups and test changes on a staging site first. You will need access to your site’s files via an FTP client (e.g., with FileZilla client) or a file manager in your hosting control panel. You’ll be editing either wp-config.php (in your site’s root directory) or your theme’s functions.php file (wp-content/themes/your-theme-name/).

A. Disable ALL Automatic Updates (Core, Plugins, and Themes):

Add this line to your wp-config.php file. This is the master switch and will override all other settings. Use this with extreme caution, as you become fully responsible for every single update, including critical security patches.

define('AUTOMATIC_UPDATER_DISABLED', true);

B. Disable ONLY Core Updates:

If you only want to stop WordPress core itself from auto-updating but leave plugin/theme auto-updates enabled, add this to wp-config.php.

define('WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE', false);

C. Disable All Plugin Auto-Updates (Globally):

To disable auto-updates for all plugins without affecting core or theme updates, add this filter to your theme’s functions.php file. This code uses a WordPress filter hook (auto_update_plugin) to intercept the update check and forces it to return false, effectively disabling the update. It is highly recommended to add this to a child theme’s functions.php file, otherwise your changes will be erased the next time you update your theme.

add_filter( 'auto_update_plugin', '__return_false' );

D. Disable All Theme Auto-Updates (Globally):

Similarly, to disable auto-updates for all themes, add this filter to your child theme’s functions.php file.

add_filter( 'auto_update_theme', '__return_false' );

Method 3: Using a Plugin for Granular Control

For users who want more advanced control than the default dashboard offers but are uncomfortable with code, a dedicated update management plugin is an excellent solution. These plugins provide a user-friendly interface to manage every aspect of WordPress updates.

A good update management plugin will typically allow you to:

• Globally enable or disable auto-updates for plugins, themes, and core with a single click.
• Control auto-updates for individual plugins and themes from one central screen.
• Distinguish between different types of core updates (minor security releases vs. major feature releases) and enable/disable them separately.
• Log all update activity so you have a record of what was updated and when.
• Set up email notifications to be alerted when updates are available or have been performed.
• Schedule updates to run during low-traffic periods to minimize potential disruption.

To use one, you simply install and activate the plugin from the WordPress repository, then navigate to its settings page to configure your update preferences. This method combines the ease of a graphical interface with the power of code-based solutions.

Beyond Disabling: Best Practices for Manual Update Management

Learning how to stop auto update plugins in wordpress is just the first step. Disabling automatic updates transfers full responsibility for your site’s health to you. Ignoring updates is not an option, as it’s one of the fastest ways to get hacked. The goal is to create a safe, repeatable process for applying updates strategically. For a comprehensive overview, see our WordPress Update Management guide.

The Critical Role of Staging and Backups

Staging sites and backups are your two most important tools in a manual update strategy. They are not optional; they are your professional lifeline.

• Staging Site: A staging site is a private clone of your live website. It’s a sandbox where you can safely test updates without any risk to your live site or its visitors. Before you update anything on your live site, you must test it on staging first. This allows you to catch conflicts, bugs, or layout issues before they impact your users and revenue. Many quality WordPress hosting providers offer one-click staging environments.
• Backups: Before performing any update—even on a staging site, but especially on your live site—you must create a complete, recent backup. A complete backup includes both your website’s files (themes, plugins, uploads) and its database. If an update breaks your live site despite testing, a reliable backup is your only way to instantly restore it to its previous working state. We recommend automated, daily backups that are stored off-site (e.g., in a cloud service like Amazon S3 or Dropbox) for maximum protection against server failure or compromise.

If an update does cause issues, our guide on How to Rollback Plugin Updates WordPress can help you recover quickly.

Creating Your Manual Update Workflow

A consistent, documented system is essential for successful manual update management. A haphazard approach will eventually lead to problems.

1. Schedule Maintenance Windows: Don’t update randomly. Set aside a regular, recurring time for updates, such as every Tuesday morning. Choose a low-traffic period for your website. Consistency prevents updates from piling up and becoming an overwhelming task.
2. Check for Updates and Read Changelogs: Begin your process by checking the Dashboard > Updates screen. Before you update anything, review the changelog for each update. You can find this by clicking the “View version details” link. Look for keywords like “security fix,” “vulnerability patched,” or “critical update.” These must be prioritized.
3. Prioritize Security Updates: Always apply security-related updates first. These patches fix vulnerabilities that hackers are actively looking to exploit. Delaying a security update by even a day can be enough for an automated attack to compromise your site.
4. Update and Test on Staging: On your staging site, update one component at a time (e.g., update one plugin, then test). After each individual update, perform a thorough check of your site:
   • Frontend Visuals: Check your homepage, key landing pages, and blog posts. Do they load correctly? Are the layouts, fonts, and images intact?
   • Critical Functionality: Test your site’s most important features. Can users submit contact forms? Is the e-commerce checkout process working from cart to payment confirmation? Can users log in and out?
   • Backend Functionality: Briefly check the WordPress admin area to ensure it’s accessible and that the settings pages for the updated plugin are working.
5. Deploy to Live and Monitor: Once all updates have been successfully tested on the staging site, repeat the update process on your live site (after taking a fresh backup). After the updates are live, perform another quick round of testing on the key functions to ensure everything deployed smoothly. Monitor your site closely for the next few hours for any unexpected behavior.

Selective vs. Total Disabling: Which Strategy Is Right for You?

When deciding how to stop auto update plugins in wordpress, you face a strategic choice: disable all updates, or only some? The right strategy depends on your site’s complexity, your technical comfort, and your tolerance for risk.

Selective Disabling (Recommended)

Selective disabling offers the best balance of security and control. With this approach, you allow safe, critical updates (like WordPress core security patches) to run automatically while taking manual control over potentially problematic plugins or themes.

This strategy is ideal for e-commerce sites, where downtime means lost sales, and for custom-built sites with unique functionality. You get the benefit of automated security for the core system while carefully testing updates for components that are critical to your business operations. This approach requires you to identify which plugins need manual oversight, but it provides a sustainable, safe update process.

For more on this balanced approach, see our guide on how to Turn Off WordPress Auto Update.

Total Disabling (Use With Extreme Caution)

Total disabling gives you complete control, but it also places the entire burden of security on you. Nothing updates without your explicit approval. This can be suitable for development sites or very simple personal blogs where security is less of a concern.

However, the risk is significant. If you miss a single critical security patch, your site becomes a prime target for hackers. As our guide on WordPress Brute Force Attacks shows, these threats are constant. For most business websites, the time commitment and risk associated with total disabling are too high. A proper staging and backup workflow makes selective disabling a much safer and more practical choice.

Frequently Asked Questions about Stopping Plugin Auto-Updates

Here are answers to common questions about how to how to stop auto update plugins in wordpress.

What happens to my site’s security if I stop auto-updates?

When you stop auto-updates, you become solely responsible for applying security patches. Your site’s security posture immediately changes. Instead of patches being applied automatically, they will wait for your manual approval. If you are not diligent, your site becomes significantly more vulnerable. Running outdated software is a leading cause of hacked WordPress sites, as attackers run automated scripts that specifically scan for well-known vulnerabilities in old versions of plugins, themes, and core. Disabling auto-updates doesn’t have to make your site less secure, but it absolutely requires a disciplined and prompt manual update routine. If you disable updates and then neglect them, your risk of being compromised increases dramatically. For more on this topic, see our WordPress Security Guide.

How can I re-enable automatic updates if I change my mind?

Re-enabling auto-updates is straightforward. You simply reverse the method you used to disable them:

• Dashboard Method: Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins or Appearance > Themes. For each item you want to automate, click the “Enable auto-updates” link.
• Code Snippet Method: Access your site’s files via FTP or a file manager. Edit the wp-config.php or functions.php file and remove or comment out the code you added. For example, delete the define('AUTOMATIC_UPDATER_DISABLED', true); line or the add_filter() function.
• Plugin Method: Go to the update management plugin’s settings page and use its interface to re-enable the desired automatic updates.

After re-enabling, it’s a good practice to go to Dashboard > Updates and click “Check again” to ensure the system recognizes the new settings, then run any pending updates manually to get your site fully up-to-date.

Why can’t I see the auto-update links in my dashboard?

If the “Enable/Disable auto-updates” links are missing from the Plugins or Themes screens, it’s usually for one of these reasons:

• Overriding Code: A constant in your wp-config.php file (like define('AUTOMATIC_UPDATER_DISABLED', true);) or a filter in your functions.php file is taking precedence and globally controlling all updates, which removes the individual controls from the dashboard.
• Managed Hosting Provider Policy: Many managed WordPress hosts control core, plugin, and theme updates at the server level to ensure stability and security for all their customers. In this case, they often disable the dashboard options. You may need to check your hosting control panel or contact their support to understand their update policy.
• Plugin-Specific Update System: In rare cases, a premium plugin might use its own proprietary update system that bypasses the standard WordPress controls, so it won’t show the standard link.

Does disabling plugin updates affect core or theme updates?

It depends entirely on the method you use. This is why choosing the right method is important.

• The Dashboard Method is granular. Disabling auto-updates for a plugin has no effect on other plugins, themes, or WordPress core.
• The Code Snippet Method varies. Using add_filter( 'auto_update_plugin', '__return_false' ); only affects plugins. Using define('AUTOMATIC_UPDATER_DISABLED', true); is a global master switch that disables all auto-updates: plugin, theme, and core.
• The Plugin Method typically gives you separate controls for each component, allowing you to configure plugins, themes, and core updates independently.

Is it better to use a code snippet or a plugin to manage updates?

This depends on your needs and comfort level.

• Code Snippets are lightweight and fast. They don’t add any overhead to your site. However, they require you to be comfortable editing core files like functions.php (and using a child theme) or wp-config.php. They are a great “set it and forget it” solution if your needs are simple (e.g., “disable all plugin auto-updates”).
• Update Management Plugins are more user-friendly and offer far more features, such as scheduling, notifications, and update logs. They are better for users who are not comfortable with code or who want advanced, flexible control from a graphical interface. The trade-off is that they add another plugin to your site, which contributes a small amount of code bloat and is one more thing to keep updated.

Conclusion

Taking control of how to stop auto update plugins in wordpress is about reclaiming your website’s stability. We’ve covered three methods—using the dashboard, code snippets, or a plugin—to help you achieve this. Each offers a different level of control to suit your needs.

However, stopping automatic updates is only the first step. You must accept the responsibility of manual updates, which includes a routine of regular backups, testing on a staging site, and consistent scheduling. The selective disabling approach offers the best balance, ensuring security for core updates while giving you control over potentially problematic plugins.

Managing this process requires discipline. If you miss updates, your site could become more vulnerable than it was with auto-updates enabled.

At wpOncall, we’ve helped over 2,500 websites steer this balance since 2013. Proper update management transforms a site from a risk into a stable, secure asset. Our daily updates, reliable backups, and unlimited support provide all the benefits of controlled updates without the stress.

If managing WordPress updates feels overwhelming, you’re not alone. Professional maintenance ensures experts are handling the complexities of plugin, theme, and core interactions. We know what to prioritize, how to prevent conflicts, and how to fix issues fast.

Explore our WordPress Maintenance and Support Services to get the control you want with the peace of mind you deserve.