Update WordPress, plugins and themes

Update WordPress, plugins and themes in cPanel's WordPress Management or in the dashboard, and turn on automatic updates so you don't miss security fixes.

Update from cPanel

1. Log in to cPanel and click WordPress Management. Under Updates, your site's card shows the WordPress version and whether plugins and themes are up to date.

2. At the bottom of the card:

   1. Click Updates to see what can be updated.
   2. Click Autoupdate settings to choose what updates itself (see the next section).
   

3. In Available Updates:

   1. Click Check for Updates to load the newest list. Tick the items you want to update.
   2. Click Update. If the list says No updates found, everything is current.
   

Have several WordPress sites? The Updates button above the list of sites works for all of them at once.

Turn on automatic updates

1. Click Autoupdate settings on your site's card.

2. Choose your settings:

   1. Update WordPress automatically: Yes, all (minor and major) updates keeps WordPress itself current. Yes, but only minor (security) updates installs only small fixes.
   2. Update plugins automatically: Defined individually, but security updates are autoinstalled is a good middle way: each plugin keeps its own setting, but plugins with a known security problem are updated anyway. Forced updates every plugin as soon as a new version comes out. Update themes automatically offers the same choices.
   3. Click Save.
   

To switch automatic updates on or off for one plugin, open the Plugins tab on the site's card and use the Autoupdate switch next to it, or Autoupdate all plugins for all of them.

Update in the WordPress dashboard

1. Log in to WordPress (see Log in to your WordPress dashboard).

2. Go to Dashboard > Updates. The page lists new versions of WordPress, plugins and themes. Tick what you want and click the update button under each list.

   

Common problems

The site shows an error after an update

A plugin or theme may not work with the new version. Switch that plugin off in the Plugins tab of WordPress Management, then see Fix "There has been a critical error on this website". If you made a backup before updating, you can restore it.

A plugin has no update for a long time

Plugins that are no longer maintained become a security risk. Look for an actively maintained replacement and delete the old plugin.

"Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance"

WordPress shows this while it updates. If the message stays for more than a few minutes, the update was interrupted: open File Manager and delete the file .maintenance in your WordPress folder (it's hidden, so turn on Show Hidden Files (dotfiles) in File Manager's Settings). Then run the update again.

Related articles

• Back up and restore a WordPress site
• Make a staging copy of your site (clone)
• Secure your WordPress site from cPanel
• Change the PHP version and PHP settings

Still stuck? Open a support ticket and we'll help.