Automatic Updates

With Kinsta, you can enable auto-updates for your plugins and themes using either:

• WordPress auto-updates: WordPress automatically installs plugin and theme updates twice daily. It does not run a regression test, so it cannot identify whether an updated plugin or theme causes issues.
• Kinsta Automatic Updates: Kinsta provides automatic daily updates for plugins and themes, which is free for the first month and just $3 per environment per month thereafter. Note: The first month of Kinsta Automatic Updates is free for all plans. If you’re on a Single 35k or WP2 plan, you also get your first month of hosting free. These free periods run separately, meaning if you enable Kinsta Automatic Updates on day 15 of your plan, you’ll still receive a full month of free updates.
  All plugins and themes are updated for your site even if they are inactive, and any newly installed plugin or theme is seamlessly added to Kinsta’s Automatic Updates, ensuring you stay protected against vulnerabilities without any extra effort.
  Kinsta also conducts a visual regression test on your site to detect significant changes before and after updates. By default, this test compares your homepage and four randomly selected pages from your sitemap. However, you can manually specify which pages to test. If you choose specific URLs, only those pages will be tested, even if fewer than five are provided. This helps detect any significant differences caused by the update. If an issue is identified, Kinsta automatically restores a backup taken prior to the update, ensuring your site remains stable and secure. These backups are available for three days within Backups > System-generated, with a note specifying which plugin was updated when the backup was taken.
  Kinsta uses ScreenshotOne to capture and compare screenshots before and after the update. These screenshots, along with images highlighting any differences, are securely stored for 60 days. If your domain has strict security rules that block requests from unknown origins, you may need to configure an allowlist to enable these screenshots. You have two options to achieve this:
  1. Set up a rule that permits requests containing the User-Agent:kinsta-bot header.
  2. Allow traffic from ScreenshotOne IP address ranges.

Enable automatic updates

You can enable auto-updates within WordPress sites > sitename > Plugins and themes > Automatic updates > Change.

You can enable automatic updates for your plugins and themes for multiple sites including staging sites, simultaneously from the WordPress Sites page. Select the checkboxes next to the sites you want to enable auto-updates for, click Actions, and choose Change automatic updates.

You can also enable automatic updates for multiple plugins and themes across multiple sites within WordPress sites > Plugins or Themes > select the required plugins, themes, or sites > Actions > Change automatic updates.

Note: You cannot add Test URLs or Hide selectors when enabling automatic updates for multiple sites; this must be done at site level within Automatic updates settings.

Select WordPress auto-updates and click Change automatic updates, or select Kinsta Automatic Updates and click Continue.

If you select Kinsta Automatic Updates, you can define the following settings:

• Time window: When you want the updates to occur on your site.
  
• Sensitivity: This controls how strict the visual regression test is. This test compares each pixel in two images based on color and brightness, with the sensitivity setting determining the threshold for acceptable differences. It uses images of the homepage plus four random pages or images from the Test URLs if defined. Lower sensitivity allows minor differences to be ignored, while higher sensitivity is more likely to detect even subtle changes but may also increase the chances of false positives.
• Test URLs: Define up to five URLs on your website to test after each update. Only these specific URLs are tested, even if fewer than five are provided. The test will compare the differences in the images from these URLs before and after the update and the Sensitivity level determines how strict the test is. If left blank, the test will compare your site’s homepage plus four random pages.
• Hide selectors: If your site contains dynamic content, the visual regression test may detect changes caused by the content itself, leading to failed plugin or theme updates. To prevent this, you can specify which CSS selectors should be hidden during the test. To find a CSS selector, use your browser’s inspector. Right-click the content you want to hide, select Inspect, then in the Styles panel, right-click the selector and choose Copy selector.
• Enable WordPress maintenance mode: Select this option to display a maintenance page when the updates are running. The maintenance page only appears while the updates are running and not for the entire duration of the Time window.

When you have selected the required options, click Continue. You can change any of these options at any time within Settings.

This creates a Kinsta Automatic Updates add-on; the price details are shown on the next screen, to confirm the add-on, click Change automatic updates. The subscription will appear on your next billing cycle and is automatically prorated for your current billing period.

When an update is identified and installed, it appears within Plugins and themes > Kinsta Automatic Updates.

Click Details to view the information about which plugin and theme updates were successful or failed and how many did not have an update or were excluded. For any successful or failed updates, you can click on the plugin or theme name to show the screenshots taken before and after the update and any images highlighting differences. These screenshots are stored for 60 days. If an update has failed, refer to Troubleshooting false positives or failed updates.

Troubleshooting false positives or failed updates

Kinsta Automatic Updates includes a visual regression test after each plugin or theme update. This test compares each pixel in two images based on color and brightness, with the sensitivity setting determining the threshold for acceptable differences. It analyzes the homepage and four random pages or specific Test URLs if defined.

• Lower sensitivity ignores minor differences.
• Higher sensitivity detects subtle changes but may increase false positives.

If your site contains dynamic content, videos, or carousels, the test may fail because screenshots taken before and after the update will differ. To prevent this, consider the following:

Hide dynamic CSS selectors

Identify which CSS selectors contain dynamic content and hide these within Hide selectors when you enable automatic updates or within the automatic update settings. To find a CSS selector, use your browser’s inspector. Right-click the content you want to hide, select Inspect, then in the Styles panel, right-click the selector and choose Copy selector.

Specify the pages to test

By default, the visual regression test analyzes your homepage and four random URLs from your site. If these pages contain dynamic content, it may lead to more false positives. To reduce this risk, you can specify Test URLs that do not contain dynamic elements when you enable automatic updates or within the automatic update settings.

Adjust the sensitivity level

A higher sensitivity level is more likely to result in false positives as it is more likely to detect even subtle changes. You can lower the sensitivity level so that the test ignores minor differences when you enable automatic updates or within the automatic update settings.

Exclude or change automatic updates for a single plugin or theme

To exclude or change automatic updates for a single plugin or theme, click the kebab (three-dot menu) on that item and click Change automatic updates. 

Select the required option and click Change automatic updates.

Automatic update settings

If you want to change any of the settings for Kinsta’s automatic updates, click Settings.

You can change the following:

• Time window: When you want the updates to occur on your site.
  
• Sensitivity: This controls how strict the visual regression test is. This test compares each pixel in two images based on color and brightness, with the sensitivity setting determining the threshold for acceptable differences. It uses images of the homepage plus four random pages or images from the Test URLs if defined. Lower sensitivity allows minor differences to be ignored, while higher sensitivity is more likely to detect even subtle changes but may also increase the chances of false positives.
• Test URLs: Define up to five URLs on your website to test after each update. The test will compare the differences in the images from these URLs before and after the update and the Sensitivity level determines how strict the test is. If left blank, the test will compare your site’s homepage plus four random pages.
• Hide selectors: If your site contains dynamic content, the visual regression test may detect changes caused by the content itself, leading to failed plugin or theme updates. To prevent this, you can specify which CSS selectors should be hidden during the test. To find a CSS selector, use your browser’s inspector. Right-click the content you want to hide, select Inspect, then in the Styles panel, right-click the selector and choose Copy selector.
• Enable WordPress maintenance mode: Select this option to display a maintenance page when the updates are running. The maintenance page only appears while the updates are running and not for the entire duration of the Time window.

When you’ve made the changes, click Save settings.

Automatic update notifications

You can set up email notifications for failed or successful updates within your username > User settings > Notifications.

Disable automatic updates

You can disable automatic updates within WordPress sites > sitename > Plugins and themes > Automatic updates > Change. Select Manual and click Change automatic updates.

You can also disable auto-updates for your plugins and themes for multiple sites, including staging sites, simultaneously from the WordPress Sites page. Select the checkboxes next to the sites you want to enable auto-updates for, click Actions, and choose Change automatic updates.

If you have enabled Kinsta Automatic Updates, this removes the add-on. The first month is completely free, so if you cancel within that time, you won’t incur any charges for the add-on. After the free month, if you cancel, you’ll receive a prorated credit for the unused days of the current billing period. This credit will be automatically applied to your account balance and used toward your next Kinsta invoice. For more information, refer to our WordPress Hosting Money-Back Guarantee.