How To Update WordPress?

WordPress 6.9.4 is the latest stable release as of March 2026 — and if your dashboard is showing that familiar red badge, your site is overdue for some attention. Keeping WordPress current isn’t just good housekeeping. Every major and minor release patches security vulnerabilities, fixes bugs, and often adds features that make your site faster and more stable. Skipping updates is one of the most reliable ways to end up with a hacked or broken site.

This guide covers every practical method for updating WordPress — whether you run a personal blog on shared hosting, manage a small business site, or maintain multiple WordPress installs as a developer. For most people, the admin dashboard method takes under two minutes. For everyone, the pre-update checklist takes even less time and can save hours of headache if something goes wrong.

For more in-depth WordPress guides, visit wplasma.com.

Before You Update: A Quick Safety Checklist

Updates go wrong — not often, but often enough that running a quick pre-update check is worth five minutes of your time. The most common culprits: a plugin that conflicts with the new WordPress version, or a theme that hasn’t been updated in two years. Here’s what to do before touching anything.

One thing worth knowing: a database backup alone is not a complete site backup. The database captures your posts, pages, settings, and comments — but it doesn’t include your theme files, plugin files, uploaded images, or wp-config.php. You need both a database export and a file backup to be fully covered, according to WordPress’s official backup documentation.

How to Update WordPress Core from the Dashboard

The admin dashboard update is the method most WordPress users will reach for — and for good reason. It’s reliable, requires no technical knowledge, and on most sites takes about two minutes from start to finish.

Step 1 — Check for Available Updates

Log in to your WordPress admin area and go to Dashboard → Updates. If a new version of WordPress is available, you’ll see a notice at the top of the screen with the version number and a brief description of what changed. The current stable release is WordPress 6.9.4 (March 11, 2026) — if you’re running anything earlier, an update is waiting for you.

Step 2 — Start the Core Update

Click “Update Now”. WordPress will download the update package, extract it, replace the core files, and run any necessary database upgrades automatically. You’ll see a progress indicator while this happens. Don’t close the browser tab until it finishes.

If WordPress asks for FTP credentials at this point, that’s a file permission issue — the web server process doesn’t have write access to your WordPress files. In that case, enter your FTP login details to proceed. Many shared hosting setups require this, and it’s not an error. Once entered, WordPress completes the update normally.

Step 3 — Confirm the Update Completed

After the update, WordPress redirects you to the “About WordPress” screen for the new version. That’s your confirmation it worked. Head back to Dashboard → Updates and verify the version number shown. Then re-enable any caching plugins you turned off and clear your site’s cache so visitors see the updated site.

If you get stuck on a maintenance mode message (“Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance”), WordPress left a .maintenance file in your root directory during a failed or interrupted update. Delete that file via FTP or your hosting file manager and the site will come back online immediately.

How to Update WordPress Plugins and Themes

Plugins are where most update-related site problems originate — not WordPress core itself. A plugin that hasn’t been updated in a year, or one that conflicts with a new core version, is the most common cause of broken pages and white screens. Staying current with plugins is at least as important as updating WordPress itself.

Updating Plugins via the Dashboard

Go to Plugins → Installed Plugins. Plugins with available updates will have a notification strip beneath them showing the new version number and a link to the changelog. You can update plugins individually by clicking “Update now” under each one, or select multiple plugins using the checkboxes and use the Bulk Actions → Update menu at the top.

Before updating a plugin, click the changelog link. A few seconds reading the release notes can save you from surprises — especially for major version changes that might alter settings or database structures.

Updating Themes via the Dashboard

Go to Appearance → Themes. Themes with available updates show a notification overlay when you hover over them. Click “Update now” to apply. If you’ve customized your theme files directly (rather than using a child theme), be aware that a theme update will overwrite those customizations. Always use a child theme for custom edits.

Should You Update All Plugins at Once?

Updating plugins one at a time is slower, but it makes troubleshooting much easier. If you batch-update ten plugins and your site breaks, you’ll have to deactivate and reactivate each one to find the culprit. Update one plugin, confirm the site still works, then move to the next. For low-traffic personal sites, batch updating is generally fine. For business sites where downtime matters, the sequential approach is worth the extra time.

How to Enable WordPress Auto-Updates (and When to Use Them)

Since WordPress 3.7, minor releases and security patches have updated automatically in the background without any manual action. Major feature releases — the ones that change the first two numbers of the version (like 6.8 to 6.9) — still require you to click “Update Now” by default.

Controlling Auto-Updates in wp-config.php

You can customize this behavior by adding a constant to your wp-config.php file:

// Allow only minor/security updates automatically (default behavior)
define( 'WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE', 'minor' );

// Enable automatic major updates too
define( 'WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE', true );

// Disable all automatic core updates
define( 'WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE', false );

// Disable ALL automatic updates (core, plugins, themes)
define( 'AUTOMATIC_UPDATER_DISABLED', true );

According to the WordPress developer documentation, these constants give you precise control over what updates automatically without requiring a plugin.

Per-Plugin Auto-Updates (WordPress 5.5+)

Since WordPress 5.5, you can toggle automatic updates for individual plugins directly from Plugins → Installed Plugins. Each plugin row shows an “Enable auto-updates” link. This is a practical middle ground: enable auto-updates for stable, trusted plugins (security plugins, SEO tools) and leave manual updates on for complex ones like WooCommerce or page builders where a bad update has real business impact.

When Auto-Updates Make Sense

Auto-updates are a good fit for personal blogs and simple business sites where security matters more than stability risk. For sites with complex plugin stacks, e-commerce stores, or custom integrations, manual updates with a staging environment test give you more control. Managed WordPress hosting providers (WP Engine, Kinsta, SiteGround) often apply auto-updates on their own schedule with rollback capability — check your hosting dashboard for those settings.

How to Update WordPress Using WP-CLI

WP-CLI is the command-line tool for managing WordPress. If you’re comfortable with a terminal, it’s faster than the admin dashboard for bulk operations — especially across multiple sites. Here’s how to use it for updates.

Basic WP-CLI Update Commands

Run these from your server’s command line, inside your WordPress installation directory:

# Update WordPress core to the latest stable version
wp core update

# Update core but only minor/security releases (safer)
wp core update --minor

# Update all plugins
wp plugin update --all

# Preview plugin updates without making any changes
wp plugin update --all --dry-run

# Update all plugins except specific ones
wp plugin update --all --exclude=woocommerce

# Update all themes
wp theme update --all

# Check what's available before running updates
wp core check-update
wp plugin list --update=available

The --dry-run flag is particularly useful: it shows you exactly what would be updated and to which version without touching anything. Running a dry run before a batch update on a production site is a simple habit that avoids surprises. All WP-CLI commands are documented at developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/.

Checking Update Status Before Running

Before updating, it’s worth knowing the full picture. wp core check-update shows whether a core update is available. wp plugin list --update=available lists all plugins with pending updates. These read-only commands have zero risk and give you a clear inventory before you commit to any changes.

More WordPress developer tools and command-line guides are available at wplasma.com.

Update Methods Compared: Which One Is Right for You?

There’s no single “correct” way to update WordPress — the right method depends on your technical comfort level, your hosting setup, and how much risk tolerance you have. Here’s a practical breakdown:

For shared hosting accounts on cPanel, the dashboard method works exactly the same way. The only thing to watch for is whether your host has disabled automatic updates at the server level — some budget hosts do this, in which case you’ll always see the manual “Update Now” button regardless of your WordPress configuration.

What to Do If a WordPress Update Breaks Your Site

Most updates complete without incident. But plugin conflicts happen, and occasionally a theme or custom code breaks on a new WordPress version. Here’s how to recover methodically rather than in a panic.

Step 1 — Restore From Backup

If you have a recent backup (and the pre-update checklist above ensures you do), restoring it is the fastest path back to a working site. Most backup plugins like UpdraftPlus, BackupBuddy, or Jetpack Backup can restore directly from your WordPress admin. Your hosting provider’s control panel usually has a one-click restore too. Use whichever is faster.

Step 2 — Identify the Conflicting Plugin

If you’d rather fix the issue than roll back, plugin conflicts are the most common culprit. Access your server via FTP or cPanel’s File Manager and rename the wp-content/plugins/ folder to something like plugins-disabled/. This deactivates all plugins at once. If your site comes back up, a plugin is the problem. Rename the folder back, then deactivate plugins one at a time from the admin panel until you find the one causing the issue.

Step 3 — Check PHP Version Compatibility

Each WordPress version has minimum and recommended PHP version requirements. If your hosting runs an older PHP version, a new WordPress release can trigger errors. Check your hosting control panel for the PHP version setting (usually under “PHP Configuration” or “Select PHP Version” in cPanel). WordPress.org publishes the PHP requirements for each release in its release notes.

Step 4 — Enable WordPress Debug Mode

If the site is partially broken and you need more information, WordPress debug mode displays PHP errors directly on screen. Add these lines to wp-config.php:

define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );

With WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY set to false, errors are written to wp-content/debug.log rather than shown to site visitors. Read that file to see exactly which plugin or theme file is throwing errors. Turn debug mode off again once you’ve identified and fixed the issue.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should I update WordPress?

Security and maintenance releases (minor updates) should be applied as soon as they’re available — they exist specifically to patch vulnerabilities. Major releases are stable by launch, but it’s reasonable to wait a week or two and let the community report any issues before updating a business-critical site. Plugins and themes should be reviewed and updated at least monthly.

Is it safe to update WordPress on a live site?

Core WordPress updates are generally safe to apply directly to a live site, especially minor/security updates. For major releases or significant plugin updates, testing on a staging environment first is worth the extra step. The main risk is plugin compatibility, not the WordPress core update itself.

What’s the safest order — update core, plugins, or themes first?

Start with plugins, then themes, then WordPress core. Plugins are most likely to conflict with each other or with the new core version, and testing them first gives you a cleaner baseline. Update core last, after you know everything else is current and working.

Do I need to update WordPress if my site is working fine?

Yes. A working site on an outdated WordPress version is a security risk. Most WordPress site compromises exploit known vulnerabilities in outdated versions of core, plugins, or themes. “Working fine” doesn’t mean “safe.”

Can updating WordPress delete my content?

No. A WordPress core update replaces system files (wp-admin, wp-includes, and root PHP files) but doesn’t touch the database or your wp-content folder where your posts, pages, themes, plugins, and uploads live. That said, always back up before updating — just in case.

What happens if I don’t update WordPress?

Your site stays vulnerable to security exploits that have already been patched in newer versions. Hackers actively scan for outdated WordPress installs. Beyond security, outdated sites miss performance improvements, compatibility with newer PHP versions, and access to new WordPress features and block editor enhancements.

How do I update WordPress on a shared hosting account?

The process is identical to any WordPress install — use Dashboard → Updates → Update Now. Some managed hosting providers (SiteGround, Bluehost, Hostinger) also offer WordPress management tools in their control panels where you can update with a click. Check your hosting dashboard for a “WordPress Manager” or “WP Toolkit” option alongside the standard admin dashboard method.

Does WordPress update automatically?

Minor releases and security patches update automatically in the background by default since WordPress 3.7 — you don’t need to do anything. Major releases (like 6.8 → 6.9) require a manual click. You can change this behavior using the WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE constant in wp-config.php, or by enabling per-plugin auto-updates from the Plugins screen.

Find more WordPress how-to guides at wplasma.com.

Keeping WordPress Updated Is Worth the Effort

A two-minute dashboard update is one of the highest-return maintenance tasks for any WordPress site. The actual risk from updates is low — plugin conflicts happen occasionally, but they’re fixable with the right preparation. The risk from not updating is higher: outdated installs are the most common entry point for compromised WordPress sites.

The pattern that works: back up before each update, update plugins first then core, and keep a staging environment if your site handles real business transactions. For simple sites, the WordPress dashboard does everything you need. For more complex setups, WP-CLI or managed hosting tools add speed and control without much added complexity.

WordPress 6.9.4 is waiting on your dashboard. Five minutes now is worth considerably more than a recovery operation later.