9 Best Auto Updates Alternatives in 2026
Updated September 7, 2026 · Ranked by how closely each plugin matches, from WordPress.org data · How this works
Auto Updates has 1,000+ active installs on WordPress.org. These 9 plugins share its category or its tags on WordPress.org, are actively maintained, and each has at least 100 active installs. They are ordered by how closely they match, not by our opinion.
The 9 closest alternatives to Auto Updates
- 1
Updater
Closest matchUpdater by BestWebSoft
4.7 (52) 2,000+ active installsAutomatically update WordPress core, plugins, themes, and translations. Schedule updates and get email notifications – no FTP needed.
Shares the updater tag on WordPress.org. About 2 times the installs, last updated December 3, 2025.
- 2
4.8 (105) 40,000+ active installsManage all updates on your WordPress site. Stay in the know with several optional e-mail notifications and logs. For free.
Shares the auto, update tags on WordPress.org. About 40 times the installs, last updated March 21, 2026.
- 3
4.9 (23) 500+ active installsIP Based Login allows you to directly login from an authorized IP without password.
Shares the auto tag on WordPress.org. About half the installs, last updated June 1, 2026.
- 4
4.1 (20) 200+ active installsAutomatically add relevant tags to new posts.
Shares the automatic tag on WordPress.org. About a quarter of the installs, no update since August 4, 2012.
- 5
4.8 (43) 2,000+ active installsDynamic menus: List all posts from a category in your menu. Also works for tags, custom taxonomies as well as pages and custom post types.
Shares the automatic tag on WordPress.org. About 2 times the installs, last updated 10 days ago.
- 6
4.5 (151) 6,000+ active installsAuto Excerpt for your posts on home, search and archive pages. Customize Read More button and thumbnail image. Easy to configure and have a lot of opt …
Shares the automatic tag on WordPress.org. About 6 times the installs, no update since April 16, 2024.
- 7
4.8 (69) 10,000+ active installsDisables the theme, plugin and core update checking, the related cronjobs, plugin/theme update health checks and notification system.
Shares the update tag on WordPress.org. About 10 times the installs, last updated 23 days ago.
- 8
5.0 (31) 3,000+ active installsSave everything in the most natural way by pressing Ctrl+S (or Cmd+S on Mac).
Shares the update tag on WordPress.org. About 3 times the installs, no update since November 3, 2018.
- 9
5.0 (214) 7,000+ active installsA light plugin that automatically updates cart page and mini-cart when product quantity is changed. Removes the default "Update cart" button …
Shares the update tag on WordPress.org. About 7 times the installs, no update since March 30, 2021.
Switching from Auto Updates: common questions
What is the best alternative to Auto Updates?
Updater is the closest match: it shares the same WordPress.org tags and has 2,000+ active installs with a 4.7 out of 5 rating.
Which Auto Updates alternative has the most users?
Companion Auto Update, with 40,000+ active installs reported by WordPress.org.
Which Auto Updates alternative is rated highest?
Ajax Cart AutoUpdate for WooCommerce, rated 5.0 out of 5 by 214 reviewers. Only plugins with at least 50 reviews are counted.
Are these Auto Updates alternatives free?
Every plugin listed here is free to install from WordPress.org. Where WordPress.org marks a plugin as commercial, the developer also sells a paid version or add-ons, and that is shown on each plugin.
How are alternatives chosen?
Automatically, from WordPress.org data: plugins that share a category top 10 with Auto Updates score highest, then plugins that appear in the same WordPress.org rankings, then plugins with the same tags, weighted so rare tags count more than common ones. Plugins by the same author and plugins rated under 4.0 are left out.
How we choose these alternatives
Nothing on this page is picked by hand. Every day we walk the whole WordPress.org directory, then score every plugin against Auto Updates on three signals: sharing a category top 10 counts most, then appearing in the same WordPress.org rankings, then carrying the same tags, with rare tags counting for more than common ones like "wordpress". Plugins by the same author are excluded, so an author's own add-ons cannot fill the list, and so is anything rated below 4.0 or with fewer than 100 active installs. The ten highest scores are what you see, in that order. Full methodology.
The bottom line
Updater is the closest match to Auto Updates by the data we track, and Companion Auto Update has the widest reach with 40,000+ active installs. Category Posts in Custom Menu shipped the most recent release, on August 28, 2026. The list is rebuilt every day from WordPress.org, so a plugin that stops being maintained drops out on its own.
Weekly · free
What moved this week
One email a week, built from the same daily snapshots these rankings come from: the plugins that climbed, what launched, and one ranking worth a look.