WordPress update errors: How to update themes and plugins without breaking your site

If you own a WordPress site, you certainly know that thrill of anxiety before pressing the “Update” button on a plugin. The fear of the famous “White Screen of Death” is justified: a bad update can break the compatibility of the entire site.

Why do sites break during updates?

Problems do not arise because WordPress is poorly built, but because of its vast ecosystem. An average site uses a theme and between 15-30 plugins created by different developers.

• 1. Code conflicts. The new update of your contact form plugin might use a jQuery library that directly conflicts with your theme.
• 2. Outdated PHP versions. If your server runs an old version of PHP (e.g. 7.4) and you update a plugin that requires PHP 8.1, the site will return a fatal error.
• 3. Lack of memory. The process of downloading, unzipping, and replacing files requires RAM. If your hosting package is limited (low memory limit), the process is abruptly interrupted, leaving corrupted files.

Safe Update Procedure (Best Practices)

To avoid unpleasant surprises, follow this golden routine:

• Staging is mandatory: NEVER do major updates directly on the live site. Use a “staging” environment (a private clone of the site) to test updates.
• Backup before clicking: Create a fresh copy of the database and files right before you start updating.
• Sequential updates: Update plugins one by one, not all at once using the “Bulk” feature. This way you’ll know exactly which plugin caused the problem if the site goes down.
• Check the Changelog: Read what the new update brings. If it’s a “Major Release” (e.g. from 2.0 to 3.0), the risk of incompatibility is much higher.

To deepen the best practices for maintaining the health of your site, we invite you to consult Our Complete WordPress Security and Maintenance Guide.