Title: WebChange Detector for MainWP Author: Mike Miler Published: June 18, 2026 Last modified: June 18, 2026 --- Search plugins ![](https://ps.w.org/webchangedetector-for-mainwp/assets/banner-772x250.png?rev= 3577098) ![](https://ps.w.org/webchangedetector-for-mainwp/assets/icon-256x256.jpg?rev=3577098) # WebChange Detector for MainWP By [Mike Miler](https://profiles.wordpress.org/mikemiler/) [Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/webchangedetector-for-mainwp.1.0.1.zip) * [Details](https://wordpress.org/plugins/webchangedetector-for-mainwp/#description) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/plugins/webchangedetector-for-mainwp/#reviews) * [Installation](https://wordpress.org/plugins/webchangedetector-for-mainwp/#installation) * [Development](https://wordpress.org/plugins/webchangedetector-for-mainwp/#developers) [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/webchangedetector-for-mainwp/) ## Description WebChange Detector for MainWP adds a visual safety net to the updates you already run from your MainWP Dashboard. Before the updates, it captures screenshots of the pages you selected on every child site. It then installs the updates and captures the same pages again. The screenshots are compared automatically, and you instantly see which pages changed, with the visual difference highlighted. Everything runs from your MainWP Dashboard. Nothing is installed on your child sites. #### What is an on-demand check? An on-demand check is a visual diff you run around a change you make yourself, like installing updates. WebChange Detector takes a screenshot of each selected page ** before** the change, applies the change, takes another screenshot **after**, and compares the two automatically. The comparison runs on desktop and mobile, and the AI ignores moving parts like sliders, carousels, ads and animations, so you only get flagged on changes that actually matter. In MainWP, this on-demand check is wrapped directly around the updates you run from your dashboard: pre-update screenshots, the updates, post-update screenshots, and the comparison all happen in one run across all your child sites. #### How it works 1. Create a free WebChange Detector account at [webchangedetector.com](https://www.webchangedetector.com) if you do not have one yet, then copy your API token from your account and enter it in MainWP. 2. Enable the child sites you want to check. Each site’s pages are synced automatically when you enable it. 3. Select the pages to check (desktop and/or mobile). 4. Click “Run visual check & update” on your MainWP dashboard or Updates page. 5. The plugin captures pre-update screenshots, installs all pending updates, captures post-update screenshots and compares them. Before the pre-update screenshots and after the updates, the cache on each child site is cleared automatically, so the screenshots always show the real, freshly generated state of the site. 6. Review the results on the Visual Checks page: every page with a visual change is flagged, including an AI summary of what changed. #### Features * One-click safe updates: pre-update screenshots, updates, post-update screenshots, comparison: all in one run across all child sites. * Automatic cache clearing: the child site’s cache is cleared before the pre-update screenshots and after the updates, so screenshots never show a stale cached page. Works with 20+ caching plugins (WP Rocket, LiteSpeed Cache, W3 Total Cache, WP Super Cache and more) through the MainWP Child plugin, with nothing extra to install. * Bulk or single site: run the flow for every enabled child site at once or for one site from its overview. * Page selection per site: choose which URLs are checked, separately for desktop and mobile. * Visual Checks overview: all runs across your sites with filters, change percentages and side-by-side comparisons. * Dashboard widget: your remaining checks, plan usage and latest run at a glance. * Auto-enable new sites: optionally provision every newly added MainWP child site for visual checks automatically. #### External service: WebChange Detector This plugin relies on the WebChange Detector service ([https://www.webchangedetector.com](https://www.webchangedetector.com)) as a third-party service to capture, store and compare the screenshots. A WebChange Detector account is required (free plan available). The plugin sends data to `api.webchangedetector.com` only after you have entered your API token, and only in these circumstances: when you connect or verify your account, when you enable a child site or sync its page URLs (the public URLs and page titles of that site are transmitted), when you start a visual check (screenshots are taken of the selected public URLs), and when you review or update results. Your API token is sent with each request to authenticate your account. No data about your WordPress users or any non-selected content is transmitted. * Service: [https://www.webchangedetector.com](https://www.webchangedetector.com) * Terms of use: [https://www.webchangedetector.com/terms-of-use/](https://www.webchangedetector.com/terms-of-use/) * Privacy policy: [https://www.webchangedetector.com/privacy-statement/](https://www.webchangedetector.com/privacy-statement/) #### Requirements * A MainWP Dashboard (the free [MainWP plugin](https://wordpress.org/plugins/mainwp/)) with at least one connected child site. * A WebChange Detector account and API token. If you do not have an account yet, create a free one at [webchangedetector.com](https://www.webchangedetector.com); the free plan includes monthly checks. See [plans](https://www.webchangedetector.com/pricing/) for paid options. ## Screenshots [⌊Sites & pages settings: activate a website and choose which pages are checked, separately for desktop and mobile. One click activates checks for all your managed websites.⌉⌊Sites & pages settings: activate a website and choose which pages are checked, separately for desktop and mobile. One click activates checks for all your managed websites.⌉[ Sites & pages settings: activate a website and choose which pages are checked, separately for desktop and mobile. One click activates checks for all your managed websites. [⌊The WebChange Detector safe-update banner on your MainWP Operations dashboard, showing how many sites have updates and how many pages and checks the run will cover.⌉⌊ The WebChange Detector safe-update banner on your MainWP Operations dashboard, showing how many sites have updates and how many pages and checks the run will cover.⌉[ The WebChange Detector safe-update banner on your MainWP Operations dashboard, showing how many sites have updates and how many pages and checks the run will cover. [⌊Pre-flight summary before the run: sites, pages, screenshots, checks and credit coverage, plus the exact updates that will be installed.⌉⌊Pre-flight summary before the run: sites, pages, screenshots, checks and credit coverage, plus the exact updates that will be installed.⌉[ Pre-flight summary before the run: sites, pages, screenshots, checks and credit coverage, plus the exact updates that will be installed. [⌊The run card capturing the pre-update screenshots across all sites.⌉⌊The run card capturing the pre-update screenshots across all sites.⌉[ The run card capturing the pre-update screenshots across all sites. [⌊The run card installing the pending updates after the pre-update screenshots are captured.⌉⌊The run card installing the pending updates after the pre-update screenshots are captured.⌉[ The run card installing the pending updates after the pre-update screenshots are captured. [⌊The run card capturing the post-update screenshots, ready to compare.⌉⌊The run card capturing the post-update screenshots, ready to compare.⌉[ The run card capturing the post-update screenshots, ready to compare. [⌊The finished run: every site checked, "All good" or the number of pages to review, with Re-check and View results.⌉⌊The finished run: every site checked, "All good" or the number of pages to review, with Re-check and View results.⌉[ The finished run: every site checked, “All good” or the number of pages to review, with Re-check and View results. [⌊Visual Checks overview: all your runs with filters for date, status, website and change.⌉⌊Visual Checks overview: all your runs with filters for date, status, website and change.⌉[ Visual Checks overview: all your runs with filters for date, status, website and change. [⌊Side-by-side before/after comparison with the AI change analysis: real changes flagged, dynamic content auto-ignored by your rules.⌉⌊Side-by-side before/after comparison with the AI change analysis: real changes flagged, dynamic content auto- ignored by your rules.⌉[ Side-by-side before/after comparison with the AI change analysis: real changes flagged, dynamic content auto-ignored by your rules. ## Installation 1. Install and activate the plugin on the WordPress site running your MainWP Dashboard( not on the child sites). 2. Create a free WebChange Detector account at [www.webchangedetector.com](https://www.webchangedetector.com) if you do not have one yet. 3. Copy your API token from your WebChange Detector account. 4. Go to MainWP > Extensions > WebChange Detector and paste the API token into the“ WebChange Detector API Token” field. 5. Enable the child sites you want to check. Each site’s pages are synced automatically when you enable it (use “Activate checks for all websites” to do every managed site at once). 6. Select the pages to check for desktop and/or mobile. 7. Run your next update from the MainWP dashboard with “Run visual check & update”. ## FAQ ### What is an on-demand check? An on-demand check is a visual diff you run around a change you make yourself. WebChange Detector takes a screenshot of each selected page before the change, you apply the change, it takes another screenshot after, and the two are compared automatically on desktop and mobile. In MainWP this is wrapped around the updates you run: the plugin captures the pre-update screenshots, installs the updates, captures the post- update screenshots, and shows you every page that changed, with an AI summary. The AI ignores moving parts like sliders, carousels and ads, so you only get flagged on real changes. ### Do I need to install anything on my child sites? No. The plugin runs entirely on your MainWP Dashboard and talks to the WebChange Detector service. Child sites are captured through their public URLs. ### Do I need a WebChange Detector account? Yes. The screenshots are captured and compared by the WebChange Detector service, so you need an account and API token. A free plan is available. ### Which pages are checked? You choose. After enabling a child site, its published pages and posts are synced and you select which URLs are checked, separately for desktop and mobile. Every selected URL and device counts as one check per capture. ### Why do I need to sync the child site’s pages? Before it can check a site, the plugin needs the list of public URLs on that site. Syncing fetches the published pages and posts from the child and makes them available for selection. It runs automatically when you enable a site and again after MainWP syncs the child. Until a site is synced, there are no pages to select and no checks can run. ### What happens if a site is offline during an update run? The run tolerates it: the offline site is skipped for updates and the other sites continue. The post-update screenshots still run for the sites that were updated. ### Do I need to clear the cache on my child sites after updates? No, the plugin does that for you. It clears each child site’s cache before the pre- update screenshots and again after the updates, using the cache clearing built into the MainWP Child plugin (supports 20+ caching plugins, detected automatically). This makes sure the comparison shows the actual state of the site after the updates instead of a cached old version. If no supported caching plugin is active, this step is simply skipped. ### Does this work with MainWP updates started elsewhere (e.g. scheduled)? Updates you start outside the plugin’s own flow still trigger post-update screenshots as a safety net, so you can compare against the last baseline. For the full pre/ post comparison, start the run from the “Run visual check & update” button. ## Reviews There are no reviews for this plugin. ## Contributors & Developers “WebChange Detector for MainWP” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin. Contributors * [ Mike Miler ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/mikemiler/) [Translate “WebChange Detector for MainWP” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/webchangedetector-for-mainwp) ### Interested in development? [Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/webchangedetector-for-mainwp/), check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/webchangedetector-for-mainwp/), or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/webchangedetector-for-mainwp/) by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/webchangedetector-for-mainwp/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss). ## Changelog #### 1.0.1 * Improvement: “Select all” pages is now instant, even on sites with thousands of URLs. * Improvement: new “Activate checks for all websites” button activates every managed site at once * Improvement: the dashboard now shows a short setup hint when no API token is connected yet. * Fix: switching your API token now re-links your existing websites under the new account instead of creating duplicates, and repairs stale links automatically. #### 1.0.0 * Initial release: safe-update flow (pre/post screenshots around MainWP updates), Visual Checks overview, dashboard widget, per-site URL selection, auto-enable for new sites, automatic cache clearing on child sites before pre-update screenshots and after updates. ## Meta * Version **1.0.1** * Last updated **10 hours ago** * Active installations **Fewer than 10** * WordPress version ** 6.0 or higher ** * Tested up to **7.0** * PHP version ** 7.4 or higher ** * Tags * [MainWP](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/mainwp/)[monitoring](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/monitoring/) [screenshots](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/screenshots/)[updates](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/updates/) [visual regression testing](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/visual-regression-testing/) * [Advanced View](https://wordpress.org/plugins/webchangedetector-for-mainwp/advanced/) ## Ratings No reviews have been submitted yet. [Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/webchangedetector-for-mainwp/reviews/#new-post) [See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/webchangedetector-for-mainwp/reviews/) ## Contributors * [ Mike Miler ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/mikemiler/) ## Support Got something to say? Need help? [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/webchangedetector-for-mainwp/)