This guide walks you through your first steps to your first check to see what WebChange Detector can do for you.
Creating Your Account
When you don’t have an account yet, you can start your free trial here or by installing our Plugin for WordPress.
Two Ways to Use WebChange Detector
WebChange Detector offers two interfaces depending on your needs:
The Plugin for WordPress installs directly on your WordPress site. It integrates with WordPress auto-updates, and gives you checks right from your WordPress admin dashboard. Best for site owners managing their own website. WebChange Detector plugin
The WebApp is a centralized control panel where you connect and manage multiple client WordPress sites from one place. You can configure monitoring, trigger on-demand checks, review changes across all sites, and control what each client can see and do. Best for agencies and freelancers managing multiple sites.
Both interfaces connect to the same system. You can use the plugin on individual sites and manage them all from the agency dashboard at the same time.
Good to know: You don’t need to install our plugin if you don’t want to use WP auto-updates. Read below how.
Add your Website
You can add a website in three ways:
- Install our Plugin for WordPress (required for WP Auto Update Checks)
- Add via domain in the WebApp (WP Rest API must be enabled)
- Add urls manually in the WebApp
Your First Check
To see exactly how WebChange Detector woks, let’s create our first check. Simply follow these steps:
- Head to “On-demand”
- At the website you added: Enable “Desktop” for your Startpage if it’s not enabled already
- Hit the “Run checks” button at your website and confirm the popup
- Wait until the pre-update screenshot is done.
- Change a little thing on this page (eg. Remove a button or change a word)
- Hit the “Create Checks” button and confirm the popup to take a screenshot again and check it against the pre-update screenshot.
- When it’s done, click the “View Results” button to see what changed.
This is how the On-Demand checks work. But WebChange Detector can do more.
The Three Detection Methods
WebChange Detector offers three ways to detect changes. Each serves a different purpose:
1. On-Demand Checks
What: A guided before/after workflow you trigger manually.
When to use: Before applying WordPress updates, deploying code changes, editing content, or any planned change.
Full guide: How to Run On-Demand Checks on Your WordPress Website
2. Monitoring
What: Automated screenshots taken at regular intervals, compared against the previous run.
When to use: To catch unexpected changes on live sites: content edits by team members, third-party script changes, plugin updates you didn’t trigger, or anything that changes without your knowledge.
How it works:
- Configure a monitoring group with your desired pages
- Set the check interval (every 1 to 24 hours) and the days when the checks should run
- WebChange Detector takes screenshots and compares them automatically
- If something changes you get an email alert
Full guide: How Website Monitoring Works
3. WP Auto-Update-Checks
What: Fully automated interception of WordPress auto-updates.
When to use: To catch visual regressions caused by plugin, theme, or core auto-updates without any manual steps.
How it works:
- Enable auto-update checks in the plugin settings
- When WordPress detects an available auto-update, WebChange Detector intercepts it
- Screenshots are taken before the update runs
- WordPress applies the update
- Screenshots are taken after the update
- You receive an email with the comparison results
Important: The WP Auto-Update-Checks require the WebChange Detector plugin installed on the site.
Full guide: How to Automatically Check After Every Update
Choosing Your Detection Method
| Scenario | Recommended Method |
|---|---|
| You’re about to update plugins manually | On-Demand Checks |
| You want to know if a client’s site changes over time | Monitoring |
| You want to automate updates but still know if they break something | Auto-Update Checks |
| You’re deploying custom code | On-Demand Checks |
| You manage 20+ client sites and need passive protection | Monitoring + Auto-Update Checks |
You can also combine all three methods: monitoring for passive protection, auto-update checks for automated safety nets, and on-demand checks for planned maintenance.
Understanding Credits (Checks)
WebChange Detector uses a credit-based system. Each screenshot comparison costs 1 check. A check is consumed when the system takes a screenshot and compares it against a previous version.
How credits are used:
- Each URL/device combination = 1 check per comparison
- Monitoring a page on desktop and mobile = 2 checks per monitoring cycle
- An on-demand check of 10 pages on both devices = 20 checks
Your dashboard shows your current usage as “Used checks: X / Y” with a visual progress bar. When you’re running low, a warning appears.
What’s Next?
- Run your first on-demand check: On-Demand Checks Guide
- Enable auto-update checks: Auto-Update Checks Guide
- Understand AI analysis: AI Change Analysis Guide
