Simple History
by Par Thernstrom
An audit log of who changed what: posts, plugins, users, settings and failed logins, in a readable feed.
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What Simple History does
An audit log of who changed what: posts, plugins, users, settings and failed logins, in a readable feed.
It sits in the maintenance part of a WordPress stack and is sold by Par Thernstrom on a free basis. We recommend it in our maintenance guides because it does that one job well without asking you to rebuild the rest of the site around it.
Every plugin adds work to a page request, so treat this as a decision with a cost. Record a speed test before you install it and run the same test afterwards, on the same page, so you know exactly what it charged you.
Real user ratings
Score
4.9/5
Reviews
489
Active installs
300,000+
Downloads
13.0M
Latest version
5.32.0
Last updated
2026-09-05
These figures come straight from the public WordPress.org plugin directory API for version 5.32.0, not from us. Check them yourself on the WordPress.org listing. Our own editorial score is 4.9/5.
Where Simple History ranks elsewhere
Simple History does not appear in the published "best of" lists we track from WPBeginner, TechRadar, Kinsta, Themeisle and similar sites. That is not a mark against it - those roundups are short and skew towards the biggest names.
What changed in the latest version
- Long diffs can be expanded in place with an "Expand diff" button.
- Note events carry the same action links as the page or post the note belongs to.
- Experimental - "Hide events of this type" in an event's actions menu removes that event type from the current list. Hidden types show as removable chips above the list and never change what gets logged.
- Post and page events link to the revision the change created, labelled "View revision". On WordPress 7.1 and later it opens the editor's visual revision view.
- Site icon changes show the old and new icon as images, side by side, instead of attachment IDs.
- Action links below events are grey until the event is hovered or focused, and separated by a dot in the dashboard widget.
- When a license key has reached its activation limit, the settings page explains why and how to free it up from the Lemon Squeezy "My orders" page.
- Experimental - Event fields sent to AI tools through the WordPress Abilities API carry readable labels and descriptions, following the output schema conventions added in WordPress 7.1 .
- Site Editor changes are now logged: templates, template parts, site-wide styles, patterns, navigation menus and fonts, including changes made outside the block editor. Resetting a template to the theme default is logged as a reset, not a...
- Support for the official WordPress AI plugin: Simple History now logs when AI features are enabled or disabled, when a feature's AI provider or model is changed, and when plugins or themes request, are granted, or lose access to AI provi...
- --format=json and --format=yaml on wp simple-history info , so a deploy or CI script can check that Premium is active and licensed.
- Experimental - Activity log is now available to AI tools and automation through the WordPress Abilities API (WordPress 6.9+). Read-only - nothing exposed can change or delete log entries.
- Tested on WordPress 7.1.
- Theme update events now name the version the theme went from and to, the way plugin update events already did.
- Experimental - Role events no longer list every capability in the details panel when there are more than 10; the count stays in the event message and the full list in the event context.
- "Deleted user" events showed a blank id, email and login instead of the details of the removed user.
- "Plugin info" action link on plugin update-available events, so you can quickly check what an unfamiliar plugin is without leaving the log.
- "Find events from the same IP address" in an event's actions menu, alongside the existing user and event-type filters.
- Changes to more Simple History settings are now logged: Email Reports, the Experimental features toggle, and add-on license keys (key values are never stored in the log). (And yes - it was a bit funny that the plugin that logs changes to...
- WP-CLI: --metadata_search and --ai_only options on wp simple-history list , matching the metadata search and AI filter in the GUI.
- WP-CLI: AI attribution columns ( ai_agent , ai_detected_via , ai_application ) on wp simple-history list , showing which AI tool made a change and how it was detected.
- Header now shows "Stealth mode: on" while stealth mode is hiding Simple History from other users, including other administrators.
- Reactions graduated from experimental and are now on by default - react to events with a 👍 (disable in Settings → General). Premium adds ❤️ 🎉 🚀 and more reaction types.
- Header settings/info bar is graduated from experimental and now shows for all admins - a glance at how long history is kept, whether email reports and alerts are on, and where logs are forwarded, with each one linking straight to its set...
Release notes are the developer's own words, published on WordPress.org. Read the full changelog
Pros and cons
- Answers who broke the site, with a timestamp
- Free with no licence to renew
- Actively maintained and used on production sites we test
- The log table grows, so set a retention period
- Support is community-led rather than guaranteed
How to use it
- 1Install on a staging copy first if the site takes money.
- 2Work through the setup wizard and connect any external accounts it needs.
- 3Configure the one feature you installed it for, and leave the rest off.
- 4Test the result as a logged-out visitor on both mobile and desktop.
- 5Re-run our speed test to confirm the plugin has not cost you load time.
How it compares
Other maintenance plugins we recommend, with their rating and pricing model.
| Plugin | Our rating | WordPress.org | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple History | 4.9 | 4.9 (489) | Free | Answers who broke the site, with a timestamp |
| Disable Comments | 4.7 | 4.7 (280) | Free | Removes an entire spam surface in one click |
| WP Crontrol | 4.5 | 4.5 (165) | Free | Finds runaway cron jobs that quietly eat CPU |
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