Plugin conflict debugging for WordPress

Something broke the site. Name it in five steps.

The deactivate-everything ritual, automated as a binary search — run in your admin session only, so visitors see the site completely untouched. It pinpoints the conflicting plugin, or the conflicting pair, on a live site.

FROM $49/YEAR · LIFETIME OPTION · 14-DAY GUARANTEE

log₂(n) steps — 30 plugins ≈ 5 tests Admin session only — visitors untouched Finds pairs + honest not-a-plugin verdict Branded report + update canary (Pro)
“It's 11pm, the site broke after this afternoon's updates, and every forum says the same thing: deactivate all 30 plugins and re-enable them one by one. On the live site. While customers are on it.”
— the on-call ritual, every WordPress agency knows it

The elimination method works — doing it live, blind and by hand is what hurts. WP Conflict Radar runs it as a binary search, in your session only, and writes down what it found.

How it works

Ask five questions. Get a name.

Name the symptom, pick the URL where you can see it, and answer one question per step: problem still there, YES or NO? The wizard does the rest — and nothing on the market does this without taking the site down or requiring a staging copy.

SEARCH

The binary search, run for you

Each YES/NO answer halves the suspect list. A 30-plugin site needs about 5 test steps — log₂(n) — instead of 30 one-by-one toggles. The wizard tracks which half is armed, you just look at the page and answer.

SESSION

Your session only. Visitors see nothing.

A tiny mu-plugin filters the active-plugin list only for requests carrying your signed, expiring test cookie. The real active_plugins option is never written, writes are short-circuited while a session is armed, and any validation failure means zero filtering. The site never actually changes.

PAIR

Finds pairs — and admits when it's not a plugin

When two plugins only break things together, the pair refinement names both halves of the interaction. And a control step checks the symptom with everything filtered out — if it survives, you get an honest not_plugin verdict instead of false blame. An optional session-scoped default-theme test covers the theme.

REPORT

Branded conflict report — Pro

Print-ready HTML and a real downloadable PDF in your agency's logo, name and colours: the symptom, every timestamped test step, the verdict and a recommendation. Evidence for the client invoice — this is what your hour bought. Pro keeps a 50-session history.

CANARY

Post-update canary — Pro

After any plugin update or activation, the canary smoke-checks the homepage and emails you naming the plugin that just changed — so Tuesday's bad update is Tuesday's email, not Thursday's angry phone call. Honest scope: it's a server-side check of the rendered page, not a browser test.

Who it's for

Every “which plugin did it?” moment.

The 11pm break-fix

The site broke after an update and nobody knows which plugin did it. Five answers later, you do — without a single real toggle on the live site.

Live shops that can't blink

WooCommerce sites earn money by the minute. The old ritual takes the checkout down mid-hunt; Conflict Radar leaves every visitor on the full plugin stack while you investigate.

Agency fleets

The same wizard on every client site, one licence across the fleet. The junior on call follows YES/NO prompts instead of a folk memory of which plugins are touchy.

Billable diagnosis

The Pro report turns an invisible hour of debugging into a document the client can hold — symptom, steps, verdict, recommendation, your logo on top.

“It wasn't the plugins”

The control step and the not_plugin verdict prove a negative honestly — when the cause is the theme, the host or a CDN, you find out in one step and stop blaming the wrong thing.

Update days

Switch on the canary (Pro) and every plugin update gets a server-side homepage smoke check — the email names the plugin that just changed, while the update is still fresh in mind.

The report

Anatomy of the conflict report.

AThe symptom & scope

What was reported, which URL it shows on, how many plugins were in play — and the line that matters to the client: visitors saw the live site throughout.

BThe step ledger

Every test step, timestamped, with what was armed and the YES/NO answer. Five rows that replace thirty risky toggles — and show the method, not just the conclusion.

CThe verdict

A single culprit, a conflicting pair with both names, or an honest not_plugin verdict backed by the control step. Never a shrug.

DThe recommendation & evidence footer

What to do about it, in plain language, plus when the investigation ran. Print-ready HTML and a real PDF, in your agency's branding — ready for the invoice email.

Honest comparison

How we compare to the alternatives.

The usual options: the manual deactivate-everything ritual, cloning the site to staging, or a “troubleshooting mode” plugin that isolates your session but leaves you to do the puzzle. Here's what changes.

WP Conflict Radar (us)Troubleshooting-mode plugins
Runs the elimination for you✓ Scripted binary search✗ You juggle the toggles
Steps on a 30-plugin site✓ About 5, wizard-led✗ Up to 30, plus your notebook
Finds conflicting pairs✓ Pair refinement built in✗ Single-plugin thinking
Honest when it's not a plugin✓ Control step, not_plugin verdict✗ Blames the last toggle
Visitors untouched✓ Signed, expiring session✓ Session-based too
Evidence to hand the client✓ Branded report + PDF (Pro)✗ Nothing on paper
Watches after updates✓ Canary emails you (Pro)✗ None

Troubleshooting mode was a real step forward — it made the ritual safe. It just didn't make it short, or write anything down. Full comparison →

Pricing

Simple prices. One is forever.

Every plan includes every Pro feature — the branded report and PDF, the 50-session history and the post-update canary. You're only choosing how many sites.

10 Sites
$49/yr

Up to 10 sites

  • All features included
  • Updates & support for a year
  • 14-day guarantee
Choose 10 Sites
Agency
$99/yr

25 sites · for agencies

  • All features included
  • Updates & support for a year
  • 14-day guarantee
Choose Agency
100 Sites
$149/yr

Up to 100 sites

  • All features included
  • Updates & support for a year
  • 14-day guarantee
Choose 100 Sites
Lifetime
$599 once

Up to 100 sites, forever

  • All features, all future updates
  • Never renew, never re-buy
  • 14-day guarantee
Own it forever

Prices in USD. Licence keys are domain-based — no accounts, no phoning home. VAT invoices available.

Questions

Asked and answered.

Is it really safe to run on a live site?

Yes — by design, not by promise. A tiny mu-plugin filters the active-plugin list only for requests carrying your signed, expiring test cookie. The real active_plugins option is never written, writes to it are short-circuited while a test session is armed, and any validation failure means zero filtering. Visitors, crawlers and logged-in customers all receive the full plugin stack for the entire investigation. The riskiest thing about the old ritual — toggling real plugins on a live site — is the exact thing this plugin never does.

How does the binary search actually work?

The wizard splits your active plugins in half and shows you the test URL with only one half running — in your session. You answer one question: problem still there, YES or NO? Each answer halves the suspect list, so a 30-plugin site needs about 5 steps (log₂ of the plugin count), not 30. When one suspect remains, a pair refinement checks whether it misbehaves alone or only in combination with another plugin, and names the partner if so.

What if the problem isn't a plugin at all?

The wizard runs a control step: it checks whether the symptom survives with every plugin filtered out of your session. If it does, you get an honest not_plugin verdict instead of false blame — the cause is the theme, the server, a CDN or something else, and you've found that out in one step rather than an evening. An optional session-scoped default-theme test helps you check the theme next.

What if two plugins only break things together?

That's the case the manual ritual almost never catches — each plugin looks innocent alone. After the search isolates a suspect, Conflict Radar runs a pair refinement: it tests the suspect alone, then with each remaining candidate, and names the conflicting pair. The verdict tells you both halves of the interaction, which is what you need to choose which one to replace.

Can it test the theme too?

Yes — an optional, session-scoped default-theme test swaps your session (and only your session) to a default theme so you can see whether the symptom is theme-borne. Visitors keep seeing the real theme throughout.

Does it work on multisite?

Yes. Test sessions are scoped per site, and network-activated plugins are handled sensibly — the wizard tells you when a suspect is network-activated so you know where the fix has to happen.

What does Pro add?

Three things. The branded conflict report — print-ready HTML and a real downloadable PDF in your agency's logo, name and colours, with the symptom, every timestamped test step, the verdict and a recommendation — evidence for client billing. A 50-session history, so past investigations stay on file. And the post-update canary: after any plugin update or activation, it smoke-checks the homepage server-side and emails you naming the plugin that just changed. The free edition includes the full wizard and keeps the last session verdict.

Will the mu-plugin slow my site down?

No. It's a few kilobytes, and for any request without a valid, signed, unexpired test cookie it does precisely nothing — no filtering, no queries, no output. Only your armed admin session pays the (tiny) cost, only while a session is running.

How is the licence delivered?

Order through the form and your licence key and invoice arrive by email, usually within the hour. Keys are long codes starting VPC1. — paste the whole thing into the licence textarea rather than typing it. Domain-based, no account, no phoning home, no lock-in.

What if it's not for me?

14-day money-back guarantee, no questions. Email us and we refund you.

Get started

The next conflict takes five steps.

Order below and your licence key and invoice arrive by email — usually within the hour. Install it before the next update day, and the next “the site's broken” message ends with a name, not an evening.

14-DAY MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE · SUPPORT BY ACTUAL HUMANS

You'll receive an invoice by email — pay by card or bank transfer. Nothing is charged on this page.