Testing WordPress beta versions

At Pressable, all sites are automatically kept up-to-date with the most recent, stable release of WordPress. This helps to ensure both the performance and the security of your site. If you would like to test WordPress beta versions that are upcoming, we provide an option for that.

A WordPress beta is a preview version of the next stable release of WordPress. Beta versions are still under active development by the WordPress organization, so some things may still change. This does however give you a very good idea of what the next WordPress version will be like. This gives you the opportunity to test your site’s plugins, themes, as well as any custom code, to ensure that it remains compatible in the upcoming version. That way, any bugs or conflicts can be identified and addressed beforehand.

If you are unsure what version of WordPress your site is running on, there are multiple locations you can find it.

The my.pressable.com dashboard
Your site’s WordPress version is displayed on your my.pressable.com dashboard.

On your wp-admin dashboard
When you log into your site you can find the version in two locations on your dashboard: in the “At a Glance” widget, and in the bottom right corner.


The Updates page
Your current WordPress version can also be found under Dashboard > Updates


About WordPress page
You can read all about the current version that you are using on the About page /wp-admin/about.php. You can locate that by hovering over the small icon in the upper-left and then selecting the “About” option.


Changing your site’s WordPress version can have an impact on the performance of third-party themes, plugins, and custom code. Because of this, we recommend only changing the WordPress version after first testing on a staging site. Here is our guide if you’d like to learn more about how to clone your website to staging.

Once you are ready for testing, navigate to the single site page in my.pressable.com. From the drop-down menu, select the WordPress version that you want to be applied to your site.

The change is instant so you can immediately review your site for any errors or issues. We recommend that you check the following:

  • Click through the frontend of your website, visit various pages and ensure everything is loading properly
  • Log in to the site and click through the backend of the website, ensuring things are functioning as they should
  • Check the error logs for your site to see if any errors are being recorded.

You can toggle your site between the available WordPress versions as often as you would like. As with any site change during testing, it may be necessary to clear your site and browser cache to ensure you are getting the proper experience.

Once the Beta Version is released as a stable version, your site will be automatically updated and you will no longer be able to change the version until a new Beta Version becomes available.

The information here will allow you to use Pressable’s API to toggle your WordPress version. This is especially helpful for quick testing.