When we manage WordPress sites for clients, one thing often goes wrong: nobody knows who did what or when. Plugins appear, themes change, users swear they “did nothing,” and we are left to guess.
A solid activity log solves that. That is where Simple History Premium comes in, building on the popular free Simple History plugin to track what really happens inside a WordPress site.
How to Get the Best Deal on Simple History Premium
InfluenceWP has an exclusive Simple History Premium deal.
Simple History Premium—First Look Video
In this first look, we walk through the premium add-on from a fresh install, share how it behaves for a new user, and point out the key features that matter for agencies, developers, and DIY site owners.
Exploring the Simple History Website
Before we touch the plugin, we take a quick look at the Simple History website to see how they present the product and what kind of support they offer.
Homepage Overview
The main site at simple-history.com leads with a clear promise: “Track changes to your WordPress site.” That sums up what Simple History does. It records activity like plugin installs, theme changes, logins, and more.
In the footer, we can see that Simple History has been around since 2010. That kind of age and stability matters when you want to rely on a logging tool for production sites.
We also see a note about more than 370 five‑star reviews on WordPress.org for the free plugin, which gives extra confidence in the base product.
Support and Documentation
We then jump to support and documentation links. The site offers several helpful sections, such as:
- Add‑on support articles for things like premium features and extra loggers
- Documentation on log levels and how messages are classified
- Developer documentation for those who want to go deeper and extend or integrate
From this quick scan, it is clear that there is plenty of written help. That matters for teams that want to hand off ongoing maintenance or set up standard processes.
About the Team
On the About page, we get more of the story behind Simple History. We see the history of the project and, most important, the creator, Pär Thernström. It is always good to see a named developer behind a plugin that touches security and activity logs.
Quick Setup: From Free to Premium
Simple History Premium is not a standalone plugin. It extends the free Simple History plugin from the official WordPress plugin directory.
The setup flow looks like this:
- Install and activate the free Simple History plugin from the WordPress.org repo.
- Install and activate the Simple History Premium add‑on plugin.
- Refresh your WordPress admin; the Simple History admin area stays in the same place.
- Open the Simple History settings and enter your license key under the Premium area.
You can skip spending time in the free plugin settings at first. It is usually faster to go straight into the premium settings, since they pull in and extend the free features.
Once the license is active, the premium features blend into the existing Simple History interface. You do not get a whole new panel to learn, just extra options and tabs.
The Event Log: Your Core Tracking Hub
The Event Log is where Simple History does most of its work. Every tracked action on your site flows into this log, where you can search, filter, and review as needed.
Filtering and Searching Events
At the top of the Event Log, we can switch between useful time ranges. Common options include:
- Last 24 hours
- Last 7 days
- Last 14 days
- Last 30 days
- Custom date ranges
There is also a keyword search field if you know part of a message, a plugin name, a username, or similar.
If you click Show search options, more advanced filters open up so you can narrow the view. You can filter by:
- Message types
- User or user role
- Log level, such as debug, info, notice, warning, error, or critical error
This kind of fine control matters on sites with constant activity. It lets us cut through the noise and get to the real issue, for example, only showing errors tied to a certain user within the last 24 hours.
History Insights and Pagination
On the right side of the Event Log, Simple History Premium shows a History insights panel. This gives a quick overview of what is happening, with a button to See all history insights if you want a larger view.
At the bottom of the Event Log, standard pagination appears once your site has enough events. That way, long‑running sites with heavy use remain manageable. You can page through older events without loading an endless list.
Event Actions and Tools
Each event row has a three‑dot menu when you hover over it. This opens a small set of actions that help you work with a single log item:
- View the full event details
- Copy a direct link to the event details, handy for sending to a teammate
- Copy just the event message
- Copy a more detailed event message
- Find all events from the same user
- Filter by the same event type
There is also a three‑dot menu at the top of the Event Log, next to the Event options. Here you can:
- Export the events
- Manually create a log entry
That manual entry is a nice touch. You can enter a custom message, add details, and choose a log level. For example, you might log a manual change you made to a theme or a decision to disable a plugin for testing. It turns Simple History into a simple activity journal as well as a system log.
Add‑Ons Overview
In the top right corner of the Simple History area, there is an Add‑ons link. From there, you can see:
- The Premium add‑on that we are currently using is listed there.
- Other add‑ons like a WooCommerce logger
- A debug and monitor add‑on and similar tools
This helps you see how you can extend Simple History even further if you have more complex sites.
Customizing Settings for Control
Once we understand the Event Log, it is time to shape how and where Simple History appears in the admin, what it records, and how long it keeps data.
General Settings Tab
On the General tab in Settings, we get a sensible list of options that give control without feeling heavy.
Key settings include:
- Where history shows: You can display logs on the dashboard, in the admin bar, both, or neither.
- Menu position: You can move Simple History under Tools, for example, so regular users do not see it.
- Items per page: Control how many log rows show before pagination kicks in.
- Clear log: Wipe the current log if you want a clean start.
- Detective mode: Turn this on if you want very detailed information for each event.
- Experimental features: Try upcoming features. For a logging plugin, this is usually safe enough to use even on production, unlike a performance plugin that could affect page speed.
- Retention period: Decide how long to keep log entries. The default is 60 days.
- IP handling: You can anonymize IP addresses or store full IP data.
- Google Maps API key: If you use Google Maps, you can add your key so Simple History can show where a user IP is from.
For many agencies, the menu position and retention period are the first things to set. We like to keep logs long enough to spot patterns but not so long that they grow without purpose.
Stealth Mode for Security and Clarity
Stealth mode is one of the standout premium features. It lets you hide Simple History from non‑admins, from other admins, or from users who are not on an approved list.
You can control access by email address or even by domain. That makes it easy to give your internal team full access while keeping client users away from the logs.
From an agency perspective, this is very helpful. We have all seen cases where a client says, “I did nothing,” then the logs show a plugin install, a plugin removal, or a theme switch. If they can clear the logs, that insight is gone. We prefer to hide the logs from everyone except the admins who manage the site’s structure and security.
RSS Feed
Simple History also offers an RSS feed for the logs. You can subscribe to this feed and receive updates through any RSS reader.
Only share this feed with people you fully trust, since it can contain sensitive details about your site and users.
Message Control Tab
The Message control tab is where you decide what events Simple History should log.
By default, it logs a wide range of actions, including:
- Core WordPress activity
- Media and attachment changes
- Plugin and theme changes
- Other system events
If there is something you do not care about, such as media and attachment logging, you can click Disable next to that type. On the right side, you see a summary of what is enabled, what is disabled, and the type of each message source, such as WordPress core.
There is also a section for Failed login attempts, where you can define what should be logged when users fail to log in. This is useful for spotting brute‑force attempts or users who struggle with logins.
Stats and Summaries Dashboard
Simple History Premium includes a Stats and summaries dashboard, which gives a high‑level view of what is happening on your site over time.
Time Filters and Overview
This dashboard has its own time filter. By default, it shows one month, but you can switch to:
- Last 24 hours
- Last 7 days
- Last 14 days
- One month, and more
You get a set of charts and summary blocks that show activity levels and trends. To keep this panel useful, it helps to first disable message types that you never plan to watch. If you log everything but only care about a few things, the view can feel as noisy as a bloated analytics setup.
Key Insights Sections
Below the main stats, you can expand different sections to see more detail, such as:
- Most active users: See which users do the most on the site and expand details to see what they are doing.
- Most edited posts and pages: Quickly see which content changes most often.
- Post and page activity: Expand Show details to see more about how content is changing.
This is where Simple History moves from a pure log into a light reporting tool. It helps answer simple questions like “Who is making the most changes?” or “Which pages change every week?” without needing a big reporting system.
The key is to focus on actionable data only. If you are never going to act on a given metric, it might be better to disable the related message type so it does not clutter the view.
Help, Debug, and Export Tools
Beyond logs and stats, Simple History Premium adds practical tools to support your work when something goes wrong or when you need to archive data.
Help and Support
Under the Help and support area in settings, you get quick links to:
- FAQs
- The public support forum
- Premium support
- Documentation
This makes it easy to jump from the plugin into the right help channel without hunting around on the website.
Debug Tab
If you run into odd behavior or suspect a conflict, the Debug tab is where you can get into the technical side. This area is for tracking how Simple History behaves and for collecting details useful in support conversations.
Export and Clear Options
The Export tab lets you download your log history in different formats:
- CSV
- JSON
- HTML
Once you have exported what you need, you can go back to Settings and clear the log. That removes entries from the database and from the Event Log view, which helps keep things lean after you have taken a backup for historical or legal reasons.
Premium Features That Power It Up
To wrap it up, here is what Simple History Premium adds on top of the free plugin, based on the premium feature list and what we saw in the interface:
- Stats and summaries dashboard for high‑level activity insights
- Ability to add manual events to the log
- Stealth mode to hide logs from selected users or roles
- Export events in multiple file formats
- Control over log retention so you decide how long to store entries
- Control over failed login attempts logging
- Options to store full IP addresses instead of anonymized ones
- Support for a Google Maps API key to show user IP locations
- Detailed message control to enable or disable specific log types
Final Thoughts
For anyone responsible for a WordPress site, from solo site owners to full agencies, a reliable activity log is more than a nice extra. It is a quiet but essential safety net. Simple History Premium builds on a proven free plugin and adds the features that professionals ask for: better stats, tighter control, stealth mode, exports, and detailed message settings.
We like how it keeps the interface simple while giving power users enough control to tune what matters on each site. If you manage client sites, it helps you answer the “what changed?” question with confidence, instead of guesswork.
If activity logging is missing from your current stack, Simple History plus Simple History Premium is well worth a close look.