Stream – Activity Log & Audit Trail vs WP Activity Log

Stream is a complete activity log and audit trail for your WordPress site: see what changed, who changed it, and when. From plugin activations to post edits, login attempts to new user creation, every user and system action is recorded in an audit log built for debugging, security monitoring, and compliance. Every logged action is displayed in an activity stream and organized for easy filtering by User, Role, Context, Action or IP address. Admins can highlight entries in the activity log—such as suspicious user activity—to investigate what’s happening in real time. Stream also lets you configure email alerts and webhooks for integrations like Slack and IFTTT, so your team knows the moment something goes wrong. Stream keeps its own logs healthy too: records are automatically purged on the retention schedule you choose, with batched deletion and orphaned-data cleanup that stay reliable even on very large sites. Stream is also AI-ready: its abilities are exposed through the WordPress Abilities API and MCP Adapter, so AI assistants and other tools can securely query your site’s activity records. For advanced users, Stream supports a network view of all activity records on your Multisite, exclude rules to ignore certain kinds of user activity, and a WP-CLI command for querying records. Stream is free and fully open source — development happens in the open on GitHub, maintained by XWP. With Stream’s powerful activity logging, you’ll have the information you need to responsibly manage your WordPress sites. Built-In Tracking Integrations For Popular Plugins: Advanced Custom Fields bbPress BuddyPress Easy Digital Downloads Gravity Forms Jetpack Two Factor User Switching WooCommerce Yoast SEO Built-In Tracking For Core Actions: Posts Pages Custom Post Types Users Themes Plugins Tags Categories Custom Taxonomies Settings Custom Backgrounds Custom Headers Menus Media Library Widgets Comments Theme Editor WordPress Core Updates Other Noteworthy Features: Multisite view of all activity records on a network Limit who can view user activity records by user role Set exclude rules to ignore certain kinds of user activity Live updates of user activity records in the Stream Export your Activity Stream as a CSV or JSON file WP-CLI command for querying records Configuration Most of the plugin configuration is available under the “Stream” → “Settings” page in the WordPress dashboard. Request IP Address The plugin expects the $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] variable to contain the verified IP address of the current request. On hosting environments with PHP processing behind reverse proxies or CDNs the actual client IP is passed to PHP through request HTTP headers such as X-Forwarded-For and True-Client-IP which can’t be trusted without an additional layer of validation. Update your server configuration to set the $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] variable to the verified client IP address. As a workaround, you can use the wp_stream_client_ip_address filter to adapt the IP address: add_filter( 'wp_stream_client_ip_address', function( $client_ip ) { // Trust the first IP in the X-Forwarded-For header. // ⚠️ Note: This is inherently insecure and can easily be spoofed! if ( ! empty( $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'] ) ) { $forwarded_ips = explode( ',' $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'] ); if ( filter_var( $forwarded_ips[0], FILTER_VALIDATE_IP ) ) { return $forwarded_ips[0]; } } return $client_ip; } ); ⚠️ WARNING: The above is an insecure workaround that you should only use when you fully understand what this implies. Relying on any variable with the HTTP_* prefix is prone to spoofing and cannot be trusted! Known Issues We have temporarily disabled the data removal feature through plugin uninstallation, starting with version 3.9.3. We identified a few edge cases that did not behave as expected and we decided that a temporary removal is preferable at this time for such an impactful and irreversible operation. Our team is actively working on refining this feature to ensure it performs optimally and securely. We plan to reintroduce it in a future update with enhanced safeguards. Contribute There are several ways you can get involved to help make Stream better: Report Bugs: If you find a bug, error or other problem, please report it! You can do this by creating a new topic in the plugin forum. Once a developer can verify the bug by reproducing it, they will create an official bug report in GitHub where the bug will be worked on. Translate into Your Language: Use the official plugin translation tool to translate Stream into your language. Suggest New Features: Have an awesome idea? Please share it! Simply create a new topic in the plugin forum to express your thoughts on why the feature should be included and get a discussion going around your idea. Issue Pull Requests: If you’re a developer, the easiest way to get involved is to help out on issues already reported in GitHub. Be sure to check out the contributing guide for developers. Thank you for wanting to make Stream better for everyone! View contributors here.

Monitor activity on your WordPress sites and get clear insights into what’s happening with detailed user and event logging. Keep WordPress logs of everything that happens on your sites and multisite networks with WP Activity Log instantly, without writing a line of code. Easily detect suspicious activity on your WordPress site before it escalates Record failed login attempts to detect potential security breaches and strengthen site protection Track user logins and logouts to ensure SLAs are consistently met Monitor user activity and productivity to boost accountability Know exactly what all your users are doing in real time Know what happened before an outage for faster, easier troubleshooting Ensure compliance with regulations and standards like GDPR and PCI DSS Better manage & organize your site and users for smoother operations Simple setup ensures you start benefiting quickly and easily WP Activity Log is a complete logging solution, helping hundreds of thousands of administrators and security professionals track changes on their websites thanks to real-time user activity monitoring. 💎 Need more extensive features? Unlock advanced reporting, exports/mirroring, session management, and real-time alerts with WP Activity Log premium or enterprise. What WordPress changes WP Activity Log tracks A website activity log is important for improving troubleshooting, compliance, user management, and security. Get WP Activity Log and keep track of events on your site. The log not only tells you that a post, a user profile, or an object was updated, it also lets you know exactly what changed, when, and includes a user log (by whom), so you always have the information you need. Below is a summary of the changes that the plugin can keep a record of: Post, page, and custom post type changes: Status, content changes, title, URL, custom field, and other metadata changes Tags and category changes: Creating, modifying, deleting, and adding/removing them from posts Widget and menu changes: Creating, modifying, or deleting them User changes: User created or registered, deleted, or added to a site on multisite network User profile changes: Password, email, display name, and role changes Access logging: User login, logout, failed logins, and terminating other sessions WordPress core and settings changes: Installed updates, permalinks, default role, URL, and other site-wide changes WordPress multisite network changes: Adding, deleting, or archiving sites, adding or removing users from sites, etc. Plugin and Theme changes: Installing, activating, deactivating, uninstalling, and updating WordPress database changes: When a plugin adds or removes a table Third-party plugin changes: WooCommerce Stores & products, Yoast SEO, RankMath, Termly, WPForms, Gravity Forms, Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), MainWP, ManageWP, WP Umbrella, and other popular WordPress plugins WordPress site file changes: New files added, or existing files modified or deleted. Event details recorded Detailed event logging ensures that for every event that the plugin records, it reports the: Date & time (and milliseconds) of when it happened User & role of the user who did the change Source IP address from where the change happened The object on which the change has taken place Refer to WordPress activity log event IDs for a complete list of all the changes WP Activity Log can keep a record of and a detailed explanation of what change every event ID represents. 💎 Upgrade to WP Activity Log Premium and get even more The premium edition of WP Activity Log takes WordPress user activity tracking to the next level. It comes bundled with even more features, including log mirroring, enterprise-grade support, user session management, and much more! Premium features list See who is logged in and monitor their current activities in real-time Log off any user at the click of a button Generate fully-configurable HTML and CSV reports for easy data analysis Receive email, SMS, and Slack notifications for important changes (fully configurable) Use search filters to fine-tune results and find what you need in seconds Store the activity logs in an external database to enhance security and scalability Mirror the activity log to log management systems such as AWS CloudWatch, Loggly, Papertrail, and others in real-time Mirror the logs to business communication systems like Slack Send a copy of your website’s activity log to a log file on your web server Archive old activity log data to another database for improved storage and log management Add notes to activity log entries for better context and internal documentation Refer to the WP Activity Log plugin features and benefits page to learn more about the benefits of upgrading to WP Activity Log Premium. 🔌 WP Activity Log third-party plugin support All WP Activity Log editions include activity tracking for third-party plugins, including (in alphabetical order): Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) – Log changes to post types, taxonomies, and taxonomy terms bbPress – Track changes to forums, topics, and bbPress settings Gravity Forms – Track changes to Gravity Forms settings, forms, and entries (leads) LearnDash – Track changes to courses, lessons, and other system changes, as well as student activity such as course, lesson, and quiz enrollments and completions. MemberPress – Log changes to plugin settings, memberships, payments, subscriptions, and other actions Multisite & management tools – Track changes across your network for MainWP, ManageWP, Modular DS, Infinite WP, WP Umbrella, WP Remote, and other multisite management plugins Paid Membership Pro – Log changes to membership levels, user assignments, and more. Premium users can also track order and checkout activity, and access a Members Activity panel inside each member’s profile for instant visibility into recent actions. RankMath – Log changes to RankMath settings, SEO configurations, and on-page SEO edits Redirection – Keep a log of changes to redirections and redirection groups Termly – Log changes to Termly settings and configurations WooCommerce – Keep a log of changes to store settings, orders, products, coupons, and more WPForms – Log changes to WPForms settings, forms, form files, and entries (leads) Yoast SEO – Track changes to Yoast SEO settings and on-page SEO in the Yoast SEO meta box Extra Features for Enhanced Monitoring and Management Both free and premium editions of WP Activity Log include a number of non-logging specific features that make the plugin a complete WordPress monitoring solution. Here is what is included: Free Built-in support for reverse proxies and web application firewalls Integration with WhatIsMyIpAddress.com – get all information about an IP address with a single click Limit who can view the WordPress activity log by users or roles Enable or disable individual event IDs from the activity log Configurable dashboard widget highlighting the most recent critical activity Configurable WordPress activity log retention policies Display user avatars in events for better recognizability And much more! Premium Everything that’s included in the Free edition, plus: Full WordPress multisite support Create custom alerts & notifications to monitor additional functionality Import and export plugin settings Real-time activity log visible in the WordPress admin toolbar And much more! 🛠️ Free and premium plugin support If you encounter any issues with the free edition of WP Activity Log, you can post and get help on the WordPress.org support forums. You can also find more technical information and plugin documentation on the Melapress knowledge base. Premium plugins include a full year of free updates and dedicated one-to-one premium email support. This means you get direct access to our support team who will assist you with any questions or issues related to the plugins. As featured on: Kinsta Pagely Shout Me Loud The Dev Couple WPKube Techwibe Tidy Repo KitPloit and many others. MAINTAINED & SUPPORTED BY MELAPRESS Melapress develops high-quality WordPress management and security plugins such as Melapress Login Security, WP 2FA, and Melapress Role Editor. Browse our list of WordPress security and administration plugins to see how our plugins can help you better manage and improve the security and administration of your WordPress websites and users. Installing WP Activity Log Install WP Activity Log from within WordPress Visit ‘Plugins > Add New’ Search for ‘WP Activity Log’ Install and activate the WP Activity Log plugin Allow or skip diagnostic tracking Install WP Activity Log manually Extract the plugin ZIP file and upload it to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory Activate the WP Activity Log plugin from the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress Allow or skip diagnostic tracking