Introduction

Backup, Site Management, Multiple Sites, Site Security, Security Tools

Watchful is a webmaster toolbox that saves you a lot of time managing your websites. Watchful does this by automating tasks such as creating website backups, scanning for signs of intrusion, and bulk-updating the extensions you trust. You can also scan your site for the use of security best-practices, perform a deep scan to look for potential security threats, and generate website reports for your clients. You can review all of Watchful's features and use it free of charge at https://watchful.net.


120 Second video tour

See what Watchful is all about at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scynOHqW4oE

Top Features at-a-glance

  • Manage your Joomla websites for free
  • Customize the dashboard to get an overview of your entire agency
  • Prepare white-label maintenance reports for your clients.
  • Schedule automatic backups daily, weekly or monthly
  • Make unlimited extra backups as needed
  • Auto-detect stale backups and backup configuration errors
  • Perform unlimited software updates including our Update All tool
  • Monitor extensions and be notified when plugins have been added and removed
  • Continually monitor your sites with daily intrusion detection scans
  • Perform unlimited security & best-practice website audits
  • Scan pages for problems with the SEO audit tool
  • Update commercial extensions seamlessly using our centralized update keys/licenses

Great Extension.



Posted on 14 December 2023
Functionality
Watchful pulls many tedious and time-consuming Joomla site management functions into one dashboard.
Ease of use
The applications is well-designed, straightforward, and easy to use.
Support
My interactions with Victor have been expedient and efficient. Very helpful.
Documentation
I used this to: We use Watchful to monitor and manage a corporate Joomla website.

The perfect tool !



Posted on 30 December 2020
Functionality
Everything we need to save time on all our sites, for backups, updates and security checks, even automatically for certain components.
Ease of use
The interface is very functional and enjoyable to use (much more than the other well-known on line update service).
Support
Usually fast, polite and friendly. But I contact them just a few times / year.
Documentation
Complete documentation in the admin interface. Largely enough : I almost never need it.
I used this to: Monitoring 25 Joomla sites, with automatic update for the main components I trust (JCE, Akeeba, RSSEO, RSFirewall, Helix ...)

Game Changer



Posted on 17 February 2020
Functionality
This has been great for us. We manage many sites and updating each release and all it's extensions was eating up 5-10 (or more) hours/mo.
Ease of use
Works great out of the box and automated setup is a breeze. A few hiccups, but that was only due to some oddball firewall settings we had.
Support
Documentation
I used this to: Managing maintenance on many websites. The first month saved us 4x the cost in man hours and will let us scale much easier.

Great Plugin All Around



Posted on 23 January 2020
Functionality
I have been using this plugin for a while, and I haven't had any issues with it.
Ease of use
It saves me time on all of the sites I use it with. No more logging in to just check on things.
Support
Documentation
I used this to: I use this on many of my client sites, and my own, so that I can monitor what needs to be updated.
Functionality
Works as advertised. Has some minor trouble with offline sites. Actively developed.
Ease of use
Dead simple. Installation takes a few seconds, adding the site to the control panel another 5 seconds. Done
Support
Documentation
I used this to: Managing and updating over 50 Joomla sites for my clients, basic site monitoring.
Functionality
Es ist wirklich einfach - wenn Watchful mit der Joomla Seite verbunden ist, erhält man per E-Mail eine Nachricht, wenn es Updates gibt.
Ease of use
Ich nutze Watchful für 24 Websites (Tendenz steigend) und es spart extrem viel Zeit, da alles mit wenigen Klicks aktualisiert werden kann.
Support
Der Support ist sehr persönlich und schnell, Victor und sein Team sind kundenorientiert und haben bisher jede offene Frage beantwortet. TOP
Documentation
Die Dokumentation ist ok. Ich vermisse in der Knowledge Base eine Suchfunktion, aber die meisten Themen sind dort gut behandelt.
I used this to: Ich nutze Watchful für Core und Extension Updates von Joomla Kundenwebsites und regelmäßige Backups. Auch Monitoring (Website up or down) ist möglich.
Ich kann Watchful guten Gewissens weiter empfehlen.
Owner's reply: Vielen Dank für Ihre Bewertung.
Wir werden in naher Zukunft versuchen, dem Dokumentationsbereich eine Suchoption hinzuzufügen.
Functionality
Sauvegardes, mises à jour du Core et des extensions et d'autres outils forts utiles pour gérer plusieurs sites
Ease of use
L'outil est très facile à utiliser et rapidement mis en place pour chaque site (l'interface est en anglais)
Support
Le support répond très rapidement aux demandes d'aide et est disponible pour les améliorations de l'outil
Documentation
La documentation est disponible sur le site en ligne et est facile à suivre
I used this to: Je l'utilise régulièrement pour la maintenance de nombreux sites client
Owner's reply: Thanks so much!
Functionality
I is one click and you can update the most plug-ins, extensions and components. Even the core update is possible.
Ease of use
It is very easy to set-up and use it also for people who don't build their own Joomla websites. I use it for years.
Support
I cannot remember I need support in the past. I hope they make an pricing plan also for 10 websites. Now you go from 5 websites to 25.
Documentation
It is good but also I dit not use it. It is not difficult to install the Watchful client in an Joomla website.
I used this to: To keep the most Joomla plug-ins, component, extensions and the core up to date. There is also an SEO option in it and you can connect it to Google Analytics. An perfect maintenance tool.
Owner's reply: Thanks for the reply! We'll have some more flexible pricing options soon.
Functionality
Watchful provides a plethora of functionality that really makes it easy to update our client sites along with having a robust API.
Ease of use
Lots of great information and metrics without overwhelming out team.
Support
The support team has always responded within the day and downtime has never been an issue at all.
Documentation
We haven't had to use the documentation much outside of the API, but the API docs are simple and to the point with a nice testing feature.
I used this to: Maintaining all client sites including backups and sending reports to our clients.
Owner's reply: Thanks Matt. We love hearing folks using the API!

Great tool and help



Posted on 29 October 2019
Functionality
For updates of many sites a great help. It's easy, maybe to easy to update and maintain sites. Never needed it so far but make sure: backup!
Ease of use
To easy! Love the tags to prioritize and have a workflow to disciminate between types of sites. Like "Test", "Easy" & "Approval first"
Support
I'm dutch but I don't complain ;-) That's not enough? "Support" should be longer than 64 characters but I'm not sure what to add.
Documentation
Whatever is needed I find easy to find. But not needed it a lot because like I said, it's easy.
I used this to: Updating many client sites, automating Akeeba backups and there are some extra's like logs that come im handy now and then.
Owner's reply: Great feedback Martijn. Best of luck with your work, and if you ever do need support, we're standing by!
New Article App for Watchful
Free

New Article App for Watchful

By Watchful LLC
Watchful Client extensions
This App works with the Watchful service and checks if new Joomla articles have been submitted to your site. If a new Joomla article has been found, you will be notified by email and an entry placed in your log files at watchful.net. In addition, you can configure the notifications to apply to all publishing states and/or just specific categories. For example, you may only want to be notified if...
Users App for Watchful
Free

Users App for Watchful

By Watchful LLC
Watchful Client extensions
This App works with the Watchful.net service and checks if new Joomla users have registered on your site. If a new user has been found, you will be notified by email and an entry placed in your log files at watchful.net. In addition, you can configure the notifications to apply to all usergroups or just specific groups. For example, you may only want to be notified if a new SuperAdmin is created....
Acymailing App for Watchful
Free

Acymailing App for Watchful

By Watchful LLC
Watchful Client extensions
This App works with the Watchful service and checks if there are messages blocked in the queue. If the messages are found to be blocked in the queue for the specified amount of time indicating that the mailing queue has stopped, you will be notified by email and an entry placed in your log files at watchful.net. You can configure the notifications to be sent after messages have been blocked for...
File App for Watchful
Free

File App for Watchful

By Watchful LLC
Watchful Client extensions
This App works with the Watchful service and checks if specified files on your site have changed. If one of the specified files has changed based on the modification date and CheckSUM, you will be notified by email and an entry placed in your log files at watchful.li. You can specify up to 10 files to check by entering the complete pathsfrom the root of the Joomla installation. Simply install th...
SQL App for Watchful
Free

SQL App for Watchful

By Watchful LLC
Watchful Client extensions
This App works with the Watchful service and lets you build simple SQL select query to check for custom values. If a new value has been found, you will be notified by email and an entry placed in your log files at watchful.net. In addition, you can configure the notifications to be notfied based on a reference value, or if no reference value has been supplied the notification will be based on the...
Example App for Watchful
Free

Example App for Watchful

By Watchful LLC
Watchful Client extensions
Use this Sample App as the basis to writing your own apps for the Watchful service....
Single Sign-on
Free

Single Sign-on

By Watchful LLC
Watchful Client extensions
This App works with the Watchful service. It allows you to synchronize and manage users across all of your Watchful-powered websites. It is commonly used by web developers to control access the backend of a Joomla site for ongoing maintenance. By using this app, you no longer need to create users on individual sites for yourself and your staff....

Watchful Client

Version:
2.4.3
Developer:
Watchful LLC
Last updated:
Mar 13 2024
5 days ago
Date added:
Nov 19 2014
License:
GPLv2 or later
Type:
Free download
Includes:
c
Compatibility:
J3 J4 J5
Download

Uses Joomla! Update System

Score:


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