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Fatal Error Notify

By Jack Arturo

Site Administration & Utilities / Site Health & Diagnostics

Reviewed by Omar Dabbas

Trusted WordPress expert with 20+ years of experience evaluating plugins for the WP ecosystem.

Fatal Error Notify Review - In-Depth Analysis

Receive email notifications for fatal errors on your WordPress site. Stay informed about issues as they occur.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

6.81/10

User Rating

4.8/5 (based on 18+ reviews)

Active Installations

6,000+

Update Frequency

Below Average It is calculated using the weighted average of same category plugins.

Security Score

5 / 10 (Medium Risk) It is calculated using the weighted average of all versions.

What It Does

This plugin sends you an email notification whenever a fatal error or other error level, configurably, is detected on your site.

Unlike traditional uptime monitoring services, which will only notify you if your entire site is down, this plugin can notify you when an error is detected on any page or process on your site.

Automatic plugin and theme updates often introduce problems that you aren't aware of until they are reported by your visitors. Fatal Error Notify lets you address these issues as they occur and before they cause significant problems.

Comparing to Alternatives

Fatal Error Notify stands alone in its category with no close direct alternatives available, making it a unique solution for fatal error notifications in WordPress.

Top alternatives

Strengths

Provides detailed information on where fatal errors occur, aiding in troubleshooting.
User-friendly interface appreciated by users.
Helps identify errors before they become visible on the frontend.
Facilitates better support from other plugin developers by providing error stack traces.
Highly praised for saving time and improving debugging efficiency.

Weaknesses

Has a known medium severity security vulnerability fixed in version 1.5.3.
No close direct alternatives to compare feature sets.
Lacks a clearly promoted pro version with additional features.
Some users report issues with error notifications related to EXIF problems requiring payment to disable.

User Sentiment Analysis

With a high overall rating of 4.8 out of 5 from 18 reviews, most users praise the plugin's effectiveness and user-friendliness. However, a small minority express dissatisfaction related to recent changes requiring payment for certain notification controls.

Positive highlights

'BEST PLUGIN – PERIOD' – Steve highlights its vital role in pinpointing fatal errors.
'Fantastic plugin that I can’t live without' – Dale Reardon emphasizes time-saving and excellent support.
'Fast responses and does what it should.' – Miikka appreciates the plugin's reliability.
'Really useful little plugin' – tufty finds it very helpful.
Dale Reardon notes the plugin helps get better support from other plugin developers.

Common complaints

Recent version adds notifications for EXIF problems that cannot be deactivated without payment.

Weaknesses

Medium severity security vulnerability fixed in version 1.5.3.
Some error notifications may cause issues if not managed properly.
No free option to disable certain notifications added in recent updates.
Limited customization without a pro version.

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Users who need detailed and timely notifications about fatal errors in WordPress to quickly troubleshoot and resolve issues will find this plugin invaluable.

Not ideal for

Users who require extensive customization of notifications or want to avoid any paid features for disabling certain alerts may find this plugin less suitable, especially given recent changes.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version offers comprehensive fatal error notifications with detailed error location information, which is highly valued by users.

Final Verdict

Fatal Error Notify is a highly effective and user-friendly plugin that fills a unique niche by providing detailed fatal error notifications in WordPress. Its strong positive reception highlights its utility in saving time and improving troubleshooting, although users should be aware of a past security vulnerability that has been addressed.

While it lacks direct alternatives and a clearly promoted pro version, the plugin's free features are robust. However, recent changes requiring payment to disable certain notifications may not suit all users, particularly those seeking full control without additional costs.

Other Notable Features

Here are a few other notable features of this free Fatal Error Notify plugin.

fatal error

error notification

site monitoring

Screenshots

FAQ

Fatal Error Notify hooks into PHP’s “shutdown” function to send notifications right before the page stops loading. Even the dreaded “500 – Internal Server Error” still triggers PHP’s shutdown actions. Even if your site is completely offline, in most cases this plugin will be able to detect the error and notify you.

Yes, you can use the filter fen_ignore_error, like so:

function fen_ignore_error( $ignore, $error ) {      if( $error['file'] == '/home/username/public_html/wp-includes/class-phpass.php' ) {         $ignore = true;     }      return $ignore;  }  add_filter( 'fen_ignore_error', 'fen_ignore_error', 10, 2 );

The $error variable is an array containing:

$error['type']: (int) The PHP error code
$error['message']: (string) The error message
$error['file']: (string) The path to the file that triggered the error
$error['line']: (int) The line number that triggered the error

Yup, you bet! You can update the plugin settings using WP CLI, for example to set a default list of error levels, or a notification email address.

The two methods are get_option and update_option. For example:

wp fatal-error-notify get_option slack_notifications

Will tell you if Slack notifications are enabled on the site.

wp fatal-error-notify update_option notification_email [email protected]

Will update the notification email for the site.

You can also update options on multiple sites using xargs:

wp site list --field=url | xargs -n1 -I {} sh -c 'wp --url={} fatal-error-notify update_option notification_email [email protected]'

If you are updating options that are stored as arrays (for example levels or plugins) you can use JSON-formatted values. For an example, use get_option first on the field you are trying to update.