Release notes
What's new in Vinny, release by release. Vinny is in beta, so new things land often. Subscribe with RSS.
v0.39.2
Our WordPress plugins have new names
- ImprovedUniversal Accessibility Audit, Universal SEO Audit and Universal Security Audit are now JustWhat Accessibility Audit, JustWhat SEO Audit and JustWhat Security Audit (and their Pro add-ons), ahead of their WordPress.org listings. License keys, plans and prices are unchanged, and old download links still work.
v0.39.1
Free audit reports link to Vinny
- ImprovedFree website audits now link to Vinny: "powered by Vinny" at the top of the report (and its PDF) opens the Vinny site, and audit emails requested from justwhat.net include a "Powered by Vinny" link.
v0.39.0
Universal Security Audit Pro, checked from outside by Vinny
- NewVinny now runs the outside checks for Universal Security Audit Pro, our new WordPress plugin: the security headers and cookies visitors actually get through your CDN, the HTTPS certificate and old TLS versions, SPF and DMARC against email spoofing, security.txt, and what your home page loads, plus known vulnerabilities for every plugin and theme WordPress has installed. Pentest-style requests only run with the permission the site's admin recorded in the plugin, and Vinny keeps that record with the check.
- ImprovedYour account lists Universal Security Audit Pro licenses (keys starting SEC-) with their own download, and beta codes include one.
v0.38.0
Known vulnerabilities in WordPress plugins and themes
- NewWordPress sites can now be checked for known vulnerabilities: turn on "WordPress vulnerability checks" in a site's Settings and every scan compares the WordPress version, plugins and themes it finds with the Wordfence Intelligence database, says how serious each problem is and which version fixes it. It only reads the versions your pages already show, and it's off until you turn it on.
v0.37.0
Universal SEO Audit Pro, run by Vinny
- NewVinny now runs the full-site scans for Universal SEO Audit Pro, our new WordPress plugin: every page read the way a search engine reads it, then every link those pages point to, other sites included, on a schedule or on demand.
- ImprovedYour account lists Universal SEO Audit Pro licenses (keys starting SEO-) next to Accessibility Audit Pro ones, each with its own download. Plugin licenses stay separate from your Vinny plan.
- ImprovedBeta codes now include a Universal SEO Audit Pro license too.
v0.36.1
Steadier first page load
- FixedOn a slow connection or a busy device, the first page you opened could be drawn twice: once from the server and again in the browser, which made it slower and could reset what you had started typing. Pages now load once.
v0.36.0
Saved client reports
- NewClient reports (in the app menu): pick a site and the sections your client cares about: health and scores, the trend, top issues, Google rankings, Search Console and Analytics traffic, reviews and AI Visibility.
- NewEach report has a private link that always shows the latest results, with a print or save-as-PDF button. Make a new link any time and the old one stops working.
- NewEmail the report to up to 10 people weekly or monthly, or right away. Each person can stop it with one click, and replies come to you.
- ImprovedOn Agency, reports carry only your name, logo and colour, like shared scans.
v0.35.0
A public status page
- Newvinny.justwhat.net/status/ shows whether every part of Vinny is working right now: the app, scans, search and review data, AI Visibility, AI fixes, email, payments and Google connections, each with its last 30 days.
- NewWhen something goes wrong, the status page says what, which parts it affects and how the fix is going, with past incidents kept for 90 days.
- NewThe same information as JSON at /api/status/, for your own monitoring.
v0.34.1
Fixes found by the new automatic tests
- FixedSigned-in pages could hit an error while loading part of the page (since October 29); they render cleanly again.
- FixedOn a long scan, the progress page refreshed faster than the server answered and could stop updating. It now waits for each refresh, and pauses while the tab is in the background.
- FixedThe animated graph on the home page could throw an error on its first frame.
v0.34.0
Your week with Vinny
- NewA weekly summary on Mondays: for each of your sites, its health and how it changed, issues fixed and new, the Google rankings that moved and new reviews, plus how often AI assistants mentioned your brands. Quiet weeks send nothing.
- ImprovedTurn it off in your account under Email settings, or with Stop these emails at the bottom of any summary.
v0.33.0
A getting-started checklist, and two more weeks of beta
- NewEach site's Overview has a short checklist of what makes Vinny most useful (first scan, keywords, Google, a review site, AI Visibility, the fix plan), each linking straight to where you do it. It disappears once you've done them all.
- ImprovedThe open beta now takes sign-ups until November 14.
v0.32.0
A thank-you for beta testers
- NewBeta testers get 50% off any Vinny plan or AI Visibility tier for their first 3 months, billed monthly, from a week before their beta ends until a week after. It's applied at checkout automatically, with no code to enter. Find it under Keep Vinny, or follow the link in the beta bar.
- ImprovedThe beta bar shows the offer in your last week, and after your beta ends it shows how long the offer stays open.
v0.31.0
Problems found and fixed faster
- ImprovedIf something breaks while you use Vinny, or a link leads nowhere, it's now reported to us automatically, so it gets fixed without you having to tell us.
- ImprovedClearer "page not found" and "something went wrong" pages, with a way back and a reference number for support.
- FixedA few large headings (the dashboard welcome and client reports) showed at body size.
v0.30.0
Copilot and Yelp
- NewAI Visibility now checks Microsoft Copilot too, on Growth and Scale: seven engines in all. Copilot's answers, the sources it cites and whether it mentions you sit alongside ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI.
- NewYelp reviews: link your Yelp listing on a site's Reviews tab and Vinny checks it weekly for your rating, review count and newest reviews, emails you when one of 3 stars or less comes in, and drafts replies with AI. Yelp also joins the side-by-side overview and the AI summary of what reviewers say.
- ImprovedPages and FAQ updated: which review sites Vinny tracks, the seven AI engines, and the services Vinny uses on the privacy page.
- Newllms-full.txt: everything AI assistants need to describe Vinny accurately (what it checks, every plan and price, credits, AI Visibility engines and markets, the FAQ and recent releases) in one file, kept in step with the site automatically.
v0.29.0
A site dashboard with everything up front
- NewEvery site now has tabs: Overview, Audit, Search, Rankings, Reviews, Fix plan and Settings, with the site and Scan now always at the top.
- NewThe Overview shows the headline numbers the moment it opens: site health, open issues, Google clicks or traffic, keywords in the top 10, reviews and how often AI mentions you, each with its change and a trend line. Below: scores over time, scores by checkup, what to fix first, the pages that need the most work, your rankings and the next steps.
- NewThe Audit has its own views: an overview with what changed since the last scan, the issue list, pages, speed (Core Web Vitals and the slowest pages), scan history and sharing.
- ImprovedThe dashboard shows each site's trend, issues, top 10 keywords, estimated traffic and Google rating, not just its scores.
v0.28.0
Steadier AI Visibility numbers, and history for all of them
- NewAsk each prompt up to 3 times per check. AI answers change from one ask to the next; asking more than once gives steadier mention rates, and each prompt shows how many of the asks mentioned you ("2 of 3 asks"), with every answer on the prompt page. Repeat asks cost credits like an extra prompt, and daily checks still ask once.
- NewPosition and tone over time: how often you're mentioned and your site cited, how warmly the answers speak of you, and your average position in their recommendations, check by check.
- NewSources AI cites now shows each website's change since the last check (or New), and a chart of the most cited websites over time.
- ImprovedThe answers spreadsheet has a "Mentioned in asks" column, and the API returns repeat asks, average position, tone and source shares per check.
v0.27.0
AI Visibility by engine, by country, and in your client's inbox
- NewBy engine over time: a small chart for each AI engine showing how often it mentions you, check by check, next to the competitor it mentions most. A drop on one engine while the others hold shows you where to look.
- NewCountries and languages: set where a brand is tracked (27 to choose from, such as the UK, Canada in French, Germany, Mexico or the US in Spanish). ChatGPT and Google answer from that country and Perplexity and Claude search the web from it; prompt suggestions come in that language. Track in another market copies a brand and its prompts to a second country.
- NewWeekly client email: add up to 5 client addresses and they get a short summary with the report link after each weekly check. On Agency it goes out under your name and colour. Every email has its own link to stop it, and Send it now sends one straight away.
- ImprovedAI Visibility alert emails now have a Stop these emails link too.
- ImprovedThe API returns each brand's market, prompt groups, the websites the engines cite and share of voice per engine.
v0.26.0
AI Visibility for more than one brand
- NewTrack more than one brand: Growth covers 3 and Scale 10, each with its own prompts, competitors and answers. Switch between them at the top of AI Visibility; your prompt allowance is shared across them.
- NewSources AI cites: the websites the engines link to most across your answers, which engines and prompts cite each one, their most cited pages, and which are yours or a competitor's. Getting mentioned on those sites is how you get recommended.
- NewPrompt groups: put prompts in a group (a product, a service, a market), filter by group and see each group's mention and citation rates side by side.
- NewExport and share: download every answer or the cited sources as a spreadsheet, or send a client a private report link with the summary, share of voice, every prompt and the sources. On Agency it carries your own logo and colours, and you can turn the link off at any time.
v0.25.0
Reports in your inbox, on your terms
- NewWhen a scan finishes, Vinny emails you the report: scores and how they changed, what got fixed and what's new, and where to start.
- NewChoose for each site: an email after every scan, only when something gets worse, or never. Review alerts can be turned off too.
- NewEvery notification has a Stop these emails link, and your email app's Unsubscribe button works on them. All the choices are in your account under Email settings.
v0.24.1
Everything up to date
- ImprovedThe FAQ covers the beta, the search overview, personal data checks and what Vinny Connect does; the privacy page lists every service Vinny uses and what each one sees.
- ImprovedSupport has topics for Vinny Connect and the beta, and in-app feedback can be filed under accessibility, research, listings, the Vinny agent or the beta.
- FixedThe comparison table showed GitHub pull requests as coming soon; they're live. The beta page listed Copilot, which isn't checked yet.
v0.24.0
Personal data and address checks
- NewEvery scan now looks for personal data on public pages: numbers that are real card numbers (checked like a payment system would, test cards ignored), US Social Security numbers and long lists of email addresses. Only the last four digits are ever shown or stored.
- NewPages that look like they weren't meant to be public (staging, test, backup, draft, old, "Sample Page", "Hello world!") are flagged when your pages link to them.
- NewAddress checks: session IDs and tracking tags in your own links, pages generated from sort and filter parameters, linked search results, leftover -copy and -2 pages, and long or untidy addresses.
v0.23.1
Scans that keep going
- FixedA scan whose worker stopped part-way (a crash, a timeout, or an update going out) now picks up again within a minute, instead of waiting until someone opened it or the next day.
v0.23.0
Accessibility in the sidebar
- NewAn Accessibility page for all your sites: average score, sites under 90, critical and high WCAG issues, a weekly score trend, every site's issues by severity with links to them and its statement, and the most common problems across your sites.
v0.22.3
Sign out, and the full beta length
- ImprovedA clear Sign out button in the app sidebar, the site header, your account page and the back office.
- FixedAfter joining the beta, the page now brings the "You're in" message and its buttons into view, and the sections below show up instead of staying hidden.
- FixedJoining the open beta with an older, shorter beta code gave you only what was left of that code. You now get the full beta length from the day you join, and if your access ends sooner, the beta page offers to extend it.
v0.22.2
Beta check-ins and survey
- NewBeta testers get a short check-in a few days in with three things worth trying, and a note before their beta ends. Replies come straight to us.
- NewA five-question beta survey at /beta/survey: how likely you are to recommend Vinny, what you used, what's missing, and whether you'd pay.
- ImprovedThe beta bar in the app shows how many days you have left.
v0.22.1
A proper home for the beta
- ImprovedThe beta page now explains what Vinny is, what it covers from SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, Screaming Frog and BrightLocal, what none of them do, and answers the common questions.
- ImprovedOnboarding emails no longer ask you to prove you own a site: add any site and it's scanned straight away.
v0.22.0
Open beta, and charts in every report
- NewJoin the beta yourself: sign up at /beta, answer four quick questions and get your own code, with everything unlocked straight away.
- NewEvery scan, audit and client report shows its issues by checkup and severity, and the pages with the most issues, as charts you can hover, with the numbers in a table.
- ImprovedScore history on each site is a chart you can hover for each scan's scores, in colors that stay distinct in light and dark mode and for color-blind readers.
v0.21.0
Search overview, set up for you
- NewEvery site gets a Search overview, like SEMrush: Google visits, keywords and traffic value month by month in charts, keywords by position, top pages and keywords, competitors, and the Google Ads it runs with their estimated spend. Hover a chart for each month's numbers.
- NewAdd a site and Vinny finds its best keywords and real competitors and starts tracking them in Rankings. Brand-new sites too: Vinny works out the searches from what the site offers and finds who ranks for them.
- NewCompare 12 months of Google traffic with your top three competitors on one chart (200 credits), and see your tracked keywords' average position and top-10 count week by week.
- ImprovedCompetitor research and Backlinks show your sites as quick picks, link straight to a site's dashboards when you look one up, and offer to add any other domain as a site. Each site page links to its research.
v0.20.0
Scan any site, no verification
- NewAdd any website and it's scanned straight away: yours, a client's or a competitor's. Scans, monitoring, rankings, reviews, keyword and competitor research all work without proving you own the site.
- NewFull security checks are the one exception: the checks for exposed files, open admin and login pages, XML-RPC and the WordPress user list run on sites you verify, or after you confirm on the site's page that you own it or have written permission to test it. Every other security check runs on every site.
- ImprovedSites that ask Vinny not to scan them in robots.txt are skipped unless their owner verified them, and the Terms explain scanning and security testing.
- ImprovedVerifying a site is optional now; it only turns on the full security checks, and connecting Vinny Connect still counts.
v0.19.0
Vinny Connect 1.4.0: dry runs and approval in WordPress
- NewDry run on WordPress: before approving, see exactly which field each change would touch on your site, what it holds now and what it will hold after. Nothing is written. Changes to the same page preview in order.
- NewOptional approval in WordPress: turn it on under Settings → Vinny Connect and approved changes wait in wp-admin, each with a dry run, until an administrator approves or declines it. Vinny shows them as waiting, and declined ones say who declined them.
- NewVinny Connect shows notices across wp-admin when changes are applied, waiting or failing, has a status panel and a Site Health check, and keeps a full log with an errors view and CSV download.
- NewA Vinny Connect page explains what the plugin does for WordPress sites, what it changes and where, and how you stay in control.
- ImprovedWordPress sites show an optional "connect it too" note on their site page. Everything else on the page works without it.
- FixedResults the plugin couldn't send to Vinny are kept and sent with the next check, and Vinny now sees the plugin's current version every time it checks in, not only when it first connected.
v0.18.1
Clearer that Vinny works with any site
- NewYour account page explains every key: your Vinny plan needs none, license keys unlock the Accessibility Audit Pro plugin, connect keys link a WordPress site to the Vinny agent, and API keys are for your own tools. The Docs have the same guide.
- ImprovedThe fix plan now asks how approved changes should reach your site: the Vinny Connect plugin on WordPress, a pull request on GitHub, or copying them in and sending tickets anywhere else. It suggests one from what your last scan found, and nothing has to be installed for scans and monitoring.
- ImprovedScans now note what a site is built with (WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace or Webflow) when the home page shows it.
- FixedAdding a site no longer suggests you need the WordPress plugin to verify it; a meta tag or DNS record works for any site.
v0.18.0
The agent fixes headings and icon links
- NewPages with no main heading, or more than one, get fixed by the Vinny agent for free: it turns the extra main headings into sub-headings, or promotes the first sub-heading, and leaves your theme's page title alone.
- NewLinks with no text, like social icons, get a short label that screen readers announce. The agent writes one per link from where it goes and what's around it (10 credits a page); you approve each one.
- ImprovedVinny Connect 1.3.0 applies both, and won't undo a change if the page was edited after it; use the page's revisions in WordPress then. Several changes to the same page now undo cleanly together.
- FixedThe features page no longer lists pull requests for GitHub sites as coming soon; they're live.
v0.17.0
The agent writes social previews and structured data
- NewThe Vinny agent now fixes links that share with no preview: it writes a social title and description for each page, and WordPress gets them in Yoast, Rank Math, SEOPress or as its own tags.
- NewIt also writes structured data for your business (Organization or LocalBusiness JSON-LD) from facts on your site and Google profile only, never invented hours, prices or ratings, and adds it to your home page. Review and edit it first; undo it any time.
- ImprovedVinny Connect 1.2.0 updates itself from now on: new versions show up on your WordPress Plugins screen, and the agent page tells you when a site is behind. Sites on an older version need one last re-upload.
v0.16.0
Tripadvisor and all your listings in one place
- NewLink your Tripadvisor listing for a weekly check: rating and its breakdown, the newest reviews and whether you replied, where you rank for your category in your town, and an email when a critical review comes in.
- NewListings and reviews puts Google and Tripadvisor side by side: combined rating, reply rates, and a warning when your name or address differs between them.
- NewWhat reviewers say: AI reads your recent reviews from every site and lists what people keep praising and complaining about, with what to do about it (10 credits). AI reply drafts work for Tripadvisor reviews too.
- NewA Compare page puts Vinny next to SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz Pro, SE Ranking, Screaming Frog and BrightLocal: prices, seats and every feature, and what the usual tool stack costs.
- ImprovedThe home page now shows everything Vinny does: nine tools, each with what it covers.
- ImprovedNew prices: Starter $39, Pro $99, Agency $299 a month. Agency keeps 5,000 tracked keywords. AI page drafts cost 250 credits.
v0.15.0
Tickets to copy, or send to your tools
- NewEvery scan has a Tickets page: each open issue written up with the problem, affected pages, steps, when it counts as done and the AI fix. Copy one or all of them to paste anywhere, or download the CSV.
- NewSend tickets straight to Jira, Linear, GitHub Issues, Asana, Trello, Wrike or Monday. Connect one under Integrations with an API token; issues already sent are never sent twice.
- FixedIntegrations no longer lists Core Web Vitals and Google Business Profile as coming soon; both are built in.
v0.14.0
Content briefs
Briefs and drafts for pages that can rank.
- NewContent briefs: pick a search and Vinny reads Google's top 10 and the pages that rank, then writes the outline, the questions to answer, what every top page covers, what they all miss and which of your pages to link from (100 credits).
- NewDraft the page from the brief, new or as a rewrite of one of your pages that keeps its real facts, in Markdown to copy or download (250 credits). It never invents details; it leaves placeholders for you.
v0.13.0
Secret keys and open admin pages
- NewSecurity scans now look for secret keys left in your website's JavaScript (Stripe, AWS, GitHub, Slack, AI providers, private keys and more), shown masked, and for published source maps.
- NewThey also find database admin and debug tools anyone can open (phpMyAdmin, Adminer, Laravel Telescope, Symfony Profiler, Spring Actuator) and admin logins with no CAPTCHA, two-factor or login limiter.
- ImprovedThe Vinny agent can also put approved changes into a pull request for sites built from a GitHub repository. Switching on soon.
v0.12.0
The Vinny agent
A fix plan for every scan, and fixes Vinny makes for you.
- NewEvery site has a fix plan: each open issue, most worth doing first, split into what Vinny can do, what you can do and what needs a developer. Free on every plan.
- NewOn Pro and Agency, Vinny writes new page titles, meta descriptions and image alt text for every affected page (10 credits a page). Edit them, then approve.
- NewThe free Vinny Connect plugin applies approved changes to WordPress within moments, into Yoast SEO, Rank Math or SEOPress when you use one. Undo any change from Vinny.
v0.11.0
The Vinny API
Pull Vinny into your own dashboards and tools.
- NewAgency workspaces can make API keys under API, then read sites, scans, every issue with its fix, rankings and AI Visibility as JSON, and start scans.
- NewKeys are shown once and stored only as a fingerprint; revoke any of them in one click. 120 requests a minute per key.
v0.10.0
Teams and client logins
Bring your team in, and give clients their own read-only view.
- NewInvite people under Team. Teammates work on every site and tool in your workspace, but not billing or the team.
- NewClient logins see only the sites you pick, read-only: scans, issues, rankings, Local and statements.
- NewAnyone in more than one workspace switches between them from the menu.
- ImprovedSeats are included, with no per-person charge: 2 teammates on Pro, 10 teammates and 50 client logins on Agency.
- NewRelease notes (this page), with an RSS feed, replace the changelog.
v0.9.0
Client reports and white-label
- NewShare any finished scan as a private link and PDF with every issue and its fix. Turn the link off any time.
- NewOn Agency, set your name, logo, colour, website and contact email under Branding; shared reports then carry only your brand, down to the browser tab and link previews.
v0.8.0
Google Business Profile and reviews
- NewLink your Google Maps listing (no Google sign-in needed) for a weekly checkup: claimed, website, phone, hours, description, categories, photos, rating and unanswered reviews, each with the fix.
- NewLatest reviews with reply status, an email when a review of 3 stars or less comes in, and AI reply drafts (10 credits).
- NewSee who ranks next to you on Google Maps for your category.
v0.7.0
Backlinks
- NewA backlink report for any domain: referring domains, authority, spam score, a year of domains won and lost, the strongest linking domains with their best link, and anchor text.
- ImprovedCompetitor research links straight to each competitor's backlinks.
v0.6.0
Competitor research and rank-change alerts
- NewCompetitor research: any domain's Google traffic, keywords by position, its biggest keywords, competing domains, and the keyword gap with your own site.
- NewRank-change alerts: one email a day when a keyword reaches or leaves page one, wins or loses #1, moves a lot, a competitor passes you, or an AI Overview starts or stops citing you.
v0.5.0
AI Visibility: Google AI Mode, Claude and daily checks
- NewGrowth and Scale now check Google AI Mode and Claude too: six AI engines on every prompt.
- NewCheck any prompt daily. Scale includes 25 daily prompts; beyond that, and on Lite and Growth, daily checks use credits.
- NewTrack prompts beyond your tier's allowance with credits. Checks that fail are refunded.
v0.4.0
Accessibility statement
- NewWrite an honest accessibility statement from your latest scan, with every known problem and the WCAG criteria it affects. Copy it as HTML or text, or download a page. Free on every plan.
- Improvedvinny.justwhat.net loads much faster on phones (PageSpeed mobile score 41 to 89).
v0.3.0
Rank tracking, keyword research and more
- NewRank tracking: weekly Google top 100 positions by country and device, with trends, competitors, AI Overviews and CSV export.
- NewKeyword research: related searches with volume, difficulty, cost per click, intent and a year of trend.
- NewCore Web Vitals from real visitors for your site and each page, or a lab test when Google has no data.
- NewDeeper security checks: exposed files, out-of-date WordPress, plugins and libraries with known vulnerabilities, and more.
- FixedSign-in and sign-up no longer crash.
- FixedPurchases are fulfilled exactly once, even when Stripe sends the same event twice.
v0.2.1
Beta access, feedback and Google integrations
- NewBeta access codes unlock everything for testers.
- NewSend feedback and bug reports from inside the app.
- NewConnect Google Search Console and Google Analytics to see searches, clicks and visits next to your scans.
v0.2.0
The web app is in beta
- NewAdd and verify sites, scheduled full-site scans, issues with fixes and ticket export.
- NewAI fix suggestions on every issue.
- NewThe AI Visibility add-on: prompt tracking on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, share of voice, search spread and action plans.
v0.1.0
Vinny is coming
- NewThe site and pricing are up. Accessibility checks run in the free WordPress plugin and the free command-line scanner.