Software update managers are programs or that allow or ease the installation of patches.

They may be built into operating systems or come as stand-alone programs. They may apply updates automatically or require user interaction. They may be able to update all of ones software at once or only software of specific manufacturers or alike. They may provide information on the changes made by software and their compatibility with other currently installed software, allow for rollbacks of breaking changes, integrate crowdsourced information or none of it.