diff --git a/include/admin/overview.inc.php b/include/admin/overview.inc.php
index a7524d1f..9a29ba3d 100644
--- a/include/admin/overview.inc.php
+++ b/include/admin/overview.inc.php
@@ -56,6 +56,11 @@ if (is_array($output)) {
 } else {
     $data['updateButton'] = $output;
 }
+if (serendipity_plugin_api::hook_event('backend_plugins_upgradecount', $output)) {
+    $data['pluginUpdates'] = $output;
+} else {
+    $data['pluginUpdates'] = '';
+}
 
 $cjoin  = ($serendipity['serendipityUserlevel'] == USERLEVEL_EDITOR) ? "
         LEFT JOIN {$serendipity['dbPrefix']}authors a ON (e.authorid = a.authorid)
diff --git a/plugins/serendipity_event_spartacus/ChangeLog b/plugins/serendipity_event_spartacus/ChangeLog
index 9db414d9..f36c3e8d 100644
--- a/plugins/serendipity_event_spartacus/ChangeLog
+++ b/plugins/serendipity_event_spartacus/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+2.38:
+-------
+    * Add function to count upgradeable plugins.
+    * Add upgrade notifier to plugin upgrade button.
+    * Add 'backend_plugins_upgradecount' hook and
+      language constants for a dashboard upgrade
+      notification.
+
 2.37.6:
 -------
     * Fix wrong caching of plugin lists regardless of type.
diff --git a/plugins/serendipity_event_spartacus/UTF-8/lang_de.inc.php b/plugins/serendipity_event_spartacus/UTF-8/lang_de.inc.php
index 44b86b08..f84c5c68 100644
--- a/plugins/serendipity_event_spartacus/UTF-8/lang_de.inc.php
+++ b/plugins/serendipity_event_spartacus/UTF-8/lang_de.inc.php
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@
 @define('PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_CHECK_EVENT', 'Updates (Ereignis-Plugins)');
 @define('PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_CHECK_HINT', 'Sie können mehrere Plugins auf einmal installieren indem sie diesen Link in einem neuen Tab öffnen (mittlerer Mausbutton)');
 
+@define('PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_DASHBOARD_UPDATE', 'Ein Plugin kann aktualisiert werden.');
+@define('PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_DASHBOARD_UPDATES', '%u Plugins können aktualisiert werden.');
+
 @define('PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_REPOSITORY_ERROR', '<br />(Der Mirror-Speicherort antwortet mit Fehler %s.)<br />');
 @define('PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_HEALTHCHECK', '<p>Die Daten des Spartacus-Speicherorts konnte nicht empfangen werden. Prüfe Verfügbarkeit der Quelle...</p>');
 @define('PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_HEALTHERROR', '<p>Die Prüfung der Verfügbarkeit einer Spartacus-Quelle konnte nicht durchgeführt werden (HTTP-Code %s). Bitte probieren Sie es später wieder.</p>');
diff --git a/plugins/serendipity_event_spartacus/lang_de.inc.php b/plugins/serendipity_event_spartacus/lang_de.inc.php
index e8c18dda..ede62153 100644
--- a/plugins/serendipity_event_spartacus/lang_de.inc.php
+++ b/plugins/serendipity_event_spartacus/lang_de.inc.php
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@
 @define('PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_CHECK_EVENT', 'Updates (Ereignis-Plugins)');
 @define('PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_CHECK_HINT', 'Sie können mehrere Plugins auf einmal installieren indem sie diesen Link in einem neuen Tab öffnen (mittlerer Mausbutton)');
 
+@define('PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_DASHBOARD_UPDATE', 'Ein Plugin kann aktualisiert werden.');
+@define('PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_DASHBOARD_UPDATES', '%u Plugins können aktualisiert werden.');
+
 @define('PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_REPOSITORY_ERROR', '<br />(Der Mirror-Speicherort antwortet mit Fehler %s.)<br />');
 @define('PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_HEALTHCHECK', '<p>Die Daten des Spartacus-Speicherorts konnte nicht empfangen werden. Prüfe Verfügbarkeit der Quelle...</p>');
 @define('PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_HEALTHERROR', '<p>Die Prüfung der Verfügbarkeit einer Spartacus-Quelle konnte nicht durchgeführt werden (HTTP-Code %s). Bitte probieren Sie es später wieder.</p>');
diff --git a/plugins/serendipity_event_spartacus/lang_en.inc.php b/plugins/serendipity_event_spartacus/lang_en.inc.php
index fadd4873..edcf2501 100644
--- a/plugins/serendipity_event_spartacus/lang_en.inc.php
+++ b/plugins/serendipity_event_spartacus/lang_en.inc.php
@@ -35,6 +35,9 @@
 @define('PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_CHECK_EVENT', 'Update event plugins');
 @define('PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_CHECK_HINT', 'You can upgrade multiple plugins at once by opening the update-link in a new tab (middle mouse button)');
 
+@define('PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_DASHBOARD_UPDATE', 'A plugin can be updated.');
+@define('PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_DASHBOARD_UPDATES', '%u plugins can be updated.');
+
 @define('PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_TRYCURL', 'Trying to use cURL library as fallback...');
 @define('PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_CURLFAIL', 'cURL library returned a failure, too.');
 @define('PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_HEALTFIREWALLED', 'It was not possible to download the required files from the Spartacus repository, but the health of our repository was retrievable. This means your provider uses a content-based firewall and does not allow to fetch PHP code over the web by using mod_security or other reverse proxies. You either need to ask your provider to turn this off, or you cannot use the Spartacus plugin and need to download files manually.');
diff --git a/plugins/serendipity_event_spartacus/serendipity_event_spartacus.php b/plugins/serendipity_event_spartacus/serendipity_event_spartacus.php
index ae3b14d8..f7c55806 100644
--- a/plugins/serendipity_event_spartacus/serendipity_event_spartacus.php
+++ b/plugins/serendipity_event_spartacus/serendipity_event_spartacus.php
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ class serendipity_event_spartacus extends serendipity_event
         $propbag->add('description',   PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_DESC);
         $propbag->add('stackable',     false);
         $propbag->add('author',        'Garvin Hicking');
-        $propbag->add('version',       '2.37.6');
+        $propbag->add('version',       '2.38');
         $propbag->add('requirements',  array(
             'serendipity' => '1.6',
         ));
@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@ class serendipity_event_spartacus extends serendipity_event
 
             'backend_pluginlisting_header'      => true,
 
+            'backend_plugins_upgradecount'      => true,
+
             'external_plugin'                   => true,
 
             'backend_directory_create'          => true,
@@ -1132,6 +1134,58 @@ class serendipity_event_spartacus extends serendipity_event
         }
     }
 
+    function count_plugin_upgrades()
+    {
+        // get a list of all installable sidebar and event plugins
+        $foreignPlugins = $sidebarPlugins = $eventPlugins = array();
+        $sidebarPlugins = $this->buildList($this->fetchOnline('sidebar'), 'sidebar');
+        $eventPlugins   = $this->buildList($this->fetchOnline('event'), 'event');
+        $foreignPlugins = array_merge($sidebarPlugins, $eventPlugins);
+
+        // get currently installed plugin versions
+        $currentVersions = [];
+        $plugins = serendipity_plugin_api::get_installed_plugins();
+        $classes = serendipity_plugin_api::enum_plugins();
+        foreach ($classes as $class_data) {
+            $plugin    =& serendipity_plugin_api::load_plugin($class_data['name']);
+            if (is_object($plugin)) {
+                // Object is returned when a plugin could not be cached.
+                $bag = new serendipity_property_bag;
+                $plugin->introspect($bag);
+                $pluginname = get_object_vars($plugin)['act_pluginPath'];
+                $version    = $bag->get('version');
+            } elseif (is_array($plugin)) {
+                // Array is returned if a plugin could be fetched from info cache
+                $pluginname = $plugin['class_name'];
+                $version    = $plugin['version'];
+            } else {
+                #
+            }
+            $currentVersions[$pluginname] = $version;
+        }
+
+        // count upgradable plugins
+        $upgradeCount = 0;
+        foreach ($foreignPlugins as $foreignPlugin) {
+            // plugin installed?
+            if (isset($currentVersions[$foreignPlugin['class_name']])) {
+                $currentVersion = $currentVersions[$foreignPlugin['class_name']];
+                // get current version on Spartacus
+                if (isset($foreignPlugin['upgrade_version']) && $foreignPlugin['upgrade_version']) {
+                    $upgradeVersion = $foreignPlugin['upgrade_version'];
+                } else {
+                    $upgradeVersion = $foreignPlugin['version'];
+                }
+                // compare versions and increase counter
+                if (version_compare($currentVersion, $upgradeVersion, '<')) {
+                    $upgradeCount++;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        return $upgradeCount++;
+    }
+
+
     function event_hook($event, &$bag, &$eventData, $addData = null)
     {
         global $serendipity;
@@ -1269,14 +1323,34 @@ class serendipity_event_spartacus extends serendipity_event
                         if (version_compare($serendipity['version'], '2.1-alpha3', '<')) {
                             echo '    <a id="upgrade_sidebar" class="button_link" href="?serendipity[adminModule]=plugins&amp;serendipity[adminAction]=addnew&amp;serendipity[only_group]=UPGRADE">'. PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_CHECK_SIDEBAR .'</a>';
                             echo '    <a id="upgrade_event" class="button_link" href="?serendipity[adminModule]=plugins&amp;serendipity[adminAction]=addnew&amp;serendipity[only_group]=UPGRADE&amp;serendipity[type]=event">'. PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_CHECK_EVENT .'</a> ';
-
                         } else {
-                            echo '    <a id="upgrade_plugins" class="button_link" href="?serendipity[adminModule]=plugins&amp;serendipity[adminAction]=addnew&amp;serendipity[only_group]=UPGRADE' . '&amp;' . serendipity_setFormToken('url') . '">'. PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_CHECK .'</a>';
+                            $upgradeCount = $this->count_plugin_upgrades();
+                            $upgradeBadge = '';
+                            if ($upgradeCount > 0) {
+                                $upgradeBadge = sprintf(' (%u)', $upgradeCount);
+                            }
+                            echo '    <a id="upgrade_plugins" class="button_link" href="?serendipity[adminModule]=plugins&amp;serendipity[adminAction]=addnew&amp;serendipity[only_group]=UPGRADE' . '&amp;' . serendipity_setFormToken('url') . '">'. PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_CHECK . $upgradeBadge .'</a>';
                         }
                         echo '</div>';
                     }
                     break;
 
+                case 'backend_plugins_upgradecount':
+                    if (serendipity_db_bool($this->get_config('enable_plugins'))) {
+                        $upgradeCount = $this->count_plugin_upgrades();
+                        if ($upgradeCount > 0) {
+                            if ($upgradeCount > 1) {
+                                $eventData = sprintf(PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_DASHBOARD_UPDATES, $upgradeCount);
+                            } else {
+                                $eventData = PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_DASHBOARD_UPDATE;
+                            }
+                            $eventData .= '    <a id="upgrade_plugins" class="button_link" href="?serendipity[adminModule]=plugins&amp;serendipity[adminAction]=addnew&amp;serendipity[only_group]=UPGRADE' . '&amp;' . serendipity_setFormToken('url') . '">'. PLUGIN_EVENT_SPARTACUS_CHECK .'</a>';
+                            return true;
+                        }
+                    }
+                    return false;
+                    break;
+
                 case 'backend_templates_fetchlist':
                     if (serendipity_db_bool($this->get_config('enable_themes'))) {
                         $eventData = $this->buildTemplateList($this->fetchOnline('template', true), 'template');
diff --git a/templates/2k11/admin/overview.inc.tpl b/templates/2k11/admin/overview.inc.tpl
index 292a274e..8c89b979 100644
--- a/templates/2k11/admin/overview.inc.tpl
+++ b/templates/2k11/admin/overview.inc.tpl
@@ -37,6 +37,15 @@
         {/if}
     {/if}
 
+    {if $pluginUpdates}
+        <section id="dashboard_plugin_updates">
+            <h3>{$CONST.UPDATE_NOTIFICATION}</h3>
+
+            <span class="msg_notice"><span class="icon-info-circled" aria-hidden="true"></span> {$pluginUpdates}</span>
+        </section>
+        <hr class="separator">
+    {/if}
+
     {if $no_create !== true}
         <section id="dashboard_comments" class="equal_heights quick_list dashboard_widget">
             <h3>{if 'adminComments'|checkPermission}<a href="serendipity_admin.php?serendipity[adminModule]=comments">{/if}{$CONST.COMMENTS}{if 'adminComments'|checkPermission}</a>{/if}</h3>