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Are you wasting a ton of time managing several different websites one at a time? It’s a hassle, for sure, but you’ll be amazed at how much time and effort you can save by implementing a tool that lets you manage multiple WordPress sites all from one location at little to no cost (yes, some are free).
How Can These Tools Help You?
The tools we’ve included in this review allow you to manage multiple WordPress sites from one dashboard, but that’s just the start of what you can do. Here are some common features to look for when searching for a multi-site WP management service:
- Logins: one-click access to all sites and site login memory.
- Updates: either automated or one-click across multiple sites.
- Backup WordPress features (Read our reviews of WordPress Backup Plugins).
- Security features.
- Plugin and theme management: install, enable and disable plugins and themes across your sites with one click.
- Uptime WordPress monitoring.
- User management across multiple sites.
- SEO and keyword tracking.
- Bulk posting and content management.
- Activity reporting.
Best Multi-Site WordPress Management Tools
We’ve based our rankings on several factors, including each service’s feature set, ease of installation and use, the strength of free versions, advanced functionality, pricing and more. You’ll see these reflected in our pros and cons for each service.
ManageWP Review
[logotable rank=1]
Our number one pick, ManageWP, was a pioneer when it hit the market in early 2012. Within its first month, more than 100,000 sites were using ManageWP. Today, this reliable service is as popular as ever.
Why is ManageWP our top choice? This service lets you perform a ton of maintenance tasks, such as updating plugins and themes and running security scans and analytics, from a single dashboard for all of your sites simultaneously.
What’s more, you get this functionality for free for an unlimited number of sites. ManageWP also is one of the easiest WP management services to set up and use and offers multiple advanced add-ons at very affordable — and customizable — pricing.
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Pricing
ManageWP offers a free version with the following add-on pricing. The break-even point for most add-on tools is 25 websites (before you should move to the bundle), except for the Daily Backup (break even at 37 websites).
| Price Per Site | Price Per Bundle (Up to 100 Sites Per Bundle) |
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|---|---|---|
| Daily Backup | $2 | $75 |
| Uptime Monitor | $1 | $25 |
| SEO Ranking | $1 | $25 |
| White Label | $1 | $25 |
| Advanced Client Report | $1 | $25 |
| All-in-one package (all bundles combined) | $150 |
MainWP Review
[logotable rank=2]
MainWP takes our number two spot as the best multi-site WordPress remote management tool. MainWP is an excellent solution for beginners and advanced users. Developers can take advantage of MainWP’s open-source feature to customize its functionality to their needs.
MainWP is also self-hosted, which some people prefer for added security — of course, this means the plugin’s reliability is dependent on your web host.
MainWP works on top of WordPress, meaning you won’t have to learn a new platform. This service offers a free version, which isn’t quite as robust as ManageWP’s free option, but it still gives you a lot of tools you’ll need for regular site maintenance.
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Pricing
MainWP offers a free version you can use with an unlimited number of sites. You can purchase premium extensions individually (ranging from $29 to $69 each for a one-year license). Or you can opt for one of their membership plans that include access to all current and new extensions and updates.
- $19.99 per month (cancel anytime)
- $399 lifetime
- View all plans
You can obtain MainWP plugins that integrate with WordPress. Before moving on to our third place winner, check out this video to see how MainWP can improve your workload.
InfiniteWP Review
[logotable rank=3]
InfiniteWP rounds out our top three picks. Like our top two winners, InfiniteWP lets you manage multiple WordPress sites from one location and offers a free version. However, it’s more tricky to install, and its free tier is pretty bare-bones compared to what you get for free from other services.
Still, this self-hosted platform employs some impressive security features, including limiting access to specific IPs only, forcing HTTPS, employing two-factor authentication and more.
The catch with InfiniteWP is the expensive premium add-ons, which can end up costing you an arm and a leg per add-on. They do offer bundles based on the number of sites, with the most expensive being $447 per year for all add-ons on unlimited sites.
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Pricing
InfiniteWP gives you the option of purchasing premium extensions individually, but unless you only need one or two, it’s better to go with one of their bundled plans below. Their add-ons range from $67 to $147 each for a one-year license.
| Free Version | Starter | Developer | Freelancer | Agency | |
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| Number of Sites | Unlimited | 1-10 | 11-20 | 21-50 | Unlimited |
| Add-Ons Included | None | All | All | All | All |
| Price Per Year | Free | $147 | $247 | $347 | $447 |
Other WordPress Management Tools Reviewed
Although the following services didn’t make it into our top three, each has its pluses you should consider when thinking about what you need to manage multiple WordPress sites.
CMS Commander | iControlWP | WP Remote
CMS Commander Review
CMS Commander isn’t as widely known or used as our top winners, but this service can be an excellent value if you’re mainly looking for strong content tools and updates and don’t run a ton of sites.
This CMS-centered service gives you a great set of tools for free — but for only up to three sites. That’s a bummer when you look at what you get from our top two winners.
Their pricing tiers all offer the same set of solid features, but pricing is by the number of websites and users, so it can get expensive if you need multiple users on dozens of sites.
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Pricing
CMS Commander gives you a 14-day free trial of all features. They also offer a limited free plan with basic features for up to five sites. The following pricing plans include all features. Contact CMS Commander if you manage more than 200 sites for pricing.
| Number of Sites | Additional Users | Price Per Month |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | 0 | $8 |
| 10 | 0 | $12 |
| 20 | 2 | $16 |
| 30 | 3 | $20 |
| 50 | 5 | $30 |
| 100 | 10 | $45 |
| 150 | 15 | $60 |
| 200 | 20 | $75 |
iControlWP Review
iControlWP stands out for its security features, including malware scans, the ability to lock down access with two-factor authentication and IP address restrictions, and managing all security settings from one dashboard. They also have built-in first aid support — tech help is one click away rather than waiting for a response to your ticket submission.
On the content management side, iControlWP doesn’t allow you to manage or bulk edit posts and pages, which could be a big turnoff for some users. You also can’t edit WordPress settings or manage sub-users. We encourage you to test drive iControlWP first to see if it fits your needs. You can try out all of iControlWP’s features on unlimited sites with their 15-day free trial.
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Pricing
| Control | Backup Protect | Agency Lite | Agency | |
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| Price Per Month (Up to 10 sites) |
$15 | $29 | $29 | $39 |
| Price Per Month for Each Additional Site | $1.50 | $2.90 | $2.90 | $3.90 |
| Daily Automatic Backup | $5 per site/month |  |
$5 per site/month | |
| Client Reporting | $5/month* | $5/month* | |
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| Uptime Monitoring | $5/month* | $5/month* | |
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| White Labelling | $5/month* | $20/month* | |
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*Add-on pricing includes your first 10 sites. The cost of the add-on per site after that is $0.50 per month.
WP Remote Review
WP Remote is entirely free for unlimited sites. It’s a decent option if you don’t need much more than basic updates from one location. If you’re looking for automatic backups, cloning, comment management and other advanced features, this is not the service for you.
Pretty much all you can do with WP Remote is make one-click updates to your WP core, plugins and themes. But, hey, it’s free.
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Why Not Spend A Few Dollars To Save Your Precious Time?
It’s a no-brainer in our book. Whether you go with a free tiered plan to manage multiple WordPress sites or opt for a paid plan, the ultimate payoff is worth it. Experts agree that you can save hours every week, or even every day, by using one of our top-ranked tools.
Even if you go with a paid plan, you’ll end up saving money in the long run by being able to focus your attention on more lucrative site goals.
If you found this useful, we have reviews of many WordPress plugins for you to check out, including Calendars, Maps, Menus and Sliders.
What’s the best tool you’ve found to help in managing multiple WordPress sites and why?
Tagged With: Reviews, WordPress
