MainWP vs InfiniteWP

When it comes to maintaining multiple websites, it can a very time consuming exercise to log into your many different websites to make essential updates to plugins, themes and to run security scans.

At WPGeni we have tried a couple of 3rd party solutions to manage our clients websites.

The two applications that we will review are:

1. MainWP
2. InfiniteWP

This application is all we use now to manage and maintain out clients websites. MainWP is a plugin that is native to WordPress. It is ideal to use on a clean single domain or installation or WordPress that does not contain any other plugins, to ensure that MainWP will run smoothly.

Because it is a WordPress plugin, it is easy to navigate through it’s extensive settings and available addons.

The Pros

• Easy to install and setup.
• Native WordPress plugin.
• Extensive addon functionality with reasonable pricing ~$300 or so for the entire bundle.
• Setup Backup Schedules to Amazon and other servers. No need for other plugins to manage backups.
• Free to install

The Cons

• The plugin needs to be installed on a clean installation of WordPress with no other plugins or themes. A new user will need the experience of setting up a subdomain and new install of WordPress.
• We have not come across any substantial issues yet.
• We have heard that it can be sluggish when there are many websites being maintained, but we are yet to experience this. If it does, we will move to a server with more resources to handle the load.

When it comes to maintaining multiple WordPress websites, InfiniteWP does it very well. We started out using this 3rd part application to maintain out clients websites, however we found it to be quite cumbersome

The Pros

• Easy to add new websites.
• Great user interface to access maintenance data when needed.
• Continuously supported and updated
• Fast support
• Free to download and install
• Extensive library of addons.

The Cons

• Addons can be quite pricey. The bundle is around $800 or so.
• Addons have licenses that need to be renewed yearly.
• Harder to install for newbies as it requires its own database and installation process on your server.