Manage Multiple WordPress Sites With These 3 Tools

When you have used WordPress for as long as we have – or manage sites for clients, it’s not uncommon to find yourself in a tangled mess of installations. Most times it’s not a problem until… you have to update the sites. Yikes!

In-house, we have perhaps 20+ WordPress installs. I’ve already consolidated some of them into Multisite installs so I don’t have to manage so much but haven’t completed all of them and some are better left as standalone. That’s just us. Not including clients, but I’m not alone. I know of someone with 200+ WordPress sites. Even outsourcing costs a pretty penny.

Thankfully, smart developers know that and now, we have options to alleviate the problem. Yay!

First – ManageWP. This is the very first system I came across about maybe in 2010 and joined as a beta user. Loved it immediately. It went smoothly for the most part even during the beta. Like every system I did run into issues. One was when some servers (mostly client sites) wouldn’t let you update remotely. This is not their fault.

I liked the familiar WordPress style to it, they are pretty responsive and it’s come a really long way. It can be a tad pricey but if that price still works out less than your time I’d say it is worth it.

Then, I came across InfiniteWP. This system works a lot like ManageWP because you have to install a ‘worker’ plugin on each of your sites for it to work. This plugin eliminates the need to connect using your admin account which helps when it comes to security. The big difference – InfiniteWP is free and it is a script you install on your site.

I installed it on one ‘satellite’ site and manage all the other sites from this panel. Love the Interface. They plan to have premium add-ons later which I think is a good thing.

The other thing I like a lot is the ability to install premium plugins directly from the dashboard. If your plugins are on the WP repository, you can even save them as favorites and install them on new sites.

While the Interface is pretty it can be just a tad confusing. Good thing they have a quick tour when you first log in. Also, my pet peeve at the moment is the inability to edit sites you already entered.

This is annoying because sometimes you make a small typo. Oh and when I had to turn off all plugins on a site to test things out, the connection between the satellite manager and the blog broke. I had to delete the site and add it back.

Still, I’m keeping it for now, knowing they are new and willing to overlook these for the mean time in the hopes the software will be improved upon.

Finally, there is WPRemote. Must confess this is one I’ve only just started with. It doesn’t have as many features as the other two. It also relies on a ‘worker’ plugin to help get the job done although the install/activate process was smoother. Features are somewhat limited right now and from what I can tell, there are no limits nor cost to the number of sites you can manage.

And that’s it for now. Hope you find one that suits your needs.

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14 Comments

  1. Michelle on June 28, 2012 at 2:52 pm

    Thanks for the review.  I had heard about InfiniteWP but wasn’t sure if I should worry about security.  Based on your experience I’m going to move forward with setting it up.



    • lynettechandler on June 28, 2012 at 2:56 pm

      Hi Michelle, I must admit I set up InfiniteWP on my own site where I have a security certificate so all connections are https
       
      They all work the same way though, do not require you to enter admin logins with the exception of admin username.



  2. Jeanette Cates on June 28, 2012 at 6:41 pm

    Lynette
     
    I tried InfiniteWP first, but switched to ManageWP because I love the ability to post to multiple blogs. Couldn’t find that in InfiniteWP.
     
    Thanks for your always solid information!



    • lynettechandler on June 28, 2012 at 7:14 pm

      Hey Jeanette! Good to ‘see’ you here. How have you been doing? I try to catch you on AM2 when you’re teaching 🙂
       
      Thank you for pointing that out for us. We don’t normally post from inside so that is not a huge requirement but I do know of people for whom posting across blogs is crucial.



    • David on June 30, 2012 at 12:44 am

      Hey Jeanette,
      I am David from InfiniteWP. Our apologizes that we don’t have that option rite now. But we are working on that addon and we should have it soon. You can signup to our premium addons mailing list to stay updated.
       
      Thanks
      David



      • lynettechandler on June 30, 2012 at 2:13 pm

        This sounds great David!



  3. iamraincrystal on June 28, 2012 at 11:58 pm

    Wow thanks for sharing this one Lynette. I find your tech advice truly helpful! Now I look forward to them ^_^ Keep up the great work!
     
    Rain



    • lynettechandler on June 29, 2012 at 1:42 am

       @iamraincrystal Hey Rain, good to see you again and thank you for your kind words. They are like fuel for me 🙂



  4. David on June 30, 2012 at 12:45 am

    Hi Lynette,
     
    Thanks a lot for the detailed review and we hear you on editing the site. We should be releasing that in the next update. 
     
    Thanks
    David



    • lynettechandler on June 30, 2012 at 2:13 pm

      Hello David, thank you for stopping by to let us know. I am definitely looking forward to that!



  5. lynette.chandler on July 5, 2012 at 12:28 pm

    Hey folks, so I received an email from John about a response. I promised to put it up for him, here’s what he had to say. Hope it helps someone!
     
    Hi Lynette
     
    Tried posting this on your blog but couldn’t get through with livefyre forsome reason and i thought it important enough to email to you. hope youdon’t mind.
     
    I;ve been a subscriber for quite a while but haven’t ever postedanything at your blog, but, this time i would like to add my 2 cents worth.Plus maybe you might know of this and its effectiveness. there is a newplugin being promoted in the WSO ( Warrior )forum  that is called WPSnapperand the creator claims it to do just about anything one would need to do,including backups, within few minutes. if i recall correctly, the maincomponent of WPSnapper is that one could clone multiple blogs withinminutes. I am not promoting it but maybe you’d want to take a peek in theWSO section of the warrior forum. Its creator’s name is Ricky Mataka. Ijust saw it today and am considering purchasing it simply because it’ssupposed to be a huge time-saver especially if one has many blogs.
     
    Anyway, just my contribution and hope this may help someone in some way.
     
    Thanks for keeping me updated.
     
    Sincerely,
    John



  6. paulgoodchild on July 18, 2012 at 6:16 am

    Hi Lynette,
     
    I just wanted to drop in and let you know about a new service that we’ve just launched for doing something similar. It’s early days, but we’re getting a lot of traction – it’s called Worpit (http://worpit.com).
     
    I’d love to hear what you think of it if you wanted to give it a go. It’s free to sign-up 🙂
     
    Thanks!
    Paul.



    • lynette.chandler on July 18, 2012 at 2:38 pm

       @paulgoodchild Thank you for letting us know about that Paul. I will give it a go.



      • paulgoodchild on July 19, 2012 at 6:04 am

         cool… drop me a line if you have any suggestions or questions 🙂