How to manage multiple WordPress websites using ManageWP

Running multiple websites at the same time is definitely a time- and energy-consuming job. Imagine you have to log into multiple websites at the same time every day.

It means you have to open a bunch of tabs in the browser. Then you have to move back and forth between different tabs to manage the respective websites.

If you are still managing your WordPress sites like this, you are clearly being unprofessional and unproductive.

So, is there a way to manage your entire website from just one place?

ManageWP is the solution you need. It provides you with a set of tools to help you manage multiple WordPress websites at the same time.

In this article, I will show you how to use Manage WP to manage updates, plugins, themes, security, and test the performance of your website.

About ManageWP

ManageWP gives you a single place from which you can easily manage multiple of your websites at the same time. Your task is just to add your website to the ManageWP dashboard.

Now, you don’t need to log in to each website to install plugins, themes, or make updates to themes and plugins. Besides, the tool also provides many other extremely useful features such as checking website security, backing up and cloning websites, viewing Google Analytics reports and so on.

A few standout features:

Price : Free with many paid add-ons. The price of these addons is also not too expensive. You can view it on https://managewp.com . If your website needs advanced features from a paid addon, I think you should give it a try. 

A few alternative solutions

ManageWP is still the best tool when it comes to managing multiple WordPress websites.

However, besides ManageWP, you can choose many other services with similar functionality. Below I list a few services for your reference. 

MainWP

Unlike Manage WP, MainWP is a self-hosted plugin. When you use Manage WP, you need to provide login information for Manage WP. MainWP was born to meet a need for many people who do not want to share that sensitive information with third parties.

Since it’s a self-hosted plugin, the installation is a bit more complicated. But in return you can manage multiple websites without having to depend on external services like Manage WP. 

On the other hand, you have to spend resources on hosting an application that manages multiple websites yourself. ​

Salient features:

Price: Free and there are also paid plans starting at $29.99 per month.

If MainWP is difficult to install, you can refer to InfinitiveWP . It is also a self-hosted solution but has installation support via cPanel.

iThemes Sync

Another option for managing multiple websites at the same time. But the free account of iThemes Sync only supports you to manage up to 10 websites.

If you have multiple satellite sites this number is probably a bit low. But if you need larger numbers, I think ManageWP is still the more attractive option.

Besides, some features of iThemes Security require you to install its theme plugin such as backup or security feature.

WPRemote

WPRemote is a free solution to manage multiple WordPress websites from one place. Compared to ManageWP, its number of features is somewhat more modest.

But it does not require you to provide a username and password. You also don’t need to be self-hosted like MainWP or InfinitiveWP.

Instead you need to install the plugin it provides and use an api key to configure the plugin. Then you can manage your websites from WP Remote.

A few standout features:

How to manage multiple WordPress websites using ManageWP

First, you need to create a free account. Specifically you need to provide an email address. Then enter your last name. Next, you need to include your website in the ManageWP dashboard

Get your website into ManageWP

Enter the name of your website. When done, click the Add Website button

On the next screen, you enter the username and password that you use to log in to the WordPress Admin. 

Click the Install Plugin button to continue.

As soon as the website is successfully added, you will see a message like the one below. If you want to add another website, click the Add another website button . If you want to go to the management interface, click Go to Dashboard .

Manage themes and plugins

To manage a website, click on Websites in the left panel. Then you click on the website you want to manage.

The website management screen appears. Here are many sections to help you manage your website easily. But we notice the first Updates section:

Here, you will see updates for plugins, themes, and WordPress core. You click on each corresponding tab to see specific information. If you want to update all, click on Update Al l button .

Conversely, if you want to update each item individually, select them and click the Update button below.

Next, click on Plugins in the left panel to go to the Plugins management screen. The plugin management screen functionality is the same as the plugin management in the WordPress Addmin.

You can deactivate, delete and install plugins

Regarding plugin installation, you can choose from the WordPress repository or from an external source as in the case of premium plugins.

To manage themes, click on Themes. The theme management screen allows you to activate the theme you want. It even helps you delete themes you don’t want to use.

Normally if you want to delete a theme, you have to activate another theme if the theme you want to delete is in use. Then you access the file system on the hosting and delete the theme folder. So the feature of deleting this theme is very convenient.

Besides, you can also install the theme from the WordPress repository or external source via upload.

If you want to receive notifications about website updates, click on your avatar in the top right corner. Then you click on Settings . Next click on the Notification tab . Finally scroll down and you will see a section called Product Digest.

Here I choose to receive daily update notifications for WordPress, Plugins and Themes. Depending on your needs, you can choose other options.

The notice has the following form:

Run a security check of the website.

In addition to the basic features such as managing updates, plugins, and themes mentioned above, ManageWP also provides many other powerful features in the form of add-ons. These addons come in both free and paid forms. Security Check is also such an addon. It helps you to scan the entire website to check for any malicious code.

To use it, you must first activate the addon. Click on Security Check in the button strip below the avatar.

Next, click the Activate  Security Check button.

A pop-up will pop up asking you to choose the free or paid version. The paid version will run automatic security checks daily/weekly. Email notification as soon as a security problem is detected. The price for this addon is 1$/month for a site. If you have many sites, you can refer to the bundle package for 100 sites.

Click the Activate button for the respective bundle

Next, you click the Run security check button to start the security check process for the website.

The process runs fast or slow depending on the size of your website. Here are the results of my website testing:

Run performance tests

Speed ​​is an important factor for any website. Therefore, you need to regularly monitor website speed. One of our habits is often installing many plugins or tweaking miscellaneous without paying attention to the website speed has an impact or not.

Read more : How to install and configure WP Rocket: the best WP accelerator plugin . 

This WP Manage addon helps you to test the speed of your website. So besides GTMetrix or Pingdom tools, you have one more option to check the speed of your website.

The paid version allows you to plan how to run the Peformance test. And you will receive email or slack notifications if wesbite has performance issues. 

Like the security check add on, you first click on Performance Check to activate the addon.

Choose from paid or free addon. Then you choose a location to test performance. After selecting, click the Run performance check button.

As soon as you finish running, you will get results like the one below:

Scroll down. You might see suggestions to help you improve your score like this:

Epilogue

Although ManageWP is not the only tool for managing multiple WordPress websites. But it is the tool that offers the most functionality with a flexible plan for many use cases.

Certainly Manage WP is an indispensable tool if you are managing multiple websites every day.

Have you used ManageWP before? Share your views on ManageWP in the comments section below.

And don’t forget to share the article to support .