Do I have to move everything at once?

No. WPMgr connects a site by installing one plugin and pasting a pairing code, and it does not ask you to remove anything. Connect one site, leave the rest where they are, and compare on your own fleet before you decide.

What happens to my sites if WPMgr goes away?

The control plane is AGPL-3.0 and the agent is MIT, both public on GitHub. If we stopped tomorrow you would still hold the source, the running system and your data, and could keep operating or fork it. That is a different answer from a vendor promising to stay in business.

Is self-hosting a lot of work?

One command brings up the whole stack on a 64-bit Linux host with Docker. It needs 2 GB of RAM to start. Updates are a pull and a restart, and migrations apply themselves on boot.

Where do backups go, and can you read them?

Depends on the destination and the plan. On plans with managed backup storage, leave it on the default and the control plane holds the backup, the same as any managed backup service holds what it stores. The Free plan has no managed bucket, so a site there needs its own S3-compatible bucket or a local folder configured before backups will run. Point the site at your own S3-compatible bucket or a local folder on its own server, and the control plane never holds the chunks, only the routing metadata. Nothing is encrypted client-side today: a control-plane-managed bucket protects the data however that storage is configured, your own bucket protects it however you have configured that, and a local folder gets no encryption from WPMgr at all, only whatever the host's own disk provides. Client-side encryption is planned.

How current are the figures on this page?

Every claim carries the page it came from and the date it was checked, and all of them are listed on the sources page. Prices change; if one of these is stale, the link is how you find out.

ManageWP vs MainWP vs WPMgr

The feature lists overlap. What does not overlap is where the dashboard runs, where your backups land, and what the bill does when the fleet grows.

Get started for free See what it replaces

AGPL-3.0 control plane
MIT agent, listed on WordPress.org
Self-hosted: unlimited sites, no licence fee

Your fleet

5 sites, one dashboard

Up: shop.example.combacked up 2h ago
Up: blog.example.combacked up 3h ago
Up: client-a.example.combacked up 4h ago
Degraded: staging.example.comupdate pending
Up: legacy.example.combacked up 6h ago

Backups default to a control-plane-managed bucket on plans with managed storage, or point them at storage you configure and control on any plan.

At a glance

Free text rather than ticks, because a tick cannot say "paid add-on". Every figure links to the page it came from.

Capability	WPMgr	ManageWP	MainWP
All three do this
Bulk updates across sites	Yes, with a pre-update snapshot and rollback	Yes. Safe Updates adds a restore point and needs premium Backupsmw-24	Yes, free, including automatic updatesmn-40
Uptime monitoring	Built in and free, with TLS expiry checks	Add-on: $1 per site per month, or $25 for up to 100 sitesmw-08	Built in and free, off until enabledmn-30 mn-31
Client reports	Built in, white label, with a client portal	Free with a ManageWP watermark. Advanced is $1 per site per monthmw-09	Pro Reports add-on, needs a second plugin on each sitemn-33
One-click login to wp-admin	Yes, single use and audited	Yes, in the free tiermw-01	Yes, in the free tiermn-40
Where the dashboard runs
Who hosts the dashboard	You do. A hosted tier exists if you prefer	The vendor. You install a connector plugin on each sitemw-10	You do, as a plugin on a WordPress site you controlmn-11
Where backups are stored	A control-plane-managed bucket by default on plans with managed storage, or your own S3-compatible bucket or local folder	The vendor's servers, with a US or EU region choicemw-11 mw-12	Wherever the third-party plugin you configure sends themmn-25 mn-26
Source you can read	All of it. AGPL-3.0 control plane, MIT agent	The connector plugin, GPLv3. The dashboard is not publishedmw-18	Dashboard and child plugin, GPLv3, on GitHubmn-21 mn-22
What the bill does as the fleet grows
Pricing shape	Free and unlimited when self-hosted	Per site, per add-on, per month, with bundle optionsmw-02 mw-04	Flat, for unlimited sitesmn-01
Cost of a backup at 25 sites	$0	$50 a month at $2 per site, or $75 for the bundlemw-04	Included, but you supply the backup pluginmn-25
Built in, or assembled
Backup engine	Built in. Incremental, to the destination you configure	Built in. Incremental, encrypted in transit and at restmw-19 mw-20	None of its own. It drives third-party backup pluginsmn-25 mn-26
Security scanning	Built in: hardening, file integrity, vulnerability matching	Free check reports only. Vulnerability Protection is $2 per site per month and installs a second pluginmw-05 mw-26 mw-27	Add-ons, some free and some paidmn-36
Database cleaning	Built in, with orphan classification and a preview	An optimization widget in the dashboardmw-30	The Maintenance add-on, labelled Promn-34

All three do this

Bulk updates across sites

WPMgr: Yes, with a pre-update snapshot and rollback
ManageWP: Yes. Safe Updates adds a restore point and needs premium Backupsmw-24
MainWP: Yes, free, including automatic updatesmn-40

Uptime monitoring

WPMgr: Built in and free, with TLS expiry checks
ManageWP: Add-on: $1 per site per month, or $25 for up to 100 sitesmw-08
MainWP: Built in and free, off until enabledmn-30 mn-31

Client reports

WPMgr: Built in, white label, with a client portal
ManageWP: Free with a ManageWP watermark. Advanced is $1 per site per monthmw-09
MainWP: Pro Reports add-on, needs a second plugin on each sitemn-33

One-click login to wp-admin

WPMgr: Yes, single use and audited
ManageWP: Yes, in the free tiermw-01
MainWP: Yes, in the free tiermn-40

Where the dashboard runs

Who hosts the dashboard

WPMgr: You do. A hosted tier exists if you prefer
ManageWP: The vendor. You install a connector plugin on each sitemw-10
MainWP: You do, as a plugin on a WordPress site you controlmn-11

Where backups are stored

WPMgr: A control-plane-managed bucket by default on plans with managed storage, or your own S3-compatible bucket or local folder
ManageWP: The vendor's servers, with a US or EU region choicemw-11 mw-12
MainWP: Wherever the third-party plugin you configure sends themmn-25 mn-26

Source you can read

WPMgr: All of it. AGPL-3.0 control plane, MIT agent
ManageWP: The connector plugin, GPLv3. The dashboard is not publishedmw-18
MainWP: Dashboard and child plugin, GPLv3, on GitHubmn-21 mn-22

What the bill does as the fleet grows

Pricing shape

WPMgr: Free and unlimited when self-hosted
ManageWP: Per site, per add-on, per month, with bundle optionsmw-02 mw-04
MainWP: Flat, for unlimited sitesmn-01

Cost of a backup at 25 sites

WPMgr: $0
ManageWP: $50 a month at $2 per site, or $75 for the bundlemw-04
MainWP: Included, but you supply the backup pluginmn-25

Built in, or assembled

Backup engine

WPMgr: Built in. Incremental, to the destination you configure
ManageWP: Built in. Incremental, encrypted in transit and at restmw-19 mw-20
MainWP: None of its own. It drives third-party backup pluginsmn-25 mn-26

Security scanning

WPMgr: Built in: hardening, file integrity, vulnerability matching
ManageWP: Free check reports only. Vulnerability Protection is $2 per site per month and installs a second pluginmw-05 mw-26 mw-27
MainWP: Add-ons, some free and some paidmn-36

Database cleaning

WPMgr: Built in, with orphan classification and a preview
ManageWP: An optimization widget in the dashboardmw-30
MainWP: The Maintenance add-on, labelled Promn-34

One tool, or eight line items

Backups, security, caching, images, database, uptime, reports and updates. On WPMgr these are one system with one login and one bill. Self-hosted, that bill is nothing.

WPMgrone system

Backups and restore

Security and hardening

Page and object cache

Image optimization

Database cleaning

Uptime monitoring

Client reports

Updates and rollback

Backups and restore
Security and hardening
Page and object cache
Image optimization
Database cleaning
Uptime monitoring
Client reports
Updates and rollback

WPMgr, one system

Move the slider to your fleet size

Computed from each vendor's own published prices. ManageWP takes the cheaper of per site or bundle, including their all-in-one package. MainWP is flat. Self-hosted WPMgr is free at every size.

Fleet size

25 sites

ManageWP, backups plus uptime plus reports$1,200per year
Backups $2, uptime $1, advanced reports $1 per site per month. Bundles are $75 plus $25 plus $25 for up to 100 sites, and their all-in-one package covering every bundle is $150.mw-04 mw-06
MainWP Pro$199per year
Flat for unlimited sites. You still supply and configure a backup plugin.mn-01 mn-25
WPMgr, self-hosted$0per year
Unlimited sites, every feature, no licence fee. You run the control plane.

Start free at 25 sitesNo card, and self-hosting stays free at any size.

Where your fleet data actually lives

This is the one difference nobody closes by shipping a feature next quarter.

WPMgr
Your sites
Your control plane
Your storage
Backups land in storage the control plane manages by default on plans with managed backup storage, the same as the hosted tier. Point a site at your own S3-compatible bucket or a local folder on its own server, and the chunks move there instead, off control-plane storage. On the Free plan, which has no managed bucket, one of those two is required before backups will run.
ManageWP
Your sites
Vendor dashboard
Vendor storage
The dashboard and the backups are the vendor's, with a US or EU region choice.mw-10 mw-11 mw-12
MainWP
Your sites
Your WordPress dashboard
Plugin decides
The dashboard is yours. Where backups land depends on which third-party plugin you configure.mn-11 mn-25 mn-26

Questions

Do I have to move everything at once?: No. WPMgr connects a site by installing one plugin and pasting a pairing code, and it does not ask you to remove anything. Connect one site, leave the rest where they are, and compare on your own fleet before you decide.
What happens to my sites if WPMgr goes away?: The control plane is AGPL-3.0 and the agent is MIT, both public on GitHub. If we stopped tomorrow you would still hold the source, the running system and your data, and could keep operating or fork it. That is a different answer from a vendor promising to stay in business.
Is self-hosting a lot of work?: One command brings up the whole stack on a 64-bit Linux host with Docker. It needs 2 GB of RAM to start. Updates are a pull and a restart, and migrations apply themselves on boot.
Where do backups go, and can you read them?: Depends on the destination and the plan. On plans with managed backup storage, leave it on the default and the control plane holds the backup, the same as any managed backup service holds what it stores. The Free plan has no managed bucket, so a site there needs its own S3-compatible bucket or a local folder configured before backups will run. Point the site at your own S3-compatible bucket or a local folder on its own server, and the control plane never holds the chunks, only the routing metadata. Nothing is encrypted client-side today: a control-plane-managed bucket protects the data however that storage is configured, your own bucket protects it however you have configured that, and a local folder gets no encryption from WPMgr at all, only whatever the host's own disk provides. Client-side encryption is planned.
How current are the figures on this page?: Every claim carries the page it came from and the date it was checked, and all of them are listed on the sources page. Prices change; if one of these is stale, the link is how you find out.

Every figure on this page links to the page it came from. See all sources and the dates they were checked.

Run your fleet from a dashboard you own.

Open source, self-hostable, unlimited sites. Connect one site and compare on your own fleet before you move anything.

Get started for free