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How to Manage Multiple WordPress Sites Using InfiniteWP

Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on WPBeginner. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations. Learn more about Editorial Process.

It is so easy to install WordPress and quickly create beautiful websites. However if you are managing multiple WordPress powered websites, then it becomes a pain. The most important of all management tasks is to keep your WordPress core, plugins, and themes up to date. For example, if you are using Akismet on all your websites, then an update for Akismet means you will have to login on all your websites to update the plugin. Apart from updates, you also need to keep regular backups. So for people who manage multiple WordPress websites there is need for an easier solution. In this article we will show you how to manage multiple WordPress sites using InifiniteWP.

What is InfiniteWP

InfiniteWP is a web application which allows you to manage multiple WordPress sites from a single dashboard. You can download and install the application on your web server for free and use it to easily update all your WordPress sites, plugins, and themes from one single dashboard. You can also create backups of any or all your websites. Apart from management tasks, you can also perform editorial tasks from the inifiniteWP dashboard, you can write posts, switch between websites and manage multiple websites from one master login.

It is different from ManageWP which is a hosted solution that we covered earlier.

How to Install InfiniteWP

InfiniteWP itself is not a WordPress plugin, it is a web application, just like WordPress is a web application. InfiniteWP can be downloaded for free. After the download extract the zip file and upload its contents to a directory on your web hosting server using FTP. Once the upload is finished, open that directory in a web browser. After the license agreement, InfiniteWP will check application requirements.

InfiniteWP will check for system requirements before the installation

On the next screen, you will have to enter your database host, username, and password information. You also need to provide login information which will be used to sign into InfiniteWP dashboard.

Enter your database and login details to continue installation

After that, InfiniteWP will create tables in the database and run the installation process. Upon successful installation it will show you a success message. In case of an error, you can go back and check the database details you entered. After successful installation InfiniteWP will ask you to delete the install folder. To do that connect to InfiniteWP directory using FTP and delete the install directory inside it.

How to use InfiniteWP to Manage Multiple WordPress Sites

Log in to your InifiniteWP dashboard. If this is your first log on, then InfiniteWP will ask if you would like to take a tour. We would recommend taking the tour because it will help you quickly familiarize yourself with the application. After that from your InfiniteWP dashboard click on the Add Website button to add your first WordPress site to InfiniteWP.

Add your first WordPress site to InfiniteWP

In order to connect a WordPress site to InfiniteWP, it is required that the WordPress website has InfiniteWP client plugin installed and activated. Install and activate InfiniteWP Client plugin on the WordPress website you want to add. Upon activation, the plugin will provide you an activation key. Copy that activation key and come back to InfiniteWP add website screen and paste it there.

Adding your WordPress site to InfiniteWP

After adding a website, you can manage it from your InfiniteWP dashboard. It will show your websites and updates (if any) available to WordPress core, installed plugins and themes.

InfiniteWP allows you to update all your WordPress websites, plugins and themes from one dashboard

From Protect tab you can create backups of your WordPress website. InfiniteWP can create full backups including files and database both. You can also choose to selectively backup files or database.

Creating backup of your WordPress website files and database using Infinitewp

Our Favorite Features of InfiniteWP

Obviously, the ability to update WordPress, plugins and themes from one dashboard is our favorite feature. However, we also liked the way InfiniteWP allows you to jump between your WordPress sites, switch dashbords, and quickly jump to write posts without signing in for any of these websites. This is a real time saver for web publishers and website administrators who not only manage the website but are also responsible for editorial tasks.

Managing WordPress sites from InfiniteWP

We also liked the simplicity of the user interface. A lot of WPBeginner readers are non-technical, aspiring bloggers, and small businesses. We get a lot of feedback from users, who sometimes feel very frustrated the way certain web apps behave. We feel that InfiniteWP’s simple and intuitive user interface could make it a very good choice for beginner level users.

Extending InfiniteWP with Addons

InfiniteWP itself is free to download and install however they do have paid add-ons. There are some very useful add-ons like Uptime Monitor, Google Analytics, Malware Scanner, and manage comments. These addons can make it even easier to manage multiple WordPress websites with single master login.

Conclusion

InfiniteWP provides a cost-effective solution for managing multiple WordPress sites from a single dashboard. It is free to download and easy to use and setup. Have you used InfiniteWP before? What are your thoughts on this solution. Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff at WPBeginner is a team of WordPress experts led by Syed Balkhi with over 16 years of experience in WordPress, Web Hosting, eCommerce, SEO, and Marketing. Started in 2009, WPBeginner is now the largest free WordPress resource site in the industry and is often referred to as the Wikipedia for WordPress.

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Reader Interactions

33 CommentsLeave a Reply

  1. Syed Balkhi says

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  2. Kevin Marshall says

    InfiniteWP Is nothing sort of a lifesaver. You are able to save so much time you are able to do more thing with your life, thus saving is the better things like family. TO me that is a live saver!

    We manager over 400 sites and while we have tried multiple other systems this is the one for us. InfiniteWP’s plan of allowing me to have unlimited sites and then choosing only the plugs we need is over the cheapest and most effective system, especially if you have many sites.

    We use the clone sites and auto back up the most

    They make it so easy to start up. The addons might seem expensive but when you factor in the monthly costs of other systems it quickly becomes a no brainer.

    Their platform is strong and robust. I trust it completely. We all know nothing is perfect but this is pretty close. I have had some issues and their response time is great usually less than 11 hours and sometimes much quicker. I highly recommend this product.

  3. Colin Crawford says

    InfiniteWP is a real time saver and I use it all the time to update everything including plugins, themes and WordPress core files and I bought two Addons to help me further.

    I bought the Scheduled Backup as now I can backup all my websites on a daily basis without being there. The other Addon was the Malware Scanner to check for viruses.

    It would of been nice if the Malware scanner could of had a scheduling facility built in to scan on a daily basis or weekly basis.

    Overall, it’s free, time saver & makes life easier.

  4. David says

    Hi,

    I am the founder at InfiniteWP.

    Thanks for the great writeup.

    People appreciating what we have created makes us feel great and helps us to continue doing what we are good at.

    Thanks once again :)

    Thanks
    David

    • Scott says

      David,
      Infinite WP is awesome! I have all the addons and I’m amazed by the wide range of features. My favorite adons are the scheduled cloud backups, uptime monitoring, and the malware scanner. I’m just starting to scratch the surface of all the available tools. Thanks and keep up the good work.

    • Gary K. says

      I am a total nube to wp and am looking for an easy way to setup multiple affiliate e-commerce niche blogs and admin them locally from a single control panel on my laptop. I have a hosting account with hostgator and am anxious to get them working. Would I be able to build blogs offline on my local workstation using your system? Are the optional add-ons a one-time expense or a monthly expense?

    • Frank says

      Hi David,

      I have started a business that strives to create an online presence for those small and business owners who currently do not have one.

      Will Infinite WP allow me to manage all of my clients’ websites, but they will only have access to their own? I may fully manage it myself? I’m just trying to figure out the best way to handle website ‘maintenance’ going forward.

      All the websites will have individual domains, but I plan to manage them under one WP account.

      Thanks.

  5. Karl J. Gephart says

    I’ve been using the free InfiniteWP for over a month now and it’s a godsend! It’s incredibly easy to install with their great amount of screenshots (I put their folder in my main directory), you can backup multiple WordPress sites online(.zip) and download them, you can control exactly the updates for specific plugins and sites you want to do! I had a question and their customer service was polite and replied the next day. It’s so intuitive, I love it!

  6. Susan Marshall VA says

    1. What are the functional differences between this and ManageWP?

    2. Can backups be sent to cloud storage?

      • Chris says

        David,

        Just curious as to why you recommend subdomain over subdirectory?

        iwp.mysite.com vs. mysite.com/iwp (if I have understood correctly).

        Also, can you password protect a subdomain just like you can password protect a subdirectory (folder)?

        Thanks!

  7. Jason Hartman says

    Do all of the sites and databases have to be on the same host account?
    I have several sites for various people on GoDaddy but they are all on separate accounts.
    Can you use this with multiple logins on the same host company but different accounts?
    Great writeup.

  8. Stephane says

    @RW: Multisite is meant to manage multiple WP installation on the same host, on the same hosting account.

    If you have to manage multiple WP blogs hosted on different hosts (for different customers for instance), then you’d have to use something like InfiniteWP or ManageWP.

    • Daniel Strunk says

      I think multisite installs work best if they are relevant to the parent site. For example, niche sites that operate under one company or the like. Multisites aren’t great for clients with different needs, since you can’t install plugins or themes directly onto child sites, only the parent site.

      InfiniteWP is more for managing your clients if you have to manage upgrade cycles.

  9. M Asif Rahman says

    The first two question came into my mind is

    1) Does it use WordPress XML-RPC?

    2) Where does it stores the BackUp?

    And there are few other concern

    1) Does it work in NGiNX?

    2) As its installed in our own server, how to secure it? If our server got hacked and hacker got the “Activation key” what will happen?

    And its actually direct competitor of ManageWP.com right? Good thing is its free and already trusted and used by many people.

    • James Mowery says

      Hi Asif,

      I’m James Mowery, CEO of ManageWP, and I can tell you that ManageWP has developed and implemented an extremely secure OpenSSL protocol for communicating with your WordPress dashboards. It has not been hacked, and we take security to heart, because we know that if our infrastructure was ever hacked, we would no longer be in business, because our customers would no longer trust us.

      ManageWP lets you decide where you store your backups — Dropbox, Amazon, FTP, Email, Google Drive, etc. This is great, because forcing you to store your backups in one single location has its own serious issues.

      Our business model also means that we have nearly two dozen staff ready to answer any support related questions 24/7, along with constantly developing, improving, and innovating with our infrastructure. This is why everyone from WordPress hobbyists who manage 5 websites to some of the world’s largest universities who manage 10,000s of sites use and rely on ManageWP.

      We were the first to create the WordPress management market, so we take pride in doing things right and taking care of our customers first, so if that is something you value, please join us and send me an email directly if you ever have any questions or comments.

      Thanks!
      James Mowery

      • Joseph Dowdy says

        James, I think it’s great that you are commenting on your product here. I run over 50 sites and I waste a lot of time logging and logging out and I am the kind of customer you seek to find. I just came from your site and then came to this article.

        Who will I go with if the choice is FREE versus $100+/mo? I would have to be an idiot to throw away $1,200+ a year for your service unless it was going to save me $1,200+/yr. I doubt you can prove that.

        I’m sorry, James, but companies who make customers pay forever (like Gravity Forms) are going to continually lose against free and one-time/lifetime fee providers.

        You may seriously want to change your pricing model because it looks like the only service you are missing.

        • Vladimir` says

          Getting something for free has it’s own downsides. Especially if it’s something crucial to your business such as scheduled daily backups of your websites.

          Getting something for free means that you don’t pay anything to the company. Therefore, company doesn’t have resources to hire full time support staff, great developers and to stay in business for years to come.

          You are lucky if you just wait 5 days for support ticket to be solved… The worst case scenario is that company doesn’t have any money to continue developing and their service is gone by next minor WordPress update.

          It’s like buying new vs used car – You get what you paid for :)

    • David says

      1) It doesn’t use XML-RPC – It uses a client plugin with OpenSSL which is super secure.
      2) It stores backup in the WP site with the free version. But there is an addon which would store the backup on Dropbox, Amazon S3 and any FTP servers
      3) It works in Nginx
      4) About the security InfiniteWP is totally secure since no one can know where you have installed it. Its a self hosted software so you can install it in a folder and also password protect it. To make it even more secure kindly check this link where we have explained the features.
      http://infinitewp.com/docs/how-to-secure-the-infinitewp-admin-panel/

      Let me know if you have any other concerns.

      Thanks
      David!

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