Complete Guide To WordPress Management

Managing WordPress sites means updating everything, finding tools to backup data, optimizing performance, and maintaining security. However, handling these tasks manually can become overwhelming. This is where management tools come in. 

Management tools streamline these processes by automating several of these processes and giving you a singular dashboard to monitor everything. They save time and human resources and reduce the risk of errors. They require no technical know-how and are designed for beginners. 

But how do you find out which management tool is right for you? This is why we tested the top 10 WordPress management tools.

We used two sites for testing: a regular blog and a hacked site with malware. We wanted to see how well each tool handled backups, security, bulk updates, performance and uptime monitoring, reporting, and ease of use. In this article, we will talk about our experience and help you make an informed decision. 

TL;DR: WP Remote stands out as the best management tool because it offers everything you need (and more) in one easy-to-navigate dashboard. It took reliable backups that we could restore in one click, scans that caught malware nobody else could, and significantly improved our site performance in minutes. 

1. WP Remote

At a glance
Backups: Full and incremental backups every day with one-click restores. Stored offsite. 
Security: Zero-day malware scanner, customizable firewall, and one-click malware cleaner.
Performance: Uptime and page speed monitoring with an integrated optimization plugin.  
Updates: Backups and testing before any updates
Usability: Offsite dashboard that is very user-friendly
Price: Plans start at $29/month for managing up to 5 sites.

Once you create an account with WP Remote, you can quickly add your site to the dashboard. That’s all the setup you need. It’s incredibly easy to do. 

Updates are made significantly easier with its UpdateLens feature. It evaluates updates and determines how safe they are for your site.

You can then use its Safe Updates feature to test an update on a staging site before applying it to your site.

Moreover, WP Remote backs up your entire site before implementing major updates. So you can restore your site in minutes if it crashes from a failed update.

On that note, backups with WP Remote are hassle-free. It creates incremental backups that are stored offsite on their own servers. These backups are light on your server and easy to set up. At the minimum, they take a backup every day. So, whether a need arises or not, you will always have a very recent version of your site. 

WP Remote also takes care of your site security. It delivers robust protection with its malware scanner and cleaner, enhanced by a powerful firewall. It effectively identifies and blocks threats, including elusive zero-day malware.

Its bot protection and failed login restrictions successfully guard against brute-force attacks. Its vulnerability scanner continuously monitors your site software to identify any weaknesses that could be exploited by hackers.

Beyond the basics, WP Remote also focuses on site performance. You can integrate Airlift, a performance optimization plugin in minutes. It helps agencies that manage multiple sites. They can maintain speedy, up-and-running websites. The dashboard provides insights into important details like site uptime and performance. 

Key features

• External dashboard
• Zero-day malware scanner
• Easy malware removal
• Dedicated WordPress firewall
• Bot protection
• Safe updates with UpdateLens
• Easy staging sites
• Offsite storage of backups
• Incremental automatic backups
• Integrated performance optimization
• Customizable reports
• White labeling 

Pros

• User-friendly interface
• Responsive support team
• Frequently updated with new features
• One tool for all your essentials

Cons

• No free version

2. WPMU DEV

At a glance
Backups: Full and incremental backups.
Security: Unreliable malware scanner. Firewall is only for exclusive sites. No malware cleaner.
Performance: Uptime and page speed monitoring with caching plugin integration.  
Updates: Backups are taken before an update.
Usability: Offsite dashboard that is user friendly.
Price: Plans range from $30 a month for 1 site to $200 a month for unlimited sites.

WPMU DEV also has a fairly seamless user experience.

The dashboard was easy to navigate and had a lot of relevant insight. 

Its an automatic backup tool that is similar to WP Remote. It takes incremental and full backups. It also takes backups before any updates. This definitely makes updates one step safer than doing it on the dashboard. But, we missed something similar to the Safe Updates feature from WP Remote. 

On the topic of security, WPMU DEV was a mixed bag. On one hand, this was the only other plugin apart from WP Remote that successfully detected the malware on our hacked site. However, it also warned you that the scanner may alert you to false positives. This is not reassuring. The plugin also doesn’t have a malware removal feature and the firewall can only be installed on sites hosted on WPMU DEV. 

Among other things, WPMU DEV monitors your site’s uptime and provides a performance score to help improve your site’s speed and efficiency. It offers tools for bulk image optimization, web page and stylesheet compression, caching, and asset optimization. However, we experienced a plugin conflict with their caching tool, which prevented installation. Keep this in mind if you use existing caching solutions, although their suite of tools remains robust for enhancing site performance.

Key features

• Automated backups
• Offsite backups
• Safe updates
• Visual checks 
• Malware scanner
• Firewall
• White labeling
• Uptime and speed monitoring

Pros 

• Great support
• Comprehensive features
• Intuitive dashboard and setup

Cons 

• No free plan
• Firewall is dependent on the hosting
• No malware cleaner

3. ManageWP

At a glance
Backups: Full backups on demand.
Security: Bad malware scanner.
Performance: On-demand page speed checks.
Updates: No precautions taken when updating.
Usability: Offsite dashboard that is user friendly.
Price: Free; premium upgrades like incremental backups start at $1 per feature.

ManageWP’s intuitive layout made navigating through its features a breeze.

Setting it up was straightforward and required minimal effort. Since it works on a freemium model, it gives you the bare minimum for free. You have to upgrade to a plan for additional management features. 

Its backup feature offers a schedule for backups, with options for incremental backups on premium plans. We would recommend the upgrade because it ensures minimal downtime and resource usage during the process. 

The free-tier malware scanner offers on-demand security checks that target various threats. For an automated scanner, you will need to upgrade to a paid plan. However, our tests saw it fail to detect basic malware but successfully identify five vulnerable plugins, showcasing its capability to find certain risks. It also verifies your site’s status with major safety checks like Google Safe Browsing and Norton Safe Web, offering reassurance from a browser safety perspective.

ManageWP’s performance monitoring, available at a free level, offers on-demand checks to assess website performance. These checks focus on two key metrics: PageSpeed grade and YSlow grade, provided by Google and Yahoo, respectively, to evaluate page speed. While these metrics offer useful insights into your site’s performance, they offer no solutions to any issues that are found. But, they don’t offer any performance optimization tools to improve your site.

Key features 

• Collaborate with clients 
• Basic site backups 
• Monitor site uptime
• Safe bulk updates
• Site performance checks
• Customizable client reports 
• White labeling 
• Google Analytics integration
• On-demand malware scans

Pros 

• Intuitive dashboard
• Easy setup
• External dashboard

Cons 

• Unreliable security

4. CMS Commander

At a glance
Backups: Full backups on schedule.
Security: Malware scanner didn’t find malware.
Performance: Requires an uptime monitoring account.
Updates: No precautions taken when updating.
Usability: Setup is a little more complicated.
Price: Plans start at $8/month for up to 5 sites.

CMS Commander is perfect if bulk content management is your daily bread, although that’s a pretty niche use case. 

Initiating CMS Commander was more cumbersome than expected. Once you are done with the installation, you will need a unique activation code to activate the plugin. While this process took roughly 10 minutes for our two test sites, it will be daunting and time-consuming for anyone managing numerous sites.

Security-wise, CMS Commander leaves room for significant improvement. During tests, its malware scanner failed to detect any threats. Its lack of both a firewall and malware cleaner is also concerning for users who prioritize security. 

CMS Commander’s performance features involve a somewhat tedious setup process for monitoring. To get started, you need to select a site in the dashboard’s Settings tab and link it to an Uptime Robot account, which requires creating an account and generating an API key. This key is then added to CMS Commander to initiate uptime monitoring. Once set up, you can view uptime information directly through the dashboard, along with your Google Page Speed score. While this provides insights into page load speed, it’s not a substitute for optimization tools like Airlift, as the dashboard doesn’t offer direct optimization functionalities.

Key features

• Bulk updates
• Bulk post management
• Bulk plugin installation
• Duplicate website settings
• Backup and restore 
• Backlinks monitoring
• Performance monitoring
• Google Analytics integration
• Two-factor authentication

Pros

• Bulk content management
• Bulk plugin management

Cons 

• Bad malware scanner
• Bad reporting feature
• Complicated setup

5. WP Umbrella

At a glance
Backups: Resource-intensive full backups that can be scheduled.
Security: No malware scanner.
Performance: Offers page speed insights.
Updates: No precautions taken when updating.
Usability: Easy setup and great dashboard.|
Price: Plans cost $1.99/month for each site.

Approaching WP Umbrella, we were immediately impressed by the intuitive and user-friendly dashboard.

The sleek interface made navigation effortless, and setting up our sites was a breeze compared to many other platforms we’ve tried. If simplicity and ease of use are high on your priority list, WP Umbrella’s initial impression won’t disappoint.

However, our testing revealed significant drawbacks within WP Umbrella’s operations. The backup process proved to be notably sluggish; a site of less than 700MB took over an hour to back up. Such delays and heavy server strain, can disrupt site performance. While we suggest scheduling backups during low-traffic periods, ideally, server resources shouldn’t be compromised at all.

On the security front, WP Umbrella’s offerings were unfortunately limited. The absence of a malware scanner and its reliance solely on a vulnerability scanner felt inadequate for comprehensive threat protection. Users seeking robust security solutions might need to look for additional tools to bridge this gap.

Key features 

• Customizable reports
• Automated backups 
• Vulnerability scanner
• Malware scanner
• Bulk updates

Pros 

• Great dashboard
• Very customizable reports

Cons 

• Slow backups
• Backups add to server load
• Ineffective malware scanner

6. InfiniteWP

At a glance
Backups: On-demand full backups.
Security: Requires a premium plan.
Performance: Requires a premium plan.
Updates: No precautions taken when updating.
Usability: Self-hosted setup. 
Price: Plans start from $147/year for 10 sites and go up to $647/year for unlimited sites.

InfiniteWP’s initial setup demands some patience, as configuring the dashboard for even a handful of sites took around 10 minutes. This can be a big hurdle for agencies or individuals that manage a large number of sites.

InfiniteWP is a self-hosted setup. This unique approach requires you to install the dashboard directly onto one of your WordPress sites or a designated subdomain. You can then control all your sites from this dashboard. Essentially, you convert your WordPress admin panel into the InfiniteWP one.

This approach has its own set of challenges. A security issue on the parent site, i.e. the site hosting the dashboard, can potentially compromise all linked sites. Moreover, any downtime of the parent site restricts management capabilities across all connected child sites.

InfiniteWP’s free version caters to fundamental maintenance tasks like backups, updates, and activity monitoring. However, you will need the premium plan for security features.

Key features 

• Quick admin access 
• Easy bulk updates
• Quick backups and restores
• Malware scans 
• Uptime monitoring 
• Customizable reports 
• Broken link checker
• Performance monitoring

Pros 

• Free version has good basic features

Cons 

• Frustrating setup
• Self-hosted setup
• Limited free features

7. MainWP

At a glance
Backups: Unreliable free backup extension options.
Security: Bad free extension options.
Performance: Depends on the extension you use.
Updates: No precautions taken when updating.
Usability: Self-hosted setup. 
Price: Plans start from $29/month to $599 for a lifetime. They also have some free extensions that you can use without a subscription. 

The setup involves installing the MainWP dashboard plugin on one of your sites or a subdomain, with child plugins syncing other sites to this central control hub. While this configuration provides a level of autonomy appealing to those who value control, it does come with potential security risks. If the main site hosting the dashboard experiences security issues or crashes, this could spill over to the child sites as well.

MainWP’s core functionality supports bulk updates right out of the box, but other capabilities, such as security and backups, require additional extensions. Our experience with the free extensions didn’t live up to expectations. The security plugins failed to detect any malware during testing. For example, backup extensions like BackWPup proved cumbersome, lacking encryption and straightforward restoration capabilities. Moreover, the MainWP dashboard was occasionally laggy, requiring frequent resyncing of sites to ensure data accuracy.

Key features

• Self-hosted dashboard
• Add-on extensions for backups and security
• Easy bulk updates
• Integrates with other tools 

Pros

• Customizable costs, depending on the extensions

Cons

• Self-hosted setup
• Difficult setup
• Requires multiple extensions for functionality

8. Jetpack

At a glance
Backups: Unreliable partial backups.
Security: Basic security features.
Performance: Monitors page speed.
Updates: No precautions taken when updating.
Usability: Easy to use and setup. 
Price: All of Jetpack’s products, bundled together, cost $30/month, per site. The price will vary depending on what products you buy.

Jetpack brings a diverse range of WordPress management solutions to the table. Users can customize their experience based on individual needs with its flexible feature packs. This approach is particularly beneficial for those looking to avoid spending on unnecessary tools, tailoring the services to fit just right without overpaying. 

The platform’s standout feature is its unlimited backup storage. It offers peace of mind regarding data retention, similar to WP Remote’s offerings. However, it has a notable limitatio. It doesn’t include the essentials in a backup. it excludes core WordPress files. This omission can cause issues when attempting a full site restoration. You might end up requiring additional steps or tools to ensure a comprehensive backup solution.

In terms of security, Jetpack provides a scanner in its paid plans to detecting various threats. But, it’s not great at identifying all malware. There is also no firewall or dedicated malware cleaner. 

Key features

• Partial backups
• Malware scanners
• WordPress firewall
• Bulk updates
• Performance monitoring
• Reporting

Pros

• Pay only for what you want

Cons

• Unreliable backups
• Unreliable security
• Complicated pricing

9. SolidWP

At a glance
Backups: Automatic full backups.
Security: PatchStack is integrated. 
Performance: Monitors page speed.
Updates: No precautions taken when updating.
Usability: Easy to use.
Price: Plans start at $6.99/month for up to 5 sites.

SolidWP, formerly known as iThemes, is a comprehensive solution for WordPress website management. It covers essential aspects such as maintenance, security, and backups through its suite of plugins.

Key offerings like Solid Security, Solid Backups, and Solid Central provide website owners with all the tools necessary for effective site management. Despite these ambitious goals, our experience with SolidWP has been mixed. Integrating Patchstack into Solid Security might be a positive step towards fortifying security. However, critical features like a malware scanner are conspicuously absent, making its security measures incomplete.

A definite advantage of SolidWP is its 30-day money-back guarantee, underscoring its commitment to customer satisfaction. So new users have a risk-free opportunity to evaluate the plugin and determine whether it aligns with their website management needs.

Key features

• Automated backups
• Regular malware scans
• Monitors performance

Pros

• Easy setup
• 30-day money-back guarantee

Cons

• Unreliable backups
• Bad malware scanner 
• Limited features

10. iControlWP

At a glance
Backups: Time-consuming backups.
Security: Scanner kept throwing errors. 
Updates: No precautions taken when updating.
Usability: Difficult to navigate.
Price: Plans for 10 sites start from $15/year to $39/year. 

iControlWP has several limitations that could reduce its effectiveness in managing WordPress sites.

One of the most glaring issues encountered was the lengthy backup process. Our attempt to back up a 700MB test site took more than an hour with no estimate on when it would complete Backing up a larger, active site could be even more time-consuming. If swift and reliable backups are important to you, this can be an inconvenience. 

Additionally, navigating iControlWP’s dashboard proved difficult due to its unintuitive design. Each feature is buried under various menus, making it cumbersome and time-consuming to locate essential functions like the scan button. This maze-like navigation hampers the user experience, potentially frustrating users who need easy access to features. 

Adding to these issues, the security audit failed without any proper explanation—only a small error sign was displayed. This lack of transparency and information could leave users worried about potential threats and how to resolve them. 

Moreover, the setup process demands detailed information about the WordPress site, including FTP and admin credentials. This makes it a labor-intensive task that could deter users seeking straightforward configuration.

Key features 

• Malware scanner
• Backups
• Bulk plugin management
• Multi-factor authentication
• Test restores

Pros 

• External dashboard

Cons 

• Unreliable scanner
• Slow backups
• No backup scheduling

What tasks are included in WordPress management?

Managing a WordPress site involves taking care of several important tasks to keep things running smoothly. In this section, we’ll look at what needs to be done regularly to make sure your site performs well, stays secure, and has fresh content. From updates and backups to handling content and protecting against threats, we’ll cover all the basics you need to know. Whether you’re an experienced developer or just getting started, understanding these tasks will help you get the most out of your WordPress site and keep it running without a hitch.

• Take backups regularly: Regular website backups act as a safety net when things go wrong. But they only work if they are good. A good backup must be complete and easily accessible. You must include all essential data in your backup, such as databases, media files, and configuration settings. They must be stored in a secure and offsite location, like cloud storage. Additionally, a good backup system automates the process by scheduling backups at regular intervals.This reduces the chance of human error and ensures that you always have the most up-to-date version of your site ready for restoration if needed. All of this must be done without affecting your resources. If this sounds like a lot of work, use a tool like WP Remote that handles it all. WP Remote makes managing WordPress backups easy by automating the entire process. It takes incremental backups to reduce resource usage. The backups are also stored on their servers. 
• Install a firewall: WordPress is a popular platform, which unfortunately makes it a big target for attacks. A firewall is a must as it adds an extra layer of security.  Doing this by yourself requires a lot of technical knowledge. But, WP Remote’s firewall includes bot protection that helps block harmful bots before they can cause damage. Its geo blocking feature helps you restrict traffic from specific countries or regions. Other features under the firewall umbrella include real-time traffic monitoring and customizable security rules. You can use them to tailor your site’s protection and response to suit specific needs.

• Scan for malware daily: A WordPress malware scanner is important because it helps protect your website from attacks that could lead to data loss. Regular scans ensure that any malicious presence is caught early. WP Remote has a robust malware scanner that automatically conducts regular, thorough scans of your WordPress site for malware. It goes deep into your site and checks your site’s files and databases for any suspicious activity. 
• Disable file editing: Disabling file editing in WordPress prevents anyone from directly editing theme and plugin files through the WordPress dashboard. By default, WordPress allows administrators to make changes to these files. But if someone unauthorized gains access to your admin panel, they can exploit this feature and add malicious code. Manually implementing it requires some technical know-how. Thankfully, WP Remote simplifies this process by allowing you to easily toggle this setting on or off directly from the dashboard. 
• Install spam filters: Spam can quickly clutter your website with irrelevant or malicious content. These spam messages can also contain harmful links or attempts to gather sensitive information. Installing spam filters on your WordPress site helps remove these messages and maintain a clean and professional environment for your users. 
• Configure SMTP: Configuring SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) means setting up a reliable method to send emails from your WordPress site. It enhances email deliverability and ensures that emails sent from your site reach their intended recipients without being marked as spam. To configure SMTP on your WordPress site, you typically need to gather server details like the SMTP host, port number, and authentication credentials (username and password) from your email provider. You can then use plugins that simplify the process of setting it up. Popular tools for configuring SMTP include WP Mail SMTP and Post SMTP. 
• Monitor your website’s performance: Monitoring your website’s performance is essential to ensure it runs smoothly and efficiently for all users. Keeping an eye on performance means regularly checking key aspects of your site, like load times, uptime, and responsiveness. Tools like Airlift can assist in this process by providing real-time insights into how your site is performing. It can also handle the backend optimization that your website needs.
• Implement SSL certificate: An SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate is indicated by a padlock icon next to your website’s URL and changes the prefix from http to https. When you install an SSL certificate, it signals to users that their interactions on your site are protected. This encryption helps protect sensitive information like login credentials, payment details, and personal data from being intercepted by malicious actors. Most web hosts will give you an SSL certificate automatically. In case yours didn’t, you will need to install an SSL certificate. To set up SSL, you can obtain an SSL certificate from a Certificate Authority (CA). Many hosting providers offer free SSL certificates, such as those from Let’s Encrypt, which can be installed with a few clicks through your hosting dashboard. Once your SSL certificate is issued, you can configure your server to use HTTPS and update any links or resources that load over HTTP. 
• Monitor for broken links: One key aspect of SEO is checking for broken links. Broken links can frustrate visitors and harm your site’s search engine ranking. Tools and plugins are available that can help automate the process of finding and reporting these links. 
• Audit your site design: You should review all widgets and menus to ensure they are functioning correctly. Similarly, inspecting your images and pages ensures that all content is displaying correctly and is optimized for quick loading.
• Manage user roles: Managing user roles in WordPress helps maintain security and order within your website. User roles determine what different users can and cannot do on your site. This includes actions like basic content creation to full administrative functions. Properly assigning and managing these roles helps prevent unauthorized changes to your site. 
• Monitor website traffic: Reviewing your website’s traffic helps in understanding how visitors interact with your site. You gain insights into visitor behavior, such as the number of visits, pages viewed, time spent on the site. These insights can help you make informed decisions about content strategy. You can use Google Analytics to do just that.
• Manage your domain: Domain monitoring is an essential aspect of website management. It involves keeping track of the status and details of your domain to ensure your site remains accessible and operational. This means regularly checking your domain’s expiry date, its current status (whether it’s active or expired), and other critical information such as the registrar and name server details..WP Remote simplifies domain monitoring by automatically checking your domain’s status every week. If you need up-to-the-minute information while managing other aspects of your site, you can manually refresh the status right from the WP Remote dashboard without any hassle.
• Update site maps: Site maps are like a roadmap of your site, listing all the important pages and content to ensure that search engines can easily find and index them. By providing a clear structure of your site, a site map helps search engines understand the hierarchy and relevance of your content. Regularly reviewing and updating your site map in the Google Search Console helps ensure that all your important content is indexed and that your site performs well in search results. 

If this sounds overwhelming to manage, you can find a management service that fits your site. They can handle all the work and take the load off of you.

Final thoughts

In today’s digital landscape, effectively managing a WordPress site requires an array of tools and strategies to ensure security, performance, and user engagement. With so many components to consider, from backups and security measures to domain monitoring and site optimization, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. This is where a comprehensive management tool becomes invaluable, streamlining these tasks and providing peace of mind. 

WP Remote offers a robust management solution to these challenges, integrating essential features into one user-friendly platform. By automating critical tasks like domain monitoring, security scans, and performance checks, WP Remote not only simplifies site management but also enhances it. This allows you to focus on creating quality content and improving user experience without getting bogged down by the technical intricacies.

FAQs

What is WordPress website management?  

WordPress website management refers to the ongoing maintenance and administration tasks necessary to keep a WordPress site running smoothly and securely. This includes updating the WordPress core, themes, and plugins, backing up data regularly, monitoring site performance, protecting against security threats, optimizing SEO, and ensuring a positive user experience. Effective management helps prevent issues, enhances site functionality, and keeps your website up-to-date with the latest web standards.

What is WordPress user management?  

WordPress user management refers to the system that controls who can access and perform specific actions on your WordPress site. It involves assigning roles—such as Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor, and Subscriber—and setting permissions that define each role’s capabilities. This system allows you to regulate access, ensuring that users can only make changes that are appropriate to their roles, thereby protecting the site’s security and integrity.

What is a managed WordPress website?  

A managed WordPress website is one where the hosting provider takes care of various administrative, maintenance, and support tasks for you. This service typically includes updating the WordPress core, handling security measures, performing regular backups, optimizing performance, and providing customer support. Managed hosting simplifies the process of maintaining a WordPress site, allowing website owners to focus more on content creation and business growth rather than technical details.

Is WordPress easy to manage?  

WordPress is generally considered user-friendly and manageable, especially for those with basic technical knowledge. The platform offers a simple, intuitive interface for content creation and a wide range of plugins that can extend functionality without requiring advanced coding skills. However, regular updates, security practices, backups, and performance optimizations are necessary for effective management. Management tools and servers can make it all easy to perform.

What is the best way to manage WordPress?  

The best way to manage WordPress is by utilizing a combination of tools, best practices, and potentially a managed hosting service. Regularly updating your WordPress core, themes, and plugins is crucial for security and performance. Implementing backups, security monitoring, and performance optimization practices are essential tasks. Utilizing management tools like WP Remote can automate and simplify these processes, offering an all-in-one solution for comprehensive site management. Additionally, educating yourself on best practices and keeping informed about WordPress developments will further enhance your capability to manage your site effectively.