What is WordPress Multisite? An In-Depth Guide for 2023
WordPress Multisite is a powerful feature that allows you to create and manage a network of multiple WordPress websites from a single installation. Rather than having to install WordPress separately for each site, multisite lets you quickly spin up new sites that share the same WordPress core files, plugins, and themes.
Multisite can be a huge time-saver for anyone who needs to manage multiple WordPress sites. Some common use cases include:
- Companies that manage multiple client websites
- Educational institutions like universities with different departments and schools
- News and media outlets with different publications and verticals
- Ecommerce brands with multiple product lines or storefronts
- Web design and development agencies
- Bloggers who want to create a network of related blogs
For example, a web design agency with 20 client websites could use WordPress Multisite to manage all the sites from a central location. This would allow them to easily deploy updates and new features across all the sites with just a few clicks.
How WordPress Multisite Works
On a technical level, here‘s a quick overview of how WordPress Multisite works:
All sites on the network share the same WordPress core files, which are stored in the /wp-includes/ and /wp-admin/ directories.
Themes and plugins are also shared across the network. Only the network admin can install new plugins and themes.
Each site has its own separate database tables for posts, pages, comments, and options. Tables are prefixed with the site ID.
Uploaded media files (images, documents, etc.) are stored in separate folders for each site, but the folder structure is the same.
Each site has its own wp-config.php file that defines constants, but all other key WordPress files (wp-blog-header.php, wp-load.php, etc.) are shared.
One of the key benefits of this architecture is that it‘s much more efficient than managing a bunch of separate WordPress installs. Since the core WordPress files are shared, it also means the network admin only has to update WordPress, plugins, and themes once for all sites.
However, the tradeoff is less flexibility. Individual site owners can‘t install their own themes and plugins, for example. So multisite is best for networks of related sites that need a similar set of functionality.
Pros and Cons of WordPress Multisite
So is WordPress Multisite right for you? Let‘s quickly summarize some of the pros and cons.
Pros of Multisite:
- Easier management of multiple sites
- Only have to update core, plugins and themes once
- Quickly launch new sites without a separate install
- Users can access all their sites with a single login
- Super admin has full control over all sites and settings
Cons of Multisite:
- Less flexibility for individual site admins
- Some plugins not compatible with multisite
- Can‘t use page builders or custom themes on individual sites
- Harder to export or migrate individual sites
- Requires a more powerful hosting plan to run smoothly
In general, multisite is great for running a group of sites that are owned/managed by the same organization and don‘t need radically different setups. If you have a collection of sites that are totally distinct and need their own separate themes and plugins, multisite may not be the best choice.
Choosing the Right Hosting for Multisite
Before you enable multisite on your WordPress install, it‘s important to make sure your hosting plan can handle it. While a small multisite network with just a few low-traffic sites can run on shared hosting, in most cases you‘ll want a more robust setup.
When evaluating hosting plans for multisite, here are a few key factors to look at:
- PHP memory limit – should be at least 128MB or higher
- Max execution time – 300 seconds is a good baseline to avoid timeouts
- Concurrent database connections – the more sites, the more connections you‘ll need
- Ability to increase server resources as your network scales up
These are just starting points – the exact requirements will depend on the number of sites and amount of traffic you have.
For serious multisite installs, you‘ll likely want to use cloud hosting, a virtual private server (VPS), or managed WordPress hosting. These types of plans will give you the dedicated resources and performance needed to power a large network of sites.
Our top hosting recommendations for multisite are:
Cloudways – offers managed cloud hosting that can easily handle multisite installs. Plans start at $12/month.
Kinsta – premium managed WordPress hosting built on the Google Cloud Platform. Plans start at $35/month.
Flywheel – managed WordPress hosting with a custom multisite control panel. Plans start at $25/month.
Of course, there are many other great options out there. The main thing is to choose a host that has experience with multisite and can allocate enough resources for your network.
How to Enable WordPress Multisite
Once you‘ve got your hosting situation sorted, you‘re ready to enable multisite. Here‘s a step-by-step guide:
Connect to your WordPress site via FTP/SFTP and open up the wp-config.php file.
Add the following line of code above the line that says "That‘s all, stop editing!":
define(‘WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE‘, true);
Save the file and reload your WordPress admin area.
Go to Tools > Network Setup.
Select whether you want your network to use subdomains (site1.example.com) or subdirectories (example.com/site1). Enter the title and admin email address for your network.
Click install to generate the necessary code snippets.
Copy the first code snippet and paste it into your wp-config.php file right above where you added the multisite line earlier.
Copy the second code snippet and paste it into your .htaccess file. If you don‘t have one, create a new file and name it .htaccess.
Once you‘ve added the code snippets, log back into your WordPress site. You should now see a "My Sites" menu in the admin bar that will let you access the rest of the network settings.
Configuring Your Multisite Network
After you‘ve enabled multisite, you‘ll want to configure some key network settings. You can access these by going to My Sites > Network Admin > Settings.
Some of the most important settings to configure include:
Registration Settings – this lets you control whether new users can register for an account on your network, and whether they can create new sites.
New Site Settings – here you can specify the default settings for new sites, such as the default theme, timezone, and welcome email.
Upload Settings – this lets you control the maximum file size and allowed file types for uploads across the network.
Menu Settings – if you want to customize the admin menu for sites on your network, you can do that here.
Take some time to go through all the settings and configure them to match your needs. You can always come back and adjust things later as your network evolves.
Managing Sites on Your Network
As the network admin, you have full control over all the sites on your multisite install. To manage sites, go to My Sites > Network Admin > Sites.
From here you can:
- Add a new site to the network
- Edit a site‘s settings and options
- Deactivate a site to temporarily take it offline
- Mark a site as spam
- Archive a site to preserve its content
- Delete a site and all its data
You can also use the Plugins and Themes tabs to install and activate plugins/themes for use across the entire network. Again, only the super admin has the ability to do this.
If you want to give someone else admin privileges on the network, you can do that under the Users tab. Just be very careful about who you grant super admin access to, as they will have total control over every site.
WordPress Multisite Best Practices and Tips
We‘ve covered a lot of ground in this post, but here are a few final tips and best practices to keep in mind when running a multisite network:
Keep everything updated. Make sure to regularly update WordPress core, plugins, and themes to keep your network secure and running smoothly.
Only use multisite-compatible themes and plugins. Not all extensions play nicely with multisite, so you may need to find alternatives to your favorite tools.
Limit use of resource-intensive plugins. Things like page builders can quickly eat up memory and slow down your network, so use them sparingly.
Control user registrations. To keep spam and bogus sites to a minimum, you may want to limit signups and manually approve site creation requests.
Have a plan for growth. As your network gets bigger, you may need to upgrade your hosting plan or bring in additional help to manage everything.
Create a consistent experience. Consider using the same theme and key plugins across your whole network to create a cohesive experience for users.
By following these tips and putting the proper planning in place, you‘ll be well on your way to WordPress multisite success.
Conclusion
WordPress Multisite is an incredibly powerful tool for anyone who needs to manage multiple WordPress sites. While it does have some tradeoffs in terms of flexibility, the benefits of centralized management and easy site creation are hard to beat.
In this post, we‘ve covered everything you need to know to get started with WordPress multisite, from choosing the right hosting to configuring network settings and managing sites.
Of course, we‘ve only scratched the surface here. Multisite is a massive topic with a lot of depth, and there will always be new things to learn as WordPress continues to evolve.
The good news is that the WordPress community has created a ton of great resources on multisite. If you want to dive deeper, here are a few to check out:
- The official WordPress multisite documentation
- The WordPress StackExchange, which has an active multisite community
- WP Mayor‘s multisite articles and tutorials
You can also find a variety of plugins to extend multisite‘s functionality even further. Some of our favorites include:
- WP Multi Network – lets you create multiple networks within a single multisite install.
- Multisite Enhancements – adds a variety of tweaks and extra features to the network admin screens
- Mercator – makes it easy to map custom domains to sites on your network
Whether you‘re a web designer, blogger, university, or enterprise, WordPress multisite is a great solution for wrangling multiple websites. Hopefully this guide has given you the knowledge and confidence you need to get started.
Now over to you – what has your experience been with WordPress Multisite? Do you have any other tips or tricks to share? Let us know in the comments!
