How many sites will run on Multisite

WordPress.com runs over 23 million sites, one codebase.

many servers, many databases though.

You can run 350 sites on a VPS with a gig of RAM, depending on how heavily trafficked those sites are.

Alternatively one wordpress blog that gets millions of hits can outgrown the same account.

So no, it’s not stupid to think one install can run 350 sites. It very much can. you’re only limited by the hardware you can afford, and that depends on your traffic. nothing in the code limits you.

I have one WordPress MultiSite install that runs 350 sites and is always increasing. It can be done.

I don’t know how many codebases WordPress.com uses, but it is a good example of what MultiSite is capable of. Given the resources, anyone could replicate WordPress.com.

Thank you for the responses. This gives us much more confidence.

So, with WordPress.com, (don’t need a how-to) I am curious of the basic concept of how multiple servers and databases are utilized and how a request for a specific blog is routed. One codebase, quite amazing!

Off hand, here’s an article I have bookmarked: https://wpmu.org/scaling-wordpress-wpmu-buddypress-like-edublogs/

Do some Google searches for “Scaling WordPress” or similar terms and you’ll find a lot more.

Thanks Tim!!! Perfect. And thanks for the search term. “How many sites……..” was not a very good result. LOL.

I am curious of the basic concept of how multiple servers and databases are utilized

In the config file, basically (for the uploaded files), and in a custom db.php file that plugins like shardb use.

https://www.ads-software.com/extend/plugins/shardb/

WordPress itself only needs to physically be on one server.

After looking over the article Tim posted I came across HyperDB, and many other resources once searching with the applicable terms “Scaling WordPress” Thank you both for the info. This is exactly why I LOVE WordPress!!