Multisite vs. multiple WordPress instances

  • Hi,

    We are a software provider who integrates our product with CMS software. We are switching over to WordPress and I’d like to ask the relative merits of Multisite vs. several single instances. I am a principal in our company and am not technical, so I want to get a general overview of the pros and cons from this community and not only rely on the opinion of a couple of my staff who may not have the complete picture.

    Our clients all have different domains and are completely separate business entities. The core of my question deals with resources. I know we can quickly launch separate instances, but are we better off using multisite and launch several different instances from within that? Is there a threshold for how many instances under multisite (say 10 instances in multisite is fine but 20 bogs down everyone)? We have several different servers, I’d say we’d have about 10 clients per server.

    Again, I’m not overly technical but I’d be interested in any feedback that people have in dealing with multisite. We’ll be sharing some templates but the actual data on each site will be unique.

    Thanks!
    Bob

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

  • Our clients all have different domains and are completely separate business entities.

    Multisite is awesome for a specific industry or focus, but usually not for totally separate business entities. See, I use it for real estate websites, because they all use the same plugins, theme, and such, but I would use something like manageWP.com to launch and manage several unrelated sites (as opposed to updating each site individually). There is a free alternative (plugin) to manageWP.com, but I done forgot that name.

    Is there a threshold for how many instances under multisite (say 10 instances in multisite is fine but 20 bogs down everyone)? We have several different servers, I’d say we’d have about 10 clients per server.

    WordPress.com has over 23 million blogs running on the same Multisite instance, so you’re probably good.

    PS – Good on you to perform your own research and thus not rely too much on your webhead constituents for direction advice. Sometimes we programmers get too focused on creating cool stuff, not the big picture…

    Thread Starter mx_wp

    (@mx_wp)

    Thanks for the reply. Actually, these are all in the same industry, but separate legal entities. I assume we will have a stable of plugins, themes, etc. that clients will use. But client X may not use a plugin that everyone else uses. So we’ll have a set number of plugins, etc. that a user will be able to select from.

    Oh, then Multisite would be the way.

    But client X may not use a plugin that everyone else uses.

    You can enable, across your network, what plugins you want activated (e.g. an SEO plugin). The rest can be options for your users/clients to activate themselves.

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    ?????? Advisor and Activist

    I would read through this: https://halfelf.org/2011/dont-use-wordpress-multisite/

    It’s not a simple answer, and a lot has to depend on your skills, comfort level, and … well desire to get dirty ??

    …and Mika’s Multisite e-books; definitely clarifies a lot of stuff.

    Hi Guys,

    I am new to wordpress and I would like to create a website that will provide people and businesses with the following services:

    1. Local listing on a directory
    2. Provide hosting space for people and businesses to create a website site or a catalog. (Either they can create the website or can be done for a small fee.)
    3. As per the plan the website will be hosted on a subdomain or their own domain.
    4. Looking forward to grow the database by simultaneously appending the directory listing and the websites.

    Now what i am unable to decide is to use a multisite or a multiple installation. As each site will not be in the same configuration and same industry.

    But in the future will look forward to collate relavant businesses and people listing into categories as per the directory size and requirement.

    Please advice.

    Thanks and Regards,
    Alagiri

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    ?????? Advisor and Activist

    alagiri.rajesh – Make your own topic please.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
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