WordPress vs. WordPress MU for a max of 10 blogs (server space issue)

  • Hi everyone,

    So I’m thinking of building my site by using either WordPress or WordPress MU as a basic CMS.

    I want to run up to 10 blogs off the same site, each under a different subdomain (example: blog1.domain.com, blog2.domain.com, etc.). I’ll have complete control over all the blogs, and I’ll be the only person creating new blogs. Each blog will have a different theme and essentially self-contained, which is why I can’t simply use one install of WordPress for everything.

    So my question is: would it be better to use WordPress or WordPress MU?

    Pros to WordPress
    – Simpler installation onto each subdomain through CPanel (but, as recommended, I’ll do updates in another manner)
    – More likely that plugins will work

    Pros to WordPress MU
    – Less space server, and thus reduced cost (?) (due to reusing code rather than installing 10 times?)
    – Finally learn how to pronounce the “MU” in WordPress MU

    It looks like one install of wordpress took up 64mb of space, so would I need 640mb of space to host just the WordPress code for 10 blogs? Would it be significantly smaller/cheaper to use WordPress MU? Or does the difficulty of using MU for just 10 blogs outweigh the cost of using regular WordPress?

    Anything else I’m missing?

    Your insights are definitely welcomed. Thanks!

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)

  • It really depends on your hosting more than anything else. I’d reccomend MU in your case just for ease of use and the ability to fire off new blogs with just a few clicks. Plus, updates are really easy. When a new plugin update comes out, you wont have to update it 10 times. Plus the new WP updates you’d only need to do one time.

    I’m running MU on this site: 923now.com for the main site and many of the sub sites.

    It’s also best able to handle the unforeseen growth.

    That’s all from the simple ease of use part.

    On the COST side, it’s really nill. The hosting cost between 640mb and 64mb is pennies (or at least should be).

    It really comes down to performance. Can you server/host handle running 10 separate databases? Are you prepared to do 10 regular backups?

    Dont know how much traffic you plan to get, but running 10 sites on a single box could get a little dicey if they gain traction. Site #2 could get a traffic spike that causes problems on the remaining 9.

    Personally, I like cloud based hosting for blog networks because of the fluid growth and load balancing it provides. I happen to sell cloud hosting plans, so I know a good deal about them. It’s not the bargain basement setup that you can get with many hosts, but it is by far the most reliable.

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)
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