The lean MainWP & ManageWP alternative for agencies.
Same idea, manage every WordPress site from one dashboard, without the per-site fees, the paid-extension sprawl, or the slowdown at scale.
MainWP is a capable, well-loved self-hosted manager, but several of its most-wanted features live behind paid extensions, and its dashboard can slow noticeably once you pass ~100 child sites unless you tune it. ManageWP is polished and cloud-based, but it charges roughly $1–$2 per site, per month, for each add-on (backups, monitoring, reporting), which adds up fast across a portfolio, and your data routes through a third party.
Siteward takes the best of the self-hosted model, your server, your data, unlimited sites, and keeps it deliberately lean and fast, with one flat price and no extension shopping.
How they compare
| Siteward | MainWP | ManageWP | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Flat, unlimited sites | Flat + paid extensions | Freemium + per-site add-ons |
| Per-site fees | None | None (core) | ~$1–$2/site/mo each |
| Hosting & data | Self-hosted (your server) | Self-hosted | Third-party cloud |
| Speed at 200+ sites | Fast by default | Needs tuning | Slows down |
| Uptime monitoring | Free, all sites | Via extension | Paid add-on |
| Bulk updates + live progress | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Critical-error / fatal detection | Yes, names the culprit | Limited | Limited |
| Backup status & flags | Yes (UpdraftPlus) | Via extension | Paid add-on |
| SSL & domain expiry alerts | Included (Pro) | 2 paid extensions | Add-on |
| Add-on accounts / IP whitelisting | None | Required for some add-ons | Required for some add-ons |
| Email & Zapier alerts | Yes | Via extension | Partial |
| Site tags & segmentation | Free, filter + scope bulk actions | Via groups | Via groups |
Comparison reflects each tool’s standard offering and publicly documented pricing at time of writing. MainWP and ManageWP are trademarks of their respective owners; Siteward is not affiliated with either.
The cost of growing on per-site pricing.
*Based on published per-site add-on pricing (~$1–$9/site/month).
Leaner, faster, flatter
No per-site fees
One flat price for unlimited sites. Your costs stop scaling with your client list.
Fast at scale
A parallel engine keeps the dashboard quick at 200+ sites, no special caching config required.
Your data, your server
Fully self-hosted with signed connections, nothing routes through a third-party cloud.