I’ve recently been invited to try out the InfiniteWP service, and after some weeks of usage, I’m here to report my findings about it.

First of all, what is InfiniteWP?

It’s one of a growing number of WordPress multi site management services. This seems to be one of the most exciting areas at the moment, and a clear leader has yet to emerge. I believe InfiniteWP has all the potential to be the leader in this niche however. Read on to discover why.

If you’re more inclined to watch a video demo than read the full review, take a look at this brief overview video:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOu7LdyPOSs[/youtube]

InfiniteWP Features

Until recently InfiniteWP could have been looked down upon for having a limited feature set. However, with the recent release of 6 new addon modules this is certainly not the case anymore.

The six new modules allow us to:

• Install/Clone WordPress very easily
• Schedule Backups (on-site or off-site)
• Backup to Repositiories
• Manage Users
• Run Code Snippets on any of your sites
• Client Plugin Branding

Apart from those 6, another 3 are in the works and will provide the following features:

• Google Analytics integration
• Posts & Comments management
• Bulk creation of Posts, Pages & Links

When using such tools, there are a few important things I look out for. First of all is the user interface. Is it easy to use? InfiniteWP clearly checks this box for me, it’s super easy to use, there are tutorial videos and also help suggestions in the panel itself, it’s unlikely you’ll get confused about how things work. I started managing my sites within 5 minutes having read none of the instructions available.

Secondly, the feature set. As you can see in the above list, all the major features you’d expect are either there or being developed. I’m excited about what the team at InfiniteWP have in store for the future, I’ve also heard they are already developing a mobile app, so things look great in this regard.
The cloning feature is quite handy, as are of course scheduled backups, especially the ability to post them off-site to another FTP server or to Dropbox.

Here are some screenshots of the InfiniteWP system at work:

Being a developer who serves a number of clients, the ability to provide client branding is a nice touch. Basically your clients won’t be seeing an ‘InfiniteWP Worker’ plugin entry, rather your own chosen name, or you can also choose not to display the worker plugin at all in your client’s plugin list.

The ability to run code snippets on any site is also very interesting. I’ve yet to make full use of this feature, but it is indeed very handy to have it available. Here’s a video of this feature in action:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KPvu-OxmpI[/youtube]

Managing posts easily from one control panel is something I like a lot, and I’m glad it’s one of the new addons which will be released soon. Analytics is also another welcome addon, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they will be released quickly.

InfiniteWP vs Competition

This kind of tool is super handy for all developers or site owners who take care of multiple sites. The time saved is massive, you have the potential to earn much more money in relation to time spent managing your clients’ sites.

You’re probably doing some research about multi site management services for WordPress, so how does InfiniteWP stack against its competition?

The biggest competitor to InfiniteWP, in my opinion, is ManageWP. We’ve also been using ManageWP and love many of its features. At the moment they are both great services, however their biggest difference is in the general approach they take. So let’s talk more about that.

InfiniteWP is a self-hosted service while ManageWP is a SAAS system, you subscribe on a monthly basis and access their panel, no installation for you to take care of. If you’re one to obsess about data ownership you’re probably going to prefer InfiniteWP, as no data is released to third parties with that system. ManageWP has a slight edge at the moment with regards to features, for example they have SMS notifications regarding site outages (very handy) and they are also developing an iOS app.

Another area you will surely consider is pricing. ManageWP is using the subscription-based model, and the price definitely goes up quite significantly if you have a large number of sites to manage, also depending on the features you need, as they have a few tiers to choose from.

On the other hand InfiniteWP is free for basic usage, but they have also released 6 feature-filled add-on modules (currently on special offer at $199 for all of them with lifetime licences). Each module has its own price, which includes one year of upgrades. Subsequent years are half the original price paid for that module. Clearly if you have many sites, the one time investment is probably a better bet than a monthly subscription.

If you’d like to rebrand the management panel, InfiniteWP is better as they have this easily available through one of the add ons.

We can therefore say that the race is not over yet, this niche is still young however InfiniteWP is very well positioned as one of the leaders out there when it comes to WordPress multi site management tools.

Ready to Try Out InfiniteWP?

If you’re ready to try out InfiniteWP, rest assured that it’s a very stable system and development is proceeding at a rapid pace on it, with 3 more addon modules currently in the works. The InfiniteWP Client, used to link websites to your administration panel, has already been downloaded more than 20,000 times. InfiniteWP is used and promoted by many WordPress heavyweights such as Joost de Valk:

https://twitter.com/yoast/status/250887724645629953

The basic self-hosted download is free, so there’s nothing to lose, I highly recommend this plugin and am thoroughly enjoying it for managing my sites.

Give InfiniteWP a try today!

Are you already using InfiniteWP? Let us know what you think in the comments section below!

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