WPMU DEV Review: A Unique Solution for Managing WordPress Sites
WPMUDev is a long-standing member of premium WordPress communities. Recently, they launched a WordPress hosting service.
WPMUDev members have access to the latest hosting product for free.
Their plugins are amazing so we tried the WPMU Dev Hosting product.
What’s WPMU Dev Hosting?
WPMUDev was the first to release a major plugin. They are well-known for their multisite and network plug-ins.
Many of their older plugins were open-sourced and premium plugins for agencies, developers, and consultants were doubled.
The suite contains security, backup, and SEO. Our Forminator Pro plug is used.
Hosting does not include all of the products they offer. Hosting represents WPMU Dev’s goal to be the preferred platform for premium WordPress site developers and owners.
History of WPMUDev Hosting
WPMUDev has, just like many WordPress plugins and theme makers, been constantly retooling its business model to stay in line with software, open-source, and Internet trends.
Premium plugins were used as support subscriptions.
Then they switched to a subscription library model. All small plugins were made free of charge and then the subscription model was used for plugin services.
WPMU is now offering hosting services that include themes and plugins.
WPMUDev has, regardless of its business model, always focused on quality code. They rely on their plugins for critical areas and technical support.
How WPMU dev hosting works
WPMU dev hosting is a hybrid solution.
WPMUDev provides 3 hosting accounts that allow unlimited access to plugins. WPMUDev Subscriptions are $49/per month
They do not offer cloud hosting through their web hosting service. Their web hosting product is neither WordPress hosting nor web hosting. This is the short version.
Digital Ocean’s Cloud is used for your website. Because it costs a flat fee, and the containers don’t run on their own,
This is preconfigured for WordPress. WordPress hosting can be used in any environment, depending on the resources available.
The company markets it as web hosting. However, it is managed cloud hosting that has all of its limitations.
There are upsides too, but We’ll take a closer look at some of the cons.
WPMUDev seems like a good fit for them.
WPMU Developers & Multisite Owners
WPMUDev makes some amazing plugins. If you are already planning on using their plugins and can afford them, then
Know the limitations and tradeoffs.
WordPress Website Designers
WPMUDev Hosting is an excellent choice for WordPress shops that need to provide a high-quality, fast, and reliable package to their customers.
You can pay a single fee to open a shop. However, you can also sell a recurring website hosting/maintenance/security package to your clients.
WPMU Developer plugins are simple to use. One client could “pay” for the monthly fee and earn additional retainers.
We think there are better options than WPMUDev, but with fewer downsides.
WordPress Managed Hosting With Bundled Plugins
WPMU Dev might be a plugin maker that provides hosting. You can also look for hosting providers that offer bundle plugins.
All the benefits of hosting with high-quality plugins in one package.
The best options are
See InMotion Hosting’s WordPress plans.- WP Engine: They offer WordPress hosting with high-managed staging and CDN.
See the WP Engine plans. - WordPress.com – This technically is not a hosting provider.
See WordPress.com plans – however, this does not allow you to compare apples with oranges.
Dev Hosting: What are the Pros?
Platform Performance & Quality
WPMUDev has an excellent reputation for creating high-quality plugins. WPMUDev is well-known for offering high-quality WordPress support.
Digital Ocean is the home of its cloud infrastructure.
With Digital Ocean’s speed and WordPress knowledge, WPMU won’t have to worry about website installation.
The product’s quality and performance are outstanding.
Total Platform Pricing & Value
WPMU Dev charges $49/month for hosting credits. This includes access to plugins, support, and all other features. Hosting credits are also available for 3 months.
One managed to host account is $49/month. This is quite a steep price.
For 3 plans of managed hosting, the total price for the platform is $49/month. All premium plugins are included in the monthly price.
Subscriptions to backup, security, and form plugins can all be purchased for $20 per month. To make your monthly costs significantly higher, you can add CDN storage or backup storage.
You may now understand my point. The pricing assumptions will be discussed in the benefits. WPMU Dev’s web hosting service is an exceptional value at the moment.
Simplicity and Integration
WPMUDev offers all the necessary plugins to make a WordPress site that’s self-hosted work.
Compatible plugins for WPMU Dev can be purchased if they are available.
You don’t need to be concerned about backup plugins clashing with SEO plugins or both burning through the server limit.
Data Centres and Features
WPMUDev provides a range of hosting options. Digital Ocean lets you choose where your website’s data center will be located.
This tool has many developer-friendly features such as stage, free SSLs, and more
This is a good option if you are a WordPress web developer for clients.
Support for Customers
Although they don’t offer phone support, their knowledge base grows. Excellent chat support and forums.
Every interaction with the support staff over the years was nothing but exceptional. All support agents are WordPress experts and have actual developers available on-call.
I’ve already mentioned in previous reviews of WordPress hosting that the support was not great. I trust WPMU plugins for their excellent customer support.
Conclusions of WPMU dedicated hosting
Every product will have online complaints. Many times, the product does not meet customer goals or needs.
WPMU Dev’s web hosting product is a great example.
Use Cases & Pricing
WPMU Dev hosting costs are high, as mentioned in our pros section. The company offers great WordPress support and plugins.
This assumes that you will use the add-ons and plugins.
My customer base is longstanding. We don’t enjoy many plugins or services from them so we won’t be using as many.
While their SEO plugin …. works well, any serious SEO enthusiast should still use Yoast and RankMath.
Their Hummingbird/CDN plug-in is great, but we found it cumbersome. We use WP FastestCache with MaxCDN/Stackpath.
JetPack is the security and backup system that I use. JetPack is our security and backup solution. They offer an Android application for WordPress as well as related posts.
Even though their hosting is technically free, we still don’t use it. We don’t like their workflows or limitations and don’t want any platforms to limit our options.
We love platforms, but we would rather have a self-hosted WordPress than a site builder or WordPress.com. Because we don’t want any ties into a platform,
It isn’t logical to add WPMUDev pricing to any other services.
Stand-alone pricing can sometimes be prohibitive. InMotion offers WordPress hosting with a host. This includes all developer functions, staging, and other functions, for half of the price of WPMUDev members.
WPMUDev pricing can only be used in one situation: A consultant, agency, or designer managing multiple websites (e.g. clients), and wishing to make site management easier.
We would still be able to offer WordPress web design services, but we’d use WPMUDev instead. This would allow us to bill under our name and white-label all the work. It would reduce our workload.
Although this use case may seem obvious, we believe it is logical.
But, outside this particular use case, the price of a single subscription for bundled hosting is simply not a good value.
Upgrades & Pricing
Hosting upgrades and prices are very costly, regardless of what use case.
You can get fully-featured managed WordPress hosting elsewhere for a lower price or with more flexibility.
Websites must meet specific hosting requirements. The next issue is the following.
Jargon & User-friendliness
WordPress can be confusing and complex.
WPMU Dev’s hosting product is clean and well-thought-out…but it still puts a lot of trust in the average user’s knowledge. We even had to search for terms while installing our site.
This website is also hosted by Digital Ocean. They don’t have their DNS. However, they do provide an extra layer that connects the DNS and domain to the site.
Many features in WordPress make managing a website easy for both novice and advanced users. These prompts assume some knowledge or point you to a short but comprehensive knowledge base.
This product is like the value pricing. …. For a particular user type, it is user-friendly.
Usefulness and Versatility
WPMU Dev’s web hosting service is part of their overall platform and not an independent product. This product is not as versatile or useful as Linux web hosting accounts.
This product was designed around the main use cases that we have discussed. The product was built around the primary use cases we discussed earlier.
WPMU DEV Hosting relies on well-structured servers where every member’s files can be stored on a dedicated virtual private server. It ensures speed, stability, and security. Backups, staging websites, and plugins are all included. All themes and integrations are protected within their virtual world.
That’s okay. The plans cost only $49. )…) So it can be difficult to decide if the money is worth it.
Cross-compare standalone hosting products. Although you could consider moving your email to Google and running local scripts elsewhere, WPMU has many unique features.
Product Innovation & Company Structure
WPMU Dev, a theme and plugin creator has existed for many years. Their hosting product, however, was only launched in 2019. They continue to improve upon customer feedback.
The company’s system for hosting credits was much older than its product. It is reasonable to expect the company to continue learning as they become more familiar with the market.
WPMU Dev is also steadily increasing in market share in recent years. My monthly price for our plugins ). hosting is $19/mo. This seems to be coupled with an increase towards $49/month.
While we believe that the value of the service is still there for many uses, we’re curious as to how far they plan on pushing the fee. This can cause some confusion for those hosting products we love and want to continue working well.
Bundled Plug-in Maker with Your Choice of Hosting
This option is WPMU Dev’s oldest (and technically still valid). Then, you would commit to WPMU Dev to create a group of plugins such as
- WPMU Dev
- iThemes
- OptinMonster
- JetPack
- Elegant
Maintain constant costs and find a WordPress host that fits your needs.
You will pay your costs. They may seem higher than WPMUDev hosting but are more likely to be low. It will be possible to move and change as often as you want.
All A La Carte Based on Your Needs/Budget
Do not be afraid to ask for help if your budget is tight or if your site needs to function properly. Many themes and plugins can be downloaded free of charge to make your site stand out.
Digital Ocean is a great tool for budding designers and developers. You can use it on your own, or with Cloudways to manage cloud hosting.
Recommendation
WPMU Dev Hosting adds an intriguing and welcome feature to web hosting.
View their entire product line.
Other WordPress Hosting Options and WordPress Plugins are also available.
