← All comparisons
Compare
Compare
WP Foreman vs MainWP
MainWP is a self-hosted dashboard: you install it on your own WordPress site and manage child sites from there. It’s open source with a Pro plan. WP Foreman is a hosted service, so there’s nothing to install or maintain on your side beyond a small plugin per site.
The short version
If you like running your own tools and want a one-time price, MainWP is a strong choice. If you’d rather not host, secure and patch a dashboard, or juggle a separate backup plugin per site, WP Foreman does it all as a service.
At a glance
| WP Foreman | MainWP | |
|---|---|---|
| How it runs | Hosted by us; WP Foreman plugin per site | Self-hosted dashboard on your own WordPress + Child plugin |
| Price | First site free; $1.99/site/mo (sites 2–100), $1.79 (101–250), $1.59 (251+); yearly = 2 months free | Free; Pro $29/mo, $199/yr or $599 lifetime, unlimited sites |
| Backups | Built in: incremental, encrypted, 90 days, monthly to hourly | No built-in engine: manages WPvivid, UpdraftPlus, BackWPup and others, or host backups |
| Your own storage | Google Drive, Dropbox or S3, as main storage or an extra copy | Depends on the backup plugin you use |
| Restore, clone, migrate | Whole site, files, database or single files; clone and migrate included | Depends on the backup plugin you use |
| Uptime | Built in | Through Uptime Robot, NodePing, Site24x7 or Better Uptime |
| Security | Known vulnerabilities, built in | Vulnerability, SSL and domain checks |
| Who changed what in wp-admin | Named WordPress user + IP for plugin, theme, core and admin changes, emailed right away | Activity log available |
| AI | Ask the Foreman in the app (approval for every change); MCP server coming | MainWP MCP Server for Claude and others |
| API | Public API + signed webhooks | REST API |
| Reports | Client reports with your logo and colors, sent from your own domain | Pro Reports, white label |
| Maintenance | None: we run it | You host, secure and update the dashboard |
To be fair
Where MainWP is ahead today
- No monthly bill if the free version is enough, and an unlimited-site lifetime license.
- Open source and fully under your control.
- An MCP server and a long list of extensions today.
Why switch
Where WP Foreman is different
- Nothing to host or keep secure: your dashboard isn’t another WordPress site to maintain.
- Backups are built in and work the same on every site, no extra backup plugin to license and configure per site.
- Backups can still go to your own Google Drive, Dropbox or S3.
- Uptime monitoring is built in, no third-party account needed.
- A built-in AI assistant that only acts with your approval.
Your first site is free
Every feature, no card needed. Add more sites when you’re ready.
Compared October 7, 2026 from each product’s own website. Prices and features change; if something here is out of date, tell us and we’ll fix it.