WordPress Multisite Plugins: Essential Plugins Used by Developers/Experts

Managing a WordPress multisite network is quite challenging, but using the right WordPress multisite plugins can ease the process.

A multisite network lets you maintain multiple websites through a single WordPress installation. So instead of looking after just one website, you manage 3, 5, and even up to 10 different websites. And often, these websites belong to different clients.

All of this means finding the right WordPress multisite plugins is necessary to smoothly manage your multisite network. This blog will take you through a list of essential multisite plugins, further divided into 4 major categories.

But before that, I am assuming you already have a functional multisite network. If you don’t, you can use Cloudways multisite hosting to launch your network as it’s very easy to set up. Moreover, you can always revert a WordPress site to a single site following simple steps.

Note: you can check our all-in-one Multisite guide for further help.

Fast and Reliable WordPress Multisite Hosting

Launch your multisite network with Cloudways to experience unmatched performance, easy management, and constant availability.

Try 3 Days Free!

How to Install and Activate WordPress Multisite Plugins

You can install and activate the WordPress multisite plugins easily via following steps:

• Go to your WordPress Multisite Admin Dashboard.
• Hover over to My sites.
• Select Network Admin > Plugins

• Select Add New.

• Search for the relevant plugin and click Install then Activate.

• Tadaa! You’re done activating the multisite plugin on your WordPress site.

Best WordPress Multisite Management Plugins

Management plugins ensure website management without any hassles, and this section covers the best WordPress multisite management plugins to help ease your processes.

User Switching

`

The User Switching plugin lets you switch between user accounts with a single click. Once you switch accounts, your current signed-in account will log out instantly, allowing you log in to your desired account.

If you’re wondering about the process’ security, the plugin has set parameters to allow only users with editing rights to switch.

Also, the plugin has 200,000+ active installations.

Features

• Switch users using any user account.
• Log out of the account, and switch it back whenever needed.
• It is compatible with Multisite, WooCommerce, BuddyPress, bbPress, and most two-factor authentication plugins.

Rating

User Switching is rated 4.9 out of 5 stars on WordPress.ORG based on 207 reviews.

 

InfiniteWP Client

InfiniteWP is a popular plugin with around 300,000+ active installations. This WordPress multisite plugin lets you manage unlimited sites from your server.

Features

• Provides a self-hosted system to fully control your sites.
• One-click plugins, themes, and core updates across all your sites.
• Back up your entire site and the database instantly.
• Manage themes and plugins in bulk.

Rating

InfiniteWP client is rated 4.3 out of 5 stars on WordPress.ORG based on 148 reviews.

 

Beyond Multisite – Utilities for WordPress Network Admins

Beyond Multisite helps network administrators to control, manage, and monitor their sub-sites. It allows users to control plugin access so only authorized personnel can activate, deactivate, or update plugins. You can get this plugin for $29.

Features

• Cleans up the network by bulk deleting sites, comments, and revisions.
• Makes site copies by cloning entire sites.
• Bans users based on IP addresses.
• Protects blog signups through CAPTCHA.
• Sends bulk emails to multisite users.
• Translates web pages.

Rating

Beyond Multisite is rated 4.97 out of 5 stars on envatomarket based on 30 reviews.

Individual Multisite Author

Don’t want the same author bio on all your sites? Use the Individual Multisite author plugin to add a unique bio for every website. This WordPress multisite plugin is useful if you manage multiple authors or languages.

Note: Individual Multisite Author only works when multisite support is enabled.

Features

• Lets you enter, delete, or update the author bio for each user on a per-blog basis.
• Lets you write the author bio in every language.
• It saves all the bios using a custom profile field for each site.
• Lets you match different personalities in the bio descriptions for each site.
• Provides a custom profile field for each site to save all bio.

Rating

Individual Multisite Author is rated 5 out of 5 stars on WordPress.ORG based on 12 reviews.

WordPress Multisite User Sync

Multisite User Sync is a freemium WordPress plugin that allows users to syncs and unsyncs from one website to another within the network. This multisite plugin can sync/unsync an individual user to a single site, multiple sites, or all the sites in the network simultaneously.

Pro Version

Multisite User Sync also has a pro version that comes with a host of handy features such as auto sync, bulk sync/unsync, individual sync, and more. The plugin is also supported on WooCommerce, so you can use it for your WooCommerce multisite network.

Features

• Sync/Unsync individual user.
• Sync/Unsync to a single or multiple sites.
• Saves time by quickly syncing between multiple sites within the network

Rating

WordPress Multisite User Sync is rated 4.5 out of 5 stars on WordPress.ORG based on 11 reviews.

 

Best WordPress Multisite Security Plugins

Security holds the utmost importance in a multisite network, as even one attack on a single website can disrupt the whole network. So, using security plugins to tighten your site’s security is highly recommended.

Considering the importance of security, here’s a list of the best security plugins for WordPress multisite to steer clear of any hackers or malicious traffic.

Note: You can use other methods to enhance your multisite network’s security, such as installing free SSL certificates on your multisite network.

Wordfence Security

With over 4 million active installations, Wordfence provides a comprehensive security solution for websites. It offers all the security features in one place, including site-wide malware scans, web application firewall, and two-factor authentication, and generates vulnerability alerts.

This plugin works on both single sites and multisite, and a single installation protects all the subsites in a multisite network.

Features

• Identifies and blocks malicious traffic using a web application firewall.
• Provides WordPress security scanners that check core files, themes, and plugins for malware.
• Two-factor authentication.
• Lets you assess your site’s security status in one view using Wordfence central.

Rating

Wordfence Security is rated 4.7 out of 5 stars on WordPress.ORG based on 3815 reviews.

Wordfence Premium

Wordfence also has a premium version that provides real-time firewall and malware signature updates via the Threat Defence feed. It provides a country-blocking feature and checks if any malicious activity has blocklisted your site. You can get Wordfence Premium for $4.99/month.

WP Activity Log

WP Activity Log adds an extra security layer to your WordPress multisite network by monitoring and recording real-time user activities. The plugin provides a comprehensive report on the user activity on your multisite network, whether it is updating content, adding or removing plugins, or changing themes.

Furthermore, WP Activity Log detects suspicious activity from users working on your WordPress multisite network. Once the activity is detected, it provides solutions for troubleshooting that problem.

Features

• Ensures user productivity.
• Keeps you posted about the changes in posts, user profiles, and objects.
• Eases troubleshooting.
• Proactively fixes security problems by spotting suspicious behavior.
• Helps you better manage and organize your WordPress site and users.

Rating

WP Activity Log is rated 4.7 out of 5 stars on WordPress.ORG based on 372 reviews.

WP Activity Log Premium

WP Activity Log also has a premium version that lets you unlock the extra security features, such as logging off any user with a single click or getting SMS/email alerts for critical site changes. It has multiple pricing plans, so you may opt for the package that suits your needs.

Defender Security

Defender is a WordPress multisite security plugin that enhances your site’s security and has over 70,000 active installations. It blocks common site attacks like brute force logins, code injections, or cross-site scripting.

Features

• Adds two-factor authentication to your WordPress multisite.
• Performs security scans and checks for suspicious code and malware.
• Adds reCAPTCHA to your login/registration pages and posts.
• Limits login attempts to prevent users from guessing passwords.
• Triggers password reset at regular intervals.

Rating

Defender Security is rated 4.8 out of 5 stars on WordPress.ORG based on 237 reviews.

Defender Pro

If you want extra security on your multisite network, you can get Defender Pro at $6/month. The pro version provides automatic schedule security scans, two-factor authentication, audit logging, and other security features.

Best WordPress Multisite Optimization Plugins

An unoptimized website is worthless, so it must be optimized for SERPs and then marketed to increase conversions. There are various optimization plugins, and I have listed below the best multisite optimization plugins to help you boost your rankings.

Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO is among the most popular SEO plugins, with 5 million+ installations. It helps you rank higher on search engines by optimizing your sites. You can activate Yoast across multisite and on all the subsites by purchasing a single subscription for the super site.

Features

• Automates technical SEO improvements.
• Adds advanced XML sitemaps, which help search engines to understand the site structure.
• Provides title and meta description templating for better branding.
• Provides an in-depth scheme-org integration.
• Offers full control over site breadcrumbs.

Rating

Yoast SEO is rated 4.8 out of 5 stars on WordPress.ORG based on 27,524 reviews.

Smush

Smush is just the right choice for users looking to optimize their site’s images. This optimization plugin reduces the load time by resizing, editing, compressing, and lazy loading images on your website.

This plugin has 1 million+ active installations and is an award-winning image optimizer.

Features

• Optimizes images up to 2x more than the regular.
• Compresses the images without affecting the quality.
• Performs lazy loading on the images.
• Lets you optimize and compress unlimited images with one click.
• Offers background optimization.

Rating

Smush is rated 4.8 out of 5 stars on WordPress.ORG based on 5878 reviews.

Hummingbird

Hummingbird helps you speed up your website network by enabling caching and text compression. With over 100,000 active installations, this multisite optimization plugin minifies CSS, defers Javascript, and assists you in getting a higher number on GTMetrix or Google PageSpreed Insights.

Features

• Scans your website to determine what’s slowing the site’s performance.
• Offers world-class caching for faster page loading.
• Generates performance reports and provides pro tips to speed up your website.
• Helps you increase your conversion rates.
• Offers GZIP compression to make site sharing more efficient.

Rating

Hummingbird is rated 4.8 out of 5 stars on WordPress.ORG based on 1369 reviews.

OptinMonster

OptinMonster is among the leading WordPress list-building plugins. It optimizes your email list growth and conversions, and helps you create high-converting email opt-in forms quickly. You can also track your progress with its in-depth analytics.

Features

• Its popup maker allows you quickly create aesthetic popup campaigns, email subscription forms, and other interactive popups.
• Smart targeting while sending emails.
• Offers mobile popups to make your marketing messages look great on different devices.
• Optimized for both web and server performance.

Rating

OptinMonster is rated 4.5 out of 5 stars on WordPress.ORG based on 585 reviews.

SmartCrawl

You may find SEO optimization challenging, especially when setting up a brand-new website. However, with the SmartCrawl multisite plugin, you can simplify SEO, as it automates the SEO tasks so you can take care of your site’s other aspects.

Features

• Performs automatic SEO checks on your website.
• Enables SEO cheat codes for WordPress.
• Performs content analysis on post and page editor and gives real-time suggestions.
• Good for multisite SEO.
• Automatically redirects traffic from one URL to another.

Rating

SmartCrawl is rated 4.8 out of 5 stars on WordPress.ORG based on 159 reviews.

Breeze

Breeze is a powerful, easily configurable WordPress cache plugin that offers several features to optimize your multisite network for speed and performance. With Breeze, you can clean up your database and use its file-level cache system to speed up your sites.

The plugin is also easy to install, and you can configure it directly from your WordPress dashboard with default settings.

Features

• Improves your site’s speed and performance.
• Helps you in resource optimization.
• Offers file level cache system.
• Helps you clean the database.
• Provides support for Varnish cache.
• Offers simplified CDN integration options.

Rating

Breeze is rated 3.8 out of 5 stars on WordPress.ORG based on 87 reviews.

 

Note: Breeze has recently released its 2.0 version, which delivers an even better user experience. Read Breeze 2.0 – Excel with Simplicity & Intuitiveness for more information.

Miscellaneous Plugins

Apart from management, security, and optimization, the WordPress multisite network requires extra plugins that add specific functionalities, like migration, language switcher, design, etc.

This section discusses the best multisite plugins for adding extra functionality to your sites. These plugins are ranked based on their ratings and the number of active installations.

Duplicator

Migrating your WordPress sites to your multisite host can get complicated for non-technical users if they don’t use the right migration plugin. And among those plugins, Duplicator offers the right features and ease to ensure your WordPress sites’ safe migration between servers.

Once you configure the plugin, it compresses your files into a downloadable zip folder to upload on another server.

I recommend using the free version if you want to migrate a single website. However, if you want to migrate multiple sites, you should opt for the pro version, which lets you migrate three websites.

Features

• Lets you migrate and clone a WordPress site from one domain to another.
• Helps you pull down a live site to localhost to make changes.
• Lets you transfer a WordPress site from one host to another.
• Allows you to create a manual backup of a complete WordPress site or some of its parts.
• Lets you push a live site to a staging area or vice versa.
• Allows you to bundle up an entire site for redistribution or reuse.

Rating

Duplicator – WordPress Migration Plugin is rated 4 out of 5 stars on WordPress.ORG based on 3632 reviews.

Active Installations: 1,000,000+

Duplicator Pro

Duplicator also has a Pro version that offers incredible features to save you from the extra hassle of backing up. The premium version lets you use drag-and-drop features to push an archive to the destination site. Also, it offers scheduled backups and has a special 2-step streamlined installer mode for blazing-fast installations.

Elementor Header and Footer Builder

The Elementor Header and Footer plugin lets you create global headers and footers that you can use across your network. It helps you save time and maintains design consistency throughout your multisite network.

Features

• Helps you create a layout for global headers, footers, and blocks
• Allows you to create customized header and footer designs
• Lets you choose a specific target location to display header and footer
• Allows you to place blocks on the website with a short code
• Offers built-in widgets to help you create header/footer layouts.

Rating

Elementor Header and Footer is rated 5 out of 5 stars on WordPress.ORG based on 1880 reviews.

Active Installations: 1,000,000+

Multisite Language Switcher

Multisite Langauge Switcher is a free plugin that lets you add multiple languages to a multisite network. It supports 15 languages and has more than 6000 installations.

Features

• Enables users to add multiple languages to the multisite network.
• Helps you manage translations of pages, posts, custom post types, and custom taxonomies.
• Supports several languages, including German, Italian, French, Arabic, Serbian, Greek, and Russian.

Rating

Multisite Language Switcher is rated 4.8 out of 5 stars on WordPress.ORG based on 87 reviews.

 

Active Installations: 6000+

Schema Pro

Markups ensure that the search engines recognize your page and help you rank. And to achieve that, Schema Pro enables you to create specific markups for search engines or business listings.

Schema Pro is a paid plugin, and you may choose your preferred pricing plan to create schema markup on your sites.

Features

• Lets you add structured data to your site.
• Helps you get recognized by search engines.
• Lets you optimize your sites with structured data.
• Does not require any coding efficiency.

Rating

Schema Pro is rated 4.3 out of 5 stars on TrustPilot based on 9 reviews.

 

Active Installations: 174,239+

NS Cloner-Site Copier

Do you want to clone websites in your multisite network? You need NS Cloner to help you easily clone content, design, plugins, pages, videos, and individual WordPress settings within that site.

Features

• Lets you copy an entire site in seconds.
• Allows you to copy all widgets, menus, themes, plugin settings, pages, posts, custom post types, and taxonomies.
• Works in the background so that your work remains undisrupted during cloning.
• Robust process logging to help you with troubleshooting.
• Translation ready.

Rating

This plugin is rated 4.7 out of 5 stars on WordPress.ORG based on 253 reviews.

Active Installations: 6000+

NS Cloner Pro

NS Cloner also offers a pro version for even more powerful functionality. With its remote cloning power, you can copy sites directly through the command line and perform an unlimited custom search on the cloned websites. You can check the NS Cloner Pro’s pricing plans to select the relevant package.

Multisite Content Copier/Updater

Copying content from one subsite to another can be tiring, but not with the WordPress Multisite Content Copier/Updater plugin. This copying plugin allows users to copy the content directly from the dashboard, including copy tags, media, and documents.

Features

• Allows users to copy/update posts and pages from one site to another.
• Lets you to terms (categories and tags) and copy/update media.
• It also enables users to bulk copy/update posts and pages from one site to another.

Rating

This plugin is rated 4.1 out of 5 stars on WordPress.ORG based on 14 reviews.

Active Installations: 900+

Pro Version

WordPress Multisite Content Copier also comes with a premium plan that offers additional features like automatically copying media, bulk copying posts and pages, support for custom field types, and much more. You can get the paid version for $30.

Summary

This blog has covered the list of the best WordPress multisite plugins that I would recommend installing on your network to ensure smooth functionality. Think I have missed any of your favorite multisite plugins? Do let me know in the comment section below.