It’s been exciting to see ManageWP grow over the past few years. Each update brings new functionality and efficiency, which really goes to show why so many people have come to love our tool.
This new update is no exception. I think that you’ll find a lot to like in the changes we have made. In fact, we’ve done so much that I don’t quite know where to begin. Nonetheless, I’ll try to do justice to it all — read on to see what’s changed!
1. Domains Instead of Sites
Starting from today, for all plans, ManageWP switches from counting websites to counting domains. In a nutshell, a 25 website plan now becomes a 25 domain plan, without any need for action on your part.
You can add as many websites (whether in a folder or subdomain) as you would like — it all still counts as just one domain towards your plan maximum. It really is that simple. We realized that many of our users need staging and utility websites that are based on the same domain, so we’re making this change as a leap of faith, hoping that it won’t have adverse effects.
2. Faster Worker Plugin
Efficiency is important to everybody — we all want to get more done in less time, and we recognize that ManageWP needs to continue striving to help you achieve that goal. That’s why we tinkered with the ManageWP Worker plugin.
The Worker plugin is now 36% faster than it was previously and allocates 83% less memory (test performed on PHP 5.5.9).
3. Better Backup
We overhauled the backup functionality in major ways to make it more robust. One big change to note is that we completely revamped the way backups are initiated. Instead of relying on the WordPress cron, we are now able to ping the website to perform the backup at the right time. To facilitate this even more, we added the timezone setting.
We also greatly reduced the memory usage so that it’s more likely to work with a larger number of shared hosting accounts. Various optimizations to the backup code show a performance increase of 10% for speed — another tweak made to save you some time.
The end result is a backup that is faster and more reliable than even before.
4. Improved Cloning
We re-did the clone tool to make it more robust and reliable, too.
When you open up cloning, you will see the completely new wizard. If you are cloning to a new site, then you’ll receive superior interface options, progress reports, and error handling.
5. Strengthened Security
It goes without saying that security is a core concern for most of us. It also goes without saying that ManageWP will do its best to make you more secure — in fact, we are continuing to innovate in the field of server-client communication, which is now secure beyond industry standards.
We completely eliminated the annoying ‘invalid message signature’ message some of you were seeing with the new protocol that is also backward compatible. All the communication now complies with server standards, so we expect not to see any mod_security problems in the future.
Finally, the backup destination credentials have been upgraded to AES encryption.
6. Easier-To-Use Frontend
Boosting speed is one way to increase efficiency and ease of use, but we didn’t stop there. Our goal with this release was to enhance users’ experiences with the interface. We know it has been clunky at places in the past and we are determined to keep improving it until every single user believes that it is 100% intuitive.
First, we made a visual update of the dashboard to make it more refined and sophisticated. It’s much more pixel perfect and consistent now.
We changed the single site management, so now when you click the website in the sidebar, ManageWP will show its specialized dashboard and a number of related features.
We also added two new widgets:
- Notes, which allow you to quickly access notes for each site, and
- Recent backups, for quick overview of performed backups.
7. Optional SSL
A lot of our users noticed the recent browser updates which prevented a site admin from being opened inside our dashboard. The reason was that our admin was using https and most sites are http. Modern browsers no longer support this kind of mixed content without a manual setting change.
In order to address this pain point for many users, we decided to change the dashboard to non-SSL (the login is still secured with SSL). Advanced users can enable an option in the setting to change the dashboard to SSL.
Conclusion
There’s a lot to like in the new version of ManageWP. It’s a major update and one that I think will greatly improve the user experience. From better backup to boosted speed to optional SSL, it gives you the sort of functionality and choice that we’ve always hoped we could offer.
What is your favorite part of the updated ManageWP? Which update do you like the best. Tell us in the comments below!
Peter Liepmann
I have a stupid question. Is there any benefit to using ManageWP for JUST ONE website?
If there is, you should probably set that out in a use case; if not, probably say so- ‘who won’t find MWP useful?’
Thanks!
Vladimir Prelovac
That is a good question. ManageWP does indeed provide a benefit if you have just one site. Think of it as Jetpack for back-end stuff (backups, security, SEO, uptime monitoring – all in one place).
Sachin Karpe
Excellent article. I have already started using ManageWP, trust me its more manageable and easier to access. Enjoying great work.
pattyejones
What happened to the android app? it has disappeared from google play store.
The app started crashing on my tablet so I uninstalled it. When I went to reinstall it I could find it.
BTW, allowing additional sites by domain is sweet! Now if I can just find the app…
ManageWP
The old app was klunky and we decided to replace it. The whole new app is coming in April!
pattyejones
Is it possible to get the last version? That would be better than nothing.
pattyejones
It’s April. Any word on the app?
Managewp is almost useless to without the app.
bill
April has come and gone and it is now August. Still no Android App? What’s the story?
Southland
Another fantastic update! Equally fantastic support from the good folks there too.
Alok Sharma
I loved the new interface but any reason why the widget settings are not getting saved. I set them to 1 column but again it reverts back to 2 columns. I did this twice and the same thing.
ManageWP
This should be fixed now!
Subhash Chander
Great!!
Really, Great services. Really in love with ManageWP.
Awesome work there.
Best Wishes
tania
Excellent update!
Most of…really pleased that you have taken the time to listen to customers and implement meaningful changes! Yay! Will gladly spread the good word!
Looking forward to mobile!!
Eric Shefferman
I know enough to know to wonder about this but not enough to to figure it out.
What are the security implications of the dashboard being non-SSL? Specifically if I’m accessing ManageWP over public wifi.
My guess would be that non-SSL dashboard makes it easy for a snooper to get access to my whole dashboard by spoofing being me — but that’s just a guess.
“In order to address this pain point for many users, we decided to change the dashboard to non-SSL (the login is still secured with SSL). Advanced users can enable an option in the setting to change the dashboard to SSL.”
ManageWP
Eric, note that login to ManageWP and all communication with your sites is still SSL protected, no matter what the setting is.
So it is still safer than accessing your site directly on public wifi.
tom
I’m having trouble accessing my dashboard! When I go to managewp.com/wp-admin I get a redirect loop error. Has been happening for a few days.
ManageWP
Click logout and try again!
tom
That did the trick! Thanks!
michelle
ManageWP has definitely made life easier, when I don’t forget to use it. Old habits die hard. 😉
Suggestion:
Ability to backup from with sites, using ManageWP Worker (before/after making significant changes) would be great.
For now I’m still using a 3rd party plugin for that. Which is both redundant and clunky.
btw encountered a re-direct loop on ManageWP homepage today
had to use incognito browser window to login
ManageWP
Cure for redirect loop – logout and try again.
wpaccount
Really enjoy using ManageWP – makes my work so much easier, and I appreciate the time you put into improving your product. My humble request would be that you send a “improvements coming” email instead of an “improvements happened” email. I had four sites I manage have issues with the plugin – didn’t take long for me to resolve, but would have appreciated a heads-up that a major update was coming and that I might experience issues. That said, really like the updates that you made – thanks so much.
ManageWP
Thanks for the feedback, you are right about that we’ll improve next time!
i
Everything works fine for me and I like the service. My biggest concern since the very start has been backups.
I hope that backups will “just work” now!
I really want to get back to using ManageWP more and stop having to use VaultPress which is a straight 5 bucks for a site 🙁
ManageWP
Let us know! Anyway, we won’t stop improving it until that happens 🙂
ttownsend
Really, like the NEW changes…very nice. Without taking away from this great moment…can I inquire about the Mobile version? It has not been a reliable tool for me since it’s roll-our quite some time ago. I am looking to expand by business model and add SERVICE as a larger component.
This means, I will be increasing my license with MWP. At that point..MOBILE becomes even more important to my business plan.
Thanks
ManageWP
We were aware the old mobile version was clunky. That is why we pulled it off the market and started working on a completely new one. Expect some news in April 🙂
David
Great improvements! I have some questions about the backups:
1. Can you exclude directories from backup?
2. Does the backup rely on a zip / tar process on the client site, or is it an external FTP that sucks up the files?
3. How reliable is the backup for large sites? e.g. > 3GB
Thanks!
JeremyT
Not a ManageWP employee, just a customer, but here’s my take on your questions.
1. Yes, you can provide paths to exclude.
2. It uses zip on the server.
3. This is dependent upon the server’s execution time. For most shared hosts? Not a chance. You’ll never successfully zip that much and then copy to to an external server. I tend to top out with most client sites at around 400-500MB in total size.
ManageWP
Thanks Jeremy, you are right.
We had success backing up 3GB sites, it all comes down to your hosting resources and whether you also want to upload the archive elsewhere (Dropbox etc). Backup to server is fastest and most reliable, let us know if it works for you.
David
Thanks Jeremy and ManageWP. Any chance backups via an external service is coming soon? The primary reason I’ve not switched to ManageWP is because of the zip backups
Nicola
Great work! I would really love to see an upgrade to client reports so that these are more meaningful than just numbers – and also support for Multisite
ManageWP
We know too. The next release will be all about improving existing features. Please also feel free to send ideas about what would you like to see in the client report to vladimir@managewp.com
Grayson Bell
Nice work on the additions. I think how you classify domains is much better now and will allow me to do more staging!
Jessica R
Awesome updates! I love the domain change – that’s great for development sites. Thanks for all of your hard work!
raison
Domain switch is awesome news – for staging sites etc.. this makes so much sense. Thanks
geraldjim
Great Work guy’s,
It is much easier to manager our sites centrally. Look forward to trying out the new backup features and it is certainly faster.
Well done
chuck2837
It would have been nice to get a heads up on this. I go to managewp and everything is different. What happened to the ‘last 5 post/last five drafts? You did something to the MsQ that shows my domains having a ton of table overhead.
ManageWP
Chuck
You can re-enable the Post widget in Settings -> Widgets. Most people did not use it so we tucked it away.
Also the table overhead is more accurate now.
lucas
Awesome!! So excited to see this new update.
RaDiance
Hello,
Concerning point 1, I don’t understand then why it’s written “websites” at the top of the websites list and not domains. On top of that, I see my websites in development under the same domain name listed separately : http://i.imgur.com/ZEhGAbY.jpg as if they were considered as separate websites.
Also, I don’t retrieveve the “re-add website” button/link we had previously, nor the “open the wp-admin in a new tab”.
Best regards,
Florence.
Vladimir Prelovac
Hi Florence,
Number in left side bar will still show the total number of your sites that you have in the dashboard. Number of domains that are added can be easily checked when you hover-over your account name in the top right corner of the dashboard http://i.imgur.com/htGq816.png
Best regards
innovitale
Awesome work! The domain thingy is really helpful and an amazing addon. Now it’s much more easier to create live staging sites! 🙂