Multi-tenant WordPress
Everything you need to build, deploy and manage your large scale SaaS on WordPress.
Multi-tenant WordPress
Everything you need to build, deploy and manage your large scale SaaS on WordPress.
What Is
Multi-tenant WordPress?
Multi-tenant WordPress is a WordPress deployment configuration where multiple sites share a common code base.
Shared code can be any combination or subset of Plugins, Themes and WordPress core code.
It is used primarily in large scale WordPress SaaS projects.
For example, a company can offer pre-built sites, for, say, Lawyers. Because the plugins, themes and many other files are likely to be the same for each site, a multi-tenant configuration where these files are shared makes sense.
When Is It Appropriate To Deploy Multi-tenant WordPress?
Multi-tenant WordPress is best used when building a SaaS (software as a service) style product on WordPress.
Some hosts use it for generalized deployments as well but we're not sure about the benefits there since not a lot can be shared.
When Is It NOT Appropriate To Deploy Multi-tenant WordPress?
If you're building a SaaS where any one of the following is true:
- You are just getting started and have not validated your market
- You are not expecting to grow your customer base to at least a few hundred sites
- Your budget is not at least 5K (USD)
How Scalable Is
Multi-tenant WordPress?
Multi-tenant WordPress is the most efficient way to deploy WordPress at scale.
You can start with a single server and then increase the server size or add additional servers.
Because of the way it works, strict discipline is imposed during the Development → Test → Deployment cycle. This makes it easy to deploy code to one server or thousands of servers.
In the most extreme cases you can have many or all servers sharing the same file system (eg: AWS EFS) with massive database services across multiple worldwide locations (eg: AWS Aurora).
How Is WordPress Multitenancy
Different From WordPress Multisite?
Standard WP Sites
Multi-tenant WordPress deploys standard WordPress sites, not subsites with a shared customer table other special configuration items unique to WP Multi-site
More Compatible
Multi-tenant WordPress sites are more compatible with themes and plugins because they look like standard sites. Many plugins and themes are not multi-site aware and end up with weird issues when deployed in that environment.
More Scalable
You can only scale WP Multisite in one direct - vertically with larger servers. You can scale Multi-tenant WordPress both vertically (larger servers) and horizontally (more servers).
Single vs Multiple Failure Points
When you change a file on a WP multisite deployment, it affects 100% of all customers. Multi-tenant WordPress can be configured for staged rollouts.
Load Flexiblity
If you have some customers on Multisite that are heavy users impacting all customers, you cannot move them to separate servers. With multi-tenant WordPress you can easily move sites between servers for optimum performance.
Costs
You can get started with WordPress Multisite for less than $1000. A multi-tenant deployment is unrealistic for anything less than 5K.
What Does It Cost To Get Started With Multi-tenant WordPress on WPCloudDeploy?
First Year Cost Breakdown
- WPCD Software Costs - $999 (All Access Package)
- WPCD Multi-tenant Services & Support Package - $1,499
- WooCommerce Subscriptions - $239
- MainWP (or similar) - $499 (lifetime)
- Server Costs - $1200 (per year)
- Misc - $500
Total: $4,936
Software development services, which you will likely need for any serious project, is an additional cost. Our services page have additional options for pre-configured packages to get your SaaS up and running FAST.
Multi-tenant WordPress Resources
Includes more information comparing Multi-site and Multi-tenant deployments for WordPress based SaaS.
Learn how to WPCloudDeploy sets up, configures and deploys tenant sites in a multi-tenant deployment.
Learn everything you need to build your WordPress SaaS regardless of which deployment type you select.