Are you a developer or agency owner who’s managing multiple WordPress sites and struggling to keep up with updates, backups, and other maintenance tasks?
If this sounds like you, then you can benefit from an all-in-one website management tool. These tools let you easily run bulk updates, create backups, monitor for site and server issues, and much more.
WP Umbrella is a user-friendly all-in-one WordPress management tool that simplifies the site management process for agencies, developers, and freelancers.
In our WP Umbrella review, we’ll take a hands-on look at this tool and show you how you can use it to more easily manage your roster of WordPress sites.
WP Umbrella Review: A High-Level Overview of What It Does
WP Umbrella takes the hassle out of managing your WordPress sites. Instead of logging into multiple WordPress dashboards, you log in to your WP Umbrella account and manage everything from there.
You’ll be able to set up automatic website backups, bulk update WordPress themes and plugins, and monitor your sites to spot errors before they become big problems. If you’re managing client websites, then you can use the scheduled reports feature to help demonstrate your ongoing value to clients.
This SaaS tool lets you connect to all the sites you manage, even if they’re hosted on different platforms. This makes it a very convenient solution if certain sites require different hosting setups and services.
WP Umbrella offers similar functionality to other WordPress management tools, but it really stands out with its commitment to making the lives of agency owners easier.
Here are a few of the main features that set it apart:
- Easy and intuitive workflow automation. Easily run bulk updates, automatic backups, and individual site management all from one single easy-to-use dashboard.
- Helps you prove your worth to clients. Built-in maintenance reporting lets you generate automated client reports to prove your worth and retain ongoing contracts.
- Hands-on helpful customer support. Access in-depth self-serve support articles. Plus, the knowledgeable and helpful support staff are willing to go the extra mile.
- Automated security and error reporting. Real-time security scans and updates help to illuminate security issues before they become big problems.
An In-Depth Look at How WP Umbrella Works
Now that you know what WP Umbrella does, let’s show you how you can use it to manage your WordPress sites.
This first step of the process is going to be the most time-consuming, depending on how many sites you manage.
The first thing you need to do is install the free WP Umbrella plugin. After that, open up the plugin settings and create your account.
Note that there’s a 14-day free trial you can use to test out all the features before you decide to pay.
Once your account is created you’ll get an API key. All you gotta do is copy and paste it into the same settings page.
Here you can also enable error monitoring for your site and turn on one-click WordPress dashboard access.
Once you’ve added your API key that’s all you have to do in your WordPress dashboard. Simply repeat the process for every site you currently manage.
Now, let’s head over to the WP Umbrella dashboard, so you can see the site management features in action.
Dashboard Overview
Your main dashboard displays an overview of every site you manage. This is a great way to see if any sites need more attention than others. With a single click, you can access your WordPress dashboard without having to enter your login information.
You can also filter sites by plugins, themes, PHP and WordPress versions, and hosting platforms.
At a glance there’s a lot of useful information like:
- Current Google PageSpeed scores
- Website response time and uptime
- Available theme, plugin, or core updates
- Backup status
- Current security risks
- PHP errors
Clicking on any of these items will take you to the individual site management screen. Below we’ll explore what this looks like in-depth.
Uptime and Performance Monitoring
WP Umbrella monitors the uptime of your WordPress sites. It checks the status of your site at regular intervals and will warn you if a site is down. It’s also the first screen you’ll see when you open up an individual site.
You’ll also get real-time speed and performance data like page load times, server response time, and your Google PageSpeed score.
PHP Issues
PHP errors can occur when there’s a conflict between two plugins, or you’re running an older version of PHP. WP Umbrella monitors and detects these errors, so you can fix them before they become bigger problems.
It shows you the type of error, where it occurred, along with the error message if it’s available. This is a very helpful feature for developers and can speed up the troubleshooting and debugging process.
Website Backups
Automated website backups help to ensure all of your client website data is safe. The backups are super easy to set up and configure. Plus, every backup is stored safely in the cloud for 50 days.
You also have full control over how frequently the site is backed up and the number of backups that are stored. Restoring the site to a previous backup only takes a couple of clicks as well.
Security and Website Health
Even when you implement WordPress security best practices it can be easy for things to fall through the cracks. Especially when you’re managing a ton of different sites.
The Security tab shows you any existing security vulnerabilities. It starts with high-priority threats like plugin, theme, and core vulnerabilities. It also offers recommendations for security hardening like removing unused plugins and themes.
Finally, WP Umbrella runs a real-time security check that’ll check for an active SSL certificate, the latest WordPress version, PHP version, make sure your site is indexable by Google, and more.
Automated Maintenance Reports
Maintenance reports are a huge value-add for your business. They’re a great way to show the client the work you’ve done while educating them on the value of ongoing maintenance.
These reports are fully customizable while pulling past data from tasks you’ve accomplished on each site. You have full control over how each report looks and the data that’s included.
You can do things like:
- Change the timeline for work reported (i.e. monthly, quarterly)
- Add your custom logo and color for branding
- Choose what sections to include (overview, updates, performance, backups, security, etc)
Beyond report customization, you can set up automated emails that get sent to clients weekly, monthly, or quarterly. There’s also the option to send out reports manually.
Bulk Website Management
Managing sites individually can be time-consuming. The bulk management features make it easy to update all of your themes, plugins, and WordPress core with a couple of clicks. You can access this by clicking Bulk in the top menu of your dashboard.
WP Umbrella Support and Documentation
WP Umbrella is a small company that truly cares about its customers. You can tell they’re excited about the product and making the lives of agency owners and freelancers much easier.
I pinged their support team and they were always very helpful and thorough in answering my questions.
You can access support directly through the pop-up in your user dashboard. You have the option to send a message to the support team or explore the self-service support options.
I found the documentation and help library extremely helpful and easy to navigate. If you encounter an error on the platform, then you can use the built-in help tools which give you a ton of articles to reference.
Their standard support hours are 8 AM to 6 PM Monday through Friday in the +2 GMT timezone.
WP Umbrella Pricing
Black Friday Offer: Get 20% OFF from WP Umbrella until 28th November 2023!
WP Umbrella is easy to use and super user-friendly, so it makes sense there pricing is an extension of their product.
It’s simple, transparent, and I love it.
You get access to everything for $1.99 per month per site. That’s it. There are no hidden costs and no upsells buried in the features page. You only pay for the sites you’re managing and there are no annual payments.
There’s also a 14-day free trial where you can test drive all the features for up to five websites.
Real User Reviews and Feedback
After spending time looking at user reviews and other feedback around the web, there’s nothing but praise no matter where you look.
Everyone from agency owners with over 200 sites to developers who just migrated a handful of client sites, it’s nothing but five stars.
Just take a look at all the five-star reviews on G2.
Final Thoughts On WP Umbrella
Overall, I was impressed by WP Umbrella. It isn’t the only WordPress management tool out there, but in terms of its user experience and continuous release of new features, it can be hard to beat.
It offers all of the options you need to effectively manage a large number of sites without being overwhelmed by the features. Plus, the automated maintenance reports are a great way to prove your value and retain current clients.
The only real drawback is that it’s relatively new, so it might not have the exact feature you’re looking for right now. However, the development roadmap looks promising and they’re continually adding new features.
Some user reviews mentioned features they wished WP Umbrella had, and months after their review the feature was added. They truly listen to their customers and use their feedback to help build a better product.
If you’re looking for a way to manage multiple client sites at scale, then WP Umbrella is worth checking out. At the very least give the 14-day free trial a go to see how much it improves your maintenance and management workflows.
Keep reading the article at WP Mayor. The article was originally written by Kevin Wood on 2023-11-20 07:00:00.
The article was hand-picked and curated for you by the Editorial Team of WP Archives.