MainWP Child – Securely Connects to the MainWP Dashboard to Manage Multiple Sites icon

MainWP Child – Securely Connects to the MainWP Dashboard to Manage Multiple Sites

by mainwp

View on WordPress.org
89 Quality Score
Active Installs
26/30

With 700,000 active installs and a near-perfect installation ratio versus ratings, this is one of the more widely deployed management helper plugins in the WordPress ecosystem.

Update Freshness
25/25

It was updated on July 7, 2026, and the changelog shows regular recent activity, which is what you want for software that talks to live production sites.

User Rating
15/15

It carries a perfect 100/100 score across 70 reviews, though that sample is small relative to the install base.

Support Health
8/15

Only 2 support threads exist in the tracked window and both are resolved, which is good but the volume is too low to draw firm conclusions.

WP Compatibility
15/15

Tested up to WordPress 7.0 and requiring PHP 7.4 or newer, the compatibility surface is current and broadly compatible with modern hosting.

Scores higher than 98% of indexed plugins

About

MainWP Child establishes a secure link between your WordPress sites and your self-hosted MainWP Dashboard, simplifying site management.

Active Installs 700k+
Rating ★★★★★ 5/5
Last Updated 2026-09-09 3:35pm GMT
Requires WordPress 6.2+
Tested Up To 7.1
Requires PHP 7.4+

Security History

8 known vulnerabilities, all patched
1 Critical 4 High 3 Medium

Most recent: June 23, 2026

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What It Does

MainWP Child is the receiver half of the MainWP system. It installs on each WordPress site you want to manage and reports back to a self-hosted MainWP Dashboard, letting you run updates, backups, security checks, and content edits across many sites from one screen.

Who It's For

This plugin is built for agencies, freelancers, or in-house teams running a handful or hundreds of WordPress sites who want central control without paying per-site SaaS fees. It assumes you are comfortable setting up a separate dashboard install on your own hosting and self-managing the connection keys.

Who Should Skip It

If you manage only one or two WordPress sites, or you prefer a hosted dashboard such as ManageWP or Jetpack Manage, installing MainWP Child adds setup overhead you do not need. It also brings no value on its own, since without a MainWP Dashboard it does essentially nothing.

The Bottom Line

MainWP Child is the essential companion piece to a self-hosted MainWP Dashboard and it earns its 88.68/100 quality score through consistent updates and strong compatibility. Its real test is whether you want to run your own dashboard at all, because without one this plugin is inert.

Tags

backups monitoring security site management update