Multisite Hosting: When It Helps, When It Hurts
“Multisite” gets used in two ways. Sometimes it means a single platform that serves many sites from one codebase (for example, WordPress Multisite). Other times it means a hosting plan that lets you run several independent sites under one account. The difference matters. One gives you central control with shared plumbing; the other simply bundles separate installs on shared resources. This article explains where each model shines, where it causes trouble, and how to pick the right approach before you migrate or build.
A true multisite network pays off when your sites are closely related. Think franchises, university departments, regional editions, or a brand family that reuses the same theme, plugins, and user directory. Central governance is the win: one patch pipeline, one set of policies, one place to manage users and roles, and instant rollout of global changes. If editorial teams share assets, a network can reduce duplication and speed up publishing. Costs also concentrate: you size one platform well, instead of babysitting dozens of tiny stacks.
That same centralization becomes a liability when the sites drift apart. If one group needs a plugin that conflicts with another, or a theme change that breaks a sibling, you inherit a negotiation problem. In a network, a faulty update can affect every site at once, and rolling back “just the broken one” is rarely simple. Backups prove the point: most network backups restore the whole network. If you need per-site restores, you’ll have to engineer them or accept longer recovery times. Compliance and security follow the same logic. When data boundaries matter—separate legal entities, different privacy policies, stricter access controls—shared databases and file systems complicate audits and incidents. A compromised admin account inside a network can reach much farther than it should.
Performance is another deciding factor. Networks accumulate tables and options; without object caching and careful indexing, queries slow as the fleet grows. Page caching needs clear cache keys per site and per language or region. CDNs help, but origin tuning still matters: PHP workers, database connections, and storage I/O are pooled resources. If one site gets a traffic spike, neighbors feel it unless you’ve built proper isolation at the web, PHP, and database layers.
Licensing and support policy are easy to overlook. Some commercial plugins restrict multisite usage or price it differently. Many hosts support WordPress Multisite, but only with specific domain-mapping or wildcard subdomain setups. If your network mixes subdomains, mapped domains, and country sites, confirm that your host’s control panel, SSL automation, and CDN can handle the pattern without manual babysitting.
By contrast, “multiple sites under one account” keeps things simpler operationally because each site is its own install. You gain safer updates, per-site backups and restores, and cleaner handoffs to different teams. You lose the elegance of one codebase and shared users, and you’ll repeat work (or automate it) to keep stacks consistent. For agencies and IT teams managing unrelated clients, separate installs—ideally in isolated containers or accounts—usually reduce risk and make billing and off-boarding painless.
If you’re on the fence, start with the relationships between the sites. When they share brand, design system, and user directory, and you want one place to enforce security and updates, a network is a good fit. When they represent different businesses, owners, or risk profiles, use separate installs (or even separate accounts) and standardize with tooling: WP-CLI/Composer, configuration management, and a management dashboard that can roll out updates across the fleet. A hybrid model also works well: a common starter theme and plugin set, deployed to independent sites, gives you consistency without coupling their fate.
Before you commit to a network, rehearse the unglamorous parts. Can you restore a single site without taking others down? Do you have object caching, a CDN strategy, and metrics per site? Does your host support wildcard subdomains, automatic SSL for mapped domains, and staging environments that mirror production? Who holds super-admin rights, and how are they audited? If those answers are solid, the efficiency gains are real. If they aren’t, a simpler multi-site plan with isolated installs will age better.
Multisite isn’t a badge of sophistication; it’s a trade. Use it when central control outweighs per-site independence. Avoid it when autonomy, isolation, and clean exits matter more. Make the choice on structure and risk—not on the promise of “unlimited sites.”