What Makes Kinsta the Best WordPress Multisite Hosting Provider?
If you’re looking for the best WordPress Multisite hosting solution, you’ve come to the right place! Whether you are hosting client sites, running a business site, or managing a community network for a college or university, Kinsta is the right solution for your needs.
Powered exclusively by the Google Cloud Platform and supported by WordPress experts, Kinsta offers innovative solutions for setting up and managing a WordPress Multisite network as simple as possible.
Powered by the Google Cloud Platform
Multisite networks come with a unique set of challenges and obstacles that make scalability and uptime especially critical. If you’re using a shared, cheap, or unreliable hosting provider, the chances that your whole network will go down and become unreachable skyrocket.
The hosting provider you choose also influences how easy it is to set up and manage your WordPress sites. Every day we hear from clients who are curious to learn about what makes Kinsta unique and are looking for a reliable, all-in-one solution for their WordPress Multisite setups.
That’s what we’ll answer here. We’ll discuss what distinguishes Kinsta from other WordPress hosting providers, and explore the benefits of using Kinsta as your Multisite hosting solution.
Cloudflare Enterprise
DDoS attack protection, free CDN, automatic SSL certificates, and wildcard support
Built-in APM tool
Our in-house application monitoring tool can spot bottlenecks in minutes.
Best of Google offers
Built on Google Cloud Platform’s premium tier network and fastest C2 virtual machines.
Industry-leading support
Best-in-class, one-tier support from industry experts in 7 languages, 24-7.
Cloudflare Integration for a Faster, More Secure Multisite Setup
Cloudflare is one of the top players in web security and performance. At Kinsta, we pay for Cloudflare’s premium offering for you so that you can enjoy these features for free.
These built-in features give you access to DDoS attack protection, automatic SSL certificates, wildcard support, two powerful firewalls, and Kinsta’s Cloudflare-powered CDN has a presence in over 200+ cities worldwide.
After switching to Cloudflare and enabling Kinsta CDN, our speed tests from 10 locations around the world resulted in up to a 44% reduction in page load time.
The Kinsta Platform is Built for Performance, Speed, and Scalability
Built Around Containers
We also use LXD-managed hosts and LXC software containers for every site hosted on our platform. This means that your entire network will have its own isolated container equipped with all the necessary resources, including MySQL, PHP, Linux, and Nginx.
Seamless Site Management
This is important because, unlike with traditional shared hosts, you won’t have to worry about sharing resources or your network being compromised. You can also launch a new WordPress Multisite quickly and directly from the MyKinsta dashboard, which is our custom, intuitive portal designed for easy site management.
Incredible Site Performance
Our custom-compiled Linux packages and Nginx rulesets enable us to maximize the performance of your WordPress sites, as well as more than 30 different software packages and PHP extensions. Plus, our scalable infrastructure enables you to upgrade or downgrade with ease.
Data Centers Where You Need Them
For your Multisite network, you can choose from any of our 29 global data centers. This means you can strategically select any of our locations worldwide for your Multisite network to reduce network latency and ensure lightning-fast loading times.
Unique Infrastructure
Unlike other hosting providers, Kinsta doesn’t fall into any of the categories of traditional hosting, such as shared, VPS, or dedicated. Kinsta’s unique, powerful infrastructure was built from scratch to enable us to deliver unparalleled performance. Our platform is backed by the innovative technology and resources needed to support WordPress Multisite networks.
C2 Machines From $60
Starting at just $60 per month, Kinsta Pro plans (and higher) include all the technical elements needed to seamlessly run and manage a WordPress Multisite network. Our latest-generation C2 compute-optimized Google Cloud VMs enable our customers to see significant improvements in average response times.
Caching System Speed and Performance
Another way we can help optimize the speed and performance of your Multisite network is through our unique caching system. We use a variety of caching solutions to eliminate the need for external plugins or add-ons. This is particularly helpful when you’re managing multiple WordPress sites. To reduce server load and accelerate response times, we use Bytecode, Query cache, Page, and CDN cache, as well as support for Object cache if needed.
Premium 24/7 Support From WordPress Experts
At Kinsta, our support team considers every customer a mission-critical priority, which is why we don’t offer tiered support. Our WordPress experts and Linux engineers offer 24/7/365 premium support on all plans and are always ready to provide quick, knowledgeable advice and answers to your questions and concerns.
We use the Intercom customer messaging platform to make our customer support as quick and convenient as possible. We also provide an impressive initial ticket response time of under two minutes! In addition to offering multilingual support, our resources are available in 10 languages.
MyKinsta: A Dashboard For Better WordPress Multisite Management
At Kinsta, our mission is to make managing your WordPress Multisite network as simple as possible. One of the ways we do that is with our custom user portal.
Built specifically for WordPress site management, the MyKinsta dashboard is packed with powerful features and developer-friendly tools that make managing and maintaining your sites quick and easy. This includes:
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- Quick phpMyAdmin access.
- One-click staging environments and an option to restore backups to production or staging.
- Site labeling and renaming tools for easy filtering and categorization of your sites.
- Simple redirect management.
- Detailed analytics and insights for all your sites, including bandwidth and visitor data, performance analysis data, CDN usage and insights, and cache HIT and MISS ratio.
- Five different types of backups: automatic/daily, optional hourly, manual, system generated, and downloadable.
- Premium Amazon Route 53 DNS to manage your DNS records directly in the dashboard.
- Search and replace tool for easy bulk updates.
- One-click PHP version switching and the option to restart PHP.
- Dashboard tool to purge site cache.
- The ability to use custom setups such as Bedrock and Trellis.
- One-click CDN setup.
- Ability to quickly and easily block IP addresses via the IP Deny tool.
- New Relic integration (license required).
- Free automatic Cloudflare SSL certificates with support for wildcard domains, and the option to import your own SSL.
- WordPress debugging tool.
- Option to strengthen login security by adding your SSH keys to the dashboard.
- A multilingual dashboard that’s available in 10 languages: English, Italian, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Japanese, Swedish, Danish, and Dutch.
- Unrestricted access to your site’s critical files and access to Git, WP-CLI, and SSH included with every plan.
- A Redis add-on for quicker database performance.
- A free performance monitoring and debugging tool with Kinsta APM.
Contact us!
Talk to Sales to discuss your hosting needs and find the Kinsta plan that’s right for you.
Or reach out to us and we’ll get back to you within one business day.
Local Development and Staging for Free
Our comprehensive DevKinsta tool gives you everything you need to design and scale your Multisite setup.
DevKinsta
Design, develop, and deploy your website from the comfort of your local machine. DevKinsta is free forever, available for macOS, Windows, and Ubuntu, and is used by 25,000+ developers, web designers, and freelancers.
I love everyone behind Kinsta’s amazing Support team… They are my Super Heroes. In 15 years I developed thousands of WP websites hosted over hundreds of hosting providers. 4 years ago I discover Kinsta and it was love from “prima vista”.
Performance Monitoring With our Custom Designed Kinsta APM Tool
Kinsta APM is included for free in all Kinsta plans. By simply enabling it in the MyKinsta dashboard, you’ll be able to:
- Troubleshoot all your installed plugins
- Identify the reason your payment gateway is timing out
- Gain insight into how MySQL queries and AJAX calls are slowing down your online store
- Find out which add-ons are slowing down your WordPress site
Multisite Domain Mapping, Site Labeling, and Multi-User Management
With Kinsta as your host, you can configure WordPress Multisite from your MyKinsta dashboard with just one click. When you use our auto-installer for WordPress, you’re presented with the option to activate Multisite at the same time simply by checking a box. You can choose between subdomains and subdirectories, and set up domain mapping.
We don’t need to worry about hosting and downtime anymore. Before moving to Kinsta we needed to think about speed, efficiency and how we are going to deploy our stuff. But not anymore, Kinsta does everything for us.
#1 WordPress Hosting Provider by G2
Give Yourself a Free 20% Speed Boost Simply by Migrating to Kinsta
We measured 3,200+ migrations over the course of a three-month span. On average, client sites experienced 20% faster load times just by moving to Kinsta. Here’s how fast your site can run (and how slow the competition is):
- From BlueHost to Kinsta: +39% improved page load times (avg.)
- From Amazon AWS to Kinsta: +26% improved page load times (avg.)
- From Digital Ocean to Kinsta: +26% improved page load times (avg.)
- From Liquid Web to Kinsta: +32% improved page load times (avg.)
- From Cloudways to Kinsta: +2% improved page load times (avg.)
- From HostGator to Kinsta: +29% improved page load times (avg.)
- From Dreamhost to Kinsta: +11% improved page load times (avg.)
- From SiteGround to Kinsta: +13% improved page load times (avg.)
- Other: +25% improved page load times (avg.)
How is this possible? Our customers enjoy:
- The fastest Compute-Optimized C2 VMs and Google Cloud servers
- A stack that’s been fine-tuned for WordPress over the past 8 years
- Google’s Premium Tier Network to deliver website data faster
- Free CDN powered by Cloudflare’s global network of 275+ locations
- A hard-to-beat server-level caching solution
Free migrations are available for all of Kinsta’s plans, from Starter to Enterprise, regardless of how many sites you have. Simply sign up for a plan to get started. Test the service and the speed risk-free, and we provide a 30-day money-back guarantee. You only lose if you don’t give this a try!
FAQ
What is a WordPress Multisite?
Multisite is a single WordPress install that acts as multiple separate sites all sharing the same files and database.
Does Multisite count as 1 WP install?
Yes, it does.
Can Multisite setups be hosted using the Starter Package?
No, you will need to be on at least a Pro plan for this. Multisite CAN be resource-intensive and require additional PHP workers.
How do I set up a WordPress Multisite?
When starting a new site within MyKinsta it’s as easy as checking a box to enable it. Manually it involves making wp-config.php changes as well as some other edits to WordPress to get MU enabled, while not “difficult” it can pose a challenge for people that are new to editing PHP files.
How will Kinsta support me with Multisite?
Support is available 24/7 for assistance with the site including a Multisite installation but it is still limited by the Scope of support
How do free basic migrations work with Multisite?
In order to migrate a Multisite setup, you would need to request a “premium migration” from your MyKinsta dashboard. More info on our free basic migrations restrictions can be found here.
Can I use the Selective Push feature for a Multisite setup?
This depends on how your Multisite is set up. You can find more info on multisite staging here.
How many sites can WordPress Multisite handle?
There is no software limitation to how many sites can be enabled on a Multisite installation. The real bottleneck will eventually become the platform resources (CPU, RAM, PHP Workers, etc).
How many PHP workers do I need?
This all depends on the type of sites. While Multisite does require more PHP workers to run better, the difference in PHP workers needed will be based on how static or dynamic a site is.
How can I rebuild my sites as a Multisite?
It is best to start with a fresh WordPress Install and convert that to WordPress Multisite and then import your current site into that install. This is due to some of the directory structure and database tables. Converting directly to Multisite COULD cause issues in the future.
What technical steps do I need to take to build a Multisite?
If it is a fresh install, it’s as easy as ticking the box to enable Multisite during the site creation in MyKinsta.
Are site visits counted the same way on Multisite?
Yes since a multisite install is still a single WordPress install on a container, any unique visits to the site(s) on that container count towards the visits.
Will Kinsta combine my sites into a Multisite for me?
No this would be out of the scope of support at Kinsta, though our support will be able to point you in the right direction.
Will Kinsta break out my Multisite into individual installs?
No, this can actually become a complex issue decoupling a site from a Multisite install and Kinsta does not perform the service.
Do I need a reverse proxy to link my sites on Kinsta?
No, you just need to add the site to the WordPress Multisite Network (Inside the WordPress dashboard) and then add the domain to the MyKinsta control panel so that our network knows where to send the incoming requests for the domain.
I have a complex setup, can I still turn that into a Multisite on Kinsta?
It is recommended that you contact support directly to see if this is easily accomplished or not, as there is a lot of room for errors/issues.
How does domain mapping work with Kinsta DNS?
WordPress handles the heavy lifting on which site will load when the incoming request happens. Simply add the domain to the site in MyKinsta and we will send the traffic to your container and WordPress will load the proper site as long as you have added that site to the Network of sites in the WordPress Dashboard.
When should I use Multisite vs single site?
Multisite certainly has a time and a place, here are some great examples of when it might be best to use Multisite. Some great examples include schools and universities, landing pages, agencies, and small and medium-sized businesses.
Premium Add-Ons to Supercharge Your Site
Take your Multisite setup to the next level with a selection of premium add-ons that are all easily accessible right from your MyKinsta dashboard.
Nginx Reverse Proxy
Nginx, pronounced “engine-ex,” is an open-source web server used as a reverse proxy, HTTP cache, and load balancer.
It’s built to offer low memory usage and high concurrency. Rather than creating new processes for each web request, Nginx uses an asynchronous, event-driven approach where requests are handled in a single thread.
Nginx supports the ability to load WordPress from a subdirectory while a separate website (WordPress or otherwise) loads at the root domain.
With Nginx, one master process can control multiple worker processes.
Redis
At Kinsta, page caching is already built-in for all sites running on our platform. However, some more dynamic sites do not make the best use of page caching.
Ecommerce sites, membership sites, forums, discussion boards, blogs with extremely active comment sections, and other types of highly dynamic websites will benefit greatly by using Redis.
Redis cache allows for the reuse of cached objects rather than requiring the MySQL database to be queried a second time for the same object.
This reduces the load on a website’s MySQL database, while simultaneously decreasing the response time of the site and increasing the site’s ability to scale and handle additional traffic.
Automatic Backup Options
External backups can be configured for either a weekly or monthly frequency. You also have a choice between backing up your files only, WordPress database only, or both.
Your ecommerce site is a continuously changing site. Our hourly and 6-hour backup options could be a perfect fit. Rest assured that you can upgrade or downgrade this add-on at any time.
These are additional restore points. When you have the hourly backups add-on enabled, automatic daily backups are still taken and available to restore.
Scale Visits and Disk Space
A peak in traffic shouldn’t have you scrambling to change your plan. Our transparent overage pricing lets you calculate in advance. For large sites with a lot of files or images, increase your plan’s disk space with our monthly add-on.
For additional flexibility, you can increase the storage space of your hosting plan with a few clicks inside the MyKinsta dashboard.
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All our websites are hosted by Kinsta and we couldn’t be more happy. We don’t have to care about server speed, management, and technical issues. Support is wonderful, always available, and ultra professional. When you have a plug-in issue at 4 PM and it takes 10 minutes for Kinsta support to help you, you know you’re in the good place. Kinsta is an essential key for our org mission.
I have been transferring a WordPress site to their servers with over 8,000 posts/pages and they have been extraordinary with their help. I am used to only ask for access with my previous host but have to do all of the work myself, and Kinsta goes above just giving me access and actually fixes my issues. It really feels like paying for more than just a hosting platform, but a service/support system that is available 24/7 to help me within minutes. This is amazing!
Kinsta has been a reliable partner that we can count on. They handle the performance, security, and reliability so we can focus on what we do best, which is launching and enhancing client websites.
Kinsta is the best host I’ve had in 10 years. Smooth migration, no stress, and friendly support one click away. I’m very happy and recommend their services!
Two months after making the switch to Kinsta, we saw a dramatic decrease in the utilization of employees. We saved 2 hours per day per helpdesk employee on time lost to administrative tasks. With our current staffing, that is the equivalent of hiring another full-time employee. We never understood how good tools and proper hosting organization could affect our average time spent on what was most important: our customers!
Ready To Launch Your WordPress Multisite?
Kinsta’s speed obsessive architecture along with its auto-scaling optimizations make it a perfect solution for your website. Join the 24,400+ companies using Kinsta and get started today.