I’m taking over management of around 30 small WordPress websites from a friend. Right now they’re all on a shared hosting provider that uses Plesk for management.
I have a background in development and server administration, so I could definitely set up my own VPS and handle everything myself. But it’s been years since I was involved in web hosting, so I’m not sure if that’s still the smartest approach.
I’m considering either getting a VPS and installing a control panel like Hestia, Virtualmin, CyberPanel, or ISPConfig. Another option would be going with a reseller hosting plan from companies that specialize in that.
I have some free time available and would prefer to do more work upfront if it means lower ongoing costs. At the same time, I value convenience and prefer when backups and security updates are handled automatically.
Has anyone here dealt with a similar situation? I’m looking for the right balance between cost savings and ease of management.
If I don’t get good advice here, I’ll probably just start testing different control panels to see what works best.
Thanks for any suggestions or experiences you can share!
vps is the way to go! with ur tech skills, you can handle it. shared hosting for 30 sites? no thanks! cyberpanel is solid for wp & makes backups a breeze. just be ready to put in some time upfront, but it’ll pay off later for sure.
I’ve managed tons of WordPress sites, and honestly? Go with managed WordPress hosting instead of a VPS for 30 sites. Sure, you’ve got the technical skills, but maintaining that many sites on a VPS will eat up your time with security patches, plugin updates, and constant troubleshooting. Companies like WP Engine or Kinsta handle all the infrastructure headaches - you get staging environments, automatic backups, and security built in. The extra cost? It’s worth it when you add up all those maintenance hours. If money’s tight, try reseller hosting from a solid provider. You’ll get a decent middle ground without babysitting your own server.
Managing 30 WordPress sites manually sounds like a nightmare honestly. I went through this exact scenario last year when we inherited a bunch of client sites.
Everyone talks about control panels and VPS setups, but you’re still looking at tons of manual work. Updates, backups, security monitoring - it adds up fast even with tools like MainWP.
Automation workflows completely changed the game for me. I built flows that automatically deploy updates across all sites, run backups to multiple locations, monitor uptime, and handle basic security scans. One workflow monitors all 30 sites and sends me a single daily report instead of checking each one.
The best part? Connecting your hosting setup to other tools. Site goes down? It automatically creates a ticket, sends notifications, and tries basic fixes before bothering you. For clients, you can automate status updates and maintenance notifications.
You want lower costs with convenience - this gives you both. Set up your VPS with whatever control panel you like, then automate the repetitive stuff. Takes maybe a weekend to build the workflows, then you’re basically hands off.
I handle way more than 30 sites now and spend less time on maintenance than I used to with just 5 sites. Automation handles 90% of everything.
Check out Latenode for building these workflows. Way more powerful than basic automation most hosting tools offer.
I made this exact switch two years ago. Go hybrid - get a decent VPS but use automated tools like MainWP for updates and UpdraftPlus for cloud backups. Don’t do everything manually with 30 sites or you’ll go crazy. I use Hestia as my control panel since it’s lightweight and handles SSL automatically. Setup took me a week of evenings, but now I’m paying 60% less than managed hosting. Best decision was setting up staging environments and automating everything from the start. You’ll definitely save money long term, just make sure you’ve got good monitoring so you catch problems before your clients do.