WordPress Multisite is a built-in feature that lets a single WordPress installation run and manage multiple separate websites, all sharing one common set of core files and a single central admin login. It's a genuinely useful setup for organizations managing several related sites at once.
When Multisite Genuinely Makes Sense
- A university managing separate sites for each individual department
- A franchise business running near-identical sites for multiple locations
- A media company managing several different blogs under one shared umbrella
- An agency managing multiple client sites from a single, unified dashboard
Advantages of Running Multisite
- A single WordPress core installation to actually update and maintain
- Plugins and themes can be installed once and shared across every site in the network
- Centralized user management across the whole network
- Generally lower overhead than maintaining several fully separate WordPress installations
The Real Trade-Offs
- All sites in the network share hosting resources, so one busy site can affect the others
- Not every plugin is genuinely compatible with a Multisite setup
- A single security breach can potentially expose the entire network at once
- Generally more technically complex to set up and maintain than a single standalone site