Choosing multisite over subdomains for subsites.

  • Just looking for input on choosing to use multisite subdomains versus using subdomains (but not multisite).

    My understanding of the main difference is (and please let me know if I’m wrong) :
    with multisite, there’s a Super Admin and the dashboard has access to all sites, and since they are running on the same install of WP, the maintenance of plugins and updates is more efficient. With subdomains, you’d have to log in to each site separately, and they’d each have their own WP install.

    Just basing it off of the above reason, I’m leaning towards multisite for this particular project. I’m working for an organization that is growing from it’s one entity into multiple chapters. Each new chapter will be set up as a subsite of the main site, and each chapter will have an admin to approve new members (iThemes exchange membership) and accept payment respective to that chapter. They’ll also have a blog.

    I’m curious about data/content sharing. If Chapter Z publishes a blog post, we’d like it to also be updated as the latest blog posting on the main site as well, so the community as a whole can read what the various chapters have been up to in one spot (the main site). I’ve read that data sharing isn’t the best on multisite. But it is any better with subdomains?

    I’m working on a local server right now, and want to move to a staging environment but want to make this decision first.

    Our original plan was to use multisite, but I contacted the host provider about setting up a staging environment, and one thing led to another, we started talking, and they suggested using subdomains instead for an overall reason of it just being easier. It just threw me off and I’d love any advice.

    THANKS!

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)

  • You’re correct, multisite isn’t the best at sharing its data across the network without the need for making use of the $wpdb class – which isn’t very friendly towards non-advanced users.

    There are some commercial plugins available that offer global network features for Multisite, they’re very reputable, but not free.

    However, if you’re conversant with writing code then there isn’t anything stopping you from retrieving any data you like from the database for any sub-site.

    I see no reason in choosing to manually install and manage multiple WP installations over 1 easy-to-manage Multisite installation. That’s the reason why Multisite exists.

    Hope this helps.

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)
  • The topic ‘Choosing multisite over subdomains for subsites.’ is closed to new replies.