MaintainHQ vs CortexWP
Both pair an AI agent that fixes WordPress with monitoring, backups and safe updates. They differ in price model, agency tools and how fixes are checked.
Facts checked on 8 November 2026. Prices taken from each vendor's own website.
The short answer
MaintainHQ
MaintainHQ is a cloud maintenance platform for agencies and freelancers. Gus, the AI WordPress engineer, diagnoses problems and fixes them with your approval, on staging or production as you choose, checked against WordPress coding standards, verified, and rolled back automatically if anything goes wrong. Around Gus you get safe updates with pre-update testing, backups, malware scanning, uptime with incident autopilot, team roles, white-label PDF reports and an API with an MCP server.
Choose MaintainHQ if
- You run an agency and need team roles, client seats, a client portal and white-label PDF reports
- You want Gus to rehearse risky updates on staging, read changelogs and check theme code before they reach the live site
- You want each fix checked against WordPress coding standards, sent to staging or production as you choose, verified and rolled back automatically
- You want to ask questions across every site at once, or use a REST API and MCP server
- You want malware scanning, a firewall and hardening as well as alerts
CortexWP
CortexWP is an AI agent for WordPress that connects through its helper plugin or over SFTP or SSH, and reads the site's logs, files, plugins, themes, settings and database context. In Read & Write mode it shows you the proposed change and its expected impact, and acts only after you approve it; Read-only mode allows no changes at all. Around the AI, every account (free included) gets uptime and SSL alerts, PHP error monitoring, broken link and image checks, vulnerability and failed login alerts, full-site backups and restore, and AutoPilot updates that take a backup first, compare before and after screenshots and keep a rollback ready. You pay only for AI tokens: new accounts get 100,000 free, then Starter is $5 a month for 1M tokens, Pro $15 for 5M and Ultra $50 for 20M. CortexWP does not state a site limit.
Choose CortexWP if
- You want monitoring, backups and safe updates for free and only pay when you use the AI
- You want to connect a site over SFTP or SSH without installing a plugin
- You look after a few sites yourself and do not need agency features such as client reports and team roles
Side by side
| Feature | MaintainHQ | CortexWP |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A cloud maintenance platform with an AI WordPress engineer (Gus). Works with sites on any host. | AI agent for WordPress with free monitoring and maintenance, connected by plugin or SFTP/SSH |
| AI that fixes | Gus diagnoses and fixes: your approval for every fix, on staging or production as you choose, WordPress coding-standards checks, a backup, verification and automatic rollback | Inspects, diagnoses and fixes; in Read & Write mode shows the change and expected impact and acts only after you approve; a Read-only mode is available |
| Updates | Bulk plugin updates, plus safe auto-updates with lanes, soak times, fleet waves and approval for major versions | AutoPilot updates for plugins, themes and core, with a backup first, visual comparison before and after, and rollback |
| Backups | Scheduled and on-demand, incremental between full backups, retention you control with pinning, restore with a safety backup and automatic rollback | Full-site backups and restore, plus separate plugin and theme backups |
| Uptime and incidents | Uptime, SSL expiry and PHP error monitoring, public status pages, and incident autopilot: Gus diagnoses an outage and drafts the fix and status update for your approval | Uptime and SSL alerts, PHP error monitoring with stack traces, broken link and image checks |
| Security | Daily read-only malware scan of files and database, vulnerability alerts matched to installed versions, firewall, hardening, login lockout and core file integrity checks | Vulnerability alerts for installed plugins and themes, failed login alerts |
| Reports and white label | PDF client reports emailed on a schedule; white-label branding, sending address and portal domain on Agency | Update and restore history with change reports |
| Pricing model | Flat plans: Starter $2.99/mo (1 site), Starter Plus $29/mo (5), Pro $79/mo (25), Agency $199/mo (unlimited). 7-day free trial. Gus is on every plan, with an allowance that resets every 6 hours and a weekly allowance, bigger on bigger plans. | Monitoring and maintenance free; AI tokens: 100,000 free, then $5, $15 or $50 a month for 1M, 5M or 20M tokens |
Pricing
CortexWP's monitoring, backups and safe updates are free, and AI use costs $5 to $50 a month in tokens, with no site limit stated. MaintainHQ is $2.99/mo for 1 site, then $29, $79 or $199 a month for 5, 25 or unlimited sites, with Gus on every plan: an allowance that resets every 6 hours, with a weekly allowance, and more on bigger plans.
Moving to MaintainHQ
Step 1: Connect your sites to MaintainHQ with the connector plugin (one by one, or paste a list of addresses into the importer). It runs alongside the CortexWP helper plugin.
Step 2: Turn on backups, safe auto-updates and monitoring in MaintainHQ, and let Gus run a first health check on each site.
Step 3: Pick one tool to own updates on each site, and switch off AutoPilot updates in the other, so two tools never update the same site.
Questions
Is CortexWP cheaper than MaintainHQ?
Often, yes. CortexWP's monitoring, backups and safe updates are free and its AI plans are $5 to $50 a month. MaintainHQ starts at $2.99 a month for 1 site and $29 a month for 5. What MaintainHQ adds is agency tooling (team roles, client portal, white-label reports, API and MCP), malware scanning and a firewall, pre-update testing on staging, and fixes checked against coding standards, verified and rolled back automatically.
Do both ask before changing a site?
Yes. CortexWP acts only after you approve the action in Read & Write mode. Gus also waits for your approval on every fix, and then you choose staging or production for it. Gus fixes are made after a backup, verified afterwards and rolled back automatically if the site gets worse.
Can I use CortexWP and MaintainHQ on the same site?
Yes. Both connect through an ordinary WordPress plugin. Avoid having both run automatic updates on the same site; pick one to own updates.
What does Gus actually do?
Gus is the AI WordPress engineer built into MaintainHQ. It inspects a site, finds the cause of a problem and prepares a fix. Code changes are checked against WordPress coding standards and wait for your approval, then go to staging or production as you choose, after a backup. They are verified afterwards and roll back automatically if the site gets worse. Every change has a receipt you can share with the client.
Facts about CortexWP checked on 8 November 2026 from their public websites. Prices and features change; if something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it. Product names belong to their owners.
Try MaintainHQ free
From $2.99 a month for 1 site, with a 7-day trial. Connect your first site in minutes and let Gus run a health check.