Best MainWP alternatives in 2026
For agencies who like what MainWP does but no longer want to host, update and secure the dashboard themselves.
Facts checked on 4 November 2026. Prices taken from each vendor's own website.
Summary
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.
MainWP alternatives
MainWP is a self-hosted dashboard: the core is free for unlimited sites and Pro is $29 a month, $199 a year or $599 for life, with 30+ premium add-ons and a free, open-source MCP server. That makes it very cheap, but you run the dashboard site yourself: its hosting, updates, backups and security are your job. Agencies usually look for an alternative when that upkeep starts to cost more time than the licence saves, or when they want a tool that fixes problems rather than one they connect their own AI to. Every tool below connects through a plugin, so you can run one next to MainWP before you switch.
The tools
8 tools, MaintainHQ first
1. MaintainHQ
Maintenance platform with an AI engineer
Best forAgencies who want problems fixed (approval, staging or production per fix, verification, automatic rollback), not only reported
Pricing$2.99 a month for 1 site; $29, $79 or $199 a month for more
Best forLow per-site pricing with safe updates and optional Patchstack protection
Pricing€1.99 per site per month, add-ons extra
Best forA free core dashboard with add-ons switched on per site
PricingFree core; add-ons $1 to $2 per site per month
Best forUpdate risk scores, long backup retention and virtual patching
PricingFree, then $1.99 to $19.99 per site per month
Best forCare plans built around support tickets and time tracking
PricingFrom $1.95 per site per month, first site free
Best forAgencies who want plugins, hosting and client billing from one company
PricingPlans from $50 a year; hosting extra
Best forA self-hosted panel paid yearly
Pricing$147 to $647 a year
Best forAgencies already using Jetpack and Automattic products
PricingFree to join; licences per site
Pricing
MainWP Pro is $199 a year plus the hosting and time to run the dashboard. Cloud tools charge per site or a flat monthly fee instead, with nothing to host. Prices exclude VAT and were checked on the date below.
Which to choose
Choose MaintainHQ if
- You want a cloud dashboard with nothing to host or patch
- You want Gus to fix problems with your approval, verification and automatic rollback, rather than wiring up your own AI
- You manage 25 or more sites and want one flat price
- You want to bring your MainWP sites across with the importer
Choose something else if
- Stay on MainWP if self-hosting is a requirement or you enjoy running it: on cost alone it is hard to beat
- InfiniteWP if you want another self-hosted panel paid yearly
- WP Umbrella or WP Remote for low per-site pricing on a handful of sites
- WPMU DEV if you want plugins, hosting and client billing from one company
Moving to MaintainHQ
Step 1: Export your site list from MainWP. The MaintainHQ importer reads ManageWP and MainWP exports, removes duplicates and shows a preview before anything is created. Credentials in the export are ignored.
Step 2: Each site gets a signed connector link that is valid for 24 hours. Install the MaintainHQ connector plugin with it; the connector runs alongside other management plugins, so you can keep MainWP connected while you compare.
Step 3: Turn on backups, safe auto-updates and monitoring in MaintainHQ, then switch off the overlapping jobs in MainWP so only one tool runs updates on each site.
Questions
Why move away from a self-hosted dashboard?
A self-hosted dashboard is another WordPress site to host, update, back up and secure, and it holds access to every client site. A cloud tool takes that job away. If you have the time and like the control, MainWP is still a good choice.
Can I import my MainWP sites into MaintainHQ?
Yes. The MaintainHQ importer reads MainWP exports, removes duplicates and shows a preview before anything is created. Credentials in the export are ignored; each site gets the MaintainHQ connector plugin instead.
MainWP has an MCP server. How is Gus different?
MainWP's MCP server lets you connect an AI assistant of your choice to your dashboard. Gus is built into MaintainHQ: it diagnoses problems and prepares fixes, checked against WordPress coding standards, that wait for your approval and are verified and rolled back automatically if the site gets worse. MaintainHQ also has an MCP server on Pro and Agency, through which Gus is read-only.
Can I keep MainWP connected while I try an alternative?
Yes. The MaintainHQ connector runs alongside the MainWP child plugin. Just make sure only one tool runs updates on each site.
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 other tools checked on 4 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.