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WP-Hive versus Virtual Multiblog

As of WordPress 3.0, this functionality is built-in without the use of plugins. These plugins are no longer necessary.

There’s a new kid on the blog when it comes to allowing a single WordPress install to be used for multiple blogs.  I used to use Virtual Multiblog but just recently switched to WP-Hive.

The main reason?

WP-Hive supports separate sitemap.xml files (and robots.txt, favicon.ico) for each blog without jumping through lots of hoops.

I recommend you check both of them out though. My needs are relatively basic so WP-Hive is wonderful, but VMB has served me well up until this point.

WP-Hive

Pros
  • Installs like any other plugin.
  • Super easy to add new blogs.
  • Supports separate sitemap.xml, robots.txt and favicon.ico files for each blog. Hoping this will expand to other, more generic files in the future.
Cons
  • Does not allow a separate wp-config.php file for each blog. That means all blogs have to be installed to the same database with the same database login and no ability to easily customize the table prefix.
  • Does not support installing additional blogs to a directory (e.g. domain.com/blog2). It has to be either a top-level domain (e.g. domain.com) or a subdomain (e.g. blog2.domain.com).

Virtual Multiblog

Pros
  • Allows each blog to maintain its own wp-config.php file.
  • Supports additional blogs installed in directories (e.g. domain.com/blog2).
  • Once initially setup, it’s easy to add new blogs (assuming you are using the “Easy Setup”). The “Advanced Setup” requires a little more work.
Cons
  • Semi-complicated installation (even for the “Easy Setup”).
  • Does not support sitemap.xml and other special files that need to be unique per blog.

For other alternatives to WP-Hive and VMB, check out the Installing Multiple Blogs page.

12 replies on “WP-Hive versus Virtual Multiblog”

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Of course, now WordPress 3.0 includes Multisite, which covers much of this, I think, and works across multiple domains with some plugin or other. Mmmmmm….

@Janet: Yeppers! That it does. Excited that they’ve merged together.

Although now that I have more experience managing multiple WP blogs serving different purposes, I’m learning more towards separate installs.

One installation is good if the sites serve similar purposes and have common functionality. The blogs/sites I manage are very different across the board.

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I have tried using wordpress 3.0 multi-site, and it sucks for trying to use one WP installation for several domains to be managed by one admin.
So I have heard great things about Hive plugin and wanted to use it, but now on their site it says that the developer is not going to develop it any more.
Any suggestions for someone that is trying to manage many (20+) domains on a single WordPress install?

what didn’t you like about WP3’s built-in support for multisite?

will your 20+ sites require similar plugins?

the problem i ran into managing multiple sites from a single install is that plugin compatibility becomes an issue.

if you’ve got 20 sites using 25 different plugins, there’s a good chance some of those plugins won’t be supported in the next release of WP. when that happens, you’re forced to either use an older version of WP or look for a newer plugin.

it becomes a pain, honestly. making sure upgrading WP won’t break any existing plugins or vice versa.

that’s why i’ve found it easier to maintain separate installations. now that WP has made the upgrade process simplier, it’s become less of a hassle for me to do this.

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@yush: Let me know what you think and if WP-Hive fits your needs.

As an update to this post, I’ve actually switched all of my sites back to VMB.

A couple reasons.

1. Lack of development. The developer keeps promising updates, but there has been very minimal movement in the past year. I’ve pretty much resolved WP-Hive is not going to ever evolve past its current point.

2. According to the WP-Hive blog, it looks like the project will be moving to the freemium model.

A very basic feature I’m looking for may not make it into future versions. That’s a big fail imho. ;)

All I want is to be able to install WordPress into a separate domain, but still access the site from the root domain. This is a fairly common setup that does not work in the current version of WP-Hive (0.5.2).

I can get it to work, but it requires manually modifying the code.

Given the reasons I listed above, it’s not worth the effort.

I’m going to back to the tried and trued VMB. ;)

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@Curious: I am actually happy with my switch to WP-Hive. The #1 reason being simplicity of setup/use.

If you don’t consider yourself technical I would definitely recommend WP-Hive. Within the past couple months the developer has _finally_ started development on a new version that should be released soon (tomorrow in fact). Some of the cons I listed will be fixed in the new version (e.g. support for sub-directories).

As for the lack of individual wp-config.php files with WP-Hive, that won’t affect anyone on the public-facing end. It is really more of a flexibility feature for the person maintaining the blogs. It gives them more options on how to organize the different blogs. Maybe you want each blog to be in its own database. Maybe you want some related blogs together in one but a separate database for the rest.

It doesn’t sound like you’d t care about that flexibility. So one database/login is probably fine for you.

It’s easy to get started with WP-Hive so I’d recommend you take it for a test drive and see if it fits your needs before considering VMB and some of the other options.

Hope this helps!

-Alex

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Alex:

It has been 7 or 8 months now, and I wonder if you are still happy with your switch to Hive?

I am trying to decide between VMB and Hive, and not being very technical, it is hard. I want to have over 50 blogs eventually, with several writers.

It seems for me the main difference is in what you said;

“Hive. .. does not allow a separate wp-config.php file for each blog. That means all blogs have to be installed to the same database with the same database login and no ability to easily customize the table prefix.”

Why does this matter? What could a blogger do or not do because of this difference?

Thanks, I appreciate your time.

Aha! I hadn’t seen that comment before. I remember seeing one awhile back that required way too much effort for what it was worth.

It wouldn’t hurt to make that comment more prominent somewhere. Maybe in the readme or something. You have a ridiculous number of comments on the VMB post, so I’m sure lots of people will miss out on this tip.

And yes, build and expand on VMB. I’ll still be keeping an eye on its development. I have a special place in my heart for VMB since it was the first multi-blog solution that worked well for me. ;)

Keep it up!

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