Software Alternatives & Startups

MainWP VS Opalstack

Compare MainWP VS Opalstack and see what are their differences

MainWP

A Free, Open-source, & Self-hosted one-stop solution to manage Unlimited WordPress websites from a single dashboard. MainWP is the only management plugin with 2000+ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ reviews on WP.org

MainWP Landing page
Rating
0 reviews
Pricing
Open source Freemium Free trial $29 / Monthly (32+ Premium Extensions & Priority Support)
Opalstack

Managed Hosting for developers, entrepreneurs, and businesses like yours

Opalstack Landing page
Rating
0 reviews
Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Which is more popular?

Based on our record, MainWP seems to be more popular. It has been mentioned 8 times since March 2021.

social mentions
8 vs 0
WordPress popularity
100% vs 0%

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

MainWP
Opalstack
Website mainwp.com opalstack.com
Pricing
Open source Freemium Free trial $29 / Monthly (32+ Premium Extensions & Priority Support) Official pricing
Platforms
Browser Web Wordpress WooCommerce +1
Company 2014
Listed in

About MainWP and Opalstack

In their own words, as submitted to SaaSHub.

MainWP
Opalstack

MainWP is a suite of open-source self-hosted plugins & extensions for users that have multiple WordPress sites and want to control them from one central location. This includes sites on different hosts or servers. Once you have connected your sites (called Child Sites) to your Dashboard, you...

Read more about MainWP

No description of Opalstack yet.

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

MainWP 9 features
Opalstack 5 features
  • Monitoring
  • Backups
  • Staging
  • Google Analytics
  • Core Web Vitals
  • Client Reporting
  • SEO
  • White label
  • WordPress plugin
  • Developer-Friendly Hosting
    Opalstack is designed with developers in mind, offering SSH access, Git integration, and support for multiple programming languages and frameworks including Python, Node.js, Ruby, and PHP, giving developers granular control over their hosting environment.
  • Affordable Pricing
    Opalstack offers competitive pricing for shared and managed hosting plans, making it an accessible option for small businesses, freelancers, and individual developers who need robust features without enterprise-level costs.
  • Modern Control Panel
    Opalstack provides a clean, modern, and intuitive web-based dashboard for managing sites, applications, databases, and email accounts, which is a significant improvement over older-style hosting control panels like cPanel.
  • Strong Support for Multiple Applications
    The platform supports a wide variety of application types including WordPress, Django, Flask, Express, static sites, and more, allowing users to host diverse projects on a single account with easy deployment.
  • Reliable Infrastructure and Support
    Opalstack is built by former WebFaction team members, bringing experienced hosting expertise. They offer responsive customer support and a reputation for stable, well-managed server infrastructure with good uptime.

Possible disadvantages

  • Smaller Community and Ecosystem
    Compared to major hosting providers like DigitalOcean, AWS, or even shared hosts like SiteGround, Opalstack has a smaller user base, which means fewer community tutorials, third-party guides, and forum discussions available for troubleshooting.
  • Limited Scalability Options
    Opalstack is primarily a shared hosting provider, which means it may not be the best choice for high-traffic applications or projects that require rapid, on-demand scaling of resources like CPU, RAM, or storage.
  • Not Ideal for Beginners
    While developer-friendly, Opalstack's approach can be intimidating for non-technical users. Setting up applications often requires familiarity with the command line and server configuration, which may not suit those looking for simple one-click solutions.
  • Limited Data Center Locations
    Opalstack offers a relatively small number of data center locations compared to major cloud providers, which may result in higher latency for users targeting audiences in regions not well-served by the available server locations.
  • Fewer Managed Services and Add-ons
    Unlike larger hosting platforms, Opalstack lacks a wide range of managed add-on services such as built-in CDN integration, managed backups with granular restore options, or one-click SSL management that more mainstream providers offer out of the box.

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

MainWP
Opalstack

No analysis of MainWP yet.

Overall verdict

  • Opalstack is a solid choice for developers and tech-savvy users seeking an affordable, flexible control panel hosting solution with good performance and transparent pricing, though it may require more technical know-how than mainstream cPanel hosts.

Why this product is good

  • Uses a custom lightweight control panel that's fast and efficient compared to resource-heavy alternatives like cPanel
  • Offers straightforward, transparent pricing without hidden fees or aggressive upselling
  • Provides SSD storage and solid server performance for the price point
  • Supports multiple app types including Python, Node.js, and various frameworks beyond typical PHP hosting
  • Founded by the original creators of WebFaction, bringing significant hosting industry experience
  • Good for running multiple websites/apps under one account with granular resource control
  • Responsive customer support with a knowledgeable team
  • No long-term contracts required, allowing flexibility

Recommended for

  • Developers who need support for Python, Node.js, or other non-PHP applications
  • Users comfortable with a more technical, non-cPanel control panel interface
  • Small businesses or freelancers hosting multiple websites who want granular control
  • Former WebFaction users looking for a similar service after its shutdown
  • Budget-conscious users who want VPS-like flexibility without full server management
  • Users who prioritize transparent pricing over bundled marketing extras

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

MainWP 3 videos + Add
Opalstack 0 videos + Add

How to Manage Multiple Websites with ManageWP on Wordpress (MainWP Alternative)

More videos

  • Review - Manage and control all your WordPress sites with MainWP
  • Review - Using MainWP for Client Website Maintenance (a biased review)

No Opalstack videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
MainWP
Opalstack
100% 100%
0% 0%
0% 0%
100% 100%
100% 100%
0% 0%
0% 0%
100% 100%

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing MainWP and Opalstack.

What makes your product unique?

MainWP's answer

It's Open Source, Self-hosted, and privacy-focused WordPress plugin.

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

MainWP's answer

Digital Agencies, Freelancers, Developers, in fact, everyone who has multiple WordPress websites.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

MainWP's answer

It's Privacy-Focused and affordable—single pricing to get everything.

Who are some of the biggest customers of your product?

MainWP's answer

Can't disclose that, however, as per our public stats on wp .org, 10k+ users are managing over 600,000 WordPress sites which makes 60 sites on average.

User comments

Share your experience with using MainWP and Opalstack. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

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Social recommendations and mentions

Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.

MainWP 8 mentions
Opalstack 0 mentions
  • Managing Performance Across 50+ WordPress Sites Without Burning Out
    MainWP offers another centralized management option that's self-hosted on your infrastructure, which works well if you want full control over the management layer without relying on external services. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Flat Rate Website Acceleration Tools for Agencies
    MainWP is a management dashboard making plugin deployment and monitoring simpler. Pairs well with free optimization plugins if you control hosting. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Does WP-CLI have a command to detect out-of-date plugins?
    I've inherited about 40+ of wordpress sites and I need to produce a report on any plugins that are no longer maintained. I know that MainWP can do this but I would like to be able to run a search through the command line so that I can... Source: over 3 years ago

View more

Tracking Opalstack since Sep 2023.

Alternatives to MainWP and Opalstack

When comparing MainWP and Opalstack, you can also consider the following products.