Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

MainWP VS Visual Composer

Compare MainWP VS Visual Composer and see what are their differences

MainWP logo 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

Visual Composer logo Visual Composer

Visual Composer is an advanced website builder for WordPress.
  • MainWP Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-02

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 can do almost anything from your MainWP Dashboard that you would be able to do from your Child sites wp-admin.

Combined with the MainWP extensions, here's a glimpse of what you can do to manage hundreds of WordPress websites effortlessly:

💰 Free Forever

🏷 White Label

♾️ Connect Unlimited Websites

👥 Organize Sites in Groups

🕒 Uptime & Site Health Monitoring

🚩 Lighthouse

🔄 Effortless Bulk Updates

🚧 Staging, Clone

📝 Client Reports

🔒 Full Privacy, Self-hosted

🔗 Security & Backup Integrations

😌 Bulk Content Management (Draft, Publish, Edit, Trash)

💬 Comments

🛠 Maintenance

🛡 Security

📈 SEO, Traffic, etc. Analytics

🚀 Rocket

And a lot more 👉 https://mainwp.com/mainwp-extensions/

The MainWP plugin is 100% FREE, forever! However, MainWP Pro offers a wide range of 30+ premium Extensions at a single price. The extensions aren't required, but they extend the functionality to improve your workflows.

During the subscription, you'll get Priority Support, Important security & performance updates, and access to all new extensions.

  • Monthly: $29/mon

  • Yearly: $199/year

  • Lifetime: $499 (One-time)

  • Visual Composer Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-09-15

MainWP

Website
mainwp.com
$ Details
freemium $29 / Monthly (32+ Premium Extensions & Priority Support)
Platforms
Browser Web Wordpress WooCommerce
Release Date
2014 January

MainWP features and specs

  • Monitoring
  • Backups
  • Staging
  • Google Analytics
  • Core Web Vitals
  • Client Reporting
  • SEO
  • White label
  • WordPress plugin

Visual Composer features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    Visual Composer offers a drag-and-drop interface that makes it easy for users of all skill levels to create and edit web pages without needing to write any code.
  • Responsive Design
    The platform ensures that the websites built with it are mobile-friendly and responsive, adapting to various devices and screen sizes.
  • Wide Range of Templates
    Visual Composer provides a variety of pre-designed templates, allowing users to quickly start building their websites without starting from scratch.
  • Extensible with Add-ons
    The ecosystem of Visual Composer supports numerous add-ons and extensions, enabling users to enhance functionality as per their specific needs.
  • SEO Friendly
    Visual Composer is designed to be SEO-friendly, ensuring that the websites built using this tool adhere to SEO best practices.
  • Regular Updates
    The platform receives regular updates which include new features, improvements, and security patches, keeping it current and robust.
  • Customer Support
    Visual Composer offers dedicated customer support, including documentation, forums, and direct support, to assist users with any issues they encounter.

Possible disadvantages of Visual Composer

  • Performance Impact
    Websites built with Visual Composer can sometimes experience slower load times due to the additional code and scripts generated by the tool.
  • Learning Curve for Advanced Features
    While the basic functions are user-friendly, mastering advanced features and customizations may require a steeper learning curve.
  • Dependency on Shortcodes
    Visual Composer relies heavily on shortcodes for its functionality, which can make it difficult to switch to another page builder without significant manual cleanup.
  • Cost
    There is a cost associated with using Visual Composer, especially for premium features and templates, which may not be suitable for budget-conscious users.
  • Compatibility Issues
    There can be compatibility issues with some WordPress themes and plugins, leading to potential conflicts and the need for troubleshooting.
  • Limited Custom Code Modifications
    For advanced users looking to implement custom code, Visual Composer might feel restrictive as it abstracts much of the code behind visual elements.
  • Potential for Overcomplication
    The multitude of features and options can sometimes overwhelm users, leading to overcomplicated designs that may detract from user experience and site performance.

Analysis of Visual Composer

Overall verdict

  • Visual Composer is generally considered a good tool for building websites, especially for users who appreciate its visual editing capabilities and ease of use. While some users may find it costlier compared to other options, its robust feature set and regular updates often justify the investment for many.

Why this product is good

  • Visual Composer is a popular website builder and page editor that offers a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface. It is favored for its extensive library of design elements, compatibility with a wide range of themes, and integration with various plugins. It caters to both beginners and advanced users, offering flexibility and creative control in designing web pages. The responsive design options make it suitable for creating mobile-friendly websites, and its SEO-friendly features help in optimizing web pages for search engines.

Recommended for

  • Small business owners looking to create or maintain their website
  • Freelancers and agencies designing websites for clients
  • Bloggers and content creators who value ease of design and customization
  • Users who prefer a code-free, visual editing environment

MainWP videos

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)

Visual Composer videos

Visual Composer Website Builder For Wordpress

More videos:

  • Review - Elementor vs. Visual Composer: What WordPress Page Builder Is Better? Wordpress Visual Composer
  • Review - Visual Composer Premium Review - Is Visual Composer Premium Legit?

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to MainWP and Visual Composer)
WordPress
67 67%
33% 33
Website Builder
0 0%
100% 100
Tool
100 100%
0% 0
CMS
0 0%
100% 100

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing MainWP and Visual Composer.

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 Visual Composer. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare MainWP and Visual Composer

MainWP Reviews

We have no reviews of MainWP yet.
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Visual Composer Reviews

Top 9 Elementor Alternatives in 2023
Visual Composer is a page builder that goes beyond simple page design. With other page builders, you might need additional plugins to customize your theme or provide specific functionality. However, Visual Composer offers an all-in-one solution for editing the look and feel of your website.
Source: kinsta.com
7 Best Elementor Alternatives 2023
Visual Composer is completely separate from the plugin you might’ve used to know as Visual Composer a few years ago (now, that plugin is called WPBakery Page Builder and is next on our list).
Source: athemes.com
10 Best Elementor Alternatives
You can customize elements such as background, spaces, and borders using powerful design options. Visual Composer supports integration with Unsplash stock photos. So, you can download high-quality stock photos to your media library from the frontend editor.
10 Best Drag and Drop Page Builders for WordPress 2020
I will explain the confusion behind the Visual Composer and WPBakery Page Builder branding in the next section, however it is worth noting that in their Visual Composer vs WPBakery explanation page, the developers state that WPBakery Page Builder had performance issues as it used shortcodes, whereas Visual Composer uses ReactJS to ensure better website performance and SEO.
Source: athemes.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, MainWP should be more popular than Visual Composer. It has been mentiond 8 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

MainWP mentions (8)

  • 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 export into a spreadsheet. I need a centralized report that I can pass around other people in order to make larger decisions. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Website Developer Mentor - side job
    Each site is connected to MainWP. This allows us to monitor and patch all sites from a central place. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Nextcloud checking wordpress sites for updates?
    Currently I use mainwp.com from one WP site, but I thought it would be kinda neat to just see it on my daily Nextcloud homepage. Source: over 4 years ago
View more

Visual Composer mentions (2)

  • Create a WordPress website with just a click!
    Horray! Also it provides you a free subdomain. So you don't need buy any Shared Linux host or domain for just testing or creating a landing page with Elementor or Visual Composer! - Source: dev.to / over 4 years ago
  • How do I build a GOOD looking website?
    I've found that the plugin Visual Composer has been the best option. They have a free theme too (Visual Composer starter theme) to get started. Source: over 5 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing MainWP and Visual Composer, you can also consider the following products

ManageWP - ManageWP is a service for bloggers, site owners and web based companies helping them manage multiple WordPress sites from one dashboard.

Elementor - Elementor is a front-end drag & drop page builder for WordPress.

InfiniteWP - Manage unlimited https://alternativeto.net/software/wordpress/ sites from a central admin panel.

Divi Theme - A flexible WordPress theme with the power of Divi Builder built in.

WP Umbrella - The easiest way to manage multiple WordPress websites effortlessly.

Brizy - The effortless way to build WordPress websites visually