WP Umbrella: How good is this WordPress site maintenance and monitoring tool?

Do you own a car? If so, you know that regular maintenance is important. This helps to limit breakdowns and other mechanical problems. 

For your WordPress site, the logic remains the same. If you want it to always be up and running, without interruptions or errors, Maintenance and monitoring operations are necessary..

To take care of them, the WP Umbrella WordPress plugin can make your life easier, while saving you a lot of time. 

Are you unfamiliar with this website management tool? This article will introduce it to you and show you how to use it. 

Ultimately, you will know our concrete user review, based on our experience with the tool. We have been using it for several years and are starting to know it well.

What is WP Umbrella?

A French solution for managing your WordPress sites "effortless"

WP Umbrella is a WordPress site management tool from a single dashboard.

It allows you to perform daily maintenance tasks "effortless" Automatic backups, one-click updates, WordPress monitoring, and automated report creation.

This is a French-made solution created in July 2021. At the time of publication, it claims to be used by more than 10,000 companies. an excellent customer satisfaction rate (96%). 

Who is WP Umbrella intended for?

As stated several times on its official website, WP Umbrella targets two types of users: 

• the agencies ; 
• freelancers. 

If you are used to creating all types of WordPress sites (showcase, online store with WooCommerce, blog, member area etc) and manage them for you and/or your clients, WP Umbrella can help you.

Thanks to this solution, you no longer need to perform each maintenance task (backup, update etc.) manually, and site by site.

All your sites are grouped on the same interfaceThis saves you from having to log in to each one of them to perform the same time-consuming operations each time. 

Why use WP Umbrella?

The two co-founders of WP Umbrella, Thomas Deneulin (CTO) and Aurelio Volle (CEO), created their tool with one idea in mind: to simplify the lives of their users. "in their WordPress maintenance activities" by automating their workflow. 

In practice, you will benefit from several advantages: 

• time and productivity gains, for example, with the possibility for you to perform different actions (e.g., plugin updates) in a grouped manner, on several sites at the same time, from the same dashboard; 
• The ease of use, thanks to a highly intuitive centralized dashboard with an impeccable user interface (UI). WP Umbrella is both simple to install and to use; 
• security reinforcement As soon as a problem is detected on your site (outage, error, failure of an automatic update, etc.), you are immediately alerted. You also gain in "peace of mind", as WP Umbrella asserts; 
• the assurance of benefiting from a scalable toolThe tool is updated frequently, at least once a month, with new features appearing over time; 
• demonstrate transparency towards your clients, with the ability to automatically generate automated reports to demonstrate the operations performed and the value of your work; 
• benefit from responsive support that answers in French ; 
• compliance with GDPR, to protect your data and that of your users.

Do you want to activate WP Umbrella on your sites? Discover our user guide in the following section. 

Steps to activate WP Umbrella on your WordPress sites

Step 1: Install the WP Umbrella plugin on your WordPress site

The first step is to install the WP Umbrella extension on your WordPress site. 

To do this, go to the Extensions menu > Add New. Type "WP Umbrella" in the search bar. Install and then activate the plugin:

Next, go to the Extensions > WP Umbrella menu. You have two options: 

• creating an account to obtain an API key; 
• adding your WP Umbrella API key, if you already have an account. 

We will assume that you do not yet have an account, which brings us to step #2, just below. 

Tips From a technical standpoint, the plugin allows you to connect your WordPress site to the platform. SaaS (Software as a Service) from WP Umbrella. Thanks to this, you won't have to log in individually to each of your WordPress sites; they will all be in the same place on your accessible WP Umbrella dashboard. directly online on this page. 

Step 2: Create an account to connect your API key

Creating an account requires entering the following information in a short registration form: 

• your first name; 
• your last name; 
• an address ; 
• a password. 

Check the box relating to the terms of service, then finish by clicking the "Register" button:

WP Umbrella will automatically connect your site to its service and prompt you to visit its dashboard. If you do, you should see an interface that looks like this:

Step 3: Add all your WordPress sites to the maintenance tool

You now know how to link your first WordPress site to WP Umbrella. If you have multiple sites under maintenance, Repeat the process on each of them. to add them to your dashboard.

The only small difference in the protocol to follow is that there is no longer a need to create an account each time.

Simply add your API key. For your information, you'll find it in the "API Key" menu on your WP Umbrella online interface:

WP Umbrella features: what can you do with this tool?

Manage all your sites in one place

When you are logged into your interface, you have access to all your data on a single dashboard. 

You have an initial overview of the current state of your site in the central area:

In the screenshot below, you can see the following elements: 

• the site's Google PageSpeed ​​Insights score (98.1583 ms); 
• the number of updates to perform (9 updates); 
• the detection of two security-related risks (“2 risks”); 
• the number of PHP errors recorded ("0 Issue"); 
• a button to connect you to your WordPress dashboard with one click (WP Admin) to access your back office.

You can access the various features offered by the tool either via the menus provided in the left sidebar, or by clicking on the site of your choice. 

Perform bulk updates with WP Umbrella

For example, by clicking on the site we just added, we have access to a tab called "WordPress Management".

This is where you can perform bulk updates (bulk management) of your plugins, themes and the WordPress core (all its source files).

To do this, simply check the boxes corresponding to the extensions of your choice, then click on the "Update" button:

As soon as an extension update is required, the plugin automatically appears in the list in a synchronized manner. You can also enable, disable, and remove the extensions of your choice. from here. 

Perform automated backups

To reinforce the security of your WordPress siteIt is essential to back it up regularly (among other things). 

You can achieve this using the "Backups" tab in WP Umbrella:

You can realize manual and/or automatic backupsHere are the main features of this functionality WordPress backup : 

• incremental backups : only new content is saved between each backup, to optimize performance; 
• option to choose the frequency of your automatic backups monthly, weekly, daily or hourly;
• Possibility of select the files and tables from your database to be excluded from the backup, if necessary; 
• site restoration with the backup of your choice possible, with the option to download it; 
• 50-day cloud storage for your backups on European servers to comply with the GDPR.  

Monitor your WordPress site

Another important aspect for ensuring the security of your site and its overall smooth operation is its monitoring. In technical terms, this is called monitoring. 

Several tabs can provide you with information on this overall aspect:

• the "Monitoring" tab details the performance of your site (loading speed), with a Google PageSpeed ​​Insights score:

• the "PHP Issues" tab informs you about the possible detection of PHP errors such as error 500, For example ;
• the "Security" tab It informs you about several things at once. First, it shows you the vulnerabilities detected in your plugins, themes, and WordPress core. Then you have access to security checks. WP Umbrella informs you about SSL-related problems (HTTPS), to mixed URLs, to your version of PHP and WordPress etc.

To be informed in real time of any technical issues on your sites, you can also set up alerts via email or Slack.

Alerts that will inform you, for example, of detected vulnerabilities, or the availability of a backup for download.

But also, and above all, the downtime of your sites, that is to say the periods during which they are offline (your visitors can no longer access your content)!

This can happen from time to time, for example, if there is a problem with your hosting server. 

Needless to say, it's best to avoid downtime as much as possible, because They damage your brand image, your sales, and your organic search engine optimization (SEO)..

They are also very detrimental to user experience, as they prevent your potential customers from taking action to download a document, request a quote, or purchase a product or service.

Thanks to WP Umbrella, you can react immediately to find a quick solution to a downtime!

Create automated maintenance reports

Finally, let's look at one last very practical feature if you provide website maintenance for clients. 

WP Umbrella allows you to create customizable activity reports in French to inform your clients about the management operations carried out on their site.

This feature is available in white label, meaning you can customize your report with your company name, colors and logo, without any mention of the brand and the WP Umbrella plugin.

Everything is done using a very handy step-by-step setup wizard.

You can choose from multiple information items to include/exclude (backups, performance, updates, monitoring, data) google analytics 4 etc.), and even schedule the automatic sending of your reports by email, with a personalized message for each client each time:

We've finished detailing the features of the website management tool. Let's now move on to the pricing section.

How much does WP Umbrella cost?

As you now know, WP Umbrella champions simplicity. This is also reflected in its pricing policy, which is very easy to understand.

To take advantage of this tool, The price is $1,99/month per siteThis gives you access to all WP Umbrella features, as well as personalized email support. The subscription can be cancelled at any time.

Summary & review of WP Umbrella

To conclude this test and review of WP Umbrella, let's first summarize the major advantages and disadvantages of this SaaS platform. 

Advantages of WP Umbrella

• Multi-site management and maintenance are facilitated through the automation of multiple tasks; 
• A single dashboard to carry out all your operations on all your sites at the same time; 
• Excellent value for money ; 
• A tool suitable for all types of profiles – from beginner to experienced technician – due to its ease of use;
• A user-friendly and ergonomic interface ; 
• Real-time monitoring from your site, with the possibility of being alerted to react as quickly as possible; 
• Creating automated maintenance reports ; 
• Responsive and efficient support ; 
• Taking user needs into account to improve the toolMoreover, WP Umbrella offers complete transparency a clear roadmap with features currently under development.

Drawbacks  

• The dashboard and interface menus are not available in French. ;
• The absence of a sliding scale pricing structure depending on the number of sites you wish to add. 

WP Maintenance's opinion on WP Umbrella

The Maintenance WP agency team is unanimous. In our opinion, WP Umbrella is an excellent companion for tracking all the important data of your WordPress sites in one place.

We recommend this tool for performing your daily maintenance and monitoring your sites. We have been using it for several years on multiple projects and are very satisfied with it.

Finally, we draw your attention to an important point of concern. Despite its effectiveness and reliability, WP Umbrella is not a magic tool. 

Once it detects a problem, for example a PHP error or a conflict between two extensions, it is up to you to fix it by applying good technical practices!

Provided you know what to do… and have the time to get down to it. That's where…human expertisecoupled with excellent knowledge of WordPress, are necessary. 

Do you need assistance with the maintenance of your WordPress site? Contact us for a customized solution. that meets your needs with speed, reliability and professionalism.

FAQ

Who are WP Umbrella's competitors?

There are several alternatives to WP Umbrella, such as ManageWP, MainWP, WP Remote, and iThemes Sync. In this regard, WP Umbrella offers a free migration service to its tool from any competitor. 

Can I use WP Umbrella for free?

Yes, but with significant limitations. The tool offers a free 14-day trial version with all its features. After this period, you can only use the health check tool and the secure update technology.

Is WP Umbrella compliant with the GDPR? 

Yes, WP Umbrella is GDPR compliant. For example, the service states that it only uses "Servers and databases hosted in Europe" and that it only stores "Data strictly necessary for the operation of the service".

Is WP Umbrella compatible with multiple sites?
You can easily use WP Umbrella to manage the maintenance and monitoring ofa multi-site network.