WP Umbrella vs WPCentral (2026): Which Is Best for Agencies?
Key takeaway: our top pick for agencies is Glow, because it adds client support tickets and time tracking to the maintenance and white-label reports that WP Umbrella also covers, in one hosted dashboard with your first site free. Between these two, choose WP Umbrella, because WPCentral looks dormant: its connector plugin has been permanently closed on WordPress.org since 3 July 2023 at the author's request, the version its site still serves (1.5.7) is listed as affected by CVE-2023-41854 with no fix shown on WPScan, and its blog stopped in August 2021. WP Umbrella is actively developed and includes backups, uptime, safe updates and reports in one per-site price.
Disclosure: Glow is our product. Competitor details are from their own websites, checked November 2026.
- Choose Glow (best overall for agencies) if: you run care plans that include client support, maintenance and reporting, and want backups and security included on every site.
- Choose WP Umbrella if: you want a simple per-site price for maintenance only, with backups stored in the EU.
- Avoid starting with WPCentral: its plugin is no longer distributed on WordPress.org and shows no sign of active development.
How do WP Umbrella and WPCentral compare side by side?
Prices as of November 2026, from each vendor's own pages. WP Umbrella prices in euros and also shows a US dollar price. "Not found" means we did not find it on the vendor's pages.
| Glow | WP Umbrella | WPCentral | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Model | Hosted SaaS + free plugin | Hosted SaaS + plugin | Hosted dashboard + connector plugin |
| Starting price (as of November 2026) | First site free; $1.95 per site per month | €1.99 per site per month ($2.19 shown in USD) | Free plan; paid plans listed from $2.50 per month for 1 site |
| Free tier | First site only, all features | No; 14-day free trial | Yes, unlimited sites (listed) |
| Bulk and safe updates | Yes, Safe Updates with automatic rollback | Yes, with automatic rollback | Bulk updates; rollback not found |
| Built-in backups | Included: daily, last 7 kept, 10GB per site, EU or US storage | Included: encrypted, incremental, kept 50 days in the EU | Yes, local and remote (listed) |
| Uptime | Included, from 3-minute checks | Included | Not found |
| Security | Vulnerability alerts, safe patching, login protection, file scan | Patchstack vulnerability checks, hardening, 2FA; firewall and malware scanning €2 per site per month | "Regular security checks" (no detail published) |
| Client reports | Included, white-label, automated | Included, white-label | Mentioned; white label not stated |
| Support tickets | Yes, shared inbox with time tracking | Not found | Not found |
| Client plugin status | On WordPress.org | Updated 30 October 2026, 90,000+ active installs | Closed on WordPress.org since 3 July 2023 |
| Best for | Best overall for agencies: support, maintenance and reports in one place | Flat per-site pricing with the essentials included | Existing Softaculous users only |
WP Umbrella: best for one simple per-site price
WP Umbrella is an independent SaaS that charges €1.99 per site per month as of November 2026, with no feature tiers and no charge per team member. Its plugin was updated on 30 October 2026 and has more than 90,000 active installs. The price includes bulk updates, safe updates with automatic rollback, uptime and PageSpeed monitoring, vulnerability checks against the Patchstack database every 6 hours, hardening and 2FA, white-label client reports and unlimited team members with roles.
Backups are a genuine strength: encrypted, incremental and kept for 50 days on EU-based infrastructure (servers in France), which helps with GDPR-conscious clients. Hourly backups cost €2.49 per site per month, and a Security add-on with firewall, malware scanning and IP blocklist is €2. There is a 14-day trial with no card and 10% off for yearly prepay.
Honest limitation: there is no free plan, so every connected site costs money after the trial. The firewall and malware scanning are extra, and no client ticketing, client portal or white-label dashboard is listed (white label covers reports).
WPCentral: dormant since 2023
WPCentral is owned by Softaculous and ties into the Softaculous installer for installing, staging and deleting sites. Its website still lists a free plan for unlimited sites and paid plans from $2.50 per month (1 site) to $34 per month (100 sites), with a 7-day trial and the same features on every plan: bulk updates, automated local and remote backups and reports.
Behind that, development appears to have stopped. WordPress.org closed the wpCentral plugin on 3 July 2023 and lists the closure as permanent, at the author's request. The download on WPCentral's site is still version 1.5.7, which CVE-2023-41854 (a cross-site request forgery issue disclosed on 10 October 2023) lists as affected, with no fix shown on WPScan. The last blog post is dated 20 August 2021.
Honest limitation: a closed plugin with an unfixed listed vulnerability is a risk on client sites, and there is no visible route to future fixes. No uptime monitoring, ticketing or client portal was found.
Which should you choose?
- You sell care plans with client support: Glow, our top pick. Tickets, maintenance, backups, security and reports are in one dashboard, and the first site is free.
- Under 20 sites: WP Umbrella costs about €40 a month for 20 sites with backups, uptime and reports included. If you need a free tier, look at other maintained tools rather than WPCentral.
- 20 to 100 sites: WP Umbrella stays predictable as it scales linearly at €1.99 per site.
- EU data residency: WP Umbrella states EU backup storage. Glow lets you choose EU or US storage per site.
- Existing WPCentral users: migrate to a maintained tool and remove the wpCentral plugin once the new one is connected.
- If clients send you requests: neither lists support ticketing.
Is there an option that does both? Glow, best overall for agencies
Yes, and it is our top recommendation for agencies: Glow combines support tickets, WordPress maintenance and white-label client reports in one hosted dashboard. Clients email in, your team replies from a shared inbox with assignment, private notes and time tracking, and monthly time budgets per client show up in the reports.
Like WP Umbrella, maintenance is included rather than sold as add-ons: Safe Updates with before and after screenshots and automatic rollback, daily backups with EU or US storage per site and 1-click full or selective restore, uptime monitoring and Glow Security with vulnerability alerts, automatic safe patching and login protection. Glow also offers a white-label dashboard on your own domain and an MCP connector for Claude and ChatGPT. Your first site is free, then $1.95 per site per month for sites 2 to 100 (see pricing).
WP Umbrella and Glow both include maintenance in one per-site price; the difference is that Glow also runs your client support desk. If you are moving off WPCentral anyway, connecting sites to Glow with its free plugin from WordPress.org is a clean break. Compare in more detail: Glow vs WP Umbrella.
Honest limitation: Glow Security is not a firewall and does not include malware cleanup, where WP Umbrella sells a firewall and malware scanning add-on.
Frequently asked questions
Is WPCentral still active in 2026?
Its website is live, but the product looks dormant. The connector plugin has been closed on WordPress.org since July 2023, the version still served is listed as affected by CVE-2023-41854 with no fix shown, and the blog stopped in August 2021.
How much does WP Umbrella cost?
€1.99 per site per month as of November 2026 ($2.19 shown in USD), with all core features included. Hourly backups and the Security add-on cost extra.
Does WP Umbrella have a free plan?
No. It offers a 14-day free trial with all features and no credit card.
Where does WP Umbrella store backups?
On EU-based infrastructure, with servers in France. Backups are encrypted, incremental and kept for 50 days.
Which tool includes client support tickets?
Neither WP Umbrella nor WPCentral lists a ticket system. Glow includes support tickets with time tracking alongside maintenance and reports.
Start free with Glow: free for your first site, no credit card.