I recommend this service to all WordPress users, whether they develop professionally or just for fun. The service is inexpensive enough for those with personal blogs to be able to justify paying a small monthly charge, and it scales well for people with larger and more sites to manage. With a free iControlWP trial for one site, you really have nothing to lose.
My WordPress life has become much simpler thanks to iControlWP and WorpDrive—and now I have more time and energy to focus on creating content!
I have been using and enjoying WordPress for several years and have had very few problems. One aspect always bothered me, however—the mess of creating and managing backups. “Verify the backups you created are there and usable” reads one of the steps in the Codex for upgrading WordPress. But was I ever really sure my backups were usable and would work when I needed them? Was I even sure I had all the files up to date in my backups? And surely, I wanted to backup more often than just the few times a year I would upgrade WordPress—but it was certainly a burden to do so every day.
I first learned about iControlWP when I installed the authors’ Bootstrap plugin. What initially caught my attention was their announcement of a simple backup system for WordPress—WorpDrive—that was in development at the time. While I waited for this system to become available, I explored the other features of WordPress Management Control Panel, which were impressive from the start. The interface is friendly and easy to use. I like the ability to see which sites are in need of updates or other attention and to tend to them with a single click. The database optimization and security features combine further important aspects of WordPress administration in one convenient location. The iControlWP dashboard is a huge time-saver for me, and I currently administer only four sites. Its value can only increase the more sites you have to manage.
The iControlWP system itself is reliable and makes WordPress management simple, but the customer service really puts them over the top. Paul worked tirelessly with me to address issues that were unique to my site and server setup, and to optimize and customize my iControlWP experience. He was very quick to recognize when an issue I noticed could be a symptom of a potential larger issue that might develop in the future, and to shore it up solidly and efficiently. He always responds quickly and completely. The focus is always on strengthening the customer’s experience, understanding, and confidence even if it involves going back to the drawing board to implement an idea in a better way.
