Most WordPress management tools price by the site and let costs creep up quietly as a portfolio grows. Modular DS takes a different route: fixed-price plans with generous site allowances and built-in overage room, backed by a team that ran its own web agency before building the product. It’s now used by more than 3,000 agencies and freelancers to manage upward of 40,000 sites.
Here’s a full breakdown of what’s inside the platform, how billing actually works, and where it tends to fit best.
The Founders’ Angle
Modular DS was created by Héctor de Prada (CEO) and David Gómez (CTO), who spent years managing WordPress sites themselves — first as freelancers, then running their own agency — before building the tool. That firsthand experience shows up in a few deliberate choices: the platform ships in both English and Spanish, which the company positions as a first for a tool in this category, and pricing is fixed per plan tier rather than charged per site, so cost doesn’t scale unpredictably as a portfolio grows.
How Sites Connect
Modular DS is entirely cloud-based — there’s no self-hosted dashboard to maintain. A lightweight plugin called Modular Connector bridges each WordPress install to the platform; you either install it and enter the public/secret keys generated in your account, or let the system handle that connection step automatically. Once linked, a site shows up in the central dashboard for updates, backups, monitoring, and everything else.
Update Management
Bulk actions cover installing, updating, activating, deactivating, or removing plugins, themes, and WordPress core versions across one site or the entire portfolio at once, with known vulnerabilities flagged directly in that same view. Beyond straightforward bulk updates, Modular DS offers Safe Updates with automatic rollback for anything that breaks, plus Update Copilot — an AI system that scores each plugin update for risk and reliability before you apply it, so you’re not updating blind. Smart rules can also be configured to automate when and how updates run based on conditions you set, and a full update history tracks every change made — whether it happened through Modular DS or directly in WordPress — so you can trace the source of any issue later.
Backups and Restoration
Backups can be scheduled automatically or triggered manually, and can run as either full or incremental snapshots depending on what you need saved. Everything is stored in the cloud under GDPR-compliant conditions, with retention running 60 to 90 days depending on plan tier, and you can choose which region your backups live in — EU, US, or Asia.
Restoring works at the level you need: a full site recovery, or just specific files or database tables, either from the dashboard or with a single click directly inside the Modular Connector plugin, without needing server credentials.
Monitoring and Security
Uptime monitoring runs continuously with configurable check frequency (as tight as every 2 minutes on higher tiers), response-time thresholds, SSL certificate monitoring, and keyword-based detection, with alerts delivered by email, WhatsApp, and — on Business and Enterprise plans — Discord and Slack as well. Detailed check logs are kept so you can see exactly what happened around any downtime event.
On the security side, a Patchstack integration surfaces vulnerability alerts up to 48 hours before they’re publicly disclosed. The optional Patch & Protect add-on goes a step further with virtual patching and hardening rules that block exploit attempts against a known vulnerability even before an official fix is released.
The platform also watches for suspicious admin account changes, unusual performance drops, and outdated PHP versions, catching problems that don’t always announce themselves the way downtime does.
Database Optimization
Modular DS can clean up bloated WordPress databases — orphaned post meta, auto-draft posts, spam, transients, and old revisions — across one or many sites directly from the dashboard, without needing to install a separate cleanup plugin on each site.
Client Reporting
Automated, white-labeled maintenance reports pull in data from Google Analytics, Google Search Console, WooCommerce, and Google PageSpeed through built-in integrations, so a report can show traffic trends, search visibility, store performance, and Core Web Vitals alongside the maintenance work itself. Pre-maintenance reports are a notable extra here — they let you show a prospective client exactly what’s wrong with their site before you’ve even won the contract, turning the report into a sales tool rather than something that only appears after signing.
Additional Tools Worth Knowing
A handful of smaller features round out the platform: one-click login to any connected site without hunting down credentials, a custom maintenance-mode page to keep unfinished work hidden from visitors, WordPress Multisite support for managing each subsite individually from one dashboard, and team collaboration with custom roles so staff or clients can get scoped access rather than full admin rights.
Security Architecture
Connections between Modular DS and each WordPress site are authenticated via OAuth2, using tokens that expire and can be revoked at any time — your WordPress login credentials themselves are never stored on the platform. Every request exchanged between Modular DS and a connected site is additionally signed with JWT (JSON Web Tokens) to verify authenticity. All servers and databases run within the EU, and the company states plainly that client data is never sold to third parties.
Pricing
Modular DS runs four fixed-price plans, billed monthly or annually (with up to 17% saved on annual billing):
| Plan | Price/mo | Sites | Users | Backup Frequency | Storage | Retention | Uptime Checks |
| Freelance | €13 | 10 | 1 | Weekly | 25 GB | Up to 60 days | Every 15 min |
| Starter | €29 | 35 | 3 | Every 24h | 100 GB | Up to 60 days | Every 5 min |
| Business | €49 | 75 | 5 | Every 24h | 250 GB | Up to 60 days | Every 2 min |
| Enterprise | €86 | 125 | 10 | Every 24h | 500 GB | Up to 90 days | Every 2 min |
Every tier includes safe updates with Update Copilot, client reports, security and vulnerability scanning, database optimization, and a white-label plugin option — the plans differ in scale (sites, users, storage, backup frequency) and in notification channels and priority support rather than in which core features are unlocked. If you go over a plan’s site, user, or storage limit, overage billing lets you add the extra capacity at the end of the month rather than forcing an upgrade to the next tier.
A 14-day free trial with full feature access requires no credit card. If you don’t upgrade before the trial ends, the account stays reachable for login but connected sites get locked, and are removed automatically after a few more days of inactivity. Switching plans mid-cycle only charges the price difference for an upgrade, and a 15-day refund window applies from the date of purchase for any other reason you’re not satisfied. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period, with no automatic renewal after that.
Support and Migration
Support runs by chat and email seven days a week, in both English and Spanish, and time-sensitive or complex issues can escalate to a live call rather than staying in a ticket queue. If you’re switching from another platform, the Modular DS team will handle the migration for you at no charge, including setting up backups and uptime monitoring on your connected sites so nothing is left half-configured.
Real Agency Outcomes
Several published case studies give a sense of the scale Modular DS is used at: one agency moved more than 100 sites over from ManageWP and now saves roughly 8 hours a week on maintenance; another agency managing 100+ sites cut daily maintenance time from four hours to under one and grew revenue by 60%; a solo freelancer running 120+ sites reported cutting maintenance workload by 65% after switching.
Who Modular DS Fits Best
The fixed-price, generous-site-count structure makes the most sense for agencies and freelancers who want predictable monthly costs rather than a bill that climbs every time a new client site gets added — the overage system means growth doesn’t force an immediate plan jump either.
The bilingual support and interface make it a particularly strong fit for Spanish-speaking professionals and agencies serving Spanish-speaking markets, a niche most competitors in this space don’t address directly. Update Copilot’s risk scoring and the pre-maintenance report feature also suggest the platform is built with an eye toward agencies actively selling and justifying maintenance retainers, not just running them behind the scenes.
FAQs
Do I need to self-host anything to use Modular DS?
No. Modular DS is entirely cloud-based. Websites connect through the Modular Connector plugin, so you don’t need to host or maintain a separate server or dashboard.
Is my WordPress login information stored on Modular DS’s servers?
No. Site connections use OAuth2 authentication with revocable, expiring tokens. Your actual WordPress credentials are never stored on the Modular DS platform.
What is Update Copilot, exactly?
Update Copilot is an AI-driven scoring system built into the update workflow. It evaluates each plugin update for risk and reliability before you apply it, giving you more information than simply seeing that a new version is available.
If I manage more sites than my plan allows, do I have to upgrade immediately?
No. Modular DS supports overage billing, allowing you to add extra sites, users, or storage beyond your plan’s included limits. You pay for the additional usage at the end of the month instead of being forced to upgrade to a higher tier.
Can prospective clients see what’s wrong with their site before I’ve signed them?
Yes. Modular DS provides pre-maintenance reports that show potential clients the issues identified on their website. Agencies can use these reports as a sales tool when pitching maintenance services.
Where is my data physically stored, and does that satisfy GDPR?
Modular DS states that its servers and databases operate within the European Union. Backups can also be configured to be stored in the EU, US, or Asia, depending on your preference. The company states that client data is not sold to third parties.
What happens to my sites if my free trial ends without upgrading?
Your account remains accessible for login, but connected sites are locked from active management. If you don’t upgrade during the grace period, the connected sites are automatically removed.
Is switching from another WordPress management tool handled for me?
Yes. The Modular DS team handles migrations at no additional cost, including reconfiguring backups and uptime monitoring on your existing websites so those services remain properly configured after the switch.
What’s the refund policy if a plan turns out not to be right?
You have 15 days from the purchase date to request a full refund for any reason. This refund period is separate from the standard 14-day free trial.
Does support only run in English?
No. Modular DS provides support in both English and Spanish through chat and email, seven days a week. The company positions this multilingual support as one of its differentiating features.
7 Alternatives to Modular DS
Here’s how seven other WordPress management platforms compare to Modular DS’s fixed-price, bilingual approach:
- MainWP — self-hosted and free for unlimited sites, a very different model from Modular DS’s cloud-based fixed-price tiers.
- ManageWP — cloud-based with a free tier and premium add-ons billed per site rather than Modular DS’s flat plan pricing.
- WP Umbrella — a single flat per-site rate instead of Modular DS’s tiered site-count plans, with its own Safe Update and visual regression system.
- InfiniteWP — self-hosted with a free core and annual license tiers, an option for teams that want to own their dashboard infrastructure.
- WP Remote — leans heavily into security and AI/API workflows, with a stronger malware-scanning pedigree via BlogVault and MalCare.
- Solid Central — a deeper, more technical toolset built around deployments, migrations, and environment groups, bundled free with StellarSites hosting.
- CMS Commander — pairs standard maintenance features with content sourcing, spinning, and affiliate monetization tools.