SendTidings vs MainWP.

MainWP’s reporting grew out of what MainWP does: it watches the things you change. Plugins updated, themes activated, core patched, backups taken, users added. Wire in the other extensions and you can pull uptime, security scans, page speed and Google Analytics traffic alongside it. For an agency whose monthly email is a record of work performed, that is a genuinely good fit, and the price is hard to argue with.

SendTidings starts from the other end. The client’s question isn’t “what did you change?” but “is this site doing anything for my business?” So the report leads with visitors and their direction of travel, where they came from, how search is performing, and the enquiries the site produced: call clicks, email clicks, contact-form submissions, WooCommerce purchases. Site health is in there too, phrased as reassurance rather than a changelog. It arrives as a plain monthly letter and as a live white-label dashboard the client opens from a secure magic link.

Most agencies we talk to end up running both, and that’s the sensible answer. Keep MainWP for the plumbing you own outright; add a reporting layer that speaks to the client rather than to you. They don’t compete for the same job.

• Your client list isn’t all WordPress. One Shopify store or static build and a WordPress-only tool is the wrong shape. The same report format covers everything.
• You want outcomes, not a changelog. Enquiries, search performance and goals a client watches as live progress bars, rather than a list of plugin versions.
• You’d rather not host the reporting. Self-hosting is a feature until the box needs updating. SendTidings is hosted, and there is nothing for you to keep patched.
• You want a dashboard as well as a letter. Clients open a live, white-labelled view with a magic link, no password, and the monthly email still lands in the inbox.