Wordpress Multisite with different domains and themes

Question

We want to set up a multisite Wordpress install on our main domain, let's call it "mainwebsite.com", as well as a number of other domains, let's call them "mainwebsite2.com" and "mainwebsite3.com"

However, is there a way we can get it working such that the following are true:

1. Plugins are shared by all domains, so that they only need to be installed/updated once

2. URLs would remain specific to each domain, rather than as subdirectories or subdomains of the main domain (so mainwebsite.com/about and mainwebsite2.com/about are two different pages with different URLs but are managed from one central Wordpress install)

3. Page content can be separated by domain (so mainwebsite.com/about and mainwebsite2.com/about would have different content)

4. Themes would be unique to each domain

I've read a couple different options for getting something like this setup (using domain aliases, using the MU Domain Mapping plugin), I'm just not entirely sure if any of them are going to work, given the requirements we need for this.

Thank you for any assistance!

Answer 1

What you're describing is a WordPress multi-site install. Everything you described will work.

The WordPress Codex has most of the information you'll need to get started: https://codex.wordpress.org/Create_A_Network

As of WordPress 4.5 domain mapping is native to WordPress and you don't need a plugin.

https://wordpress.org/support/article/wordpress-multisite-domain-mapping

It's a pretty straight forward setup but following the guide above and / or doing a bit of googling will definitely get you through it.

The most involved part will be adding the different domains, which some of that work will need to be done through hosting / registrars.