Choosing an MCP plugin for WordPress? Ask these ten questions.
Many plugins let an AI app work on WordPress, several of them free. Before one writes to a live site, check how it handles mistakes, crashes, permissions and your data. Here is how PowerWP AI answers each question.
What to check before an AI app writes.
The first five are about safety. Ask them of any plugin you consider, including ours.
Can you roll back what the AI changed?
Mistakes happen in bulk with AI. Rolling back has to cover a whole job, not just the last edit.
Yes. Changes are recorded with a snapshot, so you can roll back one change, a WooCommerce batch of up to 100 items, everything after a checkpoint, or a whole work session. Snapshots are kept for 30 days by default, and you can keep them for up to a year. The few actions that can’t be rolled back are listed and marked in the log.
How rollback worksWhat happens when the site crashes mid-job?
A broken plugin can lock everyone out of wp-admin, the AI app included.
Rescue mode keeps AI access working without the other plugins and the theme, so your app can read the error and switch off the cause. It switches on by itself, for apps that connect with a key and for apps that signed in, such as Claude and ChatGPT. Risky changes, such as plugin updates and code edits, are checked and reverted if they break the site.
How rescue mode worksWhere do the backups go?
A backup that lives only on the same server goes down with it.
Full backups are built on the server, downloaded to your computer and removed from the server once the download is confirmed. Restore them from the same screen.
How backups workCan each app get only what it needs, starting read-only?
A writer’s app has no business reading wp-config.php, and a new app should look before it touches anything.
Each connection has its own permissions (9, or one of 4 presets), an expiry and an optional IP allow-list. Secrets stay masked unless you allow them. The Read-only diagnostics preset works on every plan, and the Free plan is read-only for one site with no end date.
Permissions and presetsCan you see everything the AI did, and stop it?
When something changes on a live store, you need to know which app did it, when, and how to stop it.
Every request is logged on your site: which app, which tool, what it touched and whether it worked. No AI tool can delete log entries. One switch stops every AI app at once, and read-only mode lets them look but not change.
How the activity log worksWhich AI apps work, and how do they connect?
Your team already uses an app. Setup should take minutes, not a config file hunt.
Claude (web, desktop and phone) and ChatGPT sign in to your site, with no key to copy. Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, Devin Desktop, Gemini CLI, Kimi Code and LM Studio connect with one message or one click, and any app that supports remote MCP servers works too.
Connect your AI appDoes it know your business and your rules?
Repeating your brand voice and house rules to every app wastes time and invites mistakes.
Site memory gives every connected app your rules and facts, and only after you approve them. 43 ready-made recipes cover audits, safe updates, SEO and stores.
How site memory worksWhat does it send home, and who sees your data?
Your store holds customers’ names, addresses and orders. You should know where they go.
Your AI app talks to your site directly. The daily update check sends technical details only, never content, orders, customers or logs. Order checks mask personal data by default. What your AI app reads goes to your AI provider under their terms; a local model in LM Studio keeps it on your computer.
What data leaves your siteWhich page builders does it understand?
Pages from a builder are stored in the builder’s own format.
Elementor pages are edited widget by widget, with a dry run and rollback. Pages from other builders are edited as content, which works best for texts.
Elementor pagesHow many tools, and how deep do they go?
A long tool list says little. What matters is whether the jobs you need are covered, safely.
85 tools, from diagnostics, logs and Site Health to WooCommerce, content, files, the database, plugins, users, backups and rollback, each behind a permission.
All 85 toolsWays to connect AI apps to WordPress.
Summarized from each product’s own site. Details and prices change: check each site for the current version.
| Product | What it says it is | Price, as published |
|---|---|---|
| PowerWP AIThis site | A WordPress plugin that connects the AI app you already use to your self-hosted site, with permissions per app, rollback, rescue mode and backups to your computer. | Free (read-only, one site); paid from $9 a month per site |
| WordPress MCP Adapter | Official adapter that turns abilities registered with the WordPress Abilities API into MCP tools. Aimed at developers. | Free |
| WordPress.com MCP | MCP access for sites hosted on WordPress.com and Jetpack-connected sites, with sign-in. | With WordPress.com |
| AI Engine | An AI toolkit for WordPress: chatbots, content tools and an MCP server. | Free; Pro from $59 a year |
| Royal MCP | A free MCP plugin on WordPress.org with undo, dry runs and read-only modes. | Free |
| Respira | An MCP layer for WordPress, WooCommerce and many page builders. | From €71 a year for one site |
| InstaWP InstaMCP | MCP built into InstaWP hosting, with an open-source version for other hosts. | With InstaWP hosting |
| miniOrange Secure MCP Server | An MCP server for WordPress aimed at agencies and enterprises, with approvals and data masking. | Free tier; paid plans |
Do I need a plugin if WordPress has the MCP Adapter?
Not if you are a developer offering your own plugin’s features to AI apps. The MCP Adapter is the official, free building block for that. PowerWP AI is a finished MCP server for running a site, with its own tools and the safety around them. The two can run side by side.
Why pay when some are free?
Free tools can be a fine start, and our Free plan is one: your AI app can read one site, with no end date, and change nothing. That is on purpose. When an AI app writes to a live store, you pay for what stands behind it.
Paid plans start at $9 a month per site, with every tool and every safety layer. They’re billed monthly, or yearly for 20% less, until you cancel; after that, the site goes back to the read-only Free plan.
When another tool may suit you better.
Your site is on WordPress.com.
Its own MCP access is built for WordPress.com and Jetpack sites. PowerWP AI is for self-hosted WordPress.
You build every page with a builder other than Elementor and want element-level editing.
Look for a tool made for your builder. PowerWP AI edits those pages as content.
You are a developer exposing your own plugin’s features to AI apps.
Register them with the WordPress Abilities API. PowerWP AI can run registered abilities too, with its permissions and activity log.
You want an AI chatbot for your visitors.
PowerWP AI has no chatbot. It connects the AI app you already use to your site, for you and your team.
You need one license for many client sites.
PowerWP AI is licensed per site: one plan for each site. A paid plan also covers one local development copy without using up its site. Write to us if you manage many sites.
See the answers on your own site.
Start with the Free plan: one AI app can read your site and show you what it finds, without changing anything.