6 WordPress Staging Plugins to Test Your Site Updates
Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 5:26 am
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6 WordPress Staging Plugins to Test Your Site Updates
Whenever you make major changes to your WordPress site, there’s always a risk that something will go wrong. The results could range from a simple but embarrassing error, to serious errors that cause downtime for your site. Fortunately, there’s a solution to this problem. Instead of blindly making updates to your live WordPress site, you can create a staging environment to test new plugins, content changes, or even complete website redesigns.
Below, we explain what exactly a staging ghana phone number data is and why it’s so important. Then, we share several methods you can use to create a staging environment for your WordPress site or network, including six plugins to make the process easier.
Let's get started!
Table of Contents view
Introduction to WordPress Staging and Why It Matters
'Staging' is the process of creating a copy of your website to use for development or testing purposes. There are many ways to do this, which we'll explore later in this post.
The main thing you need to know at this point is that a staging site is exactly like your live website, but it is (usually) not publicly accessible.
You may also want to test plugin and theme updates in a staging environment. There are several common WordPress compatibility errors that can negatively impact your site’s user experience. You can see them on a staging site without impacting uptime.
Other risky activities, such as editing key WordPress files, can be done on a staging site first. You might also want to consider testing complete website redesigns or even less dramatic changes that you’re unsure about.
Once you’ve determined that your additions, updates, or other changes are suitable for your live site, you can “force” them from your staging environment . There are a few ways to do this, depending on how you created your staging site.
Setting up a staging environment through your web host
Before you start looking at WordPress staging plugins, you may want to check if your host provides a staging environment as part of your package. This is often the easiest way to set one up , so it’s worth taking the time to see if this is an option for you.
WordPress Staging Site.
Some of the best WordPress hosting providers offer staging services. For example, Siteground includes staging among its premium features. You’ll need at least the mid-tier GrowBig plan to access it, but it’s very affordable at just €6.99 per month.
How you set up your staging environment will depend on your host. Check your provider’s knowledge base or contact support for help. If your plan includes “one-click” staging, you should be able to launch your development area from your account with just one click.
With Siteground , you can also push your changes from your staging environment to your live site with the click of a mouse. When using your own host, the staging process tends to be fairly straightforward from start to finish.
Manually creating a test site on Localhost
Some WordPress users choose to manually create test sites that they host locally on their computers. The advantage of this is that you don’t have to change your hosting plan to one that offers staging or take up server resources to store your staging site.
Unfortunately, a locally hosted site doesn't work the same as one hosted on a traditional server. This means that just because a plugin or other feature works fine on your test site doesn't mean it will work on your live site.
With this in mind, a locally hosted test site is best for developers and designers who want to experiment with WordPress. A privately hosted staging environment on your computer is the perfect space to tinker or practice your skills.
To create one, you'll need to download two things. The first is XAMPP , a local web server stack:
6 WordPress Staging Plugins to Test Your Site Updates
Whenever you make major changes to your WordPress site, there’s always a risk that something will go wrong. The results could range from a simple but embarrassing error, to serious errors that cause downtime for your site. Fortunately, there’s a solution to this problem. Instead of blindly making updates to your live WordPress site, you can create a staging environment to test new plugins, content changes, or even complete website redesigns.
Below, we explain what exactly a staging ghana phone number data is and why it’s so important. Then, we share several methods you can use to create a staging environment for your WordPress site or network, including six plugins to make the process easier.
Let's get started!
Table of Contents view
Introduction to WordPress Staging and Why It Matters
'Staging' is the process of creating a copy of your website to use for development or testing purposes. There are many ways to do this, which we'll explore later in this post.
The main thing you need to know at this point is that a staging site is exactly like your live website, but it is (usually) not publicly accessible.
You may also want to test plugin and theme updates in a staging environment. There are several common WordPress compatibility errors that can negatively impact your site’s user experience. You can see them on a staging site without impacting uptime.
Other risky activities, such as editing key WordPress files, can be done on a staging site first. You might also want to consider testing complete website redesigns or even less dramatic changes that you’re unsure about.
Once you’ve determined that your additions, updates, or other changes are suitable for your live site, you can “force” them from your staging environment . There are a few ways to do this, depending on how you created your staging site.
Setting up a staging environment through your web host
Before you start looking at WordPress staging plugins, you may want to check if your host provides a staging environment as part of your package. This is often the easiest way to set one up , so it’s worth taking the time to see if this is an option for you.
WordPress Staging Site.
Some of the best WordPress hosting providers offer staging services. For example, Siteground includes staging among its premium features. You’ll need at least the mid-tier GrowBig plan to access it, but it’s very affordable at just €6.99 per month.
How you set up your staging environment will depend on your host. Check your provider’s knowledge base or contact support for help. If your plan includes “one-click” staging, you should be able to launch your development area from your account with just one click.
With Siteground , you can also push your changes from your staging environment to your live site with the click of a mouse. When using your own host, the staging process tends to be fairly straightforward from start to finish.
Manually creating a test site on Localhost
Some WordPress users choose to manually create test sites that they host locally on their computers. The advantage of this is that you don’t have to change your hosting plan to one that offers staging or take up server resources to store your staging site.
Unfortunately, a locally hosted site doesn't work the same as one hosted on a traditional server. This means that just because a plugin or other feature works fine on your test site doesn't mean it will work on your live site.
With this in mind, a locally hosted test site is best for developers and designers who want to experiment with WordPress. A privately hosted staging environment on your computer is the perfect space to tinker or practice your skills.
To create one, you'll need to download two things. The first is XAMPP , a local web server stack: