{"id":65418,"date":"2022-06-24T04:23:41","date_gmt":"2022-06-24T10:23:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/?p=65418"},"modified":"2024-08-07T09:25:39","modified_gmt":"2024-08-07T15:25:39","slug":"what-is-the-wp-staging-plugin-for-wordpress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/what-is-the-wp-staging-plugin-for-wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the WP-Staging Plugin for WordPress?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Installing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/what-is-a-wordpress-plugin\/\"><strong>plugins<\/strong><\/a> and updating your WordPress site can bring on all sorts of compatibility troubles. Learn how to avoid the mess by staging your site with the <strong>WP-Staging Plugin<\/strong>. Whether or not you know <strong>first-hand how frustrating it is to \u201cbreak\u201d your website<\/strong>, you can easily imagine how avoiding that would be your best alternative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ensuring that peace of mind is no big deal &#8211; simply use a <strong>staging environment<\/strong>while <strong>installing new themes, updating plugins, or changing the code<\/strong>. That way, the changes you make within a WordPress testing site won\u2019t affect your live online project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Why-Use\"><strong>Why Use a Staging Site for WordPress?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large mpg-gallery\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/WP-Staging-Plugin1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"680\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/WP-Staging-Plugin1-1024x680.jpg\" alt=\"What is the WP-Staging Plugin for WordPress?, Why Use a Staging Site for WordPress?\" class=\"wp-image-65420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/WP-Staging-Plugin1-1024x680.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/WP-Staging-Plugin1-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/WP-Staging-Plugin1-768x510.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/WP-Staging-Plugin1-1536x1020.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/WP-Staging-Plugin1-2048x1360.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 361px) 660px, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 910px, 1140px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A staging site is like a buffer between your production site and the live environment, <strong>reducing stress and confusion for you and your visitors<\/strong>. When you test your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/what-is-wordpress-how-does-it-work\/\"><strong>WordPress website<\/strong><\/a> privately, you have <strong>more control over analytics<\/strong> like your bounce rate and traffic figures. On a more fundamental level, you can <strong>fix any issues that arise as you update<\/strong> your WordPress website\u2019s core, themes, and plugins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, there\u2019s <strong>no downtime to your live site<\/strong> when using a staging environment. Keeping your uptime high isn\u2019t just good for your server\u2014it\u2019s also great for your user experience and <strong>SEO efforts<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Wouldn&#8217;t it be convenient if we could clone, stage, and push websites automatically?\u2026wait a minute\u2026&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"What-is\"><strong>What is the WP-Staging Plugin?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large mpg-gallery\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/WP-Staging-Plugin2-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"333\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/WP-Staging-Plugin2-1024x333.jpg\" alt=\"What is the WP-Staging Plugin for WordPress?, What is the WP-Staging Plugin?\" class=\"wp-image-65421\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/WP-Staging-Plugin2-1024x333.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/WP-Staging-Plugin2-300x97.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/WP-Staging-Plugin2-768x250.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/WP-Staging-Plugin2-1536x499.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/WP-Staging-Plugin2-2048x665.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 361px) 660px, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 910px, 1140px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>WP-Staging plugin <\/strong>is one of many <em>one-click<\/em> <em>staging plugins<\/em> that can quickly set up safe testing environments for your WordPress websites.&nbsp; By simply activating the add-on, you can <strong>clone<\/strong>, <strong>backup<\/strong>, and <strong>migrate <\/strong>a live site into a subfolder or subdomain of your leading WordPress site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You don\u2019t need to worry about SEO conflicts because <strong>cloned pages don&#8217;t index or have metadata<\/strong>, so they aren&#8217;t really accessible to search engine crawlers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>WP-Staging is available in a <strong>Free <\/strong>and <strong>Pro <\/strong>tier. If you only need to create a staging site to safely test out site changes or clone a backup &#8211; the Free version should suit you just fine. If your idea is to stage <strong>multiple WordPress websites or push and migrate clones<\/strong> to live sites &#8211; you can access these advanced features in the Pro edition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Features\"><strong>WP-Staging Plugin Features (Free Version)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Clone your whole production site into a subfolder<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>One-click cloning and backup site creation<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>No server timeouts on live sites<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>High-speed migration and backups&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Administrator password protection for the staging website<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Supports most common web servers: <em>Apache, Nginx, and Microsoft IIS<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Additional-Features\"><strong>Additional Features in the WP-Staging Pro Version<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Select a separate database and choose a custom cloning directory<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Make the clone available on a subdomain<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Push the entire clone version to the live site<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Assign user roles for the clone site<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Scheduled backups running in the background<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Backup multiple websites<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fast backup of an entire website<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Migrate WordPress sites to another host or domain<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cloning and migration of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/what-is-wordpress-multisite-used-for\/\"><strong>WordPress Multisites<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Better-to-Develop\"><strong>Is it Better to Develop Your WordPress Site Locally?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It wasn\u2019t long ago when developing websites locally worked great because doing it online was much more time-consuming and costly.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>But as those days were left in the past by the fast technological advancements, the arguments against building a website on our personal computer kept piling up:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Less reliable hosting\u2013<\/strong>Unfortunately, our personal computers are not ideal for handling web development projects\u2013there\u2019s a greater risk of losing progress or even losing all our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/managed-cloud-hosting.html\"><strong>Virtual servers<\/strong><\/a> are far more reliable because they are tied to much more reliable networks and include professional setup and maintenance.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Processor dissonance\u2013<\/strong>Staging your site locally gives you an inaccurate read on how well changes integrate on your website. On the other hand, staging your site on a<strong> hosting server <\/strong>provides the same environment as the live site. After all, you can\u2019t run into incompatibilities if you test your website using the same processing specs as the live version.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Inefficiency\u2013<\/strong>On a local system, you have to do everything yourself. Unless you\u2019re technologically inclined &#8211; you may spend most of your time tinkering with <em>controls and troubleshooting problems<\/em>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/fastest-wordpress-hosting.html\"><strong>WordPress hosting providers<\/strong><\/a> often offer managed plans, where all technicalities are taken care by their support operators.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n<div class=\"shortcode-cta-new-wrap row wordpress\">\r\n    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"shortcode-logo\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/shortcode-bg-new-logo-wordpress.svg\" alt=\"shortcode-logo\" title=\"shortcode-logo\"\/>\r\n    <div class=\"shortcode-cta-img col-10 col-sm-7 col-md-5\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"shortcode-bg\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/shortcode-bg-new-wordpress.webp\" alt=\"shortcode-bg\" title=\"shortcode-bg\"\/>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"shortcode-cta-content col-12 col-md-7\">\r\n        <div class=\"content\">\r\n            <div class=\"heading\">Take your WordPress site to new Heights - Join the ScalaHosting Family<\/div>\r\n            <div class=\"list-wrap\">\r\n                <div class=\"list\">\r\n                    <div><b>Free, Effortless & No-Downtime Migration<\/b><\/div>\r\n                    <div><b>Anytime Unconditional Money-back Guarantee<\/b><\/div>\r\n                    <div><b>Constant, fast and competent WordPress Support<\/b><\/div>\r\n                <\/div>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n            <div class=\"btn-wrap row\">\r\n                <div class=\"col-auto\">\r\n                    <a class=\"button green\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/fastest-wordpress-hosting.html\">Start Now<\/a>\r\n                <\/div>\r\n                <div class=\"col-auto\">\r\n                    <button class=\"button green_outer\" title=\"Contact Sales\" onclick=\"chatChangeVisibility(this, 'maximize', {}, 5);\">Chat with our Experts<\/button>\r\n                <\/div>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n        <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Conclusion\"><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For the best WordPress experience, ScalaHosting recommends a robust <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/managed-cloud-hosting.html\"><strong>managed VPS plan<\/strong><\/a> instead of the standard shared solution. A virtual server will give you full customization control and guarantee all available resources are dedicated to your project alone. All plans fully support the<strong><em> WP-Staging plugin<\/em><\/strong> and allow its easy configuration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/contact-us.html\"><strong>Contact the Scala Team<\/strong><\/a> for more information about WordPress and our offerings!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"FAQs\"><strong>FAQs<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q:<\/strong> <strong>Is the WP-Staging plugin free?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A: <\/strong>The free version of the <strong>WordPress Staging plugin<\/strong> comes with limited staging features\u2013you can clone a backup or a staging site, but you can\u2019t push changes to the live site.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q:<\/strong> <strong>Is a WordPress staging plugin really necessary?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A:<\/strong> If you\u2019re doing more code-intensive experiments, you might want to <strong>create a WordPress staging site<\/strong> on a subdomain manually, thus the benefit from such a plugin. Even if you just want an exact clone to play around with new plugins and themes &#8211; the WP-Staging add-on is one of the best tools for the job.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q:<\/strong> <strong>What is a WordPress staging environment?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A:<\/strong> A <em>WordPress staging environmen<\/em>t is a testing site that you can use to safely make plugin updates and other changes before going live. Such an installation gives you a stress-free way to set up and modify your site, often with a single click.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n    {\n      \"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\",\n      \"@type\": \"FAQPage\",\n      \"mainEntity\": [{\n        \"@type\": \"Question\",\n        \"name\": \"Is the WP-Staging plugin free?\",\n        \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n          \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n          \"text\": \"The free version of the WordPress Staging plugin comes with limited staging features\u2013you can clone a backup or a staging site, but you can\u2019t push changes to the live site.\"\n        }\n      }, {\n        \"@type\": \"Question\",\n        \"name\": \"Is a WordPress staging plugin really necessary?\",\n        \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n          \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n          \"text\": \"If you\u2019re doing more code-intensive experiments, you might want to create a WordPress staging site on a subdomain manually, thus the benefit from such a plugin. 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Learn how to avoid the &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":65422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wordpress-hosting"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65418"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71283,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65418\/revisions\/71283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}