WORDPRESS PLUGINS

5+ Best WordPress Staging Plugins 2022

Last Updated: 8 mins By: Editorial Team

In search of the best WordPress staging plugin? Then, you’re in the right place.

A staging WordPress plugin is useful to create a safe environment to experiment without breaking your live website. You can add new themes, plugins, update your site, and much more. With a staging site, you don’t have to worry about losing any of your old content if anything goes wrong.

Without further ado, let’s get into the details about what exactly a WordPress staging plugin is and why we need them. Read the article till the end to know which plugins you can use to create your staging site.

An Introduction to WordPress Staging Plugin

Any WordPress site owner has already encountered a situation where a new update is available for one of the WordPress themes or plugins. After the updates sometimes we face display problems, slowdowns, and even more, serious problems. A simple update, a prior harmless, can have harmful consequences on your site.

The best way to guard against this kind of problem is to create a staging site. This is an environment, identical to your real site, in which you can test your updates or changes without taking any risks!

Are you wondering how to go about it? WordPress has several easy-to-use plugins, which can help you create a staging site easily.

Here are the best WordPress staging plugins for you. However, before that let’s see why we need a staging plugin for the WordPress site.


Why do You Need WordPress Staging Plugin?

Various situations may require you to clone your WordPress site, here are a few reasons why you need a WordPress staging plugin:

  1. Debug situations: If you’ve got a problem on your production site and you want to deactivate all plugins to “find the culprit”. This is often what is recommended when something goes wrong. Disabling all plugins allows you to see if the site is functioning normally without any extensions. If this is the case, you just have to reactivate each plugin one by one in order to discover the one that emits an incompatibility.
  2. Provide access to support: If you encounter a problem that you cannot identify, the support service for your theme or one of your premium plugins may ask you for access to it. Giving online access to a Staging Site is then a good compromise to prevent support from affecting the initial configuration of your site. Thus, they can work quietly on the cloned version.
  3. Testing a new plugin: Even if you can very well test a new plugin on the production site, doing this kind of testing on a clone is a smart move.
  4. Modify the child theme: Suppose you want to add code within your child theme to make “big” changes. The cloned site will become the ideal playground.
  5. Design redesign: If you want to completely redesign the design of your site, change its theme, etc.

With that said, let’s take a look at the 6 best WordPress staging plugins.


6 Best WordPress Staging Plugins 2022

1. WP Staging

WP Staging Plugin

WP Staging is probably the easiest and most accessible plugin to create a staging site on WordPress. With just a few clicks, it allows you to create a clone of your current site, both secure and invisible to search engines.

Highlighted Features of WP Staging:

  • Clone your site in a few clicks
  • No configuration needed
  • You don’t have to copy the files manually
  • Place your staging site in a subdomain or custom domain
  • Your staging site is only visible to users who have identified themselves

Pricing of WP Staging:

WP Staging offers altogether three different plans which are given below:

PlansPricing
Personal€ 89/Year
Business€ 139/Year
Developer€ 239/Year

2. WP Stagecoach

wordpress staging plugins

Another popular solution for building a staging site is WP Stagecoach, with lots of features. This add-on is primarily designed to create temporary staging sites. This means that after testing (for an update to your site, for example), the tool recommends deleting your current staging environment and then creating a new one.

Highlighted Features of WP Stagecoach:

  • Your staging site is secure and password protected
  • You can import files or databases or even both
  • SSL support is provided to the staging site
  • Go live with your updates with a click, or manually select the changes you want to apply
  • Merging databases allows you to make the changes you want without having to modify the database

Pricing of WP Stagecoach:

WP Stagecoach has four different pricing plans. They do not have a monthly payment option. And once you sign up with them, you’ll be billed automatically on yearly basis. If you do not wish to continue you can cancel your account anytime.

Plans Pricing
Small$99/Year
Medium$199/Year
Large$349/Year
EnterpriseYou can contact the team of WP Stagecoach, and they’ll quote the price as per your requirements

3. BlogVault

BlogVault WordPress Plugin

BlogVault is a real Swiss Army knife when it comes to the WordPress staging plugin. This multifunction plugin allows you to save a WordPress site or restore it, but also to create a staging. So it can be very beneficial if you need different features at the same time.

Highlighted Features of BlogVault:

  • BlogVault will host your staging site to relieve your own server
  • Test your updates in a secure and anonymous environment
  • BlogVault provides 24/7 support in case you run into any problem
  • Live site and staging site can be managed from a single dashboard
  • This solution easily supports large websites, without affecting the performance of staging  

Pricing of BlogVault:

BlogVault has a total of four pricing plans. Besides the basic plan, you can pay both on monthly basis or annually.

PlansPricing
Basic$89/Year
Plus$149/Year
Advanced$299/Year

4. All-In-One WP Migration

All in One Migration Plugin

All-in-One WP Migration is first and foremost a plugin for migrating a WordPress site. However, it can also be used to create a staging environment. To do this, you should create a specific subdomain on your site and clone your site to your staging space. You can also create a fully-fledged domain for your test site.

Highlighted Features of All-In-One Migration:

  • Works with all versions of PHP beyond v5.2
  • Provides 24/7 support in case you run into any problem
  • Migrate your site to a new location using a simple drag and drop
  • Quickly select the content you want to exclude during the migration
  • You can export not just the WordPress files but the database as well

Pricing of All-in-One WP Migration:

  • All-in-One WP Migration is available in both free and paid versions. You can get a premium version for $69/lifetime.

5. Duplicator

wordpress staging plugins

Duplicator is also a plugin dedicated mainly to site migration. One of the benchmarks in the field, it shines with its ease of use. It allows you, in a few clicks, to create a “package” containing your site, which you can then easily install on the subdomain (or domain) of your choice.

Highlighted Features of Duplicator:

  • Excellent customer service 
  • You can get notified through email
  • Easily create a package containing your site files
  • Upload the package to your staging site and install it in the blink of an eye
  • Changes can be made simply through cPanel without switching to a hosting account

Pricing of Duplicator Pro:

Duplicator is available in both free and premium versions. Duplicator Pro has four different pricing plans:

PlansPricing
Personal$69/Year
Freelancer$89/Year
Business$149/Year
Gold$599/Year

6. BackupBuddy

Backup Buddy WordPress Plugin

As the name suggests, BackupBuddy is a WordPress backup solution that also offers website building as an integral feature. In addition to supporting scheduled backups and offsite storage of backup files, BackupBuddy offers deployment functionality. That allows you to push and retrieve staging site changes between the staging environment and the website.

Highlighted Features of BackupBuddy:

  • Provides the ability to transfer database files
  • Faster file transfer between the staging and the live website
  • Suitable for large websites with constant changes or updates
  • Instant email notifications to alert users to website issues
  • Provides full backup of all data, including your themes, plugins, and other settings

Pricing of BackupBuddy:

You get 3 different plans in this premium plugin:

PlansPricing
Blogger$80/year
Freelance$27/year
Gold$199/year

Wrapping It Up!

For today’s complex website networks, it is very important to test any changes or updates before incorporating them into the live website. For WordPress websites, WordPress staging plugins provide an easy way to create staging sites. You can then evaluate each change without worrying about the live website.

Tools like BlogVault and BackupBuddy are more cost-effective for businesses because they combine staging with other full-featured features like website migration, backups, and restores. We strongly recommend that you review them and invest in a solution that works best for your business.

You may also want to see our list of the best WordPress backup and restore plugins. If you found this article helpful, then please don’t forget to share it on your social channels.

Also, you can follow us on Twitter and Facebook to get regular updates and exciting news.

5+ Best WordPress Staging Plugins 2022
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Editorial Team

We are a team of SEO copywriters and editors who work together to present the best quality content related to WordPress. We also promote our product via our blog. Please follow us on Twitter @Zakra_Theme and Facebook Zakra Theme to get regular updates.

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