WP Staging

Plugin updates and theme customizations should be tested on a staging / backup platform before applying them on the production website.
Usually, it’s recommended having the staging / backup platform on an identical server like the production server. You can only catch all possible errors during testing with the same hardware and software environment for your test & backup website.

So, before you update a plugin or install a new one, it is highly recommended to check out the modifications on a clone / backup of your production website.
That ensures that any modifications work on your production website without throwing unexpected errors or preventing your site from loading, better known as the “WordPress blank page error.”

Testing a plugin update before installing it in a production environment isn’t done very often by most users because existing staging solutions are too complex and need a lot of time to create a
an up-to-date copy of your website.

You could be afraid of installing plugins updates because you follow “never touch a running system.” You know that untested updates increase the risk of breaking your site.

That’s is one of the main reasons WordPress installations are often outdated, not updated at all, and insecure because of this non-update behavior.

It’s time to change this, so there is no easier way than using “WP STAGING” for backup, cloning, and migration of your WordPress website.

Install WP STAGING backup via the admin dashboard. Go to ‘Plugins’, click ‘Add New’ and search the plugins for ‘WP STAGING’. Install the plugin with ‘Install Now’.
After installation, go to WP STAGING > Staging Sites and create your first staging / backup site

Yes, absolutely! WP STAGING started as a staging tool but evolved to a full fledged wordpress backup plugin. Even the free version can be used for backup purposes and comes with automatic backup background processing.
The pro version delivers you few more backup features like uploading a backup to cloud backup file storage providers like google drive, (s)FTP, dropbox, Wasabi, DigitalOcean or Amazon S3 but even the free version allows you to restore the backup files in case something happens to your production site. There are many other backup plugins out there but WP STAGING’s goal is to bring the reliability and performance of business and enterprise level quality assurance to a WordPress backup plugin to a new level.

We are offering a basic but still powerful backup feature free of charge for all users. If you want more, WP STAGING PRO will provide a full-fledged premium backup solution with enterprise code quality affordable for everyone.

Video: How we run automated tests on WP STAGING

Note: WP STAGING | PRO provides more advanced backup functionality compared to other backup plugins. The speed and Performance of WP STAGING’s backup feature often exceed even the most prominent and most well-established backup plugins.

We are now adding more advanced backup features to deliver what other existing backup plugins are still missing.

You may have heard about other popular backup plugins like All in one Migration, BackWPUp, BackupWordPress, Simple Backup, WordPress Backup to Dropbox, or similar WordPress backup plugins and now wonder about the difference between WP STAGING and those backup tools.

Other backup plugins usually create a backup of your WordPress filesystem and a database backup that you can use to restore your website if it becomes corrupted or you want to go back in time to a previous state.

The backup files are compressed and can not be executed directly. WP STAGING, on the other hand, creates a full backup of the whole file system and the database in a working state that you can open like your original production website.

Even though WP STAGING’s basic has been started as pure staging plugin it now comes with powerful backup features. So it shifted from being mainly a staging plugin to a staging and backup plugin that can be used to restore a backup and bring back you website to a previous state
If you go with the WP STAGING | PRO version, you will get the same backup functionality of other backup plugins but at a much higher tested level and performance.

Note, that some free backup plugins are not able to support custom tables. (For instance, the free version of Updraft plus backup plugin). In that case, your backup plugin is not able to create a backup of your staging site when it is executed on the production site.
The reason is that the tables created by WP STAGING are custom tables beginning with another table prefix.
To bypass this limitation and to be able to create a backup of your staging site, you can use any backup plugin or the WP STAGING backup plugin on the staging site and create the backup from that site. That works well even with every other WordPress backup plugin.

Consistent website backups are the foundation of a robust disaster recovery strategy. For mission-critical websites,
frequent backups safeguard against data loss from hardware failures, software malfunctions, or even ransomware attacks.
By creating backups of website files, databases, and configurations at regular intervals, You can ensure a swift
restoration process, minimizing downtime and potential revenue loss.
Backups should encompass all essential data, including website code, content management system files,
user data stored in databases, and website configurations. Utilizing a combination of full backups and incremental
backups optimizes storage efficiency while capturing the latest website updates.
Furthermore, employing automated backup solutions streamlines the process, eliminating human error
and ensuring consistent data protection.
By prioritizing website backups, You demonstrate a commitment to data security and business continuity.

If you want to migrate your local website to an already existing production site, you can use our pro version WP STAGING | PRO.
WP STAGING is intended to create a staging site with the latest data from your production site or create a backup of it.

We like the Duplicator plugin. Even though Duplicator is not as fast as WP STAGING for creating a backup, it’s still is a great tool for migrating from a development site to production one or from production site to development one. Overall it’s a good tool to create a backup of your WordPress website.
The downside is that before you can even create an export or backup file with Duplicator, a lot of adjustments, manual interventions, and requirements are needed before you can start the backup process.
The backup plugin Duplicator also needs some skills to be able to create a backup and development/staging site. In contrast, WP STAGING does not need more than a click from you to create a backup or staging site.

If you have created a local or web-hosted development site and you need to migrate that site the first time to your production domain, you do nothing wrong by using
the Duplicator plugin! If you need all your latest production data like posts, updated plugins, theme data, and styles in a testing environment or want to create a quick backup before testing out something, then we recommend using WP STAGING instead!

If speed, performance, and code quality are a matter for you as well, give WP STAGING a try.

If you are using a security plugin like Wordfence, iThemes Security, All In One WP Security & Firewall, or a plugin that hides the WordPress default login URL, make sure that you have installed the latest version of WP STAGING to access your cloned backup site.
Suppose you can still not log in to your staging / backup site. In that case, you can go to WP STAGING > settings and disable there the WP STAGING extra authentication. Your admin dashboard will still be protected and not accessible to public users.

Permalinks are disabled on the staging / backup site after first time cloning / backup creation
Read here how to activate permalinks on the staging site.

The pro version of WP STAGING can backup your whole WordPress website.
With the pro backup function, you can backup and copy your entire WordPress website to another domain, new host, or new server very easily, and often faster and more reliable than with any other existing backup plugins.
Have a look at [https://wp-staging.com/docs/how-to-migrate-your-wordpress-site-to-a-new-host/](this article), that introduces the backup feature.

We have translated WP STAGING into five languages nearly completely:

English: WP STAGING Backup & Duplicator WordPress Plugin. Backup & Migrate WordPress websites.
French: Plugin WordPress de sauvegarde et de duplication WP STAGING. Sauvegarder et migrer les sites Web WordPress.
German: WP STAGING Backup & Duplicator WordPress Plugin. Migrate WordPress Webseiten.
Spanish: WP STAGING Complemento de copia de seguridad y duplicador de WordPress. Copia de seguridad y migración de sitios web de WordPress.

The following languages have been partially translated. You can help us with the translation:

Croatian: WP STAGING Backup & Duplicator WordPress dodatak. Izradite sigurnosnu kopiju i migrirajte WordPress web stranice.
Dutch: WP STAGING Back-up & Duplicator WordPress-plug-in. Back-up en migratie van WordPress-websites.
Finnish: WP STAGING Backup & Duplicator WordPress-laajennus. Varmuuskopioi ja siirrä WordPress-verkkosivustoja.
Greek: WP STAGING Πρόσθετο WordPress Backup & Duplicator. Δημιουργία αντιγράφων ασφαλείας και μετεγκατάσταση ιστοσελίδων WordPress.
Hungarian: WP STAGING Backup & Duplicator WordPress beépülő modul. WordPress-webhelyek biztonsági mentése és migrálása.
Indonesian: WP Staging Backup & Duplikator Plugin WordPress. Cadangkan & Migrasi situs web WordPress.
Italian: WP STAGING Plugin WordPress per backup e duplicatori. Backup e migrazione di siti Web WordPress.
Persian: WP STAGING پشتیبان گیری و افزونه وردپرس Duplicator. پشتیبان گیری و مهاجرت از وب سایت های وردپرسی.
Polish: WP STAGING Wtyczka WordPress do tworzenia kopii zapasowych i powielania. Twórz kopie zapasowe i migruj witryny WordPress.
Portuguese (Brazil): WP STAGING Backup & Duplicador Plugin WordPress. Backup e migração de sites WordPress.
Russian: Плагин WP STAGING Backup & Duplicator для WordPress. Резервное копирование и перенос сайтов WordPress.
Turkish: WP STAGING Yedekleme ve Çoğaltıcı WordPress Eklentisi. WordPress web sitelerini yedekleyin ve taşıyın.
Vietnamese: WP STAGING Backup & Duplicator WordPress Plugin. Sao lưu và di chuyển các trang web WordPress.

This plugin has been created in thousands of hours and works even with the smallest shared web hosting package.
We also use an enterprise-level approved testing coding environment to ensure that the cloning and backup process runs rock-solid on your system.
If you are a developer, you will probably like to hear that we use Codeception and PHPUnit for our backup plugin.

As there are infinite variations of possible server constellations, it still can happen that something does not work for you 100%. In that case,
please open a support request and describe your issue.

Screenshots:

1. 

   Create new WordPress staging / backup site (Dark Mode)

2. 

   Create new WordPress staging / backup site (Lite Mode)

3. 

   Select name for staging / backup site (Lite Mode)

4. 

   Create Full Site Backup (Dark Mode)

5. 

   Create Full Site Backup (Lite Mode)

6. 

   Cloning / backup processing (Dark Mode)

7. 

   Backup Complete (Dark Mode)

8. 

   Login to staging site

9. 

   Staging demo site

Other notes:

Latest Change log entry:

• New: Compatible up to WordPress 6.6.1
• New: Add filter wpstg.backup.restore.exclude_backup_parts to skip plugins, mu-plugins, themes, uploads, database, other content and extra root folder if included during backup restore. #3625
• New: Add option to download the WP Staging Restore script from wp-staging.com. #3376
• New: New navigation bar that ensures a visually appealing user interface across all screen resolutions. #3473
• New: Show count of total and selected database tables while doing cloning job. #3634
• Enh: Log installed plugins and themes before performing a push job.(Pro) #3613
• Enh: Disable “Load Remote Backups” button while loading backups. (pro) #3570
• Enh: Improve error message when unable to add backup metadata or files-index in the backup in final step. #3396
• Enh: Show triangle icon instead of checkbox in front of Advanced Settings link. #3593
• Enh: Show OS and PHP architecture in system log. #3621
• Enh: Create human-friendly default names for staging sites if no optional staging name is provided. “Star Trek – Live long and prosper!” #3614
• Fix: Make clear what login credentials to use when WP Staging | Restore standalone installer is used on a new site after backup restore. #3680
• Fix: Validate database prefix when creating a staging site to confirm it does not begin with the production site database prefix. #3553
• Fix: Increase delay interval between backup status requests from 5 seconds to 8 seconds to reduce chances of 503 errors. Add filter wpstg.backup.interval.status_request to customize this value. #3611
• Fix: Show actual installed free version in system information. #3594
• Fix: Make sure that the Reset process works correctly even when the staging site database has FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS enabled. #3686
• Fix: Remove duplicate ajax requests for backup related operations. #3664
• Fix: Make the validate icon displayed correctly. #3688
• Fix: Search and replace does not work when url contains ‘www.’. #3631
• Fix: Make Ninja Forms work properly after performing backup restore. #3608
• Dev: Fix e2e cloning tests. #3649
• Dev: Move all views/templates/* to views/* folder. Also fix Undefined array key page warning. #3690
• Dev: Move MemoryExhaust logic to src/Framework namespace. #3666
• Dev: Replace internal email address #3541
• Dev: Move classes/services out of Backup namespace that could be used with Cloning feature. #3668
• Dev: Remove the wpdb dependency from DatabaseImporter class by decoupling the database logic through DatabaseInterface. #3642
• Dev: Move all views to src/views/* folder. Move blank-theme and default wp-config.php to src/resources folder. #2825
• Dev: Add v1 and v2 backup specification. #3518
• Dev: Set up playwright env. #3578
• Dev: Replace docker-compose with docker compose in fast tests, as docker-compose went missing in Github Actions. #3660
• Dev: Move all classes from legacy folder Backend/Pro/Licensing to Pro/License. #2866
• Dev: Improve npm commands to build and run Windows docker setup. #3012
• Dev: Replace shorthand ‘-P’ by its option name ‘–service-ports’ in docker command that runs playwright. #3697

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