Spin up a staging site in seconds.
Clone your live site or start fresh on a $2 staging site, test in isolation, then push it live in one click. No staging server to set up.
Test anything. Push it live, or throw it away.
Your staging site runs on a real $2 Sandbox: comes with every developer tool. Ready to go live? Promote it to a production tier in one click.
- A real cloud server, not a local previewReal PHP and MySQL, your own plugins and themes, SSH and SFTP.
- Spin up dozens, delete freelyYou pay per site by the day, so throwaway work costs cents, not a plan.
- Promote without a migrationThe same site goes live on a plan change. Same URL, same data.
Real WordPress. Real PHP. Real you.
Not a stripped-down preview. A real cloud server you can SSH into, with the whole toolkit, and a one-click path to live.
A real WordPress install, not a preview.
Pick a launch method: a blank install, a starter template, or a copy of an existing site. The site comes up with real PHP and MySQL on its own URL, and you're in wp-admin in seconds. Choose the WordPress and PHP version up front, change them later.
Spin up dozens, delete freely.
Every staging site is $2 a month, billed by the day, so it costs about $0.07 a day to keep one running and nothing once you delete it. You pay per site, not per seat or per plan, so running ten throwaway sites is just ten small line items you can kill any day.
Every developer tool, no upsells.
SSH and SFTP, InstaCLI, WP-CLI preinstalled, an in-site MCP with 40+ tools, and Local Mount to edit the live files in VS Code over WebDAV. Pick PHP 8.x and your WP version per site. Nothing here is gated behind a higher tier.
Send a client straight in. No password.
Every staging site has a shareable URL and a magic-login link. Send a client straight into wp-admin to review work, or hand them a clean preview link with no credentials to type. No staging server to set up, no "let me add you as a user" round-trip.
From staging to live, in one plan change.
When the work is ready, promote the same site to a production tier. It is an in-place plan change: same URL, same data, no export, no import, no migration plugin. Promoting is what turns on the Premium CDN, the InstaShield WAF and off-site backups (daily on Plus and up).
1-click reset
Wipe a staging site back to a clean install in one click when an experiment goes sideways. No teardown.
Auto-expiry option
Set a staging site to delete itself after a set time, so demo and test sites never sit on your bill forgotten.
Start from a template
Launch a staging site from a saved blueprint with your stack already in place. See snapshots & templates.
Create staging sites via API
Token-auth REST endpoints and the CLI create, configure and delete staging sites straight from your scripts and CI.
Ship, watch and scan
Deploy from Git, keep an eye on the site with real-time monitoring, and run a vulnerability scan on your plugins and themes before anything goes live.
Logs without a ticket
Every site writes its own error and access log. Read them in the dashboard under Site Tools, or tail them live over SSH. No support ticket, no extra permissions.
Three real workflows.
Staging on InstaWP isn't a copy you babysit. It's a real site you can share, run in parallel, and rehearse risky changes on, then promote the winner to live.
- Client site delivery: build it, share a magic-login link, hand it off
- Test plugins and themes across PHP and WP versions in parallel
- Test risky changes on a throwaway copy, promote only when it works
magic login link, hand off or promote on sign-off.PHP 8.0, one on 8.3, test in parallel, delete both.Local, but in the cloud.
A copy on your laptop is free and fine, until you need to share it, run versions in parallel, or push it live. Cloud staging does all three, and you still work on it like it is local: mount it in your own editor with Local Mount, or SSH in for Bash and WP-CLI.
Staging questions, answered.
What happens when I delete a staging site?
Billing stops that day. You pay by the day, so a site you delete on Tuesday costs you nothing from Tuesday. We take a final backup before a site is deleted, so an accidental delete is still recoverable.
Does the $2 staging site have a real, shareable URL?
Yes. Every staging site comes up on its own URL with free SSL, issued and renewed for you. Send a client a magic-login link and they land in wp-admin with no password to type, or hand them a clean preview link instead.
Can I clone a live site that is hosted somewhere else?
Yes. Migrations in are free and unlimited, from any host. Pull the site across yourself with the InstaWP plugin, or hand it to our assisted migration and keep serving traffic from your old host until it is done.
Is there a free tier or free credits?
Creating an account is free. A card is required to spin up a site, and adding one unlocks $25 in credits to put toward your sites. After that a staging site runs at about $0.07 a day.
Does promoting to live change my URL?
No. Promoting is an in-place plan change: same site, same URL, same database, your SSH keys intact. There is no export, no import and no migration plugin. Billing switches to the new tier's daily rate from that day.
What do I get on the $2 Sandbox, and what turns on when I promote?
Sandbox gives you a real server with 5 GB of disk, the full developer toolkit and monthly backups. Promoting adds the CDN and the InstaShield WAF, more PHP workers and more disk, and off-site backups (weekly on Starter, daily on Plus and up).
How many staging sites can I run?
There is no seat limit and no plan limit, because there is no plan. You are billed per site, per day, so how many you run is a budget decision. Spin up ten, delete nine, and pay for the days they existed.
Is SSH, WP-CLI and MCP available on the cheapest plan?
Yes, and nothing is gated behind a higher tier. Sandbox or Elite, you get SSH and SFTP, WP-CLI preinstalled, InstaCLI, Git deploy, Local Mount, and an in-site MCP with 40+ tools for your AI client.
Stop setting up WordPress. Start shipping it.
Spin up a real staging site in seconds, build on it, and take it live in one click.
One platform, not just staging.
Staging is one piece of InstaWP. Every site plugs into the rest of the platform. Keep exploring:
Dev Tools →
SSH, CLI, Git deploy, MCP
API & Webhooks →
Provision sites by API
Snapshots →
Save sites & reusable presets
Hosting →
Managed WordPress, per site
Domains →
Buy, connect, or resell
Migrations →
Bring sites in, free
Integrations →
Connect your stack
Manage →
Every site, one dashboard
WaaS →
Resell hosting, your brand
Portal →
Panel for your clients
Templates →
Sell ready-made sites