Yes. Staging environments are available on our WordPress Hosting plans.
A staging environment allows you to create a separate copy of your WordPress website where you can safely test changes before applying them to your live website.
This is particularly useful for website owners, developers, and agencies who regularly update their websites or add new functionality.
What Is a Staging Environment?
A staging environment is a separate copy of your live WordPress website used for testing, development, and troubleshooting.
Changes made in the staging environment do not affect your live website. This allows you to test changes without disrupting your visitors.
You can use staging to test:
- WordPress updates.
- Plugin installations and updates.
- Theme changes.
- Website redesigns.
- Custom code.
- New features.
- Performance changes.
- Bug fixes.
- Configuration changes.
Once you have confirmed that everything works correctly, you can apply the changes to your live website.
Why Should I Use a Staging Environment?
A staging environment helps reduce the risk of introducing problems to your live website.
Some of the benefits include:
- Test updates before applying them to your live website.
- Identify plugin and theme conflicts.
- Test new functionality safely.
- Troubleshoot errors without affecting visitors.
- Reduce the risk of unexpected downtime.
- Give developers a separate environment for testing.
- Review website changes before making them publicly available.
Staging can be especially useful for business websites and WooCommerce stores where unexpected changes can affect customers, orders, or other important website functions.
Which Hosting Plans Include Staging?
Staging environments are available on our WordPress Hosting plans.
If you manage a WordPress website and regularly perform updates, customisations, or development work, WordPress Hosting provides access to staging functionality.
If you are using another hosting plan and require a staging environment, contact our Pre-sales Team to discuss the available options for your website.
Can I Test Plugins and Themes?
Yes.
A staging environment is an ideal place to test:
- New plugins.
- Plugin updates.
- New themes.
- Theme updates.
- Custom PHP code.
- CSS changes.
- JavaScript changes.
- WordPress version updates.
- New website functionality.
Testing these changes in staging first can help identify compatibility problems before they affect your live website.
Will My Live Website Be Affected?
No. Changes made within the staging environment remain separate from your live website.
Your visitors will continue using the live website while you test changes in staging.
Once you are satisfied with the results, you can deploy the appropriate changes to your live website.
Should I Back Up My Website Before Making Changes?
Yes.
Although staging significantly reduces the risk of making changes directly to your live website, we still recommend creating a recent backup before applying significant changes to production.
A backup provides an additional recovery option if something unexpected happens after deployment.
Is Staging Suitable for WooCommerce Websites?
Yes, but additional care is required.
WooCommerce websites may contain constantly changing information such as orders, customer accounts, payments, inventory, and other transactional data.
Before deploying changes from staging to a live WooCommerce website, carefully review how the deployment may affect current production data.
For complex WooCommerce changes, we recommend testing thoroughly and creating a recent backup before making changes to the live website.
Need Help Using a Staging Environment?
If you are unsure how to create or use a staging environment, our Support Team can provide guidance where applicable.
If you are choosing a hosting plan and need access to WordPress staging features, our Pre-sales Team can recommend a suitable SIRSTEVEHQ WordPress Hosting solution based on your website's requirements.
