How to Use Cloudways Staging Management (WordPress Staging Site)

Cloudways Staging Management provides an isolated environment where you can test new code, plugins and themes without affecting your live WordPress site. When I picked the same server and created a staging application, one more copy marked Staging appeared in the application list. Even on cPanel hosting, you can create a WordPress staging site if Softaculous is installed.

Creating a staging site gives you a copy of your live site. When you are ready, one button moves just the parts that changed, or everything, to the live site. In the other direction, you can bring the live site's current content into staging so the two sites match before you start working.

1️⃣ 4 Advantages of Cloudways Staging Management

You leave the live site that visitors actually reach untouched and first try out design and feature changes on a practice site (staging) that is an exact copy.

1. Password-Protected Site

Ordinary visitors and search engines should not get into the practice site, so a login prompt (password) blocks outside access by default. You can turn it on and off when needed.

2. Applied in One Click

When you move changes made on the practice site to the real website, there is no need to copy and paste them one by one: a single button click applies them.

3. Granular Control (Pick What to Move)

You can move everything you worked on in the practice site, or pick just the web files or just the database and apply them to the real site.

4. SSL-Enabled Staging (Secure Connection)

The practice site also comes with a security certificate (https) preinstalled, so you can test without errors under the same security conditions as the live environment.

2️⃣ How to Use Cloudways Staging Management

In the Cloudways admin panel, go to [My Applications] › your application › [Staging Management].

Click [Launch Staging Application] and a window opens where you choose the server for the staging application.

After I chose a server and clicked [Continue], the server list opened and [Creating staging application] appeared on the server card.

Open the [Applications] tab and the staging app, with Staging- in front of the original name, sits at the top of the list.

The staging app keeps almost the same menu as the original app, so beyond installing plugins and themes you can also test settings such as cron jobs, SSL and backups.

🔣 Using the UpdraftPlus Backup Plugin

For a simple job such as testing a single plugin, you can use the UpdraftPlus plugin, which restores WordPress themes, plugins and the database all at once. You make a backup file before installing a plugin or changing settings, then restore it when the test is over.

There is no need to restore with commands on the server or from the hosting control panel—the mouse alone is enough.

🔢 FAQ & Recommended Content

🔗 Recommended Reading

Hands-on review Cloudways Review A hands-on review that sums up the pros and cons from speeds and backup times measured on a test server and four months of invoices. Read post →

Cloudways Cloudways Backup Server backup frequency and retention, and how to pick and restore a single application. Cloudways Cloudways Migration The steps to move a site from your current host with the WordPress Migrator plugin. Cloudways How to connect to Cloudways via SFTP & SSH Covers FileZilla settings, SSH key registration and the IP whitelist.

ℹ️ Affiliate Disclosure
This site's content contains affiliate links. When a visitor buys a product or service through one of them, the site receives a commission from the seller. The amount the buyer pays^{(it goes down during event discounts ↓)}does not go up. Posted prices, discounts, and stock reflect the time of writing and may differ, so confirm with the seller before buying. Products are chosen and reviewed by our own standards, and commissions do not affect the order or content of reviews.