{"id":13672,"date":"2018-05-02T12:05:50","date_gmt":"2018-05-02T09:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themeisle.com\/blog\/?p=13672"},"modified":"2023-06-13T16:12:22","modified_gmt":"2023-06-13T13:12:22","slug":"wordpress-test-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themeisle.com\/blog\/wordpress-test-site\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Create a Free WordPress Test Site: Easy-to-Follow Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

You have a grand idea, but you’re not sure how to move forward with your new blog<\/a>, online business, or product. Should you start paying for hosting even though the business concept isn’t there yet and no one is going to come to your website? Or should you go through the process of installing WordPress locally with a development environment like XAMPP<\/a> just to test out a new plugin or theme? If you’d rather not spend cash for a testing site, and you’re not keen on running a local WordPress install, you still have the option to create a WordPress test site<\/strong> with full functionality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How is this done? By using a free, online sandbox service! That’s right, there are several ways to launch a quick WordPress website for testing purposes, all for free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best options for creating a free WordPress test site are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. 000webhost<\/a>: a web host with a free plan; powered by Hostinger (pick the free plan to be redirected to 000webhost)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. WPSandbox<\/a>: a free testing, staging, and sandbox service with WordPress Admin access<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. WP Test<\/a>: a bonus tool for adding WordPress demo data to your test site (so you’d still utilize 000webhost or WPSandbox); it’s ideal for running tests on plugins, themes, and other integrations in a more realistic environment<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The first two let you create a free WordPress test site, and the third is best to complement one of those sites. Here’s a deeper overview of when to use them and what you get:<\/p>\n\n\n

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    <\/span>000webhost:<\/strong> <\/div>
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    000webhost<\/strong> is one of the few web hosts out there with an actual free web hosting plan. That means you can host a real website on a WordPress testing server; sure, the plan is limited to 300 MB of space (and 3 GB bandwidth, but that’s enough to get the job done for a simple WordPress test site. One downside is that it may take a little longer for quick plugin or theme tests, since you must create an entire hosting account instead of a throwaway WordPress installation.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n

    <\/span>WPSandbox:<\/strong> <\/div>
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    WPSandbox<\/strong> is perhaps the most robust “throwaway” website creator on the market. It’s not a hosting company, but rather a service for instantly generating a sandbox\/staging area to run a WordPress website. There are plans to constantly host and run several staging websites (starting at $10 per month), but anyone can create a free temporary WordPress test site that lasts for about 8 hours (then it gets deleted). The next time you need it, simply launch another website; it takes no more than a minute to get up and running.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n

    <\/span>WPTest.io:<\/strong> <\/div>
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    WPTest.io <\/strong>isn’t exactly for building your own free WordPress testing website, but rather a way to complement a test site with realistic data. WPTest.io pre-fills every new test site with demo content like blog posts, menus, sidebar widgets, pages, and media. This ensures that you see how plugins and themes function while packaged alongside other content and extensions, much like they would in real life. Download the WPTest.io demo data for free, and upload it to your test website.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Overall, 000webhost, WPSandbox, and WP Test offer the easiest ways for all types of users to create WordPress test sites. And in this post, we’ll show you exactly how they work!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\t

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    \n\t\t \t\tHow to create free #WordPress test installs thanks to #000webhost and #wpsandbox<\/a>\n\t\t \t<\/div>\n\t\t \t
    \n\t\t \tClick To Tweet \n\t\t \t\t<\/span>\n\t\t \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n
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    When should you use tools like 000webhost, WPSandbox, and WP Test?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Because WordPress is so popular, you have a bunch of options to create a WordPress test site. In fact, we’ve written about how to create local WordPress development sites with tools like: WAMP<\/a>, XAMPP<\/a>, DesktopServer<\/a>, Docker<\/a>, Flywheel Local<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    And those are all great options if you want a more permanent development site and to always work from the same computer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    However, all those methods have their limitations as well. And that’s when we start recommending options like 000webhost and WPSandbox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Traditional WordPress sandboxing methods (like WAMP<\/a> and XAMPP):<\/p>\n\n\n\n