How do I make a staging copy of my WordPress site?

In cPanel, open WordPress Manager by Softaculous, choose your site and use its Staging option to copy it to a subdomain such as staging.yourdomain.com. Test changes there, then copy them back to the live site, or repeat them by hand on a shop.

1. Create a subdomain for the copy, for example staging.yourdomain.com. You can also use a folder, such as yourdomain.com/staging.
2. In cPanel, open Software → WordPress Manager by Softaculous and find your site.
3. Choose Staging (in some versions it’s an icon in the Softaculous installations list). Pick the subdomain or folder, leave the new database name as suggested, and click Create Staging.
4. When it finishes, log in at staging.yourdomain.com/wp-admin with your usual WordPress login.
5. Keep the copy out of Google: in the staging wp-admin, tick Settings → Reading → Discourage search engines from indexing this site, or password-protect its folder.
6. Make and test your changes: updates, a new theme, a new plugin.

Putting changes live

Softaculous offers Push to Live, which copies the staging site back over the live one. Be careful: it can overwrite anything that changed on the live site since you made the copy, such as orders, enquiries, comments and new posts.

• Brochure sites and blogs with no new content since the copy: back up the live site, then push.
• Shops and booking sites: don’t push the database. Repeat the tested changes on the live site by hand, or push files only if your version lets you choose.

Tip: A staging copy uses its own database and as much disk space as the live site. Himalaya includes 3 MySQL databases, so check you have one free, and delete the copy when you’ve finished (see What is using my disk space?).

My site isn’t listed in WordPress Manager. What now?

It wasn’t installed with Softaculous. Use a staging plugin from WordPress.org, such as WP Staging, which makes the copy from inside wp-admin.

Is there a way without doing this myself?

Yes. On managed WordPress, we test every update on a staging copy before it reaches your live site.

Still stuck? Open a support ticket with the domain.

Updated 6 November 2026. Something here out of date? Tell us.