Staging updates
Test WordPress updates on a staging copy, without doing it by hand.
For every risky update, Verploy builds a private copy of the site on your own server, runs the update there, checks every page on desktop and mobile, and removes the copy again. The live site is only updated when the checks pass.
No credit card. Every update is checked, and the risky ones are tested on a copy first.
How it works
See Verploy in 80 seconds.
How an update is checked, tested on a copy when it is risky, and held back or rolled back when something looks off.
Start free on up to 3 sites →Plays from YouTube once you click. Watch on YouTube
The problem
Everyone agrees on staging. Nobody has time for it.
Testing updates on a staging copy first is the textbook advice. In practice it means cloning the site, updating the copy, clicking through the important pages, updating the live site and deleting the copy again. For one site that is half an hour. For forty client sites it does not happen.
Verploy does those steps itself, for the updates where it matters, and keeps a record of what it checked.
How the test copy works
A real copy, in the real environment
On your own server
The copy is built on the same hosting as the live site, so what passes there has been tested in the real environment, not in a lookalike. It is removed after the run.
Isolated on every run
Before testing starts, Verploy checks that the copy sends no email, makes no outgoing requests, runs no scheduled tasks, is not indexable and is reachable only by Verploy.
Every page, two screens
Pages are compared on desktop and mobile with the percentage of visual difference, plus errors, scripts and styles, page structure and the login page. The threshold is adjustable per site.
Forms and checkout
Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms and WPForms are filled in and sent on the copy, and the WooCommerce checkout is opened. Nothing is paid or ordered.
Which updates
Tested on a copy where the risk calls for it
- Themes and page builders
- Shops: WooCommerce and its extensions
- Major version jumps
- Small, proven plugin updates go live with a snapshot beforehand and a check afterwards, so a rollback is always possible
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a staging environment from my host?
No. Verploy builds the temporary copy itself, on the same hosting as the live site, through the Verploy Connector. It needs some free disk space; Verploy checks that before it starts.
Is every update tested on a copy?
Every update is checked, and the risky ones are tested on a copy first. Small, proven plugin updates go live with a snapshot beforehand and a check afterwards.
What happens when the copy fails the test?
The update is held back and the live site is not touched. You see what failed, in plain language, with screenshots before and after.
Read next
Spend less time checking WordPress.
Let Verploy do the maintenance work.
Free on up to 3 sites. No credit card. The first 30 agencies keep 40% off for life.