What if you’re looking for a new plugin to add some functionality to your site but don’t want to mess around on your live site.
It’s nice to have a safe place where you can install new plugins to your heart’s content and compare them to each other without breaking anything on your site.
I was recently in that scenario when looking for a new contact form plugin.
Of course, you could create a staging site and dabble around with that, but in some scenarios, I find this to be just a bit too time-consuming. Plus, creating a staging site uses up valuable resources on my server.
The absolute easiest way to spin up a new WordPress install
…is to enter try.new in your browser and use ZipWP’s awesome service.
You’ll get a fresh WordPress site that you can play around with for 30 minutes without creating an account (longer if you create a free account).
This is great for some quick testing, but I recently stumbled across a tool that takes the process of quick WordPress site creation to the next level.
Meet InstaWP.
Best features of InstaWP
- It literally takes 1-2 seconds to have a new WP site up and running
- You can create templates so that you don’t have to start your site from scratch (more on that in a bit)
- Magic login lets you log in to the WordPress backend in seconds without entering any credentials
- Lots of power user features, such as the ability to configure the server (PHP version, WordPress version) or 1-click plugin and theme installation from within the InstaWP dashboard
The free version of InstaWP lets you create 3 staging sites and 1 template. A newly created site will be available for 7 days. Reserving them (making them available permanently) is only possible with a paid plan.
How I use InstaWP & how templates work
To create a new site, you just have to click the Add New button in the InstaWP dashboard. You’ll then be able to create a new WordPress in the blink of an eye.
Things become a lot more powerful with templates, though!
GeneratePress and GenerateBlocks are the foundation of every site I build.
I, therefore, created a template with these two installed and both premium licenses activated.
Now, with the click of two buttons, I can create a brand new site based on that template and don’t have to go through the hassle of setting up GeneratePress & GenerateBlocks every time.
What about installing WordPress locally on your computer?
This is also a great option, and I will discuss it in more detail in a separate blog post in the future.
Two tools to create local WP installs are:
- Studio by WordPress.com (for simple workflows)
- LocalWP (more settings available — for more advanced workflows)
Let me know in the comments below what options you choose to quickly create a new WordPress site.
