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2-Way Sync

InstaWP's 2-Way Sync feature allows you to merge WordPress content changes between two connected sites, regardless of where they are hosted. One site is treated as the staging site (where you make changes) and the other as the parent/live site (where changes are pushed to). Syncing can happen in either direction: from staging to live, or from live to staging.

This is especially useful when your live site continues to receive dynamic updates (like WooCommerce orders or new posts) while you're working on changes in staging. With 2-Way Sync, you can push only the changes you made, without overwriting anything else on the live site.

Important: The sync feature tracks changes made through the WordPress admin interface only. Any changes made directly to files or the database (e.g., via FTP or phpMyAdmin) are not visible to the plugin and will not be synced.

👉 2-Way Sync has been tested and confirmed to work with the following:

⚙️Plugins: WooCommerce, ACF, Bricks Builder & Elementor.

⚙️Themes (Customizer Settings): Astra, Hello Elementor, Twenty Twenty-Four, Twenty Twenty-Three, Twenty Twenty-Two, Twenty Twenty-One & Twenty Twenty.

⚙️Core: All features are supported

Note: Any plugin or theme that uses standard WordPress Custom Post Types (CPTs) for its data will work by default, but thorough testing is recommended.

Before You Begin

Both the sites must be connected to InstaWP and one must be designated as the staging site before you can use 2-Way Sync.

If you haven't connected your sites yet, follow the Add Connect Plugin to Site guide.
The InstaWP Connect plugin must be active on both the live site and the staging site.
Beta mode must be turned On to access the 2-Way Sync feature. See the Beta Mode guide for instructions.

Sync Settings can be managed from the Settings Tab in InstaWP Plugin Page

Sync Settings Options:

Option	Description
Posts	Enabling this option will allow plugin to log events related to all posts, pages and custom post types.
Taxonomies	Enabling this option will allow plugin to log events related to all categories tags and custom taxonomies.
Users	Enabling this option will allow plugin to log events related to all users.
Plugins	Enabling this option will allow plugin to log events related to plugins.
Themes	Enabling this option will allow plugin to log events related to all themes.
Navigation Menu	Enabling this option will allow plugin to log Navigation menu item related changes.
WP Customizer	Enabling this option will allow plugin to log WP Customizer.
WP Options (Beta)	Enabling this option will allow plugin to log WordPress options (Note: This feature is in Beta Mode)
WooCommerce (Beta)	Enabling this option will allow plugin to log WooCommerce events. (Note: This feature is in Beta Mode)

What's Covered in This Guide

Syncing When You Created Staging via InstaWP
Syncing When You Created Staging via Your Hosting Panel

Let’s get started 🚀

Syncing When You Created Staging via InstaWP

Use this path if you created your staging site directly through the InstaWP Connect plugin on your live site.

Step 1: From your live site's WordPress admin panel, go to Tools → InstaWP. Under the Staging Sites section, click the Magic Login icon next to your staging site. This will log you directly into the staging site's WordPress admin.

If the "InstaWP" option is not available in the WP panel of your site, you must add the InstaWP Connect - 1-click Staging and Migration plugin to your Live site.

Step 2: Go to Tools > InstaWP from the staging site and select the Sync (Beta) tab from the navigation bar.

Step 3: Toggle the Sync button to On. Once enabled, you'll see a red blinking dot in your admin bar. This confirms that recording is active and the plugin is now tracking changes you make.

Important: The red blinking dot must be visible before you make any changes. Changes made while recording is off will not be captured and cannot be synced.

Step 4: Make whatever changes you need on the staging site, for example, creating a new page, editing a post, updating theme customizer settings, or modifying WooCommerce products.

Example: Go to Pages → Add New, give it a title, and click Publish. The page will now appear in your Pages list and will be tracked as a recorded event.

It is added on Pages list.

Step 5: Once you've made your changes, go back to the Sync tab by either navigating to Tools → InstaWP or clicking the red blinking icon in the admin bar.

You'll see a list of recorded events (each change you made is logged as a separate event). Review the list, then click Sync All.

Tip: You can also sync individual events selectively instead of syncing everything at once. Click on a specific event to choose it, or delete events you don't want to push.

Step 6: Click Sync All button and a new window will appear. Then select the destination live site for syncing changes and click Sync button.

Now, you can see the modifications replicated on the live site from where you built the staging site.

For more information, please refer to the Create staging site document.

2-Way Sync works based on the page slug (URL), not the internal WordPress page ID. If a page with the same slug already exists on the live site, it will be updated. If the slug doesn't exist yet, a new page will be created. Always use distinct slugs on staging and live if you want to create separate content on each.

Syncing When You Created Staging via Your Hosting Panel

Use this path if your staging site was created by your hosting provider (e.g., Cloudways, Kinsta, WP Engine) rather than through InstaWP.

Step 1: Before you can link the two sites, both your live site and your hosting-panel staging site must have the InstaWP Connect plugin installed and activated, and both must appear as Connected in your InstaWP dashboard. If either site is not yet connected, follow the Add Connect Plugin to Site guide for each one before continuing.

Once your live (production) and staging sites are connected. You can follow the below steps:

Step 2: In your InstaWP dashboard, go to the Manage section. Find your live site, click the horizontal three-dot menu (⋯), and select Staging Sites. A panel will slide in from the right side of the screen.

Step 2: Click on Link Staging Site button and another new window will appear with the list of staging sites. Select the staging site which you want to link with the live site and click the Link button.

The site will be added on the list instantly with a message.

👉 Both of your sites should be on “connected” mode.

👉 The user needs to keep the beta mode “On” in able to access the 2 Way Sync feature. For more information, you can refer to Beta mode document.

👉 You can also use InstaWP APIs to link your production and staging sites. For more information, refer to the Link Two Sites Programmatically document.

Now, you can make changes to the staging site (make sure the recording is ON) and push the changes to your live (production) site. For example, here we've changed the post title.

Step 3: Change the post title and click Update.

Step 4: Go back to Tools → InstaWP (or click the red blinking dot). You'll see the list of recorded events. Click Sync All, select your live site as the destination, and click Sync.

Go to the live site and see the modification replicated from the staging site.

💡 Did you know - You can also sync changes from the template's parent site to the content of your template. Learn about Sync template from parent site.

Updated on: 26/02/2026

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