Types of Site
WordPress sites in InstaWP are built in a safe sandbox environment where users can experiment with different themes, plugins, and codes without fear of harming the actual website. These sites are classified into several sorts based on how they were built or in which environment they were set up, allowing you to test different configurations and settings before going live.
In this documentation, we will explore the different types of sites and how they are created under the following categories:
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On the Basis of Expiry
InstaWP enables you to build WordPress testing sites based on their expiration period under the following:
Temporary Site
It refers to the site, which comes with a limited plan expiration depending on the user's plan. Check the pricing page for more details.
On creating a site, you will find the expiration countdown in the Expiry section, as shown in the image below. For more information, you can refer to the Create Site document.
Permanent Site
It refers to the site that does not expire (i.e. reserved) and stays in your account forever (unless manually deleted or marked as un-reserved).
As the site is created, you can make your site permanent with no expiry countdowns. Use the option on the Sites page or mark a site permanent at the time when you create it. Refer to the Permanent Site document for more information.
On the Basis of Setup
InstaWP allows you to build WordPress testing sites depending on the environment for configuring the following types:
👉 Note: In your InstaWP account, Staging Sites will count as a limit for all kind of active sites, including template sites, connected or hosted sites.
InstaWP Site
It refers to the WordPress site, created and hosted in a sandbox environment with InstaWP to give the benefit of testing different configurations and settings without affecting the live website. With InstaWP, you can choose any site plan that best fits your project needs. Each site plan of InstaWP sites runs on secure, high-performance hosting. Also, Each site runs independently. So, you can plans plans for one without affecting others.
The site can be created from scratch (with custom configs & themes/plugins) or by templates within InstaWP. For more information on how to create a new site, you can refer to the Create Site document.
Snapshot
It refers to the site that is built from the snapshot, including any installed plugins or new themes that were added while saving the snapshot. For more information on creating a site from snapshot, you can refer to the Using Snapshot (Create Site) document.
Template
It refers to the site that is built from the template, including any installed plugins or new themes that were added while saving the template. It helps you ease your workload, increase flexibility and provide consistency across the project you are working on. For more information on creating a site from template, you can refer to the Using Templates document.
Managed Site
It refers to the staging site that is created by using the InstaWP Connect plugin, which is an exact copy of the live site hosted with your preferred hosting partner securely. This allows you to test as many changes as possible without affecting your live website. For more information, you can refer to the Add Connect Plugin to Site document.
Updated on: 09/07/2025
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