TasteWP Review 2023 – Free Hosting for WordPress Testing Sites

If you are looking for a quick and easy way to get yourself a free online staging or test WordPress sites, TasteWP is offering the best solution.

In this post, we’ll take a look at what TasteWP is, how it works, and some of its key features. This will help you decide if it deserves your love.

So, what is TasteWP?

Essentially, it is a free online staging or testing WordPress site service that allows you to create a free copy of WordPress site on their servers.

This can be useful for several reasons, such as if you want to test out a new theme or plugin without affecting your live site, or if you want to make sure everything is working correctly before pushing it live.

Creating a staging site with TasteWP is quick and easy.

Just 2 clicks and 5 seconds is all it takes for you to get your first WordPress test site and you are getting it for free too. But, if you want to get more out of this blazingly fast platform, bear with me for this detailed guide.

In this article, you will learn the quickest way ever to take out a WordPress plugin for a test ride, directly from the official WordPress repository. You will also find out how to check out any custom plugins too.

Going more in-depth, I’ll present a way to create dedicated WordPress test sites that will fit your needs and the needs of your collaborators and clients best. If you are a WordPress developer, you will discover brilliant new ways to present your plugins and themes to your prospects.

Further, we will explore who may benefit from a service such as TasteWP, apart from WordPress developers, and how friendly this platform is towards newbies and those who are not familiar with the inner workings of WordPress.

We will also look for TasteWP alternatives and compare them, to see which solutions work best in today’s IT world and the demands that it sets.

So, without further ado, let us take a more detailed look at TasteWP and how it can help you streamline your workflow!

Let’s get a taste of TasteWP now.

What is TasteWP?

Developed by Inisev, TasteWP is the online service that provides users with free WordPress test sites, that can also serve as staging sites. The focal point is on simplicity and quickness, and for all WordPress enthusiasts that look for an easy solution, TasteWP absolutely delivers this.

Naturally, TasteWP looks like a good choice for a WordPress beginner to get familiar with WordPress and make the first steps with it, with no investment. There are also many cool tricks and features that make the platform attractive for experienced WordPress developers.

No matter your WordPress level, if you want a quick way to create a safe test environment for your experiments, TasteWP is the way to go.

Unlike some older, local solutions Flywheel Local to set up WordPress test or staging environments, TasteWP operates completely online, and you can easily share access to your test sites with colleagues or clients.

That’s what TasteWP is, but how does it actually work?

Let’s take a look and find out.

How Does TasteWP Work?

TasteWP is an online service, so you don’t need to install any software on your computer. Creating a WordPress staging/testing site with TasteWP is as easy as it gets – you just need a few seconds and 2 clicks.

There are no complicated settings or options to choose from.

Everything is pretty straightforward.

Starting from the TasteWP home screen, you can start up your first free WordPress test site by simply clicking on the “Set it up!” button and you don’t even need to sign up. Many newcomers drop their jaws when they see that the brand new test site creation takes only 3 seconds or less.

The fact that you can get your first couple of WordPress test sites that fast and easily is what makes a strong first impression.

Also, the fact that there is no need to set anything up or worry about web hosting services, domain names and other technical aspects of running a website is also very attractive for new users of TasteWP.

TasteWP will provide you with a temporary URL for your test site, which you can share with your colleagues or clients.

What is also available straight from the get-go is Advanced Setup for the new test sites. Here, you can pre-define a number of options for your WordPress test site, that are organized in several groups.

TasteWP Advanced Setup Options

• You can select the specific versions of WordPress.
• You can select PHP version that will be used for the test site.
• Editing is available for some of the WP Config options, e.g. for debugging, caching, or for WP cron or for automatic updates.
• You can choose from several recommended plugins.
• You can pick a theme from the listed themes, but it’s not mandatory.
• If you find randomly generated test site names too silly, you can give your sites a custom name – any name of your choice.
• WordPress multisite creation is optional.
• If you are not happy with the standard test site limitations, you can assign the Premium site from here as well.

And, a lot more…

Editing the Advanced setup options does not affect the test site creation time, and such sites or any other test sites in fact – demo or template sites are still being created in the flash. And all those sites are standard full WordPress sites, without anything taken out from them (to keep them lighter).

Top Features of TasteWP

1. Quick Demo Links

One of the most popular TasteWP features is the quick launch of WordPress plugin-based demo sites. With this feature, you can simply start a demo of any plugin from the official WordPress directory.

All you need to do is simply swap the “wordpress” with “tastewp” in the plugin’s page URL, and hit Enter.

For example, you can edit this url: https://wordpress.org/plugins/elementor/ into https://tastewp.org/plugins/elementor/ and in a couple of seconds, you will be behind the WP Dashboard of the demo site with the Elementor plugin installed. It was quite easy even for beginners, right?

In case you want to try out some theme, you can apply this same trick with the URL edit to run a demo site of a specific WP theme. You just need to swap “wordpress” with “tastewp” in the theme’s URL and you are ready to go.

The TasteWP team has made this demo running even easier with a thing called a magic bookmark. Add this to your browser’s bookmarks toolbar and you can run plugin and theme demos by simply clicking on it while you are on the page of any WP plugin or theme.

These quick demo links are especially useful when you are exploring which plugin from a specific category, e.g. security, would suit your needs best.

I think that such an approach can save you precious time that would be spent on manually installing and uninstalling plugins one by one just to check them out. So, this is one of the top features of TasteWP I personally like.

2. Advanced Demo Links and Site Templates

While quick demo links are predominantly used to check out third-party plugins and themes, you can also create a Site Template, where the generated link will create a fresh WordPress instance with a theme and up to 5 of your choosing. So, if you have a theme and set of plugins that you use on your projects often, you can save them as a Site Template.

Site Templates can be used with both free and custom plugins, and this feature is loved by plugin developers as it gives the opportunity to share the links for demo sites with their plugins.

With the special codes that TasteWP users can integrate into their demo links, developers can also define a landing page within the WordPress Dashboard of the demo site and optionally hide the TasteWP intro screen.

Take this demo link for an example: https://demo.tastewp.com/neve-bundle. It will launch a test site with the Neve theme, its complimentary plugin for starting theme templates, and in addition, the link will also install Elementor and a couple of its complimentary plugins.

With this demo link, you will also be redirected directly to the theme’s main menu page and the common TasteWP intro screen will be minimized.

3. Non-expiring Premium Test Sites

The TasteWP test site can last forever if you wish. Contrary to regular TastWP test sites that last for a week, premium test sites last as long as you need them, and they also have an expanded maximum size limit, of 20GB.

Cool thing is that you can replace one premium site with another by simply deleting the first one, which is really friendly towards the beginners that might “break” one site or simply want to start again from the scratch.

Pros of TasteWP

The lightning speed of TasteWP will surely be noticed by any WordPress veteran. Setting up a test site with TasteWP is unquestionably faster than any developer is capable of doing manually.

Local test sites once used to be standard. But in a time where increasingly more services are constantly using an online connection, and also with the age of global teams, it is becoming impractical to work locally.

Easy online access to the test sites is important for the development teams, as well as developers/designers and their clients.

Moreover, many WordPress developers have been in the situation where some code or a plugin worked perfectly locally, while it didn’t quite work well on the real hosting server. There are already whole teams and companies that shifted to testing their WordPress products on TasteWP.

Having test sites or staging sites on the third-party (secure) server also means that no resources are being wasted on the live server. Cleaning up behind is also not something to worry about, as TasteWP testing sites are automatically deleted after a week – if you’re not a premium user.

WordPress users can also use TasteWP as the safe ground for checking out software or code that they don’t entirely trust.

Because no damage can be done if they check the suspicious code on the test site hosted on the third-party server. This way, you can be sure that even if something goes wrong, your live WordPress website is still safe.

Cons of TasteWP

With all the great features that come for free with TasteWP, many developers were actually skeptical of the platform.

They were often asking: “What’s the catch?”.

Well, there is no any.

The only benefit that Inisev, the company behind the TasteWP is getting from giving away test sites for free is the promotion of the several plugins from their own kitchen. By default, those plugins come on each WordPress instance, but they can always be removed if you don’t need or want them.

If you are a developer that wants to use the plugin demo feature, note that custom content to the site or custom settings will require a few extra steps, as such content will have to be provided by a small additional custom plugin.

So, as a developer, you may have to create your own custom plugin that injects the content into the site on each new request.

While this is not a big deal, it might be a turn-off for some developers.

How Do You Use TasteWP?

If you want to learn how to use TasteWP, the whole process is actually pretty straightforward. The first thing you need to do is to head over to the TasteWP website and create an account. Then, you’ll be ready to go.

Creating a new test site is really simple – you just need to choose the WordPress version you want by clicking on the “Create New Site” button.

And, within seconds, your test site will be ready!

By now it is clear that regular TasteWP test sites can be created directly from the platform’s homepage, but also remotely, with the help of links.

All Site Templates and demo links can be started up even by unregistered users. Even the simplest, default test site can be launched remotely with a simple link. Here’s the link you should try now: https://tastewp.com/new.

Well, you should create a free TasteWP account.

Signing up on TasteWP brings quite a few advantages. Your test sites will last 7 days instead of 2 days, and you will be able to have 6 active free test sites at the time, with the ability to manage all of them.

Who Is TasteWP for?

TasteWP is for anyone who wants to test WordPress, from simple website builders and bloggers to complex development teams.

The platform is designed to offer an easy way for anyone to create, manage and delete test sites with different WordPress versions.

If you are a developer, you can use TasteWP to check how some code or a new plugin works on WordPress, without the risk of breaking your live site. If you are a website builder, you can use it to create safe testing grounds for trying out new themes and plugins before applying them to your live site.

And, finally, if you are a blogger or a content creator, you can use TasteWP to test out new themes or plugins before activating it on your live site.

The potential is really big.

And, the platform can be used in many different ways.

Plugin developers love TasteWP.

And, you should not be surprised to see a TasteWP demo link on the plugin description page in the official WordPress repository.

Also, there are 100+ plugins and themes already offering TasteWP demos to the public. So, if you are a plugin or a theme developer, feel free to add your very own TasteWP demo and help people get a taste of your products.

As already mentioned, apart from plugin and theme developers (and testers), there are other groups that extensively use TasteWP sites.

Some developers use TasteWP to build and test their new site, before moving it to their own server. Others create a staging site, make tweaks and edits, and if they are satisfied with the changes, push it back to the main live site.

The Backup Migration plugin that is pre-installed on every instance can help users make the cloning/migration process go faster and smoother.

People who teach WordPress use TasteWP with their students so they can easily create and share sites on which they learn. With all the test sites being online, teachers can easily access sites from all students. Students and WordPress beginners appreciate TasteWP as it provides them with many test sites that are open for experimenting and are easily disposable.

TasteWP Pricing

TasteWP is a free service. You don’t need to pay anything to create or use TasteWP test sites. However, there are some limitations. For example, unregistered users can only create test sites that will be live for 2 days.

If you create an account on TasteWP, you will be able to have 6 active test sites at the time and each of them will be live for 7 days.

Also, with a TasteWP account, you will be able to manage all your test sites from a single dashboard. You can see how much time is left until a test site expires, quickly login to your site or delete a test site, and much more.

TasteWP also offers premium sites.

Premium sites have no time limits and come with increased size. A premium site costs $2.98 per month and it can go up to $4.98/month, depending on the quantity purchased and the payment period (monthly or yearly).

All other features currently available are completely free. But, if you need a test site that is not going to expire, you’ll need to pay.

TasteWP Alternatives

If you are looking for an alternative to TasteWP, here are some of the options:

• WPSandbox
• DevKinsta
• Local by Flywheel
• InstaWP
• Jurassic Ninja

In the WordPress circles jurassic.ninja used to be probably the most famous place to start up a free WordPress test site.

Well, nowadays, you can only use it with an Automattic account. If you don’t have one, you won’t be able to create a test site.

Another similar project where Automattic was also recently involved by pumping in funds is InstaWP. WPSandbox provides WordPress sandbox environments, for a price. DevKinsta is also one of the popular solutions for test sites, but those are hosted locally on your work machine.

Frequently Asked Questions

While you may have already most of your questions answered, I’ve collected some of the most frequently asked questions about TasteWP. Take a look at the below list and hopefully your confusions will be clearned.

Is TasteWP really free?

Yes, it is. You can use TasteWP without paying anything. However, if you need a test site that is not going to expire, you’ll need to pay.

How much does a TasteWP premium site cost?

Premium sites have no time limits and come with increased size. The cost for a premium site starts at $2.98 per month and goes up to $4.98 per month, based on the quantity purchased and the payment period (monthly or yearly).

What are some TasteWP alternatives?

Honestly, there’s no reason to try an alternative when TasteWP is free and provides everything you need for creating test WordPress sites.

If you still are looking for an alternative to TasteWP, check out:

• WPSandbox
• DevKinsta
• Local by Flywheel
• InstaWP
• Jurassic Ninja

How many TasteWP test sites can I have?

If you are not logged in, you can have 1 test site that will be live for 2 days. If you create an account on TasteWP, you will be able to have 6 active test sites at the time and each of them will be live for 7 days.

What is the biggest TasteWP limitation?

The biggest TasteWP limitation is the time limit for free test sites. If you need a test site that is not going to expire, you’ll need to pay.

Can users host their own domains with TasteWP?

Currently, all test sites are hosted as subdomains on TasteWP. Regular site hosting is planned for the future. So, for now, it’s not possible to host your own domain. If that’s in your mind, check out WordPress hosting providers.

My test site expired, can I have it back?

All test sites that expire are gone for good. So, you’ll need to keep an eye on the expiry timer (available on each test site and on the TasteWP Dashboard). You can upgrade to a premium test site if you don’t want your site to expire.

Final Thoughts about TasteWP

Beautifully designed and pragmatically created, TasteWP is as cool as it looks. This is quite a user-friendly tool that will also satisfy the more demanding user. If you need a test site for WordPress, this is the tool you should use. No other alternatives come close to what TasteWP has to offer.

TasteWP is a great tool for anyone who needs to create a WordPress test site. You can have a test site up and running in no time.

It is easy to use, yet still offers plenty of features and options.

The biggest limitation of TasteWP is the time limit for each test site. But, you can remove the limit by opting for a paid plan.

Globally used, TasteWP is available in 20 translated languages, that will, by default be set to match the preferred language in your browser. And the test sites will also be created in the matching language.

With all the qualities and advantages analyzed in this article, the only thing left for you is to spin one up and taste it for yourself.

I strongly believe that you’ll love it!

So, go ahead and create your free TasteWP account today!