13 Best WordPress Clone Plugins for Effortless Website Duplication

Do you want to modify your WordPress site without affecting its current version? Or Do you have plans to move your site to a new host? Or Do you want to build a staging version to try out new things and give your site a makeover without affecting the existing version? To achieve this, you can move your WordPress site manually. However, this process consumes a lot of time and effort. Also, it is prone to errors.

Then, the question is, what is the most effective way to clone a WordPress site? Simple, with the help of plugins. Many Clone plugins for WordPress sites are available in the market. So, whether you’re looking to create a backup of your existing site, create a staging environment for testing new features and designs, or replicate an entire site for a client, these plugins can help you do it quickly and easily. 

With so many plugins, it becomes challenging to choose the right one. We have singled out the best WordPress clone plugins based on their features and pricing. Therefore, you can choose the right one.

But before that, we will explain when you need a clone WordPress site. 

So, let’s start.

When do you need a clone website?

There are several times when you may need to create a clone of your website.

Mostly, people just want to update and refresh their site but are worried about making a total train wreck. Creating a clone will ensure a fully functional copy of the website is kept, unlike a regular backup which may only backup certain parts. That way, if your attempts at modernization go wrong, you still have your clone to fall back on.

Other possible scenarios where you might need to clone your site include the following:

• To create a copy of your website to use for another project.
• Create a staging site to develop and test things such as plugins, themes, or modifications without the risk of damage to your live site.
• You are a developer working on other people’s sites or want a developer to work on yours.
• To make a backup of your entire site and not just the databases.
• To migrate a site to a new domain or host.
• Build a client’s website on the local server to review, finalize, and make it live.

13 Best WordPress Clone Plugins

1. UpdraftPlus

UpdraftPlus is a viral WordPress clone plugin that gives you a one-click backup and restoration to/from a cloud. You can also use it to create clones, although you will need to upgrade to the premium version to do that. Over three million active downloads exist, and a 4.8/5.0 star rating clearly shows that users love it.

The free version gives you the following functionality:

• Backup directly into the cloud (Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3 (or compatible), UpdraftVault, Rackspace Cloud, FTP, DreamObjects, Openstack Swift, and email)
• Translated into more than 16 languages
• Backup to remote storage
• Basic email reporting
• Scheduled backups
• Browse backup contents in WordPress.

The premium version costs $70 per year and provides you with these extra features:

• Clone websites, although the number of clones is limited depending on the subscription purchased.
• Backup into OneDrive, Azure, Google Cloud Storage, Backblaze B2, SFTP, SCP, and WebDAV.
• Inclusive free 1GB vault
• Incremental backups
• Backup extra databases and files
• Advanced Reporting
• Automatic backup when updating WordPress, themes, or plugins
• Direct backups to multiple remote destinations
• Database encryption
• Ability to restore backups made by other plugins
• Run from WP-CLI
• Download individual files from a backup in WordPress
• Premium personal support
• Premium subscriptions receive a discount of 40% upon renewal.

UpdraftPlus premium could be a good option for you as it is a reliable plugin with plenty of features. Just be aware that you will be restricted on the number of clones you can do, after which you will need to buy more ‘tokens.’

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2. Duplicator

Duplicator does what it says on the packet – it duplicates, migrates, clones, or moves your WordPress website, all with zero downtime.

Free and paid Pro versions of Duplicator are available. The free one has the following features:

• Backup files and database
• File and database table filters
• Integrated migration wizard for easy operation
• Ability to overwrite the live site

Pro costs between $49 and $299 per year. The price difference depends on the total number of websites. These versions add some or all of the following additional features depending on the tier purchased:

• Drag and drop installations
• Scheduled backups, including hourly
• Rollbacks
• Cloud storage (Dropbox, Google Drive, FTP/SFTP, Microsoft OneDrive, Amazon S3)
• Supports larger sites
• Managed hosting support
• Integrated installer with two modes (basic and advanced)
• Email alerts
• Custom search and replace
• Manual/quick transfers
• WP-Config extra control
• Migrate duplicator settings
• Migrate an entire multisite or install a multisite subsite as a new standalone
• Premium support

An incredible million active downloads of Duplicator exist so far, and it has attracted awe-inspiring 4.9/5.0 stars from users, making it a safe option.

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3. All-In-One WP Migration

All-In-One WP Migration allows you to export your entire WordPress website without needing any technical skills whatsoever. What’s more, once you have created your clone, if desired, you can easily upload it to a different location using simple drag and drop.

It is a free plugin, although several premium extensions are available to increase functionality. The basic plugin gives you the following:

• Unlimited find and replace operations during the export process, including auto-fixing of serialization problems that may occur.
• Mobile device compatible.
• There are no limitations on the host or operating system.
• Bypass all upload size restrictions to overcome the limits set by some hosts.
• It does not require any PHP extensions from WordPress v5.2 onwards.
• Support for MYSQL and MYSQLI.
• Instructional videos and support.
• Many premium extensions are available to add WP-CLI integration, OneDrive, DropBox, Google Drive, etc.

The upside of having premium extensions is that you can pay only for the ones you need. The downside is that purchasing a different premium extension with all the bells and whistles could work out cheaper.

A whopping five million downloads of this plugin are in operation, and the review score of 4.5/5.0 stars indicates users are generally delighted with it.

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4. Migrate Guru

Migrate Guru is a completely free WordPress migration plugin. As its name implies, it is meant primarily for migrating WordPress websites to different locations. However, it also allows you to clone your site without the need for any additional plugins, addons, or extensions.

Speed and simplicity are the unique selling points of this plugin. The developers claim that in just a couple of clicks, you can clone a 1GB site in less than thirty minutes. 

Despite being completely free, with Migrate Guru, you get the following:

• Fast, one-click migration/cloning
• No site overload, or storage space is needed to undertake migrations – the transfer is done using Migrate Guru’s servers
• Transfer websites up to 200 GB without issues caused by live-site server import limits.
• Multisite support
• Compatible with all web hosts globally
• Automatic search and replace
• Real-time and email alerts to inform you of migration status

With over 80,000 downloads and an average user score of 4.9/5.0, this plugin could be the one for you if you are looking for a great free option.

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5. XCloner

XCloner is an excellent, completely free WordPress clone plugin that allows you to create secure site backups easily. It will also allow you to migrate or roll it back to previous backups.

Despite XCloner not costing a single cent, it comes bundled with the following features:

• Full and differential backups
• Automatic hourly/daily/weekly/monthly backups
• Restore backups to any compatible location
• Site sync, migration, and rollback
• Personalized data compression
• Save data to cloud storage such as FTP, SFTP, Amazon S3, Dropbox, Azure, BackBlaze, WebDAV, and Google Drive
• Flexible retention policies
• Military-grade, GDPR-compliant encryption
• Generate a backup of the core, plugins, themes, or languages files before they are automatically updated
• Fast CLI (command-line interface)

While XCloner is regularly updated, the current version is only tested on WordPress 6.2, so you may want to check with the developer if you use a later version. 

More than 20,000 downloads of the plugin are active. The average user rating is 4.2/5.0, but don’t be put off by that, as most of the low scores date back several years, and the issues which resulted in those have since been sorted.

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6. WP Stagecoach

WP Stagecoach is one of the leading WordPress clone plugins that let you create a staging site with just one click. It also allows you back up your WordPress files.

The best thing about this plugin is it enables you to create a short-term staging site without affecting the database. It actually merges the database instead of overwriting it. The plugin also ensures no data gets lost on the live site while you are busing creating a staging site.

Some of the most impressive features of WP Stagecoach are as follows:

• Quick & easy to use
• One-click, advanced, and manual import options
• Optimize the plugin for slower server
• SSL support
• Get remote servers for the staging sites
• Keep your staging sites password protected.

The plugin is paid with pricing starting from $99 per year for 1 site, $199 per year for 5 sites, and $349 per year for 30 sites. You can choose a suitable plan as per your needs.

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7. WP Staging

WP Staging is a popular duplicator plugin for WordPress sites. It can create an identical copy of your website in virtually no time at all, although, as with every plugin, the exact time will depend on the size of the site. A Pro version adds various options for cloning, such as multisite or clone to subdomain. Let’s have a look at the free version’s features first:

• Easy, one-button cloning
• No SaaS, so no account is needed – all data remains on your server for extra security
• Administrators can only access the cloned site
• Supports all popular web servers: Apache, Nginx, and Microsoft IIS
• Extensive logging
• The staging site is clearly identified to ensure you do not accidentally work on the wrong site
• The entire production site is cloned into a subfolder
• No server timeouts on larger websites or small hosting servers
• SEO friendly

The Pro version costs $98 up to $330 per year, depending on how many users are supported. Additional functionality added by Pro includes:

• Choose a separate database and select a custom directory for cloning.
• Make the clone website available from a subdomain.
• Push and migrate the entire clone site, including themes, plugins, and media files, to the production website.
• Migration and cloning of WordPress multi-sites.
• Premium support.

WP Staging is a highly trusted plugin, demonstrated by 70,000 active downloads and an average user rating of 4.9/5.0 stars.

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8. WP Migrate DB Pro

WP Migrate DB Pro reduces the task of migrating a WordPress site to just three simple steps, plus it can fully clone a website (database, themes, plugins, etc.)

For $49 per year for one active site or $99 for two, you will get a plugin that gives you the following functionality:

• Push and pull databases, media libraries, themes, and plugins from one site to another
• Advanced multisite features, like push a subsite to single-site install, etc.
• Command-line support
• Search and replace
• Rollbacks
• Backup data before starting the migration
• Select which database tables to include or exclude from the migration
• Priority email support

WP Migrate DB Pro is a popular, trusted plugin that has attracted 300,000 downloads and a user rating of 4.5/5.0 stars.

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9. Total Upkeep

As well as cloning your website, Total Upkeep also has a unique ‘Site Check’ feature that monitors your site at predetermined intervals for potential crash issues. If a problem is detected, it will alert you via email and allow you to restore the site to the last backup. Additionally, it can restore data even when WordPress is down.

The free version comes complete with the following features:

• Scheduled backups
• Easy migration and cloning
• Custom backups
• Update control and protection
• One-click remote backups (FTP/SFTP)
• Custom names for folders
• Backup archives
• Backup and database browser
• No size restrictions
• Protected links
• Auto rollback creates a backup before updates and restores the site should an update fail
• Site Check feature monitors the website for issues
• Tools that allow restoration of the site even if WordPress is down
• Easy cloning, duplication, or migration

For $30 per year, you can upgrade to Pro, which supplements the already long list of features with:

• Automatic upload of archives to Amazon S3 or Google Drive
• Restore the full backup archive or just individual files
• Historical versions
• Save a copy before commencing updates
• Recently modified files
• Update history
• Premium support

All in all, a handy plugin that has 80,000 active downloads and an excellent user rating of 4.8/5.0 stars. The plugin has been tested till WordPress 6.2.

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10. Duplicate Page

As the name suggests, it is a WordPress cloner that lets you duplicate all the pages, posts, and custom posts with just a single click. The plugin also allows you to save the posts in different options like draft, private, public, and pending, according to your needs.

To get additional features, you need to choose the pro version. In the pro version, you get the settings option in the admin panel. Here, you can modify various parameters as you want. It costs $15 for a single site and $99 for 10 sites. Some of the key features of this duplicator plugin WordPress are as follows.

• Give user roles to those who can access the Duplicate page.
• Show Duplicate Page link in the post types.
• Add post prefix & suffix.
• Integrate various filters & features.
• Get an option to display the clone link wherever you want.
• Change the duplicate post link title.

The plugin has more than 2million+ active installations and 4.8 stars out of 5 on the WordPress directory.

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11. NS Cloner

NS Cloner is one of the best clone WordPress site plugins built for multisite networks. The plugin can select any site from the running multisite network and copy the same to the new site with similar settings, themes, plugin configurations, content, and media. 

The plugin makes smart replacements in a way that the latest site settings reflect your title and name. It also consists of automatic URL replacements and background modifications to ensure your site works in a way that is similar to the one you have built manually. This WordPress cloner is best suited for developers, designers, and teams that want to set up staging sites, affiliates, and more.

The plugin has a free and pro version. Remember one thing; the plugin functions with WordPress multiple. If you want this plugin to work with a single site, you need to go with the pro version.

Some of the key features of the free version are as follows. 

• Copies all the widgets, plugins, posts, pages, custom posts, theme, and more in just a few seconds.
• The plugins function in the background without any timeouts or memory shortages.
• Progressive validation and issue detection
• Translation ready

The pro version of the plugin costs $298 for 2 installs and $598 for 10 installs. It consists of all the free + advanced features. Let us look at these features.

• The teleport function lets you clone a subsite to a remote network or teleport a whole multisite network to a remote location.
• Carry out a custom search and replace the cloned content.
• Clone WordPress users and their permissions.
• Save your default cloning settings to save time.
• Table manager lets you know which tables are cloned and manage them.

The plugin has over 7000+ active installations and 4.7 stars out of 5. 

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12. Clone by BackupBliss

As the name suggests, it is one of the best WordPress backup and migration plugins. The plugin has been around for some time but fell by the wayside in more recent times and was not updated. However, since another developer, BackupBliss, took over, it has been completely revamped and is now fully up-to-date.

As the name infers, this plugin allows you to clone, migrate, or backup your WordPress site:

• Easy operation without needing FTP access, source, or destination site – simply install a new WordPress on the destination site, install the Clone plugin, and follow the prompts.
• Reduced upload time for migration and improved security due to WordPress system files not being backed up or restored. Instead, the plugin creates user content and database backups.
• Easy migration – site backup is fetched via the host’s direct HTTP connection, so uploading large backup files is unnecessary.

The plugin is limited to websites no greater than 2 GB. However, the developer will soon be launching a premium version that removes that limit. It will also add many extra features, such as:

• Save backups on Google Drive, Dropbox, Google Cloud, etc.
• More zip options.
• Browse through files to define which ones should be included/excluded.
• Smart exclusion rules, like excluding all spam comments.
• Encrypt and password-protect backups.
• Additional backup creation triggers.
• The premium plugin is available for pre-purchase at the discounted price of $19.98 for non-commercial sites and $29.98 for commercial sites. Those subscriptions will be for six months.

One hundred thousand active downloads of the free version of Clone exist, and it has gained an average user rating of 4.1/5.0 stars. The low scores appear to be a legacy from when the previous developer owned the plugin, and the recent feedback has been very positive.

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13. FastDup

FastDup is one of the newest clone WordPress plugins available for free. Therefore, it has only managed to accrue around 3,000 downloads so far, but the feedback has been highly positive, with an unbeatable user rating of 4.5/5.0.

FastDup reduces all the steps needed to clone a WordPress site to just a few mouse clicks. Backups and restore operations are equally straightforward, using copy-and-paste techniques. But the best thing about it is its price – zero dollars. Yup, it’s completely free.

Despite its zero-price tag, FastDup gives you the following:

• Swift migration
• Create multiple specific templates with the files to be included.
• Create multiple packages of aggregated database contents ready for download.
• Configurable file inclusions and exclusions
• RTL language support, including Hebrew, Arabic, etc.
• Compatible with page builders like Elementor, Beaver Builder, Divi Builder, Visual Composer, WPBakery, WooCommerce Page Builder, etc.
• Compatible with Nginx, Lighttpd, Apache, LiteSpeed, IIS, WebServerX, uWSGI, etc. web servers.

These features will probably be more than adequate for most users needing to clone their WordPress site.

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Conclusion

Here we conclude our list of the best WordPress clone plugins. All of these plugins enable you to clone your WordPress site and also let you perform various other crucial activities. This saves you a lot of time & effort.

UpdraftPlus and Duplicator are two of the most popular clone WordPress plugins you can rely on to clone or migrate a website from one server to another. 

For creating a staging site, you can utilize the features of your hosting solution. It could be Siteground, Bluehost, etc. If your hosting doesn’t allow this, go with WP StageCoach.

Now, it’s time to choose the right WordPress clone plugin. By selecting a suitable plugin, you can quickly and efficiently create a replica of your website and enjoy the benefits of having a duplicate site for testing and development purposes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a Clone the Same as a Regular Backup?

Not really. A backup may only create copies of essential data, such as the database or settings, for backup and disaster recovery purposes. A clone, on the other hand, creates a complete copy of absolutely everything.

Can I Manually Duplicate my WordPress site?

It is possible to create a duplicate of your WordPress site manually. However, in all honesty, the process is highly time-consuming as it involves a ton of cutting and pasting. The risk with that is the likelihood of missing something is very high. However, using a WordPress clone plugin, the process can be fully automated, done very quickly, and with almost zero margins for error.

Is it possible to clone a WordPress site?

Yes, you can clone a WordPress site using the staging function offered by hosting solutions like Siteground, Bluehost, etc. Apart from this, you can also clone a website with the help of WordPress clone plugins.