Accounts & Licensing
Using Your License on Staging and Development Sites
Overview
You do not need a second license to test on a staging or development site. Your Liquid Web software plan limits the number of live sites you can activate, but sites on the approved domains and patterns listed below do not count toward that limit.
How it works
When you activate your license on a site, our licensing system checks the site’s domain. If the domain matches one of the patterns below, the site is treated as a staging or development site:
- It still receives plugin updates.
- It does not use one of your site activations.
- You will not see an “out of installs” notice for it.
If the domain doesn’t match an allowed pattern, it’s treated as a live site and counts toward your site limit. If you’ve already reached the limit for your plan, license validation will fail on this site.
In the patterns below, * stands for any text. For example, staging.* matches staging.example.com, and *.local matches mysite.local.
Whitelisted domains and patterns
Local environments and testing domain endings
| Pattern |
|---|
localhost (any port, for example localhost:8888/example) |
127.0.0.1 |
*.local, local.* |
*.localhost |
*.localnet |
*.test, test.* |
testing.*.* |
*.dev |
*.example |
*.invalid |
*.dev.cc |
*.ngrok.io (tunneling) |
Development naming patterns
| Pattern |
|---|
dev.*, *.dev.* |
wpdev.*, webdev.*, devsite.* |
dev-*, *-dev.* |
qa-* |
wp-maint.* |
Staging naming patterns
| Pattern |
|---|
staging.*, www.staging.* |
*.staging, *.staging.* |
staging2.*.* |
stage.*, *.stage, *.stage.* |
*.stage.site |
sandbox.* |
composer.* |
beta.* |
Hosting provider staging and temporary URLs
| Provider | Pattern(s) |
|---|---|
| Nexcess | *.nxcli.net, *.nxcli.io |
| WP Engine | *.wpengine.com, *.staging.wpengine.com, *dev.wpengine.com, *.wpenginepowered.com |
| GoDaddy | *.myftpupload.com |
| Bluehost | *.mybluehost.me |
| DreamHost | *.dreamhosters.com, *.dream.press |
| LightningBase | *.lightningbasehosted.com |
| WordPress.com | *.wpcomstaging.com |
| WordPress VIP | *.go-vip.net |
| Kinsta | *.kinsta.cloud, staging-*.kinsta.com |
| Flywheel | *.flywheelstaging.com, staging.*.flywheelsites.com |
| Pantheon | *.pantheonsite.io, *.panth.io, *.pantheonlocal.com |
| SiteGround | staging*, www.staging*, *sg-host.com |
| Cloudways | *.cloudwaysapps.com, *.cloudwayssites.com |
| WPMU DEV | *.staging.wpmudev.host |
| WP Stagecoach | *.wpstagecoach.com, *.wpsc.site |
| RAIDBOXES | *.myraidboxes.de, *.myraidbox.io, *.myrdbx.io |
| Lando | *.lndo.site |
| BlogVault | *.wpstage.net |
| Pressable | *.mystagingwebsite.com |
| DDEV | *.ddev.site |
| Pagely | *.pressdns.com |
| Krystal | *.onyx-sites.io |
| xCloud | *.wp1.host, *.wp1.site, *.wp1.sh |
| Plesk | *.plesk.page |
| Rapyd Cloud | *.rapydapps.cloud |
| CloudAccess.net | *.cloudaccess.host |
| Hostinger | *.hostingersite.com |
| Other temporary URLs | *.tempurl.host, *.staging.tempurl.host, *.pluginsupportwp.com |
Stellar owned domains
| Pattern |
|---|
*.tribe, *.tri.be |
*.theeventscalendar.com |
*.loxi.io |
Examples of domains that do not count toward your limit
dev.mysite.comstaging.hello.netpractice-site.staging.wpengine.com
Examples
| Sites using one license | Works? | Why |
|---|---|---|
example.com and example.test | Yes | example.test matches *.test, so only example.com counts. |
example.com and staging.example.com | Yes | staging.example.com matches staging.*. |
example.com, example.test, example.staging, example.local, and localhost:8888/example | Yes | Every site except example.com matches a pattern. All sites get updates. |
example.com and devexample.com | No, on a single site license | devexample.com does not match any pattern, so it counts as a second live site. |
Product specific notes
Promoter (The Events Calendar): Promoter does not work on a site that uses one of the whitelisted domains or patterns above. To set it up on a live site, see Getting Started with Promoter.
Seating (Event Tickets): Seating follows different rules on staging domains. See the section at the bottom of Connecting Event Tickets to the Seating Builder. We do not recommend cloning a site with seating already set up between production and staging.
My staging site’s domain does not match any pattern. What can I do?
A domain that does not match a pattern above is treated as a live site and counts toward your limit. You have these options:
- Use a matching domain for the staging site. For example, set it up as
staging.yoursite.comoryoursite.testinstead of a custom name. - Update the staging site manually. Keep the license active on your live site and download the latest plugin files from your account to update the staging site by hand. See Manual Plugin Updates.
- Move the license between sites. To move your license to a new site, first disconnect it from the original site to free it up. Once released, you can activate it on the new site. See Manage License Activations and Connected Sites.
- Request a new pattern. If your domain follows a pattern that many customers are likely to use, contact support and we will consider adding it. This can take some time, and we do not add patterns that only apply to a single customer.