XAMPP is a popular, free and open source localhost PHP development environment available for Windows, OS X and Linux. MAMP is free, but there’s also a premium version available multi-PHP, the ability to set up any number of virtual servers, and the option to install WordPress automatically. The post includes optional steps for setting up Multisite. We recently published a great guide to setting up MAMP on the blog, which walks you through installing the program, basic MAMP configuration, creating a MySQL database, and installing WordPress. Version 3 of the software has been released and there’s also a beta version available for Windows.
MAMP (which stands for Macintosh, Apache, MySQL and PHP) lets you set up a localhost environment on OS X. Most of the options are for setting up a localhost, but there are also options for duplicating a live site. In this post I’ve put together a collection of some of the best testing environments available for WordPress, including options for both Windows and OS X.
8 Best Localhost Testing Environments for WordPress There are many ways you can set up a test environment, but the easiest by far are localhost environments or cloning your site on your existing web hosting account. If you’ve ever activated a new plugin or upgraded to a new version of WordPress only to find errors on your site, you will know the importance of testing first. Many site admins take advantage of these environments where they can do thorough testing before committing changes to a site. Testing environments provide an easy and relatively inexpensive way to test themes, plugins and even new releases of WordPress without breaking your live site.