Testing WordPress themes on your live site is risky. One wrong click and your site breaks. Visitors see errors. Search engines penalize you. You scramble to fix it while traffic disappears.
Local WordPress testing eliminates this risk completely. Using Local by WP Engine, you can test themes safely on your own computer before touching your live site. No hosting needed. No risk to your live site. Break things, experiment, and test freely – then apply what works to your real site.
This guide shows you exactly how to set up Local WordPress testing and create a test site with your actual content. The entire process takes about an hour, and you’ll have a safe sandbox ready for testing any WordPress theme.