SiteShift
SITESHIFT VS INSTAWP

SiteShift vs InstaWP: your laptop or their cloud?

InstaWP gives you a throwaway WordPress in their cloud in ten seconds and sells hosting per site after that. SiteShift gives you a local copy of a site that already lives somewhere and brings it back there. They solve different problems; this page says which is which.

Get SiteShift — €9/mo See the table ↓

Checked September 2026 · InstaWP prices from instawp.com: $2/mo per sandbox, billed daily

SiteShift vs InstaWP

SiteShift InstaWP
Where the site runs Your own machine InstaWP's servers
Price €9/mo, unlimited sites $2/mo per site + hosting
Works offline ✓ —
Who owns the server Your client's host InstaWP
Installs on an existing host Nothing Migration plugin
Sandboxes in seconds — ✓
AI agent / MCP Roadmap ✓ today
Resell hosting under your brand — ✓
WHICH ONE

Pick by what you're actually doing

Choose InstaWP when
  • You need a demo site for a client or a plugin trial that self-destructs later
  • You want per-PR preview sites or an AI agent driving a real WordPress today
  • You'd rather buy hosting per site and manage a fleet in one dashboard
Choose SiteShift when
  • The site already has a host and is staying there
  • You want to work on the train, without a server on the other end
  • You don't want a plugin or an account between you and the client's server

Questions

Not in the sense SiteShift is. InstaWP's CLI has a local mode on WASM PHP with SQLite; its main product is cloud sandboxes and hosting. SiteShift runs real PHP and MySQL on your own machine.

Yes, and it's not a strange combination: InstaWP for demos and trials, SiteShift for the client sites that live on Hostinger, SiteGround or a VPS.

Provisioning speed and the AI layer. InstaWP spins up a site in seconds and has an MCP server today; SiteShift downloads WordPress and provisions a database in about a minute, and its MCP server is on the roadmap.

Made up your mind? SiteShift is €9 a month, cancel anytime.

Get SiteShift — €9/mo