LocalWP Alternative: ZipWP (AI Powered + No Installation Needed)

LocalWP is certainly a great WordPress development environment. But it has a few problems that can become a blocker in your development journey.

For example, if you’re building a WordPress site in LocalWP for a client, and want them to see it, it’s very complicated.

You can generate a live link, but that will only work if you have your laptop/desktop turned on.

Frustrating, right?

Apart from the lack of features, you always fear losing data because of viruses, faulty hard drives, or any other problems.

However, these challenges can be tackled with ZipWP, a cloud-based hosting platform for WordPress developers.

In this article, we’ll discuss how ZipWP can solve your problems while using LocalWP.

What is LocalWP (Formerly Local by Flywheel)?

LocalWP, or Local, is a free desktop application that was developed by Flywheel, and later acquired by WP Engine.

It helps you create an isolated WordPress environment on your computer without the need for the internet, using the hard drives on your computer as the database.

With LocalWP, you can create an unlimited number of WordPress sites. However, these sites won’t be accessible to anyone on the internet by default. To share them, you’ll need to use their Live Links feature, which can be quite inconvenient. Your live links will only work if your device where LocalWP is installed is active. If it’s shut down, your live links stop working.

Being a free platform, it is a good tool for beginners who are just getting started with their WordPress development journey or anyone who wants to learn how WordPress works.

Advantages Of LocalWP

Let’s discuss some advantages of using LocalWP as a development environment.

Free To Use

You can download LocalWP from their official website and start creating sites right away. This is one of the reasons why LocalWP is so popular.

Speed & Performance

It depends on the configuration of your computer hardware.

Since LocalWP stores all the data on your computer’s local storage, your site’s speed depends on the processor of your computer. A fast computer will deliver a faster environment; if you have a slow computer, it will load slowly.

This could be a nice experience if you’re just learning. However, it can also be a problem since live sites may not run at the same speed that you observe on LocalWP.

While you might think your site is fast, real site visitors may not have the same experience.

Isolated Testing

You can also create clones of your live sites with LocalWP and try out new designs, test themes, or plugins without affecting the live sites.

Test on Multiple WordPress Versions

Sometimes, you may want to check the compatibility of new features, themes, and plugins for your WordPress site on different PHP versions.

LocalWP provides the flexibility to create sites with different PHP versions.

Limitations of LocalWP

There may be advantages to using LocalWP as your WordPress development environment, but there are several limitations too.

We want you to know about these limitations so you don’t get stuck in the middle of your development journey.

Resource Intensive

Using LocalWP can be extremely resource-intensive.

If you’re using an old computer or if your computer doesn’t have sufficient resources (storage, RAM), running LocalWP alongside other applications will slow down your system.

Your device might experience lags, or it could even crash.

Limited User And No Traffic Simulation

LocalWP doesn’t simulate real-world user traffic as it’s just accessible to you on your local devices. This makes it difficult to test performance and scalability.

Collaboration Blockers

If you’re working on a website and want to share it with your clients or team members, you’ll need to export your database files and share them. This way, others can import the files into their local environment.

However, if there are differences between your localWP configuration and that of your clients, they may encounter errors.

You can use the live link feature but that would only work if you keep your device active while your clients visit it. Imagine the troubles if you and your clients/team members are in different time zones.

Limited Hosting Choices

If you’ve built a site using LocalWP, and directly want to migrate to a hosting of your choice so you only have two choices.

Either WP Engine or Flywheel is your choice; you can’t easily choose any other hosting.

Plugin or Theme Incompatibilities

Some plugins or themes may behave differently in a local environment compared to a live server. So testing in a live environment is always necessary.

How To Overcome LocalWP Challenges?

Most of the challenges you face while using LocalWP, such as:

• Collaboration problems
• Live server testing
• Data backup

Can be resolved by using ZipWP, a cloud-based environment for building WordPress sites.

What Is ZipWP?

ZipWP is a cloud-based WordPress development platform that can give you WordPress sites in just a few seconds.

These sites are on cloud servers of ZipWP, and are accessible to anyone on the internet. You can use ZipWP for developing/testing WordPress plugins or themes.

It’s free to use. You can sign up for ZipWP, and start creating your WordPress sites right away.

ZipWP also has an AI website builder which is a blessing for freelancers, web design agencies, or anyone who just wants to build nice-looking websites.

Whether you’re designing websites, building themes/plugins, or working on any other development task, you can choose ZipWP as your staging environment.

It has the features you need for your development process.

Advantages Of ZipWP

Now, let’s discuss some of the advantages of using ZipWP.

Platform Independence

ZipWP is a cloud-based application and you can access it while using any operating system. This makes it ideal for remote teams or developers working on different platforms.

Lightweight And Resource-efficient

ZipWP doesn’t use resources from your computer system. You can be on a low-end device and have ZipWP running smoothly for you.

You do not have to worry about having high RAM, storage, etc. on your device.

Reproducible Environments

With local environments, there can be differences between the setups for sites, which could lead to confusion. For example, team member A may have a site running on PHP 7.4, while team member B could have it on PHP 8.1.

But with ZipWP, you can collaborate on the same site which would not lead to any confusion related to set up..

Access Sites from Any Device

Unlike localWP, you can access your WordPress sites on any device that has internet access. Simply go to app.zipwp.com in your browser, log in to your ZipWP account, and access your site with just a few clicks.

Create WordPress Sites In A Couple Of Seconds

This is the coolest feature of ZipWP. You can get a site in just a few seconds by simply accessing https://try.new/ in your browser.

You don’t have to be logged into your ZipWP account for this. See the video below to understand how this works.

Collaboration And Easy sharing

All the WordPress sites that you create in your account are on live servers, and you can share the site links with anyone you wish, such as your team members or clients.

They will be able to view the sites as visitors and can also edit them if they are added as users to your site.

AI Website Builder

One of ZipWP’s highlights is its ability to build well-designed, complete multi-page websites in just a minute from simple instructions.

And the best part is that it’s free of cost. You can create three websites with the AI builder every month while you’re on the free plan. And if you want more, you can upgrade your account. The paid plans start from $9/mo.

White Label Domains

By default, every website created in your ZipWP account has the domain “zipwp.dev.” However, ZipWP gives you the option to customize this domain, allowing you to hide the ZipWP branding from the URL.

When sharing a site created on ZipWP, others will see your custom domain instead of “zip wp.dev.”

This helps in building trust with the people you’re working with.

For example, if you offer web design services, you can share demo websites with clients using your domain in the URL so it looks more professional.

Connect Your Site to Any Hosting

When you create a site with ZipWP and want to move it to a hosting service of your choice, such as Hostinger, you can do so very easily.

Simply install WordPress on your selected hosting platform and use a migration plugin to transfer all the data from your ZipWP site to your hosting.

Here’s a video that shows you how easy it is.

Limitations Of ZipWP

ZipWP is great for creating WordPress sites but it has a couple of limitations that you should know.

Upgrade Plan To Get Permanent Sites

Since ZipWP is a cloud-hosted platform, its developers have to bear the cost of servers. That’s why, when you create a site with ZipWP, it is available to you 24/7 if you’re on the free plan.

However, if you wish to keep the site for a longer period, you can upgrade to a paid plan starting from $9/month. Along with the ability to mark sites as permanent, you also get access to other features.

You Can Only Create WordPress Sites

As of now, you can only create WordPress sites with ZipWP. So if you want to create non-WordPress sites, ZipWP might not be the best choice.

Comparing ZipWP And LocalWP

Feature	Local by Flywheel	ZipWP
Type	Desktop Application for Mac, Windows, & Linux	Cloud-Based, Accessible on any device/browser
Resource Usage	Resource-heavy, consumes your device storage and RAM	Lightweight, runs on your browser
Learning curve	Installation and setup could be new, refer to documentation for help	Easy to get started, simple onboarding
Collaboration	Sharing sites with live links or share exported files	Share sites with anyone over the internet, Real-time syncing, access control, invite team members to ZipWP account
Hosting choices	WP Engine or Flywheel	Choose any hosting that you prefer like Hostinger, Godaddy, Hostgator, etc.
Pros	Free to use	Cloud based, operating system independent, free plan available, easy collaboration
Cons	Resource-heavy, works only on one device, collaboration blockers	Sites only stay for 24 hours on free plan
Pricing	Free (with limitations)	Free plan + Paid Subscription for additional features

So, which is right for you?

LocalWP is a good choice for beginners and casual users who want a free and easy way to develop simple WordPress sites.

Its intuitive interface and basic features make it a good starting point.

However, if you’re an experienced developer working on complex projects, you might find ZipWP’s advanced features, cloud-based platform, and robust collaboration tools very useful. Its lightweight interface and collaboration will enhance your development experience.

Ultimately, the best choice depends on your needs.

Bonus Tip: Both platforms are free. So try them both and see which one you like!