WP Static HTML Output

Produces a static HTML version of your WordPress install and adjusts URL accordingly

Author:Leon Stafford (profile at wordpress.org)
WordPress version required:3.2
WordPress version tested:5.3.3
Plugin version:6.6.7
Added to WordPress repository:01-04-2011
Last updated:15-11-2019
Warning! This plugin has not been updated in over 2 years. It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when used with more recent versions of WordPress.
Rating, %:86
Rated by:90
Plugin URI:https://wp2static.com
Total downloads:268 920
Active installs:10 000+
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Security & Performance via static website publishing. One plugin to solve WordPress’s biggest problems.

Keep using WordPress for what it’s best at – managing content, but remove the security and performance headaches by publishing the site as static HTML.

A static site closes all the doors that an out of date WordPress, theme or plugin can leave open.

A pre-generated static site will outperform caching plugins, allowing you to serve at local speeds to users around the world.

https://wp2static.com

Not compatible with WooCommerce or membership sites, but solutions like Snipcart allow for eCommerce on static websites.

Features

  • publishes a standalone, static html copy of your whole WordPress website
  • removes tell-tale signs your site is running WordPress, making it unattractive to hackers
  • auto-deploy to a folder on your server, a ZIP file, FTP server, S3, GitHub, Netlif, BunnyCDN, BitBucket or GitLab
  • schedule unattended exports via the WP Crontrol plugin or by hitting the custom hook
  • desktop notifications alert you to when exports are complete

Benefits

  • protects you from malicious attacks/malware
  • speeds up your site by not hitting the database or executing any PHP code
  • allows you to host your site for free on GitHub Pages, Netlify or the free tier of AWS S3, Azure, etc
  • allows you to deploy to crazy fast hosting options, like S3, behind CloudFront
  • have a nice development -> staging -> production workflow and integrate with your CI tools

A word from the author

Who loves this?

  • Digital Agencies with many sites to manage, no need to worry about WP/plugin updates for client sites
  • Internet Marketers can create a bunch of quick sites/landing pages that load fast and are free to host
  • Solo website owners and content creators who like WordPress but don’t want to worry about how to secure it
  • Operations people at large corporations don’t often like dealing with WordPress, this allows them to close the security holes and have more control over the hosting
  • Budget conscious people like free hosting (who doesn’t?!?)
  • Government agencies who have strict security requirements, but have users who prefer to use WordPress
  • Thos who want to use it to archive an old WordPress website, keeping the content online, but not worrying about keeping WP up to date

This plugin produces a static HTML version of your wordpress install, incredibly useful for anyone who would like the publishing power of wordpress but whose webhost doesn’t allow dynamic PHP driven sites – such as GitHub Pages. You can run your development site on a different domain or offline, and the plugin will change all relevant URLs when you publish your site. It’s a simple but powerful plugin, and after hitting the publish button, the plugin will output a ZIP file of your entire site, ready to upload straight to it’s new home.

Getting started

Here is the basic premise:

You need 2 URLs of some sort (they can be on the same server, different servers, subdomains, etc).

  • 1st URL is for where you keep WP – this doesn’t need to be accessible or known to anyone but you, if you’re the only one working on your content

  • 2nd URL is where you’ll “publish” the static version of your site to. This is likely to be your main domain (ie, http://mywordpresssite.com).

That said, you can install the plugin and do an easy test without any other configuration. This will publish a static version to a subdirectory, such as http://mywordpresssite.com/mystatictest/. That’s a good way to check the static site is publishing properly, then you can switch to another deployment option, such as FTP or GitHub Pages and deploy to your live site.

As WordPress allows infinite customization and configurations, I don’t think any plugin author would be willing to guarantee complete compatibility with every theme, plugin and custom coding on every site. But my aim is to get as high a % of people as possible able to take advantage of static hosting with their WP site.

If you haven’t read on why you may want to host statically, please have a read of this article:

http://docs.wp2static.com/blog/how-and-why-to-host-your-wordpress-site-for-free/

Developed by Leon Stafford. If you have any questions about this plugin’s usage, installation or development, please email me at: help@wp2static.com