There are times when you may want to have a test copy of your WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, or other site. Or you may simply want to move your site from one folder to another. Doing either of these can be very involved with such things as copying files, databases, changing configurations, etc.
Softaculous, however has a new clone feature that makes this process much simpler. Since it leaves the original site in place initially, you can also simply clone your site in order to use it as a test environment and then delete it when done. Below is a quick step by step guide on how to clone your site with Softaculous.
Note: This is not compatible with WordPress MU (MultiSite.) In wp-config.php, “WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE” needs to be set to false for the site to be successfully cloned in Softaculous (This shouldn’t be an issue for most installations.)
The ability to clone certain software installations using Softaculous is limited to the ones that are compatible. Click here for the full list of clonable scripts.
Cloning a site using the Softaculous clone tool
- Log in to cPanel.
- Locate and click on the Softaculous tool icon located under the Software/Services category.
- Once in the Softaculous tool, select the All Installations icon located in the upper right corner.

- This will list all the different program instances currently installed in your Softaculous. Locate the one you want to clone and click on the
Clone icon.
Once clicked, you will be brought to the Clone Installation page. From here you will need to fill out the details of where you want your clone to go. The image to the right displays a subfolder clone where we will be creating the new installation in a folder named “clone“.
Choose Protocol |
Unless you have specific reasons to use https://www or the https://, stick with the default https:// |
Choose Domain |
If you are transferring to a subdomain or another main domain, select it here. |
In Directory |
If you are moving to a subfolder, enter that here. If not, delete anything here and make it blank. |
Database Name |
You can either name your database or leave it at the default. |
- Once you have entered all the destination information for your clone, click on the Clone Installation button.
After clicking on the button, Softaculous will install the clone to the new folder/domain/subdomain you selected. It also clones the database as well so that each copy has its own. (Be sure that you have enough room on your hosting plan for the databases or your clone will fail).Th screenshot to the right shows a list of clones including a subdomain, domain, and a subfolder clone.