WordPress to static site: Simply Static, WP2Static or a $3 snapshot
Turning WordPress into plain HTML makes it fast and leaves bots nothing to attack, but the tool you pick decides whether WordPress has to keep running and where the files end up. These are the three real options, with what each costs and what breaks.
The short answer
If you will keep editing in WordPress, use Simply Static: the free plugin exports a ZIP you upload yourself, and Pro ($99/yr per site) adds automatic deploys, forms and search. If the site is finished and you want WordPress gone, snapshot the live URL into a $3/mo InstaPods pod: no plugin to install, hosting included, and WordPress can be switched off afterwards. WP2Static still installs, but it is not in the wordpress.org directory and has had no commits since February 2024.
Simply Static vs WP2Static vs an InstaPods snapshot
The real difference between WordPress static exporters is where they run: Simply Static and WP2Static are plugins inside WordPress, while the InstaPods snapshot reads your public site from outside.
| InstaPods snapshot | Simply Static (free) | Simply Static Pro | WP2Static | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $3/mo, hosting included | $0, hosting separate | $99/yr per site, hosting separate (Studio with hosting: $12/mo per site) | $0 (Unlicense), hosting separate |
| Runs where | Outside WordPress: reads the public URL | Plugin inside WordPress | Plugin inside WordPress | Plugin inside WordPress |
| WordPress afterwards | Can be switched off | Stays: it is your editor | Stays: it is your editor | Stays: it is your editor |
| Forms, search, comments | Stop working | Stop working | Integrations for Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms, WPForms, Fluent Forms; Fuse.js or Algolia search; comments | Not built in |
| Publishing | Deploy button; re-run the import to update | Download a ZIP and upload it by hand each time | Push to GitHub, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, AWS S3, BunnyCDN or SFTP | Through deploy add-ons; installed from GitHub, Composer or a zip from wp2static.com |
| Size limit | 25 pages by default, up to 100; 40 MB total, 8 MB per file, 45-second crawl | No page cap stated | No page cap stated; incremental and single-page exports | No page cap stated |
| Last release | Maintained by InstaPods | 3.8.18, updated 2026-10-16 | Same plugin, Pro add-on | Last commit 2024-02-14 |
Simply Static figures from its wordpress.org page and simplystatic.com/pricing, WP2Static from its GitHub repository, all read 2026-10-24. InstaPods is the Launch plan at $3/mo (1 vCPU, 512 MB RAM, 10 GB disk), and adding a card gives a one-time $10 credit.
How the InstaPods snapshot of a WordPress site works
The InstaPods snapshot follows links from the URL you give it, saves each page's HTML plus same-domain images, CSS, JavaScript and fonts, and serves the result from a $3/mo pod.
Original paths are kept: a WordPress post at /my-post/ is saved as /my-post/index.html and served at the same address, and links between pages keep pointing at /my-post/, so old links keep working without redirects. Titles, meta descriptions, the canonical tag and og:url stay exactly as WordPress wrote them. An address without a trailing slash (/about) gets a 301 to /about/, and its canonical then names /about/. Start the import at your home page and robots.txt comes across unchanged, with a sitemap of the saved pages written at the address it advertises (/wp-sitemap.xml on a default install), so a sitemap already submitted in Search Console keeps resolving; if robots.txt names no sitemap, one is written at /sitemap.xml and a line is added to robots.txt. A site with no robots.txt gets no sitemap. Not copied: the RSS feed at /feed/, so feed readers stop updating once WordPress is gone. Pages at a .php address or with a ?query are saved under a new .html name, so search engines see a new URL for them. Same domain means the exact host: images on a CDN or on www when you entered the bare domain keep loading from there. If the crawl stops at a limit, links to pages it did not save keep pointing at your original site, so check the preview before you switch WordPress off. The same import runs from the CLI with instapods import https://example.com --site --dry-run. Only snapshot a site you own: the importer identifies itself as InstaPods and respects robots.txt.
- Put your homepage URL into the Live URL tab of the import page.
- Set how many pages to save: 25 by default, 1 for a single page, 100 at most. A crawl also stops at 40 MB or 45 seconds.
- Click Preview. It lists exactly which pages and assets were saved and how big they are, so you see what is missing before anything goes live.
- Click Deploy, check the pod's URL, then add your domain on the pod's Domains tab.
What breaks on any static WordPress site
Every static copy of a WordPress site, whichever tool made it, loses everything that ran in PHP: forms, search, comments, logins, carts and the admin.
Two less obvious losses: content that JavaScript builds after the page loads is saved empty, and anything served from another domain (a CDN, an embed, a third-party script) keeps loading from that domain. Simply Static Pro patches the first group with form, search and comment integrations. The snapshot does not, so it suits a site where none of those matter: a brochure site, a portfolio, an event page, or a blog you have stopped writing but want to keep online.
If the site still needs an editor and a working contact form, a static copy is the wrong tool. EmDash gives you an admin without PHP, and the full set of WordPress exit paths covers when to keep WordPress.
When Simply Static is the better choice
Simply Static is the better choice when you will keep editing in WordPress, when the site has more than 100 pages, or when you need its Pro form and search integrations.
Simply Static has no page cap of the kind the snapshot has, and Pro can re-export a single changed page. WordPress keeps running somewhere as your private editor, often on a laptop or a cheap host. The free tier's catch is manual publishing: its FAQ says you upload the ZIP yourself after every change.
Its output is plain files, so it can live on InstaPods too: unzip the export and run instapods deploy my-site --preset static from that folder for a $3/mo pod. GitHub, Netlify and Cloudflare Pages, which all have free static tiers with limits, are also on Simply Static Pro's list of deploy targets.
WP2Static in 2026
WP2Static is free and open source (Unlicense) with about 1.5k GitHub stars, but its last commit was on 2024-02-14 and it is not listed in the wordpress.org plugin directory.
Its repository says Strattic keeps it available and maintained for open source users, and you install it from GitHub, Composer or a zip from wp2static.com. If it already works on your site, there is no urgent reason to move. For a new project, a plugin with a 2026 release or a snapshot that does not need a plugin at all is the safer start.
Frequently asked questions
Is Simply Static free?
The core plugin is free and exports your site as a ZIP or to a local folder. Pro costs $99 per year per site and adds automatic deployment, forms, search and comments. Simply Static Studio, its managed hosting, is $12/mo per site.
Will my URLs change when I go static?
Not with the InstaPods snapshot: every page is saved at its original path, and links between pages keep pointing at it. Addresses ending in .php or carrying a query string, such as WordPress's plain ?p=123 links, are saved under a new .html name, so search engines see a new URL for them. Switch to pretty permalinks before you snapshot.
Does a static WordPress site keep its SEO meta tags?
Yes, with the InstaPods snapshot. Titles, meta descriptions, the canonical tag and og:url stay exactly as WordPress wrote them for every page at a trailing-slash address, which covers WordPress's pretty permalinks. When you import from the home page, robots.txt comes across unchanged and a sitemap of the saved pages is written at the address it lists, such as /wp-sitemap.xml, so the sitemap in Search Console keeps resolving. The RSS feed is not copied, and a site with no robots.txt gets no sitemap.
How do I update a WordPress snapshot?
Edit the files on the pod, or run the import again against the live site. A snapshot copies output, not WordPress itself, so there is no admin to log into afterwards.
Can I host a static WordPress export for free?
Often, yes. GitHub Pages, Cloudflare Pages and Netlify have free tiers for static sites, within their own limits, and Simply Static Pro deploys to them. A $3/mo pod is the option when you want the conversion and hosting in one place with no plugin on WordPress.
Sources
Read on 2026-10-24. Prices and plugin features change without notice, so check the source before you commit.