A LocalWP alternative for Linux

Local is a mature app with more features, and it runs on macOS, Windows and x86_64 Linux. LocalPress is newer and does less, but it's built for Linux first. It runs on ARM64 machines like Apple Silicon Macs with Asahi Linux, and uses the container engine your distribution already ships.

If you use Local on x86_64 Linux and it does what you need, keep using it. If you're on ARM64 Linux, or you'd rather your sites ran in standard containers, try LocalPress.

Based on each app's published downloads and documentation at the time of writing. Check localwp.com for the latest on Local.

Running each site in standard containers has a few practical upsides:

• Isolation. Every site has its own PHP, nginx and database. Updating one never affects another.
• Standard images. Sites use the official WordPress, MariaDB and nginx images, close to what many hosts run.
• Fast on Linux. Containers run natively on Linux with no virtual machine, so file access is as fast as your disk.
• Your tools still work. Containers show up in podman ps or docker ps if you want to look inside.

There's no automatic import yet. To move a site by hand:

1. 1

   Create the site in LocalPress

   Use the same PHP version as in Local.
2. 2

   Copy your content

   Copy wp-content from your Local site into ~/LocalPress/<site>/public/.
3. 3

   Import the database

   Export it from Local with a plugin or WP-CLI, then import it into the new site the same way.
4. 4

   Update the address

   Replace the old .local address with the new .localhost one, for example with a search-and-replace plugin.

Site import is on the roadmap. Read more about running WordPress on Fedora.

Local and LocalWP are trademarks of WP Engine. LocalPress is an independent project and isn't affiliated with or endorsed by WP Engine.