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Yoast Duplicate Post Review: Best WP Cloning Plugin?
Yoast Duplicate Post is the best free cloning plugin for WordPress, and it is not a close race. It copies posts, pages and custom post types in one click, lets you choose exactly which fields get copied, restricts the feature by user role, and adds a Rewrite & Republish mode that no other free cloning plugin matches. Version 4.7 shipped on 18 August 2026, it is tested up to WordPress 7.1, and it runs on more than three million sites.
We have used it on client sites and on our own blog for years, and this review is based on that day-to-day use rather than a one-afternoon test. Below we cover what it does, how to set it up, where it falls short, and how it compares with Duplicate Page, Post Duplicator and WP Staging as of August 2026.
What Is Yoast Duplicate Post?
Yoast Duplicate Post is a free WordPress plugin that clones posts, pages and custom post types. It started life in 2007 as “Duplicate Post” by Enrico Battocchi, and Yoast took over the project in 2020. The core idea has not changed since: hover over any item in the post list, click Clone or New Draft, and you get an identical copy ready to edit.
What separates it from the dozens of one-click copy plugins is control. The What to Copy settings let you decide whether the duplicate carries the title, date, status, slug, excerpt, featured image, taxonomies, comments, menu order, password, attachments and custom fields. You can also add a prefix or suffix to the copied title and exclude specific meta keys, which matters when a page builder or SEO plugin stores data you do not want carried over.
It works in the block editor and the Classic Editor, and because it copies the raw post content it handles Elementor, Divi, Bricks and native block layouts without extra configuration. On our sites the plugin has never been the cause of a conflict, which is about the highest compliment a utility plugin can get. If you are comparing it against the wider Yoast SEO plugin family, note that Duplicate Post does not require Yoast SEO to be installed. It is a standalone plugin that happens to share a developer.
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Why Choose Yoast Duplicate Post?
Speed and safety. Those are the two reasons we keep installing it. Once activated, you get Clone and New Draft links under every post, a Copy to a new draft link in the admin bar, and a Clone option in the bulk actions dropdown so you can duplicate twenty product pages at once.
The Permissions settings decide which roles can clone and which post types show the links. On a multi-author site you can let editors duplicate anything while keeping contributors out of it, which stops your drafts folder filling up with accidental copies.
The bigger reason is Rewrite & Republish. Editing a live post in place means your visitors see half-finished changes, and a mistake goes public the moment you hit Update. Rewrite & Republish gives you a private working copy of a published post. When you are done, one click merges your changes back into the original, keeping the URL, comments, publish date and all accumulated SEO value. For anyone running a blog, a news site or an eCommerce catalogue, that one feature pays for the two minutes the plugin takes to install.
Key Features of Yoast Duplicate Post
The plugin does not try to be a content management suite. It does five things well, and it gets out of the way.
1. Clone and New Draft Options
Both links appear under every post, page or custom post type in the list view.
- Clone duplicates the item immediately and returns you to the list.
- New Draft duplicates the item and opens the copy in the editor.
Bulk cloning is available from the Bulk Actions dropdown, and a Copy to a new draft link sits in the admin bar while you view any post on the front end. There is also a template tag, duplicate_post_clone_post_link(), if you want a clone link inside a theme template.
2. Customizable Post Elements
The What to Copy tab controls every element of the duplicate. You can copy the date (useful for migrating content) or leave it so the copy gets today’s date. You can copy the status so a published post clones as published, or leave it so every clone is a draft. The title prefix and suffix fields add something like “Copy of” so duplicates are easy to spot in the list. The meta-key exclusion box accepts wildcards, so _elementor_* or _yoast_wpseo_* can be skipped in one line.
3. Permissions Management
The Permissions tab has two settings. The first lists user roles and decides who can clone. The second lists post types and decides where the links appear. The plugin ships with roles that have the edit_posts capability enabled, and with posts and pages enabled, so WooCommerce products, LearnDash courses or any custom post type need to be switched on by hand. That is a sensible default. It keeps the feature away from content that needs care.
4. Rewrite and Republish Functionality
This is the feature that makes the plugin worth choosing over the alternatives. Open a published post and click Rewrite & Republish. You get a private copy linked to the original. Edit it for as long as you like, save it as a draft, schedule it, or hand it to another editor. When you click Republish, the plugin overwrites the original post with your changes and deletes the working copy. The original URL, ID, comments and publish date survive. A comparison view lets you check the differences before you commit.
We use it for exactly the kind of work this article represents: updating old posts that already rank without taking them offline or risking a broken save.
5. Compatibility and Reliability
Version 4.7 requires WordPress 6.8 or newer and PHP 7.4 or newer, and is tested up to WordPress 7.1. It works alongside WooCommerce, Elementor, Divi, Bricks, ACF and the major SEO plugins. Since it shares a developer with Yoast SEO, metadata from that plugin is copied cleanly, but it also copies Rank Math and SEOPress meta because it treats them as ordinary custom fields. Yoast publishes releases on a regular cadence and maintains the code on GitHub, so security issues tend to be patched quickly.
How to Set Up and Use Yoast Duplicate Post (Step-by-Step Guide)
Installation to first clone takes under five minutes. Here is the setup we use on most sites.
Step 1: Install and Activate the Plugin
From your dashboard go to Plugins > Add New Plugin and search for “Yoast Duplicate Post”. Click Install Now, then Activate. The settings live under Settings > Duplicate Post. If you prefer the command line, wp plugin install duplicate-post --activate does the same thing.
Step 2: Configure What Gets Cloned
Open the What to Copy tab. The checkboxes cover:
- Title, date, status, slug, excerpt and content
- Featured image, attachments and comments
- Categories, tags and custom taxonomies
- Custom fields, author, password, menu order and template
For a typical blog we leave the date, status and slug unchecked so every clone starts as a fresh draft with its own URL. For WooCommerce stores, keep custom fields checked so price, stock and gallery data come across. Use the meta-field exclusion box for anything you never want copied, such as view counts or sync IDs from a CRM.
Step 3: Manage Who Can Clone Content
Under Permissions, tick the roles that should see the clone links. On client sites we usually enable Administrator and Editor and leave Author and Contributor off. Then tick every post type where cloning makes sense. Products, courses, portfolio items and testimonials are common additions.
Step 4: Choose Where Clone Links Appear
The Display tab controls where the links show up:
- The post and page list view
- The edit screen and block editor sidebar
- The admin bar
- Bulk actions
It also has a setting to show a notice on the original post when a Rewrite & Republish copy exists, which stops two people editing the same article in two places.
Step 5: Start Cloning Posts
Go to Posts > All Posts or Pages > All Pages. Hover over any row and you will see:
- Clone: creates a copy instantly and stays on the list.
- New Draft: creates a copy and opens it in the editor.
To clone several items, tick their checkboxes, choose Clone from the Bulk Actions dropdown, and click Apply.
Step 6: Use the Rewrite & Republish Feature
Open any published post and click Rewrite & Republish in the list view or in the editor sidebar. Edit the private copy, then click Republish. If you want the update to go live at a set time, schedule the copy and the plugin republishes it automatically at that moment. The original keeps its URL, ID and comments throughout.
Yoast Duplicate Post Pricing
Yoast Duplicate Post is free, with no premium tier. There is no “Pro” version, no feature gating and no upsell screen inside the settings. Everything described in this review, including Rewrite & Republish and bulk cloning, is in the WordPress.org download.
What you get at no cost:
- One-click cloning for posts, pages and custom post types
- Bulk cloning from the post list
- Rewrite & Republish with scheduled republishing
- Element-level copy rules and meta-key exclusions
- Role and post-type permissions
- Compatibility with WooCommerce, Elementor, Divi, Bricks and the major SEO plugins
Yoast’s commercial product is Yoast SEO Premium, which is a separate plugin with its own subscription. You do not need it for Duplicate Post, and installing it does not add features to Duplicate Post. The two plugins cooperate on SEO metadata, but that is the extent of the relationship.
Because there is no paid version, the usual question of whether the free tier is good enough does not apply. The plugin is the full product.
Pros and Cons of Yoast Duplicate Post
Every tool has a shape, and it helps to know where this one fits before you build a workflow around it.
Pros of Yoast Duplicate Post
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Saves real time. Cloning a finished landing page and swapping the copy is far faster than rebuilding the layout. For recurring formats such as weekly roundups, product reviews or event pages, the saving adds up to hours a month.
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Lightweight and familiar. The plugin adds no front-end scripts or styles. The admin additions look like native WordPress links, so there is nothing to teach a new editor.
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Fine-grained copy rules. Choosing which elements are copied, plus wildcard meta exclusions, means duplicates carry only what you want. That keeps the database tidy on large sites.
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Clean handling of SEO data. Yoast SEO focus keyphrases, titles and meta descriptions are copied, and the same is true for Rank Math and SEOPress fields. You still need to rewrite them on the copy, but you are not starting from blank.
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Rewrite & Republish for teams. Editors can revise live posts in private, schedule the update, and push it live without the original ever disappearing. No other free cloning plugin offers this.
Cons of Yoast Duplicate Post
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Duplicate content if you are careless. The plugin copies status if you tell it to, and a published clone with identical content is an SEO problem. Leave status unchecked in What to Copy and every duplicate starts as a draft.
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Does one job. There is no cross-site cloning, no scheduling of clones, no bulk editing and no revision workflow beyond Rewrite & Republish. Multisite users who want to copy between sites need a different tool.
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Custom post types need manual opt-in. Products, courses and other custom post types do not show clone links until you enable them under Permissions. It is a thirty-second fix, but it catches people out.
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Page builder meta can surprise you. Some builders store layout data in meta keys that reference the original post ID. Duplicate Post copies the meta faithfully, and in rare cases the builder needs a resave on the copy before it renders correctly.
Yoast Duplicate Post vs Competitors
Three other plugins come up in every comparison. Here is how they stack up as of August 2026, using WordPress.org data for versions and install counts.
| Plugin | Current version | Active installs | Selective copy | Rewrite & Republish | Bulk clone | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yoast Duplicate Post | 4.7 (Aug 2026) | 3M+ | Yes, per element plus meta exclusions | Yes | Yes | Free |
| Duplicate Page | 4.5.9 (May 2026) | 3M+ | Limited (status, suffix, redirect) | No | No (Pro only) | Free, paid Pro |
| Post Duplicator | 3.0.15 (May 2026) | 200K+ | Yes, including excluded meta keys | No | No | Free |
| WP Staging | 4.11.0 (Aug 2026) | 100K+ | Not applicable (clones whole sites) | No | No | Free, paid Pro |
Yoast Duplicate Post vs Duplicate Page
Duplicate Page is the other three-million-install cloning plugin, and it is fast. Install it and a Duplicate This link appears under every post. Its settings cover the editor to open, the status of the copy, a title suffix and where to redirect after cloning. The May 2026 release fixed a long-standing issue with Elementor layouts not surviving duplication, and moved to a capability check rather than a role check.
What it does not have is element-level control or Rewrite & Republish. If all you want is a copy button, Duplicate Page is fine. If you update live content regularly, Yoast Duplicate Post gives you a safer workflow for the same price, which is nothing.
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Yoast Duplicate Post vs Post Duplicator
Post Duplicator by Metaphor Creations is the developer’s favourite of the group. It copies custom post types and taxonomies well, lets you set the status, type and date of the copy, and in its April 2026 release added an Excluded Meta Keys setting much like Yoast’s. A May 2026 update hardened how it stores copied meta.
The gap is workflow. There is no bulk action, no admin bar link and no republish mode. It duplicates, and that is all. Yoast Duplicate Post matches its copy controls and adds the editorial features, so for most sites there is no reason to pick Post Duplicator unless you already have it configured and it is doing its job.
Yoast Duplicate Post vs WP Staging
WP Staging is a different category of tool. It clones your entire site into a staging copy, takes backups and handles migrations. The free version covers cloning and basic backups; the paid version adds push-to-live, scheduled backups and cloud storage. The August 2026 release added a backup prompt before plugin and core updates.
If you want to test a new theme or plugin update without touching production, use WP Staging. If you want to copy one article, it is the wrong tool. The two plugins are complementary rather than competitors, and we run both on sites we look after. For a wider look at site-level copies, see our guide to the best backup WordPress plugins.
Who Should Use Yoast Duplicate Post?
Anyone who publishes or edits WordPress content more than once a week will get value from it. A few groups get more than most.
Bloggers and Content Creators
If your posts follow a format, clone the last one and replace the words. Headings, blocks, internal link patterns and SEO fields all come across. Rewrite & Republish is also the cleanest way to refresh older posts that still bring traffic.
Editors and Teams
Multi-author sites benefit most from Rewrite & Republish. A writer can revise a live article, an editor can review the private copy, and the update goes live on schedule. The original never drops out of the index and nobody edits the same post in two places.
Designers and Developers
When building client sites, clone finished page templates instead of rebuilding them. The plugin handles custom post types once you enable them, so portfolio items, services and team members can all be duplicated. Pair it with a staging copy from WP Staging and you have a safe build workflow without paying for anything.
Marketers and Agencies
Landing page variants for campaigns, localised copies of product pages, and A/B test versions all start as a clone. On sites we maintain through our WordPress care plans, it is one of the first plugins we install.
Tips to Get the Most Out of Yoast Duplicate Post
A few settings make the difference between a handy button and a real workflow tool.
1. Leave status and slug unchecked. Under Settings > Duplicate Post > What to Copy, keep Status and Slug off. Every clone then starts as a draft with a fresh URL, which removes any risk of publishing duplicate content by accident.
2. Use Rewrite & Republish for every live edit. Small typo fixes can be done in place. Anything bigger, such as a content refresh or a layout change, should go through Rewrite & Republish so visitors never see a half-finished page and you can compare versions before committing.
3. Turn on the admin bar link. The Copy to a new draft link in the admin bar lets you clone a page while looking at it on the front end, which is how most people spot the page they want to reuse.
4. Set a title prefix. A prefix such as “[Copy]” keeps duplicates obvious in the post list and in search, and stops a draft clone being confused with the live version.
5. Exclude builder and analytics meta. Add wildcards such as _elementor_css or your analytics plugin’s view-count key to the meta exclusion box so copies do not inherit cached CSS or traffic numbers. If you build with Elementor, open the clone and save it once in the builder so its CSS regenerates.
6. Enable it for the post types you actually use. WooCommerce products, LearnDash courses and similar custom post types are off by default. Switch them on under Permissions and cloning product variations or course templates becomes a one-click job.
Troubleshooting Common Issues
The plugin rarely misbehaves, but the same handful of questions come up in its support forum and in our own inbox.
Clone links are missing on a post type. Go to Settings > Duplicate Post > Permissions and tick the post type. Custom post types are off by default, and some plugins register their post types in a way that hides them from the list until the plugin is active.
The copy looks broken in a page builder. Open the clone in the builder and save it once. Builders that cache CSS per post ID need to regenerate it for the new ID. Excluding the cache meta key in What to Copy avoids the step entirely.
Rewrite & Republish is greyed out. It only works on published posts. Drafts, pending and scheduled posts use New Draft instead. It is also disabled for post types that do not support revisions.
Yoast SEO fields came across but the readability scores look wrong. Scores are recalculated when the post is opened in the editor, so open the copy and wait a moment for the analysis to run.
Duplicates are publishing straight away. Status is ticked in What to Copy. Untick it and clones will always start as drafts.
A Better Content Workflow with Yoast Duplicate Post
The best way to think about the plugin is as two tools in one. The Clone and New Draft links are a template system: build a page once, copy it whenever you need that structure again. Rewrite & Republish is a revision system: edit published content in private, review it, and push it live on your own schedule.
Together they remove the two most tedious parts of running a content site. You stop rebuilding layouts and you stop worrying about breaking a live page while you edit it. The plugin does not add a dashboard, a wizard or a subscription nag. It adds a few links where you expect them and does what the links say.
If you run a WordPress site that publishes or updates content regularly, install it. If you manage several sites, make it part of your standard plugin set.
Frequently asked questions
Is Yoast Duplicate Post free to use?
Yes. It is free on WordPress.org with no premium version. Cloning, bulk cloning, selective copy rules, permissions and Rewrite & Republish are all included.
How do I duplicate a post or page using this plugin?
Hover over the item in Posts > All Posts or Pages > All Pages and click Clone for an instant copy or New Draft to copy and open it in the editor. You can also use the admin bar link while viewing the post, or tick several items and choose Clone from Bulk Actions.
What is the difference between Clone and Rewrite & Republish?
Clone creates a separate new post. Rewrite & Republish creates a private working copy linked to the original, and when you republish it the changes are merged back into the original post, keeping its URL, comments and publish date.
Does Yoast Duplicate Post work with custom post types?
Yes. Enable the post type under Settings > Duplicate Post > Permissions. WooCommerce products, LearnDash courses, portfolio items and any other registered post type can be cloned once enabled.
Will using this plugin affect my SEO?
Not by itself. Leave Status unchecked in What to Copy so every clone starts as a draft, then rewrite the title, slug and meta description before publishing. Rewrite & Republish is safe for SEO because the original URL and its history are preserved.
Can I control who can duplicate posts on my site?
Yes. The Permissions tab lets you choose which user roles see the clone links and which post types they apply to.
Where to start
Install the plugin, open Settings > Duplicate Post, untick Status and Slug under What to Copy, set a title prefix, and enable the post types you use. That takes two minutes and covers 90 percent of sites. Then make Rewrite & Republish your default way of editing anything that is already live. Once you have updated a ranking post that way without it leaving the index for a second, you will not go back to editing in place.
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