WordPress

Definition

WordPress is open-source content management software used to create and manage websites.

How it works

WordPress runs on PHP and a database, and gets its flexibility from themes and plugins — which is also where most of its maintenance lives. Keeping the core, extensions, and access credentials current is the owner's job even on managed hosting. Its reach is hard to overstate: WordPress powers roughly four in ten websites.

Example: A business publishes pages and blog posts through WordPress's browser-based editor.

Often confused: WordPress is the website application; WordPress hosting is a service environment configured to run it.

Related terms

• Content management system (CMS)
• Database
• PHP
• Shared hosting
• Web hosting

Learn more from Bitfoo

• Explore WordPress hosting
• Diagnose a slow WordPress site

Sources

• WordPress documentation

Last reviewed 2026-07-19.