What is WordPress? At a high level, it’s a tool that helps you create a website.
You can kind of think of it as your website’s operating system.
Just like macOS handles the basic operations of your Macbook, WordPress handles the basic operations of your website. Then, if you want to add more features, WordPress lets you install apps (called “plugins”) just like you can install apps on your Macbook.
The end result is that WordPress can help you build pretty much any type of website without any code, from a simple blog to an enterprise-level eCommerce store and lots more.
There are a lot of impressive WordPress statistics, but none that can beat this one: WordPress powers over 43.5% of all the websites on the internet.
Yes – that number is as crazy as it sounds. More than two out of every five websites on the internet use WordPress. For comparison, Wix and Squarespace both power only 1.7% of websites each, so WordPress is in a completely different universe from these tools, though you won’t hear WordPress being advertised on any of your favorite podcasts.
So – to learn more about what WordPress is and why so many webmasters and businesses choose to build their websites with WordPress, keep reading our full introduction to the WordPress software.
Want to learn more about WordPress?
Beyond creating public websites for visitors, you can also use WordPress to create internal websites to streamline your business. For example, you can use WordPress to create your own…
- Invoicing system
- Customer relationship manager (CRM)
- Help desk
- Internal wiki
You can also mix and match these use cases. For example, you could create a portfolio website for your freelancing business that also contains your invoicing system and CRM.
Or, you could create a blog and then also add a forum and start offering online courses.
This type of flexibility is another advantage of WordPress. If you use something like Shopify, you can pretty much just create an online store. But with WordPress, you can create an online store while still adding other features if needed.
Why are there two different versions of WordPress?
If you searched Google for “WordPress,” you would probably see two different results at the top:
- WordPress.com
- WordPress.org
So – why the heck are there two different versions of WordPress?
Well, the short answer is that there aren’t two versions of WordPress – WordPress.com and WordPress.org are different things, and there’s only one “WordPress.” But it’s a confusing topic, so you’re definitely not alone in thinking so.
Let’s quickly go through it:
What is WordPress “.org”?
WordPress.org is the home of the free, non-profit, open-source WordPress software.
When most people say “WordPress,” they’re talking about the open-source WordPress software and project, AKA WordPress.org.
What’s more, everything that we’ve written in this post applies to WordPress.org. While WordPress.com shares some similarities, it’s not the same thing.
What is WordPress “.com”?
WordPress.com is a for-profit website building service that’s based on the open-source software at WordPress.org. WordPress.com provides one way to create a site with the WordPress.org software, though it limits your access unless you pay for the highest-tier plans.
🧐 WordPress.com is not “WordPress,” it just uses WordPress.
Put another way – all WordPress.com sites use the WordPress.org software, but not all sites that use the WordPress.org software are on WordPress.com. In fact, most sites that use WordPress are not on WordPress.com.
👉 For a more detailed look, check out our full WordPress.org vs WordPress.com comparison.
How to create your first WordPress site
Now that you can answer the question of “what is WordPress?”, you might be interested in getting started with your own WordPress website.
If you’re ready to dive in, check out our step-by-step guide on how to make a WordPress website. It will walk you through every single step in the process of going from zero to a working WordPress site.
Of course, while WordPress is by far the most popular way to make a website, it’s definitely not the only option. To see some other non-technical tools, you can browse our roundup of the best website builders. We also have posts that compare WordPress versus two of the most popular website builders:
Do you still have questions about what WordPress is or whether it’s right for you? Ask us in the comments!
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Don’t forget to join our crash course on speeding up your WordPress site. With some simple fixes, you can reduce your loading time by even 50-80%:
