Is WordPress a software or a server? It’s more.

Is WordPress a software or a server?

WordPress is a software. More accurately put, it is a content management system or CMS.

WordPress, the CMS, is basically a scaffolding or type of platform that websites are built upon.

In fact, WordPress is the number one CMS on the internet today, powering close to 40% of all websites.

Do I need to have a server to use WordPress?

If you want your WordPress website to be live on the internet, then you will need to have it hosted on a server. 

That server could be on WordPress.com, a self-hosted web hosting provider, or on your own server at home through your internet service provider.

The most popular way to host a WordPress website is to use either WordPress.com or a self-hosted web hosting provider. 

There are various types of hosting plans, the most common being Shared Hosting, VPS, Cloud Hosting or a fully Dedicated Server.

What type of software is WordPress?

As I mentioned, WordPress is a content management system. This is a scaffolding type software created to build websites. 

WordPress is built upon the coding language called PHP.

Is WordPress software free?

WordPress, the CMS, is free. 

You can get WordPress either from WordPress.org or from your web hosting provider. 

However, you should know that although many WordPress website templates are free, there are many paid versions that are either a strictly paid version or a paid version of a free theme.

All themes found on WordPress.org or are free. 

Technically you cannot list your theme or any other software on WordPress.org unless it is a free version. 

However, most free versions of themes as well as plugins do have premium or paid versions as well. WordPress developers do have to keep the lights on somehow, right?

Is Wix better than WordPress?

If you’re looking just to get a very basic website up off the ground and not have to worry about highly customizing a theme, paid versions of themes as well as plugins or any other functionality you would like to add onto your website as well as hosting and security, and Wix would be a better choice than WordPress.

However, there are a few caveats to this choice of Wix over WordPress.

First off, Wix is a closed platform CMS, whereas, WordPress is an open-source platform.

What does that mean?

WordPress, being an open source software content management system, means that when you either get a free WordPress theme or purchase a paid or premium theme as well as any plugins that you will upload on to your WordPress website theme, also free and paid, are yours to keep. 

Any customizations, design changes, functionalities that you customize your WordPress website with, can go with you anywhere. 

You can migrate your entire WordPress website along with all your content and media like images, to any other web hosting provider on the internet. 

There are several migration plugins that I have written about on this site that you can check out like UpdraftPlus, these allow you to package your whole website and migrate it to another hosting provider. Just follow the instructions from your new hosting provider and you can have your website up and running and no time. 

This is because WordPress is open source after all. 

Whereas with Wix, the only things you can take with you are your custom domain name, any content that you have written as well as media that you have uploaded. 

However, you will need to copy and paste your files and put them somewhere on your computer because Wix will not migrate to another web hosting provider. You are stuck on their web hosting platform. 

Needless to say, that if you ever wanted to really evolve and grow your website you will eventually find Wix to be severely limiting in addition to higher hosting fees. 

This will make you want to shop around for better hosting, faster server speeds as well as more flexibility with your theme and functions. 

Unfortunately, if you go the Wix route, you will also have to choose another CMS that is open source. 

Because only with an open source CMS, can you migrate to any web hosting provider and have your choice of hosting options etc.

Do I need web hosting for WordPress?

If you want your WordPress website to be live on the internet, then it will need to be hosted on a server. 

So yes, you do need some sort of web hosting in order to make your WordPress website visible on the internet.

Is WordPress worth learning in 2021?

WordPress is definitely worth learning, whether that’s in 2020, 2021 or for the foreseeable future. Why? 

Well, WordPress powers around 40% of all websites on the internet today. This is according to an article published here, “Usage Statistics and Market Share of WordPress, April 2021”. This market trend is likely to increase. Why?

Is WordPress software difficult to learn?

WordPress, the CMS, does have a learning curve. However, you can say that about any CMS including Wix, Squarespace, Weebly as well as Webflow and Ghost and any other CMS you can think of. They all have learning curves.

However, what those other CMS platforms do not have that WordPress does, are resources. 

WordPress has more resources, not only to customize and create the website that you’ve always wanted, but it also has seemingly unlimited learning resources as well. 

In addition, there are forums, courses (both free and paid) as well as YouTube videos, etc. that can answer any question and solve most WordPress related issues as well as  teach you every little thing you ever want to do with WordPress. 

The good news is even if you do not know a single line of code, WordPress themes are pre-built and coded for you. 

Of course, always check reviews, make notes of any website you like that looks interesting, etc. before choosing a theme, especially a paid theme. 

The same with plugins. Plugins are basically pre-coded functions that can perform almost any task you want your website to do. 

The reason why WordPress calls them “plugins” is because with this software, you simply upload to your WordPress site and activate it. They basically plug in any functionality you want your website to perform.

WordPress has evolved so much over the past several years that even non-coders can create a beautiful and functional WordPress website. 

In addition, with WordPress you are not locked into any one platform, theme or hosting. 

You can choose your host, theme and all the functionalities you want your website to do without doing any of the hard coding yourself.

Who is WordPress owned by?

WordPress.org as well as WordPress the CMS is open source and not owned by anyone. However, WordPress.com is owned by the company called Automattic. 

The company Automattic was created by Matt Mullenweg who was one of the original founders of the WordPress open source ecosystem. 

Automattic also owns the trademark to the name WordPress. This is why any website specializing in WordPress related content can’t use the name “WordPress” in their domain name. 

WordPress.com is a for profit enterprise. They offer a wide variety of WordPress related services such as hosting as well as plugins and other software that support WordPress.

Is WordPress hosting free?

In general, WordPress hosting is not free. 

However, WordPress.com does offer a free WordPress blog plan. 

You can create your own WordPress blog as well as have it hosted on WordPress.com for free.

Where can I get WordPress themes?

You can find most WordPress free themes on WordPress.org. You can also find WordPress themes from most web hosting providers both free and paid (or premium) versions of these themes as well. 

Although all the themes that you can find on WordPress.org are free, the vast majority of them do include paid or premium versions as well. 

However, in order for themes or any WordPress related software to be listed on WordPress.org it must have a free version.

How do I upload WordPress to my hosting account’s server?

There are several ways to upload WordPress to your hosting accounts server. 

First you should check with your current hosting provider and get to know either their dashboard or their user interface. 

You can always consult their support forms as well for more detailed information.

If you want to get WordPress, including themes and plugins, you can first either easily download them from WordPress.org, under the categories of themes or plugins. 

You can then download the .zip file for whatever WordPress theme and/or plugins you would like, onto your computer. 

Then it’s a matter of simply uploading your choice to your hosting provider’s servers through their dashboard or other User Interface they may be working with.

On Shared Hosting, you will normally find a cPanel dashboard. In cPanel you need to scroll all the way down to their “Apps Installer”.

 

Under Scripts, you will see a variety of CMSs that your hosting provider has for you to choose from for download. Of course, the first one is WordPress. 

Simply click the WordPress icon under Scripts. Then follow the step by step directions. 

Once you download WordPress into your hosting account’s files, You will simply need to set up your WordPress account, create an Admin (or much more preferably another Admin User Name instead of Admin for security reasons). 

You will enter your personal email account information etc. so that WordPress can send you all your login information. 

Finally, after you get your WordPress user login information, you can simply login to your WordPress website through the links provided in that email. 

Once you are in your WordPress dashboard, you simply go to Appearance>Themes and you can either upload the Theme you have chosen from WordPress.org and upload the theme to your WordPress dashboard. 

You can also go to the Search Box in the Themes section and just search around. You will find many of the free themes as well as paid versions of WordPress themes right through your theme section on your WordPress dashboard.

Upload your plugins in the same manner as you uploaded your theme through the Plugins section of your WordPress dashboard. 

It will be listed on the far left corner under Plugins. 

The interface pretty much looks the same as the interface from the Themes section. 

Then you can simply upload the plugins you have chosen from WordPress.org from your computer into your WordPress website or you can use the Search Bar and search for any particular plugins that you may be curious about. 

You can type in either a keyword or the exact name of the plugin that you may be interested in. 

Keywords should be based on functions, if you don’t know the name of the exact plugin you are looking for.

What’s the difference between Bluehost and WordPress?

Bluehost is an independent web hosting provider that hosts websites. Whether those websites are built with WordPress, the CMS, or another CMS they have various hosting plans that you can choose from in order to host your website on the internet.

WordPress, the CMS, is a free open source software content management system. 

However, WordPress.com is the commercial arm of the company called Automattic which I had described above. WordPress.com also hosts WordPress based websites as well.

WordPress is not a server, but more than software, summary.

As you can see, WordPress definitely isn’t a server, but to be live on the internet it needs to be hosted on a server. 

WordPress is more than just a piece of software, it is an entire ecosystem that you can have for free and put it to use to do anything you want on the internet. 

Whether that’s creating a simple blog, setting up an ecommerce store, adding a forum to your website etc.

So there you have it. Although WordPress is not a server, it certainly is much more than a piece of software.