Updated October 2026: This article has been rewritten and expanded with current information.
WordPress started in 2003 as a small fork of an abandoned blogging script. Twenty-three years later it runs about 39.6 percent of all websites, according to the survey firm W3Techs, and holds about 58 percent of the market among sites whose content management system (CMS) can be identified. No other CMS comes close.
This article traces how that happened: the fork that started it, the releases that turned a blog tool into a general website platform, the move to the block editor, and the governance disputes of recent years. Along the way it covers what a typical WordPress release looks like today and how site owners can keep up.
The fork that started it (2001 to 2003)
WordPress grew out of b2, also known as cafelog, an open-source blogging script created by developer Michel Valdrighi in the early 2000s. When development of b2 stalled, its users were left without updates. On January 24, 2003, Matt Mullenweg, a b2 user, wrote on his blog that he planned to fork b2 and build something better. Mike Little, another developer in the b2 community, replied that he would help.
The first release, WordPress 0.7, arrived on May 27, 2003. It kept b2's GPL license, which meant anyone could use, modify and redistribute it for free, and that decision shaped everything that followed. Early features included a links manager, manual excerpts and support for the then-current XHTML 1.1 standard.
Plugins, themes and a community (2004 to 2009)
Two early releases set WordPress apart from other blog software. Version 1.2, code-named "Mingus" and released on May 22, 2004, introduced a plugin architecture, so outside developers could add features without changing the core code. Version 1.5 "Strayhorn," on February 17, 2005, added static pages and a theme template system. Together, plugins and themes meant a WordPress site no longer had to look or behave like a blog.
Since 1.0, every major release has been named after a jazz musician, a tradition the project still keeps. Version 2.0 "Duke" closed out 2005 with a redesigned dashboard and visual (WYSIWYG) editing. Version 2.5 "Brecker" in March 2008 cleaned up the dashboard and added multi-file uploads, and later 2.x releases added one-click installation of plugins and themes from inside the dashboard.
The community grew alongside the software. The first WordCamp, a volunteer-organized WordPress conference, took place in San Francisco in August 2006 with more than 500 attendees, and Mullenweg has given an annual "State of the Word" keynote since the same year. WordCamps now run in cities around the world.
From blog engine to website platform (2010 to 2017)
In January 2010 Mullenweg formed the WordPress Foundation, a non-profit set up to own the WordPress trademarks. Automattic, the company he had founded, had held them before that. The foundation's ownership is meant to keep the name tied to the open-source project rather than any single business.
WordPress 3.0 "Thelonious," released June 17, 2010, merged WordPress MU, a separate version for running many sites, into the main software as the multisite feature. It also added custom navigation menus and the first of the annual default themes, Twenty Ten. Later 3.x releases focused on the editing experience: 3.3 "Sonny" in December 2011 brought a drag-and-drop uploader and a new toolbar, 3.8 "Parker" in December 2013 gave the admin screens a modern redesign, and 3.9 "Smith" in April 2014 improved the visual editor.
The 4.x series continued that work. Version 4.1 "Dinah" in December 2014 added a distraction-free writing mode, and 4.4 "Clifford" in December 2015 brought responsive images and easier embedding. The most consequential change for developers came with 4.7 "Vaughan" on December 6, 2016, which added REST API content endpoints. These let other applications read and write WordPress content over standard web requests, so WordPress could serve as the back end for mobile apps and separate front-end sites.
WordPress 4.9 and the Customizer
WordPress 4.9 "Tipton," released November 15, 2017, focused on the Customizer, the screen used to adjust a site's design. Site owners could save design changes as drafts and schedule them to go live later, share preview links so colleagues or clients could review proposed changes, and rely on a lock that stopped two people from overwriting each other's work. The release added syntax highlighting and error checking for CSS and custom HTML, warned users before saving code that could break a site, and cautioned against editing theme and plugin files directly. It also added a gallery widget, a button for adding media to text widgets, and better handling of menus and widgets when switching themes.
The block editor era (2018 to today)
WordPress 5.0 "Bebo," released December 6, 2018, replaced the classic editor with the block editor, developed under the project name Gutenberg. Instead of one large text box, each paragraph, image, heading or embed became a separate block that could be moved and styled. The change was controversial at first, and the project offered a Classic Editor plugin for people who wanted the old screen.
The block approach then expanded from posts to entire sites. WordPress 5.9 "Joséphine," in January 2022, introduced full site editing, which lets users design headers, footers and templates with blocks rather than code. Later releases built on it: 6.3 "Lionel" in 2023 unified the Site Editor and added a Command Palette, 6.5 "Regina" in April 2024 added a Font Library, and 6.8 "Cecil" in April 2025 added speculative loading for faster page navigation and switched password hashing to the stronger bcrypt algorithm.
- May 27, 2003
0.7: the first release, forked from b2/cafelog - May 22, 2004
1.2 "Mingus": plugin architecture - February 17, 2005
1.5 "Strayhorn": pages and theme templates - June 17, 2010
3.0 "Thelonious": multisite, custom menus, Twenty Ten - December 6, 2016
4.7 "Vaughan": REST API content endpoints - November 15, 2017
4.9 "Tipton": scheduled Customizer changes, code highlighting - December 6, 2018
5.0 "Bebo": the block editor - January 25, 2022
5.9 "Joséphine": full site editing - May 20, 2026
7.0 "Armstrong": modernized dashboard, connectors hub for AI services - August 19, 2026
7.1 "Mary Lou": responsive styles, inline notes with mentions
WordPress 7.0 and 7.1
The project reached version 7.0 "Armstrong" on May 20, 2026. Its headline changes were a modernized dashboard, a design tool for navigation overlays, and a connectors hub for linking a site to AI services. It followed 6.9 "Gene" in December 2025, which added block-level notes for collaboration and an Abilities API. Version 7.1 "Mary Lou" followed on August 19, 2026, with responsive styles, the admin bar in every editor, and inline notes with mentions. As of October 2026 the current release is 7.1.3, a maintenance and security update published October 6.
How dominant is WordPress?
W3Techs counts the share of all websites it surveys, including those with no detectable CMS, which is why WordPress's 39.6 percent of all sites translates to about 58 percent of sites that use a known CMS. Hosted builders such as Shopify, Wix and Squarespace have grown, but each remains a fraction of WordPress's footprint.
Growing pains: the WP Engine dispute
WordPress's scale has made its governance a public issue. In September 2024, at WordCamp US, Mullenweg sharply criticized WP Engine, a large hosting company, saying it contributed too little to the project. The companies exchanged cease-and-desist letters, and on September 25, 2024, WordPress.org blocked WP Engine from its servers, which deliver updates and the plugin and theme directories. In October, WordPress.org replaced WP Engine's popular Advanced Custom Fields plugin listing with a fork called Secure Custom Fields, and WP Engine sued Automattic and Mullenweg.
On December 10, 2024, a federal judge in California issued a preliminary injunction ordering Automattic and Mullenweg to stop blocking WP Engine's access to WordPress.org. In February 2025 a WP Engine customer filed a separate class action against Automattic and Mullenweg. The episode prompted wide debate about how much control one person and one company should have over infrastructure that so much of the web depends on.
Running a WordPress site today
The software is free, but keeping a site healthy takes regular attention. These habits, all possible with built-in tools or free plugins, cover most of the risk:
- Know which WordPress you are using. WordPress.org is the free software you install on your own hosting. WordPress.com is a hosted service run by Automattic that uses the same software with its own plans and limits.
- Update promptly. Check Dashboard, then Updates, regularly. Maintenance releases like 7.1.3 often contain security fixes. You can turn on automatic updates for individual plugins and themes from their list screens.
- Remove what you do not use. Deactivated plugins and themes can still contain vulnerable code. Delete them rather than leaving them installed.
- Use the built-in Site Health tool. Tools, then Site Health, flags outdated software, missing security features and performance problems.
- Back up before big changes. Most hosts include backups, and free plugins can export copies to separate storage. Test a restore at least once.
- Avoid editing theme and plugin files directly. As WordPress itself has warned since 4.9, direct edits are overwritten by updates. Use a child theme or a small custom plugin instead.
From a fork announced in a blog post to the software behind roughly two in five websites, WordPress's history is mostly a story of open licensing and an ecosystem of plugins and themes that let it become whatever its users needed. The challenges of the last few years show that keeping that ecosystem open is now as important as building new features.
Sources
- WordPress.org: History
- WordPress.org: Releases
- WordPress.org News
- W3Techs: Usage statistics of content management systems
- Wikipedia: WordPress
- Wikipedia: WP Engine
Top image: "Addon ribbons for badge at WordCamp Asia 2025 - RSKY - 06" by Robert Sim, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized). Charts by Thank You Robot.
0 Comments