WordPress is an open-source content management system (CMS) that powers over 43% of all websites on the internet as of 2024 — making it by far the most widely deployed CMS in the world. Originally launched in May 2003 as a blogging platform by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little, WordPress evolved into a full-featured CMS and application framework capable of running everything from personal blogs to enterprise e-commerce sites and media networks. It is built on PHP and MySQL, uses a plugin architecture that allows third-party extensions to add virtually any functionality, and a theme system that controls presentation and page templates. WordPress is available in two forms: WordPress.com (a hosted service operated by Automattic) and WordPress.org (fully open-source, self-hosted, requiring your own web server). The self-hosted WordPress.org version is standard for business and professional use. The Gutenberg block editor, introduced in version 5.0 (December 2018), replaced the classic editor and laid the foundation for Full Site Editing (FSE) capabilities.
Glossary entry