At this time, WordPress powers extra web sites than some other content material administration system. It didn’t begin that manner although. The preliminary groundwork was laid for what was to develop into WordPress again in 2001. And the open supply platform didn’t formally come into being till 2003. 

So, how does a CMS go from a easy running a blog platform to a build-anything-you-can-imagine behemoth in only a couple many years? And why haven’t different web site constructing applied sciences been capable of do the identical?

On this put up, we’re going to take a look at a timeline of WordPress’s main milestones and historical past in addition to the place it stands right now and the outlook for its future.

WordPress is the most well-liked content material administration system and web site constructing expertise on the earth. Greater than 43% of internet sites right now are constructed with WordPress, greater than some other CMS. 

Study extra information about WordPress: 

Inquisitive about the place WordPress got here from and the way it turned such a strong power within the web site constructing house? Begin right here: 

Programmer Michel Valdrighi started engaged on a brand new running a blog platform that will empower anybody to begin their very own weblog. He got here up with the title b2 by combining the phrase “weblog” and “Tune 2”, a music by Blur.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSbBvKaM6sk[/embed]

The title b2 was too quick, so the platform was alternatively known as “Cafelog” and hosted on cafelog.com. 

b2/Cafelog was up towards running a blog giants like Blogger and Movable Kind. Nonetheless, folks actually cherished the liberty and empowerment that got here with utilizing an intuitive software like b2. The one drawback was that Valdrighi stopped supporting it round 2002.

b2 was free to make use of and had a Basic Public License (GPL) license. With Valdrighi lacking in motion, this enabled different builders to step up, create a fork of b2, and develop their very own software program from it. 

There have been a variety of forks constructed from b2’s codebase. 

François Plaque, as an illustration, began b2evolution. Donncha Ó Caoimh began b2++. 

And Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little co-founded their very own department of b2 which might develop into WordPress.

Mullenweg’s and Little’s new b2 fork went reside on SourceForge. The running a blog platform was given the title “WordPress” by Mullenweg’s buddy Christine Tremoulet.

Simply as Valdrighi had got down to simplify running a blog whereas offering a secure place to do it, Mullenweg and Little wished WordPress to observe in those self same footsteps. Not solely that, they wished WordPress to simply be customizable and extendable.

The first launch of WordPress went reside shortly after it was forked. It supplied a easy running a blog platform and interface with some coding upgrades from b2. 

After Model 0.7 shipped, Mullenweg received in contact with the opposite b2 forkers. Caoimh agreed to merge his b2++ fork with WordPress and joined the WordPress improvement crew. Plaque, nevertheless, believed it could be an excessive amount of work with little tradeoff, so he declined to convey b2evolution over.

The pattern of naming releases after jazz musicians started with WordPress 1.0, which was named “Miles Davis”. 

This model introduced important developments to the CMS, like Search engine optimisation-friendly permalinks, remark moderation, and a cleaner file and listing construction.

The subsequent few variations introduced important developments within the type of plugins and themes. The primary one got here in the midst of 2004 when WordPress launched the plugin structure. This allowed customers to increase and modify WordPress with plugins. 

WordPress launched an improved theme system with Model 1.5. Together with introducing a brand new default theme known as Kubrick, the brand new system enabled customers to create templates for various components of their website as an alternative of being caught with regardless of the default theme offered.

As well as, pages had been launched. Up till this level, WordPress customers solely had posts to work with. However, with this addition, they might create full-fledged web sites.

Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little co-founded Automattic. Its objective was to democratize on-line publishing and make it easy and simple for anybody to develop a web-based presence. The corporate sought to do that by growing numerous services and products to assist WordPress customers.

In its Sequence A funding spherical, Automattic obtained $1,100,000. Though Automattic and WordPress are separate entities, this stage of funding was a glimpse into how a lot promise WordPress confirmed even in its early days.

WordCamps are tech conferences that revolve across the WordPress ecosystem. Everybody from impartial bloggers and website house owners to skilled plugin authors and businesses attends them.

Matt Mullenweg held the primary one in San Francisco in 2006. There have been a whole lot of those occasions since then.

Automattic formally registered the trademark for each the WordPress title in addition to its brand. This enabled the corporate to make use of the WordPress trademark because it happy whereas additionally granting licenses to others for business and non-commercial functions upon request.

In its Sequence B spherical, Automattic raised $29,500,000 in funding. The New York Instances was amongst the buyers this time round.

A market known as FlashDen was based in 2006. It picked up pace through the years, including a brand new market to its repertoire known as ThemeForest in 2008. Individuals may purchase WordPress themes in addition to themes for different platforms there.

As well as, FlashDen underwent a reputation change. The corporate turned identified from that time ahead as Envato.

Though the WordPress theme listing had been round for a while, customers not needed to obtain theme information and add them into WordPress. With Model 2.8, the theme listing was added to the dashboard and made theme set up doable with one click on.

Envato launched a brand new market known as CodeCanyon. Customers may buy plugins and scripts from the location to be used inside WordPress in addition to different CMS and platforms.

The WordPress Basis is a non-profit set as much as promote the democratization of publishing by open-source applied sciences. Particularly, the Basis helps the WordPress group. 

“The WordPress Basis is right here to make sure that open supply software program is a part of the long run. Human beings could have restricted life spans, however our efforts don’t need to. Our group desires to make sure that the supply code for tasks like WordPress will survive past the present contributor base, so we could create a secure net publishing platform for generations to come back.”

Again in September 2010, Mullenweg introduced that the WordPress trademark had been transferred from Automattic to the WordPress Basis.

Right here’s what the announcement mentioned:

“Automattic has transferred the WordPress trademark to the WordPress Basis, the non-profit devoted to selling and guaranteeing entry to WordPress and associated open supply tasks in perpetuity. Which means probably the most central piece of WordPress’s id, its title, is now totally impartial from any firm.”

WordPress could have begun as a easy running a blog platform. Nonetheless, the addition of pages to its capabilities enabled customers to perform much more with the CMS beginning in 2005.

5 years later, customized put up sorts had been launched (together with multisite capabilities) in Model 3.0. This opened up the probabilities even additional for customers, permitting them to create content material sorts for a variety of use instances.

A crew of WordPress theme builders known as WooThemes created their very first plugin product in 2011. It was known as WooCommerce. This plugin would allow customers so as to add ecommerce performance to their websites from inside WordPress. 

Though some enhancements had been made to the WordPress UI through the years, it wasn’t till the Model 3.8 Charlie Parker replace that it received a significant revamp. 

Along with redoing the look of the dashboard, it made WordPress responsive (at the very least what constituted responsive on the time).

Till this level, WordPress was supported by huge groups of volunteers and contributors. You’ll discover countless proof of this in every new launch announcement, like this one for WordPress 3.5: 

However with how a lot WordPress was rising, extra contributions had been wanted to maintain and elevate the momentum. In consequence, the 5 for the Future program was created. 

This program gave organizations (and people) a seat on the desk. By contributing time or assets to the WordPress challenge, they’d have a stake within the platform’s future. Organizations had been inspired to help in numerous methods, from testing and QA to group constructing.

Automattic made quite a few acquisitions through the years. Nonetheless, its acquisition of WooCommerce from WooThemes was one which customers had been clamoring for. As Mullenweg defined on this video, WordCamp attendees all the time wished to know:

“When are you gonna make it as straightforward to publish shops on-line as you’ve made it to publish web sites?” 

The reply got here in 2015 when WooCommerce joined the Automattic household. 

WordPress made completely different developments to the web page enhancing expertise through the years. But, the WordPress textual content and WYSIWYG editor all the time left one thing to be desired, particularly in comparison with visible web site builders like Squarespace and Wix. 

In 2016, the Elementor web page builder plugin was created to unravel this drawback. Because the company behind the plugin explains, Elementor was based “as a option to make the online creation expertise extra accessible to professionals like them.”

The extremely anticipated Model 5.0 went reside with a visible, block-based editor known as Gutenberg. 

The objective of the editor was to modernize the WordPress web page creation expertise. Sadly, the brand new editor obtained main backlash from the WordPress group, particularly because it turned the default editor within the CMS. 

To today, Gutenberg receives a variety of criticism, with many customers preferring to make use of the long-trusted traditional editor or web page builder plugins like Elementor as an alternative.

Issues appeared to get fairly quiet on the WordPress entrance after the Gutenberg launch. 

Over time, the WordPress crew labored behind the scenes to enhance the editor based mostly on person suggestions whereas making different incremental enhancements to the CMS. Nonetheless, not a complete lot else occurred. And that appeared to be simply superb for WordPress as its dominance amongst web site constructing applied sciences remained unshakeable. 

That's, till late 2024. Mullenweg and Automattic turned embroiled in a public battle and lawsuit with WP Engine. Though many WordPress customers look like dedicated to the CMS, there’s a variety of speak about a change-up of management wanted for WordPress.

You may learn all concerning the WordPress/Automattic vs. WP Engine battle within the part above. Nonetheless, it’s vital to convey consideration to this put up revealed on the Automattic website in October because the trademark is a vital a part of the historical past of WordPress.

Within the put up, Mullenweg claimed that the WordPress business license had by no means been transferred to the WordPress Basis. That it solely owned the trademark for the non-commercial license whereas Automattic retained the business one.

Automattic has steadily raised increasingly more cash through the years. On the time of scripting this, the overall amount of cash raised by Automattic is a whopping $985,899,968.

For probably the most half, WordPress has skilled a rare variety of wins in comparison with setbacks through the years. From a small b2 forking challenge in 2003 to the highest content material administration system in 2025, WordPress has proven what a user-first open supply platform ought to appear like time and time once more. 

Not solely that, WordPress has empowered its group to contribute in a significant manner. Whether or not or not it's contributing to the core or creating extensible themes and plugins, the group has a variety of management in terms of what path the platform goes in. 

However will it stay this fashion sooner or later? Regardless of the chaos swirling round Mullenweg in 2024 and 2025, the group appears decided to maintain the WordPress dream alive.

New to WordPress and questioning the best way to get began? Right here’s some additional studying for you: