Key facts

WordPress: key facts and figures

Short, checkable facts about WordPress, themes, updates and security, each with its source. Last checked against the official WordPress documentation.

Last updated · How we check facts

WordPress in numbers

  1. WordPress was first released on 27 May 2003 by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little, as a fork of the b2/cafelog blogging software.

    Source: WordPress – Wikipedia · Read the guide

  2. W3Techs reported that WordPress was used by 39.5% of all websites, and 58.2% of websites whose content management system it could identify, on 1 November 2026.

    Source: Usage statistics of WordPress – W3Techs · Read the guide

  3. WordPress 7.0 was released on 20 May 2026 and WordPress 7.1 on 19 August 2026; the latest release as of 1 November 2026 is 7.1.4, released on 28 October 2026.

    Source: Release Archive – WordPress.org · Read the guide

  4. WordPress is open-source software licensed under the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later.

    Source: WordPress – Wikipedia · Read the guide

  5. The WordPress trademark is owned by the WordPress Foundation, whose policy does not allow "WordPress" in domain names without permission.

    Source: Trademark Policy – WordPress Foundation

Hosting and set-up

  1. WordPress.org recommends hosting with PHP 8.3 or greater, MariaDB 10.11 or greater or MySQL 8.0 or greater, and HTTPS support.

    Source: Requirements – WordPress.org · Read the guide

  2. WordPress still runs on PHP 7.4+ and MySQL 5.5.5+, but WordPress.org warns these versions are past their end of life and may expose a site to security vulnerabilities.

    Source: Requirements – WordPress.org · Read the guide

  3. WordPress has built-in XML sitemaps at /wp-sitemap.xml since version 5.5; they are switched off when the site discourages search engines.

    Source: New XML Sitemaps Functionality in WordPress 5.5 · Read the guide

  4. On WordPress.com, uploading your own theme is available on the Personal, Premium, Business and Commerce plans, but not on free sites.

    Source: Upload a WordPress theme – WordPress.com Support · Read the guide

Themes

  1. A WordPress block theme needs only two files: style.css and templates/index.html.

    Source: Theme Structure – WordPress Theme Handbook · Read the guide

  2. The only header field WordPress requires in a theme's style.css is "Theme Name".

    Source: Main Stylesheet (style.css) – WordPress Theme Handbook · Read the guide

  3. A theme's screenshot.png should be 1200 × 900 pixels; it is shown in Appearance › Themes.

    Source: Theme Structure – WordPress Theme Handbook · Read the guide

  4. Full site editing and the first default block theme, Twenty Twenty-Two, arrived in WordPress 5.9 in January 2022.

    Source: WordPress 5.9 "Josephine" – WordPress News · Read the guide

  5. The block editor arrived in WordPress 5.0, released on 6 December 2018.

    Source: History – WordPress.org · Read the guide

  6. A child theme must have a style.css file with a "Template" header naming its parent theme, and it keeps its changes when the parent theme updates.

    Source: Child Themes – WordPress Theme Handbook · Read the guide

Updates

  1. Since WordPress 3.7, most sites install minor and security updates of WordPress automatically in the background.

    Source: Updating WordPress – WordPress.org Documentation · Read the guide

  2. Since WordPress 5.5, administrators can switch on automatic updates for individual plugins and themes; WordPress runs auto-updates twice a day by default.

    Source: Plugin and themes auto-updates – WordPress.org Documentation · Read the guide

  3. Since WordPress 6.3, if a manual plugin or theme update fails, WordPress automatically restores the previously installed version.

    Source: New in 6.3: Rollback for failed manual plugin and theme updates · Read the guide

  4. Since WordPress 5.2, a fatal error makes WordPress email the site's admin address a link to recovery mode, where the faulty plugin or theme can be deactivated.

    Source: WordPress 5.2 fatal error recovery mode – Make WordPress Core · Read the guide

  5. A stuck "Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance" message is removed by deleting the .maintenance file from the WordPress folder.

    Source: Updating WordPress – WordPress.org Documentation · Read the guide

Backups and security

  1. A full WordPress backup has two parts, the database and the files, and both are needed to restore a site.

    Source: Backups – WordPress Advanced Administration Handbook · Read the guide

  2. WordPress's handbook suggests weekly backups for smaller sites and daily backups for busy ones, with three to five recent copies kept in different places.

    Source: Backups – WordPress Advanced Administration Handbook · Read the guide

  3. Adding define( 'DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true ); to wp-config.php turns off the theme and plugin file editors in the WordPress dashboard.

    Source: Hardening WordPress – WordPress Advanced Administration Handbook · Read the guide

  4. WordPress's hardening guide recommends strong passwords plus two-step authentication, and deleting plugins you are not using.

    Source: Hardening WordPress – WordPress Advanced Administration Handbook · Read the guide

SEO

  1. Google Search does not use the meta keywords tag.

    Source: SEO Starter Guide – Google Search Central · Read the guide

  2. Google's SEO Starter Guide says search changes can take effect in a few hours or take several months.

    Source: SEO Starter Guide – Google Search Central · Read the guide

You are welcome to quote these facts. Please link to this page as the source.

One useful WordPress tip a week

Short, practical and free. Unsubscribe whenever you like.