WordPress history
A short history of WordPress
From a fork of a small blogging tool in 2003 to the software behind a large share of the web: the releases that shaped how WordPress themes work today.
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27 May 2003
WordPress is born
Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little release WordPress, a fork of the b2/cafelog blogging software. -
January 2004
WordPress 1.0
Version 1.0, "Miles", is released on 3 January 2004. Release names honour jazz musicians, a tradition that continues today. -
June 2010
WordPress 3.0
Version 3.0, "Thelonious", arrives on 17 June 2010, helping WordPress grow from a blogging tool into a full website platform. -
October 2013
Automatic security updates
From WordPress 3.7, most sites install minor and security updates automatically in the background. -
December 2018
The block editor
WordPress 5.0, "Bebo", released on 6 December 2018, replaces the classic editor with the block editor. -
May 2019
Recovery mode
WordPress 5.2 adds fatal error protection: the admin is emailed a link to recovery mode when a plugin or theme breaks the site. -
August 2020
Auto-updates and sitemaps
WordPress 5.5 lets you switch on automatic updates for individual plugins and themes, and adds built-in XML sitemaps. -
January 2022
Full site editing
WordPress 5.9, "Josephine", brings full site editing and Twenty Twenty-Two, the first default block theme. -
August 2023
Safer updates
WordPress 6.3 automatically restores the previous version when a manual plugin or theme update fails. -
May 2026
WordPress 7.0
WordPress 7.0 is released on 20 May 2026, followed by 7.1 on 19 August 2026.