Today, we’re celebrating 20 years of WordPress.com! We set out to put the power of publishing into everyone’s hands, and since then, millions of you have used it to build amazing things.
Our beginnings and our purpose
On June 20, 2005, WordPress project co-founder Matt Mullenweg hired Donncha Ó Caoimh (a software developer and WordPress contributor) and Automattic was born. Their mission: create a hosted version of WordPress that anyone could use.
After beta testing in August 2005, WordPress.com launched publicly on November 21, 2005. Here’s what the homepage looked like:
We’ve come a long way from these humble beginnings, but our purpose hasn’t changed much: democratizing publishing and ecommerce.
A place for every website
Today, WordPress.com powers all kinds of websites. People all around the world use our platform to build:
- Professional portfolios where creatives showcase their work and attract new clients, like standup comedian Aparna Nancherla, film and television director Mike Flanagan, and visual artist Ana Teresa Fernández.
- Membership communities that bring together people with shared interests, like the Bedfordshire Bird Club.
- Cutting-edge educational websites from institutions like the UC Berkeley Center for Psychedelics.
- Popular blogs like the experimental art project PostSecret, sci-fi author John Scalzi’s Whatever, and food blogger Vegan Bunny Elle.
This is just a small handful of examples. From simple sites to online stores, no matter what you want to create and share on the web, WordPress.com gives you the tools to make it happen.
What are you creating with WordPress.com?
The WordPress.com story isn’t just ours. It also belongs to everyone who has chosen our platform to create and share on the web.
From our first homepage to the millions of sites hosted on our platform today, every WordPress.com website represents someone who decided to put their ideas into the world. We’re honored to be part of that journey.
Tell us your story. How did you find WordPress.com? What have you built? Drop a comment below! After 20 years, we still love seeing what you’re creating.
WordPress.com News 
I’ve been with you since December 2008, after a “dust-up” with Blogspot. WordPress has given me a platform to showcase “criminally underrated” musicians, and has fostered dozens of real-life friendships over the years. I can’t imagine being anywhere else. Congratulations on your 20th anniversary!
Thank you! That’s a great story. Glad you’re here.
Cheers to 20 years! I
🥂
I was referred to WordPress by a friend, and have been using it for several years to host my blog, tallandtruetales.blog.
it has brought me countless hours of enjoyment.
That’s wonderful to hear! Thank you for sharing.
http://www.dnaexplain.com – 1800+ articles strong. Award winning. 13.5 years of loving WordPress. Thank you for giving us voices!
That’s impressive! Thank you for sharing.
Happy 20 WordPress!
I came to know of WordPress while I was searching for platform as I was just entering my twenties. I am so happy I found this place! Thank you!
Thank you!
I started using WordPress in 2006. Originally I started blogging in 2005 on eblogger (or blogger) but after about a year I discovered WP and immediately switched over.
I have continuously blogged here since then. I’m simple, not fancy but continuity is my best feature. And while other platforms have come and gone, WP remains.
I’m not a super tech person but WP gives me what I need.
As an artist, I have created a community, a following, and a living using WP in combination with other SM sites.
Things have changed so much and I try to keep up without letting it take too much of my time.
Thanks WordPress!
That’s wonderful to hear. Thank you for sharing your story!
I am a hobby blogger. I have been posting weekly, on creativity and related subjects, since I started my blog in 2007. I chose WordPress over Blogger because I thought it was a better platform. Time has shown me that I made the right choice.
Wow, that’s impressive! Congratulations on such a long blogging streak, and thanks for sharing your story.
How to grow audience?
Thanks for your question! We have a section in our support documentation covering this topic. Also, our recent post on increasing your traffic has some great tips. Hope that helps!
With Rust Belt Girl, I built a world-wide community of writers and readers invested in place-writing, specifically that of my native place, the American Rust Belt. And you’d think that Rust Belt Girl wouldn’t have a lot of appeal outside the U.S., but of course rusty, post-industrial places, aren’t confined to the American Midwest; nor are lovers of place-based writing. I’ve had readers of the blog in the UK and beyond tell me that my depiction of the Rust Belt hits home for them. In Rust Belt Girl I’ve found a way to connect with my native place–a place that inspires great literature and literary community–long after I’ve left. Going on 10 years old, Rust Belt Girl remains my favorite passion project and I’m proud to hype great writers through it. Thanks, WordPress!
I love this story. Thank you for sharing it with us!
It will soon be my 20th anniversary on WordPress.com too. I used several platforms before that (including entirely creating a site myself from scratch) but when I found WordPress I knew it would be my permanent web HQ.
Congrats on 20 years!
Congratulations right back at you! That’s an impressively long history we have together — we appreciate you.
I had been getting my blogs pubished on a Catholic website for four years, but noticed it s restrictive editing grew excessive. So I decided to publish my blogs in a WordPress.com website. :RMDellorfanoAuthor.com has become my literary portfolio. Now I can honestly critique aberrant religion ad lib without some senile, biased editor gagging me.
Thank you for sharing how you found your editorial freedom!
Found WP in 2010 after loosing a whole lot of content on a blog hosted on a forun . . . twice!
I signed up for three different platforms and quickly focused on WP as the more suited to what I wanted to do with the blog.
Now, 15 years and 4,222 posts later, I’m perhaps less enthused about some of the changes but too invested and too old to look elsewhere.
But, I still enjoy posting stuff. Not many readers other than bots, but then, the focus was always on what I liked and what I enjoy doing: photography, fiction, opinions, documenting travel, and whatever captures my interest in the moment.
Heck, just this morning, I had Claude look at my blog and write a song about it, which I then put to music using Suno.
I have a number of versions (same lyrics, different styles), but here’s JUST ONE for the bots to listen to, or even an adventuresome human.
Thank you for sharing your experience!
Celebrating 10 years as Chase Digital Solutions, we’ve built more than 20 websites for artists, freelancers, nonprofits, and startups! We’re certifying in the California Green Business Network and our founder just won a design award. Thanks so much to WordPress.com for being our platform of choice. Our success is shared!
Proud to share in your success! Thank you for telling your story.
greatnessandkindness.wordpress.com
The blog seeks to help readers grasp and experience God’s greatness—His power, covenant, and sovereignty—and His kindness in grace, provision, and deliverance.
The writings strengthen believers by reminding them of their secure identity in God.
The blog also guides readers on finding strength in God during difficult and discouraging seasons.
Thanks for sharing your story!
Well, after more than 20 years building my website with Dreamweaver — from 1998 to 2019 — I finally switched to WordPress.com six years ago, and I couldn’t be happier with the change!
My main site is for my professional work in computer graphics and 3D animation: https://etereaestudios.com/
I also run a more personal blog where I post every Sunday about my weekly mountain hikes and share my photos, mostly from the Pyrenees: CristobalPaseante
I’m NOT a web developer, but creating and maintaining both sites has been an absolute breeze. And the support has also been excellent!
Thanks!
Love to hear it! Thank you for sharing your experience.
I started my blog Cinemasight when a magazine for which I had written for many years stipped printing reviews. WordPress was easy to navigate in and add photos. The stastics are very helpful.
My Blog: https://cinemasight.wordpress.com/
Thanks for sharing!
I found WordPress through a mentor who insisted I needed a blog. So I opened one — sometime before 2010 – and then let it sit untouched.
It wasn’t until a friend was going through a really hard time that I thought, maybe if she had something small to read each day… something uplifting, something to make her pause and paired with my art and photos… maybe it would help her mend.
So in April 2010, Patrice’s Art & Poetry Blog was born.
Later came my website – PatriceClarkson.com – also built on WordPress.
Happy Birthday WordPress! And Thank You!!! for giving artists like me a place to grow, share, and connect. 😀
That’s so wonderful to hear. Thank you for telling your story, and for continuing to create on WordPress.com.
👌
Somewhere back in 2010 a passer by, the name of whom I really can’t remember, said something along these lines… “you should blog… ” I said, what is blogging… the person said “it gives you a place on the internet – a place all of your own – to do stuff.” Stuff like what, I asked? “Placing you photos, writing article and short stories – telling your story…”
We carried on the conversation and it ended with something along these lines… “there are a few platforms… but, you must use WordPress!!” She was adamant!!
So I began – and on 16 MAR 2011 my first post went live – and I set a target of one daily post for a full year. When that day arrived, my good lady said, “no, you can’t stop now – you will disappoint your new friends!”
SO…. I carried on with daily posts – for more that ten years! Yes, daily! (Just btw, I think it may have even been more than eleven years!) Then I slowed down… why? I sort of fell out of love with the blogging and will never really fall fully in love again. You know the old story… when the flame dies down it is not easy to have it reignite spontaneously!
I have tried to rekindle the love – I am currently more than halfway through another one year daily post challenge and at times I wonder why? My main question – is blogging still relevant in this new, quick social media era?
I’m sure it is… so, I invite you to help me prove that – by visiting my blog here at this link… I’m sure you can help fan the flames – again!
https://ouchmybackhurts.wordpress.com/
THANKS!!!
Thank you for sharing your story — that’s an incredible blogging journey! In a fast-moving social media world, blogging remains a space you truly own — a place to build something lasting, on your terms, without the limits of algorithms or platforms that come and go.
Thanks Tess… I appreciate your reply!
Today is my 15th anniversary of my humble blog Crows of Arroyos aka Batgurrl.net. So much on WordPress has changed but the most notable is the use of blocks. You have helped me with my tech growth.
Plus the topics of my blog has grown with me. 15 years I have gone from writing about all things Crows to now seeking lost history. My now and then history articles are all about lost coal mines & ghost towns that many in East King County Washington had no clue even existed.
I even have a few sub blogs that include my Worlds Fair Collection and a private site to work on a book project.
Thank you so much WordPress for all you have done for me. I am a better communicator and writer because of you. Plus so much intellectual joy!!
Love to hear how meaningful blogging has been for you. Thank you for sharing your story, and congrats on 15 years of blogging!
I am a small business with interest in book publishing, merch design, and organising creative-writing workshops. I built my website twagaa.com on wordpress.com and have only good things to say about the platform, their support team and the awesome experience over past 3 years. With zero-tech background of coding, I managed not only setting up my store, but also integrated successfully many APIs and plugins on-the-go. Brilliant platform, and more so when the site is also hosted by wordpress.com. Three cheers for you guys!
Cheers right back to you! Congrats on your success with the platform.
This is a great idea/question to ask us… what have we done with this platform, especially as it (and our personal blogs) evolve over time.
For my blog, it has created a space for creativity. With my photographs and with my writing – with the evolution being merging these creative adventures into my philosophy of life. A place to create a simple, but personal legacy. Always allowing me to redefine myself and I move forward. The words of Wynton Marsalis are fitting here: “Sometimes a thing and the opposite of a thing are true at the same time.” And having this platform that WordPress offers brings out the beauty of life and creativity, with the understanding how contradictory life and creativity can be. It is the heart of art…
Thank you.
https://dalocollis.com/
Thank you for the thoughtful comment. It’s inspiring to hear that your blog has been a place of creativity and evolution.
Over several years and several incarnations, I have written thousands of posts about the Bible mainly, as ‘Watching Daily at Wisdom’s Gates’…
Congrats on your 20th anniversary!
Happy Anniversary!
And I have ridden on 15 ::) Best wishes !
20 YEARS OF WORDPRESS: I’d say ………Wordpress to me has always had a professional appeal; a writing focus; an almost distinguishable difference that it managed efficiency amicably……. that said, from my frontpage to my contributions today……. I continue to have the unhindered zest to continue writing; my pages have included mostly personal writing: short pieces; research and longer writing drafts; poems and some sketches….. I’ve even included projects related to climate change and sustainable development…..my site is destined to continue growing……..ample space to do that with WordPress…..Congratulations WordPress… from South Africa…. LADY Dr Jennifer J C Thompson nee Coetzee
Thank you for sharing your story!
Congrats on 20, WordPress! 🎉
I created my author website here nine years ago sharing my creative journey with short essays, poems and tiny tales. Today, I’m also promoting my first book “Does Love Die With You?” here.
Loved every moment here & especially the big WordPress family from across the globe that I’ve slowly got to connect with. ❤️
This is wonderful to hear. Thank you for sharing!
I started my blog in Sept. ‘08 to get back some meaning and creativity disappearing from my career as a newspaper artist. Blogging replaced my favorite part of my vocation: illustrating essays. The difference now is that I have to write my own essays.
I’m not complaining about writing, because I’ve been journaling almost as long as I’ve been drawing for myself. Blogging is the same as that ‘cept I now do in public, if you count 5-10 visits per post as public. But since I don’t do it for fame or fortune—not that I’d mind either—I’m OK with that.
I’ve posted over 700 times and my professional portfolio is there too. I started copying posts to most (not X!) social media platforms in 2012. Now that I’m retired, I add to all of them a new post most weeks. But you all were the first and remain the most flexible. Thanks for the opportunity to both express and fantasize.
Thank you for sharing how blogging has supported your creative journey. It’s great to hear that it continues to be a flexible platform, alongside your social media posts.
I love these words: I started my blog in Sept. ‘08 to get back some meaning and creativity disappearing from my career as a newspaper artist. This is why I paint and write about it. Thank you for the reminder.
Congratulations WordPress! 20 years old! Wonderful! You have helped me with my blog, which has continued non-stop since about 2010, or earlier and still going strong. Judith at http://www.foodthatbuildscommunity.com
Thanks for sharing your story, and congrats on your own long-running blog!
Hi I build my first blog here in December 2013. Here´s how it looks today, ManssonsKultur.se
My photo blog manuschwendener.ch, since 2013.
Heard the words “widow’s website” in my ear early one morning in late 2010. I told God, “Joe didn’t teach me about websites before he passed.” He kept nagging. I did research online, and found most websites were dark, dreary, and depressing. I was unemployed at the time, and my career coach introduced me to the concept of blogging. WordPress was the go-to option. My first post went live on January 13, 2011. I immediately left for a networking event with the name of my blog on a business card. Proof I was doing something while unemployed besides eating bonbons and watching Oprah reruns.
I had so much fun that in January 2012, I launched OgleOhio, a photography blog showcasing Ohio’s scenic views.
Six months is all I thought my blog would last, but here I am 14 years later.
Thank you, WordPress. Here’s to the next 20!
Thank you for sharing your story!
I’ve been blogging with you for 16 years. My blog, Amusives, is my way of sharing all the things I think are funny AND all the crafty things I make.
Thank you for providing a home on the web for me!
16 years is something to be celebrated! Congrats.
I have been using WordPress for my Freoview blog for the last sixteen years. My blog supplies daily news, information, local government scrutiny, etc. for free to the people of the port city of Fremantle in Western Australia. I have published over 17,000 posts in that time and more than 30,000 images, to keep my community informed about the day to day happening in our small city.
Roel loopers
Congrats on 16 years! Thank you for sharing your experience.
Happy Anniversary WordPress!
Twenty years of WordPress – I somehow thought you were older than that! 🙂 I’ve been blogging since 2013 and it was my friend/neighbor’s idea to start a blog, not my own idea and because she was a good friend, I did it for her. I wish she had lived long enough to see how my blog has gone from one paragraph, a one-line title and one or two pictures to the wordy and picture-laden blog it is today. For me, blogging satisfies the creative urge to write, something I never got to do with my print journalism degree I received when I graduated with my B.A. in Mass Communications in 1978 – there were no jobs available, so I had to find an alternative way to make a living, which did not involve writing … so all these years later, I fulfilled my original dream.
Thank you for sharing your inspiring story.
You’re welcome Tess.
If my 63 year old memory serves me correct, my WordPress journey began in 2009. Since that time not only have more years been added to my lifespan, but my entire thought process has undergone a complete overhaul. The end result was me finding the perfect title for my blog, and that title is “Beautiful Soul.” – Happy 20 year anniversary and thank you for being tried and true. -Glenn D. Grace
Thank you for sharing!
Nice, congratulations, and Recovery UnSensored and I have been with you for half of that. Guess that makes us friends. 🙂 Love you all.
We are friends! Love that.
Happy 20th anniversary. I found wordpress.com in 2011, looking for a way to express my opinions and activities, since then I’ve wrote about a lot of topics, but the most of them nature, birding, and community. Sometimes I publish weekly, sometimes monthly, but I always return to my space. I’m leaving social networks now, and I expect my blog will be my one presence on the web. 630 posts 2012-2025.
That’s an impressive track record! Thanks for sharing, and congrats on sticking with it.
I am the owner and editor of my blog in Spanish language “La Galena del Sur” (lagalenadelsur.com). I am happy to tell that this space devoted to the history of radio in general from my country, Uruguay, has become since I created in 2011 a reference for local and overseas scholars (professors and students in the School of Communications). Likewise, I have been mentioned and cited in novels acknowledging and inspiring the author of a bestseller novel (“Sira” by María Dueñas of Spain). Also, several radio programs on history. Furthermore, I am still using the Classic editor (never managed to work well with Block editor scheme).
Thank you for sharing your story, and the impressive impact your blog has had. I hear you on the Classic editor. The Block editor has evolved a lot, and if you ever decide to give it another try, we have a video tutorial about the editor, and a step-by-step guide for switching from Classic.
I found WordPress thanks to some friends I met online, who told me that with my strong journalism background in both high school and college–they thought I should give it a try.
I started in 2012 talking about Brazilian jazz artists and groups, after hearing some songs on a smooth jazz radio station at the time. Less than a year later, I created a second (and my most popular) blog about men’s NCAA college basketball. It has expanded my digital footprint–from writing to a small group to what seems like millions of people around the world thanks to social media. Hard to believe it has been 20 years. Congratulations and here’s to another 20 more!!!
Thanks for sharing your experience!
So glad to be a part of this fun site.
I joined WordPress.com in September 2007 so I’m coming on for 20 years now as well! My aim was to create a site specifically for Italian speakers who are learning English. I teach English at Catania University on the east coast of Sicily but will be retiring next year. My site Ingliando is just my way of giving back to the country that has been my home for over 40 years, my free online assistance on their path to improving their English. It has been (and continues to be) a fun ride and thanks to WP I’ve been able to put together a rich and varied site offering a bit of everything. I hope to continue for many more years!
Thanks for sharing this wonderful story, and congrats on such an impressive history with the platform!
When I started my second blog, Sue’s Trifles in 2013 I began taking part in challenges such as Blogging from A to Z in April. I have blogged on various topics, reviewed books, written poetry and produced lists to help people find what they are looking for in over 1000 blog posts. I have also made a few friends amongst the multitude of bloggers.
That’s wonderful to hear. Thank you for sharing!
I love WordPress. I began blogging here 15 years ago as part of my writing life. Nowadays, it’s my main way of connecting with the readers of my books and my blog posts double as my newsletter. Thank you! Anne S
Wow, 15 years is impressive! Thanks for sharing.
Congratulations! I’ve been with you since 2016, and enjoyed every minute of it!
I started my blog in June 2020 when the world went mad over COVID. It gave me the opportunity to share what I discovered, especially in language, word, which is the root of everything. So WordPress seemed a good base for my site to squeeze out the flavour of words.
Love this — thank you for sharing.
I started blogging in 2016 and I’ve created a travel & lifestyle blog which has brought me so much happiness, introduced me to a great community and even allowed me to meet my husband. Thanks WordPress!
That’s quite an impact! Thank you for sharing.
Happy Birthday, family!
from 2008 with WordPress. best withes from the bottom of my heart!
This will be my very first post 🙂
Congratulations to 20years WordPress and 🥂to a fruitful 20years more 😉
I’d just been laid off from a great job in an unfortunate corporate cost-cutting move, I was depressed, and I adopted a cat to help me get out of my head and break my funk. What I did not expect was a bold, curious little kitten who came striding out of his carrier like a furry little Genghis Khan, conquering and claiming everything in my apartment on the very first night I brought him home.
I wrote a handful of short stories about the little guy and the response was much more positive than I could have anticipated. People wanted more, so I started a blog and named it Pain In The Bud as a tongue in cheek homage to little Buddy.
Since then it’s evolved to become an eclectic mix of cat humor, cat-related news, stories about felid-centric research and big cat conservation, interviews with a wide range of people (rescuers, veterinarians, artists, experts, and authors), original journalism, and of course stories about Buddy.
I even fell back on my old investigative journalism training to write a series of stories about a government biologist who had gone vigilante and was hunting cats with a shotgun at night in public parks, because he believed the cats were a danger to birds. Those stories were based on thousands of pages of documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act, and resulted in the California parks agency changing its rules, disciplining the biologist, and pledging to work with cat rescue groups in the future.
Those stories also brought recognition to the blog, and since then I’ve had people reach out to me for help publicizing incidents of animal cruelty, overreach by elected officials (such as the unnecessarily forceful arrest of two elderly women for trapping, neutering and feeding cats), and other issues related to feline welfare.
Most importantly for me, it’s given me an outlet to share my love for my cat and articulate what makes our furry friends so special.
WordPress has provided a reliable platform that allows me to focus on the content, and has afforded me a way to connect with other cat lovers. I do wish there was more transparency about traffic and how it works, and I still haven’t figured out why my traffic crashed after reaching a peak in 2022, but I love my site and wouldn’t trade it for anything.
This is a wonderful story of the impact of your blog (from one cat lover to another)! Thank you for taking the time to share it with us. And thanks for the feedback about traffic transparency. We have support guides on traffic in our resource center, and you’re also welcome to contact support for help with specific questions about your site.
When I first started to have a WordPress Website about 10 years ago, I was very active. I loved it! I wrote little stories, placed pictures, and everything was easy. I had hundreds of followers… Then came the time when it got more difficult. Maybe it was my age or luck of understanding the ‘new’ technical language, I kind of gave up. I still have my website, but I need to learn to deal with all the new expressions. However, I am till proud that my website is actually great!
Thank you for sharing your story. It’s completely understandable that things can feel more challenging over time. You might find our support resources helpful for building confidence and finding inspiration to keep going.
I started my blog for one hour only and l would like to improve it 👌
Welcome, and congratulations on getting started. That’s a big step! We have a lot of resources to help on your blogging journey.
I started my blog in September 2016. Very grateful for this platform which has been a basis for telling my own stories, capturing memories through photographs and creating a living archive and legacy for my family. Thanks again for the great ride WordPress 👍 ❤
Thank you for sharing!
I believe I have been here since 2010 with various blog topics. Now I have a creative space. It is a journal for my flower painting projects. It is apaintedgarden. I read these words: online you can become the person you want to be. I started blogging. I think my first topics were marketing. I am an artist, and I blog about that. It has been 5 years that I have been blogging about my art.
Thanks for sharing your experience with various blogs over the years. I love this: “online you can become the person you want to be.” So true!
While we were at Goa, I wrote a poem and showed my parents. That’s when my mother suggested I start a blog. Once that idea was planted in my head, there was no letting it go. So then I began searching and found WordPress, an amazing platform that allowed me to share my creativity with the world. Now, I use my way of writing and my perspective to bring new light to others’ days. Congrats on your 20th anniversary!!💝
Thank you, and thanks for sharing your story and your creativity.
Happy 20th!! 🥳🍾🎈
I joined in February 2012, been happily blogging ever since with culture/satire stuff. Still addicted, still love the platform. Happy days!
Nice, that’s an impressive blogging history! Thanks for sharing.
My WordPress.com blog turns 19 in February! Early in my career I waa a writer and editor. My career went in a different direction after a few years. I missed writing, so I started a blog to scratch that itch. I’m something like 4,600 posts in and still scratching.
Wow, that’s impressive! Congrats to you on such a long blogging history, and thank you for sharing your story.
In 2009, I started a hyper-local blog in my hometown of Westport, Connecticut USA (“06880” — named for the zip code). I post several times a day — news, events, photos, trends, features on people and organizations, Pics of the Day, history, Photo Challenges, Unsung Heroes, an online art gallery and much more. I have never missed a day of posting — nearly 20,000 so far. There have been over 185,000 comments, from engaged readers. WordPress epitomizes the tagline: “Where Westport Meets the World.” My blog: https://06880danwoog.com/
Wow! What an incredible impact — and such a testament to consistency and community. Congratulations, and thanks for sharing.
I started my blog to share my breast cancer journey and to inspire others. While I don’t post as much anymore, I love the connections I’ve made over the years and friendships that span countries, time zones and even though many of us have never met in person, the friendships we have established through blogging are priceless. 💓 The fact that I’m still here 20 + years after diagnosis is a gift…💓
Thank you for sharing your story. The connections you’ve built through your blog speak to the power of shared experience, and we’re honored WordPress.com could be part of that journey.
Thank you and WordPress….I’ve made so many friends over the years! 💖
Word press is just a place of galactic ecstasy, space and boundaries its best .You allow from the scratch writers like us space to explore and create boundaries as well .l love the experience of being free and still secured and promote us both professionally and legally .thank u ELUSIVE WORDPRESS GO, GO!!!!!! 20YEARS AND open more years
Thank you for sharing! “Being free and still secured” is a wonderful way to describe the WordPress.com experience.
My first WordPress post was in September 2007 when I was in my sophomore year of university. I initially wanted to fill my blog with my travel stories–hence the title. For a year or two, I only posted things I encountered in my daily life, but it gradually evolved into a travel blog, the kind of blog I wanted the first time I created it.
Now, 18 years after the first post, I realize that the blog grows with me. I can see how I change through times. I regretted that I did not write everything, but at least I recorded some things to remember. I will continue filling my blog with my memories so that I will have a place to go one day when I start to forget things.
Happy birthday, WordPress! Live long and prosper!
Wow, 18 years is an impressive run! Congratulations, and thanks for sharing your story here.
I just started my blog today, actually. Breaking into tech at 50! Excited for this new journey.
Congrats on starting the journey! That can be the hardest part. Welcome!
Thanks so much !! ✨
Nous allons fêter aussi nos 20 ans en septembre 2026 !
A l’origine, nous avons créé ce blog parce que, en tant qu’association de quartier, nous avions été expulsé par notre propriétaire (on payait régulièrement pourtant, mais il était en droit de récupérer son local pour faire son siège officiel — finalement qui a été vendu !) et qu’on pensait ne plus jamais exister physiquement.
Ce site devait parler de nous mais aussi donner la parole aux habitants et aux associations solidaires ou culturelles d’aides aux gens diverses. Finalement, un an apres, nous avons retrouvé un autre local et avons continué à publier !
Nous avons reçu quelques prix et subventions de l’Etat français (direction de la Culture) et avons permis de créer un poste salarié, et avons accueilli plein d’étudiants ou de bénévoles pour nous aider.
Grace à wordpress, nous avons pu découvrir le monde du blogging en 2006 et avons découvert les nombreux possibilités de publier du contenu depuis 20 ans !
Bon anniversaire à nous !
Thank you for sharing your story!
I have been blogging on WordPress since 2013. I do not recall how or why I chose WordPress, but I want to highlight that the choice has been one of reliable service and no disappointments or tragedies like losing posts.
I have tracked and shared my recovery and adjusting to living with a brain injury. Meanwhile my topics have expanded beyond that to social healing.
I changed my blog title after my brain injury from Living in God’s Pocket to…..
Living in God’s Pocket with TBI.
It is now a blog about living a repurposed life.
What a wonderful story; thank you for sharing!
Congrats on 20 years! WordPress helped me launch Amit Khan Writes and share my voice with the world. Grateful for the platform and community.
I built my first (and only) website when The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., where I gave weekly gallery talks, was closed due to the pandemic. The site is called The Shy Museumgoer and so far it has welcomed visitors from more than 130 nations, people who enjoy great works of art and the deeply human stories they tell.
I’m deeply grateful to the help provided by your Happiness Engineers. Without them, the site wouldn’t exist.
Thank you for sharing your story. And I’m glad you called out the Happiness Engineers, they are wonderful!
Congratulations! I started my blogging journey after 50 because WordPress make it simple. I quit my 9:00-18:00 job and started to narrate the different topics I choose. No niche, only to express myself is my motivation.
I love that — the power of WordPress.com is the flexibility to make it uniquely yours. Thanks for sharing this!
My family and I took a six week road trip when my siblings and I were ages 7–11. My mom blogged the whole thing, and I’m grateful she did. We still look back on it today, which is so nice since I don’t remember all of the trip more than 10 years later.
That’s amazing! What a testament to the power of blogging to record life’s moments. Thanks for sharing.
I started in May 2007 to share my M.Sc. thesis with some friends. Back then (before the Dropboxes and Google Drives of the world) that was one of the simplest ways to share a pdf. While I was there, I started writing my blog. I’ve done so intermittently over the past almost 2 decades, but have been fairly consistently writing since 2015, which is when I joined Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com. My thoughts and pics can be found on http://job.blog.
I joined in July 2011, to bring discipline to my art practice. I post more or less every day, certainly 6 days a week, and mostly my sketchbook drawings. Sketchbooks are rarely seen outside the artist’s studio so it was a chance to make them public and let people see the actual practice that underpins so many works of art. It’s good for me to think about art every day and plan my blog post, because it’s easy to get distracted by admin, cooking, cats etc. Over the past 14 years it has also become an archive of my work and I can track my journey as I try out different styles, subjects and techniques. Lately I’ve realised it is also a resource, I am thinking of putting some time aside in the new year to “mine” the content and maybe put together some books. Thank you for the ride, it’s been great 😀
Love this! From one sketcher to another, thank you for sharing your work and your story.
Thanks Tess, I really love posting my sketchbooks 🙂
I’ve been with WordPress.com since 2006, so nearly 20 years. WordPress.com was very different in those days. Anyone here remember the “Blog Surfer” or when the Gallery feature first appeared? Although it’s no longer available, back then I was helping users with my Not The Official WordPress.com Gallery FAQ. 😀 Thanks for the first 20; here’s to another 20 and beyond!
That’s an impressive history with the platform! Thanks for being here and sharing your story.
I recently joined this platform and I’m exploring my writing side.And I’m really enjoying exploring this platform.
Back in 2009, I learn about WordPress from a podcast – I believe it was Cliff Ravenscraft. I decided to move our family business’s website from the hand-coded HTML to WordPress, and I never looked back.
WordPress.com is truly a marvellous thing: the power of open-source WordPress, with the peace of mind of Automattic’s infrastructure. I still recommend it to anyone who wants to start their website, whether it’s a blog, a business, a podcast, an online shop, or any other type of web presence. In a world where big social media companies own your content and make up their own rules, WordPress.com is a beacon of hope for the future: the content is yours, and you share it and organize it as you see fit.
My WordPress Journey (via the .org CMS)
That’s a wonderful question! While I haven’t used WordPress.com directly for a live, public site, I can tell you my experience is rooted deeply in the WordPress.org ecosystem, which is the self-hosted Content Management System (CMS) that forms the core of both platforms.
• How I Found It: I first started exploring the WordPress CMS when I needed a robust, flexible, and open-source platform to manage content for an internal intranet system in a professional setting.
• What I Built: I used the offline CMS (.org) to build and manage a complex internal site, where its extensibility and user-friendliness were absolutely crucial.
• The Recommendation: Because of that positive experience—seeing firsthand how powerful the CMS is, how vast the developer community is, and how many problems it can solve—I have since become a heavy recommender of WordPress.com to people who need a hassle-free, hosted solution to launch their personal blogs or business sites quickly.
I appreciate all the work you do. After using the core software, it’s easy to see why millions choose the hosted platform!
Thank you for sharing!
We migrated our little 19th century blog about our greatgrandfather, Tasmanian photographer Thomas J. NEVIN from Blogharbor in the early 2000s to WordPress in 2007, so we are celebrating our 20th anniversary too! With nearly 550,000 hits as of today, we know we are reaching a global audience. Thank you WordPress, from way, way Down Under.
That’s an incredible history and impact! Thank you for sharing your story.
Congratulations on 20 years of WordPress! And thanks for sharing these reflections – how quickly time’s passed.
WordPress has continued improving and being great. I started my blog, Lardbutty, back in 2007 although it really got going in 2009. It’s mostly food reviews around London, and was ranked a top 5 London food blog on Urbanspoon back in the day! I haven’t posted since before the pandemic but who knows… maybe I’ll revive it one day: https://louble.wordpress.com/lardbutty/
Thanks for sharing!
I have been blogging on your platform since 2012 – and I am still very much enjoying it!
That’s wonderful to hear!
I am doing my best to contribute; I am so very gracious for the ability to post and share. This platform is absolutely wonderful.
That’s great! Thanks for sharing.
Using WP since 2007 and still a huge fan. Recently redesigned the ILT blog (first launched in 2007 with WP), and still proudly using WordPress today. Here’s to another 20 years+
Oh, and thanks, Matt and Co.!
The redesign looks great! Congrats on your long history of publishing, and thanks for sharing here.
A family member told me about WordPress. I wanted to blog but had no idea where to start. She told me about WordPress, and the rest is history.
My first post went live on 12th February 2014. Scary stuff publishing that first post, especially because I am dyslexic. But almost 12 years on, I’m still blogging, and I’ve achieved things I’d never dreamed about, such as having some of my fiction published. And it’s all down to blogging on WordPress. So, a big thank-you from me, and Happy Birthday to WordPress.
Congratulations on your achievement! And thanks for sharing your experience.
Thank you WordPress for giving me the chance in 2016 to create a small on-line magazine that I named WinnPost.org http://winnpost.org/. WINN stands for What Is Needed Now and reaches an audience involved in the study of states of consciousness, subtle energies, and healing. It is knowledge and wisdom that are truly needed in these times.
I had been involved in the field of holistic approaches (body-mind-spirit medicine) for many years and had been the editor for the membership magazine of The International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine. (ISSSEEM – Yes, it is a mouthful.) I wanted to go forward with writing, editing, and publishing a magazine that could reach a wide and diverse audience. (My wish came true the day that I saw that someone in The Maldives had read an article.)
It was vitally important to me that there be no financial cost to readers and no commercial interests involved in any way. I also wanted to create a magazine that was easily accessible and very attractive. WordPress gave all that and more. I am not technically knowledgeable and your process was easy to master.
In the year ahead I am going to archive what has already been written by WINN’s authors and go on to renew its mission to present ideas about how we might deal with our increasingly difficult times.
Celia Coates
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Thank you for sharing the story behind your magazine, Celia!
I launched ScubaHankNYC.com in late 2019 after finally deciding to build a home for my underwater photography and video work. I originally designed the site to showcase the creatures I filmed around the world, but over time it’s grown into much more.
Just start blogging recently and all I can say is it is so much fun!
great i learned and earned a lot through this platform
I have been on several blogging platforms and have found WordPress.com to be the best of them all. I support WordPress being a place for amateurs and hobbyists alike to share what they love. Thanks to WordPress for being solid and reliable.
Thank you wordpress.com for supporting us and showcasing our work to the world. It’s also generated some international blogger friendships with whom we’ve met in person over the years. Including 1 blogger who cycled from New York state to Alberta, Canada to meet up. 🙂 Thanks again for building community for bloggers who love to write and showcase also some pics.
That’s great to hear! Thank you for sharing your story.