7 Ways to Install WordPress: Pick the Method That Works for You

A Comprehensive Guide for All Levels

Installing WordPress is the first step in building a website, whether for a blog, an online store, or a professional portfolio. This guide covers everything from beginner-friendly one-click installations to manual setups for advanced users and even local installations for testing environments.

By the end of this guide, you’ll know exactly how to install WordPress, troubleshoot common issues, and optimize the process using tools like FileZila, Softaculous, Adobe Dreamweaver... Let’s Get Started!

1. Prerequisites for Installing WordPress

Before we go into WordPress installation methods, ensure you have the following:

Basic Requirements:

1. Domain Name and Hosting: Choose a provider like Bluehost, Hostinger, or Namecheap. If you don’t have one, use a reliable registrar and host.
2. Access to Hosting Panel: Familiarize yourself with tools like cPanel, Plesk, or proprietary dashboards.
3. Basic Tools for Manual Installation (if needed):
   • An FTP client (e.g., FileZilla)
   • A text editor (e.g., Notepad++)
   • WordPress installation files from WordPress.org.

Tools for Advanced Users:

1. Adobe Dreamweaver: A premium alternative to FileZilla for managing server files, offering real-time previews and direct FTP/SFTP connectivity.
2. Adobe Photoshop: Optimize your website’s logo, banners, and images for performance.
3. An IDE (Integrated Development Environment): Tools like Visual Studio Code or PhpStorm make code edits efficient.

2. WordPress One-Click Installation Guide

This is the fastest and easiest way to install WordPress, ideal for beginners who don’t want to go through technical configurations. Most popular hosting providers offer this feature.

How to Install WordPress with One-Click Installation:

One‑click installers let you launch WordPress in minutes via hosting control panels or managed platforms. These tools (e.g. Softaculous, Plesk WP Toolkit, or hosting dashboards) handle downloading WordPress, creating a database, and configuring files for you. This is ideal for beginners or quick setups.

Tools: hosting control panel (cPanel, Plesk, etc.), Softaculous/installer app, login to your host (Bluehost, Hostinger, etc.).

• Softaculous (cPanel/DirectAdmin):
  • Log into your hosting panel and open the Softaculous or Apps Installer.
  • Find the Apps Installer (Softaculous) or WordPress option.
  • Select WordPress.
  • Enter your Site Title, Admin Username/Password/Email, and Domain, then click Install.
  • The installer will automatically create the MySQL database and upload WordPress files.
  • When done, click the Log in to WordPress link to access your dashboard.

• Plesk WP Toolkit:
  • In Plesk’s WordPress section, click Install.
  • Choose “New Instance” and follow the prompts.
  • WP Toolkit takes care of setup and even handles security hardening.
• Managed hosting panels: Hosts like Bluehost or Hostinger offers a guided WordPress installer.

Pros: Ultra-simple; no technical skills needed; installer creates database and config automatically; fast setup (a few minutes). Works on virtually any shared hosting.

Cons: Limited customization during install (default settings only); relies on host’s installer version; you must trust the host’s environment. Often only one WordPress site per domain (multisite requires extra steps).

Use Cases: Beginners, quick personal blogs or small sites, testers who want immediate results without server setup.

3. How to Install WordPress Manually (FTP/SFTP)

For full control, you can install WordPress manually by uploading files via FTP/SFTP. This method works on any server and teaches the core installation process.

Tools you will need: an FTP client (FileZilla, Cyberduck, etc.) or hosting File Manager; a text editor (optional); a host with PHP/MySQL (e.g. shared or VPS).

3.1 Retrieve FTP Details

FTP access is essential for manual installations and troubleshooting. Here’s how to retrieve your FTP details from popular hosting providers:

• cPanel:
  • Log in to your cPanel dashboard.
  • Go to Files > FTP Accounts.
  • Note down the FTP server address, username, and port (usually 21).
• Plesk:
  • Log in to Plesk.
  • Navigate to Web Hosting Access under your domain settings.
  • Copy your FTP hostname, username, and set/reset the password if required.
• Hetzner:
  • Access Hetzner’s admin console.
  • Open the FTP Access section under your server details.
  • Record the server address, port, and credentials.

3.2 Step-By-Step Guide to Install WP

Pros: Maximum flexibility and understanding of the process; works even if no auto-installer is available; you see exactly where files and database go. Good learning experience.

Cons: More steps and time-consuming; easy to make mistakes (file paths, permissions, DB info); must manually manage the database; no auto-updates (you handle manually).

Use Cases: Custom server setups, migrating sites between servers, developers learning the install process, hosting without auto-installer, or local/air‑gapped environments.

4. How To Instal WP with WP‑CLI (Command Line)

WP-CLI is the official WordPress command-line tool. Using it, you can install WordPress in four commands.

Tools: WP-CLI installed on your server or local environment, plus PHP, MySQL. (On Ubuntu, you’d install PHP/MySQL and WP-CLI via package manager or Composer.)

Example steps using WP-CLI:

1. Download WordPress: In your SSH terminal, run wp core download --locale=en_US to download WordPress into the current directory.
2. Create wp-config.php: Use wp config create with database info.
   For example: wp config create --dbname=your_db --dbuser=your_user --prompt=dbpass You’ll be prompted for the DB password, and this generates wp-config.php with your credentials.
3. Create the database: Execute wp db create to create the database defined in wp-config.php.
4. Install WordPress: Run wp core install with URL and admin info,
   e.g.: wp core install --url="example.com" --title="My Site" --admin_user=admin --admin_password=securepass --admin_email=you@example.com
   This command sets up the site title and admin user in one go.

After the final command, WP-CLI outputs Success: WordPress installed successfully. You can then log in at https://example.com/wp-admin.

Pros: Very fast and scriptable; ideal for automation and advanced users; repeatable (great for multiple sites or automated provisioning). You avoid browser-based forms entirely.

Cons: Requires command-line access and some comfort with CLI; not as user-friendly for beginners; still need to prepare the server environment yourself.

Use Cases: Developers and DevOps workflows, automated deployments, multisite setups, and anyone who prefers scripting. Good for CI/CD pipelines or when installing WP on headless servers.

5. WordPress Setup using Docker

Docker lets you package WordPress and its environment into containers. A common approach is using Docker Compose with a WordPress container and a MySQL container. This makes your setup portable and consistent across machines.

Tools: Docker, Docker Compose, a text editor, and optionally a container registry.

Using Docker means WordPress runs from standardized images. Hostinger notes that “WordPress installation becomes simpler” with Docker, since everything is pre‑built; it’s modular, easily scalable, and quick to redeploy.

Typical steps using Docker Compose:

1. Install Docker & Docker Compose on your system. (See Docker’s docs or Hostinger’s guide for your OS.) Verify with docker --version and docker-compose --version.
2. Set up your project directory: Create a new folder (e.g. mkdir wordpress && cd wordpress).
3. Create a docker-compose.yml file: Define services for the database and WordPress. For example, your docker-compose.yml might contain: version: "3" services: db: image: mysql:latest restart: always environment: MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: someRootPass MYSQL_DATABASE: wp_db MYSQL_USER: wp_user MYSQL_PASSWORD: wp_password wordpress: depends_on: - db image: wordpress:latest restart: always ports: - "80:80" environment: WORDPRESS_DB_HOST: db:3306 WORDPRESS_DB_USER: wp_user WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD: wp_password WORDPRESS_DB_NAME: wp_db volumes: - "./:/var/www/html"
   (Optional: add a phpMyAdmin service for database access if desired.) This example is adapted from Hostinger’s tutorial.
4. Launch the containers: Run docker-compose up -d. Docker Compose will pull the WordPress and MySQL images and start them. The terminal output will show Creating wordpress_db_1 ... done, etc.
5. Complete WordPress setup: In a browser, go to http://localhost (or your Docker host’s IP). You’ll see the WordPress setup screen. Finish the installation by choosing language and admin details as usual.

Terminal output after running docker-compose up: the MySQL (db) and WordPress containers are created (“done”) and ready.

Pros: Creates an isolated, consistent environment; easily shareable (just commit the Compose file); matches production container setups. You avoid version conflicts and it’s easy to update components (just change the image tag). Great for development sandboxes and scalable deployments.

Cons: Requires learning Docker; overhead of running containers; file performance on some OS (e.g. Docker on Windows can be slower). Not as turnkey for non-technical users. You also manage volumes/backups yourself.

Use Cases: Development environments, testing, containerized production (especially when using orchestration like Kubernetes), or teams that want reproducible setups.

6. Install WordPress using Bedrock (Composer‑Based Stack)

Bedrock is a WordPress boilerplate by Roots that modernizes the stack. It uses Composer for dependency management, environment variables for configuration, and a cleaner folder layout (by default, the WordPress entry point is in web/).

Tools: PHP 8.1+, Composer, WP-CLI (for final installation).

Bedrock’s advantages include “better folder structure, dependency management with Composer, easy WordPress configuration with environment files, and environment variables with dotenv”. In practice, Bedrock turns WordPress into a Composer project: plugins and even WordPress core can be managed via Composer packages.

Steps:

1. Create the project: Run composer create-project roots/bedrock your-project-folder. This downloads Bedrock and its dependencies.
2. Configure environment: Copy env.example to .env and fill in your database credentials (DB_NAME, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD, DB_HOST) and site URLs (WP_HOME, WP_SITEURL). You can also set WP_ENV to development or production.
3. Set web root: Bedrock’s web root is web/, so point your web server there.
4. Install WordPress: Either run wp core install from the web/ directory, or visit your site’s URL in a browser to trigger the installer. Bedrock will use the .env values to configure wp-config.php.

Pros: More secure and maintainable structure (core files aren’t in project root); full control via Composer; easy switching of environments (dev/stage/prod) with different .env files. Great for team projects where code is version‑controlled.

Cons: Steeper learning curve; adds complexity for simple sites; not officially endorsed by WordPress (though widely used by professional developers). Some plugins/themes may assume the classic WP structure.

Use Cases: Professional development (agencies, teams, enterprises) that need better code management, or sites requiring complex dependency management. Not typically needed for a simple personal blog.

7. Setup WordPress with GitHub & CI/CD Deployments

Using Git and CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment) means treating your WordPress codebase like any other software project. You host your code (themes, plugins, Bedrock project, etc.) in a Git repository (e.g. GitHub) and set up pipelines to deploy changes automatically.

Tools: Git, a Git hosting service (GitHub, GitLab), a CI/CD system (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins), SSH or deploy keys, rsync/FTP, and access to the production server.

The idea is to push your code changes to Git, and have an action script copy those changes to the live site. For example, a GitHub Actions workflow can SSH into your server and run rsync to sync only changed files. Kinsta explains that continuous deployment “allows developers to automatically deploy changes from version control to a live environment,” reducing manual errors.

A simple workflow might look like: on push to main, run a GitHub Action that:

• Checks out the repo.
• Uses rsync or scp (over SSH) to upload theme and plugin files to the server.
• Clears cache or runs any build steps.

Pros: Full version control of your code; automated, repeatable deployments; easy rollback (just revert commits). Great for teams and staging/production workflows.

Cons: More complex setup; requires SSH access or deploy keys on the server; only code is synced (you still need to manage the database and uploads separately). Initial learning curve for CI/CD and Git.

Use Cases: Professional development teams, agencies, and any project that benefits from version control and automated workflows. Also useful for staging sites (deploy from one branch to staging, another to production).

8. WordPress Local Development Environments

Building WordPress sites locally is a best practice for testing and development. Tools like LocalWP (Local by WP Engine), XAMPP/MAMP, Lando, or DevKinsta let you run WordPress on your own computer. This “local” setup means you can develop and test offline without affecting the live site.

Local development tools (XAMPP, MAMP, LocalWP, etc.) make it easy to set up a WordPress environment on your PC without touching a live server.

Key points from local development guides: a local server lets you “make changes to dev sites quickly without having to transfer files” and greatly reduces the risk of breaking a live site. Setting up all components manually is tedious, so these tools package them together.

• LocalWP (Local by Flywheel): A free, cross-platform app focused on WordPress. It provides a one-click site creation wizard with Nginx or Apache, PHP version switching, MailHog for email testing, SSL certificates, and even one-click Push to Live for certain hosts. It’s very user-friendly and WordPress‑centric – the site is ready to use as soon as it’s created.

• XAMPP / MAMP / WAMP / Laragon: Traditional LAMP stacks in a box. For example, XAMPP installs Apache, MySQL/MariaDB, PHP, and phpMyAdmin on Windows/Mac/Linux. You then unzip WordPress into the htdocs (or www) folder and create a database via phpMyAdmin. These tools are free and support all major OSes, but are more generic (you do the WordPress install yourself).
• Lando: A Docker-based local dev tool. You create a project folder, then run a command like lando init --recipe wordpress --webroot wordpress --name mysite. Lando reads the lando.yml file it generates and starts containers for web, DB, etc. You then run lando start and it provides a local URL. Lando is powerful and configurable (you can add Redis, Solr, etc.), but requires some CLI usage.
• DevKinsta: WP Engine’s local environment. It’s free and similar to LocalWP, with a GUI to create and import sites. It also allows “Pull” and “Push” to Kinsta’s hosting. (Kinsta’s docs note you can import a site into DevKinsta with a few clicks.)

Pros: Safe, fast development. No need to upload files to test changes; you can use your preferred OS and tools. Many local apps include WordPress setup wizards and extras (debugging, mail catching).

Cons: Local sites aren’t accessible publicly (you still need to deploy to go live). Slight setup required (but these tools minimize it). Performance can be slower than live, and you may have to configure environment differences (PHP versions, etc.).

Use Cases: All development and testing work, plugin or theme development, training and experimentation. Beginners also use local to learn WordPress without needing hosting.

9. WordPress Cloud (VPS) Deployment

For a scalable, production-ready site, you might install WordPress on a cloud virtual server (VPS) – such as AWS EC2/Lightsail, Google Compute Engine, or a DigitalOcean Droplet. You can either use a pre-built image or do a manual setup.

• One-Click Cloud Images: Many cloud providers offer marketplace images. For example, AWS Lightsail provides a “WordPress” blueprint. You simply choose Linux/Unix as the platform and WordPress as the image to launch a ready-made WP server. Google Cloud’s “Click to Deploy” gives a one-click VM with WordPress. DigitalOcean’s Marketplace has a WordPress 1‑Click Droplet (including Apache, MySQL, PHP, plus security tools like UFW and Fail2ban). These images speed up launch: you get an instance with WordPress mostly configured; you then complete the web installer or visit your site’s IP.
• Manual Cloud Setup: Alternatively, create a Linux VM (Ubuntu, CentOS, etc.) on your cloud of choice. SSH into it and install a LAMP or LEMP stack: e.g. sudo apt update; sudo apt install apache2 php php-mysql mysql-server (or nginx/php-fpm). Secure MySQL (set root password), create a database/user, and configure Apache (virtual hosts). Then download WordPress (via wget or curl), unzip it into /var/www/html (or your site folder), and proceed with the normal web installer. You must also configure DNS (point your domain to the server IP) and usually set up SSL (Certbot for Let’s Encrypt).

Cloud providers often offer free trials or easy scaling. AWS Lightsail “includes everything you need” (VPS, storage, DNS, load balancer, etc.) at a predictable price. Pros: Full control of the server and stack; can handle high traffic and grow resources as needed; you own the environment and data. Cons: You manage everything (security updates, firewall, backups); slightly more complex than shared hosting. Use Cases: Business or enterprise sites, high-traffic blogs or shops, custom configurations, multitenant setups, or when you need the performance and flexibility of a VPS.

Each method above has its strengths. Beginners or quick small sites will love the one-click installers or managed hosting wizards. Developers may prefer WP-CLI, Docker, Bedrock, or GitHub workflows for more control and automation. Businesses looking for reliability and scalability might lean toward cloud VPS deployments or Dockerized production stacks. Regardless of which you choose, WordPress’s flexibility means you can switch methods later if your needs change.

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