How to Install WordPress (3 Methods, Step-by-Step)

By Priya Sharma — Hosting & Performance Analyst, 8 years managing WordPress installs across shared, VPS, and managed hosting environments.

Affiliate disclosure: WPSchool earns commissions on some links in this article. This does not affect our recommendations—we test before we publish.

Last verified: April 2026

Installing WordPress takes under 10 minutes on modern hosting. This guide is for small business owners, freelancers, and first-time site builders on shared hosting who want their site live today—not developers hand-crafting server configs. We cover three methods: the one-click auto-installer (fastest, recommended for 95% of readers), manual FTP installation (when auto-install isn’t available), and localhost via XAMPP (for testing before you go live).

Answer capsule: To install WordPress, log into your hosting control panel, find the WordPress auto-installer (Softaculous, Installatron, or Fantastico), enter your site name and admin credentials, and click Install. WordPress 6.8 installs in under 2 minutes. You get a working site at your domain and access to wp-admin immediately after.

Prerequisites

Before you start, confirm you have:

A hosting account with cPanel or a modern dashboard (SiteGround, Hostinger, Bluehost, WP Engine, Kinsta)
A registered domain pointed to your host’s nameservers
Admin access to your hosting control panel
10 minutes for auto-install; 30–45 minutes for manual FTP install
PHP 8.1 or higher and MySQL 8.0+ (check in your host’s PHP selector—most shared hosts already meet this)
No existing files in the directory you’re installing to (a pre-existing index.html blocks WordPress from loading)

Backup note: If you’re reinstalling WordPress on an existing domain—not a fresh install—take a full backup first. On a brand-new domain, skip this.

Method 1: One-Click Install via Softaculous (Recommended)

Softaculous is the auto-installer baked into cPanel on SiteGround, Hostinger, Bluehost, and dozens of other hosts. In our testing across 200+ client site setups, this method has a near-zero failure rate on clean shared hosting accounts. It handles the database creation, file upload, and configuration automatically.

Step 1: Log into cPanel and Open Softaculous

Log into your hosting account and navigate to cPanel. The URL is usually yourdomain.com/cpanel or accessible from your hosting dashboard.

Inside cPanel, scroll to the Software section. Click Softaculous Apps Installer. You should see a dashboard with app categories and a search bar.

What you should see: A grid of app logos with WordPress prominently featured, either under “CMS” or shown as a top application.

Step 2: Select WordPress

Click the WordPress logo. Softaculous opens the WordPress detail page showing the current version (6.8 as of April 2026), ratings, and an Install button in the top-right corner.

Click Install Now.

What you should see: A multi-section installation form with fields for Protocol, Domain, Directory, Site Name, Admin Username, and Admin Password.

Step 3: Configure Your Install Settings

Fill in each field:

Choose Protocol: Select https:// if your SSL certificate is already active. If you’re not sure, check your host’s SSL section first—most hosts activate Let’s Encrypt automatically on new domains within 24 hours. If SSL isn’t active yet, choose http:// and switch later.
Choose Domain: Select your domain from the dropdown. If you only have one domain on the account, it’s already selected.
In Directory: Leave this blank to install WordPress at your root domain (yourdomain.com). Type blog here only if you want WordPress at yourdomain.com/blog.
Site Name: Enter your business or site name. You can change this later in WordPress Settings.
Site Description: A brief tagline. Changeable later—don’t overthink it now.
Admin Username: Do not use admin. Use something unique like yourname_admin. This is a real security measure: bots specifically target accounts named admin.
Admin Password: Use Softaculous’s password generator or a 16+ character random string. Save it in a password manager immediately.
Admin Email: Use a real email you check. WordPress sends password resets and update notifications here.
Select Language: English (or your preferred language).
Select Plugins: Softaculous may suggest pre-installing Jetpack or WooCommerce. Skip these unless you need them now—you can install any plugin later.
Advanced Options: Leave defaults unless you need a custom database prefix (you can change it for security, but it’s not required).

Step 4: Click Install

Scroll to the bottom of the form. Click the blue Install button.

Softaculous runs through 4–6 progress steps: creating the database, uploading files, configuring wp-config.php, and finalizing. This takes 60–120 seconds on shared hosting.

What you should see: A green success bar that reads “Congratulations, the software was installed successfully.” Below it, two links: your site URL and your wp-admin URL (e.g., yourdomain.com/wp-admin).

Step 5: Log into WordPress

Click the wp-admin link. Enter your Admin Username and Admin Password. You’re inside WordPress.

What you should see: The WordPress Dashboard with the “Welcome to WordPress!” box, black admin sidebar on the left, and the Site Health widget. WordPress is installed and working.

Method 2: Manual WordPress Installation via FTP

Use this method when your host doesn’t have Softaculous, or when you need precise control over file placement (staging environments, subdirectory installs). This method takes 30–45 minutes and requires an FTP client. We use FileZilla, which is free.

Step 1: Download WordPress

Go to wordpress.org/download and download the latest ZIP file (WordPress 6.8, approximately 24 MB). Extract the ZIP on your computer. You’ll have a folder called wordpress containing all core files.

Step 2: Create a MySQL Database

Log into cPanel. In the Databases section, click MySQL Databases.

In the Create New Database field, type a name (e.g., yoursite_wp). Click Create Database.
Scroll to MySQL Users. Create a new user with a strong password. Note the username and password—you need these in Step 5.
Scroll to Add User to Database. Select your new user and your new database. Click Add. On the privileges screen, check All Privileges. Click Make Changes.

What you should see: A confirmation that the user was added to the database with all privileges.

Step 3: Connect via FTP and Upload Files

Open FileZilla. Enter your FTP credentials (Host, Username, Password, Port 21—find these in cPanel under FTP Accounts). Click Quickconnect.

In the right pane (remote server), navigate to public_html (or www, depending on your host). This is your site’s root directory.

In the left pane (your computer), navigate to the extracted wordpress folder. Select all files inside it—not the folder itself. Drag them to the right pane.

The upload takes 5–15 minutes depending on your connection. WordPress core is 1,700+ files.

What you should see: All WordPress files (including wp-admin, wp-content, wp-includes folders and files like wp-config-sample.php) visible in public_html.

Step 4: Rename and Edit wp-config.php

In FileZilla’s remote pane, right-click wp-config-sample.php. Select Rename. Change it to wp-config.php.

Right-click wp-config.php and select View/Edit. FileZilla opens it in a text editor. Find these three lines:

define( 'DB_NAME', 'database_name_here' );
define( 'DB_USER', 'username_here' );
define( 'DB_PASSWORD', 'password_here' );

Replace database_name_here with your database name, username_here with your MySQL username, and password_here with your MySQL user password. Save the file. FileZilla asks if you want to upload the changes—click Yes.

Original insight: On many cPanel hosts, the database hostname is localhost. But on some managed hosts (WP Engine, Kinsta, Cloudways), DB_HOST must match the internal database endpoint they provide. If the install wizard throws a “Error establishing a database connection” on Step 5, this is the first thing to check—not your username or password.

Step 5: Run the WordPress Installer

Open your browser. Go to yourdomain.com. WordPress detects the uploaded files and redirects you to the install wizard at yourdomain.com/wp-admin/install.php.

Select your language. Click Continue.

Fill in:

Site Title: Your site name
Username: Not admin—same rule as Method 1
Password: Strong, saved to a password manager
Your Email: A real address you check
Search Engine Visibility: Leave unchecked unless you’re actively keeping the site private during build

Click Install WordPress.

What you should see: “WordPress has been installed. Thank you, and enjoy the new blog!” with a Log In button.

Click Log In, enter your credentials, and you’re inside the WordPress Dashboard.

Method 3: Install WordPress Locally with XAMPP

Local installs are for testing themes, plugins, and designs before pushing a site live. Freelancers building client sites should always prototype locally first—it’s faster, free, and nothing breaks in front of the client.

XAMPP is a free local server stack for Windows and Mac. It installs Apache, MySQL, and PHP in one package. Download XAMPP from apachefriends.org.

Step 1: Install XAMPP and Start Services

Run the XAMPP installer. Accept defaults. Once installed, open the XAMPP Control Panel. Click Start next to Apache and MySQL. Both status indicators should turn green.

Step 2: Create a Database

In your browser, go to http://localhost/phpmyadmin. Click New in the left sidebar. Type a database name (e.g., wordpress_local). Click Create.

Step 3: Place WordPress Files

Download WordPress from wordpress.org/download. Extract the ZIP. Move the wordpress folder to your XAMPP htdocs directory:

Windows: C:\xampp\htdocs\
Mac: /Applications/XAMPP/htdocs/

Rename the folder to match your project (e.g., mysite).

Step 4: Run the Install Wizard

In your browser, go to http://localhost/mysite. WordPress redirects to the install wizard. Follow the same steps as Method 2, Step 5—but use these database settings:

Database Name: wordpress_local
Username: root
Password: (leave blank—XAMPP’s default MySQL root password is empty)
Host: localhost

Complete the wizard. WordPress is now running locally at http://localhost/mysite.

Troubleshooting: What to Do When WordPress Won’t Install

Why am I seeing “Error establishing a database connection”?

This error means WordPress can’t connect to MySQL. Check four things in order: (1) the database name in wp-config.php matches exactly what you created in cPanel—including the cPanel username prefix that hosts like Bluehost add automatically (e.g., username_dbname, not just dbname); (2) the MySQL username and password are correct; (3) DB_HOST is set correctly—localhost for most shared hosts, or the specific endpoint your managed host provides; (4) the MySQL service is actually running (in XAMPP, both Apache and MySQL status should be green).

Why does my site show a white screen after installing?

A white screen (also called the White Screen of Death) after a fresh install usually means a PHP memory limit issue or a corrupted file upload. In your wp-config.php, add this line above /* That's all, stop editing! */:

define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' );

If that doesn’t fix it, re-upload core files via FTP and try the install wizard again. Partial FTP uploads—common on slow connections—corrupt the file set.

Why is WordPress installed but my domain still shows a blank page?

An index.html file in public_html takes priority over WordPress’s index.php. In FileZilla or cPanel’s File Manager, check for an index.html in your root directory. Rename it to index.html.bak or delete it. Refresh your domain.

Why does the Softaculous install succeed, but the site shows “Site Not Found”?

DNS propagation takes up to 48 hours. If you just pointed your domain to new nameservers, the install succeeded—the domain just isn’t resolving yet. Verify the install worked by accessing your site via its temporary URL (most hosts provide one, e.g., server123.hostingprovider.com/~username). Your data is there; the domain will catch up.

What to Do After Installing WordPress

WordPress is installed, but the default state isn’t ready for a real site. Three things to do immediately:

Set your permalink structure. Go to Settings > Permalinks. Select Post name. Click Save Changes. The default ?p=123 URL structure is bad for SEO and unreadable. Post name gives you clean URLs like yourdomain.com/about. This takes 30 seconds and matters from day one.

Delete default content. Go to Posts and trash “Hello World.” Go to Pages and trash “Sample Page” (you’ll create real pages shortly). Go to Plugins and delete Akismet and Hello Dolly if you don’t need them—fewer active plugins means a smaller attack surface.

Install a security plugin. We recommend Loginizer—it’s part of the Softaculous ecosystem, free, and blocks brute-force login attacks within minutes of activation. Go to Plugins > Add New, search “Loginizer,” install and activate. No configuration required to get baseline protection.

From here, pick a theme, build your pages, and consider a page builder if you’re not comfortable with the block editor. Elementor Pro and Divi both provide drag-and-drop interfaces that work on any hosting setup covered in this guide.

FAQ

What version of WordPress should I install? Always install the latest version—6.8 as of April 2026. Softaculous installs the current version automatically. Manual installs pull the latest from wordpress.org. Never install an older version; security patches stop for unsupported releases.

Do I need a separate database for each WordPress site? Yes. Each WordPress installation requires its own database. On shared hosting, most plans allow 10–50 databases. Managed hosts like Kinsta and WP Engine create the database automatically.

Can I move WordPress to a different folder after installing? Yes, but it requires updating two settings: go to Settings > General and change both the WordPress Address and Site Address fields. You also need to move the files. It’s easier to get the directory right before installing.

How long does a WordPress install take? 2 minutes with Softaculous. 30–45 minutes manually via FTP, mostly waiting on the file upload. Locally with XAMPP, about 10–15 minutes including XAMPP setup.

Is WordPress free to install? WordPress itself is free. You pay for hosting (typically $3–$30/month on shared hosting, $30–$100+/month on managed hosting) and optionally for premium themes and plugins. The software license costs nothing.

What’s the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org? WordPress.org is the self-hosted version—you download it, install it on your hosting, and control everything. WordPress.com is a hosted service where WordPress runs the infrastructure. This guide covers WordPress.org. For business sites with full plugin and theme control, WordPress.org is the right choice.

Do I need technical skills to install WordPress? No. Method 1 (Softaculous) requires only the ability to fill out a form. You need basic comfort with FTP for Method 2, and some tolerance for local server setup for Method 3.