Is WordPress free? What costs nothing and what you'll pay for

Yes, the WordPress software is free. You can download it from WordPress.org, install it on as many sites as you like, change the code and use it for any purpose, commercial or not, without paying a license fee. It is released under the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later (GPLv2+).

What isn't free is everything around the software that a public website needs: hosting to run it, a domain name, and often premium themes, plugins, professional help and ongoing maintenance. WordPress.com, the hosted service, also has a free plan, but it comes with ads, a WordPress.com subdomain and no plugins.

This guide separates what is genuinely free from what you will pay for, and lists the hidden costs that catch new site owners out. Prices are as of October 2026.

What "free" means for WordPress

WordPress is free in two senses. It costs nothing, and it is "free as in freedom." According to WordPress.org, the license gives you four freedoms:

1. The freedom to run the program for any purpose.
2. The freedom to study how the program works and change it to make it do what you wish.
3. The freedom to redistribute.
4. The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others.

In practical terms, nobody can charge you a per-site fee for WordPress itself, revoke your license or stop you moving your site to another host. The WordPress license page also states that WordPress.org believes plugins and themes are derivative works that inherit the GPL. That is why many commercial plugins are sold as subscriptions for updates and support rather than as licenses to use the code.

What you get for free

• The core software: the dashboard, block editor, Site Editor, media library, users and roles, menus, comments, the REST API, built-in XML sitemaps and automatic security updates.
• Updates: new versions are free. As of October 2026, the latest is WordPress 7.1.2, and only the newest version is actively supported.
• Default themes: Twenty Twenty-Five is the current default, and older Twenty themes remain available.
• The directories: 70,087 free plugins and about 8,700 free themes on WordPress.org as of 1 October 2026.
• Documentation and community support: official guides on WordPress.org and developer.wordpress.org, plus free support forums.
• Local and test environments: WordPress Playground runs WordPress in a browser with no host at all, which is useful for learning and testing.
• WooCommerce: the ecommerce plugin is itself free and open source.

What you have to pay for

Hosting

WordPress needs a web server running PHP and a MySQL or MariaDB database. Unless you run your own server, that means paying a host. As of October 2026, shared hosting promotions start around $3 to $4 per month on prepaid multi-year terms, and managed WordPress hosting starts around $21 to $35 per month on the vendor pages we checked. See WordPress hosting types for a full comparison.

A domain name

A custom domain such as yourbusiness.com is a yearly registration fee. Some hosts and WordPress.com annual plans include it free for the first year, after which it renews at the registrar's normal price.

Optional premium add-ons

Many free plugins and themes have paid upgrades. Examples as of October 2026: Yoast SEO Premium is $118.80 per year, WP Rocket starts at $59.95 per year for one site, and WooCommerce estimates extensions at "$29 to $299/year per extension" on its pricing page.

Labor

Someone has to build and maintain the site. If that's you, the cost is time. If it's a freelancer or agency, it's a project fee and often a monthly maintenance plan.

Is WordPress.com free?

WordPress.com has a free plan, and it is genuinely $0 with no expiration date. As of October 2026 it includes 1 GB of storage and a site on a WordPress.com subdomain. The trade-offs, from the WordPress.com pricing page and FAQ:

• WordPress.com shows ads to your visitors.
• You cannot connect a custom domain.
• You cannot install plugins.
• The built-in payment blocks carry a 10% transaction fee on the free plan.

The cheapest paid plan, Personal, removes ads, adds a custom domain and, since 2 April 2026, allows plugins. It costs $4 per month billed yearly or $9 billed monthly. Our guide to WordPress.com plans covers every tier, and WordPress.org vs WordPress.com explains which route suits you.

Are free plugins and themes really free?

Yes, plugins and themes in the WordPress.org directories are free to download and use. But "free" often comes with conditions worth understanding:

• Freemium limits. Many free plugins hold back features for a paid version. For example, Wordfence's own plugin description says real-time firewall rules and malware signatures are Premium features and the free version receives them 30 days later.
• Upsell notices. Free plugins often show upgrade prompts in the dashboard.
• Support. Free plugins rely on community forums; priority support is usually a paid feature.
• Abandonment. Not every free plugin is maintained. Check the "last updated" date and "tested up to" version before installing.
• Security. Patchstack reported 11,334 new WordPress ecosystem vulnerabilities in 2025, 91% of them in plugins. A free plugin that is never updated can become the most expensive item on your site.

Our guide to essential WordPress plugins covers which categories most business sites actually need.

The hidden costs of a "free" WordPress site

For a full budget with real vendor prices, read how much a WordPress website costs.

Can you run WordPress completely free?

For a public website with your own domain, not really: you will at least pay for hosting and the domain. There are three genuinely free routes, each with limits:

• WordPress.com free plan: a live site on a WordPress.com address, with ads and no plugins.
• WordPress Playground: according to WordPress.org, it "lets you run WordPress instantly on any device without a host." Good for learning and testing, not for a public business site.
• Local development tools: free desktop apps such as WordPress Studio (macOS, Windows and Linux) run WordPress on your own computer for building and testing.

Free hosting offers from third parties exist, but limits, ads, weak security and poor support make them a poor fit for a business site.

Free vs paid: when upgrading makes sense

A useful rule is to pay only when a paid tool replaces work you would otherwise do by hand, or removes a real risk. Some examples:

• Backups: a free backup plugin is fine if you check that restores work. Paying makes sense when you want off-site storage, scheduling and one-click restores handled for you, or when your host doesn't include backups.
• Security: free plugins and good habits cover many small sites. A paid firewall or malware cleanup service is worth considering for stores and lead-generating sites, where downtime costs money.
• SEO: free SEO plugins handle titles, descriptions and sitemaps. Premium versions add extra features, so compare the vendor's feature list with what you actually need before upgrading.
• Themes: a free block theme is enough for many sites; a premium theme or builder pays off when it saves design or development time.

Is free software a risk for a business?

Free does not mean unsupported. WordPress has a large contributor community (the 7.1 release credited more than 800 contributors) and a security team that ships patches. When WordPress 7.0.2 fixed critical and high-severity security issues in July 2026, WordPress.org enabled forced automatic updates for affected sites. Security fixes from 7.1.1 were backported to every branch back to 4.7.

The bigger risk is the site owner's side: outdated plugins, weak passwords and missing backups. Our WordPress security guide covers the basics.

Conclusion

WordPress itself is free, permanently, and you are free to use and change it however you like. Running a real website on it is not free: plan for hosting, a domain, any premium tools you choose and, most of all, the time or help needed to keep it updated and secure. If you'd rather hand off upkeep, eSEOspace offers WordPress maintenance services. You'll find more guides in our WordPress hub.

Frequently asked questions