WordPress is a free, open-source system that lets you manage the content of a website without knowing how to code. Such systems are called a CMS (content management system): you log in to the admin panel, write the text, upload an image and click the "Publish" button. WordPress is the most widely used CMS in the world, but the word "free" applies only to the software itself: hosting, design, add-ons and maintenance are separate costs.
Key takeaways:
- WordPress is free software; for a website it needs a domain, hosting, a theme (design) and plugins (extra functions).
- WordPress.org is the software itself and can be installed on any hosting; WordPress.com is a paid service built on top of it.
- Its strength is flexibility and choice: you can build a blog, a corporate website and, with WooCommerce, an online store.
- Its weakness is maintenance: the core, theme and plugins must be updated regularly, otherwise the site slows down and can be hacked.
- WordPress is a good choice for a content website and a medium-sized store; for complex functions and high speed requirements, custom code may suit better.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is software for building and managing a website. You install it on a server and it gives you two things: the website the visitor sees and the admin panel you see. In the panel you do not need to write code to add pages and posts, upload images or change the menu.
WordPress is open-source: its code is open to everyone, there is no licence fee, and it is developed by volunteer programmers from all over the world (WordPress.org). According to W3Techs' October 2026 data, 40.1% of all websites in the world run on WordPress; among websites that use a content management system, its share is 58.6% (W3Techs).
What a CMS is can be explained in one sentence like this: a CMS is the website's "control room". Without it, you have to turn to a programmer for every change; with it, you change the phone number or a price yourself.
How does WordPress work?
A WordPress website consists of four parts:
| Part | What it is | Comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Core | The WordPress software itself | The frame of a building |
| Theme | The look of the website: colours, fonts, page layout | The interior |
| Plugins | Extra functions: forms, SEO, store, multilingual support | Household appliances |
| Database and files | Texts, images, settings | The things in the house |
The choice is wide: the official directories have more than 70,000 free plugins and about 8,700 themes (WordPress.org). A translation of the admin panel into Azerbaijani also exists, but it is incomplete: in October 2026, about 36% of the latest version had been translated (WordPress.org). So in practice the panel is often used in English or Russian.
Pages are usually assembled from blocks in a visual editor: heading, text, image, button. For complex designs, page builders such as Elementor are used; they make the work easier but can make the website heavier.
WordPress.org and WordPress.com: what is the difference?
These two names are often confused, though they are different things:
| WordPress.org | WordPress.com | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | The free software itself | A hosting service built on that software |
| Where it runs | On the hosting you choose | On the company's own servers |
| Price | The software is free; you supply the hosting and domain | The free plan is limited; features are unlocked by paid plans |
| Plugins and themes | You install whatever you want | Plugins only on paid plans |
| Control | Full: the files and database are yours | Within the platform's rules |
| Maintenance | Rests with you or a contractor | Rests with the platform |
The WordPress.com free plan gives 1 GB of storage and an address on a wordpress.com subdomain; you cannot connect your own domain or install plugins, and the website shows WordPress.com's ads. Plugins are possible on all paid plans; the cheapest plan is $4 a month billed annually (WordPress.com).
In Azerbaijan, "a website on WordPress" almost always means the first option, that is, WordPress installed on your own hosting. We compare the free plans in the article Creating a free website.
How do you build a website on WordPress?
A WordPress website is built in seven steps:
- Buy a domain. The address of the website, for example numune.az. The rules are covered in the article What is a domain and how to buy one.
- Choose hosting. WordPress needs hosting that supports PHP and a database; the official recommendation is PHP 8.3 or newer, MariaDB 10.11 or MySQL 8.0 (WordPress.org). The selection criteria are covered in the article What is hosting.
- Install WordPress. On most hosting control panels this takes a few clicks.
- Activate SSL. The website must open with https://.
- Choose a theme. A free or paid ready-made theme, or a custom design made to order.
- Install the plugins you need. Forms, SEO, backup, security and, if necessary, multilingual support and a store.
- Add the content and check it. Pages, menu, contact form, mobile version, speed.
The technical setup is the work of one evening. Other things take most of the time: structure, texts, images and adapting the design to the brand. Prepare the plan of pages in advance, using the method described in the article How to structure a website.
How much does a WordPress website cost?
WordPress is free, but a WordPress website is not. The cost is built up from five items:
| Cost | What it is for | How it is paid |
|---|---|---|
| Domain | The address of the website | Annually |
| Hosting | The server where the website is stored | Monthly or annually |
| Theme | Design | Free, a one-off licence or an annual licence |
| Paid plugins | Multilingual support, page builder, store add-ons | Mostly an annual licence |
| Setup and maintenance | Adapting the design, updates, backups | Depends on who does the work |
Domain and shared hosting together usually come to about 50–150 AZN (manat) a year for a small website. The main difference is made by the last row: if you install a ready-made theme yourself, the cost is minimal; if you order a custom design and functions, the price depends on the volume of work. We have shown the market range in the article Website development prices.
The most often forgotten cost is annual licences. When the licence of a paid theme or plugin expires, the website keeps working but gets no updates; this is a security risk.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of WordPress?
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|
| The software itself is free, with no licence fee | There are costs for hosting, theme, plugins and maintenance |
| Thousands of ready-made themes and plugins | Too many plugins slow the website down and can conflict with each other |
| Content can be changed without a programmer | Updates need constant attention |
| The website is yours: it can be moved to any hosting | It is one of the most frequently attacked systems |
| Specialists are easy to find | The level of providers varies widely |
| Wide capabilities for SEO | The core has no multilingual support and needs a plugin |
In plain terms: WordPress is a Lego set. You can quickly build something from ready-made pieces, but as the number of pieces grows the construction becomes heavier and each piece needs separate attention.
Is WordPress secure?
The WordPress core is updated regularly and is reliable in itself; the risks come mainly from plugins and neglect. According to Patchstack's report, 11,334 new vulnerabilities were found in the WordPress ecosystem in 2025: 91% were found in plugins and 9% in themes, while only 6 vulnerabilities were found in the core itself (Patchstack).
Six rules are enough to protect a website:
- Update. The core, theme and plugins must be updated on time.
- Keep few plugins. An unused plugin should not be deactivated but deleted.
- Check the source. Take plugins and themes only from the official directory or a well-known author. Nulled paid themes on "free download" websites are the main source of malicious code.
- Strong password and two-factor authentication. The username "admin" and a simple password are the most frequently tried combination.
- Automatic backup. A copy should be taken every day and stored separately from the website.
- Reliable hosting. A good provider stops some of the attacks before they reach the website.
Who will do this work should be agreed before the website is handed over. A WordPress website that is not updated after a provider says "the website is ready" and leaves turns into a source of risk within a year or two; we describe this scenario in the article Why a cheap website ends up costing more.
Can you build an online store on WordPress?
Yes. The WooCommerce plugin is used for this: it adds a catalogue, cart, orders and payment to a WordPress website. WooCommerce itself is free; some of the add-ons for payment, delivery and warehouse are paid.
For a store in Azerbaijan, check two things in advance:
- Online payment. Does the bank or payment provider you have chosen have a ready-made module for WooCommerce? We explain this in the article How to connect online payment to a website.
- Accounting system. If product stock and prices come from 1C or another program, integration needs separate work.
WooCommerce works comfortably for a store with a few hundred products. When there are thousands of products, the warehouses of several branches and complex pricing rules, managing it through plugins becomes difficult. We cover all parts of a store in the guide Creating an online store.
Who is WordPress suited to, and who is it not suited to?
| Project | Is WordPress suitable? | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Company blog, news and content website | Yes | WordPress was created for exactly this |
| Small and medium corporate website | Yes | Provided there are few plugins and good hosting |
| Medium-sized online store | Yes | With WooCommerce and a local payment module |
| Landing page for a single campaign | Possible | A website builder is often quicker |
| Personal dashboard, booking, complex calculations | Limited | Custom code is more reliable |
| Premium brand, uncompromising design and speed | Limited | Custom code gives more control |
We give a comparison of the three routes, that is, a website builder, WordPress and custom code, across ten criteria in the article Tilda, WordPress or a custom website.
What are the most common mistakes on a WordPress website?
- Installing a plugin for every function. A website with thirty plugins loads slowly and often throws errors.
- Using a nulled paid theme. The money saved later goes on restoring the website.
- Putting off updates for years. Old versions run with known vulnerabilities.
- A heavy theme on cheap hosting. Poor speed costs you both visitors and your position on Google; the way to check it is covered in the article Website loads slowly.
- Working without a backup. If there is no backup, one bad update can take the website out of action.
- Keeping the logins with the provider. The admin account, hosting and domain should be in the client's name.
- Copying language versions by hand. A multilingual website needs the right plugin and structure, otherwise Google mixes up the languages.
How does Advertol view WordPress?
Advertol is an agency that builds websites with custom code and makes them work in one system with advertising, analytics and CRM; its own website, advertol.az, is built that way too. This does not mean WordPress is a bad choice: for a blog, a small corporate website and a medium-sized store, a properly built WordPress website with few plugins is a fully working solution. Custom code is chosen for projects where the website has to work in one system with advertising, CRM and several languages, and where no compromise on design and speed is possible.
Among the published projects, the Aston Martin website was built not with a ready-made template but with code in keeping with the brand identity; for Assistance Group, two websites are updated from one admin panel and the team publishes projects and news itself.
Advertol is an agency based in Baku: website and mobile app development, Meta and Google advertising, SMM, CRM and AI automation are handled by one team. To find out which route suits your project, see the way of working of the website and app development service.
Frequently asked questions
Is WordPress really free?
The software itself is free and there is no licence fee. For a website, though, you need a domain, hosting, often a paid theme and plugins, as well as the labour of setup and maintenance. So a "free WordPress website" is, in practice, a website with an annual cost.
Is WordPress hard to learn?
Managing content is easy: adding a post or changing an image can be learned in a few hours. Building a website correctly from scratch, speeding it up and protecting it takes experience. Many companies leave the setup to a specialist and make the day-to-day changes themselves.
Does a WordPress website rank well on Google?
WordPress gives good options for SEO: titles, descriptions, addresses and the sitemap are easy to manage. But rankings are determined not by the platform but by the content, speed and structure of the website. A slow WordPress website with a heavy theme falls behind a light custom website.
WordPress or Tilda?
If you need a quick page for a single ad campaign, a website builder such as Tilda is faster. If you are planning a blog, a lot of content, several languages or a store, WordPress gives more options. The choice should be determined not by budget but by what the website needs to do a year from now.
Can a WordPress website be moved to another hosting?
Yes, this is one of WordPress's main advantages: the files and the database belong to you. If the addresses do not change during the move, positions on Google are preserved too. Do the move with a backup and an experienced specialist.
Who should update a WordPress website?
Either you do it yourself or a contractor does it under a support contract; what matters is that the person responsible is known in advance. A backup is taken before updating, and then the website is checked. A half-hour review once a month is enough for most small websites.
Conclusion
WordPress is a free system that lets you manage a website without a programmer, and it is a strong choice for a blog, a corporate website and a medium-sized store. Its price is not in the licence but in maintenance: updates, few high-quality plugins, backup and good hosting. Before deciding, write down which functions the website must carry a year from now; if WordPress cannot support them without plugins, look at another route.
If you want to discuss whether WordPress, a website builder or custom code suits your website, book a free strategy session or write to the Advertol team.