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WordPress began in 2003 as a fork of the blogging software b2/cafelog. Its early releases added plugins, themes, and static pages, expanding it from a blogging tool into a broader publishing system. The open-source project’s official release history now runs through WordPress 7.1, released in 2026.
WordPress began as a fork of b2/cafelog
The roots of WordPress go back to 2001, when Michel Valdrighi launched b2/cafelog. In 2003, Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little forked that project to continue developing blogging software. WordPress.org describes this origin on its About page.
The first official public release, WordPress 0.7, appeared on May 27, 2003. It introduced a texturize engine, a links manager, XHTML 1.1-compliant templates, a new administration interface, manual excerpts, and new templates. Those changes laid the groundwork for a more capable publishing tool while retaining the blog as its center.
Early releases broadened what WordPress could do
| Release | Date | What changed | Why it mattered |
|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress 0.7 | May 27, 2003 | Added a new administration interface, templates, manual excerpts, a links manager, and other improvements. | Established the first official public version of the fork. |
| WordPress 1.0 “Davis” | 2004 | Added browser installation, search-engine permalinks, multiple categories, and import improvements. | Made installation and organizing or importing blog content more capable. |
| WordPress 1.2 “Mingus” | 2004 | Added plugins. | Let users extend WordPress with additional functionality. |
| WordPress 1.5 “Strayhorn” | 2005 | Introduced the theme system and static pages; the Plugin Repository was also created. | Helped move WordPress toward a content management system, beyond publishing dated blog posts. |
The official history of WordPress credits version 1.5 with moving the project toward a content management system. Themes made site presentation more adaptable, while static pages made it practical to publish durable sections such as an “About” page alongside posts.
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Jazz musicians give WordPress releases a naming tradition
Beginning with version 1.0, major WordPress releases have been named in honor of jazz musicians. The names provide a distinctive label alongside the version number; they do not replace it. For example, 1.0 was “Davis,” 1.2 was “Mingus,” and 1.5 was “Strayhorn.”
The official release history lists WordPress 7.0, “Louis Armstrong,” on May 20, 2026, and WordPress 7.1, “Mary Lou,” on August 19, 2026. Those dates describe the open-source project’s releases, not a particular hosted service’s rollout schedule. The WordPress release archive is the place to check announcements and details for individual versions.
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WordPress.org, the open-source project, and hosted WordPress are distinct
This history concerns the open-source WordPress project. WordPress.org describes the software as built on PHP and MariaDB and licensed under GPLv2. WordPress.org’s About page also says WordPress is used by “over 43% of all sites across the web.” The page does not give a measurement date or methodology alongside that figure, so it is best understood as WordPress.org’s own claim rather than a dated, independently verified measurement.
WordPress.org is the project’s home for its software, documentation, and release information. Hosted WordPress offerings are a separate way of using WordPress; their plans, management, and update timing should not be confused with the project’s release history.
Where to follow the later history
The milestones from 0.7 through 1.5 show the central transition: WordPress started as a b2/cafelog fork for blogging, then gained extensibility, themes, and static pages that supported broader site publishing. For later eras, including changes beyond this early CMS transition, consult the official version announcements and release archive rather than inferring a detailed history from a short milestone list.
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