How to Install WordPress on Your Hosting Server: A Quick, Step-by-Step Guide

Installing WordPress on your hosting server is a fundamental skill for webmasters, agencies, and developers who want full control over site performance, security, and scalability. This guide walks you through multiple installation methods—from one-click installers to manual setup via SSH and WP-CLI—while explaining underlying principles, real-world deployment scenarios, advantages of different approaches, and practical recommendations for selecting hosting. It assumes you are comfortable with basic server administration and DNS management.

Why install WordPress manually or on a VPS?

Many managed hosts provide one-click WordPress installs, but there are strong reasons to perform your own installation on a VPS or dedicated server:

• Full control over the environment: choose PHP versions, extensions, web server (Apache/Nginx), caching layers, and security modules.
• Better performance and isolation: a VPS avoids noisy neighbors common on shared hosting.
• Customization and optimization: manual installs let you harden PHP settings, tune database performance, and integrate CDN or object caching.
• Scalability: you can scale vertically (bigger instance) or horizontally (load balancing) as traffic grows.

Prerequisites and environment planning

Before starting, ensure the following prerequisites are met and decisions made:

• Domain and DNS: domain registered and an A/AAAA record pointing to your server IP.
• Server OS: Debian/Ubuntu or CentOS/AlmaLinux are common choices. Commands here will assume Ubuntu/Debian; adapt package names for other distros.
• Web server: Apache (with mod_php or PHP-FPM) or Nginx (with PHP-FPM). Choose Nginx for high-performance static content serving and reverse-proxy setups.
• Database: MySQL (or MariaDB) instance available. Consider managed DB for production environments.
• PHP: WordPress recommends PHP 8.0+ (check current compatibility). Install required extensions: mysqli, pdo_mysql, curl, gd or imagick, mbstring, xml, zip, json, and openssl.
• Security: firewall (ufw/iptables), SSH key authentication, regular backups, and an SSL certificate (Let’s Encrypt).

Installation approaches — overview

There are several ways to install WordPress, each suited to different use cases:

• One-click installers: cPanel/Softaculous, Plesk. Fast and beginner-friendly, but limited customization.
• Manual FTP/SFTP upload: Good for shared hosting or when GUI is required; more control than one-click but slower.
• SSH + WP-CLI: Ideal for developers and automation—fast, repeatable, and scriptable.
• Containerized deployment: Docker-based installations for reproducibility and isolation in development and production.

Step-by-step: Manual installation via SSH (recommended for VPS)

This section gives detailed commands and configuration notes for a secure, production-ready install on Ubuntu/Debian with Nginx and MariaDB using PHP-FPM. Adjust paths and user names to fit your environment.

1. Update system and install stack

• Update packages: sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
• Install Nginx, MariaDB, PHP-FPM and required extensions:
  • sudo apt install nginx mariadb-server php-fpm php-mysql php-curl php-gd php-mbstring php-xml php-zip unzip -y

2. Secure the database

• Run the secure script: sudo mysql_secure_installation to set root password, remove test databases, and disable remote root access.
• Create a database and user for WordPress:
  • sudo mysql -u root -p
  • CREATE DATABASE wp_prod CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
  • CREATE USER ‘wp_user’@’localhost’ IDENTIFIED BY ‘strong_password_here’;
  • GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wp_prod. TO ‘wp_user’@’localhost’;
  • FLUSH PRIVILEGES; EXIT;

3. Prepare webroot and permissions

• Create site directory: sudo mkdir -p /var/www/example.com/public
• Set ownership to a dedicated user (e.g., www-data or a deploy user): sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/example.com
• Set directory permissions: directories 755, files 644. Avoid 777. Example:
  • sudo find /var/www/example.com -type d -exec chmod 755 {} ;
  • sudo find /var/www/example.com -type f -exec chmod 644 {} ;

4. Download and configure WordPress

• Switch to webroot and fetch WordPress:
  • cd /var/www/example.com/public
  • sudo wget https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz
  • sudo tar -xzf latest.tar.gz –strip-components=1
  • sudo rm latest.tar.gz
• Create wp-config.php from sample:
  • sudo cp wp-config-sample.php wp-config.php
  • Edit wp-config.php to set DB_NAME, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD, DB_HOST.
  • Generate strong authentication keys/salts at https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/salt/ and paste into wp-config.php.
• Harden wp-config.php:
  • Move wp-config.php one level above webroot if possible, or ensure it is not world-readable.
  • Add define(‘DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT’, true); to prevent plugin/theme editor edits via admin.

5. Configure Nginx virtual host

• Create Nginx server block /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com:

  server {
      listen 80;
      server_name example.com www.example.com;
      root /var/www/example.com/public;
      index index.php index.html;
  
      location / {
          try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
      }
  
      location ~ .php$ {
          include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
          fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.0-fpm.sock;
      }
  
      location ~ .(js|css|png|jpg|jpeg|gif|ico)$ {
          expires max;
          access_log off;
      }
  }

• Enable and test:
  • sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
  • sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx

6. Complete web-based install

• Visit http://example.com in your browser to complete the WordPress installation wizard: site title, admin user, password (use a strong random password), and email.
• After installation, enable HTTPS using Let’s Encrypt:
  • sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y
  • sudo certbot –nginx -d example.com -d www.example.com

Advanced: Installing with WP-CLI (faster and scriptable)

WP-CLI is a command-line tool for managing WordPress installations—excellent for automation, provisioning, and scripting across multiple servers.

• Install WP-CLI:
  • curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wp-cli/builds/gh-pages/phar/wp-cli.phar
  • php wp-cli.phar –info
  • chmod +x wp-cli.phar && sudo mv wp-cli.phar /usr/local/bin/wp
• Use WP-CLI to download and configure:
  • wp core download –path=/var/www/example.com/public –allow-root
  • wp config create –dbname=wp_prod –dbuser=wp_user –dbpass=’strong_password’ –dbhost=localhost –path=/var/www/example.com/public –allow-root
  • wp core install –url=”https://example.com” –title=”Site Title” –admin_user=”admin” –admin_password=”strong_password” –admin_email=”you@example.com” –path=/var/www/example.com/public –allow-root

Security, performance, and best practices

After installation, focus on hardening and optimizing the site:

• Keep core, themes, and plugins updated and only install trusted plugins.
• Use a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or security plugin; consider server-level rules (ModSecurity).
• Limit login attempts and implement two-factor authentication (2FA) for administrator accounts.
• Regular backups: configure automated backups of files and the database. Store offsite (S3, remote server).
• Implement object caching: Redis or Memcached for dynamic content acceleration, and full-page caches (Varnish or plugin-level caching).
• Optimize images and assets and leverage a CDN for global distribution and latency reduction.
• Monitor resource usage: use server monitoring (Prometheus, Datadog) and set alerts for CPU, memory, and disk I/O.

When to choose VPS over shared hosting

Shared hosting is inexpensive and easy to use, but VPS hosting is recommended when you require:

• Higher performance and dedicated resources: guaranteed CPU/memory for consistent performance.
• Better security isolation: process and file isolation from other tenants.
• Custom stack and software: ability to install server-level services and tune configurations.
• Scaling options: vertical upgrades and snapshots for backups and cloning.

For agencies and businesses hosting multiple WordPress sites, VPS instances provide predictable performance and operational flexibility. If you plan to serve primarily US audiences, choose a VPS with US data centers to minimize latency.

Choosing a provider and configuration tips

When selecting a provider and plan, consider:

• vCPU and memory sizing based on expected traffic and plugins (start modestly and scale).
• SSD storage and I/O limits—WordPress benefits from fast disks.
• Network bandwidth and datacenter location relative to your audience.
• Backup, snapshot, and automated scaling features.
• Managed options if you prefer the provider handle updates, backups, and security hardening.

Summary

Installing WordPress on your hosting server—especially on a VPS—gives you full control over performance, security, and scalability. Use the manual SSH method with Nginx, PHP-FPM, and MariaDB for a production-ready setup, or adopt WP-CLI to automate deployments. Harden wp-config, enforce proper file permissions, enable HTTPS, and implement caching and monitoring to maintain a secure and high-performing site. For businesses and developers serving US audiences, a US-based VPS offers low latency and reliable performance.

If you’re ready to deploy on a reliable VPS, consider configuring a VPS instance that matches your traffic and performance needs. For example, VPS.DO offers flexible USA-based VPS plans well-suited for WordPress deployments: https://vps.do/usa/