The world’s most beloved Content Management System (CMS) is celebrating its 20th anniversary this week, marking two decades of content creation, innovation, and community contributions.

What started as a small open-source project has now become the backbone of the web, with more than 43% of all websites (and 63% of sites built with a CMS) utilizing WordPress as their underlying framework.

Since 2010, WP Engine has remained committed to the WordPress community, optimizing its platform and maintaining a robust suite of open-source tools that assist builders, marketers, agencies, solopreneurs, global brands, and small businesses, and everyone in between.

In celebration of this significant milestone for WordPress and the community, the WP Engine team has been working on a fun project that looks back at some of the changes – to both WordPress and the world – that have taken place over the past two decades.

A Brief History of WordPress and the World

WordPress has come a long way since its initial release, and each new iteration of the CMS has included improvements that help its users create more pleasing, more personalized, and more performant digital experiences.

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of WordPress, the team has built a site that mirrors the look and feel of the first version to remind users of just how far the community has progressed.

Scroll through for a quick timeline of major WordPress version updates, the changes they brought, and what was happening in the world at that moment in time. From sports, memes, and celebrities to breaking news and new technology, the site visits some of the cultural touchstones that took place around each major WordPress version release.

We hope you get a good chuckle out of the decades-old design elements and take some time to appreciate how much WordPress – and the world – has changed in a relatively short time frame.

WP Engine Celebrates 13 Amazing Years

Coinciding with the 20th anniversary of WordPress is the 13th anniversary of WP Engine’s founding! Since 2010, WP Engine has evolved alongside WordPress at every stage, refining its platform and offerings to best serve the needs of the community.

The WordPress anniversary site also includes some behind-the-scenes images that show what it was like to work at WP Engine in those early days. Things have changed a lot since 2010, both for WordPress and for WP Engine, and the company is honored to have earned the trust of the WordPress community as it looks toward the future of its platform.

We can’t wait to see what the next 13 years will bring for WP Engine, its customers, and WordPress as a whole!

Thank You, WordPress Community

Without the community, WordPress wouldn’t be the thriving digital framework we know and love today. Thank you to all the community members who have contributed to WordPress versions throughout the years. We hope you enjoy our small homage to the history of WordPress!