If you are completely new to WordPress and want to try the experience of building a website with it, I strongly recommend running WordPress on your local machine. And WordPress Studio is the tool that you can use for this particular purpose.
I recommend you to run WordPress on your local machine because you can try the WordPress experience for free compared to when you try WordPress directly on a hosting platform.
Some hosting providers, such as Cloudways, allow you to run WordPress for free during the free trial, but you have limited duration (usually for 7 - 14 days).
When you run WordPress on your local machine, you can play around with it as long as you want. You can explore its features, try some plugins, try different themes, and so on.
As mentioned, WordPress Studio is the tool I strongly recommend to run WordPress locally although you can also use DevKinsta, Local to XAMPP.
Shortcuts ⤵️
- WordPress Studio intro
- Clean interface
- Zero dependencies
- Easy file access
- WordPress version switcher
- Code editor integration
- Summary
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What is WordPress Studio?
WordPress Studio is a local development tool from Automattic (the parent company of WordPress.com and WooCommerce). The tool allows you to run a WordPress website on your local machine with zero configuration.
For new users with minimal technical knowledge, WordPress Studio is a great solution to learn WordPress for free before they build a live website on a paid hosting environment.
For experienced users, WordPress Studio can be a solution if you often use a local-first approach when building a WordPress website before making it live. It can also be a great tool for plugin and theme developers who are looking for a light local development tool to develop their products.
Since WordPress Studio is an Automattic product, it supports integration with WordPress.com (and Pressable).
If you have WordPress sites hosted on WordPress.com or Pressable, you can sync your live and local websites with this tool. The feature is optional, though. You can ignore it if your websites are hosted somewhere else.
WordPress Studio itself is available for Mac, Windows and Linux (Debian and the derivatives). You can download the tool for its official website if you want to try it.
Reasons I Use WordPress Studio
I have tried several local development tools to run WordPress on my machine before settling with WordPress Studio.
Although I don't host my websites on WordPress.com or Pressable (I use Cloudways, btw), I enjoy using WordPress Studio because it is extremely lightweight and easy to use. There are other reasons, too. Of course.
Here are some main reasons why I use WordPress Studio as my development tool.
1. Clean Interface
I recommend those who want to learn WordPress to install WordPress on their local machine using WordPress Studio with one main reason: it is extremely easy to use.
The interface of WordPress Studio is also super clean. You can add a new site, run it and stop it with minimum clicks.
It has a sidebar on the left side to switch between sites. The button to add a new site also lies here. On the main screen, you can access all of the features it has. If you want it, you can hide the sidebar.
2. Zero Dependencies on Third-Party Apps
Before switching to WordPress Studio, I used DevKinsta. It is also a great tool to run WordPress locally but there is a big issue with it.
To be able to install and run DevKinsta, you need to have Docker installed on your computer. DevKinsta needs Docker to create a virtual machine to run web server and database server.
The problem is that Docker is heavy enough software. You need to have at least 2GB of free memory to run it. This excludes the DevKinsta app, by the way.
WordPress Studio uses a different approach where it doesn't depend on another app to run. You can start to use WordPress Studio to run a WordPress website right after you install it. You don't even need to make extra configurations. At all
WordPresss Studio doesn't use a traditional web server like Apache or Nginx, which is used by DevKinsta, Local and XAMPP. Instead, it leverages the built-in server of PHP to run WordPress. And for the database, it uses SQLite instead of MySQL or MariDB.
3. Easy File Access
WordPress Studio is integrated with the file manager app on your operating system. This is great because you can easily access the WordPress files on your website. You can also add extra files more easily when you need to.
To access WordPress files, you can simply click the Finder menu (if you use Mac) on WordPress Studio main screen. This will open up the root directory of your WordPress installation.
If you are familiar with CLI, you can also access your WordPress files via the Terminal app on your computer.
4. WordPress Version Switcher
WordPress Studio is a great solution if you want to try the newest WordPress versions safely. That's because it allows you to switch to another WordPress version on an existing website.
When WordPress 7 was not officially released, I used WordPress Studio to try some of the new features that the developer team introduced.
If you are a plugin/theme developer, the ability to switch between WordPress versions is particularly useful as you can use it to test the compatibility of your product with the latest WordPress versions.
Not only the stable versions, WordPress Studio also allows you to switch to beta versions.
Apart from WordPress versions, you can also switch to another PHP version, which is quite useful for troubleshooting or compatibility testing.
5. Code Editor Integration
I am not a developer and rarely use a code editor like VS Code. But once in a while, I use it to edit CSS snippets or configuration files of WordPress.
When I need to edit a certain configuration file on my local website, I don't need to manually locate a file. WordPress Studio is integrated with VS Code.
When you click the VS Code menu on the main screen, you will be presented with a new environment on VS Code where you can edit your files.
WordPress Studio supports other code editors too, by the way. If you are not a VS Code user, you can change the editor to:
- PhpStorm
- WebStorm
- Windsurf
- Cursor
- Sublime Text
Summary
WordPress Studio is a great software for WordPress users. If you are new to WordPress and have never created a live site yet, you can use it to learn WordPress for free without being limited by trial period.
If you are an experienced user, you can use WordPress Studio to play around with WordPress. Whether to test new features or try some new changes before you apply them to a live site.
WordPress Studio would be ideal if you are a WordPress.com user or Pressable user since you can sync your live sites and local sites. But it is still useful if you don't use Automattic-own hosting services. I myself use Cloudways and use WordPress Studio on my daily basis.
After all, you can use GitHub if you need to sync your local sites and your live sites.
