Many users choose WordPress as their first development tool. It does not take much time to master the engine, including thanks to a huge amount of tutorials: videos, instructions, user forums.
That’s why we can say that there are no special restrictions or entry threshold requirements for using this CMS.
Nevertheless, it will be difficult without knowledge at all. For example, if you do not understand how the engine is structured (what modules, where the files are located, where images are uploaded, how to use the theme editor, etc.), what is HTML or CSS-code, PHP, JavaScript, etc.). – It will be hard for you to get used to it, because you will have to do a lot of things with your own hands.
Therefore, to get started with WP you need to either tighten up your knowledge of web sites or be prepared to do so as you learn the engine.
The fact that WordPress is suitable for beginners doesn’t mean that it can’t be used on serious and highly loaded projects. You just need to know how to prepare it. On this CMS work and large online stores, and forums, and portals of tourist operators, and popular media agencies, and many other types of sites (up to lendings and business card sites, there are no restrictions).
Minimum hosting requirements
The recommended version of PHP is 7.4 and higher. WordPress developers try to follow current trends and adopt all the latest technologies, so the engine will work even on PHP 8. But it should be understood that this applies mainly to the core of the system. Some plugins may lose compatibility, especially those abandoned by their creators.
WP can also work on older versions of PHP (5.6.20+), but officially their support is discontinued, so no one will be engaged in fixing the identified problems.
MySQL 5.6 or MariaDB 10.1 or higher can be used as a database server. Other database variants are not officially supported, but you can use special plugins (for PostgreSQL, MongoDB, etc.).
Web server can be Nginx, Apache, LiteSpeed or other similar software. Developers recommend Apache and Nginx with configured mod_rewrite module.
A full set of requirements for the server environment and required/supported modules can be found on this page.
Many hosters can offer a WordPress compatible environment configuration. But some even go a step further. In the range of market leaders you can find dedicated cloud hosting (with dedicated server resources) or Managed WordPress plans (fully managed WordPress, no hosting panel, only billing).
