WordPress.com Education Gives Students Free Sites for a Year
Automattic launches WordPress.com Education with free student sites, domains and plugins for one year, followed by a $2 monthly option for classroom training.
Summary
Automattic unveiled WordPress.com Education at WordCamp US on Monday, August 17, 2026, offering teachers and classes a free first year without a credit card or trial. Each student gets a full WordPress.com site and domain, a free .blog or .art name, 6 GB of storage, backups, staging sites, plugin support, SFTP/SSH, phpMyAdmin, Studio Sync and other tools. The Student plan is not stripped down and can support website-building courses, group projects and other classroom work.
After year one, students can subscribe for $2 monthly, or $24 annually. Those who do not pay move to a free WordPress.com site and domain, while all pages, posts, comments and uploaded media remain. Automattic says its pilot covered 5,000 students in 27 countries, with 88.9% of educators reporting improved employability and 81.5% reporting greater entrepreneurial capacity. WordPress.com runs the open-source WordPress software powering about 43% of internet sites, but younger first-time creators often choose social profiles. Automattic aims to put WordPress in classrooms, train future web professionals and reach underfunded schools.
Positives
- Teachers can provide WordPress.com Education free for one year without entering a credit card or starting a trial.
- Each student receives 6 GB of storage, backups, staging sites, plugins, SFTP/SSH, phpMyAdmin and Studio Sync.
- Automattic’s pilot reached 5,000 students across 27 countries before the wider launch.
- 88.9% of participating educators reported improved student employability, while 81.5% reported greater entrepreneurial capacity.
- Students who decline the paid plan retain every page, post, comment and uploaded media item on a free site.
Risks & concerns
- After the first year, continued access to the Student plan costs $2 monthly or $24 annually.
- Free domain choices under the program are limited to .blog and .art names.
- Young first-time web creators often choose social media profiles instead of WordPress, challenging Automattic’s effort to attract them.
- The 88.9% and 81.5% findings reflect educators’ reported perceptions, not quantified employment or business outcomes.