How to Install WordPress on Bluehost (Bluerock & Legacy)

Bluehost makes installing WordPress quick and straightforward through its built-in automated installer. The process takes under two minutes whether you are using the Bluerock dashboard (the current default) or the older Legacy panel. Make sure your domain is already pointed to Bluehost before you start.

What You Need Before Installing WordPress

Before walking through the steps, confirm a few things are in place:

• Your Bluehost account is active and you can log in at my.bluehost.com
• Your domain is connected to your Bluehost account (either registered through Bluehost or pointed via nameservers)
• You know whether you are on the Bluerock dashboard (the current default for new accounts) or the Legacy cPanel-based dashboard

If you are not sure which dashboard you have, log in and look at the layout. Bluerock has a clean, tile-based interface. Legacy has the standard cPanel column layout. The WordPress install steps differ slightly between the two.

If you have not finished signing up for Bluehost yet, the Bluehost setup hub walks through plan selection, the renewal pricing trap, and the full signup flow before this WordPress install step.

How to Install WordPress on Bluehost (Bluerock)

Bluerock is the current default dashboard for new Bluehost accounts. Follow these steps:

1. Log in to my.bluehost.com
2. From the home dashboard, click WordPress in the left-hand navigation or in the quick-start tiles
3. Click Install WordPress
4. Select the domain you want to install WordPress on from the dropdown
5. Leave the directory field blank to install WordPress at the root (yourdomain.com). Only add a subdirectory if you specifically want WordPress at yourdomain.com/blog
6. Enter your site name, admin username, and admin email. Bluehost will generate a password or you can set your own
7. Click Install

The installer takes 30-90 seconds. Once complete, you will see a confirmation screen with your WordPress admin URL (yourdomain.com/wp-admin) and your login credentials. Save these immediately.

How to Install WordPress on Bluehost (Legacy/cPanel)

If your account uses the older Legacy panel, the process goes through the Marketplace or Mojo Marketplace installer:

1. Log in to my.bluehost.com and go to your cPanel
2. Scroll to the Website section and click Install WordPress (or find it under Marketplace > WordPress)
3. Click Install Now on the WordPress listing
4. Choose your domain from the dropdown and confirm the installation directory (leave blank for root)
5. Fill in your site name, admin username, admin password, and admin email in the Advanced Options section. Do not skip this step -- the auto-generated credentials are hard to find later
6. Check the box to confirm you have read the terms, then click Install Now

The Legacy installer can take 2-5 minutes. You will receive a confirmation email with your WordPress admin URL when it is done.

Finding Your WordPress Admin URL

Your WordPress admin login page is always at yourdomain.com/wp-admin. If you installed WordPress in a subdirectory (for example, yourdomain.com/blog), your admin URL will be yourdomain.com/blog/wp-admin.

Bookmark this URL immediately after installation. If you lose your password, use the Lost your password? link on the login screen, which will send a reset link to your admin email address.

After Installation: What to Do Next

Once WordPress is installed, a few setup steps will save you headaches later:

• Set your permalink structure: go to Settings > Permalinks and select Post name. This gives you clean URLs (yourdomain.com/page-name) instead of the default numeric format (?p=123). Click Save Changes twice to flush rewrite rules.
• Delete default content: remove the sample post ("Hello world!"), sample page ("Sample Page"), and default comment that WordPress installs automatically. Go to Posts, Pages, and Comments in the WordPress admin to delete them.
• Install a theme: go to Appearance > Themes > Add New to find and activate a theme. Lightweight options like Astra, GeneratePress, or Kadence are recommended for speed.
• Install essential plugins: at minimum, install an SEO plugin (Yoast SEO or Rank Math) and a security plugin (Wordfence) before publishing any content.
• Verify SSL is active: your site should load on https:// with a padlock. If it does not, go to your Bluehost dashboard and check that the free SSL certificate has been issued for your domain. It can take up to 24 hours after domain connection.

Installing WordPress on a Bluehost Subdomain

If you want WordPress running at a subdomain, such as blog.yourdomain.com or shop.yourdomain.com, the process is the same as installing on the root domain. The key difference is that you must create the subdomain first in your Bluehost dashboard before the installer can place WordPress on it.

In Bluerock, go to Domains > your domain > Subdomains to create the subdomain. In Legacy cPanel, go to Domains > Subdomains. Once the subdomain is created and resolves correctly, return to the WordPress installer and choose the subdomain from the domain dropdown. Leave the directory field blank to install WordPress at the subdomain root.

Note: installing WordPress on a subdomain uses one of your plan’s website slots. Basic plan users are limited to one website, so a subdomain installation counts against that limit. Plus and Choice Plus plan users have unlimited websites and can install on as many subdomains as needed.

What If WordPress Is Already Pre-Installed by Bluehost?

New Bluehost accounts frequently come with WordPress pre-installed on the primary domain, especially if you selected a WordPress plan during signup. When you log into my.bluehost.com for the first time, the dashboard may take you directly into a WordPress setup wizard rather than requiring you to run the installer manually.

If WordPress is already installed, you will see the WordPress admin tile or a “Manage Site” button on your Bluehost home screen. Click through to access your WordPress dashboard. Your wp-admin URL is at yourdomain.com/wp-admin using the email address you registered with as the username and a temporary password sent to your email.

If you want to start over with a clean WordPress installation rather than use the pre-installed version, you can delete the existing install from the Bluehost My Sites panel and reinstall. However, for most users, the pre-installed version is identical to a manual install and is the fastest way to get started.

Common Issues When Installing WordPress on Bluehost

A few problems come up regularly. Here is what causes them and how to fix them:

• White screen after install: this usually means a memory limit issue. Add define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' ); to your wp-config.php file above the "That's all, stop editing" line.
• WordPress installed but site shows blank or default page: your domain may not have fully propagated yet. DNS changes can take up to 48 hours. Confirm your domain’s nameservers are set to Bluehost’s nameservers (ns1.bluehost.com and ns2.bluehost.com).
• Can't find wp-admin after install: check your installation confirmation email for the admin URL. If you installed in a subdirectory, add that directory path before /wp-admin.
• SSL not showing after install: free SSL certificates on Bluehost can take up to 24 hours to issue. If it has been longer, contact Bluehost support to force a reissue.
• Error establishing a database connection: this is rare on a fresh install but can happen if the installer did not complete. Delete the WordPress installation from your dashboard and reinstall. If it persists, contact Bluehost support.

Verifying Your WordPress Installation Is Working

After the install completes and you have done the initial setup, run through these checks to confirm everything is working correctly:

• Front end loads: visit yourdomain.com in a browser and confirm the site loads with your chosen theme. A blank page or error here usually points to a DNS or SSL issue.
• wp-admin login works: go to yourdomain.com/wp-admin and log in with your admin credentials. If login fails, use the password reset link on the login screen.
• SSL padlock is showing: the browser address bar should show a padlock icon and your URL should begin with https://. If you see a "not secure" warning, the SSL certificate has not yet issued or there is a mixed content issue. Install the Really Simple SSL plugin to fix mixed content automatically.
• WordPress version is current: in your WordPress dashboard, go to Dashboard > Updates and confirm you are running the latest version of WordPress. Install any available updates before adding plugins or content.

How to Reinstall WordPress on Bluehost

If you need a clean slate, reinstall WordPress through Softaculous rather than deleting files manually. Before starting, take a full backup of your database and files if you want to preserve any content or settings. A reinstall wipes the database entirely.

1. Log in to Bluehost and go to Advanced (cPanel). Open Softaculous Apps Installer.
2. Click WordPress, then the Installations icon to see existing installs on your account.
3. Click the Remove icon next to the installation you want to replace, and confirm.
4. Run a fresh install on the same domain using the steps in the Bluerock or Legacy sections above.

If you only need to reset your WordPress admin password without a full reinstall, use the Forgot Password link on the wp-admin login page, or go to Users > Your Profile in the WordPress dashboard if you are still logged in.

Installing WordPress on Bluehost Manually (Without the Installer)

Advanced users can skip the automated installer and do a manual install via SFTP and phpMyAdmin.

1. Download the latest WordPress zip from wordpress.org/download and extract it locally.
2. Connect to Bluehost via SFTP (credentials under Advanced > FTP Accounts). Upload the files to public_html for your primary domain.
3. In Bluehost Advanced, open MySQL Databases. Create a database, a user, and assign all privileges.
4. Rename wp-config-sample.php to wp-config.php and enter the database name, user, and password.
5. Visit your domain in a browser. The WordPress five-minute install wizard starts automatically.

Recommended First Plugins After Installing WordPress on Bluehost

These four plugins cover the most important needs for a new WordPress site on Bluehost:

• Yoast SEO or Rank Math: handles meta titles, meta descriptions, XML sitemaps, and on-page SEO guidance -- install one of these before publishing any content.
• Wordfence Security: adds a firewall, malware scanner, and login protection to block brute-force attacks on your wp-admin.
• WP Rocket or LiteSpeed Cache: a caching plugin is the single biggest performance improvement you can make on shared Bluehost hosting, reducing page load times and improving Core Web Vitals scores.
• UpdraftPlus: automated backups to a remote destination (Google Drive, Dropbox, or S3) so you have a recovery point if anything goes wrong.

If you are migrating from Wix, see our guide on moving from Wix to Bluehost for the full domain transfer and site rebuild process.

For a complete walk-through of getting your site live, see our guide on how to start a blog with Bluehost, which covers domain setup, theme selection, and publishing your first post. You should also check and update the PHP version in Bluehost to ensure WordPress runs on a current, supported version. If you are connecting a domain registered elsewhere to your Bluehost account, see our guide on how to add a domain to Bluehost, which covers the nameserver update, the email safety warning, and what to do if the domain shows the default page after adding.