One of the biggest misconceptions about WordPress, the software powering WordPress.com, is that it can only be used for certain types of websites. Many people still see it mainly as a blogging platform or a solution for hobby websites.
There are reasons for that. For one, WordPress originally started as a blogging tool and is still one of the most popular programs to blog with. Second, because WordPress is open source, some assume that free software couldn’t possibly match—let alone outperform—paid, proprietary tools.
That view no longer reflects what WordPress is capable of today. WordPress has outgrown its humble beginnings and is now powering more than 43% of the entire internet—including websites of all different kinds and sizes.
To help you better understand the possibilities WordPress offers, here are 25 types of websites you can build with it right now, as well as the features, tools, and extensions that help you create them more easily.
Personal and hobbyist sites
WordPress has grown far beyond its roots—but it’s still a great choice for personal and hobbyist websites.
1. Portfolio website
The goal of a portfolio website is to share your creative work, like your photography, design, writing, or art. As a creator, an online portfolio allows you to highlight your skills, expertise, projects, and clients you’ve worked with.
This kind of site is great for helping you build a personal brand and attract potential clients and employers. Plus, a portfolio website builds visibility in search engines and makes it easy to share your work.
If your goal is to create this type of website, WordPress.com offers a variety of dedicated portfolio themes.
In addition, the WordPress editor makes it easy to display videos, images, and other content types. You can assign a separate portfolio category and show all your work on one page, and use the Form block to give potential collaborators an easy way to get in touch.
Finally, on the Business plan and above, you can further enhance your portfolio site with plugins.
2. Resume website
A resume website is exactly what it sounds like—your job resume in website form.
Creating a resume website helps you stand out from other applicants and lets you showcase your job experience and skills in a more engaging way, and building your own website is a good way to demonstrate technical skills and initiative.
An online resume allows for more distinct branding than resumes in paper form, and it enables you to showcase additional information, like testimonials or endorsements from previous employers. Plus, by optimizing your site for search engines, you become visible outside of traditional recruiting channels.
On WordPress.com, themes like Luce can help you get started.
3. Personal website
With your personal website, you can:
- Share your interests, hobbies, or experiences.
- Establish an outlet for writing, photography, or other creative pursuits.
- Communicate your knowledge, opinions, or thoughts.
- Showcase your skills or side projects.
- Build an online presence beyond social media.
If you want your own, we have a detailed guide for how to build a personal website. It covers everything from picking the right theme to using the website builder and adding the right plugins for your personal website.
4. Link-in-bio site
These types of websites have become especially popular among social media influencers since social platforms often limit the number of links you can display in your profile. Link-in-bio sites let you consolidate all of your important links on one simple page.
Doing so helps you drive traffic to a blog, store, or other online platform and makes updating links easier because you only need to do it in one spot. You can also use your own branding, use a custom domain, and track clicks and engagement.
WordPress.com has a wide selection of themes and plugins for link-in-bio sites.
Publisher websites
With a mission to “democratize publishing,” it’s no surprise that WordPress is an excellent tool for building several types of content-based websites.
5. Blog
A blog can be personal or part of a business website (like the one you’re reading now), and it lets you share many kinds of content like:
- News
- Opinions
- Product updates
- Personal thoughts and stories
- Recipes
Blogging is great for building an audience, generating organic traffic, improving your writing skills, establishing credibility in an industry, and creating a community around shared interests. You can also monetize your blog through things like ads, paid newsletters, and sponsored content.
WordPress is an excellent platform for starting a blog, featuring essential tools for creating and managing multimedia content, a variety of blogging themes, and countless plugins.
When you host your blog on WordPress.com, you can additionally build an audience and drive traffic through The Reader.
Refer to our posts on starting a successful blog and increasing blog traffic for more guidance on starting an excellent blog.
6. News website
The goal of a news website is to provide up-to-date information on current events, trends, or niche industries. You can use it to cover everything from world news to local events.
Running a news website is a great way to advance a hobby, a cause, or an interest and shine a light on important issues. You can also use it to build authority or monetize through advertising, subscriptions, or sponsorships.
The same features that make WordPress an excellent platform for blogging also make it a smart choice for news sites:
- Built-in functionality to write, publish, manage, and organize content
- A vast selection of themes and plugins, particularly for customizing a newsfeed
- Native support for multiple authors, making collaboration easy
- Scalability that keeps your site fast and reliable—even when traffic surges or an article takes off
Tip: All WordPress.com plans include unlimited bandwidth and no cap on visitors, so your site stays stable no matter how much attention it gets.
7. Magazine website
Where news sites deliver timely updates, magazine websites lean into long-form content, interviews, and feature stories. They allow you to cover any topic, from fashion and celebrity gossip to homemaking.
WordPress is a great choice to build these types of websites because it supports multimedia content out of the box, including podcast and video embeds. There are also plenty of magazine themes for a professional and organized look.
8. Podcast website
Even though podcasts can be hosted on streaming platforms, they still benefit from a dedicated web space.
A website provides a home base where listeners can subscribe to your show and stream your episodes. It also gives you the opportunity to offer additional context and content like show notes, transcripts, links, and sponsor information. You can also use a podcast website to build an email list for a newsletter or show updates.
On WordPress.com, podcast themes and the Podcast Player block let you build a site that looks and feels professional.
You may also embed episodes from popular streaming platforms, including Spotify and YouTube.
9. Video streaming website
YouTube and TikTok are a testament to the popularity of video content. Using WordPress.com, you can create a video streaming platform and showcase original content.
You can use these sites to showcase your portfolio as a filmmaker, videographer, or video creator, build a community around specific topical areas, and offer exclusive or paid videos to subscribers.
With WordPress auto-embeds, you can display content from different streaming platforms. Simply copy and paste a link into the editor—the rest happens automatically. On WordPress.com’s Premium plan and above, you can also use VideoPress to host your videos instead of third-party solutions.
Commercial Sites
WordPress is also a solid choice if your site has a commercial focus—whether you’re selling products, services, or something in between.
10. Business/company website
A business website is an important tool for establishing credibility and online visibility, and it provides potential customers with information about your products or services.
Common information and features of business websites include:
- Contact options and business hours
- A map showing your locations
- FAQs or knowledge bases
- Company news and helpful blog content
- Online shopping and appointment booking
- Lead generation, like an email newsletter
On WordPress.com, you can find a selection of themes for business sites that can give your site a professional style.
In addition, there are plugins for business site needs, like integrating your site with CRMs, email marketing platforms, and marketing automation tools.
What’s more, built-in SEO capabilities on the WordPress.com Business plan and above make it easy to optimize your site for search and attract new customers. You can further enhance them with SEO plugins.
11. Ecommerce website (online store)
Online shops are a popular way for businesses to monetize, as you can sell products (physical and digital), services, and subscriptions without needing a brick-and-mortar store. Selling on the web allows you to reach a global audience and provide a 24/7 shopping experience.
A good ecommerce solution automates order processing, payments, and inventory management, and you can integrate with shipping providers for automated fulfillment.
If you want to open your own store online, you can easily do so on WordPress.com. The Commerce plan comes with WooCommerce and other ecommerce tools included. In addition, you have many online store themes to choose from.
You can also better understand your customers and improve conversions through integrations with popular web analytics tools like Google Analytics.
12. Restaurant website
Having a restaurant website doesn’t just help you stand out—it gives your guests a taste of what to expect before they even walk through the door. With a WordPress.com site, you can:
- Share your menu, prices, and any special offers.
- Tempt visitors with mouthwatering photos of your signature dishes.
- Make it easy to find your location, hours, and contact info.
- Let customers book a table or order online for pickup or delivery.
- Highlight glowing reviews and testimonials.
- Invite people to join your mailing list for promotions, events, or loyalty rewards.
Most importantly, having your own website helps your restaurant appear in local search results, so hungry customers can find you when it matters most.
Besides restaurant themes, you can supercharge your WordPress website with plugins for adding menus, taking reservations, or displaying reviews.
On Premium plans and above, the OpenTable block can add a reservation widget anywhere on your site. In addition, you can use the Map block for displaying your location(s).
See our guide on building a restaurant website for more tips.
13. One-page website/landing page
As the name suggests, these types of websites show all their content on a single page. Doing so provides a focused and distraction-free viewing experience that is especially convenient for mobile users who often prefer scrolling over clicking.
One-page sites are also great for promoting a product, service, event, or special offer, and they’re popular for generating leads by collecting emails or phone numbers through forms.
To create your own, pick from the many one-page themes available on WordPress.com (or upload your favorite third-party theme on the Business plan and above).
14. Real estate websites
As a real estate business, you definitely want a website to advertise your listings and attract potential buyers. A web presence allows you to display lots of information about your listings, including high-quality images, property descriptions, and pricing. You can even allow visitors to filter your listings by property type, location, and budget.
Most importantly, your website gives potential buyers or renters an easy way to contact you. On top of that, you can automate appointment booking for property viewings and use a blog to teach clients about the buying process and improve SEO.
To get started, pick a real estate theme like Rivington.
After that, extend your site with real estate plugins that can add valuable functionality like mortgage calculators to your site.
Community sites
One of the best things about the internet is its ability to bring people together. If building community is your goal, these types of websites can help you make it happen.
15. Community website
Build a hub for people with a common goal or interest, such as neighborhood associations, membership-based organizations, or fan clubs. Community websites facilitate discussions, events, and knowledge-sharing.
With membership plugins, users can create profiles, join groups, and interact with one another. In addition, they let you provide exclusive content or resources to members and assign content moderators.
There are plenty of themes for community websites on WordPress.com. A great example is Cultivate.
Adding forums to your community website is also an option.
16. Forum website
Online forums can form around any topic, from fitness to technology to gardening and beyond.
A forum can become a rich knowledge base for niche topics or industries and provide a space for debates, troubleshooting, and helping one another. Memberships, ads, or premium content are all great ways to monetize your forum website.
Using WordPress plugins, you can easily add forum and discussion boards to your website. Two of the most well-known options are bbPress and BuddyPress.
Refer to our tutorial on how to build online forums for in-depth instructions.
17. Membership website
While similar to what we’ve discussed already, membership sites allow you to offer exclusive content, courses, or services to your members—like articles, access to consulting, resources, videos, or downloads.
You can also set up tiers with different perks and include community tools like forums and chats. Membership sites are a particularly great business model to generate recurring revenue through subscriptions.
There are a variety of membership plugins you can use. Two of the most popular solutions are Members by MemberPress and Ultimate Member.
As a WordPress.com user, you can also take advantage of the Paid Content block to gate your content.
Finally, choose from themes that support membership sites.
Educational websites
Educational websites are a great way to teach new skills, share knowledge, or promote a learning institution—online and on your terms.
18. Online course website
Online courses can take different forms: all text, video, audio, or a mix of different media. They enable creators to share knowledge, generate income, and give customers ways to further their education.
On WordPress.com, you can create your own courses using learning management systems (LMS) like Sensei.
With LMS solutions, you can create lessons and quizzes inside WordPress and track student progress and performance. Sensei Pro also integrates with WooCommerce so you can sell your courses as products.
The Course theme was specifically designed to work with Sensei, but you can also choose another theme for online learning.
19. Wiki or knowledge base
This type of website enables you to provide detailed information on a specific topic or industry. For example, you can create a centralized knowledge hub to help customers troubleshoot issues and find answers.
WordPress.com themes for wiki sites allow you to hit the ground running with a design that enhances the information in your knowledge base.
20. School/university website
Traditional learning institutions need websites to provide essential information for students, parents, and faculty. You can also show off academic programs, admission processes, and campus life and offer online applications, registrations, e-learning portals, and online courses.
There are many themes for websites for educational institutions like Kentwood.
You can also use the features mentioned above to add contact forms and membership areas.
Faith and cause websites
Our final category includes websites devoted to religious faith and meaningful causes, giving people a place to gather, share, and take action.
21. Crowdfunding website
With a crowdfunding website, you can create a financing source for projects worth supporting. A crowdfunding site brings together founders and backers, tracks donation goals and progress, and provides secure payment gateways for transactions.
If you want to build your own, themes for crowdfunding sites give you a great place to start. There are also several crowdfunding plugins you can find on WordPress.com, including Crowdfunding for WooCommerce.
Blocks like the Sharing Buttons block make it easy to spread information about your crowdfunding efforts on social media, and there are many email marketing integrations available to keep backers engaged and informed.
22. Nonprofit website
Nonprofits may also use websites to promote their work, build support, attract volunteers, and raise funds.
If you build your nonprofit website on WordPress.com, you have a range of suitable themes to choose from, including Timestream.
Use the Donations block to accept contributions or a dedicated donation plugin like GiveWP. There are more plugin options for nonprofits, and we also have a guide to help you start a nonprofit website.
23. Charity website
Charity websites and nonprofit sites are similar—their goals are alike, and they can benefit from many of the same website features. WordPress.com also offers specialized themes and plugins for them.
24. Religious website
If you’re part of a church, mosque, temple, or spiritual organization, you can use a website to appeal to current and future members. Share your message, projects, and information about services, study groups, and religious events online. You can also collect donations.
There are many WordPress.com themes for religious websites, too.
25. Political campaign website
These types of websites are useful for sharing your candidate’s platform, policies, and campaign promises. They help mobilize supporters and volunteers, accept donations, and provide contact options. Plus, you can share updates, press releases, and upcoming events through them.
On WordPress.com, you can use the Poll block to query followers on important issues, and the Event Countdown block creates anticipation for upcoming town halls or elections.
Use WordPress for all types of websites
It should be clear by now that you can use WordPress to create nearly any kind of website. Its ease of use, wide range of blocks, and many themes and plugins make it flexible enough to fulfill any needs you have.
Keep in mind that it often makes sense to combine several website types to better monetize or publicize your work. For example, you could combine:
- A blog, personal, or business website with an online shop.
- School websites with online courses.
- Magazine sites with membership sections.
Whether you’re publishing posts, launching a product, or starting a movement, WordPress.com brings together what you need—hosting, domains, ecommerce, performance, and support—into one seamless platform that grows with you.
