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WordPress Playground for Everyone

WordPress Playground lets you run WordPress instantly—no server, no setup, no risk. It works in your browser at playground.wordpress.net, and developers can also use it via CLI, Node.js, or embedded in their own apps. But you don't need to be technical to benefit from it.

Watch this quick overview:

Think of It Like a Car Simulator​

A car simulator gives you a steering wheel, pedals, and virtual streets. Practice driving, hit cones, make mistakes — nothing bad happens. No real car gets damaged. Want to try again? Just restart.

WordPress Playground works the same way. It gives you a complete WordPress site to experiment with, but nothing you do affects any real website. Make changes, break things, learn from mistakes — then start fresh whenever you want.

WordPress Playground Landing Page

What Can You Do with Playground?​

When you visit playground.wordpress.net, you get a WordPress site running entirely in your browser. You can:

  • Install plugins and themes
  • Edit pages and create content
  • Change WordPress and PHP versions
  • Explore features you've never tried before

By default, WordPress Playground loads a landing page to introduce some of the features of Playground and where you can learn more about it. You can also load a vanilla WordPress version without the landing page from the Dock's New pane.

  1. Open New from the Dock.

  2. Select Vanilla WordPress from the Blueprint Gallery.

    New Playground pane in the Dock

If You're Learning WordPress​

Are you new to WordPress or trying to understand features like the Site Editor or the new features of the latest WordPress Release? Playground is your perfect practice space.

Explore How Pages Are Built​

Playground logs you in as an administrator, so you can edit any page. Click Edit for editing posts and Edit Site to update the website layout in the top toolbar to open the editor.

Editing WordPress websites

Want to understand how a page layout was created? Open the List View (the three horizontal lines icon) to see every block that makes up the page.

Site Editor List view

You can inspect columns, headings, images, and buttons — and see exactly how they're arranged. This is a powerful way to learn by example.

Explore the Blueprint Library​

Open New from the Dock to access the Blueprint Gallery, a set of more than 40 blueprints to inspire you and try different types of websites with WordPress Playground. Art Gallery, e-commerce, and web portfolio blueprints are some of the examples.

  1. Open New from the Dock.

  2. Browse the Blueprint Gallery and select the Blueprint to launch in WordPress Playground.

    Blueprint Gallery in the Dock

Try New Features Safely​

When the WordPress team releases new features, you can test them in Playground before they affect your real site. Open Site Settings from the Dock and select any WordPress version to explore what's new — or what's coming next.

If You Own a WordPress Site​

Running a live website means every change risks breaking something. Playground lets you test before you commit.

Test Plugins Before Installing​

Curious about a new SEO plugin? Want to compare two contact form options? Install them in Playground first:

  1. Open playground.wordpress.net
  2. Go to Plugins → Add New
  3. Search for and install any plugin
  4. Test it thoroughly

Your real site stays untouched while you evaluate whether the plugin fits your needs.

Installing Plugins

Preview Theme Changes​

Thinking about switching themes? Test your new theme in Playground to see how it handles your content — without disrupting your visitors.

Compare Options Side by Side​

Open multiple browser tabs with different Playground setups. Compare plugin A versus plugin B, or see how your content looks in different themes. Make informed decisions before touching your production site.

Your Real Site Stays Safe

Every Playground runs independently in your browser. Nothing syncs to any external server, and nothing affects your live WordPress installation.

If You Use WordPress Daily​

Even experienced WordPress users benefit from a safe testing environment.

Make Design Experiments​

Want to try a different font size? Adjust spacing? Change colors? Load a Playground with the same theme that you are using in production and edit it freely:

  1. Open any page in the editor
  2. Select a block and modify its settings
  3. See the results immediately

If you like what you see, recreate those changes on your real site. If not, just close the tab — no cleanup required.

Yes, You Can Save Your Work​

Playground doesn't have to be temporary. You can save your progress and return to it later.

Save to Your Browser​

  1. Now WordPress Playground teels you if your Playground instance is unsaved on the top right
  2. Click on Save (yellow button)
  3. Set the name of your instance

Saving Playgrounds

Playground generates a unique link for your saved site. Bookmark it, and you can return to exactly where you left off.

Download as a ZIP File​

Need to move your work elsewhere? Choose Download as .zip to export your entire Playground — including plugins, themes, and content. You can restore it later or even host it on a real server.

Keep Your Playground Link

When you save to the browser, copy the unique URL it generates. That link is your way back to your saved work.

Next Steps​

Now that you know Playground is for everyone, explore further: