How to Install WordPress on a VPS in 2026: Complete Step-by-Step Guide

WordPress powers over 43% of all websites on the internet. While managed WordPress hosting is convenient, installing WordPress on your own VPS gives you complete control, better performance, and significant cost savings at scale. This guide walks you through every step of the process.

Why Install WordPress on a VPS?

Before diving into the installation, let's understand why a VPS is the best choice for serious WordPress sites.

Step 1: Initial VPS Setup

You need a VPS running Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or 24.04 LTS. If you don't have one yet, check our VPS provider comparison to find the best option for your budget.

Minimum Requirements for WordPress

• RAM: 1 GB minimum, 2 GB recommended
• Storage: 20 GB SSD minimum
• CPU: 1 vCPU minimum
• OS: Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 LTS

Connect to your server and perform initial setup:

# Connect via SSH
ssh root@your_server_ip

# Update the system
apt update && apt upgrade -y

# Create a non-root user
adduser wordpress
usermod -aG sudo wordpress

# Set up basic firewall
ufw allow OpenSSH
ufw allow 'Nginx Full'
ufw enable

Step 2: Install Nginx

Nginx is faster and more efficient than Apache for serving WordPress sites, especially under high traffic.

# Install Nginx
sudo apt install nginx -y

# Start and enable Nginx
sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx

# Verify installation
sudo systemctl status nginx

Visit http://your_server_ip in your browser - you should see the Nginx welcome page.

Step 3: Install MySQL and Create Database

# Install MySQL
sudo apt install mysql-server -y

# Secure the installation
sudo mysql_secure_installation
# Answer: Yes to all security questions

# Log into MySQL
sudo mysql

# Create WordPress database and user
CREATE DATABASE wordpress DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'wpuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'YourStrongPassword123!';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wordpress.* TO 'wpuser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Step 4: Install PHP and Required Extensions

WordPress requires PHP and several extensions for full functionality.

# Install PHP 8.3 and required extensions
sudo apt install php8.3-fpm php8.3-mysql php8.3-curl php8.3-gd \
  php8.3-intl php8.3-mbstring php8.3-soap php8.3-xml \
  php8.3-xmlrpc php8.3-zip php8.3-imagick php8.3-opcache -y

# Verify PHP version
php --version

# Check PHP-FPM is running
sudo systemctl status php8.3-fpm

Optimize PHP Configuration

# Edit PHP configuration
sudo nano /etc/php/8.3/fpm/php.ini

# Find and update these values:
upload_max_filesize = 64M
post_max_size = 64M
memory_limit = 256M
max_execution_time = 300
max_input_time = 300

# Restart PHP-FPM
sudo systemctl restart php8.3-fpm

Step 5: Download and Configure WordPress

# Download WordPress
cd /tmp
curl -O https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz

# Extract and move to web root
tar xzvf latest.tar.gz
sudo cp -a /tmp/wordpress/. /var/www/yourdomain.com/html/

# Set proper ownership
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/yourdomain.com/html/

# Set proper permissions
sudo find /var/www/yourdomain.com/html/ -type d -exec chmod 750 {} \;
sudo find /var/www/yourdomain.com/html/ -type f -exec chmod 640 {} \;

Configure wp-config.php

# Create wp-config.php from sample
cd /var/www/yourdomain.com/html/
sudo cp wp-config-sample.php wp-config.php

# Generate security keys
curl -s https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/salt/

# Edit wp-config.php
sudo nano wp-config.php

# Update these lines with your database info:
# define('DB_NAME', 'wordpress');
# define('DB_USER', 'wpuser');
# define('DB_PASSWORD', 'YourStrongPassword123!');
# define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');

# Replace the placeholder keys with the generated ones above

Step 6: Configure Nginx for WordPress

# Create Nginx server block
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/yourdomain.com

Add this optimized WordPress configuration:

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    server_name yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com;
    root /var/www/yourdomain.com/html;
    index index.php index.html;

    # Max upload size
    client_max_body_size 64M;

    # WordPress permalinks
    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
    }

    # PHP handling
    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }

    # Security: deny access to sensitive files
    location ~ /\.ht {
        deny all;
    }

    location = /wp-config.php {
        deny all;
    }

    location ~* /wp-includes/.*.php$ {
        deny all;
    }

    # Cache static assets
    location ~* \.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|ico|css|js|svg|woff2|woff|ttf|eot)$ {
        expires 30d;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
        access_log off;
    }

    # Gzip compression
    gzip on;
    gzip_types text/plain text/css application/json application/javascript text/xml application/xml text/javascript image/svg+xml;
    gzip_min_length 256;
    gzip_vary on;

    # Security headers
    add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN" always;
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
    add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block" always;
}

# Enable the site
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/yourdomain.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

# Remove default site
sudo rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

# Test configuration
sudo nginx -t

# Reload Nginx
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Step 7: SSL with Let's Encrypt

# Install Certbot
sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y

# Get SSL certificate
sudo certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com

# Verify auto-renewal
sudo certbot renew --dry-run

Step 8: WordPress Performance Optimization

Enable OPcache

# Edit OPcache configuration
sudo nano /etc/php/8.3/fpm/conf.d/10-opcache.ini

# Add these settings:
opcache.enable=1
opcache.memory_consumption=128
opcache.interned_strings_buffer=8
opcache.max_accelerated_files=10000
opcache.revalidate_freq=2

# Restart PHP-FPM
sudo systemctl restart php8.3-fpm

Install Redis for Object Caching

# Install Redis
sudo apt install redis-server php8.3-redis -y

# Enable Redis
sudo systemctl enable redis-server
sudo systemctl start redis-server

# Restart PHP-FPM
sudo systemctl restart php8.3-fpm

# In WordPress, install the "Redis Object Cache" plugin
# and enable it from Settings > Redis

Recommended WordPress Plugins for Performance

• WP Super Cache or W3 Total Cache - Page caching
• Redis Object Cache - Database query caching
• Autoptimize - CSS/JS minification
• ShortPixel or Imagify - Image optimization
• WP-Optimize - Database cleanup

WordPress VPS Hosting Cost Comparison

As you can see, hosting WordPress on a VPS is significantly cheaper than managed hosting, especially when hosting multiple sites.

Troubleshooting Common WordPress Issues

White Screen of Death

Cause: PHP memory limit exceeded or plugin conflict.

# Increase PHP memory limit
sudo nano /etc/php/8.3/fpm/php.ini
# Set: memory_limit = 512M

# Disable all plugins via command line
cd /var/www/yourdomain.com/html/wp-content/
sudo mv plugins plugins.bak
sudo mkdir plugins
# Visit wp-admin to troubleshoot, then restore one by one

Database Connection Error

# Test MySQL connection
mysql -u wpuser -p wordpress

# Check MySQL is running
sudo systemctl status mysql

# Verify wp-config.php credentials match
cat /var/www/yourdomain.com/html/wp-config.php | grep DB_

Permission Errors

# Reset WordPress file permissions
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/yourdomain.com/html/
sudo find /var/www/yourdomain.com/html/ -type d -exec chmod 750 {} \;
sudo find /var/www/yourdomain.com/html/ -type f -exec chmod 640 {} \;

# Make wp-content writable for uploads
sudo chmod -R 770 /var/www/yourdomain.com/html/wp-content/

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

Installing WordPress on a VPS gives you the best combination of performance, control, and value. With the LEMP stack (Linux, Nginx, MySQL, PHP), your WordPress site will be faster and more reliable than on shared hosting.

The key steps are: set up your VPS, install the LEMP stack, download WordPress, configure Nginx, and add SSL. With proper caching and optimization, a $6/month VPS can handle tens of thousands of monthly visitors.

For hassle-free server management, VPS Commander provides visual tools to manage your WordPress VPS without terminal commands.