In your website’s Server Settings, access your website’s database, SFTP credentials, and more advanced settings. This guide will give an overview of the options here.
This feature is available on sites with the WordPress.com Creator and Entrepreneur plans, and the legacy Pro plan. For sites on the free, Starter, and Explorer plans, upgrade your plan to access this feature.
In this guide
To visit the Server Settings area for a specific site:
- Visit the Sites page in your dashboard.
- Click on the site title in the list of your sites.
- Click on the “Server Settings” tab on the site overview page.
If hosting access is not yet activated, you will find a notice that says, “Activate all developer tools.” Click the button labeled “Activate now” to unlock your server settings. This is a one-time action you will never need to do again for your site.
The following developer-level settings are found in the Server Settings tab:
Use the credentials provided to access and edit your website files using an SFTP client. To obtain your site’s SFTP credentials, take the following steps:
- Visit the Sites page in your dashboard.
- Click on the site title in the list of your sites.
- Click on the “Server Settings” tab on the site overview page.
- Under “SFTP/SSH credentials“, click the button labeled “Create credentials” to create and copy your site’s SFTP username and password.
- You will also see a toggle button labeled “Enable SSH access for this site” to click and enable SSH and use WP-CLI.
Visit the following guides to learn more about using SFTP, connecting to SSH, and using WP-CLI.
Developers can use phpMyAdmin to access a WordPress.com website’s database and run a wide range of operations. Click the “Open phpMyAdmin” button on the Server Settings tab to access your site’s database.
Learn more in our Manage Your Site’s MySQL Database guide.
PHP is the programming language that primarily powers WordPress. Newer versions of PHP often come with performance improvements that make your site more speedy. Older versions of PHP stop receiving security updates.
You don’t need to switch your PHP version. If an update to your site’s PHP version is required, this will happen automatically. However, it’s possible that a plugin or theme might require a newer version of PHP. Therefore, we provide the option for you to change the PHP version your site uses.
To switch the PHP version on your site, follow these steps:
- First, ensure all of your active plugins and your site’s active theme is up to date.
- Visit your site’s dashboard and navigate to Hosting → Overview (or Settings → Hosting Configuration if using the default interface style).
- Click the “Server Settings” tab.
- Under the “Web server settings” section, you can find the version of PHP your site is currently running.
- Use the dropdown to change the PHP version your site runs to another available version. PHP 7.4 and other version numbers not listed here are not supported.
- An “Update PHP Version” button will appear. Click the button to confirm your change.
WordPress.com strives to ensure sites have access to the latest compatible versions of PHP. The versions we currently support can be found in your web server settings or by visiting the PHP environment support page. It is not possible to switch to a version of PHP that is not listed there.
There may be issues if a plugin or theme is not updated to work with the recommended PHP version. In this case, we recommend you downgrade your PHP version to the previous version available. Then, reach out to the developer of the plugin or theme that isn’t working to let them know they need to update their plugin/theme for the current PHP version so you can upgrade to the recommended version as soon as possible.
In your website’s web server settings, you can also control how nonexistent assets are handled on your website. Visit our Web Server Settings guide to learn more about these options.
If your website is missing the default plugins and themes that came with your plan, you may restore them by clicking a button. Visit our Restore Plugins and Themes guide to learn how.
While troubleshooting an issue, you may be advised to clear your site’s cache. Click the “Clear cache” button on the Server Settings tab to clear your site’s server cache.
Learn more in our Clear Your Site’s Cache guide.
