How to Install WordPress Locally on Your Mac (2 Methods)

Are you ready to start building and experimenting with WordPress on your local Mac? Installing WordPress locally is an excellent way to:

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Learn how WordPress works without risk of breaking a live site
Develop and test new themes or plugins in a safe environment
Build complete websites before deploying them to a web host
Work on WordPress without needing an internet connection

In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll take you step-by-step through two easy methods for installing WordPress locally on your Mac:

Using Local WP (beginner-friendly)
Using MAMP (more control for developers)

By the end of this tutorial, you‘ll have your own local WordPress development environment up and running smoothly. Let‘s get started!

Why Install WordPress Locally?

If you‘re new to WordPress, you might be wondering why you‘d want to install it on your own computer. After all, isn‘t WordPress meant to run on web servers and be accessible to the public?

While that‘s true, there are many benefits to running WordPress in a local development environment:

It‘s completely free (no need to pay for hosting while you learn and build)
You can access your site without an internet connection
Changes and tests are much quicker than on a live server
There‘s no risk of accidentally breaking a public website
You have complete control over the server configuration

Whether you want to learn WordPress development, test out new features and plugins, or build a complete website before launching it publicly, a local install is the way to go.

WordPress Local Development Statistics

Still not convinced that WordPress local development is popular? Check out these statistics:

In 2023, WordPress powered over 43% of all websites on the internet (Source)
60% of WordPress websites use a local testing environment during development (Source)
Local WP has over 300,000 active users (Source)
MAMP has been downloaded over 10 million times (Source)

As you can see, local WordPress development isn‘t just for advanced developers. It‘s an essential part of building and managing WordPress sites for professionals and hobbyists alike.

Now that you know the why, let‘s look at the how. Here are two easy methods for getting WordPress running locally on your Mac.

Method 1: Installing WordPress Locally with Local WP

If you‘re new to WordPress or local development, using Local WP is the simplest way to set up a local WordPress install on your Mac.

Local WP is a free app from WP Engine (a popular managed WordPress host) that automates the process of configuring a local server environment for WordPress.

Step 1: Download and Install Local WP

To get started, head to the Local WP homepage. Click the "Download" button and select "macOS" when prompted. After completing a short registration form, the Local WP installer will be downloaded to your Mac.

Open your Downloads folder and double-click the "Local.Release.dmg" file to open the installer disk image. Drag the Local WP icon to your Applications folder to complete the installation.

Step 2: Create a New Local WordPress Site

Open up Local WP from your Applications. If prompted, enter your computer‘s admin username and password to allow Local WP to set up its configuration.

On the main Local WP dashboard, click the "Create a new site" button. Enter a name for your local site (this can be anything you want). Leave the "Preferred" options selected and click "Create site".

Over the next few minutes, Local WP will automatically:

Set up a local Apache web server
Create a MySQL database
Download and install the latest version of WordPress
Configure your local website‘s settings

Once the process completes, you‘ll see the overview screen for your new local site.

Step 3: Access Your Local WordPress Site

On your site‘s overview page in Local WP, you‘ll see a "Setup" box with several options:

Admin: Click this button to open up your local WordPress site‘s admin dashboard. Log in with the "Admin username" and "Admin password" shown in the "Setup" box.
Open site: This button will open the public-facing side of your local WordPress site in a new browser tab. This is how visitors would see your site if it was live (except only you can access it on your local computer).
Open folder: Use this to view and edit the WordPress files that make up your local site. You can open them in your favorite code editor to start making modifications.
Database: Here you can access your local site‘s MySQL database using phpMyAdmin. This is where all your WordPress content and settings are stored.
SSL: Local WP can automatically configure your local site to use HTTPS. Just click the "Trust" button to enable this feature.

That‘s it! You now have a complete WordPress site running locally on your Mac, thanks to Local WP. You can start fiddling with themes, testing plugins, and building out your content.

When you‘re ready, Local WP makes it easy to deploy your local site to a live web server. Just click the "Push to Flywheel" or "Connect to WP Engine" button to migrate your site to one of these managed WordPress hosts.

Method 2: Installing WordPress Locally with MAMP

If you‘re a more advanced user looking for complete control over your local server environment, you can use MAMP to install WordPress.

MAMP stands for MacOS, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. It‘s a free app that allows you to run a local Apache web server and MySQL database on your Mac.

Step 1: Download and Install MAMP

Go to the MAMP downloads page and click the "Download" button below "MAMP & MAMP PRO" to get the free MAMP edition.

Once the download finishes, open the "MAMP_MAMP_PRO.pkg" file to launch the installer. Follow the prompts to complete the installation. By default, MAMP will be installed in your Mac‘s "Applications" folder.

Step 2: Configure MAMP

Open MAMP from your Applications folder. You should see the main control window with "Start/Stop" buttons for the Apache and MySQL servers.

Before starting your servers, click the "Preferences" button. In the "Ports" tab, change the Apache Port to "8888" – this will help avoid conflicts with the default Mac web server ports.

Next, go to the "Web Server" tab and note the folder listed under "Document Root". This is where you‘ll put your local website files. You can change this to another location if you prefer.

Step 3: Start Your Local Server

Back in the main MAMP window, click "Start Servers". Both the Apache web server and MySQL database server will start running. You can click "Open WebStart page" to verify they‘re working in your browser.

Step 4: Create a MySQL Database

Before you can install WordPress, you need to create a MySQL database for it to use. Click on the "Open WebStart page" button in MAMP, then click on the "Tools" menu and select "phpMyAdmin".

In phpMyAdmin, click the "Databases" tab. Under "Create database", enter a name for your database (e.g. my_wordpress) and click "Create".

Step 5: Download and Install WordPress

Download the latest version of WordPress from wordpress.org/download. Unzip the downloaded file, and move the resulting "wordpress" folder into the "Document Root" folder you found in MAMP‘s preferences.

Rename the "wordpress" folder to whatever you want your site to be called (e.g. my-site).

Step 6: Run the WordPress Installer

Open a new browser tab and go to http://localhost:8888/my-site (replace "my-site" with the name of the folder you created in the previous step).

You should see the WordPress installer screen. Select your language and click "Continue". On the next page, click "Let‘s go!" to proceed.

Enter the following information for your database connection:

Database Name: (the name you chose in Step 4)
Username: root
Password: root
Database Host: localhost
Table Prefix: wp_

Click "Submit" to continue.

On the next screen, WordPress will ask you to set up some basic site information:

Site Title
Username
Password
Email

Fill out this information and click "Install WordPress". After a few moments, you should see a success message. Click "Log In" to access your new local WordPress site‘s dashboard.

Wrapping Up

Congratulations! You now know two easy ways to install WordPress locally on your Mac. Whether you chose Local WP or MAMP, you have a fully functional WordPress development environment at your fingertips.

Some next steps to continue your WordPress journey: