Introduction

Yes. The WordPress logo is a trademark, and so is the word WordPress itself. That surprises a lot of people. WordPress is free, open source software, so it feels like the branding must be free too.

It is not. The software licence and the brand are two separate things. You can copy, change and sell the code. You cannot put the logo on your business card and call yourself a WordPress company.

This guide explains who owns the marks, what the official logo looks like, and exactly where the line sits in 2026. It also covers the safest way to name a WordPress business.

The Short Answer, in Plain English

Two things are protected. The name WordPress is a registered word mark. The circled W symbol is a registered logo mark. The full lockup, which is the W next to the word, is protected as well.

A trademark does one job. It stops other people from using a brand in a way that confuses the public about who made something or who endorsed it. It is not about stopping you from talking about WordPress.

So the rule of thumb is simple. You may describe what you do with WordPress. You may not brand yourself as WordPress.

Saying “we build sites on WordPress” is fine. Naming your agency “WordPress Experts Ltd” is not. Putting a “Powered by WordPress” badge in your footer is fine. Dropping the circled W into your own company logo is not.

That single distinction settles about nine out of ten questions people ask. The rest of this guide covers the cases where it is less obvious.

Who Owns the WordPress Trademark?

The WordPress trademarks are owned by the WordPress Foundation. That is a non-profit body set up to protect the project for the long term. The trademarks were transferred to it in 2010, along with the domains and the code.

The reason for that structure matters. The Foundation holds the brand so that no single company can take the project private. It also gives the community a neutral owner to point at when someone misuses the name.

The Foundation also runs the trademark policy. You can read it in full on the Foundation’s own site. It sets out what needs permission and what does not, and it is updated from time to time. The most recent revision landed in May 2026, so check the live page rather than an old blog post before you make a branding decision.

There is one more layer worth knowing. The Foundation has granted an exclusive commercial licence over the marks to the project’s main corporate sponsor. That licensee can, in turn, grant permission to others. In practice this means commercial requests are handled through that licence rather than by the Foundation directly.

For most site owners and small agencies, none of that changes the rules. It only changes who you would talk to if you ever needed formal permission.

What Counts as the Official Logo

There are three official marks, and it helps to know them apart before you use one.

The W symbol. This is the lowercase letter W inside a circle, with a ring around the outside. It is the mark most people mean when they say “the WordPress logo”.

The word mark. This is the word WordPress set in the project’s own lettering. Note the capital P in the middle. The Foundation is firm about that spelling, and “WordPress” with a small p is treated as wrong everywhere.

The combined lockup. This is the W symbol sitting next to the word mark. It is the version used on official project material.

All three are available from the logos and media page on the project’s own site. You get vector files, which means the artwork stays sharp at any size. Always use those files rather than an image you found in a search result. Copies circulating online are often stretched, recoloured or an old version.

When you do use a mark, use it as supplied. Do not stretch it, rotate it, add a drop shadow, or recolour it to match your own palette. Do not place it on a busy photo where the ring disappears. Leave clear space around it. These are ordinary brand rules, and breaking them weakens your own page as much as the mark.

What You Are Allowed to Do

The policy is deliberately generous about honest, descriptive use. Here is what is safe without asking anyone.

Say that you use WordPress. “Built with WordPress”, “We work in WordPress”, “Powered by WordPress” and similar statements are all fine. A “Powered by WordPress” badge linked back to the project site is an established, accepted use.

State compatibility. “Works with WordPress” and “Designed for WordPress” are allowed. They tell buyers something true and useful, and they do not claim any relationship with the project.

Write about it. Tutorials, reviews, courses, comparisons and news coverage can all name WordPress freely and can show the logo where it illustrates the subject. This is normal editorial use.

Use it inside your own site or app. A dashboard that lists the platforms you support can show the W next to the word WordPress. The mark is acting as a label, not as your brand.

Run community events with permission. Official community meetups and camps use the name under a specific programme. That route exists, but it is granted, not assumed. Ask first.

Across all of these, one test applies. Would a reasonable visitor come away thinking your product is an official WordPress product, or that the project endorsed you? If yes, you have crossed the line, even if every individual word was true.

What You Must Not Do

These are the uses that get people a letter from a lawyer. Most of them are easy to avoid once you know them.

Do not put the logo in your logo. You cannot build the circled W into your own identity, and you cannot make a near copy of it. This is the single most common mistake among new agencies.

Do not use WordPress in a domain name. Registering a domain with “wordpress” in it is not allowed, and the Foundation has the option of a domain dispute to recover it. That includes creative spellings meant to get around the rule.

Do not use it in a company, product or service name. “WordPress Care Plans” as a product name is out. So is a plugin or theme whose name begins with WordPress. Plugin directory rules block this at submission for the same reason.

Do not imply endorsement. “Recommended by WordPress”, “Official WordPress partner” and “WordPress approved” are all off limits unless you genuinely hold that status in writing.

Do not bid on it in ads. The Foundation does not permit use of the trademark in paid advertising. That covers ad copy that presents your brand as WordPress.

Do not sell merchandise with the mark. Printing the logo on shirts, mugs or stickers for sale is a commercial use of the brand and needs permission.

Do not modify the mark and call it yours. Redrawing the W, flipping it, or dropping your initial inside the same ring is still trading on the original.

The WP Rule and Naming Your Business Safely

Here is the practical escape hatch. The abbreviation “WP” is not covered by the WordPress trademarks. The Foundation has said so plainly, and it is why so many products in this space use WP in their names.

That is why a name like ours works. It signals the platform to the people searching for help, without borrowing a protected mark. You can do exactly the same thing.

A few naming patterns are reliably safe. Use WP as a prefix or suffix, as in WP Care or CareWP. Use a descriptive phrase that puts WordPress after your own brand, as in “Acme Studio, a WordPress agency”. Or pick a name with no platform reference at all and say what you do underneath it.

Two cautions still apply. First, WP being free of the WordPress trademark does not mean any WP name is free. Another business may already own it, so run a normal trademark and company name search before you commit. Second, avoid names that pair WP with wording that implies official status.

Descriptive use in your marketing copy remains open to you throughout. Your business can be called anything, and your home page can still say, clearly and honestly, that you build and maintain WordPress themes and sites.

Trademark Is Not the Same as the GPL

This is where most of the confusion starts, so it is worth being precise.

WordPress is released under the GPL. That licence covers the software. It lets you run, study, change and redistribute the code, including for money. Themes and plugins that build on it inherit the same freedoms. We cover what that means in our guides on whether WordPress is GPL licensed and whether GPL plugins are legal and on what a GPL WordPress theme really is.

Trademark law covers something different. It protects names and symbols that identify a source. The GPL says nothing about branding, and it does not hand you any right to use the logo.

So both statements are true at once. You may fork the entire codebase, rename it and sell it. You may not call the result WordPress or stamp the W on it. Several well known forks exist for exactly this reason, and every one of them carries its own name and its own logo.

The same split applies to your own site. Your theme files are yours to edit, but the marks inside them are not. If you are swapping out a logo that was hard-coded into theme files rather than set through the customiser, take a full backup or work on a staging copy first. Our walkthrough on how to add and change a logo in WordPress shows the safe route, and the same care applies to your site favicon.

What Happens If You Get It Wrong

The usual first step is not a lawsuit. It is an email asking you to stop. Most cases end there, because most misuse is honest and easy to fix.

If the mark is in a domain name, the outcome can be harder. A domain dispute can move the name away from you, and you lose whatever search equity it had built. That is a painful result for a business that spent years on it.

If the mark is in a plugin or theme name, the listing can be renamed or removed. If it is in your ads, the ads can be pulled. If it is baked into your company identity, the rebrand cost is entirely yours.

None of that is meant to frighten you. The point is that the cheap moment to get this right is at the start, before the domain is registered and the signage is printed.

Run a quick audit today. Look at your logo, your domain, your product names, your ad copy and your footer badges. Anything that brands you as WordPress rather than describing what you do with it should change.

If you would rather someone checked that for you, or you need help rebranding a site without breaking it, our team works on WordPress sites every day. Talk to 24×7 WP Support and we will take a look.

Brian

Brian is a WordPress support specialist and content contributor at 24×7 WP Support. He writes practical, easy-to-follow guides on WordPress troubleshooting, WooCommerce issues, plugin and theme errors, website security, migrations, performance optimization, and integrations. With a focus on solving real website problems, Brian helps business owners, bloggers, and online store managers keep their WordPress sites running smoothly.