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How to Install WordPress on Microsoft Azure: A Step-by-Step Guide

Last Updated on July 28th, 2023

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WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems for building and managing websites. Microsoft Azure is an open and flexible cloud computing platform. You can think of it similarly to other cloud computing solutions such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, and more.

So, are you trying to figure out how to install WordPress on Azure? Then we have got you covered.

Microsoft Azure encompasses many different services, but one lets you affordably host your own WordPress site.

While setting up WordPress on cloud hosting might seem intimidating, Microsoft Azure includes pre-made apps that make it surprisingly easy to install WordPress and get up and running. Moreover, it helps you create a highly robust and scalable website that can be accessed from anywhere.

To simplify your task, here we will go through a step-by-step process to install WordPress on Azure. 

Of course, you’ll still need some technical knowledge regarding the ongoing maintenance and management of your WordPress site after installation. 

If you don’t have that technical knowledge, you might want to check out WordPress hosting control panel services such as SpinupWP or GridPane. More on those later.

So, let’s get started.

How to Install WordPress on Microsoft Azure

To give you a basic idea of what the process looks like, here are the high-level instructions for how to install WordPress on Azure:

  1. Sign up for a free Microsoft Azure account
  2. Create a new “resource” in Azure using a pre-made WordPress setup
  3. Configure your “resource”
  4. Set up WordPress using the regular WordPress install wizard
  5. Point your domain name to your site

1. Sign Up for Your Free Azure Account

Creating an Azure account is free, and Microsoft will also give you 12 months free for both Linux and Windows virtual machines. Over those 12 months, you can use up to 750 hours of computing for free, which equals about a month of hosting.

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You’ll also get 5 GB each of free blob storage and file storage, as well as 250 GB of SQL databases and 15 GB of bandwidth.

Basically, you’ll be able to follow this tutorial for free…at least at the beginning. However, if you want to use a custom domain name with your WordPress site, you will need to upgrade.

To get started, head to Azure and register for your free account.

During the signup, you’ll need to verify your account with a phone and credit card number. However, you won’t need to pay for anything. Also, there are no automatic charges. Hence, you won’t get any surprise bills – Microsoft will only upgrade you to the paid plans if you opt-in after your free period.

Once you sign up, you’ll see a prompt to go to the portal.

2. Create a New Resource

In the main dashboard, click on the + Create a resource button:

install wordpress on azure - create a new resource

Then, search the marketplace for “WordPress”.

You’ll then see a bunch of different results. Each result is a different setup/server configuration for running WordPress.

For example, if you wanted to use Plesk for server management, you could choose one of the Plesk WordPress options. Or, if you want to use WordPress multisite, you could choose the WordPress multisite resource.

For this tutorial, we will leverage basic WordPress resource that comes straight from WordPress – however, the same basic steps will apply even if you choose a different resource:

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install wordpress on azure - create a new resource step 2

Once you select the resource, you’ll see more details about it. Click Create to proceed:

install wordpress on azure - create a new resource step 3

3. Configure Your Resource

Now, you’ll see several options to configure your resource:

  • App name – enter an internal name to help you remember this WordPress install.
  • Subscription – leave this as the default.
  • Resource Group – this will pre-fill based on your App name.
  • Database Provider – leave this as the default – Azure Database for MySQL.
  • App Service plan/Location – click to choose the data center that’s closest to your WordPress site’s target audience.
  • Database – click to enter database credentials. Make sure that you remember these, as you’ll need them if you ever want to access your database directly.
  • Application Insights – leave this as the default.

Once you’ve filled everything out, click Create at the bottom:

host wordpress website on azure - configure your resource

Now, Microsoft will start creating and deploying your resource. You might need to wait a few minutes while Microsoft works.

You can click on the notification bell icon to view the process. Once it’s finished, you should see Deployment succeeded.

Then, click the Go to resource button to access its settings:

host wordpress website on azure - configure your resource step 2

Or, you can always search for your resource by name using the search box at the top of the Azure dashboard.

4. Run the WordPress Install Wizard

In the Azure dashboard for your resource, you’ll see the temporary URL for your WordPress site:

setup wordpress on azure - run the wordpress install wizard

Click that URL link to open the regular WordPress install wizard.

You’ll need to enter your WordPress username and password, among other credentials:

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setup wordpress on azure - run the wordpress install wizard step 2

From there, you can log in to your WordPress site just like you normally would:

setup wordpress on azure - run the wordpress install wizard step 3

And that’s it – congratulations! You just successfully installed your own WordPress site on Microsoft Azure.

5. Point Your Domain Name to Your Site

For a real website, you probably don’t want to use the free Azure subdomain that your app has after the initial setup.

If you want to use your own custom domain name instead, you can do it from the Custom domains tab of your WordPress site’s dashboard in Azure:

wordpress on azure - point your domain name to your site

The process is kind of involved, though. You can follow this helpful article to learn everything you need to map your custom domain name to your Microsoft Azure WordPress website.

However, you need to upgrade to a paying account to use a custom domain. So if you want to host your site for free, you’ll need to stick with the Azure subdomain.

Other Options for Hosting WordPress in the Cloud

As I mentioned earlier, Microsoft Azure is far from the only option for hosting WordPress sites in the cloud.

The easiest way that I’ve found to host WordPress in the cloud is by using a dedicated WordPress server control panel. These control panels not only handle setting everything up, but they’ll also handle routine server functions, which is essential (especially if you’re not a developer).

We’ve written about two such panels with tutorials for SpinupWP (our tutorial) and GridPane (our tutorial). There are also plenty of other services, such as RunCloud and ServerPilot.

I think these options are more accessible than hosting WordPress directly with Microsoft Azure.

However, if you are set on Microsoft Azure, the initial setup process for WordPress is quite simple and smooth, as we’ve shown you in this article.

Do you still have any questions about how to install WordPress on Microsoft Azure? Ask away in the comments, and we’ll do our best to help!

Frequently Asked Questions

What benefits do you get when you host WordPress website on Azure?

Here are some of the benefits of WordPress hosting in Azure:

  • High Scalability: Microsoft Azure offers resources that are available worldwide, which might not be possible for small hosting providers. Moreover, it ensures that your website works round-the-clock by allowing you to scale up or down, depending on your requirement.
  • Enhanced User Experience: When you host a WordPress website on Azure, it quickly loads the entire content smoothly. It ultimately offers an improved experience to the users. 
  • Integrated CDN: Azure possesses an integrated CDN which can easily cache static content for quick delivery. Moreover, it leverages the edge servers to fetch dynamic content.
  • Developer-friendly Environment: Azure provides different tools & services that are very helpful for developers.
  • Secure Data: Azure comes with a built-in backup. It means whenever your data gets lost due to a breach, hardware malfunctioning, or any other reason, you can easily recover it. 
  • Manage WordPress Site Easily: The platform offers various management as well as monitoring tools that you can utilize to look after the entire WordPress website. 

How much does WordPress cost on Azure?

The cost of WordPress on Azure paid plan starts from $9.49 per month. It is a shared plan with 1GB of disk space and supports 100 web, mobile, or API apps. Besides this, Microsoft Azure offers other plans with dedicated hosting. The pricing of these plans starts from $54.75 per month.

A team of WordPress experts that love to test out new WordPress related software, WordPress plugins and WordPress themes.