Wordpress Referral Code

WordPress.com's referral is symmetrical and generous, with one condition that disqualifies a large share of new customers before they start.

When someone clicks your link and buys an annual WordPress.com plan, you receive $25 in account credit toward an annual plan, and they receive $25 in credit applied to that initial purchase. It is a clean, symmetrical arrangement and $25 is a meaningful amount against WordPress.com's pricing.

The condition is the plan type. Monthly plans are not eligible for referral credits. That matters more than it sounds, because monthly is the natural choice for someone starting a site they are not yet sure about — the exact person you are most likely to be recommending WordPress.com to. If they pick monthly, neither of you gets anything, and there is no way to convert it afterwards.

So if you are referring someone deliberately, the plan choice has to be part of the conversation. That said, be careful about steering someone into an annual commitment for a project that might not last three months — a $25 credit is not a good reason to lock a friend into a year of hosting they may not want.

The second restriction is stacking. Credits earned may not be combined with any other credits or discounts. WordPress.com runs promotional pricing frequently, particularly on first-year plans, so there will often be a live discount that your friend has to choose between using and using the referral credit. Whichever is larger is the one to take, and they cannot have both.

The reward is account credit toward an annual plan rather than cash, which means it only has value if you intend to keep paying for WordPress.com. For someone running a site they plan to maintain, that is close to face value. For someone winding a site down, it is nothing.

Worth distinguishing: WordPress.com is Automattic's hosted service, and is a different thing from self-hosted WordPress software from wordpress.org, which is free and has no referral programme because there is nothing to buy. If the person you are advising wants to self-host, this programme is irrelevant to them.