Install WordPress Locally Using Local by WP Engine (No XAMPP Needed)

Let’s be honest for a second.

The first time most people try to install WordPress on their own computer, they open a tutorial, see words like “phpMyAdmin,” “Apache,” “MySQL,” and “wp-config.php,” and quietly close the tab.

That’s not your fault. That’s just too many new words at once.

So in this article, we’re going to take the easy road. Instead of setting up a database by hand, we’re going to use a tool that was built for exactly one purpose: making WordPress run on your computer with almost zero setup.

That tool is called Local, made by WP Engine.

If you’ve already read our guide on how to install WordPress locally using XAMPP, think of this as the “automatic gearbox” version. Same destination, much less manual work.

First, Let’s Understand the Real Problem

Think about how you use Instagram.

You didn’t have to install a database. You didn’t have to configure a server. You just downloaded the app, tapped a button, and it worked.

That’s the experience most beginners expect from software. But WordPress, by default, isn’t like that. WordPress expects you to already have three things ready and connected:

1. A web server (something that “serves” your website to a browser)
2. A database (something that stores your posts, users, and settings)
3. PHP (the language WordPress itself is written in)

Tools like XAMPP give you all three, but you still have to connect them together yourself — create a database, remember its name, type it into a form. It’s not hard, but it is one more thing that can go wrong for someone doing this for the very first time.

Local removes that entire step. It quietly sets up the server, the database, and PHP behind the scenes, and gives you one single button: “Create a new site.”

Did You Know? Local was originally called “Local by Flywheel,” built by a hosting company that got tired of watching beginners struggle through manual WordPress setup. WP Engine acquired it later, and it’s now completely free to use.

Local vs XAMPP: Which Should You Use?

Both get you to the same place — a working WordPress site on your computer. The difference is how much you see along the way.

📝 Tip If you’re studying web development seriously and want to understand servers and databases, start with XAMPP. If you just want a working WordPress site right now to practice themes, plugins, or content, use Local. There’s no wrong choice — many developers keep both installed.

Step 1: Download Local

1. Go to the official Local by WP Engine website.
2. Click Download, and choose your operating system — Windows, macOS, or Linux.
3. Fill in your email (optional on some versions) and the download will begin.
4. Run the installer once it finishes downloading.

Installation here is exactly like installing any normal desktop app — Next, Next, Finish. There’s no component checklist to worry about, unlike XAMPP.

Warning Your antivirus software might flag the installer simply because it sets up a local server on your machine. This is expected behaviour for this category of tool — approve it the same way you would for XAMPP.

Step 2: Create Your First Local WordPress Site

This is where the real difference from XAMPP shows up.

1. Open the Local app.
2. Click the “+ Create a new site” button (usually a big button in the bottom-left corner).
3. Give your site a name — for example, My Test Site. Local will automatically turn this into a local web address like my-test-site.local.
4. Choose the environment type. For beginners, select Preferred (Local picks sensible defaults for PHP, web server, and database versions for you).
5. Set your WordPress admin username, password, and email. This is the login you’ll use for your dashboard, exactly like the final step of the XAMPP method.
6. Click Add Site.

Now watch what happens: Local quietly starts a web server, creates a database, connects it to a fresh WordPress installation, and configures everything — all without ever showing you a single database form.

Within a minute or two, you’ll see: “Site is running.”

Best Practice Name your local sites clearly, especially if you’re building multiple projects — for example, client-bakery-site instead of test1. Six months later, you’ll thank yourself when you have ten local sites and need to find the right one quickly.

Step 3: Open and Explore Your Site

Once your site shows as running, you’ll see two buttons in the Local app:

• Admin — opens your WordPress Dashboard directly (my-test-site.local/wp-admin)
• View Site — opens your actual website homepage (my-test-site.local)

Click Admin. You’ll be dropped straight into the same WordPress Dashboard you’d see on any real hosting account — same menu on the left (Posts, Pages, Appearance, Plugins, Users, Settings), same editor, same everything.

This is worth pausing on: the WordPress software itself never changes. Whether you install it through XAMPP, Local, or a $10-a-month hosting plan, you get the exact same dashboard, the exact same features. Only the setup process underneath is different.

Common Mistake Beginners sometimes think “local WordPress” is a simplified or limited version of WordPress. It isn’t. It’s the full software — themes, plugins, custom code, everything — just running privately on your own computer instead of on the public internet.

Step 4: Show Someone Else Your Local Site (Live Links)

Here’s a genuinely useful feature Local has that XAMPP doesn’t offer out of the box.

Normally, “localhost” only works on your own computer. Nobody else can visit it — not your client, not your friend, not your teacher.

Local solves this with a feature called Live Link.

1. Inside your site in the Local app, look for the Live Link tab.
2. Toggle it on.
3. Local generates a temporary public URL you can share with anyone.

Now imagine you’re building a website for a small bakery shop (a real freelance scenario). Instead of asking the shop owner to install anything, or waiting until the site is “ready to launch,” you send them this Live Link. They open it on their own phone, look around, and give feedback — while the actual site still lives safely on your computer.

Did You Know? This is very close to how professional agencies show “staging” versions of a website to clients before it officially goes live — except here, it’s happening from your own laptop, for free.

Understanding What’s Happening Behind the Scenes

Even though Local hides the manual steps, it’s still doing the exact same things XAMPP does:

1. It starts a small web server just for this one site.
2. It creates a database specifically for this site.
3. It installs the WordPress files and connects them to that database.
4. It writes the connection details into a wp-config.php file — the same file we discussed in our guide to WordPress config files.

The only real difference is that Local does all of this automatically the moment you click “Add Site,” instead of asking you to do it by hand.

Interview Tip If an interviewer asks, “What local development tools have you used for WordPress?”, it’s a great sign of real hands-on experience to mention both XAMPP and Local — and to be able to explain why you’d choose one over the other for a given task. That shows judgement, not just tool familiarity.

Common Errors When Using Local

Site Won’t Start (“Site failed to start”)

This usually happens when another program is already using the same network port.

Fix: In Local, go to the site’s settings, open the Advanced tab, and click Change next to the port numbers to pick a different one.

“.local” Domain Doesn’t Open in Browser

Sometimes, especially on Windows, the .local domain doesn’t resolve properly the first time.

Fix: Restart the Local app, or manually add the local domain to your computer’s hosts file (Local usually offers to do this automatically during setup — say yes if prompted).

Site Runs Very Slowly

Multiple local sites running at once can eat up your computer’s memory.

Fix: Stop sites you’re not actively working on. In the Local app, right-click a site and choose Stop site.

Best Practices

• Stop sites you’re not using. Every running local site uses your computer’s RAM and CPU in the background.
• Export a backup before big changes. Local has a built-in Export option — use it before installing a risky plugin or making major theme edits.
• Use realistic site names. This matters more than it sounds like once you’re managing five or more local projects.
• Don’t rely on Live Links for permanent sharing. They’re meant for quick previews, not as a long-term hosting solution — move to real hosting once a project is ready to launch.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is Local by WP Engine free?

Yes, the core version of Local is completely free to download and use, with no time limit.

2. Can I install plugins and themes on a Local site just like a real website?

Yes. Once your site is running, your dashboard works exactly like a live WordPress site — you can install any plugin or theme from the WordPress repository or upload your own.

3. Do I need to know phpMyAdmin or databases to use Local?

No. Local handles the database setup for you automatically. You’ll never need to open a database screen unless you specifically choose to (Local does offer an “Adminer” database tool for advanced users who want it).

4. Can I move a site built in Local to real hosting later?

Yes. Local has a built-in feature for this, and many hosting providers (including WP Engine) support direct one-click migration from Local to their servers.

5. Should I learn XAMPP or Local first as a beginner?

If your goal is to understand how WordPress and servers actually connect underneath, start with XAMPP. If your goal is to start building and practicing WordPress sites as fast as possible, start with Local. Many developers eventually use both, depending on the task.

6. Does Local work on both Windows and Mac?

Yes, Local is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux, with the same interface across all three.

Conclusion

Installing WordPress on your own computer doesn’t have to mean wrestling with database forms and configuration files on day one.

Local by WP Engine takes that entire setup process and turns it into a single click, so you can spend your time actually learning WordPress — building pages, trying themes, testing plugins — instead of getting stuck before you even begin.

And once you’re comfortable, understanding the XAMPP method too will make you a stronger, more complete developer, because you’ll know both how to install WordPress quickly, and why it works the way it does underneath.

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