AI + WordPress glossary

Plain-English definitions of the terms you will meet in our reviews and tutorials.

AI website builder
A tool that generates a whole site (pages, layout, text, images) from a short description of your business.
Page builder
A WordPress plugin or theme, such as Elementor, Divi or Kadence, that lets you design pages visually by dragging in sections and widgets. Many now include AI tools.
Block editor (Gutenberg)
WordPress's built-in editor, where each paragraph, image or layout element is a "block". Several AI plugins add their features as blocks or as a sidebar here.
Self-hosted WordPress
WordPress (from WordPress.org) installed on hosting you control. You own the files and database and can move hosts at any time.
Hosted WordPress
WordPress run for you on the vendor's platform, such as WordPress.com or 10Web. Easier, but you depend on that platform's plans and rules.
Plugin
An add-on you install inside WordPress to add features. Most AI tools for WordPress ship as plugins.
API key
A secret key that lets a plugin use an AI provider such as OpenAI or Anthropic on your account. Usage is billed by the provider, separately from the plugin.
Bring your own key (BYOK)
A plugin that asks for your own AI API key instead of selling AI credits. Often cheaper at low volume, but you manage the bills and limits.
AI credits
Prepaid units some tools use to meter AI usage, for example per generated page, image or batch of words.
Token
The unit AI providers bill by. Roughly, 1,000 tokens is about 750 English words.
MCP (Model Context Protocol)
An open standard that lets AI assistants such as Claude or ChatGPT use tools. With an MCP connection, an assistant can read and change a WordPress site, for example drafting posts or updating pages, within the permissions you give it.
Abilities API
A WordPress developer API from the WordPress AI team that lets plugins describe what they can do in a standard way, so AI tools can discover and use those abilities.
Starter template
A pre-designed site you import and then customise. AI starter templates fill in the text and images for your business.
Staging site
A private copy of your site used to test changes before they go live. Recommended before letting any AI tool make bulk changes.
Lock-in
How hard it is to leave a tool. A builder that only runs on its own hosting or stores pages in its own format creates more lock-in than a plugin that writes normal WordPress content.