Since Jetpack connects your site to WordPress.com, it’s recommended that you have a WordPress.com account in order to use all of Jetpack’s features.
If you’re new to WordPress, some hosting companies will preinstall the Jetpack plugin for you. Jetpack is an add-on (a “plugin” in WordPress language) that adds many extra features to your site. Many of these features are powered by WordPress.com.
Thus, you may end up with a few different usernames and passwords associated with your site, WordPress.com, and Jetpack. Let’s run through these different credentials below.
Your Hosting Provider
Your hosting provider is the company you pay to host your website. This is usually a company like Bluehost, Hostgator, WP Engine, Dreamhost, or many others. Your host will give you an account that you use to log in to your control panel. Depending on the company, this is where you access error logs, the server’s file manager, e-mail settings, billing information, and more.
WP Admin Dashboard
WordPress runs on the server managed by your hosting company, but isn’t integrated into your hosting company’s control panel. Because of this, a separate username and password are used to actually “log into your site”, create posts or pages, moderate comments, and more. When you log into your site, you’re logging into what is known as your WP Admin dashboard. These login credentials are unique to your site specifically.
When you’re logged into your site’s WP Admin dashboard, you can check what your username is by looking at the top right corner. You’ll see a message that says ,”Howdy, [username]”.
You can change your username, if desired, under the Users panel in WP Admin.
Jetpack and WordPress.com
When you first connect Jetpack to WordPress.com, you’re asked for another username and password for WordPress.com. This isn’t the same as the one you use to log into your WP Admin dashboard or hosting control panel. This one is specifically for WordPress.com.
You’ll use your WordPress.com username and password for a few different things:
- Initial setup of Jetpack;
- Logging in to see the enhanced stats information for your site (hosted on WordPress.com servers);
- Setting up Gravatar — an online profile that also provides the avatars next to your name when you comment (on your site, any other WordPress site, and a number of other services);
- Your Akismet account. Akismet is the spam-blocking service that you can add to your site to keep spam comments out of your hair. It is another pre-installed plugin on your site, but to activate it, you’ll use your WordPress.com username and password to set it up;
- And more!
You can check what your WordPress.com username is by visiting:
When logged in, your username and profile picture will display in the top left corner.
Still need help?
Please contact support directly. We’re happy to advise.
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