Research Summary. Having a reliable, functional, and attractive website can be the difference between a successful or struggling online business. Websites not only make a statement about a brand but also have the ability to encourage new sales.
When it comes to websites, no open-source content management system dominates the scene quite like WordPress, even in 2023.
To find out more about WordPress’ popularity and use, we’ve gathered an extensive list of essential WordPress statistics. According to our extensive research:
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43.1% of all websites use WordPress.
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Approximately 810 million websites use WordPress.
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WordPress has a 64.2% market share among other CMS.
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Over 500 new WordPress sites are made daily.
The Benefits of WordPress
WordPress remains popular because of the many benefits associated with using it. To find out more about these and WordPress’ incredible popularity, here are some key statistics:
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WordPress has a larger market share than all of the other top ten CMS combined.
When it comes to content management systems (CMS), WordPress reigns supreme. The next runner-up is Shopify, which only has a 6.2% market share. (More than 10x less than WordPress).
Content Management System (CMS) Market Share WordPress 64.3% Shopify 6.2% Wix 3.4% Squarespace 3.0% Joomla 2.5% -
14.7% of the top 100 websites worldwide are powered by WordPress.
In total, a considerable 359,760 of the world’s top 1 million websites (36%) are powered by WordPress. While this representation can partially be explained by the large market share, it also shows that even highly successful companies succeed using the most common CMS.
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62% of the top 100 fastest-growing companies use WordPress.
WordPress is highly popular and effective for new, fast-growing companies. This is because WordPress is inexpensive and easy to use, making it cost-effective for young companies.
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There are over 6.7 million e-commerce sites that use WordPress.
E-commerce sites commonly use WooCommerce, which is a WordPress plugin that helps them manage stores. In total, a projected 6,719,294 use the plugin.
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WordPress leads Google’s SERP with more than 2 billion results.
Believe it or not, this puts WordPress-related searches on the same level as searches related to “food.”
WordPress Growth Rate
Despite increased competition, WordPress has been growing steadily for many years. In part, consistent growth has helped maintain its popularity. For example:
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2 million new WordPress websites are made annually.
That’s roughly 2.2% of the 92 million websites made around the world every year, which might not seem like a lot, but it is actually a considerable amount compared to other CMS.
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Between 2011 and 2023, WordPress use has increased by an average of 12% per year.
In 2011, WordPress was only used by 13.1% of websites, a percentage that has increased by 12% per year on average to reach 43.1% in 2022.
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Up to 70 million WordPress blog posts are posted every month.
That’s equivalent to around 2.3 million out of the total 4.4 million blog posts posted per day, with 30% of these bloggers residing in the US.
WordPress Products
WordPress is more than just a simple CMS, as it also offers themes, language support, and other products. To dive into the success and prevalence of these products, here are some key statistics:
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There are approximately 31,010 WordPress themes available.
This includes 10,381 free themes, meaning that 33.5% of all WordPress themes are entirely free for users.
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The average price of a WordPress theme is $57.54.
Users can expect to pay around $60 for the average premium WordPress theme and between $100-200 for some premium plugins. While the price might make these options less appealing to SMBs, there are formatting and branding benefits that come with spending a little extra.
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WordPress version 6.1 is used by 54.4% of users.
The majority of users try to stay up to date with their WordPress version, with only 9.8% using version 6.0 and 4.7% using 5.9.
WordPress version Share of users 6.1 54.4% 6.0 9.8% 5.8 5.0% 5.9 4.7% 4.9 3.6% 5.7 3.1% 5.4 2.9% 5.5 2.8% 5.3 2.2% 5.6 2.1% -
WordPress’ English (US) locale is used by 44.2% of users.
English (US) is by far the most popular local, then followed by Spanish (Spain) at 5.9%, Japanese at 5.9%, German at 5.7%, and French (France) at 4.4%.
WordPress locales Share of users English (US) 44.2% Spanish (Spain) 5.9% Japanese 5.9% German 5.7% French (France) 4.4% English (UK) 3.5% Portuguese (Brazil) 3.1% Italian 3.1% Russian 2.5% Dutch 2.5% -
WordPress supports HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP.
Part of the reason WordPress is so popular is its versatility. With WordPress, website creators can choose to use a variety of some of the biggest languages out there.
WordPress Statistics FAQ
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How many websites use WordPress?
Approximately 810 million websites use WordPress. WordPress websites make up an astonishing 43.1% of all websites on the internet. While this isn’t a majority, it’s a larger chunk than most other CMS combined.
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What is WordPress’ market share?
WordPress has a 64.2% market share among other CMS. Not only is this a majority, but it’s also a larger market share than the rest of the top ten CMS combined.
For example, Shopify holds the #2 spot, with only a 6.2% market share. That’s roughly ten times less than WordPress.
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Is WordPress losing market share?
No, WordPress is not losing market share at any meaningful rate. WordPress’ market share dropped slightly by 0.4% to 42.9% in May 2022. However, the market share has since recovered to 43.1%.
Overall, WordPress’ market share could best be described as stable or stagnant throughout 2022.
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Why is WordPress so popular?
There are many reasons why WordPress is so popular, including its inexpensive nature and versatility. In more detail, here are the biggest reasons why WordPress dominates the market:
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Free. WordPress core software is free, making the barrier of entry very low for new businesses that don’t have a lot of capital.
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Open-source. This makes it easier for others to change, adapt and improve websites, allowing a flourishing community of contributors to grow over the years.
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Plugins. WordPress offers countless free and paid plugins that can extend the functionality of a website.
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SEO Prioritization. WordPress has high SEO capability, allowing users to create attractive permalinks, manage metadata, optimize media, and more.
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Media Support. WordPress makes it easy to integrate images (.jpeg, .png), documents (.pdf, .doc, .pptx), audio and video (.mp3, .mp4, .m4a, .mov, .wmv, and .avi).
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Conclusion
WordPress still dominates the CMS market in 2023, with a whopping 64.2% market share. This equates to 43.1% of all websites being built with WordPress or 810 million websites.
And despite increased competition, WordPress is still going strong. The next runner-up, Shopify, only has a 6.2% market share. In fact, WordPress has a larger market share than the rest of the top ten CMS combined.
Overall, WordPress is an astonishingly popular CMS due to its many benefits, and it will likely remain #1 for some time to come.
References
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Search Engine Journal – CMS Market Share Monthly: 64.2% Of Sites Use WordPress
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MobiLoud – CMS Market Share: The Most Popular Website Platforms in 2023
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Barn2 Plugins – How many websites use WooCommerce? Usage stats + Infographic 2023
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Caldera Forms – Basic Things You Need to Know to Become a WordPress Developer
Author
Jack Flynn is a writer for Zippia. In his professional career he’s written over 100 research papers, articles and blog posts. Some of his most popular published works include his writing about economic terms and research into job classifications. Jack received his BS from Hampshire College.
