Spoiler alert – the findings reveal that:
- WordPress reigns as the foremost content management system globally, attaining remarkable popularity.
- WordPress extends its dominance beyond blogging, penetrating diverse markets such as ecommerce.
To substantiate these assertions, we’ve compiled staggering statistics regarding WordPress’ market share, alongside insights into the market shares of two leading ecommerce plugins for WordPress – WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads.
WordPress’ market share is 42.7% of all websites
WordPress commands a significant share of the website market, standing at 42.7% according to W3Techs. This includes websites with various CMS platforms or those without any CMS. In simpler terms, WordPress powers over one-third of the internet.
Moreover, when focusing solely on websites with a recognized CMS, WordPress’s dominance becomes even more apparent, holding a commanding 62.5% market share. How does this fare against other prominent CMS platforms? Let’s delve into the comparison:
| % All Websites | % CMS Market | |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress | 42.7 | 62.5 |
| Joomla | 1.8 | 2.6 |
| Drupal | 1.1 | 1.6 |
| Squarespace | 2.1 | 3.0 |
| Wix | 2.6 | 3.8 |
Despite the buzz surrounding hosted website builder tools such as Squarespace and Wix, WordPress remains securely at the helm. It maintains a substantial lead over Joomla and Drupal, both notable self-hosted content management systems.
Is WordPress’ market share still growing?
Absolutely! WordPress’s market share has displayed steady growth since 2011. Although there was a slight decline in 2023, marking the first drop since 2011, it was minimal, less than half a percentage point.
To illustrate, at the beginning of 2017, WordPress powered 27.3% of websites, while by December 2022, it surged to a market share of 43.2%.
To contextualize this growth, here’s an overview of WordPress’s market share from 2011 onwards, as documented by W3Techs:
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13.1% | 15.8% | 17.4% | 21.0% | 23.3% | 25.6% | 27.3% | 29.2% | 32.7% | 35.4% | 39.5% | 43.2% | 42.7% |
Clearly, WordPress has demonstrated a consistent upward trajectory in its market share over the past eight years, with no indications of deceleration. Should this pattern persist, it’s foreseeable that WordPress will soon be the backbone of half of all websites online.
In 2022 alone, the WordPress core received contributions from over 225 companies, underscoring the collaborative effort driving its development.
How does WordPress’ expansion stack up against that of other content management systems?
Well, it’s evident that WordPress is indeed on an upward trajectory, but is it outpacing its rivals? That’s a more nuanced inquiry. In the realm of self-hosted content management systems, WordPress continues to lead the charge in growth.
From 2022 to 2023:
- Joomla maintained its market share at 2.6%.
- Drupal saw a decrease in market share from 2.0% to 1.6%.
While these figures aren’t matching WordPress’s momentum, the dynamics shift a bit when considering hosted website builders. Although platforms like Squarespace and Wix still hold a small slice of the market, their growth rates are noteworthy compared to self-hosted content management systems.
From 2022 to 2023:
- Squarespace saw its market share rise from 2.7% to 3.0%.
- Wix experienced an increase in market share from 2.9% to 3.8%.
Thus, while WordPress remains the dominant force, hosted website builders are witnessing faster growth. This trend is also observable in Google Trends, where Joomla and Drupal (and to a lesser extent, WordPress) show declines or stagnation, while Squarespace and Wix are gaining increasing attention.
WooCommerce Market Penetration
Despite WordPress’s roots in blogging, its influence extends far beyond that realm, particularly in ecommerce.
WooCommerce, the leading ecommerce plugin for WordPress, drives approximately 19% of all online stores, as reported by BuiltWith. However, this figure underestimates WooCommerce’s true dominance, particularly when filtering out lower-traffic websites.
Among the Top 1 Million Sites on the Internet, WooCommerce remains a highly favored solution.
What is the comparison between the market shares of WooCommerce and Shopify?
In comparing WooCommerce’s market share to that of Shopify, it’s evident that while WooCommerce maintains a significant presence, Shopify emerges as a formidable competitor, occasionally even taking the lead in certain segments. Here’s a breakdown of how their market shares stack up when segmented by website popularity:
| WooCommerce | Shopify | |
|---|---|---|
| Entire Internet | 19% | 26% |
| Top Million Sites | 17% | 21% |
| Top 100k Sites | 10% | 19% |
| Top 10k Sites | 6% | 19% |
When focusing solely on the Top 100k or Top 10k most visited websites on the Internet, Shopify emerges as the frontrunner in terms of market share. However, it’s important to note that only 58,501 websites within the Top 100k segment utilize a known ecommerce platform, making the sample size relatively small. Breaking it down to the number of sites within the Top 10k Sites utilizing each platform:
- 341 sites are powered by Shopify.
- 118 sites are powered by WooCommerce.
Easy Digital Downloads Market Presence
Though not reaching the same level of popularity as WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads holds a noticeable position within the ecommerce sector.
As per BuiltWith data, Easy Digital Downloads fuels approximately 0.08% of the BuiltWith Top Million, reflecting its presence among the top one million most visited websites globally.
Celebrating the Reign of WordPress
While the rise of hosted website builders such as Squarespace, Wix, and Shopify commands attention, the collective data unequivocally positions WordPress as the foremost choice for website development worldwide.
