In the realm of content management systems (CMS), WordPress stands as a frontrunner, significantly surpassing its competitors. Yet, the question lingers: what precisely is the extent of WordPress’ market dominance presently? How abundant are WordPress websites, and does any viable competition challenge its leadership position?
Even amidst the emergence of user-friendly website creation platforms and specialized ecommerce solutions, WordPress continues to assert its dominance, capturing a substantial portion of the CMS market and fueling nearly half of the entire internet.
Explore further to uncover intriguing insights into WordPress’ prevailing influence in the contemporary landscape.
Here are some notable statistics regarding WordPress:
- WordPress holds a commanding 64.3% share of the CMS market.
- Over 35 million websites are currently powered by WordPress.
- When considering all websites, including those without a CMS, WordPress accounts for a significant 43% market share.
- Among the top 1 million websites, WordPress maintains a market share of 29.13%.
- Over the last decade, WordPress has seen a notable increase in market share, rising by 10% from 54.3% to 64.3%.
- Within the realm of eCommerce platforms, WooCommerce, a plugin for WordPress, holds a substantial market share of 25%.
WordPress Powers 43% of the Internet
According to data from w3techs.com, WordPress powers an impressive 43% of all websites across the internet, totaling over 35 million sites.
This statistic encompasses more than just the CMS market share. Approximately 33% of websites operate without a content management system, either relying on manual coding or utilizing proprietary, custom-built CMS solutions.
The prevalence of WordPress websites, comprising nearly half of the internet, underscores its remarkable dominance in the market.
For those interested in converting their WordPress site into a mobile app without any coding, explore the top WordPress Mobile App Builders for a seamless transition.
Comparison of WordPress Market Share with Other Leading CMS Platforms
How does WordPress’ market dominance stack up against other content management systems?
When excluding the 33% of websites not utilizing any recognized CMS, WordPress emerges as even more dominant, commanding a staggering 64.3% market share.
This translates to nearly two-thirds of the entire market being dominated by WordPress sites alone. In comparison, the closest competitor, Shopify, holds a mere 6.2% share.
When considering direct competitors to WordPress in the realm of free, open-source, community-driven CMS platforms, Joomla and Drupal lag significantly, collectively accounting for less than 5% of the market share.
You can check in the table below:
Market Share of WordPress Sub-Platforms
WordPress faces significant competition from eCommerce platforms like Shopify, as well as site builders such as Wix and Squarespace.
Yet, within the WordPress ecosystem, there exists a variety of plugins and tools that offer similar functionalities. For instance, WooCommerce caters to eCommerce needs, while Elementor serves as a site builder.
What portion of WordPress’s market share do these tools occupy? The following data provides insights:
- WooCommerce: 20.3%
- Elementor: 17.8%
- WP Bakery: 14.1%
- Beaver Builder: 1.0%
- Other: 42.8%
WordPress Usage among Top Internet Sites
When examining WordPress’ market share, it’s crucial to understand its distribution between small-scale and large-scale sites. How many of WordPress’ users are large enterprises compared to individual bloggers and small businesses? And can WordPress effectively serve the needs of a large corporation?
While WordPress maintains its dominance in the overall market share, its presence is somewhat diminished when focusing on the top 10,000, 100,000, or 1 million live websites. Nevertheless, WordPress remains the leading platform across these segments, boasting approximately 30% market share in each.
Refer to the data below (sourced from BuiltWith) for further insights:
A notable observation from the data is the absence of Shopify, Wix, and Squarespace—leading competitors in the overall CMS market share—from the list of top 1 million, 100,000, or 10,000 websites. This suggests that the majority of these platforms’ popularity lies within beginner or small to medium-sized business sectors.
Conversely, certain platforms command a significant portion of the market share among the top sites, despite holding less than 0.1% of the overall market share. This trend is evident in the data for the top 10,000 live websites:
Additionally, Drupal emerges as a significant player, being the only CMS other than WordPress within the top 5 for this segment. It holds a position in both the top 10 overall platforms by market share and the top 10,000 live websites.
Trends in WordPress Market Share: Growth or Decline?
WordPress currently stands as the dominant leader in the CMS market share landscape. However, what direction is its trajectory taking? Will WordPress maintain its upward momentum, or will contenders like Shopify pose a threat to its dominance?
An examination of yearly trends reveals a consistent growth in WordPress’ market share, rising from 54.3% in 2012 to 64.3% in 2022. This suggests that WordPress is poised to remain the primary player in the CMS market.
Nevertheless, it’s essential to acknowledge that WordPress has primarily expanded its market share at the expense of similar competitors, such as Joomla and Drupal, which are free, open-source content management systems.
Meanwhile, platforms like Shopify, Squarespace, and Wix, offering distinctive features compared to WordPress, have experienced significant growth from minimal to notable usage over the past decade. It’s plausible to anticipate that these platforms may capture additional market share from WordPress in the foreseeable future.
WordPress’ Total Market Share Trends
An analysis of yearly trends encompassing websites with no detected CMS reveals a notably remarkable surge in WordPress’s popularity. A mere decade ago, a substantial 71% of websites were hand-coded, with WordPress commanding a modest 15.8% share of the internet.
Fast forward to the present, and the landscape has undergone a dramatic shift. WordPress now empowers a staggering 43% of the internet, marking nearly a tripling of its market share over the past decade.
Major Competitors to WordPress in the CMS Market
Apart from WordPress, several other content management systems vie for dominance. Let’s delve into the most prominent alternatives and compare their features.
Shopify:
A clear contender for the second spot in the CMS platform arena is Shopify. Tailored explicitly for online stores, Shopify boasts a more streamlined focus compared to the versatile WordPress. Its user-friendly interface caters well to beginners.
However, this specialization comes at a slight cost of flexibility. Unlike WordPress, Shopify requires a subscription fee for usage, apart from the expenses associated with web hosting services and domain registration.
While Shopify may not surpass WordPress in CMS market share due to its ecommerce-centric nature, it provides an unmatched platform for online stores. It’s not ideally suited for non-ecommerce endeavors such as blogs or professional websites. Nonetheless, Shopify offers a plethora of third-party apps, plugins, and themes, facilitating the creation of professional-grade online stores without the need for coding expertise.
Wix:
Over the past decade, there has been a significant surge in the popularity of site-building platforms like Wix. Unlike open-source CMSs such as WordPress, these platforms cater primarily to absolute beginners, aiming to simplify and expedite the website creation process.
With millions of websites currently hosted on Wix, it’s evident that there is a demand for alternative web hosting solutions. However, Wix’s inherent limitations in flexibility and scalability are likely to hinder its ability to pose a substantial challenge to WordPress. This limitation is reflected in its declining market share among the top 1 million websites.
Squarespace:
Squarespace presents a value proposition similar to Wix and occupies a comparable market share. Like its counterpart, Squarespace offers structured website building aimed at beginners, along with built-in tools tailored for launching online stores.
While the demand for visually-oriented site builders such as Squarespace and Wix may see an uptick in the future, it’s unlikely to rival WordPress’ dominant market share. WordPress stands out for its superior flexibility, scalability, and SEO capabilities. Moreover, it offers a plethora of tools that mirror the functionalities of Wix and Squarespace.
WordPress themes provide ready-made templates that require no coding to create visually appealing websites. The extensive WordPress plugin repository, boasting nearly 60,000 plugins, caters to various functionalities. Additionally, page builders like Elementor and WP Bakery, along with popular WordPress themes, offer robust site-building features.
Joomla:
Another notable competitor to WordPress is Joomla, which has been in the market for nearly as long as WordPress and is constructed similarly. Like WordPress, Joomla is a free, open-source platform maintained by its community.
Joomla, similar to WordPress, offers value through its flexibility and scalability. While there exists a market of third-party plugins, themes, and tools for Joomla, it is not as extensive as that of WordPress.
However, Joomla tends to have a steeper learning curve and may not be as intuitive, especially for non-developers. This likely contributes to its declining market share over the years, dwindling from 10.9% in 2012 to a mere 2.5% today, with much of its share absorbed by WordPress.
WooCommerce Market Share:
While Shopify stands as the primary competitor to WordPress in the CMS realm, how does this compare to WooCommerce, the leading ecommerce plugin within the WordPress ecosystem?
Across the entire internet, WooCommerce accounts for 25% of all ecommerce websites, as per data sourced from BuiltWith, placing it second in terms of ecommerce website market share.
In a more detailed breakdown, WooCommerce surpasses Shopify when considering the top 1 million ecommerce websites, commanding a 26% share compared to Shopify’s 20%.
Explore further insights in the data below, featuring a comparison between WooCommerce, Shopify, and other ecommerce platforms.
In the top 1 million, platforms like Wix and Squarespace once again fall behind, while new contenders such as Magento and OpenCart emerge:
Conclusion
In conclusion, WordPress remains the dominant force in the CMS market, evident from the substantial number of websites powered by it today.
Its market share continues to expand, especially as the prevalence of sites built without a known CMS has notably declined.
Presently, there is minimal competition from similar open-source CMS platforms such as Joomla and Drupal. Many users from these platforms have transitioned to WordPress, attracted by its vibrant community and extensive array of tools, plugins, and themes.
The primary competition now arises from site-building platforms like Shopify, Wix, and Squarespace. While these platforms offer a viable option for beginners without prior website-building experience, data from the top sites on the internet reveals that major companies prefer not to establish their online presence on such platforms.
As for the future, all indications suggest that WordPress will continue to hold its position as the leading name in the CMS market.
