WordPress Statistics 2025: The Shocking Truth About Market Dominance

The digital world shows WordPress's staggering dominance, yet most people find it sort of hard to get their arms around these numbers. WordPress powers roughly 43.5% of all websites worldwide, which makes it the clear leader among content management systems.

The platform's reach extends to more than 810 million websites in 2024. WordPress's market share has seen remarkable growth, more than doubling in the past decade. The platform now holds an impressive 62.5% of the CMS market. New WordPress adoptions happen rapidly – a website among the top 10 million sites switches to WordPress as its CMS every 2 minutes.

The platform's influence goes beyond simple blogs. About 97% of bloggers make WordPress their platform of choice. WooCommerce, WordPress's e-commerce solution, commands a 34.08% share in the e-commerce space.

Our detailed WordPress statistics will help you learn how this platform became so widespread. This piece explores the number of WordPress-powered websites and examines why this market dominance matters. We'll also look at the risks of such popularity and what lies ahead for WordPress.

The shocking statistics: WordPress powers nearly half the web

The numbers tell a clear story – WordPress rules the website ecosystem. This open-source platform powers 43.4% of all websites on the internet. This means nearly every second website you visit runs on WordPress.

How many websites use WordPress in 2025?

Raw numbers paint an even more impressive picture. With about 1.2 billion websites worldwide, WordPress runs on more than 518 million websites. Other sources suggest between 472-541 million WordPress sites, showing massive scale whatever the exact count.

WordPress's growth story makes this achievement remarkable. The platform has more than doubled its market share in the last decade. WordPress powered just 27.3% of all websites in early 2017 and grew steadily to today's 43.4%.

Looking at websites with a known content management system (CMS), WordPress's lead becomes overwhelming – it holds 61.3% of the CMS market. WordPress has more users than every other CMS platform combined.

A look at competitors shows this dominance:

• Shopify: 4.8% market share
• Wix: 3.7% market share
• Squarespace: 2.3% market share
• Joomla: 1.5% market share (down from higher numbers)
• Drupal: 0.8% market share

Why this number is significant

WordPress's market position means more than just popularity. The platform represents a transformation in website building methods. Back in 2013, 68.2% of websites ran without a recognized CMS. That number dropped to 28.6% by 2025, and WordPress led this CMS adoption.

WordPress powers major websites in every industry, not just small blogs. Among the top 10,000 most visited sites, 38% use WordPress, including brands like Disney, Sony, and Facebook.

The platform's global reach impresses equally. BuiltWith data shows countries with most WordPress websites include the United States (3.3+ million sites), Germany (1.4+ million), United Kingdom (1+ million), Brazil, and France. Japan stands out with WordPress powering 58.5% of all websites, which beats the global average by a lot.

What it says about the future of web development

WordPress's ongoing dominance points to key trends in web development's future. Businesses just need flexible, adaptable platforms that serve companies of all sizes. WordPress succeeds because it "suits the needs of businesses of all shapes and sizes including corporate sites, blogs, membership sites, and online stores".

The platform welcomes breakthroughs by integrating with emerging technologies. WordPress stays relevant with AI capabilities, blockchain security, and headless CMS integrations.

Web developers who focus on WordPress skills place themselves well in the market. One source notes that "web development with WordPress is a vital skill as it powers over 40% of websites worldwide".

These trends suggest WordPress will likely reach or pass 50% of all websites in the next few years if growth continues. Its community-driven development model provides sustainability that other alternatives can't match.

Why WordPress dominates the CMS market

WordPress's exceptional growth didn't happen by accident. Several key factors have pushed this platform to its commanding position. A perfect combination of availability, community power, and technical flexibility created advantages that competitors simply cannot match.

WordPress market share vs competitors

The numbers reveal WordPress's market dominance clearly. WordPress powers 61.4% of all CMS-based websites in 2025. This platform controls more of the market than all other content management systems combined.

A look at the closest competitors shows:

• Shopify: 4.8% market share
• Wix: 3.7% market share
• Squarespace: 2.3% market share
• Joomla: 1.5% market share
• Drupal: 0.8% market share

WordPress has steadily increased its lead while traditional competitors like Joomla and Drupal declined. These platforms held a collective 14.8% of the CMS market in January 2014, but now represent just 3.3%. WordPress has more than doubled its overall internet presence in the last decade.

Open-source advantage and community support

WordPress's success stems from its open-source nature. Users get complete access to source code, unlike proprietary platforms. They can make unlimited modifications and improvements without licensing restrictions.

WordPress's open-source philosophy has built an extraordinary global community. People cooperate to improve the platform. Problems get solved quickly and new ideas get implemented faster. The software evolves at a pace no single company could achieve.

The community shapes WordPress through multiple channels:

Developers enhance the platform through code contributions, plugins, and themes. Volunteer translators have made WordPress available in over 200 languages worldwide. WordCamps and local meetups promote knowledge sharing and networking. More than 1,000 WordCamps have taken place across 65+ countries.

Flexibility and scalability for all users

WordPress achieves something remarkable in the software world – it works great for both beginners and experts. The easy-to-use interface welcomes newcomers while giving developers advanced customization options.

This versatility shows in website types too. WordPress started as a blogging platform but now runs everything from personal sites to Fortune 500 corporate platforms. Websites can serve as blogs, portfolios, e-commerce stores, membership sites, forums, or almost any other web function.

Scalability gives WordPress another significant advantage. Small websites and high-traffic enterprise platforms run efficiently without performance issues.

This scalability shows through:

• Pages, products, or content can be added as businesses grow
• New functionality integrates smoothly through plugins
• Various hosting options scale with increasing traffic

The core software costs nothing. Users only pay for hosting, domains, and premium features they need. This economical approach makes WordPress a great starting point that grows with businesses without platform changes.

Market dominance, open-source benefits, and unmatched flexibility create a self-reinforcing system. WordPress's popularity generates more resources, which attracts more users – a cycle that explains its continued growth.

Inside the WordPress engine: Themes and plugins

A vibrant ecosystem of themes and plugins powers WordPress's remarkable market dominance. These customization tools can turn WordPress's simple framework into any type of website you can imagine. The extensive marketplace of design templates and functional extensions makes this possible.

How many plugins and themes exist?

The WordPress ecosystem has grown exponentially since 2005 when Kubrick became the first default theme. The numbers today are remarkable.

WordPress.org's directory contains 13,000 free themes, but that's just the beginning.

ThemeForest, the leading marketplace for premium WordPress themes, adds another 12,000 paid themes. These two sources combine to offer more than 25,000 themes. The actual number likely exceeds 30,000 when you include independent theme shops and exclusive offerings.

The plugin numbers are even more impressive. WordPress.org's plugin directory features approximately 59,000-65,000 free plugins. CodeCanyon contributes over 5,200 premium plugins. This creates a vast library of 64,600+ plugins. The complete WordPress plugin ecosystem probably exceeds 70,000 plugins with third-party offerings included.

This extensive selection explains WordPress's dominance over nearly half the web. Users can customize functionality and design from tens of thousands of options without writing code.

Top plugins by active installs

Several WordPress plugins have achieved impressive installation numbers.

Here are the plugins with over 5 million active installations as of 2025:

• Elementor: 10+ million installations
• Contact Form 7: 10+ million installations
• Yoast SEO: 10+ million installations
• Classic Editor: 9-10+ million installations
• WooCommerce: 7-8+ million installations
• LiteSpeed Cache: 6-7+ million installations
• Akismet: 6+ million installations
• WPForms: 6+ million installations

The plugin marketplace remains competitive. All but one of these plugins have reached the 1 million active installations milestone. Yoast leads the SEO plugin category with over 5 million active installations, while All in One SEO (AIOSEO) follows with over 3 million active installations.

WPForms stands out as a soaring win with over 6 million installations. BuiltWith data shows it runs on 1.12% of the top 1 million websites.

Most used themes in 2025

Clear market leaders have emerged in WordPress design. BuiltWith data from the top 1 million websites reveals:

Hello Elementor stands at the top with approximately 18,366 websites (1.84% market share). This theme's success aligns with Elementor's popularity, which appears on 22.4% of all WordPress websites.

Astra takes second place with around 12,417 sites (1.24% market share). Divi follows closely with 11,327 sites (1.13% market share).

GeneratePress runs on approximately 8,786 sites (0.88% market share). Newspaper completes the top five with 5,164 sites (0.52% market share).

Theme popularity varies by platform. Hostinger's clients prefer Twenty Twenty-Three with over 3.4 million users. Twenty Twenty-Four (3.3 million) and Twenty Twenty-Five (2.5 million) follow closely.

The download numbers tell an interesting story. Neve has reached over 5.5 million downloads. Astra exceeds 16.5 million. OceanWP has more than 8.7 million, and GeneratePress tops 6.6 million.

Performance now plays a crucial role in theme selection. Recent speed tests show Astra as the fastest lightweight theme with a 2.1s page load time. Neve follows at 2.2s. Avada leads themes with built-in page builders, loading in 2.8s.

WordPress users can customize their websites endlessly through this rich ecosystem of plugins and themes. This flexibility continues to drive the platform's market dominance.

WordPress around the world

WordPress has spread way beyond its country of origin. This platform has become a worldwide phenomenon. Users across the globe have adapted it to their unique regional needs.

Top countries by number of WordPress sites

The United States dominates WordPress adoption with 3.7 million active WordPress websites. This represents about 11% of all known WordPress installations worldwide. The platform's roots and its strong developer community in North America explain this leadership position.

The countries with the highest WordPress usage create a Western-dominated list:

• Germany takes second place with roughly 1.46 million WordPress websites (4.8% of global total)
• United Kingdom holds third position with 1.08 million sites (4.05% of global total
• Brazil comes next with 858,293 websites
• France completes the top five with 847,213 websites (2.87% of global total)

Raw numbers tell only part of the story. To cite an instance, Japan shows remarkable adoption rates. WordPress powers 58.5% of all websites and 83% of CMS-based sites in Japan – this is a big deal as it means that it surpasses the global average.

Localized versions and multilingual support

WordPress's extensive language support has played a crucial role in its worldwide success. The platform started with English only but now supports between 60 and 208 languages, depending on the source. This makes the platform available to users whatever their native language.

Language support has transformed usage patterns. Non-English installations now exceed English ones. This milestone happened in 2014 and shows a fundamental move in the platform's user base.

WordPress users can create multilingual websites in several ways. They can build separate sites for different languages, use language-specific subdomains, or add multilingual plugins. The core software doesn't include built-in multilingual features yet. The WordPress roadmap plans to add this feature in the fourth phase of the Gutenberg project.

Cultural and regional adoption trends

Different regions show unique cultural and economic patterns in WordPress adoption. Emerging markets like India and Brazil saw growth of over 21% year-over-year. In spite of that, regions utilize the platform in different ways.

India and the USA lead the world in WordPress-related searches. Each country generates about 246,000 monthly queries. These numbers suggest active user communities and growing developer bases in these regions.

The language breakdown of WordPress content reveals user priorities. English still dominates with 71% of WordPress.com sites, followed by Spanish at 4.7% and Indonesian at 2.4%. Yet non-English markets show the strongest growth.

Google Trends data offers a fresh viewpoint. Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Kenya show the highest interest in WordPress. This proves WordPress's value in developing digital economies that need affordable, flexible solutions.

These regional patterns will shape how WordPress evolves. Language support and cultural adaptations will become even more crucial as the platform continues its global expansion.

The risks of popularity: WordPress security stats

WordPress's market dominance comes with risks. The platform has become a prime target for cybercriminals worldwide. Since it powers nearly half the internet, hackers are happy to exploit its vast attack surface.

How often WordPress sites are attacked

The numbers are staggering. Security experts report that WordPress websites face about 90,000 attacks every minute. Wordfence blocked more than 100 billion credential-stuffing attacks from 74 million unique IP addresses in 2023. These numbers show just how persistent these attacks are.

WordPress has a 43.1% market share, and experts estimate 4.7 million WordPress websites get hacked each year. This means almost 13,000 WordPress sites are compromised daily. These numbers paint a clear picture of the security challenges.

Most attackers use automated tools instead of targeting sites manually. These tools scan websites and flag those with known vulnerabilities. This means your WordPress site faces constant probing from malicious actors looking for easy ways to break in.

Main causes of vulnerabilities

The core WordPress software is secure, despite what many think. Security incidents in WordPress core made up just 0.58% of all cases. Only seven vulnerabilities were found in WordPress core during 2024.

The biggest security risks come from third-party extensions:

• Plugins: Make up 92.81% of all WordPress vulnerabilities
• Themes: Cause 6.61% of vulnerabilities
• Core software: Only 0.58% of vulnerabilities

Cross-site scripting (XSS) leads the pack as the most common vulnerability. It made up nearly half of all vulnerabilities reported in 2022. Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) came in second with 377 disclosed vulnerabilities.

Security researchers found 7,966 new vulnerabilities in the WordPress ecosystem in 2024. This marks a 34% increase from the previous year. What's worse, 43% of these vulnerabilities didn't need authentication to exploit.

Best practices and tools for protection

You need strong security measures to protect your site. Keeping WordPress core, themes, and plugins updated is your best defense. Studies show that 61% of attacked sites ran outdated software, making updates vital.

Strong passwords and two-factor authentication help block brute force attacks. About 8% of WordPress hacks happen because of weak passwords. This makes password security a top priority.

Several security plugins are a great way to get complete protection:

• Wordfence: Offers powerful malware scanning, exploit detection, and threat assessment
• Sucuri: One site blocked 450,000 attacks in just 3 months using this tool
• MalCare: Gives you automatic daily scanning and one-click malware removal

Security experts suggest limiting login attempts to stop brute force attacks. Adding CAPTCHA blocks automated spam. Regular backups give you a way to recover if prevention fails.

Business websites can't skip security. A breach damages reputation, breaks compliance rules, and destroys customer trust. That's why complete security measures are an investment, not an expense.

What’s next for WordPress?

WordPress continues to evolve with innovations that will shape web development in the coming years. The platform maintains its market dominance while these emerging trends write the next chapter in the WordPress story.

AI integration and automation

AI has become central to WordPress development. The introduction of AI Assistant feature in WordPress 6.5 marks a radical alteration toward AI-powered content creation. Users can now generate content, improve existing text, and build websites faster.

The numbers tell an interesting story. About 25% of WordPress professionals already use AI tools for content creation. Another 46% plan to adopt AI within the next year. These trends suggest that 70% of WordPress users will use AI in their workflows by 2026.

AI tools in WordPress go beyond just content creation. The platform now utilizes AI for image generation and optimization. Developers get code assistance while testing and quality assurance become automated. Users enjoy customized experiences through these tools.

Headless WordPress and modern development

The headless approach separates WordPress's backend from the frontend and keeps gaining popularity. 37% of enterprise WordPress users now choose headless configurations because it offers better performance and flexibility.

This architectural change lets WordPress power content for mobile apps, IoT devices, and digital platforms beyond traditional websites. More developers now combine WordPress with modern JavaScript frameworks like React, Vue, and Next.js. These combinations create faster and more interactive user experiences.

Real-time collaboration and multilingual core

WordPress makes shared editing easier with Google Docs-style immediate editing features. Teams can work on the same content at once, which optimizes content production workflows.

The WordPress core team wants to add native multilingual functionality. Right now, 71% of WordPress sites use English, but non-English markets show the fastest growth. Phase 4 of the Gutenberg project will add multilingual support directly into WordPress core to address this need.

These changes show WordPress's strategic path forward. The platform welcomes new technologies while staying true to its core mission of user enablement and accessibility. These features will strengthen WordPress's position in the global web ecosystem as they mature.

Conclusion

WordPress statistics paint an incredible picture of digital dominance. The numbers tell the story – WordPress powers almost half of all websites worldwide, with more than 810 million sites built on this platform. What started as a simple blogging tool has become the world's most versatile content management system.

This platform shows no signs of slowing down its remarkable growth. WordPress has doubled its market share in the last decade and now powers 62.5% of the CMS market. On top of that, its open-source nature continues to encourage a thriving community of developers, designers, and users who strengthen the ecosystem together. More users bring more developers, who build better plugins and themes, which attracts even more users.

The platform's huge popularity brings its share of challenges. Security stands as the biggest problem, as WordPress sites face about 90,000 attacks every minute. The core software remains secure, but third-party plugins cause 92.81% of all vulnerabilities. Users need to stay alert with updates, strong passwords, and security best practices.

The future looks bright for WordPress with state-of-the-art features on the horizon. AI integration will change content creation and site management, while headless WordPress setups give developers new possibilities. The planned multilingual core support should speed up adoption in non-English markets.

WordPress has changed the way we build and manage websites. The platform combines accessibility, flexibility, and community support to create a solution that works for bloggers, small businesses, and Fortune 500 companies alike. These statistics show more than market leadership – they prove how open-source collaboration can make web publishing accessible to users worldwide.

FAQs

Q1. How widespread is WordPress usage in 2025?

As of 2025, WordPress powers over 43% of all websites on the internet, which translates to more than 500 million websites using this platform. This makes WordPress the most popular content management system worldwide.

Q2. What portion of the CMS market does WordPress control?

WordPress dominates the content management system (CMS) market with a staggering 61.3% market share. This means WordPress is used by more websites than all other CMS platforms combined.

Q3. How secure are WordPress websites?

While WordPress core software is relatively secure, websites face significant risks due to their popularity. WordPress sites experience about 90,000 attacks every minute, with most vulnerabilities stemming from third-party plugins and themes rather than the core software itself.

Q4. What new features can we expect from WordPress in the near future?

WordPress is focusing on AI integration for content creation and site management, headless WordPress configurations for modern development, and native multilingual functionality in the core software. These innovations aim to enhance user experience and expand WordPress's capabilities.

Q5. How does WordPress perform globally?

WordPress has a strong global presence, with the United States leading in adoption at around 3.7 million active WordPress websites. Interestingly, non-English installations now outnumber English ones, reflecting the platform's worldwide appeal and linguistic versatility.