# WordPress Statistics 2026: Market Share, Versions, PHP and Plugins

Updated 2026-10-21. Checked by StatisticsGlobal editorial team. W3Techs, HTTP Archive Web Almanac 2025, the WordPress.org stats API and our own pull of all 76,360 plugins in the WordPress.org directory, data for 2025 and October 2026.
Canonical: https://statisticsglobal.org/wordpress-statistics/

WordPress was used by 39.6% of all websites in October 2026, according to W3Techs. That is a 58.3% share of websites with a known content management system. Its share is falling. Usage dropped 3.1 percentage points in the year to 1 October 2026, while Shopify and Wix grew. HTTP Archive's larger 2025 crawl puts WordPress at 64.3% of mobile CMS sites.

## Key statistics

- WordPress was used by 39.6% of all websites in October 2026, according to W3Techs.
- WordPress had a 58.3% market share among websites with a known content management system in October 2026, according to W3Techs.
- WordPress usage fell by 3.1 percentage points in the year to 1 October 2026, from 43.3% to 40.2% of all websites, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from W3Techs data.
- WordPress sites on PHP versions without security support made up 36.4% of sites in October 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from WordPress.org and php.net data.
- 46.5% of plugins in the WordPress.org directory had not been updated for two years or more in October 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from WordPress.org data.

## WordPress market share 2026

W3Techs gives two numbers. One is WordPress's share of all websites. The other is its share of websites where W3Techs can detect a content management system (CMS).

WordPress is still the largest CMS by a wide margin. But in 2026 its share fell month after month. Usage was 43.3% of all websites on 1 October 2025 and 40.2% on 1 October 2026. It fell in 12 of 13 month-on-month changes and never rose.

The fall is not only a switch to other CMSs. The share of sites with no CMS that W3Techs monitors rose by 2.9 points over the same year. Shopify, Wix and Squarespace together gained less than 1 point of all websites. So part of the drop is sites built without a CMS, or with tools W3Techs does not yet track.

The long view still shows a dominant platform. WordPress went from 23.3% of all websites in January 2015 to a peak of 43.6% in January 2025. Its October 2026 level is about where it was in 2021.

- WordPress was used by 39.6% of all websites in October 2026, according to W3Techs. Source: W3Techs, Usage statistics of content management systems (updated daily, data for 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/content_management
- WordPress had a 58.3% market share among websites with a known content management system in October 2026, according to W3Techs. Source: W3Techs, Usage statistics of content management systems (updated daily, data for 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/content_management
- WordPress usage fell by 3.1 percentage points in the year to 1 October 2026, from 43.3% to 40.2% of all websites, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from W3Techs data. Source: W3Techs, Historical trends in the usage statistics of content management systems (monthly) (monthly series 1 October 2025 to 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/content_management/all
- WordPress CMS market share fell by 2.0 percentage points in the year to 1 October 2026, from 60.7% to 58.7%, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from W3Techs data. Source: W3Techs, Market share trends of content management systems (monthly) (monthly series 1 October 2025 to 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/content_management/ms
- WordPress usage in October 2026 was 4.0 percentage points below its 43.6% peak of January 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from W3Techs data. Source: W3Techs, Historical yearly trends in the usage statistics of content management systems (yearly series 1 January 2015 to 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/content_management/all/y
- WordPress usage fell in 12 of 13 month-on-month changes between October 2025 and October 2026 and never rose, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from W3Techs data. Source: W3Techs, Historical trends in the usage statistics of content management systems (monthly) (monthly series 1 October 2025 to 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/content_management/all
- WordPress usage rose from 23.3% of all websites in January 2015 to 43.6% in January 2025, a gain of 20.3 points, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from W3Techs data. Source: W3Techs, Historical yearly trends in the usage statistics of content management systems (yearly series 1 January 2015 to 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/content_management/all/y
- Websites using none of the content management systems W3Techs monitors rose from 28.6% to 31.5% in the year to 1 October 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from W3Techs data. Source: W3Techs, Historical trends in the usage statistics of content management systems (monthly) (monthly series 1 October 2025 to 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/content_management/all

Table: WordPress share of all websites and CMS market share, 1 January each year, W3Techs

| Date | Share of all websites | CMS market share |
|---|---|---|
| January 2015 | 23.3% | 60.7% |
| January 2017 | 27.3% | 58.5% |
| January 2019 | 32.7% | 59.7% |
| January 2021 | 39.5% | 64.1% |
| January 2022 | 43.2% | 65.2% |
| January 2023 | 43.1% | 63.7% |
| January 2024 | 43.1% | 62.9% |
| January 2025 | 43.6% | 62.0% |
| January 2026 | 43.0% | 60.2% |
| 21 October 2026 | 39.6% | 58.3% |

Source: W3Techs yearly usage and market share trend reports, accessed 21 October 2026.

## How many websites use WordPress

Neither W3Techs nor WordPress.org publishes a total count of WordPress sites. HTTP Archive's crawl lets us estimate how many sites in its own sample run WordPress.

HTTP Archive crawled 16,213,084 websites in July 2025, including 15,426,398 mobile sites. It found WordPress on 35.0% of all mobile sites in one chart and 35.6% in another. That puts the count at about 5.4 to 5.5 million WordPress sites in its sample. The real total on the web is higher, because the crawl only covers sites that appear in Chrome's user experience data.

HTTP Archive and W3Techs disagree on share. HTTP Archive had WordPress at 64.3% of CMS sites in July 2025. W3Techs had 60.7% on 1 October 2025, the earliest date in its public monthly series. The samples differ. HTTP Archive takes its list of sites from the Chrome UX Report. W3Techs uses its own survey of more than 20 million sites and does not count subdomains as separate sites.

WordPress is less dominant among the busiest sites. HTTP Archive puts it at roughly 58% of CMS use in the top 10,000 websites, where Drupal holds about 6 to 7%.

- WordPress ran on about 5.4 million to 5.5 million of the mobile websites in HTTP Archive's July 2025 crawl, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from HTTP Archive data. Source: HTTP Archive, Web Almanac 2025, Chapter 12: CMS, and Methodology (15 January 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://almanac.httparchive.org/en/2025/cms
- WordPress powered 64.3% of mobile websites that use a CMS in 2025, according to HTTP Archive. Source: HTTP Archive, Web Almanac 2025, Chapter 12: CMS (15 January 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://almanac.httparchive.org/en/2025/cms
- WordPress accounted for roughly 58% of CMS usage among the top 10,000 websites in 2025, according to HTTP Archive. Source: HTTP Archive, Web Almanac 2025, Chapter 12: CMS (15 January 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://almanac.httparchive.org/en/2025/cms
- CMS-driven sites made up 54% of mobile websites and 55% of desktop websites in 2025, according to HTTP Archive. Source: HTTP Archive, Web Almanac 2025, Chapter 12: CMS (15 January 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://almanac.httparchive.org/en/2025/cms
- HTTP Archive put WordPress at 64.3% of CMS sites in July 2025, 3.6 points above the 60.7% W3Techs reported for 1 October 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal. Source: HTTP Archive, Web Almanac 2025, Chapter 12: CMS (15 January 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://almanac.httparchive.org/en/2025/cms

Table: WordPress share of CMS websites by source and date

| Source | Data date | Sample | WordPress share of CMS sites | WordPress share of all sites |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HTTP Archive Web Almanac | July 2025 | 15.4 million mobile sites from the Chrome UX Report | 64.3% | 35.0% to 35.6% |
| W3Techs | 1 October 2025 | Well over 20 million sites | 60.7% | 43.3% |
| W3Techs | 21 October 2026 | Well over 20 million sites | 58.3% | 39.6% |

Sources: HTTP Archive Web Almanac 2025 (CMS chapter and methodology); W3Techs. Comparison by StatisticsGlobal.

## WordPress usage by version

Two sources track which WordPress versions sites run. W3Techs reports major versions. WordPress.org reports every minor release from sites that check in for updates.

WordPress 7.0 came out on 20 May 2026 and 7.1 on 19 August 2026. Two months after release, 7.1 already ran on 62.7% of sites that report to WordPress.org.

A long tail stays behind. W3Techs finds a third of WordPress sites not on version 7. WordPress.org finds 37.3% on something older than 7.1, and 2.6% still on 4.x or older.

The two sources differ by about 4 points on version 7. WordPress.org only counts sites that contact its update servers. Sites that block those checks, often older or abandoned ones, are missing from its data, so it may overstate how current the average site is.

- WordPress 7 ran on 66.6% of WordPress websites in October 2026, according to W3Techs. Source: W3Techs, Usage statistics and market share of WordPress (updated daily, data for 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cm-wordpress
- WordPress 6 still ran on 26.5% of WordPress websites in October 2026, according to W3Techs. Source: W3Techs, Usage statistics and market share of WordPress (updated daily, data for 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cm-wordpress
- WordPress websites not on version 7 made up 33.4% of all WordPress sites in October 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from W3Techs data. Source: W3Techs, Usage statistics and market share of WordPress (updated daily, data for 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cm-wordpress
- WordPress 7.1 ran on 62.7% of WordPress sites that report to WordPress.org in October 2026, according to WordPress.org. Source: WordPress.org, WordPress.org stats API: WordPress versions (the data behind wordpress.org/about/stats) (live, accessed 21 October 2026) https://api.wordpress.org/stats/wordpress/1.0/
- WordPress 7.x releases ran on 70.5% of sites reporting to WordPress.org in October 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from WordPress.org data. Source: WordPress.org, WordPress.org stats API: WordPress versions (the data behind wordpress.org/about/stats) (live, accessed 21 October 2026) https://api.wordpress.org/stats/wordpress/1.0/
- WordPress sites on a version older than 7.1 made up 37.3% of sites reporting to WordPress.org in October 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from WordPress.org data. Source: WordPress.org, WordPress.org stats API: WordPress versions (the data behind wordpress.org/about/stats) (live, accessed 21 October 2026) https://api.wordpress.org/stats/wordpress/1.0/
- WordPress 4.x or older still ran on 2.6% of sites reporting to WordPress.org in October 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from WordPress.org data. Source: WordPress.org, WordPress.org stats API: WordPress versions (the data behind wordpress.org/about/stats) (live, accessed 21 October 2026) https://api.wordpress.org/stats/wordpress/1.0/
- WordPress.org counted 3.9 points more WordPress 7 sites than W3Techs in October 2026, 70.5% against 66.6%, calculated by StatisticsGlobal. Source: WordPress.org, WordPress.org stats API: WordPress versions (the data behind wordpress.org/about/stats) (live, accessed 21 October 2026) https://api.wordpress.org/stats/wordpress/1.0/

Table: WordPress major versions in use, October 2026, by source

| Version | W3Techs (share of WordPress websites) | WordPress.org (share of reporting sites) |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | 66.6% | 70.5% |
| 6 | 26.5% | 22.0% |
| 5 | 4.7% | 5.0% |
| 4 | 2.0% | 2.3% |
| 3 | 0.2% | 0.3% |

Sources: W3Techs, 21 October 2026; WordPress.org stats API, 21 October 2026. WordPress.org minor versions summed by StatisticsGlobal.

## WordPress PHP version statistics

WordPress runs on PHP. The PHP version a site uses decides whether it still gets security fixes from the PHP project.

PHP 8.3 is now the most common version on WordPress sites, at 26.6%. WordPress recommends PHP 8.3 or newer, and 39.8% of sites meet that.

The risk sits in the older versions. php.net lists PHP 8.2 as the oldest branch with security support. 36.4% of WordPress sites run something older, including 16.1% on PHP 7.4. Another 23.8% run PHP 8.2, which loses security support on 31 December 2026. Unless they upgrade, about 60% of WordPress sites will be on unsupported PHP in January 2027.

On the database side, MariaDB has overtaken MySQL with 60.3% of sites. 68.2% of sites run a database version that WordPress recommends. For the wider threat picture, see our [cybersecurity statistics](https://statisticsglobal.org/cybersecurity-statistics/).

- PHP 8.3 was the most used PHP version on WordPress sites in October 2026, at 26.6%, according to WordPress.org. Source: WordPress.org, WordPress.org stats API: PHP versions (the data behind wordpress.org/about/stats) (live, accessed 21 October 2026) https://api.wordpress.org/stats/php/1.0/
- PHP 7.4 still ran on 16.1% of WordPress sites in October 2026, according to WordPress.org. Source: WordPress.org, WordPress.org stats API: PHP versions (the data behind wordpress.org/about/stats) (live, accessed 21 October 2026) https://api.wordpress.org/stats/php/1.0/
- PHP 8.x ran on 78.2% of WordPress sites in October 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from WordPress.org data. Source: WordPress.org, WordPress.org stats API: PHP versions (the data behind wordpress.org/about/stats) (live, accessed 21 October 2026) https://api.wordpress.org/stats/php/1.0/
- WordPress sites on PHP versions without security support made up 36.4% of sites in October 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from WordPress.org and php.net data. Source: WordPress.org, WordPress.org stats API: PHP versions (the data behind wordpress.org/about/stats) (live, accessed 21 October 2026) https://api.wordpress.org/stats/php/1.0/
- WordPress sites on PHP 8.2 made up 23.8% in October 2026, and that branch loses security support on 31 December 2026, according to WordPress.org and php.net. Source: WordPress.org, WordPress.org stats API: PHP versions (the data behind wordpress.org/about/stats) (live, accessed 21 October 2026) https://api.wordpress.org/stats/php/1.0/
- WordPress sites on PHP 8.3 or newer, the version WordPress recommends, made up 39.8% of sites in October 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from WordPress.org data. Source: WordPress.org, WordPress.org stats API: PHP versions (the data behind wordpress.org/about/stats) (live, accessed 21 October 2026) https://api.wordpress.org/stats/php/1.0/
- MariaDB ran on 60.3% of WordPress sites in October 2026 and MySQL on 39.6%, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from WordPress.org data. Source: WordPress.org, WordPress.org stats API: database versions (the data behind wordpress.org/about/stats) (live, accessed 21 October 2026) https://api.wordpress.org/stats/mysql/1.0/
- WordPress sites meeting the recommended database version made up 68.2% of sites in October 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from WordPress.org data. Source: WordPress.org, WordPress.org stats API: database versions (the data behind wordpress.org/about/stats) (live, accessed 21 October 2026) https://api.wordpress.org/stats/mysql/1.0/

Table: PHP versions on WordPress sites and their support status, October 2026

| PHP version | Share of WordPress sites | Security support |
|---|---|---|
| 8.5 | 3.9% | Until 31 Dec 2029 |
| 8.4 | 9.3% | Until 31 Dec 2028 |
| 8.3 | 26.6% | Until 31 Dec 2027 |
| 8.2 | 23.8% | Until 31 Dec 2026 |
| 8.1 | 10.7% | Ended |
| 8 | 3.8% | Ended |
| 7.4 | 16.1% | Ended |
| 7.3 and older | 5.7% | Ended |

Sources: WordPress.org stats API (shares), php.net Supported Versions (support dates), both accessed 21 October 2026. "Ended" means the branch is not listed as supported on php.net.

## WordPress plugin statistics

WordPress.org does not publish summary statistics for its plugin directory. We pulled the full list of 76,360 plugins from its public API on 21 October 2026 and counted them ourselves.

The directory is huge but top-heavy. Only 68 plugins have 1 million or more active installs. The 100 most installed hold 57.5% of all installs the directory reports. At the other end, 78% of plugins have fewer than 100 installs.

Nearly half the directory is dormant. 46.5% of plugins had no update for two years or more. Popular plugins are kept far more current. Of plugins with 10,000 or more installs, 77.3% say they are tested with WordPress 7, against 35.7% of all plugins.

New submissions have surged. 17,990 plugins still listed were added between 1 January and 21 October 2026, three times the number added in all of 2025. We cannot tell from the API why, and closed plugins are missing from older years.

Page builders shape a large part of WordPress. HTTP Archive estimates around 60% of WordPress sites use one. Elementor leads, but its share fell from about 56% to 43% between 2024 and 2025, while the built-in Block Editor grew to around 18%.

- The WordPress.org Plugin Directory listed over 76,000 free plugins in October 2026, according to WordPress.org. Source: WordPress.org, WordPress Plugins directory (live, accessed 21 October 2026) https://wordpress.org/plugins/
- 68 plugins in the WordPress.org directory had 1 million or more active installs in October 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from WordPress.org data. Source: WordPress.org, Plugin Directory API (query_plugins, browse=new, all 306 pages) (live, pulled 21 October 2026) https://api.wordpress.org/plugins/info/1.2/?action=query_plugins&request[browse]=new&request[per_page]=250
- Elementor had 10+ million active installations in October 2026, the top band in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory, according to WordPress.org. Source: WordPress.org, WordPress Plugins directory (live, accessed 21 October 2026) https://wordpress.org/plugins/
- The 100 most installed plugins held 57.5% of all active installs reported by the WordPress.org directory in October 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from WordPress.org data. Source: WordPress.org, Plugin Directory API (query_plugins, browse=new, all 306 pages) (live, pulled 21 October 2026) https://api.wordpress.org/plugins/info/1.2/?action=query_plugins&request[browse]=new&request[per_page]=250
- 78.0% of plugins in the WordPress.org directory had fewer than 100 active installs in October 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from WordPress.org data. Source: WordPress.org, Plugin Directory API (query_plugins, browse=new, all 306 pages) (live, pulled 21 October 2026) https://api.wordpress.org/plugins/info/1.2/?action=query_plugins&request[browse]=new&request[per_page]=250
- 46.5% of plugins in the WordPress.org directory had not been updated for two years or more in October 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from WordPress.org data. Source: WordPress.org, Plugin Directory API (query_plugins, browse=new, all 306 pages) (live, pulled 21 October 2026) https://api.wordpress.org/plugins/info/1.2/?action=query_plugins&request[browse]=new&request[per_page]=250
- 77.3% of plugins with 10,000 or more active installs were tested with WordPress 7 in October 2026, against 35.7% of all plugins, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from WordPress.org data. Source: WordPress.org, Plugin Directory API (query_plugins, browse=new, all 306 pages) (live, pulled 21 October 2026) https://api.wordpress.org/plugins/info/1.2/?action=query_plugins&request[browse]=new&request[per_page]=250
- Plugins added to the WordPress.org directory from 1 January to 21 October 2026 numbered 17,990, three times the 6,009 added in 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from WordPress.org data. Source: WordPress.org, Plugin Directory API (query_plugins, browse=new, all 306 pages) (live, pulled 21 October 2026) https://api.wordpress.org/plugins/info/1.2/?action=query_plugins&request[browse]=new&request[per_page]=250
- Around 60% of WordPress sites used a page builder in 2025, according to HTTP Archive. Source: HTTP Archive, Web Almanac 2025, Chapter 12: CMS (15 January 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://almanac.httparchive.org/en/2025/cms
- Elementor was the most used WordPress page builder in 2025, with 43% adoption on mobile, according to HTTP Archive. Source: HTTP Archive, Web Almanac 2025, Chapter 12: CMS (15 January 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://almanac.httparchive.org/en/2025/cms
- Elementor's page builder share fell by about 13 points from 2024 to 2025, from about 56% to 43%, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from HTTP Archive data. Source: HTTP Archive, Web Almanac 2025, Chapter 12: CMS (15 January 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://almanac.httparchive.org/en/2025/cms

Table: WordPress.org plugins by active installs, 21 October 2026

| Active installs | Plugins | Share of plugins | Not updated in 2+ years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 million or more | 68 | 0.1% | 0.0% |
| 100,000 to 999,999 | 396 | 0.5% | 1.3% |
| 10,000 to 99,999 | 1,715 | 2.2% | 9.3% |
| 1,000 to 9,999 | 4,797 | 6.3% | 22.8% |
| 100 to 999 | 9,810 | 12.8% | 42.9% |
| 10 to 99 | 31,315 | 41.0% | 66.2% |
| Fewer than 10 | 28,259 | 37.0% | 32.9% |
| All plugins | 76,360 | 100% | 46.5% |

Source: StatisticsGlobal analysis of the WordPress.org Plugin Directory API, 21 October 2026. Raw data: /data/snapshots/wordpress/plugin-directory-2026-10-21.csv.

## WordPress vs other CMS market share

WordPress is still more than seven times the size of the next CMS. The growth is happening elsewhere.

Shopify is the clear number two with 7.9% of CMS sites, up 1 point in a year. Wix and Squarespace also edged up. Hosted, all-in-one platforms are taking part of the share that WordPress loses. Shopify's growth tracks online retail, covered on our [payment processor market share](https://statisticsglobal.org/payment-processor-market-share/) page.

The older open-source CMSs keep shrinking. Joomla and Drupal together had 13.7% of the CMS market in January 2015 and 2.5% in October 2026.

On speed, WordPress lags. HTTP Archive found 45% of WordPress mobile sites passed Core Web Vitals in 2025, among the lowest of the ten CMSs it compared. Duda reached 85%. HTTP Archive notes that platforms with tightly managed environments made the largest gains.

WordPress is a global platform. More than half of sites reporting to WordPress.org run in a language other than English. Japanese is second after US English, at 6.0%.

- Shopify had a 7.9% CMS market share and ran on 5.3% of all websites in October 2026, according to W3Techs. Source: W3Techs, Usage statistics of content management systems (updated daily, data for 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/content_management
- Wix had a 6.2% CMS market share in October 2026, according to W3Techs. Source: W3Techs, Usage statistics of content management systems (updated daily, data for 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/content_management
- Squarespace had a 3.6% CMS market share in October 2026, according to W3Techs. Source: W3Techs, Usage statistics of content management systems (updated daily, data for 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/content_management
- WordPress had 7.4 times the CMS market share of Shopify, the second largest system, in October 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from W3Techs data. Source: W3Techs, Usage statistics of content management systems (updated daily, data for 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/content_management
- Shopify gained 1.0 percentage point of CMS market share in the year to 1 October 2026, from 6.8% to 7.8%, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from W3Techs data. Source: W3Techs, Market share trends of content management systems (monthly) (monthly series 1 October 2025 to 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/content_management/ms
- Joomla and Drupal together fell from 13.7% to 2.5% CMS market share between January 2015 and October 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from W3Techs data. Source: W3Techs, Historical yearly market share trends of content management systems (yearly series 1 January 2015 to 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/content_management/ms/y
- 45% of WordPress mobile sites passed Core Web Vitals in 2025, according to HTTP Archive. Source: HTTP Archive, Web Almanac 2025, Chapter 12: CMS (15 January 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://almanac.httparchive.org/en/2025/cms
- WordPress mobile sites passed Core Web Vitals 40 points less often than Duda sites in 2025, 45% against 85%, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from HTTP Archive data. Source: HTTP Archive, Web Almanac 2025, Chapter 12: CMS (15 January 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://almanac.httparchive.org/en/2025/cms
- WordPress sites had a median Lighthouse performance score of 41 on mobile in 2025, according to HTTP Archive. Source: HTTP Archive, Web Almanac 2025, Chapter 12: CMS (15 January 2026, accessed 21 October 2026) https://almanac.httparchive.org/en/2025/cms
- English (US) was the language of 42.7% of WordPress sites in October 2026, according to WordPress.org. Source: WordPress.org, WordPress.org stats API: locales (the data behind wordpress.org/about/stats) (live, accessed 21 October 2026) https://api.wordpress.org/stats/locale/1.0/
- WordPress sites running in a language other than English made up 52.5% of sites in October 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from WordPress.org data. Source: WordPress.org, WordPress.org stats API: locales (the data behind wordpress.org/about/stats) (live, accessed 21 October 2026) https://api.wordpress.org/stats/locale/1.0/
- Japanese was the second most common WordPress language in October 2026, used on 6.0% of sites, according to WordPress.org. Source: WordPress.org, WordPress.org stats API: locales (the data behind wordpress.org/about/stats) (live, accessed 21 October 2026) https://api.wordpress.org/stats/locale/1.0/

Table: CMS market share and share of all websites, October 2026 vs October 2025, W3Techs

| CMS | Share of all websites, Oct 2026 | CMS market share, 1 Oct 2025 | CMS market share, 21 Oct 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress | 39.6% | 60.7% | 58.3% |
| Shopify | 5.3% | 6.8% | 7.9% |
| Wix | 4.2% | 5.7% | 6.2% |
| Squarespace | 2.4% | 3.4% | 3.6% |
| Joomla | 1.1% | 2.0% | 1.6% |
| Drupal | 0.6% | 1.1% | 0.9% |

Source: W3Techs usage overview (21 October 2026) and monthly market share trend (1 October 2025).

## How these sources measure WordPress

Each source sees a different slice of the web. None of them counts every WordPress site.

W3Techs surveys websites and detects the CMS from the page. Its sample includes well over 20 million sites. It uses Chrome UX Report and Tranco data for its rankings. It counts websites, not subdomains, so the many free subdomain sites on hosted builders count once per root domain. W3Techs updates daily and does not publish a full method, which is why we keep a dated copy of the numbers we cite.

HTTP Archive crawls the sites in the Chrome UX Report, 16.2 million in July 2025. Its CMS shares are mostly for mobile pages. The Web Almanac chapter gives some figures in rounded or slightly different forms in different charts, and we show its ranges where that happens.

WordPress.org counts sites that check in with its update servers. That covers most self-hosted WordPress sites, but not sites that block update checks. Its version and PHP shares are live and change daily. Our copy is from 21 October 2026.

Our plugin counts come from the WordPress.org Plugin Directory API. Active installs are rounded bands set by WordPress.org, so totals are approximate. Closed plugins are not in the API, which flatters update rates and lowers counts for older years. The raw files are published with this page under /data/snapshots/.


## Frequently asked questions

### What percentage of websites use WordPress in 2026?

WordPress was used by 39.6% of all websites in October 2026, according to W3Techs. That is 58.3% of websites with a known CMS. HTTP Archive's 2025 crawl put WordPress at 64.3% of mobile CMS sites.

### Is WordPress losing market share?

Yes, slowly. W3Techs data shows WordPress usage fell from 43.3% to 40.2% of all websites in the year to 1 October 2026, and its CMS market share fell from 60.7% to 58.7%. Shopify, Wix and Squarespace gained share over the same period.

### How many websites use WordPress?

No source publishes a full count. HTTP Archive's July 2025 crawl of 15.4 million mobile sites found WordPress on about 35%, which is about 5.4 to 5.5 million sites in that sample alone.

### What version of WordPress do most sites run?

WordPress 7.1, released on 19 August 2026, ran on 62.7% of sites reporting to WordPress.org in October 2026. W3Techs finds 66.6% of WordPress sites on version 7 and 26.5% still on version 6.

### What PHP version do most WordPress sites use?

PHP 8.3 is the most used, at 26.6% of WordPress sites in October 2026. 36.4% of sites run PHP versions older than 8.2, which no longer get security fixes from the PHP project.

### How many WordPress plugins are there?

The WordPress.org directory lists over 76,000 free plugins. Our pull of the directory API on 21 October 2026 found 76,360. Only 68 had 1 million or more active installs, and 46.5% had not been updated in two years.

## Sources

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2. W3Techs, Historical trends in the usage statistics of content management systems (monthly), monthly series 1 October 2025 to 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026. https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/content_management/all
3. WordPress.org, WordPress.org stats API: PHP versions (the data behind wordpress.org/about/stats), live, accessed 21 October 2026. https://api.wordpress.org/stats/php/1.0/
4. WordPress.org, Plugin Directory API (query_plugins, browse=new, all 306 pages), live, pulled 21 October 2026. https://api.wordpress.org/plugins/info/1.2/?action=query_plugins&request[browse]=new&request[per_page]=250
5. W3Techs, Market share trends of content management systems (monthly), monthly series 1 October 2025 to 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026. https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/content_management/ms
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7. HTTP Archive, Web Almanac 2025, Chapter 12: CMS, and Methodology, 15 January 2026, accessed 21 October 2026. https://almanac.httparchive.org/en/2025/cms
8. W3Techs, Usage statistics and market share of WordPress, updated daily, data for 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026. https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cm-wordpress
9. WordPress.org, WordPress.org stats API: WordPress versions (the data behind wordpress.org/about/stats), live, accessed 21 October 2026. https://api.wordpress.org/stats/wordpress/1.0/
10. WordPress.org, WordPress.org stats API: database versions (the data behind wordpress.org/about/stats), live, accessed 21 October 2026. https://api.wordpress.org/stats/mysql/1.0/
11. WordPress.org, WordPress Plugins directory, live, accessed 21 October 2026. https://wordpress.org/plugins/
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13. WordPress.org, WordPress.org stats API: locales (the data behind wordpress.org/about/stats), live, accessed 21 October 2026. https://api.wordpress.org/stats/locale/1.0/