WordPress is undoubtedly the most popular content management system in the world. Since its launch in 2003, it’s taken the world by storm. This beloved platform now powers over 42% of all websites worldwide, but that’s not the only interesting fact about it. That’s why we’ll dig into some of the most crucial WordPress statistics and learn more about the CMS leader.
WordPress Statistics (Editor’s Choice)
- More than 70 million posts are published each month on WordPress websites. (WordPress)
- 97% of all blogs are built using WordPress. (BuiltWith)
- WordPress has 70 million new posts and 77 million new comments every month. (WordPress)
- 74% of infected websites are built with WordPress. (WP Manage Ninja)
- 56% of WordPress attacks happen because of an outdated CMS. (Sucuri)
- 41% of WordPress sites are hacked via their hosting providers. (WP Mayor)
General WordPress Stats
1. The WordPress family is worth $3+ billion.
Automattic, WordPress’s parent company, is worth over $3 billion. The platform, however, is also supported by the WordPress Community Support and WordPress Foundation, both of which heavily rely on donations, sponsorships, and WordCamp ticket sales. In 2019, WordPress Foundation generated only $7,641, all of which came from donations. WordPress Community Support meanwhile generated $5,231,388 in 2019, according to WordPress stats.
(Website Setup, WordPress Foundation)
2. WordPress powers over 293,000 out of the top one million global sites.
Nothing speaks about WordPress popularity, like the fact that the market leader powers 29.5% of the top 10k global websites. Additionally, the overall number of WordPress websites in the top one million stands at 293,230.
(BuiltWith)
3. Over 70 million posts are published every month on WordPress sites.
We already discussed the WordPress popularity among the community in the first few stats. According to WordPress traffic stats, the platform sees a lot of traffic. On average, 77 million new comments are published live every month on WordPress websites around the world.
(WordPress)
4. There have been over 420 versions of WordPress over the years.
WordPress is constantly changing and adapting to its users’ needs. There have been a total of 420 version updates and 37 major releases of WordPress so far. Note that major releases go out every 4-5 months, accounting for developer functionality and new features.
(Website Setup)
5. The latest version of WordPress has been downloaded over 27.9 million times.
WordPress usage statistics show that the latest version of WordPress is 6.0 and has been downloaded over 27.9 times so far. The download numbers are growing by the minute and show no sign of slowing down.
(WordPress)
6. 500+ sites are built on WordPress daily.
WordPress usage is at an all-time high, and nothing proves this better than the fact that more than 500 websites globally are built using the popular content management system daily.
(Kinsta)
7. WordPress is available in over 200 locales.
According to WordPress site statistics, as of 2021, the market leader is available in 205 locales. Additionally, users can sign up for translating their own languages on the open-source WordPress project.
(WordPress)
8. WordPress holds 64.2% of the CMS market share.
According to CMS market share stats, WordPress is the most widely used content management system worldwide right now. As of 2021, the WordPress market share stands at 64.2%.
(W3Techs)
9. 97% of all blogs are built using WordPress.
According to WordPress blog stats, the vast majority of all blogs on the internet are powered by WordPress. In fact, 97% of 29,078,659 global live blogs are created and run using the CMS powerhouse.
(BuiltWith)
10. WordPress powers 43% of the internet.
The WordPress percentage of the internet may just shock you. As of 2021, the platform powers 42.6% of the internet. Some other platforms that are somewhat popular among internet users are Shopify (powers 4.2% of websites), Wix (2.3% of websites are on it), and Squarespace (2% of websites are powered by it). Interestingly, the number of websites powered by WordPress has decreased b y 0.2% compared to Jan 2022.
(W3Techs)
11. WordPress offers over 59,000 plugins and 9,720 themes.
According to WordPress statistics, the CMS offers a variety of themes and plugins. Users can choose from over 9,720 easily customizable themes and 59,460 handy, free plugins.
(WordPress)
12. 57% of WP plugins have never been rated.
The WordPress community definitely enjoys what the powerful CMS has to offer, but stats show that many users don’t really care for rating the plugins they use. In fact, 57% of those have never been rated, while 3% have never been updated.
(Kinsta)
WordPress User Statistics
13. 44.9% of users run WordPress on the latest version.
The percentage of users using the 5.9 version sits at 13.3%, while 8.3% run WordPress on version 5.8. 44.9% turn to the latest (6.0) version, 4.5% of users chose to run WordPress using the 5.7, while only 1% are using the 5.0.
(WordPress)
14. With over 3.7 million websites, WordPress is most popular in the US.
WordPress site stats show that, while the CMS enjoys global popularity, it is most commonly used by Americans. According to BuiltWith’s database, out of all websites, 3,743,330 are made in the US. Germany takes second place with 1,650,003 live websites, leaving the UK in third place with 1,419,226 live sites.
(BuiltWith)
15. WordPress is visited more than Twitter.
The term “WordPress” seems to be very popular with internet users. WordPress stats show that WordPress has more searches than Twitter. According to WordPress visitor stats, everyone’s favorite content management system has 163 million unique visitors per month, while Twitter statistics note mere 156 million users.
(Digital)
16. Just under 1,100 WordCamps have taken place worldwide.
The WordPress community is widespread around the globe — so much that the platform’s users have created WordCamps, conferences that gather people from different cities, countries, or continents to discuss anything WordPress-related. Up until 2021, 1,090 WordCamps took place in 373 cities in 65 countries and six continents.
(WordCamp Central)
17. Over 400 million visitors view WordPress pages monthly.
The popular CMS makes a lot of monthly traffic, as statistics show. On average, 409 million visitors browse through over 20 billion pages each month.
(Kinsta)
18. 25% of users make a living off WordPress.
There are many ways to earn money from the CMS, which is something that a quarter of WordPress users have realized and put to good use. Over 50% of the platform’s theme developers make at least $1,000 a month, while 5% report earning over $10,000. Additionally, WordPress developers charge between $20 and $100/hour and up to $199/hour.
(Kinsta)
WordPress Security Statistics
19. There are 90,000 security attacks on WordPress websites every minute.
Seeing as how WordPress is the leading CMS globally and powers around 40% of all websites, it’s not surprising that it experiences a lot of security attacks and breaches. However, 90,000 security attacks every 60 seconds still sound like a lot.
(WP Manage Ninja)
20. Over 70% of WordPress installations are vulnerable to hacker attacks.
WordPress statistics show that 30,823 out of 42,106 WordPress installations tested are in danger of getting hacked. This means that 73.2% of installations for WordPress websites are incredibly vulnerable to hacker attacks. Cybercrime statistics suggest that human error is the primary enabler of hacking activities, and the majority of organizations are not prepared for such situations.
(WP White Security)
21. 74% of infected websites are built with WordPress.
A breach study conducted on websites worldwide has shown that out of 8,000 websites tested, 74% were built using WordPress. Additionally, 4,000 were infected by malware coming from fake SEO plugins.
(WP Manage Ninja)
22. There are over 28,900 known WordPress vulnerabilities.
According to WordPress security statistics, there are 28,948 known WordPress vulnerabilities, with 472 coming from WordPress themes and 4,657 from WordPress plugins.
(WPScan)
23. During the biggest WordPress data breach, 18 million users were compromised.
The biggest data breach to happen to WordPress took place back in 2011. Over 18 million WordPress users and their private information were compromised in this fabled security breach.
(Kinsta)
24. 56% of CMS attacks happen because of an outdated version.
In 2019, statistics showed that 56% of the overall security attacks on websites running on WordPress and other content management platforms happened solely because they were using outdated versions.
(Sucuri)
25. Alexa’s top one million websites identified 11 invalid versions of WordPress.
WordPress statistics have shown that out of the 74 WordPress versions included in Alexa’s top one million websites, 11 were invalid, leaving those sites vulnerable to security attacks.
(WP White Security)
26. Just under 30% of security attacks take place because of WordPress themes’ vulnerabilities.
As we briefly mentioned before, themes can also be a vulnerable spot for security breaches. In fact, 29% of those breaches are reported to have been the cause of major security attacks.
(WP Mayor)
27. 41% of WordPress sites are hacked via their hosting providers.
WordPress stats show that 41% of hacking incidents take place because of hosting providers. Hackers track down insecure hosting provider configurations and can take advantage of WordPress websites and blogs, underlining the importance of choosing a reliable WordPress hosting provider.
(WP Mayor)
WordPress FAQs
Is WordPress for beginners?
One of the most commonly known WordPress facts is that it is an easy platform to get started with, offering a lot to beginners and professional developers.
(HubSpot)
Are WordPress sites free?
Essentially, WordPress sites are free, meaning that anyone can download the software, edit and customize the sites, etc., but users have to pay for their hosting plans.
(Kinsta)
How many websites use WordPress?
As of 2021, over 455 million websites worldwide use WordPress.
(Envisage Digital)
How many WordPress themes are there?
There are currently 9,720 WordPress themes.
(WordPress)
Can WordPress themes be customized?
While WordPress offers a plethora of theme designs that you can choose from and will not have to edit if you don’t want to, all themes can also be easily customized.
(WP Oven)
How many WordPress plugins are there?
According to WordPress plugin stats, the platform has over 59,000 plugins.
(WordPress)
How long has WordPress been around?
WordPress was initially released back in May 2003.
(Kinsta)
Who created WordPress?
WordPress was created by American developer Matt Mullenweg and British developer Mike Little.
(Kinsta)
Conclusion
After digging through some of the essential WordPress statistics, it’s pretty apparent that the content management system is the market leader for a reason. It’s clear that the percentage of websites using WordPress and the popularity it enjoys worldwide are continuing to grow, and one thing is sure — we haven’t seen it all yet.
Sources: Website Setup, WordPress Foundation, BuiltWith, WordPress, WordPress, Kinsta, WordPress, W3Techs, BuiltWith, W3Techs, WordPress, WordPress, WordPress, Digital, WordCamp Central, WP Manage Ninja, WP White Security, WPScan, Sucuri, WP Mayor, HubSpot, Kinsta, Envisage, Digital, WP Oven, Kinsta
