WordPress market share - how it looks like in 2022?

WordPress market share definitely outweighs any other solutions of this type on the website market. Why is it so popular and commonly used by so many people for developing their online spaces? What are CMS market share trends? You’ll learn all of this in the article below!

Market share of WordPress –  what exactly is CMS?

Let’s start with a basic definition of WordPress to make sure we have a good understanding of its role in the Internet environment. WordPress is a website content management system (so-called CMS). What makes it the most popular tool of this type is the fact that you can operate it very intuitively, it is extremely easy to use, and it is available free of charge. Most people who have never had even a brief contact with WordPress can edit and update content by themselves, as well as assign roles on the website. What about its position in CMS market share?

What percentage of websites use WordPress?

“How popular is WordPress?”, you may wonder. According to data from W3Tech, in April 2022, 64.2% of websites based on the content management system were built using WordPress. Therefore, it means that sites powered by WordPress account for well over half the market! People who use it come from different environments. It is popular among bloggers, small companies to even large corporations. What is interesting, as early as January 2011, this system had a share of 55.3%, while WordPress market share in 2022 increased by almost 10%. It is a huge success considering that in the past 11 years so many companies started out with new, similar solutions. Even so, WordPress is still second to none!

When it comes to overall WordPress usage, it is also worth mentioning that it accounts for 43% of all websites on the market, including those that do not use a CMS, which is also a great result.

Why is WordPress so popular?

Speaking of how much market share it has, it is also necessary to consider where the popularity of WordPress comes from.

1. The fact that bloggers, small business owners as well as large companies use it, can advocate for its simplicity and user-friendliness. Publishing posts, modifying individual subpages, assigning roles or installing plugins that facilitate various activities is extremely easy. Anyone who has had contact with WordPress for some time as well as the opportunity to watch someone working on it, will certainly be able to manage it by themselves.
2. Simplicity of operation, however, is not the only advantage of using WordPress. The fact that it is free also makes things easier. Why should you pay for other CMS, when with WordPress, you get a well-functioning, intuitive CMS for free? Of course, you must still bear the costs associated with hosting or buying a domain
3. A website built on WordPress can be personalized according to your wishes. There are tons of different templates, free and paid, that you can use in your website design. Thanks to this, you can adapt them fully to the visual identification of your brand.
4. WordPress is also one of the popular content management systems. In this CMS, you can create a blog and publish content immediately, as well as schedule it for later. In addition, there are many plugins that allow you to create an entire content plan, combined with, e.g., social media activities.

WordPress.com and WordPress.org – the fundamental difference

What you need to remember about WordPress is the fact that WordPress.org and WordPress.com are not the same thing. WordPress.org is based on so-called self-hosting. In practice, it means that you buy your own hosting service, install WordPress and then you can set up your website without worrying about the rights to it. Things are a bit different on WordPress.com where customer service takes care of everything. As a client (website owner), you only need to register your account and then you can start building your site. However, you have less freedom, there might be additional fees (for higher packages) and the possibility that one day the WordPress.com owner decides to close it, and you are left without a page. There are many differences between the two options. For example, when it comes to WordPress.com, your options are very limited if you do not decide to upgrade your package to the paid version, for example you can only set up a website on a subdomain. You also have to accept the presence of advertising as well as WordPress.com branding on your website. Most importantly, however, the free version of WordPress.com cannot be used for commercial purposes and has data transfer limits. If you want to know more, check out our blog article on differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org.

Top CMS platforms on the market

Of course, you need to be aware that there are also other CMSs that you can use in your business. What options do you have? Here is a list of the most popular content management systems.

Shopify, Wix, WordPress, Drupal, Joomla CMS market share

• WordPress

As we have mentioned earlier, WordPress is used on 64.2% websites on the CMS market. It is not only a blogging platform, but also an ideal solution for various businesses and a great CMS for e-commerce (with WooCommerce plugin).

• Shopify

Another interesting option is Shopify, which ranks second in the W3Tech ranking, reaching 6.5% of CMS market share. This system helps people who want to have their own online store, but they are at loss when it comes to its technological side. Thanks to Shopify, they can create their shop quickly, and the platform’s support will be responsible for the entire back-end, so store owners don’t have to worry about it. However, the risk is the same as in the case of WordPress.org. If the Shopify owner decides to close the business, the owners will lose their stores.

• Wix

Yet another popular website builder is Wix.com. It ranks third in terms of the CMS market share (3.4%). Wix is suitable not only for online store owners, but also for bloggers or businesses that need a website that serves as a simple presentation of the brand. It is also simple to use because you only need to arrange the appropriate blocks to create a website. What is certainly an advantage of this solution is, of course, the support that watches over everything, so a website owner is not left on their own.

• Joomla

It is also worth mentioning Joomla, a platform which was once a big competitor of WordPress. Now its star has dimmed a bit, but it still has a large fan base – its CMS market share is 2.5%. Joomla is a script that is a bit more complicated than WordPress.org, but less than Drupal. So it is an ideal option for advanced people who want to get maximum website performance and already have had some experience in the programming world, yet they lack some skills to be able to call themselves specialists.

• Drupal

Drupal is the last solution that we will discuss. Its share in the CMS 2022 market, reaching 1.9%, is rather small, but it is not a result of a deficiency of any kind. It is simply the most demanding and advanced option. It has a specific development environment that is not amateur-friendly. However, for IT professionals, it definitely makes a comprehensive platform. So, if you are proficient with technologies, Drupal can be an interesting solution for you. Otherwise, if you are looking for a simple CMS tool, consider different options.

Now you know everything about WordPress CMS market share. If you’re looking for WordPress development services, we can create a website that is easy-to-use and tailored to your business needs.