WordPress – Statistics and Facts

WordPress is undoubtedly the most popular platform for creating websites and blogs. The vast majority of websites are using it. The main reason is the fact that creating and maintaining a WordPress website is quite simple thanks to the numerous templates and features it offers. Let’s talk about some of the statistics! Here are the most interesting WordPress statistics 2022 and facts about this platform.

1. WordPress is used by 43% of all websites on the internet

According to the W3Techs.com report, as many as 43% of websites use WordPress. It is the vast majority. WordPress is used to build regular company websites, blogs and e-commerce stores. This content management system allows for an easy search engine optimization, thanks to which websites that operate on WordPress often rank high in search results.

WordPress is the perfect choice for people who want to try their hand at running a website for the first time. It is also one of the two leading blogging platforms – rivaled only by Blogger. WordPress offers more templates and other features based on various plugins. Those additions allow you to create SEO friendly content or add elements to the website without interfering with its code, which sets it apart from Blogger. It is also the reason behind such high WordPress usage statistics. What is more, the platform is often chosen by creators who want to earn money from their blogs.

2. WordPress has 64.2% of the CMS market share

WordPress is a CMS (Content Management System). Simply put, it is a software that allows you to create, edit or update content and information on websites in an easy and friendly way, without having to alter the code. Thanks to the CMS, you do not need to know any programming languages – like PHP, Python and so on. There are three types of such software on the CMS market. You can choose software designed for a specific type of websites (e.g., blogs, shops, or portals), subscription systems (such as Shoper, Open Source), or a custom CMS prepared to order with a unique template and functionalities. The last solution is by far the most expensive but also the most beneficial.

WordPress is an OpenSource system, i.e., it offers access to files and source code, so you can change them yourself if you want. It is widely available, so it is no wonder that its CMS market share is as high as 64.2%. Those are the statistics provided by W3Techs.com.

3. WordPress version 5.9 has been installed over 98 million times

This information can be obtained from the WordPress website itself. HERE is the download counter for WordPress 5.9, showing well over 100 million installments. This number is changing all the time because every now and then someone in the world implements this update. This is just another proof of the huge popularity of this CMS. Well, proof that it is the most popular in the world.

4. Over 50% of WordPress users have the current version

WordPress on its website also provides data on the use of the current version. They show that more than half of all websites have updated to the newest software. Moreover, you can also see how many people use WordPress on specific language or database systems (PHP, MySQL), as well as in specific regions of the world. Such statistics result from the awareness that WordPress is not the safest solution due to its wide availability. Hence, it is very important to regularly install the latest versions and always use the newest software. In addition, each new version contains important fixes or new functionalities that make running websites easier. That is why most WordPress users pay attention to regularity in updating their software.

5. There are already over 60,000 plugins in the WordPress plugin directory

WordPress offers various functionalities for websites in the form of plugins. You just need to install and run them to obtain new options without any problems. How many WordPress plugins are there? WordPress alone reports that there are over 60,000 plugins at the moment. They can be applied to everything. The most popular ones are, of course, the block editor, language switcher as well as plugins for classic widgets and website backups. In addition, you can also find plugins that prevent the spam on pages in comments (Akismet, reCaptcha, etc.) or help optimize the website and content for SEO (e.g., Yoast SEO). Moreover, you can choose from plugins for newsletter, page statistics, social media icons, contact forms, or forum for WordPress. People who want to create a course or training, as well as those running company websites or online stores also can find numerous plugins for their goals.

Plugins are regularly updated, and new ones appear now and then, allowing you to run the website even easier and more efficiently. Facts about WordPress show that the most popular plugin is Yoast SEO, which has been downloaded over 130 million times. In second place is Akismet anti-spam, which has been downloaded more than 117 million times and has already caught 400 billion spam messages. No wonder there is so much of it, and it is quickly popping up on web pages, especially in comments, since WordPress is so popular and is used by so many websites. In addition, all popular WordPress plugins have over 5 million active installations.

6. There are over 90,000 website templates in the official WordPress theme repository

Undoubtedly, WordPress is the software with the greatest number of website themes. Statistics show that over 90,000 themes are already in the official WordPress theme repository. This is another reason why this CMS is the most popular of all. Thus, users have the largest selection of themes for their website here. In the repository you can find both universal themes with a variety of layout and colors, as well as the ones created for specific types of pages, i.e., for blogs, online stores or company websites.

In addition, the selected theme can always be modified by setting various backgrounds, colors, or the size and type of fonts. It really gives users a lot of opportunities to create a unique website, which is especially important for people running an online business. Built With shows detailed statistics on the distribution of particular WordPress themes on the top 1 million websites. According to these statistics, the most popular themes are Choices, Divi, and Astra.

7. The three most used languages in WordPress are English, Spanish and Japanese

On its website, WordPress also shows statistics on the most popular languages in which websites using this software are run. The most popular language is, of course, English. After all, this is the most spoken language in the business world. And apparently on WordPress with 44.10% websites. Spanish is second, used by 5.97% of websites, and Japanese is third – 5.80%. Overall, there are over 120 languages that are used on WordPress. What is more, this platform has been translated into as many as 180 languages.

8. There are 70 million posts and 77 million comments a month on WordPress-based websites

As WordPress supports most websites, it is no surprise that it also generates the most posts and comments. However, these numbers are overwhelming. Every month, on WordPress-based websites and blogs, users publish as many as 70 million posts and even 77 million comments. This means that in one second, over 27 new posts and as many as 198 comments appear on WordPress-based websites. These great numbers are the best proof of how much of the internet powers WordPress.

9. WordPress achieved 100 points on Google Trends

How popular is WordPress? Here is the answer. WordPress is the only CMS platform that has managed to reach 100 points, which is the marker of the biggest popularity on Google Trends. Other CMS, such as Blogger, Drupal and Sharepoints, have barely achieved half of what WordPress does. Looking at these numbers, it is safe to say that WordPress is simply a giant on the market.

10. WordPress has been searched over 2 billion times

The keyword “WordPress” is still one of the most popular words typed into the search engine, especially on Google. The total number of searches per month exceeds 2 billion times. Such data is provided by KWFinder. This shows that the interest in WordPress is enormous, and probably not only among people who want to run their own websites. People are searching for other specific phrases related to the functionalities of WordPress as well. Users often look for information and advice on how to do something on their website. They also try finding information when they encounter problems with the website editor and other features. We can safely say that the phrase “WordPress” and other keywords related to the platform are the most often typed in the search engine when it comes to the CMS.

11. 28% of online stores use WordPress

WordPress is vastly known as a platform for blogs, but it also has a plugin for running an online store – WooCommerce. Currently, up to 28% of online stores are run with this plugin. WordPress is therefore the most popular platform also in e-commerce.

12. WordPress Security Statistics

When discussing stats about WordPress, you cannot ignore those about security. Unfortunately, they can be a bit upsetting. According to Sucuri’s report, over 34,000 websites are infected, while almost 25% of them use WordPress. Due to the platform’s popularity and a lot of security vulnerabilities, websites based on WordPress are exposed to both viruses and hacker attacks. However, statistics reveal that as many as 39.3% of WordPress-based websites were hacked due to outdated software. This shows how important it is to regularly install the latest versions of WordPress.

It is clear that this increases the security of websites significantly. Many people may be afraid of installing new versions due to the risk of data loss and website damage. However, you just need to make a website backup before updating it so that you do not have to worry that something will be lost. Fortunately, these less positive WordPress statistics have little effect on the popularity of WordPress. Despite the shortcomings, there is no sign of a sudden decline in the importance of this platform on the web. It still remains and will be the best platform for creating websites and blogs for a long time.

Do you want to create your WordPress website, but you do not know how to handle it? Ask specialists like Nopio for help – we offer custom WordPress development.