WordPress Market Share in 2026: The Numbers and How to Read Them

As of October 1, 2026, WordPress runs 40.2% of all websites, according to W3Techs. Among websites whose content management system W3Techs can identify, WordPress's share is 58.7%. No other CMS comes close: the next largest, Shopify, is at 5.4% of all websites.

That 40.2% figure is lower than the "43% of the web" number that still appears in many articles. W3Techs' own yearly data shows WordPress at 43.0% on January 1, 2026, and Search Engine Journal reported six straight months of decline through late May 2026. WordPress is still the dominant CMS by a wide margin, but its share of the whole web is no longer growing in this survey.

This article gives the current figures with their dates, the trend since 2015, how W3Techs measures them, what other sources say and how to read market-share statistics without overreaching. Every number here has a named source and a date.

The current numbers

From W3Techs' WordPress usage page and CMS overview, survey dated October 1, 2026:

W3Techs' wording is precise: WordPress "is used by 58.7% of all the websites whose content management system we know. This is 40.2% of all websites." The first number excludes sites with no detectable CMS (hand-coded sites, custom applications and sites that hide their technology). The second includes them.

The trend since 2015

W3Techs publishes yearly snapshots on January 1. Its historical trends report shows WordPress's share of all websites:

The pattern is fast growth through 2021, a plateau around 43% from 2022 to early 2026, then a decline during 2026. Search Engine Journal, citing W3Techs, reported WordPress at 43.20% in December 2025 and 41.90% on May 27, 2026, describing six consecutive months of decline. The October 2026 figure continues that direction.

What is behind the 2026 decline?

W3Techs reports what it detects, not why. Several explanations are possible, and none is proven by the data alone:

• Growth in hosted builders and commerce platforms. Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, Tilda, Webflow and Duda each hold a measurable share.
• Changes in which sites count as "relevant" as the web changes, including sites built quickly with AI tools on non-CMS stacks.
• Detection effects: sites that hide their generator tags or move to headless setups may no longer be identified as WordPress.

It also helps to separate share from absolute numbers. The web keeps growing, so a falling percentage does not necessarily mean fewer WordPress sites exist; it can mean other platforms grew faster. W3Techs does not publish a total count of WordPress sites, so neither reading can be confirmed from its percentages alone.

Treat any single-cause story with care. A two- or three-point move in a survey of more than 20 million sites is real, but its causes need separate evidence. Our post on headless versus traditional WordPress explains one reason detection can understate WordPress usage.

How W3Techs measures market share

Knowing the method helps you read the number. From W3Techs' technologies overview and FAQ:

• Relevant web only: W3Techs includes "only relevant websites", meaning sites with "some meaningful content or functionality", and excludes default server pages and duplicates. It says its sample "includes well over 20 million sites".
• Subdomains are one site: "We do not consider subdomains to be separate websites." W3Techs notes that all subdomains of wix.com, wordpress.com and similar platforms count as one website.
• Site, not page: if a technology is found on any page, the site counts as using it. W3Techs says it usually crawls a few sample pages, not just the home page.
• Detection: W3Techs searches for patterns such as the generator meta tag, scripts, CSS, URL structure and HTTP headers, using "several thousand indicators".
• Freshness: reports update daily; individual sites are revisited roughly once a month.
• Rankings: for top-site breakdowns it uses the Tranco list (before November 2022 it used Alexa).

W3Techs is open about limits: "It is impossible for this type of surveys to be 100% accurate, since websites can choose to hide most of their technologies."

Other sources and why they differ

Different surveys measure different things, so their WordPress figures differ too.

• HTTP Archive Web Almanac: built from the Chrome UX Report dataset of millions of origins. Its 2025 CMS chapter says WordPress powers "roughly 64% of CMS-driven sites", with 64.3% of mobile CMS usage, and reports Shopify at around 7.3 to 7.8% of CMS share. Its 2024 chapter (June 2024 data) found 51% of desktop sites in its dataset used a CMS at all.
• Technology lookup tools such as BuiltWith and Wappalyzer track detected technologies across their own crawls. Their samples and definitions differ from W3Techs', so their figures are not directly comparable.
• Vendor claims: Automattic said "We already power 43% of the web" in May 2025, which matched W3Techs at the time but is now out of date.

The common thread: in both independent surveys cited here, WordPress is the most used CMS by a large margin. The exact percentage depends on the sample and the denominator.

Inside WordPress: versions, builders and WooCommerce

W3Techs also breaks down WordPress sites themselves (October 1, 2026):

• Versions: 63.8% of WordPress sites run version 7.x and 29.1% run 6.x. The rest run older versions, which no longer receive full support; only the latest release (7.1.2 as of October 2026) is actively maintained.
• Page builders: Elementor is detected on 31.5% of WordPress sites.
• Commerce: WooCommerce is on 19.8% of WordPress sites. On its own page, W3Techs reports WooCommerce on 8.0% of all websites and 47.7% of the e-commerce systems it detects.

Two cautions apply to these sub-shares. They are percentages of WordPress sites, not of the whole web, so "Elementor on 31.5%" means about a third of WordPress sites, not a third of all websites. And they depend on detection: a page builder or plugin that leaves no visible trace in a site's HTML cannot be counted, so the real figures may differ.

Those older-version sites are a security concern, not just a statistic. Our WordPress security guide explains why staying current matters.

How to read and quote market-share statistics

1. Name the source. "W3Techs" and "HTTP Archive" measure differently.
2. Give the date. Shares move; a 2023 figure is not a 2026 figure.
3. State the denominator. "40.2% of all websites" and "58.7% of sites with a known CMS" are both correct and very different.
4. Do not convert to "sites". W3Techs reports percentages of its sample, not a count of WordPress sites on the internet.
5. Do not infer quality. Popularity shows ecosystem size, talent availability and plugin choice. It does not show that a CMS fits your project.
6. Update old copy. Pages still saying "WordPress powers 43% of the web" are out of date as of October 2026.

What the numbers mean for your website

For a business choosing a platform, WordPress's share means a deep pool of developers, hosts, themes and plugins, plus over 70,000 free plugins in the WordPress.org directory as of October 2026. It also means WordPress is a large target for attackers, which is why maintenance matters.

A falling share does not by itself mean WordPress is the wrong choice, any more than a rising share would make it the right one. Choose on fit: content needs, editors' skills, integrations, budget and who will maintain it. Our comparison of React, Next.js, WordPress and Shopify walks through that decision, and what is WordPress covers the basics.

Conclusion

As of October 1, 2026, W3Techs puts WordPress on 40.2% of all websites and 58.7% of sites with a known CMS, down from a long plateau near 43%. It remains by far the most used CMS. Quote these numbers with source, date and denominator, and treat explanations for the trend as hypotheses until they have their own evidence. eSEOspace designs and builds sites on WordPress and other stacks through our WordPress development services; more guides are in our WordPress hub.

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