The Unstoppable Rise of WordPress: 18 Must-Know Stats for 2023

WordPress started as a simple blogging platform but has grown into an unstoppable force that now powers over a third of all websites. Like a snowball rolling down a mountain, WordPress keeps gathering speed and momentum. Where is this juggernaut heading in 2023? Let’s look at the key WordPress statistics to find out!

Worth mentioning: all of the statistics mentioned here can also be found on this WordPress stats report. Without further ado…

More Sites, More Traffic, More Engagement, More Stats

WordPress grew by 5% in 2021 and now accounts for 39.6% of all websites. That’s astounding growth.

This avalanche of sites generates over 400 million visitors per month, who view 20 billion+ pages. Over 80 million new posts and 77 million new comments are added every month.

That’s a whopping 1,620 new posts every minute! No wonder “WordPress” is searched 2.9 million times per month.

This tsunami of content keeps readers engaged. In our distracted world, that is an immense competitive advantage.

Optimized for Mobile

Over half of all website traffic now comes from mobile devices. WordPress anticipated this trend and optimized for mobile early on.

This foresight allowed WordPress to ride the mobile wave rather than be swamped by it—yet another reason for its relentless growth.

Accelerating E-commerce

WordPress is no longer just for blogs. Almost 30% of e-commerce sites now use WordPress, with 500 new stores added daily.

The WooCommerce plugin powers 22% of the top 1 million online stores. WordPress dominates 50-60% of the global CMS market.

E-commerce is the new engine propelling WordPress’s exponential growth.

The Snowball Effect

WordPress started as a humble blogging platform, but its ease of use, flexibility, and constant innovation created a snowball effect.

With over 55,000 plugins and themes, WordPress can be customized to suit any need. This adaptability has allowed it to expand into new niches like travel sites and power new types of sites.

The more sites that use WordPress, the more developers create plugins and themes for it, attracting more users. This self-reinforcing cycle is fueling WordPress’s unstoppable rise.

Riding the Avalanche

Like an avalanche, WordPress’s momentum is unstoppable. Rather than getting crushed, smart businesses will ride this juggernaut’s coattails.

Here are three ways to harness WordPress’s momentum:

• Optimize your site for mobile, speed, and engagement
• Add e-commerce functionality to unlock new revenue
• Stay updated with the latest WordPress version for security and features

WordPress is reinventing itself every day. Track these key WordPress statistics to see where this relentless force is heading.

The WordPress avalanche is coming: get on board today!

WordPress Dominates the CMS Market

With over 39% market share, WordPress has emerged as the dominant content management system (CMS) for websites. No other CMS comes close in terms of usage and popularity.

WordPress powers over 60% of all CMS-based websites, far outpacing its nearest rivals Joomla and Drupal. It accounts for 50-60% of the total global CMS market.

This dominance stems from WordPress being open source and highly customizable. Its plugin ecosystem, with over 55,000 plugins, allows it to be modified for virtually any use case<.

No matter what type of website you want to build, WordPress likely has a solution. This flexibility and expansive feature set fuels its non-stop growth.

A Truly Global Platform

WordPress was born from the open source movement, which is fundamentally decentralized and borderless. Fittingly, WordPress has been embraced globally, with users in over 178 countries.

It is available in 57 languages, enabling it to spread worldwide. Non-English downloads of WordPress surpassed English for the first time in 2018.

Despite this global reach, WordPress has only 1,148 employees. Its distributed, remote workforce spans 94 countries and speaks 117 languages.

WordPress was built for the internet era – without borders, barriers or centralization. This universal appeal drives its meteoric rise.

Optimized for Speed and Performance

Page speed is a vital ranking factor for Google and other search engines. Slow sites suffer both in rankings and user experience.

WordPress anticipated the need for speed and built a high-performance platform optimized for loading quickly on all devices.

With page speed optimization plugins like WP Rocket, WordPress sites can achieve near-perfect scores on Google PageSpeed Insights.

Speed and performance are the new battlegrounds in web design. WordPress is staying ahead of this curve, keeping it relevant in 2023 and beyond.

Built-in Security

Cyber threats are growing exponentially. All websites need robust security to defend against attacks.

WordPress continues to harden security in each new version release. Core updates address vulnerabilities quickly and proactively.

After WordPress 5.5, new security enhancements were added like passwordless login and support for security keys. Protection against brute force attacks was also strengthened.

WordPress now requires sites to use HTTPS encryption. This prevents man-in-the-middle attacks.

Security plugins like Wordfence offer additional protection for WordPress sites by blocking attackers and malware.

With strong core security and third-party plugins, WordPress provides the tools to create hack-resistant sites.

A Mobile-First Platform

Mobile traffic surpassed desktop traffic globally in 2016. Today, mobile dominates web use. WordPress identified mobile early as the future of the web. As a result, it optimized for mobile experiences years ahead of competitors.

Everything from WordPress themes to core functionality remains designed for mobile. This mobile-first approach still gives it an edge.

Additionally, WordPress themes require responsive design to adapt sites across devices. This ensures mobile compatibility is built-in.

With trends like the growth of mobile apps and minimal UI, WordPress’s early mobile focus continues to give it an advantage that increases over time.

Rob Lora has been writing about emerging tech trends for over a decade.