This blog post is part of a comprehensive multi-part article series aimed at helping small business owners succeed online using the WordPress CMS platform.
For an overview of the article series, go here:
In this blog post, we present some impressive WordPress statistics that will help you understand why millions of businesses around the world choose WordPress and what kind of people and businesses use WordPress today.
WordPress: Statistics And Market Share
The short version:
- WordPress began in 2003.
- WordPress offers two formats: a hosted platform (WordPress.com) and as a self-hosted, downloadable software (WordPress.org).
- 22 out of every 100 new domains registered in the U.S. are for installing a new WordPress website.
- There are over sixty million installations of WordPress worldwide. This number grows significantly every day.
- WordPress powers over 30% of the internet. Over one-third of all websites worldwide are powered by WordPress.
- WordPress sites around the world publish an average of 24 posts per second.
- WordPress sites receive over 22 billion monthly pageviews.
- WordPress blogs receive around 50 million comments per month.
- WordPress has been translated into over 70 languages.
- More than 60% of all websites worldwide using a CMS application are built with WordPress.
- Over 30 million searches made each month on Google are for terms related to WordPress.
- WordPress is 100% free to download, use and modify. WordPress is distributed as an open source content management system.
- WordPress code is continually worked on by volunteers. Thousands of people from all over the world work on developing and improving WordPress every day.
- The WordPress software is updated on a regular basis to fix bugs and improve both its ease of use and security.
- WordPress delivers content online to visitors worldwide. WordPress has been translated and localized into over 70 languages.
- The WordPress repository currently makes available thousands of free WP plugins, themes, and widgets to WordPress users.
- There is practically no limit to what someone can do using WordPress.
WordPress CMS Usage
A content management system (CMS), is a website tool for non-technical users. It is designed to make it easier for non-technical website users to add, edit and manage all content on their website.
WordPress began in 2003. It was originally a simple program developed by co-founders Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little. WordPress is now the most downloaded self-hosted CMS application in the world, used on millions of websites and seen by tens of millions of people every day.
WordPress is owned by Automattic.com, which currently employs around 300 people, all of whom work from home. Despite its distributed model and so few employees, WordPress.com (the hosted version of the software) currently attracts more unique views per month than Facebook, Amazon, eBay, Twitter, and Yahoo …
(WordPress [hosted version] monthly uniques. Source: http://automattic.com/about)
Consider the following stats on WordPress usage:
WordPress is the world’s leading CMS platform and powers over 30% of the web …
(WordPress usage statistics. Source: trends.builtwith.com/cms)
In terms of CMS usage, no other platform even comes close to WordPress …
(WordPress Market Share. Source: w3techs.com)
In fact, more and more websites are now powered by WordPress.
WordPress is so popular, that trying to keep up with the latest statistics on WordPress is very difficult because the information changes so frequently.
For example, at the time this article was published, here is the current number of downloads of the latest WordPress version …
(Source: https://wordpress.org/download/counter)
Note: The above download numbers represents only the most recent version of WordPress. Around one third of all current users have not yet updated their WP installations to the latest version …
(WordPress versions currently in use. Source: https://wordpress.org/about/stats)
Even as this post was being written, the number of downloads has already grown. If you were to click on the link above and visit the WordPress download counter page, expect to see a significantly higher download number … perhaps even a newer version, as the WordPress community continually updates the software to fix security issues and bugs, and add new or improved features.
Speaking of updates, WordPress has released over one hundred new software updates in its first 11 years of existence …
(Over 100 new versions of WordPress have been made available in its first 11 years)
WordPress currently releases a new software version every 3-4 months …
(WordPress regularly releases new software updates named after famous Jazz musicians)
Incidentally, all major WordPress version releases have a tradition of being named in honor of famous Jazz musicians, eg:
- v.2.1 = Ella Fitzgerald (January 22, 2007),
- v.2.5 = Michael Brecker (March 29, 2008),
- v.3.0 = Thelonious Monk (June 17, 2010),
- v.3.7 = Count Basie (October 24, 2013),
- v.3.8 = Charlie Parker (December 12, 2013),
- etc …
Who Is Using WordPress?
In a nutshell, all types of enterprises and people from all walks of life are using WordPress to publish content about every kind of topic imaginable.
Global corporations, business of all sizes, technology companies, celebrities, politicians, famous musicians, colleges, government sectors, non-profit organizations – even countries are using WordPress to run their official sites …
WordPress.org Showcase
Here are just some of the businesses, companies and people who have chosen to use WordPress:
- Global Brands & Companies: Bata, YRC Freight, Dassault Aviation, Groupe Vivendi, Vogue, etc …
- Celebrities, Politicians, Sports Stars, Actors & Musicians: US Air Force General Chuck Yeager, Ariana Grande, Nancy Pelosi, Beyoncé, Dallas Mavericks, Riverdance, Dave Matthews Band, Channing Tatum, Jason Mraz, etc …
- Universities & Educational Institutions: University of Manitoba Today, International Relations Online at American University, UCF College of Medicine, Lafayette College, etc.
- Magazines & News Media: Fortune, The New Yorker, InStyle News, Enterprise Magazine, etc.
- Governments, Not For Profits & Humanitarian Organizations: San Pellegrino Terme, Chicago Weather Center, São Paulo Carnival, CURE International, Rotary Means Business – Rotary Club, etc.
Earlier, we mentioned that WordPress offers two formats: a hosted application (WordPress.com) and as a self-hosted, downloadable application (WordPress.org).
- Businesses prefer to download the self-hosted version, which can be installed on their own domains and modified to suit their needs. In fact, most WordPress self-hosted installations are set up for commercial uses.
- More than half of all WordPress users use the hosted version on WordPress.com
- In 2014, blogs belonging to the WordPress network (blogs hosted either on WordPress.com or self-hosted WordPress sites) published on average 17 new posts every second (around 1.5 million posts per day).
You can see a live map that shows the latest activity across its hosted service …
WordPress (Hosted Version) – Live Activity
In other tutorials, we will explain the differences between WordPress.com (hosted) and WordPress.org (self-hosted) versions.
Other Statistics About WordPress
WordPress Plugins
WordPress users have access to over 37,000 WP plugins for free …
(WordPress.org plugin repository)
We have written a great article about WordPress plugins here:
WordPress Themes
WordPress users also have access to over 1,700 free WP themes …
(WordPress.org themes repository)
We have published a comprehensive article about themes here:
WordPress In Other Languages
WordPress has been translated and localized into over seventy languages and dialects in addition to English …
(WordPress language translations)
WordPress Searches Online
The search term “WordPress” alone receives around 2.7 million monthly searches on Google. Adding WordPress-related terms (e.g. “WP themes”, “WP plugins”, ”learn WordPress”, etc. brings the total number of online searches for WordPress terms to more than thirty million …
(WordPress searches online)
If you compare searches for WordPress to other CMS platforms, WordPress gets searched five times more than Joomla and nine times more than Drupal.
WordPress Developers
According to WordPress’ own “State of the Word” 2014 survey, a quarter of users who answered the survey said that they make a full-time living off WordPress. An earlier survey conducted by WordPress (2012) also found that the average hourly rate of WordPress projects is US$50.
You can find WordPress designers and developers for hire at freelancing sites like Upwork.com …
According to Upwork, the typical cost for WordPress jobs is around $10 – $500 …
(Source: Upwork.com)
As you can clearly see from the above facts and figures, WordPress is bound for continued growth for a long time to come.
In other blog posts, you will learn:
- Why WordPress is the smartest option in most situations when it comes to choosing a platform to grow your small business online,
- Dozens of compelling reasons why you should choose WordPress for your business website or blog, including a detailed look at the benefits, features, and advantages of using WordPress,
- Ways to automate your business marketing with WordPress,
- How to generate more visitors, get more leads, and sell more products and services with WordPress.
- Plus, we’ll be regularly posting loads of ”how to” tutorials and practical tips on how you can use WordPress and grow your business online, while also saving thousands of dollars on website development and website design costs.
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References:
The above figures were sourced from various locations around the web, including the following sites:
- https://wordpress.org
- https://wordpress.com
- http://automattic.com
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordPress
- http://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cm-wordpress/all/all
- http://trends.builtwith.com/cms
- http://ma.tt/2014/10/sotw-2014
- https://managewp.com/14-surprising-statistics-about-wordpress-usage
- http://torquemag.io/13-surprising-wordpress-statistics
- https://websitebuilder.org/resources/amazing-facts-you-probably-dont-know-about-wordpress
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