We collect these numbers because we use them: in audits, in client strategy calls, and in the occasional debate about whether WordPress is ‘still relevant’ (see the first section for how that debate goes). Each number below links to its source, plus our own audit data where noted.
Market share and usage
- WordPress powers 40.0% of all websites on the internet, according to W3Techs (October 2026)
- That’s a 58.5% share of the CMS market, more than the next ten platforms combined
- The runner-up website builder, Shopify, holds roughly 5.4% of all websites
- Wix and Squarespace together account for about 6.6% of the web
- WordPress has held the #1 CMS position in W3Techs’ yearly data for 10+ consecutive years
- 70,000+ free plugins live in the official repository, with more sold commercially
The WordPress economy
- There are over 36 million small businesses in the U.S., according to the SBA Office of Advocacy
WooCommerce and e-commerce
- WooCommerce runs on about 4 million live stores globally, according to Store Leads (October 2026)
- The U.S. leads with about 500,000 live WooCommerce stores
- WooCommerce still counts more live stores than Shopify, which has about 3.1 million
- Cart abandonment averages 70.22% across e-commerce, according to Baymard Institute
- Stores using one-page checkout see abandonment rates 10-20 points lower than multi-step flows (our audit data)
Security
- 91% of new WordPress vulnerabilities found in 2025 were in plugins and 9% in themes, according to Patchstack
- Patchstack counted 11,334 new WordPress vulnerabilities in 2025, and only 6 of them were in core
- Sites with two-factor authentication and a WAF block the overwhelming majority of automated attack traffic
Performance and Core Web Vitals
- Only ~49% of WordPress sites pass all three Core Web Vitals on mobile, according to the HTTP Archive (August 2026 data)
- Lossy WebP images are 25-34% smaller than comparable JPEGs at equivalent quality, according to Google
SEO and content
- Google says good Core Web Vitals align with what its core ranking systems reward, though it still shows the most relevant content first
- The #1 organic result gets an average 27.6% of clicks, and only 0.63% of searchers click anything on page 2, according to a Backlinko study of 4 million results
Use these numbers
Cite anything here freely with a link back to this page. We update the set as the 2026 data landscape shifts, and if you spot a number that’s aged out, tell us and we’ll fix it. That’s the deal that keeps a statistics page trustworthy.
Where your site fits: Most of the failure statistics above (the 51% failing Core Web Vitals, the 91% of new vulnerabilities sitting in plugins) describe preventable states. A free audit tells you which side of each number your site is on.
Want your site benchmarked against these numbers?
We’ll measure your site against every relevant stat on this page: speed, security posture, Core Web Vitals, and checkout performance. Free, delivered in 2 business days.
