The WordPress facts and stats you need to know

Who doesn’t love stats? They’re quick, easy, and concise ways to understand any topic. They also help you revisit information again in the future. And, of course, here at EasyWP, our favorite topic is WordPress. If you’re considering working with WordPress or launching a new blog, these WordPress stats will give you insight into key trends and best practices. 

Knowing these facts about WordPress will help you make the right decision about whether this CMS is right for you. And as a bonus, they will also make you seem smarter at your next Meetup or WordCamp! Whether you are just getting started with WordPress or have become a big-time WP influencer on social media, these stats will prove to be both interesting and enlightening. 

How many websites use WordPress?

WordPress is used by 43.2% of all websites on the internet in 2022. This is an increase from 39.5% in 2021. That means that two out of every five websites use WordPress. There are currently over 455 million sites that use WordPress. Projections suggest that this number will continue to grow. The WordPress Plugin Directory provides 55,000+ plugins. WooCommerce accounts for 22% of the top 1 million e-commerce websites in the world.

There are several factors that have contributed to the increasing usage of WordPress. One of the key factors is the ease of use and the fact that it is open source. Users can easily modify the code to customize their WordPress websites, as well as create their own plugins and themes.

Some of the most well-known WordPress-powered sites include Sony Music, Playstation Blog, TechCrunch, Meta Newsroom, Time Magazine, CNN Press Room, and Disney Books,

Who created WordPress? 

WordPress was created by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little in 2003 as a fork of the blogging engine b2/cafelog. Both Matt and Mike are still actively involved with the WordPress project and are part of the WordPress Foundation which owns the WordPress trademark.

Prior to WordPress’s dominance of site development, people used Blogger, GeoCities, and B2/cafelog, created by French programmer Michel Valdrighi, to create blogs and websites. B2/cafelog, a simple tool created for blogging, was created in 2001. Although it was a hit with its users, Valdrighi suddenly abandoned his software in December 2002, leaving the community stunned and concerned. There was no word from Valdrighi, and thus there was no developer support.

At that time, Matt Mullenweg was using B2/cafelog to share his vacation pictures of a visit to Washington DC. This page was originally posted on photomatt.net and now redirects to his official blog Ma.tt. Matt’s father was a software engineer and a programmer, so he developed a new platform in January 2003 by combining the best parts of B2/cafelog with other features. Although B2/cafelog is not as popular as it once was, it remains one of the most significant web applications of all time. Why? Because it is the foundation for WordPress.

Read more about the history of WordPress from its creation to today. 

How often do people search online for “WordPress”?

According to the marketing platform SEMrush, the keyword “WordPress” is Googled around 2.6 million times per month. In the United States alone, there are over 300,000 searches per month for “WordPress” and when you include the 1.2 million keyword variations, the US queries related phrases over 6 million times per month. 

The most common Google searches about WordPress include ‘how to use WordPress’, ‘WordPress themes’, ‘WordPress plugins’, ‘WordPress hosting’, ‘WordPress tutorials’, ‘WordPress security’, ‘WordPress SEO‘, ‘WordPress ecommerce’, ‘WordPress themes free’, ‘WordPress hosting reviews’, and ‘WordPress coding’.

What are the most frequently asked questions about WordPress?

Despite its ubiquity in the world of web design, the most searched related question in the US every single month is, “What is WordPress?” At first, this might seem a little surprising until you realize that everyone who ever built a website had to choose their first platform at some point. If you’ve never created your own website, there’s a good chance you’ve never heard of WordPress before. So if you are one of these newbies, welcome! 

Other common questions relate to php installations, and how to use WordPress. The fourth most popular related question in the US is “What WordPress theme is that?” a query so common it inspired several developers to create WordPress theme detectors. 

On Reddit, some of the most frequently asked questions about WordPress include: What is the best way to secure WordPress?, What is the best way to optimize WordPress? and What themes and plugins should I use?

How many times have people downloaded WordPress? 

The current WordPress version, Version 6.0, has been downloaded over 27 million times as of writing. Obviously this total changes on a daily basis. For the avid WordPress super-fan, it’s fun to follow the official WordPress download counter. It may also be therapeutic and meditative to watch the numbers rise, minute-by-minute, knowing that you are part of an ever-growing community of users. 

The WordPress community continues to grow steadily in many ways. There is an ever-expanding number of users, developers, and contributors, making the platform more powerful and versatile. It’s also becoming more accessible to beginner users, with a wealth of resources and support available online. The WordPress ecosystem continues to evolve with new themes, plugins, and other tools designed to enhance the user experience. The community also continues to embrace open-source principles, making the platform more accessible to users.

How many WordPress themes are there to choose from?

What your visitors see and how they navigate your website’s pages are determined by WordPress themes. Themes have been available since WordPress version 1.5 in 2005. In addition to the official free theme created annually by WordPress core developers, there are both free and paid WordPress themes that you may install. There are currently more than 9,728 free themes available in the WordPress theme directory.

Premium WordPress themes have a lot of advantages over their free counterparts. In most cases, the web designers behind them focus not just on design but also on user management, support, SEO, and other features. According to the site codeinwp.com, The average premium theme price in 2022 is around $58, which is up from an average of $46 in 2013.

How many plugins are available for WordPress? 

The first WordPress plugins were released on May 22, 2004 as part of version 1.2 Mingus. Prior to that time, users had to hack the core code to add or extend functionality. These hacks consisted of a set of files that explained what parts of the code needed to be altered and where code should be inserted.

Installing WordPress plugins is a simple way to enhance your WordPress website. These app-like plug-ins increase the functionality of your pages. You must learn how to install them if you want to include things like image galleries or automated backups. As of this writing, there are 59,433 free plugins on the WordPress Plugin Directory, and new ones are added every day. 

But since the launch of the Block editor, along with drag-and-drop builders like Brizy, plugin functionality now expands far beyond the realm of single-purpose plugins. There are also thousands of premium plugins and blocks. 

Based on the number of plugins available, along with the popularity of WordPress and estimated users over the years, analysts put the estimated number of total WordPress plugin downloads at over 1.2 billion. 

Several of the most popular plugins in the official WordPress directory now have download totals in the hundreds of millions. 

How often do hackers attack WordPress websites?

Notoriety certainly comes with its own challenges. Because WordPress is so popular, sites built on the CMS are some of the biggest targets for hackers. Just one successful exploit can lead to multiple hacked WordPress websites. According to the best available data, there are up to 90,000 attacks per minute. But this could be underestimated, as security company SiteLock has found that small-to-medium business websites are attacked an average of 44 times per day.

According to stats collected by WebTribunal, weak passwords are responsible for 8% of WordPress sites being hacked. In addition, WordPress sites that are not updated frequently enough are particularly vulnerable with more than 61% of successful breaches occurring on out-of-date sites. Outdated plugins alone are responsible for 52% of WordPress vulnerabilities.

How many languages does WordPress support?

WordPress is capable of displaying content in any language, provided that a language file is installed. Thousands of volunteers have already translated the WordPress dashboard into 244 languages, including both common and some rare languages. There are also theme and support files available in many languages other than English.

For the front-end or “customer-facing” side of your website, the language possibilities are endless. Building a multilingual WordPress website to accommodate even more customers is becoming the new standard, as entire businesses shift online to serve customers from all corners of the world. Premium plugins such as TranslatePress make it simple to translate every page on your site into more than 220 languages. 

Is managed hosting the future of WordPress? 

It used to be that you had to download the WordPress software, re-upload it to your web host of choice, and then undergo several technical steps to get it up and running. Managed WordPress hosting, like EasyWP, provides an easy-to-use dashboard portal that allows you to update, maintain, and back up all future installations. Managed hosting also uses optimized infrastructure to make WordPress sites load even faster for the end-user. 

Time to First Byte refers to the total amount of time it takes before the user’s web browser starts receiving data back from the server that’s hosting the WordPress website. The higher the timing, the longer it takes for the user to load the website. During testing, EasyWP had the fastest time to first bite compared to other managed hosting providers. 

This year, we’re celebrating a special milestone in EasyWP’s journey to the clouds and above: it’s our 5th birthday! Read some fascinating insights from three people who dreamed, conceptualized, and crafted their way to lightning-fast and super affordable managed WordPress hosting.

Add to your stack of WordPress facts

If this roundup of WordPress statistics has got you thirsty for more, check out some of our in-depth resources and Guru Guides. Learn more about the best WordPress plugins available today, or how to quickly install WooCommrce. Whatever you need to know about WordPress, our goal is to have a resource you can rely on. Have we missed a topic? Let us know and we’ll help you find the information you are looking for.